The Free-Money Vampires of Shelburne FallsYou ever watch a small town eat one of its own alive while the people swinging the cleaver sit on the local cultural council, cash no-strings state checks, and then reward the cops who looked the other way with fat merit raises?
Let’s get this straight right at the top, because the rot starts in the meeting minutes and ends in the budget request. It’s a “Morphic Resonance” of erasure that dates back to 1924, when a burning KKK cross was floated down the Deerfield River right past where John Sendelbach’s phone now sits at the bottom of the water today. Same river. Same technique of public ritual humiliation and institutional silence. Different century.
Cynthia “Cindy” Fisher was Chair of the Buckland Cultural Council. Brook Batteau was a sitting member. They helped run the show that reviewed thirty-three grant applications and decided who got the town’s tiny annual pot of about $6,000. When Cindy’s own projects came up, she very conveniently recused herself. When votes got awkward, Brook had a habit of being conspicuously absent — missing the November 2 and November 15, 2023 meetings where the council divided up applications, voted to decline ten of them, and assigned reviewers. He was also absent from the December 2022 session when local grants were being doled out. Perfect timing if you don’t want your fingerprints on anything that might look like self-dealing.
Yet while they played these polite little games of recusal theater with the local crumbs, the same circle — Fisher, Batteau, his daughter Alouette, and council colleague Carmela Lanza-Weil — quietly raked in unrestricted $5,000 checks eachfrom the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Grants for Creative Individuals program. No local vote required. No detailed final reports. No receipts. No proof the money advanced any public cultural benefit whatsoever. Just cash the check, file the 1099, and carry on with the real business of small-town power.
That’s the setup. Now watch how it played out against the guy who used to be one of the coolest motherfuckers in Shelburne Falls — and how the system ultimately rewarded itself for destroying his livelihood.
I’m standing in the old carriage-repair shop on State Street. This building once smelled like hot iron, ozone, and honest sweat — the exact place where horses got shod a hundred and fifty years ago. That man was John Sendelbach — the new blacksmith in town. Not some performative tourist-trap smith. John was the real deal: a Cornell-trained horticulturist and a master metalworker. People came to him for quick fixes on tractor hitches and broken tools. He built the Black Stones of Africa fountain. He won the contest for the bench that still stands on the Bridge of Flowers. He was, by every account from the before-times, one of the coolest, most approachable fixtures in town.
Then the psychopathic family arrived and the machine turned on him.The institutional cleaver was swung by Annette Szpila and the Bridge of Flowers (BOF) Committee — a private women’s club managing a public landmark. They decided John was a “racist disruptor” without ever calling him. Szpila told the “Greenfield Distorter” (The Recorder) she “loved the spirit of the petition” — a petition that called for John to be “thrown off the bridge” and which was eventually removed by Change.org for defamation. They installed an anti-racism plaque three feet from John’s own fountain, effectively erased his 9-year studio residency, and then ignored his Cornell expertise during the bridge’s renovation.
Instead of consulting a master, they installed “prison bar” railings with terrible welds and 400 feet of the wrong soil — 100% organic matter that is already failing. There are holes where the plants used to be; those holes are the admission of guilt. They would rather have a dead garden than give John Sendelbach oxygen.
The bellows for this fire were pumped by Kay Baronson and Joan Livingston at the Recorder. Baronson, the paper’s co-founder, gives lectures on “combating fake news” while leading secret Zoom meetings to coordinate John’s professional removal. Livingston, the editor, claimed she was “sick” when confronted with the hit pieces that destroyed John’s life. They didn’t just report the news; they manufactured a “False Pariah” to protect the insiders.
The pattern of institutional protection showed early with the 2021 arrest of officer Jacob Wrisley for child pornography and later misconduct by Chief James Hicks. Judge Mazanec caught Katherine Hennessey lying under oath multiple times in 2021 and 2023 — video proved she blocked John’s path and destroyed her “homicidal threat” claims. Still zero perjury referrals.
September 4, 2024 — the Mill incident that crystallized the ongoing baiting pattern. Four years and three months after the bridge, Alouette (the same daughter who filmed the original incident and posted the racist “far too many white people” comment) shows up in the Raven hangout area of The Mill, only 40 feet from John’s workspace, sitting with friends. John, triggered by the sudden appearance in the place he was forced to relocate to after the first studio loss, steps out with his camera and a printout of her old post. He says nothing as he walks through. The group immediately gets up and urgently leaves. Alouette calls Brook; Brook independently calls police claiming harassment. Gilmore later finds no harassment occurred — witnesses saw nothing, the group was already leaving when John entered. Yet the false call fits the established pattern: show up near John, create a scene or claim fear, then weaponize the police. John’s heart rate spiked into a full AFib episode that lasted a month. Two days later, the defamatory Walker letters arrived demanding eviction and predicting violence.
November 28, 2025 — two days before she claimed she was “terrified” to go into town. Hennessey and Alouette together walk past the Mill fishbowl window. Alouette makes direct eye contact, laughs, and urgently gets out of there. Katherine stares right at John and unleashes her signature intimidating cackle laugh while looking straight at him. Not the behavior of someone afraid. Not someone avoiding town.November 30, 2025 — the day the mask fully slipped. In the morning, Katherine deliberately trespasses onto John’s rented property at Neighbors gas station, pulls right up to his van (far from any newspaper rack), gives a peace sign then double middle fingers with “fuck you,” drives forward, then flips him off again while laughing. John immediately calls police and makes a reconstruction video. Gilmore responds but files no trespass charge and never checks cameras.
