Thomas J.

Westgard
2218 S. Knightridge Rd.
Bloomington, IN 47401
(312) 890-7319
twestgard@gmail.com

May 7, 2020

City of Bloomington
401 N. Morton St., Suite 220
Bloomington, IN 47402

Re: Notice of Tort Claim by Thomas J. Westgard

Dear Sir or Madam:

As you are already aware, I was arrested on November 9, 2019 without probable cause for
peacefully carrying a sign at the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market (the “Farmers’
Market”). I was wrongfully arrested for allegedly violating unofficial, undisclosed, and
improperly promulgated ad-hoc Farmers’ Market rules for which the officials with the Board of
Park Commissioner and/or the Parks and Recreation Department had no basis to request my
arrest and for which the Police had no basis to believe probable cause existed for my arrest.

I and others were participating in protests against the city’s complicity in inviting and retaining a
white supremacist vendor, an unincorporated farm commonly known as Schooner Creek Farm,
owned by Sarah Dye and Doug Mackey. The city has and had a seasonal contract with Dye and
Mackey to sell farm products, under the name of Schooner Creek Farm, at the city-run
Bloomington Community Farmers Market.

Although Police arrested me and other people who were peacefully protesting the presence of a
white supremacist farmers market vendor, Police did not arrest individuals at the Farmers’
Market who were actively threatening and intimidating Farmers’ Market patrons, nor white
supremacists affiliated with Schooner Creek Farm who made false statements in connection with
commerce, and verbally harassed a person in violation of city ordinance. Instead, the City of
Bloomington (the “City”) selectively targeted for arrest without probable cause only those
persons who objected to the presence of a white supremacist, although the anti-racist protesters,
including but not only me, were not intimidating the public or carrying a weapon. We were,
instead, unarmed, and carrying signs and singing.

The city is and has long been aware of an ongoing pattern of false statements by Schooner Creek
Farm. These acts include but are not limited to giving false and misleading information to the
city and to the public about the identity of farm stand assistants, as required by the city’s contract
with the vendor. These false statements concealed the identity of a nationwide network of white
supremacists participating directly in the Bloomington Community Farmers Market. Further,
representatives of Schooner Creek Farm have harassed people during the operation of the
farmers market in violation of city ordinance and contract requirements. The city failed and
City of Bloomington
May 7, 2020
Page 2

refused to remove Schooner Creek Farm personnel from the market, on either a temporary or
permanent basis, neither under civil nor criminal bases, despite being aware of valid bases to do
so. In so doing, the city selectively left white supremacists free to participate in the market,
despite a known pattern of civil and criminal acts. On multiple occasions in 2019, the city denied
that Schooner Creek Farm had given false information or had in any way breached its contract
with the city. However, belying those statements, the city, in early 2020, issued a letter to
Schooner Creek Farm that rebuked the farm for a “failure to notify” the city about the stall
assistants. This written statement by the city was false and known at all times by the city to be
false; Schooner Creek Farm did notify the city in writing of stall assistants, but in doing so gave
false names for such persons.

The law did not permit my arrest as a matter of political expediency. Nor did the law permit my
arrest as an offering to Internet comments conflating all manner and method of protests. I was
engaged in protected speech, and no legal restriction on the time, place, or manner of that speech
was in place to give rise to probable cause for my arrest.

Pursuant to IC 34-13-3-8 and 34-13-3-10, the City is hereby notified that I hold tort claims
against the City, including the Mayor, the Bloomington Police Department, the Parks and
Recreation Department and the Board of Park Commissioners, arising out of her arrest, and
provides requisite information below. Note that this letter only constitutes requisite notice of
claims under Indiana law, and does not constitute a waiver of any other claims, including but not
limited to claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which are not required to be raised in this notice.

Claimant’s Contact Information and Residence

My contact information is listed at the top of page one of this letter.

Overview of Facts Giving Rise to Claims

I am a carpenter and a market gardener residing in Monroe County, Indiana.

