My name is Paul Adrian Mcaleer. I an a US Army veteran with an honorable discharge. I served during Desert Storm. I attended the University of Alabama after my time in service. I have owned this boat for 13 years. I have owned my own business, Emerald Coast Gasket Guy for 15 years. I quit drinking for sport and i replaced that hobby with building vehicles. I took an old church shuttle bus and with the parts I found from wrecked boats after Hurricane Michael, i made an on site workshop. I named her Grace. This boat is my next project. I put all the hard tops on it by myself. I have some pretty cool things planned that I have never seen done, anywhere. I mostly stay on the road working between here and Ft Walton/Destin and the boat is my home when im here in Panama City. I have been maliciously targeted by a Panama City Code Enforcement officer for the past 2 and a half years. Before this I never met him nor have I ever had any interaction with him, ever. He has targeted me for no other reason that I can see other than a cruel sport. I did not even know that he was doing it for almost one and a half years.
I have never been in trouble with the law in any way. Never been to jail other than overnight for a driving infraction over 25 years ago.. Never been mixed up with a wrong crowd. I always paid my bills including marina rent on time or early. I have always been an upstanding citizen. My business grew due to word of mouth and I had all I could handle. I built the bus out of necessity, and it is a totally functioning Gasket making machine.
It began when I moved my boat to magnolia cove marina in Massalina Bayou. When I pulled into the marina I was approached by the dockmaster and his assistant. I said hello and was immediately told to shut the f up. He said he didn't know what I was doing there and that they didn't put up with "my s##t." He told me he was gonna see if my lease was valid and this assistant would be watching me. When I signed the lease 2 weeks earlier I paid 2 months rent up front plus deposit.
The marina never gave me a parking spot like the lease expressed. The first week alone i stopped my vehicle from being towed 4 times, even though i was not illegally parked. I never gave it any thought at the time why a code enforcement officer was involved or why he hung around talking to the marina personnel. The owner of the marina then said he wasn't gonna give me a spot, no matter what the lease stated. The code Enforcement guy was given free range to tow my vehicle any time he wanted without asking the owner again, which became a year long struggle for me as I stopped the tow trucks too many times to recall. Nonstop. I could never find anyone who made a complaint about my parking.
I could not understand why everyone at this marina became so violently hostile toward me. I was physically threatened on the dock by the assistant. I had dog excrement thrown on my vehicle by the dock assistant, who watched every thing I did, very ominously. Nobody was kind or even civil to me. To do me wrong wasn't just ok but it was the thing to do. The marina, in addition to my 550.00 a month rent charged me anywhere from 250.00 to almost 400.00 a month for my power. It had never been more than 85.00 in a month, ever. I had my belongings stolen, destroyed, vehicle vandalized. I would be cursed out by people there I had never met. I never brought any friends around. I had to watch my property constantly. I woke up every morning to check on my vehicle. It was a living nightmare. I had no idea why.
When I went to pay my rent 8 days early, I was first told they were not going to renew my lease and i had to the end of that month to vacate. I had a 30 day notice of non renewal of lease clause and was told that they did not intend to honor it. I work out of town and was gone 7 of those days. After the first, the leasing lady got so nasty with me. Threatened to turn off power. They threatened me many times they were gonna untie me and push me out and would have if i did not call the police and stop them. Finally I got scared for my safety and even though I had nowhere to go, i untied and just drifted away. There is more to this as far as threats by them, but I'll keep it simple.
Every marina I called for a slip never called me back and was so incredibly rude to me when I checked back. I could not figure out why. I had insurance and always paid my slip rent. Finally i found a spot behind the closed down hawks nest restaurant. I tried to get in touch with the owner. There were and still are many boats docked there now. I cleaned up the dock and area around it. I got a knock on the boat one day and when I walked out there was a crowd gathered at the adjacent marina and two PCPD officers and one code enforcement officer. The CE officer then began to threaten me with arrest and talked to me as if he knew me. Told me to get the F out of bay county. Said he could give me 72 hours but only Gave me 48 hours to vacate premises. Was told I would be arrested if I stepped foot on land from my boat. He made sure everyone at marina next door heard him and repeated things 2 and 3 times how he would arrest me. After this I once again lived In fear for my safety but more so, every second from all those around me. I was threatened. Boat vandalized. Vehicle tires slashed. Belongings destroyed. I left without anywhere to go at 4 in the morning as i was told at 7 it was to be impounded. I had nowhere to go so after a day of being on anchor and being threatened if i came ashore, I tied up to a broken pole behind the drawbridge.