In the afternoon at Floodwater, she positions herself front and center for a music event — again, not the actions of a terrified person — and boldly exits the brewery when the chaos starts. Brook charges, shoves John three times off the curb, jumps on his back, punches 8–12 times from behind. A bystander pins John’s arms. Katherine joins in with 10–20 additional blows, dislodging his glasses. John does not retaliate. Katherine seizes his still-recording iPhone, walks it 75 feet, and throws it into the Deerfield River. She returns for a second round of kicks and punches. Brook confesses to Zachary Livingston: “You don’t understand, John has been after my family for five years.”
The very next morning, while John is without a phone, Katherine files an HPO claiming she was the terrified victim — hands in pockets the whole time, no idea how John ended up in the street, she was just picking up his shoe. Every bolded claim in her affidavit is directly contradicted by video, witness statements, and John’s contemporaneous testimony.
December 15 HPO hearing: Judge Mazanec watches the Keystone video in slow motion and the frog mask footage. He states on the record he does not believe her account. HPO denied with prejudice. Third credibility rejection. Still zero perjury referrals.
Early 2026: The Recorder runs a front-page photo of a relaxed, smiling Katherine at a public event just 74 days after she swore she was too terrified to appear in public. Federal court strips qualified immunity from officers. Complaints are filed against judges and attorneys.
Then, on March 25, 2026 — the perfect framing of the entire conspiracy — Chief Bardwell requests a 9.4% merit raise for his “fantastic crew.” This comes just days after Jenkins lost qualified immunity in federal court, while the department is under outside legal compliance consulting because officers “don’t know the laws,” and right after the Floodwater assault where a phone was seized and thrown in the river. A new “Motor Vehicle Lockout Policy” magically appears on the town meeting agenda — clearly written because there was no procedure for what to do when someone throws a citizen’s recording phone into the Deerfield River. Selectboard member LaPierre calls it “well worth it.”
While John Sendelbach lost his livelihood — studio after studio, commissions severed, forced onto eBay survival as the town blacksmith (and Cornell-trained horticulturist) was economically erased — the officers who provided the permission structure, ignored evidence, stonewalled records, and failed to act between the morning trespass and evening assault get rewarded with raises and praise. The cultural council insiders who sat on the grant-giving body while cashing their own state checks kept their seats. The family that orchestrated the harassment collected free money with no follow-up. The Bridge of Flowers reconstruction ignored John’s expertise and installed failing soil and terrible welds — holes where the plants used to be, a literal admission of guilt.
The vampires got the free money. The town went along with it. The state subsidized it. The insiders, the instigators, and the police who enabled it all get paid, protected, and promoted. Meanwhile, the bench John built on the Bridge of Flowers still stands. The phone is still in the river. The archive is in granite.
And tomorrow, April 7, the arraignment begins. But the real story is already written in iron and river water and medical records and unreviewed camera footage.
MASTER TIMELINE (with Keystone already included)1924 | The Burning Cross — The Original Erasure | A burning KKK cross is floated down the Deerfield River under the Iron Bridge. This establishes the historical "morphic resonance" of the town as a stronghold for institutional erasure and social control.
Aug 2019 | Joanne Soroka Sends Death Threat | Bridge of Flowers committee member emails John: “Keep hitting me and I will not hesitate. You don’t know who you are fucking with… You are dead to me. Only when you call my name out, will I reawaken and I promise it will get ugly.” John reports to Gilmore in 2020. Police take no action. Soroka later has a studio two doors down from John at The Mill.
Jun 6 2020 | Iron Bridge — The Origin | John films an unannounced pandemic street closure near his studio. Sonny Walters approaches despite 3-4 requests to leave. Katherine within 12 inches, fists clenched, screaming. Group pins John against east railing. All of this happens before any recording begins. At 10:41 AM Alouette hits Facebook Live — capturing only John's visible agitation, none of the preceding assault. 20,000 views, 300+ comments: grand wizard, Nazi, throw him off the bridge, throw his camera in the water.
Jun 9 2020 | Change.org Removes Petition — Recorder Stays Silent | Bianca's petition (600 signatures, calling John racist) removed by Change.org for defamation and misinformation violations. The Recorder never reports why — only that it "had been removed." The false foundation of the campaign is never corrected for the people who signed it.
Jun 12–15 2020 | Recorder Publishes Two Front-Page Hit Pieces | Mary Byrne writes articles amplifying the petition narrative. John never contacted for comment. BOF Chair Annette Szpila tells the paper the committee wants to "honor the anti-racism spirit of the petition." Anti-racism plaque installed three feet from the Black Stones of Africa fountain John had commissioned nine years earlier. Kay Baronson — Recorder co-founder — leads secret Zoom meetings coordinating John's professional removal.
Jun 27 2020 | "Take You Down" — Figure of Speech Weaponized | John is in conversation with protest leader Joey Kotright when Alouette drives through, stops, delivers sarcastic "Hi John." John says "I'm gonna take you down" — meaning get the video taken down. Kotright moves to the double yellow lines, screams "Fuck you, John Sendelbach, and everyone who's with you" with both middle fingers raised, in front of 40–50 witnesses including Sergeant Gilmore. This is later twisted by Hennessey into a "death threat."