On or about April 30, 2019, I advised the Nashville, Indiana farmers market board that I had
heard rumors, at that time unsubstantiated, that Schooner Creek Farm had been protested as a
white supremacist at the Bloomington Community Farmers Market. I stated to the Nashville
market board that, as an intended vendor at the Nashville market, I wanted to create an orderly
process for persons to make complaints about vendors so that we could channel such complaints
and avoid unpleasant difficulties at the market. At that time Sarah Dye was the Nashville market
board president, and she gave an impassioned speech denying that she was a white supremacist.
However, the Nashville board agreed to create a complaint system. Shortly thereafter, leaked
chats on an internet site known as Discord revealed Sarah Dye’s heretofore secret identity as
“Volkmom,” an unabashedly racist internet personality who participated in podcasts that used
every manner of racially abusive ideas and epithets. The Nashville farmers market board
removed Schooner Creek Farm from their board, and as a vendor.
City of Bloomington
May 7, 2020
Page 3

On June 4, 2019, Abby Ang, a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University, submitted a letter to the
Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market detailing the involvement of proprietors of Farmers
1
Market vendor Schooner Creek Farm in neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations.
Specifically, Ms. Ang detailed the involvement of Schooner Creek’s Sarah Dye with members of
Identity Evropa, a group associated with “Identitarianism.” In her own words, Ms. Dye has
asserted that Identitarians “staunchly defend the preservation of America’s historical
demographics in the face of mass immigration, and are opposed to the demonization of and
2
discrimination against America’s white majority.” Identitarians and members of Identity Evropa
attempt to repackage and normalize white supremacist speech, including by attempting to
characterize anti-racism messages as “anti-white,” in order to reframe policies of diversity and
3
inclusion as “racism” for the very purpose of making the term “racism” meaningless.

In 2017, Identity Evropa members helped to plan the deadly Unite the Right Rally in
4
Charlottesville, Virginia. Also in 2017, individuals, allegedly associated with or allegedly acting
on behalf of Identity Evropa, posted fliers on the offices of minority faculty members at Indiana
University that showed pictures of Greek statues with the words, “OUR FUTURE BELONGS
5
TO US,” and which were ascribed to “IDENTITY EVROPA.”

As the market proceeded through spring and into summer, I repeatedly contacted the city by
email, phone, and in person, requesting a copy of any rules that prohibited, restricted, defined, or
otherwise in any manner gave time, place, or manner restrictions for protest or speech by patrons
in the market. These messages went to market personnel, the legal department, the parks
department, and the mayor, among others. Although I was at times directed to the vendor
contract, a contract for persons in Information Alley, and a contract for busking, on each such
occasion I responded that I had signed no such contract and that as such I was not subject to the
terms of such contract. I repeated my requests for any set of rules governing speech by patrons
and the city at all times failed and refused to provide any such.

On July 27, 2019, the Farmers’ Market was attended by both market visitors expressing
displeasure with Schooner Creek’s association with Identity Evropa, and visitors supporting
Schooner Creek, including between 12 and 20 members of The Three Percenters harassing and
physically intimidating market visitors expressing displeasure with Schooner Creek. The Three
Percenters are a militia group founded in response to Obama’s election based on fears regarding
6
potential gun regulations. Described as “something like the armed wing of the Trump
1
Ellen Hine, Letter alleges white supremacists sell at farmers’ market, Indiana Daily Student, June 11, 2019
(available at https://www.idsnews.com/article/2019/06/letter-alleges-white-supremacists-sell-at-farmers-market).
2
Kurt Christian, Dye: Schooner Creek Farm will be at farmers’ market Saturday, Herald Times, Aug. 14, 2019
(available at
https://www.hoosiertimes.com/herald_times_online/news/local/dye-schooner-creek-farm-will-be-at-farmers-market-
saturday/article_08ee2569-afb8-583f-bce4-c5ab599f5865.html).
3
See, Identity Evropa, supra.
4
See, e.g., Identity Evropa, SPLCenter.Org (available at
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/identity-evropa).
5
Hine, Letter alleges, supra.
6
See, e.g., James Pogue, There Was Another Right-Wing Terrorist Incident This Weekend, Mother Jones, August 15,
2017 (available at
City of Bloomington
May 7, 2020
Page 4
7
revolution,” members of the Three Percenters note that they are likely all armed at rallies and
8
protests, and the organization itself idealizes armed opposition to government action with which
9
it disagrees. The purpose of their attendance at the Farmers’ Market was to create a show of
physical force, including the threat of gun violence, in support of Schooner Creek and against
those rejecting Schooner Creek’s white-supremacist associations.

Among both protestors and counter-protestors, Indiana University professor Dr. Cara Caddoo
held a sign stating, “SCHOONER CREEK FARM IS OPERATED BY MEMBERS OF
IDENTITY EVROPA, A WHITE NATIONALIST HATE GROUP.” The bottom of the sign
stated, “*Recently rebranded as American Identity Movement.” Ms. Caddoo was not a threat, did
not interfere with Farmers’ Market customers, and was not disorderly.