Getting to my vehicle was a real problem. Everywhere I went the people would threaten me. My dingy was stolen. I had to hide my vehicle. I hadn't seen a friendly face at this point in over a year and a half. The boat had no power. No water. It was August and I was missing alot of work.
I found a slip on Facebook marketplace on business 98 across from the marathon gas station and paid the individual 2 months rent up front. A couple days after I got there the people around me started acting just like the ones where I had just come from. But this time I sensed they were afraid of me. They acted afraid. I didn't know why. I had the police called on me, once because a guy said he didn't want me to hit his boat even though I was no where near him and one time because the front of my boat stuck out too far on the dock. But, It was the last boat on the dock. The slip was a bit small but i did fit . I got a call from the guy I rented from telling me I had to leave and leave now. He was a family man and I didn't want to cause trouble for him. He gave me back my money.
He told me that a code enforcement officer had gone to the management and told them the most horrible untrue things about me. They were gonna fine him 100.00 a day on his home owner fees every day I was still there. This is when i knew who was causing the trouble for me the whole time. Once again, I had nowhere to go. I pulled out and anchored over to the side of the marina in front of a vacant lot that many people used to park and hang out by the water and have for years.
A day later there were trees blocking the driveway to the waterfront at the lot. There were fences put up with signs putting property off limits. It was not done by land owner. By the code guy who managed city property next to it at a pump station. I was.called by police to come talk to them on the lot. There was 6 or 7 not including the CE guy who was standing in the back obviously enjoying it. I was trespassed. Told I would go to jail if I stepped one foot on property. I was Told the owner did not want me on it even though I went across the street later and talked to the owners top business partner and was given permission. I promised would to keep property clean which I did. It didn't matter. The CE officer had somehow gotten the ability to trespass anyone and even though many people used the land, I was only one threatened and trespassed. Everybody else it was not just business as usual, either, now there were police that were monitoring the lot. No boater or anybody wanted me around because of all the problems that followed me there and would end when i left. So they were against me as well. No chance to make friends at all. Quite the contrary.
I would see the CE officer always hanging around. He would bring police with him whenever he thought he could catch me. I was afraid for my freedom every day. He was trying to put me in jail and impound my vehicle. He even threatened my buddy, where I had his permission to park and then i thanked him by doing 700 in free work to help him open his business, saying that he would not let him put his sign outside if he did not give him permission to tow my vehicle.
I would like pause to thank the PCPD for their professionalism. I think they were being manipulated by this guy. If they weren't they would have been done with me long time ago. I was constantly getting complaints called in against me. I believe these were fabricated or coerced. I had the game warden sent to me by this guy too. They treated me like I was a big trouble maker and were very short in their dealings with me. Why would they not believe what he told them? Finally I got a game warden to listen to me and thank God he did. I could tell he believed about as much as a game warden can and he said go to the sheriff if I think I'm being harassed, which I did immediately. I told the sheriff the story. They listened to me until I had finished and told me there was nothing they could do at the time but I know they took mental notes and put in their calculus if they ever were in a situation that involved me. I thank them for that. I started to feel a little better.
I still needed a safe place to take the boat. I was surrounded by hostile people on land and theives who were breaking in and stealing everything i had on the water. I had thousands of dollars in theft as they knew i wouldnt call cops. I found a place on beach. As I was driving boat, i lost a trim tab as i could not go to the boat yard for maintanence. Boat was taking on water and i had to make repairs immediately. I pulled to old fuel dock at downtown launch. The next morning as i was preparing to re start my journey, i got a call from PCPD asking about my boat and why I was parked at the fuel dock and if I jumped the fence to get to shore. I told him I used a canoe to go to ramp. He said ok. Thank u. I now had a phone number for a PCPD and i texted him that I needed to talk to them and he said what about. And let me tell u, I told him in a long text. He texted he had a meeting the next day at city hall and would be back with me. The next day he texted me a question and I texted him the rest of what I forgot to put previously. It probably took 45 minutes to read. I have nothing but respect for law enforcement and never saw them as my enemy. For the record, they are the sharpest police I have ever seen. Uniforms you can cut tomatoes on the creases. Looks like they get a haircut twice a day. U can tell its more than just a costume to them, and they are first class. They never were disrespectful to me. By the book every time. The only reason I am still among the free people. Thanks for that.
So to today. The beach slip was too shallow. I had to, once again, find a place for boat. I anchored in front of my old marina, where i know many people, sun harbor.