Jun 28 2020 | Katherine Calls John a KKK Member — On Tape | On their own audio at timestamp 3:09: Katherine says "I don't talk to KKK members either, but here we are" — directed at John. Alouette at 5:47: "You ever hear of racist bigots — oh wait, you are one." These statements are later inverted in sworn affidavit and attributed to John. The perjury has a documented origin on their own recording. Katherine also gives John the middle finger unprovoked from her car — admits it the same day.
Jun 29 2020 | Gilmore's Permission Structure Email — Documented in Writing | Brook: "Quit your white whining." Alouette closes to 24 inches threatening a restraining order. Katherine: "Yeah, I hate you. Really do." Same day, Gilmore emails Katherine: "I've talked to John. It doesn't work." Written permission for the next three years of false reports. Documented in his own official incident report 21-133-OF in July 2021: "I told Hennessey that I was not going to call Sendelbach because it hasn't worked in the past."
Summer 2020 | State Street Landlord — First Studio Lost | John's nine-year State Street studio landlord — a friend — asks him to leave due to harassment from the Hennessey campaign. John agrees to protect the friendship. CIA commission pipeline severed. First studio lost to Hennessey's interference. This is the beginning of the residential and economic destabilization pattern — three studios total will be affected.
2021 | Wrisley Arrested — Child Pornography; Hicks Implicated | Part-time Buckland officer Jacob Wrisley arrested for filming naked 8-year-old and possessing child images. Chief James Hicks oversees him. Pattern of institutional protection of misconduct established. Hicks later admits to indecent assault himself (2023). Both trained the current department. Wrisley sentenced 4–5 years state prison.
2021 | HPO Hearing — Judge Mazanec Catches Katherine Lying — First Judicial Finding | Katherine swears under oath she did not lock elbows or block John's path. Judge Mazanec reviews video and watches her do exactly that in real time. Order vacated. First documented judicial rejection of her sworn statements. Zero perjury referral made — creating the first de facto license to lie.
Circa 2022 | Brook Punches John — First Physical Violence, Unreported | Outside Keystone Market, John approaches Brook's car window about Alouette's "far too many white people" post. Brook punches John in the stomach — weak contact, no injury. John does not report it, unaware reports are being filed against him. This establishes Brook's physical violence predates November 30, 2025 by approximately three years.
2023 | Buckland Cultural Council Grants — The Insider Cash Flow | While the Hennessey/Batteau circle files repeated police reports and HPO petitions against John, Buckland Cultural Council members quietly collect unrestricted state money. Cynthia Fisher (Chair) recuses herself only on local applications but receives $5,000 from the Mass Cultural Council Pandemic Recovery / Creative Individuals program. Brook Batteau (sitting member) is conspicuously absent from key November 2023 meetings where applications are reviewed and voted on, yet he also receives $5,000. Carmela Lanza-Weil (Treasurer) receives $5,000. Alouette Batteau (daughter) receives $5,000 in the FY24 cycle. Total to the immediate circle: at least $20,000 in no-strings taxpayer cash with zero required accounting or follow-up.
Mar 2–3 2023 | Criminal Harassment Report — No Interview, Eight Lies Compiled | Pettengill and Jenkins go directly to Hennessey. Eight reports compiled into criminal harassment charge. Neither has ever met John. John never interviewed before any of the eight reports. Jenkins co-signs. HPO granted ex parte. Gilmore serves it, tells John "I don't care" when John protests his innocence. First official contact the department initiates with John in three years of complaints.
Mar 22 2023 | Judge Mazanec Vacates HPO — Audio Destroys "Homicidal Threat" Claim | John plays audio of the parking lot encounter. His actual words: "I will never get along with the likes of you." Katherine was laughing throughout. Her "homicidal" characterization collapses on first evidence review. Second judicial finding against her credibility. Zero perjury referral.
Jun 6 2023 | Show Cause Hearing — No Probable Cause After One Hour of Evidence | Jenkins presents Hennessey's eight reports verbatim, having never met John. John presents approximately one hour of video and audio evidence. Clerk magistrate reviews and finds No Probable Cause. Jenkins sat through the entire presentation watching John prove Hennessey had lied repeatedly. Takes no corrective action. Makes no perjury referral.
Summer 2023 | Road Detour — 1,000 Passes, Zero Incidents | Conway Street construction routes John's daily travel past School Street intersection — within six houses of Hennessey's home — 2–3 times daily for the entire detour period. Approximately 1,000 passes. John never turns down School Street. Never drives past her house. Never makes contact. This is the factual destruction of her "follows all the time" claim. Documented non-pursuit at massive scale.
Sep 4 2024 | Mill Incident — AFib Trigger and Baiting Pattern | Alouette (with friends) sits 40 feet from John's workspace at The Mill. As John walks through with camera and printout of her old racist post, the group urgently flees. Alouette calls Brook; Brook independently calls police claiming harassment. Gilmore finds no harassment occurred. John suffers a month-long AFib episode. Two days later the defamatory Walker letters arrive. Clear continuation of baiting/intimidation followed by false police reports.
Sep 6–9 2024 | Defamatory Walker Letters — Eviction Demand, Prediction of Violence | Two letters sent to landlord Brad Walker three days apart. Letter 1 claims YouTube "community violations" — provably false. Letter 2 upgrades lie to "hate speech" — proving fabrication. Both demand eviction. Letter 1 explicitly states: "it's really only a matter of time before someone gets hurt." Walker refuses eviction, offers funded mediation. Hennessey declines. Jenkins receives the letters, doesn't read them for 12 days, takes no action.