A number of market patrons were verbally threatened and physically intimidated by Schooner
Creek supporters, including one patron who attempted to file a complaint with the City’s Police
Department but was told the Police were too busy to take his complaint and that the patron
would need to go to the Police Station. The Police ultimately took no action against Schooner
Creek supporters who were harassing other market customers.

While Ms. Caddoo was carrying her sign, I approached as many farmers market personnel as I
could find, including a woman BPD officer and Leslie Brinson, stating my fear that Dr. Caddoo
was about to be arrested illegally, and urgently repeating my demands for any set of written rules
that would make such an arrest illegal. At that time and place, Ms. Brinson stated to me
expressly that there was no such written rule.

Ms. Caddoo, however, while peacefully protesting was approached by employees of the City’s
Parks & Recreation Department (the “Parks Department”) and told to relocate from the Farmers’
Market. After Police subsequently also requested that Ms. Caddoo relocate from the Farmers’
Market and she refused, Ms. Caddoo was arrested by the Police for criminal trespass and booked
by police Ms. Caddoo was released later that day, and no charges were ultimately filed. While
officers were handcuffing Dr. Caddoo, escorting her off the market property, and placing her in a
marked police car, I shouted repeatedly, “THERE IS NO WRITTEN RULE AGAINST SIGNS
AT THE MARKET.” The officers present looked at me with eyebrows raised and talked amongst
themselves, but proceeded with the arrest despite this knowledge.

Later that day, the city published on its website a document on Farmers’ Market letterhead
entitled “Clarification of Long-standing Rules of Behavior for the Bloomington Community
Farmers’ Market.” The rules include a statement that “[s]igns and distribution of literature at

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/08/there-was-another-right-wing-terrorist-incident-this-weekend/);
Three Percenters, ADL.Org (available at https://www.adl.org/resources/glossary-terms/three-percenters); Nicole
Einbinder, Here’s what you need to know about the Three Percenters, the militia group protecting GOP lawmakers
in Oregon, Insider (Jun. 25, 2019) (available at
https://www.insider.com/the-three-percenters-militia-group-protecting-gop-lawmakers-in-oregon-2019-6).
7
See Pogue, supra.
8
See Einbinder, supra.
9
See threepercenters.org/about-us.
City of Bloomington
May 7, 2020
Page 5

Market by the public . . . [i]s not permitted on the blacktop area of Showers Common (where
farm vendors are set up). The rules likewise state as follows:

o Market staff will ask any persons causing disruption to relocate to a free speech area
o If this is not successful market staff or vendor will contact BPD
o BPD will reiterate request to move if not compliant this will lead to arrest

These purported “long-standing rules of behavior,” however, were not distributed by the City
10
until after Ms. Caddoo’s July 27, 2019 arrest. While the document is dated June 27, 2019,
Farmers’ Market coordinator Marcia Veldman stated that this date “is when Parks staff, city legal
and various other departments in the [C]ity all met and really were like, ‘Okay, let’s go through
11
the different situations and establish clarity.” In a video recording in my possession, Ms.
Veldman acknowledged that the rules were not long-standing and were changed as a result of
protests. Acknowledging that the document refers to such rules as “long-standing,” she stated,
“Having managed the market for 23 years, I was aware, absolutely, that we had allowed for signs
in the market. But, again, the situation changes, and it only makes sense that we are able to
12
adapt to a changing situation.”

Ms. Veldman later verbally admitted to me, in the presence of five witnesses, that the June 27,
2019 date was not the date of publication but rather was the date of an internal organizing
meeting. However, Schooner Creek Farm has subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against the city
in which Schooner Creek Farm alleges inaccurately that the date of rules promulgation is June
27, 2019. In the city’s answer to that complaint, the city “admits” the inaccurate date. The falsely
alleged (and falsely admitted) date is beneficial to Schooner Creek Farm in that it supports a
false impression that the city had established rules against protest, and the city benefits by the
falsehood because it conceals a failure by the city to maintain accurate records and more
importantly, not arrest people without probable cause. Nevertheless, the city’s statement in its
federal answer in the Schooner Creek Farm lawsuit is factually false and should be corrected.

