Brandon Talsma, Jasper County Supervisor I would like to respectfully submit I am not your enemy. I did not retire from the United States Navy and fly over 8000 miles back home from Bahrain with the objective of making Jasper County, IA, a more theatrical place.

While I was speaking, it is my perception that while someone attempted to interrupt me with their 2 cents while the evidence indicates they most likely should focus on the debt and damage their mouth has already created, you quickly shut them down and gave the floor back to me. That act significantly evolved my opinion of you. At the same time, my opinion of you would not be where it is if you had not completely ignored and disregarded the electronic correspondence I had sent you since late December 2021. Electronic mail communicating testimony supported by evidence that I believe shows Jasper County, IA’s failure to properly handle a domestic abuse no-contact order violation with a male protected party that led to Sara Merritt (Education Director at Iowa State UniversityReiman Gardens) assisting in the concealment of my children for approximately six months while concealed from court-ordered appearances at San Diego East County Superior Court Department 5.

Sara Merritt had zero court documents authorizing this custody and had no legal right to conceal my children from me while they were in her unauthorized and concealed custody. Evidence indicates this unauthorized custody was concealed from my children’s court-ordered Minor’s Counsel because neither of them communicated it to the court until my investigation uncovered evidence of my children’s movement across the States of California, Iowa, and Montana. Honorable Judge Martin ordered my children to provide their testimony regarding the allegations of sexual abuse utilized to conceal them when Claudia J. Bergman (f.k.a Claudia J. Merritt) showed up to court on 05 JUN 2019 with zero evidence supporting her 17 MAY 2019 allegations she used to acquire her domestic abuse protection order. At the same time, San Diego East County Superior Court Department 5’s 16 SEP 2021 final order for case ED100465 provides evidence Honorable Judge Martin violated California Family Codes 6320, 6320.5, 7602, the Constitution of the State of California, and the Constitution of the United States of America while issuing a domestic abuse protection order to Claudia J. Bergman based on zero evidence. At the same time, evidence in my case file shows the California Secretary of State provided a California Safe at Home address for two children in California. In contrast, Ames, IA Community School District school records show my children attended school here in Iowa during the issuance of that California Safe at Home address. At the same time, Sara Merritt, an Education Director at Reiman Gardens (approximately 1000 pages of public records show coordinates field trips for Iowa Public School children attending Reiman Gardens), denied my children equal access to both parents while producing evidence of violating my children’s rights in accordance with Iowa Code Chapter 598.1 while in her unauthorized custody in the State of Iowa. Evidence indicates Iowa State University has allowed one of its employees to continue managing, leading, and mentoring Iowa school children attending educational events at Reiman Gardens while being aware of this situation since early 2022. At the same time, her husband, Matthew E. Merritt, publicly claims to be a former employee of the FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I respectfully submit to you, Brandon; you are a Veteran, as I am a Veteran. The evidence I have witnessed indicates you don’t take shit from anyone; no more than the evidence indicates that I do, including walking into two government bodies’ public meetings and putting their false allegations of criminal conduct to the test that were communicated against me. At the same time, I pursued public records documenting their handling of this situation.

I believe that if you had shown my concerns and communicated sentiments regarding the evidence of Jasper County IA’s track record toward domestic abuse and freedom of speech, the same attention, as the evidence indicates you have invested in protecting the gun that you hold in your hand, we would probably have a completely different perspective toward each other.

If you stop closing and blocking lines of communication with those you serve and start asking questions while showing a commitment to all of your constituents, you will have “Sea Salt” standing next to “The Beard.”

I lost my children while the country I love and served turned its back on them. I am reaching out to shake your hand because I believe working together with others to make our county and our nation a better place is what is truly important. At the same time, we work to protect future parents and their children from losing what my family has lost. At the same time, those parents lose their voice on social media while seeking help the next time Jasper County, IA, Attorney Nicholson is pursuing his re-election while on his pursuit to a court appointment. What say you?

Regarding the jokes I have written that I have tagged you in recently, we are both Veterans. Whether my fate determined that I served with you in the desert sand or your fate had determined that you served with me across this world’s oceans. We both know that verbal sparring is a foundational part of what we both miss about standing next to someone else wearing a uniform while serving our great nation.

I think I am at a point where I am wondering when you are going to reach out and shake my hand and open a line of communication while sending a verbal shot across my bow in the tradition of Army-Navy rivalry.

Jon Dunwell once told me that it is extraordinary for a court to strip a Father of his parental rights entirely. I respectfully submit to you, given the evidence you have witnessed regarding what the City of Newton, IA, and Jasper County, IA, executed against me while attempting to conceal public records documenting their involvement in this situation, is it unreasonable to acknowledge the possibility that two female judges would throw away the lives of two children and a Father to conceal evidence of their gender-based discrimination and violations of the California Family Code and the Constitutions of the State of California and the United States of America during the height of the Me Too. Movement – #metoo?

I trust Jasper County, IA, Sheriff Halferty, and my fellow Veterans. However, I will never trust a lawyer or a used car salesperson. Show me that the voices of all citizens you serve matter as much as your right to hold a gun in your hand, and as far as I am concerned, this is a lesson learned. I know where the darkness in Jasper County, IA, “lies” that impacts the lives of the innocent in this county. I witnessed it sitting in the back row with me during the 02 MAY 2023 Jasper County, IA Board of Supervisor’s Metting.

Darkness does not belong behind a judicial bench or a prosecutor’s desk.

San Diego East County Superior Court Department 5

Honorable Judge Miller

Honorable Judge Martin

Very Respectfully,

Michael J. Merritt, USN Retired/Writer
Founder:  cipherphoenix.com
Creative Writer/Musician
Information Warfare Specialist
Information Systems Manager
PO BOX 187
Newton, IA 50208
cipher.hunter@cipherphoenix.com

“The study of Ethics is a pursuit of understanding the philosophical nature of right and wrong in its most perfect form.

A society’s justice system is an ever-evolving pursuit of that perfection.

Corruption is the cultural, political, or personal bias that overrules and interferes with that system.”

Pyrebird