May 21 2025 | Keystone Market Incident — "I Feel Unsafe" Performance and Cackle Exit | Katherine follows John into the store and positions herself directly behind him, laughing loudly. When John calmly mentions the lawsuit, she screams "I FEEL UNSAFE" at the top of her lungs. She recruits the store owner to walk her out. With the owner's back turned, she gives John a full smile. As she drives away, she delivers a prolonged middle finger through the car window while laughing so hard her body rocks forward — the opposite of someone in fear. Video shows John standing still, not yelling or gesticulating. This is another documented example of baiting followed by immediate victim performance.
Nov 22 2025 | Art Installation — Frog Mask Surveillance, 14 Minutes | Katherine wears giant papier-mâché frog mask — her own December 1 affidavit confirms worn because she expected John to be there and didn't want to be recognized. Stands 6 feet from John for 14 minutes. Does not leave. Addresses him by name. Calmly says "John, I hope you get the help you need" on departure. Calls police — nothing actionable. This is not fear. This is monitoring.
Nov 28 2025 | Mill Window — Hennessey and Alouette Laugh and Flee | Hennessey and Alouette together walk past the Mill fishbowl window. Alouette makes direct eye contact, laughs, and urgently gets out of there. Katherine stares right at John and unleashes her signature intimidating cackle laugh while looking straight at him. This occurs only two days before she claims she was "terrified" to go into town — behavior inconsistent with fear. She also positions herself front and center at the Floodwater music event later that day and boldly exits the brewery during the assault — actions that directly contradict any claim of terror.
Nov 29 2025 | Mass Email — Lawsuits Announced to 70+ Recipients | Sent at 6:45 PM to all Shelburne Police, both Select Boards, Recorder, community. Announces lawsuits dropping "this coming week," names Annette Szpila as first defendant. Names Hennessey. Characterizes five-year campaign directly. Zero responses — ever — from any official. 24 hours later: the trespass and assault. The department had the warning in their inbox by 7 PM. Joan Livingston — former Recorder editor, now Select Board member — is a recipient.
Nov 30 AM 2025 | Gas Station Trespass — Morning Premeditation | Katherine drives fast onto John's rented property at Neighbors to the screened end where his van is parked. Newspaper rack is around the corner — she could not have seen John from a newspaper stop. She had to pull directly onto his rented property. Peace sign → double middle finger → "fuck you" → drives forward → second middle finger → leaves. John calls police within 15 minutes, makes reconstruction video within 5. Gilmore responds, reviews bodycam, walks property line. No charges. Never checks the gas station cameras. Never charges her with trespass.
Nov 30 PM 2025 | Floodwater Assault — 30+ Blows, Phone Thrown in River | Katherine positions herself front and center for a music event and boldly exits the brewery when chaos starts. Tom Del Negro exits screaming — primed inside before Brook charges. Brook shoves John 3x off curb, punches 8–12 times from behind. Bystander pins John's arms. Katherine delivers 10–20 additional blows including strikes dislodging glasses. John does not retaliate. Zachary Livingston retrieves shoe. Katherine seizes lit, recording iPhone, walks 75 feet to Deerfield River, throws it in (still recording). Returns, delivers second battery — kicking and punching from behind. Brook tells Livingston: "You don’t understand, John has been after my family for five years." That's the confession.
Dec 1 2025 | Hennessey Files HPO Against John — The Morning After Assaulting Him | While John is without a phone, Katherine files her third HPO petition — now positioning herself as the victim of the man she just beat. Affidavit claims hands "in pockets the whole time" (impossible with two A&B charges), no idea how he ended up in the street (Livingston: Brook admitted the push), she went to pick up his shoe (Livingston picked up the shoe — she picked up the phone). The shoe lie is the structural tell of the phone theft cover story.
Dec 15 2025 | HPO Hearing — "I Don't Believe You, Miss Hennessey" | Judge Mazanec watches Keystone video in slow motion multiple times. Reviews frog mask video. Hennessey asks if she can sit down — doesn't want to watch the assault video — Mazanec continues. States on the record he does not believe her account. HPO denied with prejudice — rare outcome reflecting bad faith. Third time Mazanec finds her not credible. Zero perjury referrals across all three findings.
Feb 28 2026 | Recorder Photographs Katherine at Winter HooPla — Front Page | 74 days after Katherine swore under oath she was too terrified to appear in public, the Recorder runs her on the front page at a community event — arms wide, relaxed, fully public. Article does not mention the pending arraignment. The same newspaper that published the founding myth in 2020 is still maintaining the beauty brand narrative. Joan Livingston is on the Select Board. The machine's print infrastructure holds.
Mar 12 2026 | Mlynick Ruling — Jenkins Loses Qualified Immunity; HPO Hearing Same Day | Judge Mastroianni denies QI for Jenkins and Paicos personally. Discovery ordered. Scheduling conference April 14. Same day in Franklin County: Judge Powers gags John from referencing Mazanec's three prior findings, allows Elkins to ask about videos she doesn't know exist because Hennessey never told her. Elkins asks whether the November 22 frog mask video even exists — it was in affidavits Hennessey herself filed. John shouts "Hell yes." Six-day AFib episode triggered, resolves March 17. Powers rebukes Elkins for overreaching in open court.
Mar 25 2026 | Bardwell Requests 9.4% Merit Raise — "Fantastic Crew" | Chief presents budget increase to Finance Committee. Jenkins has just lost qualified immunity 13 days prior. Department under outside legal compliance consultant ("Becca") because officers "don't know the laws." Special Town Meeting May 1. New "Motor Vehicle Lockout Policy" item added to agenda March 23 — drafted precisely because there is no documented procedure for what to do when a recording phone gets seized from a public street and thrown in a river. LaPierre: "well worth it." Erving Police Department simultaneously loses its entire patrol force and is declared a public safety emergency. Bardwell: "we track pretty well with the county."