On November 9, 2109, I and four others were engaged in a protest similar to the one that led to
Dr. Caddoo’s arrest. We were holding signs and singing a song we had written that objected to
the presence of Schooner Creek Farm at the market. We were approached first by city employees
and requested to leave. Then we were approached by uniformed officers of the Bloomington
Police Department, who verbally instructed us that we must leave or face arrest. When we
refused to leave, we were physically escorted off the market lot by a large team of officers to a
nearby sidewalk, who demanded our identification documents and wrote us what appeared to be
a summons. The officers then informed us that we could leave, but if we returned to the market
that day we would be taken into custodial arrest.

10
See Emma Atkinson, Officials: We Changed Demonstration Rules Because of Farmers’ Market Protests, Indiana
Public Media, Sept. 24, 2019 (available at
indianapublicmedia.org/news/officials-we-changed-demonstration-rules-because-of-farmers-market-protests.php).
11
See id.
12
See id.
City of Bloomington
May 7, 2020
Page 6

Although the City arrested us, the purported rules that we are alleged to have violated were never
formally adopted by the City, but were instead drafted by an ad hoc group without legal authority
and without notice to the public. We were arrested in a City parking lot, which is a public place.
There is no lease between the City and the Parks Board or any other entity such that the Farmers’
Market constituted a private space. The Parks Board and its agents did not have legal authority
to order our arrest, nor did the Police have probable cause to believe we were committing a
criminal offense, particularly as the arrest was based on unpromulgated ad hoc committee rules
without force and effect on public City property.

Meanwhile, the city’s persistent failure and refusal to take action against the white supremacists
discussed above, despite having documented evidence of civil and criminal wrongs by those
parties, shows a clear animus by the city to use its powers to protect white supremacists while
suppressing the Constitutionally-protected free speech of the protesters such as myself.

Claim for Wrongful Arrest

I have a claim for wrongful arrest against the City of Bloomington and the Police arising out of
the unlawful restraint upon my freedom of movement and the deprivation of my liberty without
13
consent and the absence of probable cause to arrest me. Incorporating the overview of facts
above, neither did Parks Department officials have authority to request my arrest nor did the
Police have probable cause to arrest me based upon the unpromulgated rules drafted by an ad
hoc committee without the force of law and never adopted by the City. No reasonable officer
could have believed the warrantless arrest was lawful. Likewise, no lease between the City and
the Parks Department governed the Farmers’ Market to change the nature of the public parking
lot as a public City space. I expect to incur attorneys fees and costs.

Claim for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

I have a claim for defamation against the City for intentional infliction of emotional distress, as
the City engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct that intentionally or recklessly caused
severe emotional distress to me. As detailed, the City intentionally caused my unlawful arrest
while she was engaged in peaceful protest against members of a white-supremacist organization.
While I was arrested in front of Identity Evropa members, the City made no other arrests despite
widespread demonstrations. I expect to incur attorneys fees and costs.

Claims Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983

I have claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deprivation of rights, privileges, or immunities secured
by the Constitution and law of the United States, including but not limited to violations of my
rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, as
detailed above. As detailed in cases such as Irwin Mortg. Corp v. Marion County Treasurer, 816
N.E.2d 439, 447 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004) and Meury v. Eagle-Union Cmty. School Corp., 714

13
See, e.g., Donovan v. Hoosier Park, LLC, 84 N.E.3d 1198 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017); Miller v City of Anderson, 77
N.E.2d 1100 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002).
City of Bloomington
May 7, 2020
Page 7

N.E.2d 233, 242 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999), tort claims notice requirements are inapplicable to claims
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 even when presented in a state court forum. For the avoidance of doubt,
while I am not required to identify such claims in this notice, I have claims for violations of my
civil rights and have not waived any claims. I expect to incur attorneys fees and costs.

Names of Known Persons Involved

Persons involved in my arrest and related events giving rise to her claims are known to the City.
Such persons include, but are not limited to, Mayor John Hamilton, Police Chief Michael
Diekhoff, Farmers’ Market Coordinator Marcia Veldman, City Parks Director Paula McDevitt,
Community Events Manager Leslie Brinson, City Spokesperson Yael Ksander, and officers and
employees of the Bloomington Police Department who were present and participated but whose
individual names are not known to me.

Damages Sought

Incorporating the statements made above, I have a claim for damages arising out of the
aforementioned causes of action, including for false arrest, emotional distress suffered, actual
and further potential damages arising out of the publication of her name incorrectly asserting I
engaged in criminal activity. I seek compensation for actual and punitive damages, together with
costs and attorneys’ fees incurred, in an amount greater than $500,000.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Westgard

via certified mail: Indiana Political Subdivision Risk Management Commission, 311 W
Washington St, Suite 103, Indianapolis, IN 46204