But The damage that has been done by this CE officer to my reputation is still with me every day. I cannot get a slip in a marina. It even extends beyond the boat but to me personally. I rented a room in town with a buddy and his friends but after being there 2 weeks, the same CE officer saw me in the yard and came onto the property and told the people, basically, as long as i was there, so was he and so was trouble for them because of it. He told my buddy, Edward Wells, as he pointed at me, "pieces of shit like that are too scared to complain." I was immediately kicked out and told not to come back that was the end of my welcome. I had to drive to wewahitchka to my best friends place to live. I still do sometimes. My work territory is toward Destin. My work vehicle gets about 8 MPG. So it gets expensive, to say the least.
People still treat me like I am a monster. After 2 1/2 years and seeing me get threatened by the law and being talked to like a dog by this guy why would they not assume I am the monster I was made out to be. My business has seriously suffered. I struggle to just exist sometimes. I am no longer in danger of jail every day, but In the court of public opinion, my name is trashed. . People are afraid of me. I don't know what he said, but It was bad. I have been the most hated, abused person imaginable for years.
How did i get here? My boat has been vandalized on a constant basis. 8 times has my anchor line deliberately been cut. I do not have any enemies at all, that i know of. Owning my own business makes me easy going. The only justifiable reason i think anybody should hate another person is for their choice of college football team. The coast guard has had to save it the last 4 or 5 times. It happens at least twice a month. I've lost many big anchors and chain. They tore off the rails on front by purposely hitting my line with their boat motors. I have people I don't know throwing wakes on my boat so big they will knock u down. I had a friend on it one time helping me repair a hole I got when it got set loose and ended up on bird island, who some people i dont know thought he was me and verbally threatened him. He thought they were going to try coming aboard. It gets broke into constantly when I'm not there. If nothing is stolen, it is ransacked. I am always afraid that someone will decide that doing damage to my property is not enough and they want to take it further. I'm scared to be on it by myself. It's been a mob mentality to hurt me. The boat was finally moved on to this side of the bridge by the coast guard when it was found adrift after it somehow broke hold with their anchor and their rope when they caught it last time it somehow was adrift after breaking hold from their anchor and their rope. That doesn't happen by accident. When the coast guard wants you anchored it is not the water waves and wind that will set it free. Especially not twice. Maybe 3 times. 8 times it's been messed with.
What im asking you for is this, if you know anyone who.can help me in any way, I would really appreciate it. I need the FBI, or the DA or an attorney or lawyer or just somebody who can look at this level of abuse and lets stop it. My civil rights have been decimated. My business has dropped off. The wear and tear on my body to keep afloat and safe is starting to really wear me down. I don't have hardly any friends left. I am stuck and I don't know what else to do. If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.
I have run out of places to run. I don't have anyone left. I ask u to help me. If u know anything about my situation please let me know. I have been blindsided by people who honestly think they are doing the right thing helping police to get me put away. I don't know what to do, but somebody out there does. It would be nice to be treated like a human being again. I almost forgot what a kind word sounds like. There has to be some good people that live here that will look into this and maybe lend me hand or some advise on how get this boat off this sand on the winward side of the damn bridge. I would have NEVER put this boat on this side during winter with a constant north wind making waters here very rough on a constant basis. But the Coast Guard did and I figure they did for a reason so here it is. My boat didn't always look so battered, but you would too if I was your captain calling all the shots on the water trying to find a friendly place to tie up being broken into multiple times, having things thrown at you by angry passerby walking back from downtown bars drunk at 1 in the morning and you havent had a proper bath in years.
But seriously i dont know what else to do. I dont want to put people in a spot where they think a monster has moved in. I felt so bad for those that went through it. They actually changed their behavior and acted upon what they were told about me. Its not just marinas either. Anywhere i have gone very shortly after comes this guy. So here is where i have ended up. I am afraid that I'm gonna cross paths with the wrong person who is misinformed and decides to take it further. Bad news goes around the world before good news can put its pants on. That is my ultimate problem. How do you right what someone has done when I dont know the extent of the damage, what was said, and nobody will give me the time of day?
I drive a bus that looks like a boat and if you see me please stop and say hello and i guarantee any advise you have is gonna be beter than what i am thinking. Just being nice to me would be like medicine. Now it's kinda up to you and the good Lord. They say he will move a mountain, but u gotta bring your own shovel. I really hope i am around long enough to find out. I thank both of u in advance.
Paul A McAleer.
850 485 1181