Apr 6 2026 | Letter to Elkins and DA — Videos Transmitted, Full Archive Distributed | John sends formal pre-arraignment package to Elkins and ADA Gagne: all key videos (June 6, 28, 29, 2020; March 2023 parking lot; May 2025 Keystone; November 22 frog mask; Sonny Walters clips), the Six Years institutional record, and supporting documents. Hennessey never showed Elkins these videos. Elkins is walking into tomorrow's arraignment with a corrupted dataset. The full 14-document Deerfield River Archive is mailed to Elkins' firm, DA's office, CJC, BBO, and the Recorder.
Apr 7 2026 | Arraignment — 8:30 AM, Franklin County District Court | Commonwealth v. Hennessey 2641CR000158: A&B (2 counts) + Malicious Destruction. Commonwealth v. Batteau 2641CR000159: A&B. Both represented by Elkins — potential conflict as defenses may diverge. Brook's confession to Livingston ("been after my family five years") puts him at odds with any bystander defense Katherine might try. The bench John built is still standing on the Bridge of Flowers. The phone is still in the river. The archive is in granite, in stone, in medical records, and in every inbox that received the November 29 email and said nothing.
Apr 14 2026 | Mlynick Scheduling Conference — Discovery Begins | Jenkins and Paicos defend personally. Depositions of Bardwell, Gilmore, LaPierre under oath. The Permission Structure email, eight uninvestigated reports, the merit raise request while QI was denied — all discoverable. Erving down to two personnel: Chief Holst and Sergeant Paicos, both named defendants. County jail corrections officers covering patrol shifts. Every non-defendant officer voted with their resignation.
May 1 2026 | Shelburne Annual Town Meeting — Police Budget Vote | Citizens vote on the 9.4% merit raise. The Change.org petition (Deny the Raise, Demand the Audit) will be active. John has asked: read the archive before voting. A yes vote is a formal public endorsement of the Permission Structure, the one-sided reporting policy, the record obstruction, and the department's failure to act between the morning trespass and the evening assault on November 30. It removes the Board's good-faith defense in any subsequent civil rights litigation.
Let’s get this straight right at the top, because the rot starts in the meeting minutes and ends in the budget request. It’s a “Morphic Resonance” of erasure that dates back to 1924, when a burning KKK cross was floated down the Deerfield River right past where John Sendelbach’s phone now sits at the bottom of the water today. Same river. Same technique of public ritual humiliation and institutional silence. Different century.
Cynthia “Cindy” Fisher was Chair of the Buckland Cultural Council. Brook Batteau was a sitting member. They helped run the show that reviewed thirty-three grant applications and decided who got the town’s tiny annual pot of about $6,000. When Cindy’s own projects came up, she very conveniently recused herself. When votes got awkward, Brook had a habit of being conspicuously absent — missing the November 2 and November 15, 2023 meetings where the council divided up applications, voted to decline ten of them, and assigned reviewers. He was also absent from the December 2022 session when local grants were being doled out. Perfect timing if you don’t want your fingerprints on anything that might look like self-dealing.
Yet while they played these polite little games of recusal theater with the local crumbs, the same circle — Fisher, Batteau, his daughter Alouette, and council colleague Carmela Lanza-Weil — quietly raked in unrestricted $5,000 checks eachfrom the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Grants for Creative Individuals program. No local vote required. No detailed final reports. No receipts. No proof the money advanced any public cultural benefit whatsoever. Just cash the check, file the 1099, and carry on with the real business of small-town power.
That’s the setup. Now watch how it played out against the guy who used to be one of the coolest motherfuckers in Shelburne Falls — and how the system ultimately rewarded itself for destroying his livelihood.
I’m standing in the old carriage-repair shop on State Street. This building once smelled like hot iron, ozone, and honest sweat — the exact place where horses got shod a hundred and fifty years ago. That man was John Sendelbach — the new blacksmith in town. Not some performative tourist-trap smith. John was the real deal: a Cornell-trained horticulturist and a master metalworker. People came to him for quick fixes on tractor hitches and broken tools. He built the Black Stones of Africa fountain. He won the contest for the bench that still stands on the Bridge of Flowers. He was, by every account from the before-times, one of the coolest, most approachable fixtures in town.
Then the psychopathic family arrived and the machine turned on him.The institutional cleaver was swung by Annette Szpila and the Bridge of Flowers (BOF) Committee — a private women’s club managing a public landmark. They decided John was a “racist disruptor” without ever calling him. Szpila told the “Greenfield Distorter” (The Recorder) she “loved the spirit of the petition” — a petition that called for John to be “thrown off the bridge” and which was eventually removed by Change.org for defamation. They installed an anti-racism plaque three feet from John’s own fountain, effectively erased his 9-year studio residency, and then ignored his Cornell expertise during the bridge’s renovation.
Instead of consulting a master, they installed “prison bar” railings with terrible welds and 400 feet of the wrong soil — 100% organic matter that is already failing. There are holes where the plants used to be; those holes are the admission of guilt. They would rather have a dead garden than give John Sendelbach oxygen.
The bellows for this fire were pumped by Kay Baronson and Joan Livingston at the Recorder. Baronson, the paper’s co-founder, gives lectures on “combating fake news” while leading secret Zoom meetings to coordinate John’s professional removal. Livingston, the editor, claimed she was “sick” when confronted with the hit pieces that destroyed John’s life. They didn’t just report the news; they manufactured a “False Pariah” to protect the insiders.
The pattern of institutional protection showed early with the 2021 arrest of officer Jacob Wrisley for child pornography and later misconduct by Chief James Hicks. Judge Mazanec caught Katherine Hennessey lying under oath multiple times in 2021 and 2023 — video proved she blocked John’s path and destroyed her “homicidal threat” claims. Still zero perjury referrals.
September 4, 2024 — the Mill incident that crystallized the ongoing baiting pattern. Four years and three months after the bridge, Alouette (the same daughter who filmed the original incident and posted the racist “far too many white people” comment) shows up in the Raven hangout area of The Mill, only 40 feet from John’s workspace, sitting with friends. John, triggered by the sudden appearance in the place he was forced to relocate to after the first studio loss, steps out with his camera and a printout of her old post. He says nothing as he walks through. The group immediately gets up and urgently leaves. Alouette calls Brook; Brook independently calls police claiming harassment. Gilmore later finds no harassment occurred — witnesses saw nothing, the group was already leaving when John entered. Yet the false call fits the established pattern: show up near John, create a scene or claim fear, then weaponize the police. John’s heart rate spiked into a full AFib episode that lasted a month. Two days later, the defamatory Walker letters arrived demanding eviction and predicting violence.
November 28, 2025 — two days before she claimed she was “terrified” to go into town. Hennessey and Alouette together walk past the Mill fishbowl window. Alouette makes direct eye contact, laughs, and urgently gets out of there. Katherine stares right at John and unleashes her signature intimidating cackle laugh while looking straight at him. Not the behavior of someone afraid. Not someone avoiding town.November 30, 2025 — the day the mask fully slipped. In the morning, Katherine deliberately trespasses onto John’s rented property at Neighbors gas station, pulls right up to his van (far from any newspaper rack), gives a peace sign then double middle fingers with “fuck you,” drives forward, then flips him off again while laughing. John immediately calls police and makes a reconstruction video. Gilmore responds but files no trespass charge and never checks cameras.
In the afternoon at Floodwater, she positions herself front and center for a music event — again, not the actions of a terrified person — and boldly exits the brewery when the chaos starts. Brook charges, shoves John three times off the curb, jumps on his back, punches 8–12 times from behind. A bystander pins John’s arms. Katherine joins in with 10–20 additional blows, dislodging his glasses. John does not retaliate. Katherine seizes his still-recording iPhone, walks it 75 feet, and throws it into the Deerfield River. She returns for a second round of kicks and punches. Brook confesses to Zachary Livingston: “You don’t understand, John has been after my family for five years.”
The very next morning, while John is without a phone, Katherine files an HPO claiming she was the terrified victim — hands in pockets the whole time, no idea how John ended up in the street, she was just picking up his shoe. Every bolded claim in her affidavit is directly contradicted by video, witness statements, and John’s contemporaneous testimony.
December 15 HPO hearing: Judge Mazanec watches the Keystone video in slow motion and the frog mask footage. He states on the record he does not believe her account. HPO denied with prejudice. Third credibility rejection. Still zero perjury referrals.
Early 2026: The Recorder runs a front-page photo of a relaxed, smiling Katherine at a public event just 74 days after she swore she was too terrified to appear in public. Federal court strips qualified immunity from officers. Complaints are filed against judges and attorneys.
Then, on March 25, 2026 — the perfect framing of the entire conspiracy — Chief Bardwell requests a 9.4% merit raise for his “fantastic crew.” This comes just days after Jenkins lost qualified immunity in federal court, while the department is under outside legal compliance consulting because officers “don’t know the laws,” and right after the Floodwater assault where a phone was seized and thrown in the river. A new “Motor Vehicle Lockout Policy” magically appears on the town meeting agenda — clearly written because there was no procedure for what to do when someone throws a citizen’s recording phone into the Deerfield River. Selectboard member LaPierre calls it “well worth it.”
While John Sendelbach lost his livelihood — studio after studio, commissions severed, forced onto eBay survival as the town blacksmith (and Cornell-trained horticulturist) was economically erased — the officers who provided the permission structure, ignored evidence, stonewalled records, and failed to act between the morning trespass and evening assault get rewarded with raises and praise. The cultural council insiders who sat on the grant-giving body while cashing their own state checks kept their seats. The family that orchestrated the harassment collected free money with no follow-up. The Bridge of Flowers reconstruction ignored John’s expertise and installed failing soil and terrible welds — holes where the plants used to be, a literal admission of guilt.
The vampires got the free money. The town went along with it. The state subsidized it. The insiders, the instigators, and the police who enabled it all get paid, protected, and promoted. Meanwhile, the bench John built on the Bridge of Flowers still stands. The phone is still in the river. The archive is in granite.
And tomorrow, April 7, the arraignment begins. But the real story is already written in iron and river water and medical records and unreviewed camera footage.
MASTER TIMELINE (with Keystone already included)1924 | The Burning Cross — The Original Erasure | A burning KKK cross is floated down the Deerfield River under the Iron Bridge. This establishes the historical "morphic resonance" of the town as a stronghold for institutional erasure and social control.
Aug 2019 | Joanne Soroka Sends Death Threat | Bridge of Flowers committee member emails John: “Keep hitting me and I will not hesitate. You don’t know who you are fucking with… You are dead to me. Only when you call my name out, will I reawaken and I promise it will get ugly.” John reports to Gilmore in 2020. Police take no action. Soroka later has a studio two doors down from John at The Mill.
Jun 6 2020 | Iron Bridge — The Origin | John films an unannounced pandemic street closure near his studio. Sonny Walters approaches despite 3-4 requests to leave. Katherine within 12 inches, fists clenched, screaming. Group pins John against east railing. All of this happens before any recording begins. At 10:41 AM Alouette hits Facebook Live — capturing only John's visible agitation, none of the preceding assault. 20,000 views, 300+ comments: grand wizard, Nazi, throw him off the bridge, throw his camera in the water.
Jun 9 2020 | Change.org Removes Petition — Recorder Stays Silent | Bianca's petition (600 signatures, calling John racist) removed by Change.org for defamation and misinformation violations. The Recorder never reports why — only that it "had been removed." The false foundation of the campaign is never corrected for the people who signed it.
Jun 12–15 2020 | Recorder Publishes Two Front-Page Hit Pieces | Mary Byrne writes articles amplifying the petition narrative. John never contacted for comment. BOF Chair Annette Szpila tells the paper the committee wants to "honor the anti-racism spirit of the petition." Anti-racism plaque installed three feet from the Black Stones of Africa fountain John had commissioned nine years earlier. Kay Baronson — Recorder co-founder — leads secret Zoom meetings coordinating John's professional removal.
Jun 27 2020 | "Take You Down" — Figure of Speech Weaponized | John is in conversation with protest leader Joey Kotright when Alouette drives through, stops, delivers sarcastic "Hi John." John says "I'm gonna take you down" — meaning get the video taken down. Kotright moves to the double yellow lines, screams "Fuck you, John Sendelbach, and everyone who's with you" with both middle fingers raised, in front of 40–50 witnesses including Sergeant Gilmore. This is later twisted by Hennessey into a "death threat."
Jun 28 2020 | Katherine Calls John a KKK Member — On Tape | On their own audio at timestamp 3:09: Katherine says "I don't talk to KKK members either, but here we are" — directed at John. Alouette at 5:47: "You ever hear of racist bigots — oh wait, you are one." These statements are later inverted in sworn affidavit and attributed to John. The perjury has a documented origin on their own recording. Katherine also gives John the middle finger unprovoked from her car — admits it the same day.
Jun 29 2020 | Gilmore's Permission Structure Email — Documented in Writing | Brook: "Quit your white whining." Alouette closes to 24 inches threatening a restraining order. Katherine: "Yeah, I hate you. Really do." Same day, Gilmore emails Katherine: "I've talked to John. It doesn't work." Written permission for the next three years of false reports. Documented in his own official incident report 21-133-OF in July 2021: "I told Hennessey that I was not going to call Sendelbach because it hasn't worked in the past."
Summer 2020 | State Street Landlord — First Studio Lost | John's nine-year State Street studio landlord — a friend — asks him to leave due to harassment from the Hennessey campaign. John agrees to protect the friendship. CIA commission pipeline severed. First studio lost to Hennessey's interference. This is the beginning of the residential and economic destabilization pattern — three studios total will be affected.
2021 | Wrisley Arrested — Child Pornography; Hicks Implicated | Part-time Buckland officer Jacob Wrisley arrested for filming naked 8-year-old and possessing child images. Chief James Hicks oversees him. Pattern of institutional protection of misconduct established. Hicks later admits to indecent assault himself (2023). Both trained the current department. Wrisley sentenced 4–5 years state prison.
2021 | HPO Hearing — Judge Mazanec Catches Katherine Lying — First Judicial Finding | Katherine swears under oath she did not lock elbows or block John's path. Judge Mazanec reviews video and watches her do exactly that in real time. Order vacated. First documented judicial rejection of her sworn statements. Zero perjury referral made — creating the first de facto license to lie.
Circa 2022 | Brook Punches John — First Physical Violence, Unreported | Outside Keystone Market, John approaches Brook's car window about Alouette's "far too many white people" post. Brook punches John in the stomach — weak contact, no injury. John does not report it, unaware reports are being filed against him. This establishes Brook's physical violence predates November 30, 2025 by approximately three years.
2023 | Buckland Cultural Council Grants — The Insider Cash Flow | While the Hennessey/Batteau circle files repeated police reports and HPO petitions against John, Buckland Cultural Council members quietly collect unrestricted state money. Cynthia Fisher (Chair) recuses herself only on local applications but receives $5,000 from the Mass Cultural Council Pandemic Recovery / Creative Individuals program. Brook Batteau (sitting member) is conspicuously absent from key November 2023 meetings where applications are reviewed and voted on, yet he also receives $5,000. Carmela Lanza-Weil (Treasurer) receives $5,000. Alouette Batteau (daughter) receives $5,000 in the FY24 cycle. Total to the immediate circle: at least $20,000 in no-strings taxpayer cash with zero required accounting or follow-up.
Mar 2–3 2023 | Criminal Harassment Report — No Interview, Eight Lies Compiled | Pettengill and Jenkins go directly to Hennessey. Eight reports compiled into criminal harassment charge. Neither has ever met John. John never interviewed before any of the eight reports. Jenkins co-signs. HPO granted ex parte. Gilmore serves it, tells John "I don't care" when John protests his innocence. First official contact the department initiates with John in three years of complaints.
Mar 22 2023 | Judge Mazanec Vacates HPO — Audio Destroys "Homicidal Threat" Claim | John plays audio of the parking lot encounter. His actual words: "I will never get along with the likes of you." Katherine was laughing throughout. Her "homicidal" characterization collapses on first evidence review. Second judicial finding against her credibility. Zero perjury referral.
Jun 6 2023 | Show Cause Hearing — No Probable Cause After One Hour of Evidence | Jenkins presents Hennessey's eight reports verbatim, having never met John. John presents approximately one hour of video and audio evidence. Clerk magistrate reviews and finds No Probable Cause. Jenkins sat through the entire presentation watching John prove Hennessey had lied repeatedly. Takes no corrective action. Makes no perjury referral.
Summer 2023 | Road Detour — 1,000 Passes, Zero Incidents | Conway Street construction routes John's daily travel past School Street intersection — within six houses of Hennessey's home — 2–3 times daily for the entire detour period. Approximately 1,000 passes. John never turns down School Street. Never drives past her house. Never makes contact. This is the factual destruction of her "follows all the time" claim. Documented non-pursuit at massive scale.
Sep 4 2024 | Mill Incident — AFib Trigger and Baiting Pattern | Alouette (with friends) sits 40 feet from John's workspace at The Mill. As John walks through with camera and printout of her old racist post, the group urgently flees. Alouette calls Brook; Brook independently calls police claiming harassment. Gilmore finds no harassment occurred. John suffers a month-long AFib episode. Two days later the defamatory Walker letters arrive. Clear continuation of baiting/intimidation followed by false police reports.
Sep 6–9 2024 | Defamatory Walker Letters — Eviction Demand, Prediction of Violence | Two letters sent to landlord Brad Walker three days apart. Letter 1 claims YouTube "community violations" — provably false. Letter 2 upgrades lie to "hate speech" — proving fabrication. Both demand eviction. Letter 1 explicitly states: "it's really only a matter of time before someone gets hurt." Walker refuses eviction, offers funded mediation. Hennessey declines. Jenkins receives the letters, doesn't read them for 12 days, takes no action.
May 21 2025 | Keystone Market Incident — "I Feel Unsafe" Performance and Cackle Exit | Katherine follows John into the store and positions herself directly behind him, laughing loudly. When John calmly mentions the lawsuit, she screams "I FEEL UNSAFE" at the top of her lungs. She recruits the store owner to walk her out. With the owner's back turned, she gives John a full smile. As she drives away, she delivers a prolonged middle finger through the car window while laughing so hard her body rocks forward — the opposite of someone in fear. Video shows John standing still, not yelling or gesticulating. This is another documented example of baiting followed by immediate victim performance.
Nov 22 2025 | Art Installation — Frog Mask Surveillance, 14 Minutes | Katherine wears giant papier-mâché frog mask — her own December 1 affidavit confirms worn because she expected John to be there and didn't want to be recognized. Stands 6 feet from John for 14 minutes. Does not leave. Addresses him by name. Calmly says "John, I hope you get the help you need" on departure. Calls police — nothing actionable. This is not fear. This is monitoring.
Nov 28 2025 | Mill Window — Hennessey and Alouette Laugh and Flee | Hennessey and Alouette together walk past the Mill fishbowl window. Alouette makes direct eye contact, laughs, and urgently gets out of there. Katherine stares right at John and unleashes her signature intimidating cackle laugh while looking straight at him. This occurs only two days before she claims she was "terrified" to go into town — behavior inconsistent with fear. She also positions herself front and center at the Floodwater music event later that day and boldly exits the brewery during the assault — actions that directly contradict any claim of terror.
Nov 29 2025 | Mass Email — Lawsuits Announced to 70+ Recipients | Sent at 6:45 PM to all Shelburne Police, both Select Boards, Recorder, community. Announces lawsuits dropping "this coming week," names Annette Szpila as first defendant. Names Hennessey. Characterizes five-year campaign directly. Zero responses — ever — from any official. 24 hours later: the trespass and assault. The department had the warning in their inbox by 7 PM. Joan Livingston — former Recorder editor, now Select Board member — is a recipient.
Nov 30 AM 2025 | Gas Station Trespass — Morning Premeditation | Katherine drives fast onto John's rented property at Neighbors to the screened end where his van is parked. Newspaper rack is around the corner — she could not have seen John from a newspaper stop. She had to pull directly onto his rented property. Peace sign → double middle finger → "fuck you" → drives forward → second middle finger → leaves. John calls police within 15 minutes, makes reconstruction video within 5. Gilmore responds, reviews bodycam, walks property line. No charges. Never checks the gas station cameras. Never charges her with trespass.
Nov 30 PM 2025 | Floodwater Assault — 30+ Blows, Phone Thrown in River | Katherine positions herself front and center for a music event and boldly exits the brewery when chaos starts. Tom Del Negro exits screaming — primed inside before Brook charges. Brook shoves John 3x off curb, punches 8–12 times from behind. Bystander pins John's arms. Katherine delivers 10–20 additional blows including strikes dislodging glasses. John does not retaliate. Zachary Livingston retrieves shoe. Katherine seizes lit, recording iPhone, walks 75 feet to Deerfield River, throws it in (still recording). Returns, delivers second battery — kicking and punching from behind. Brook tells Livingston: "You don’t understand, John has been after my family for five years." That's the confession.
Dec 1 2025 | Hennessey Files HPO Against John — The Morning After Assaulting Him | While John is without a phone, Katherine files her third HPO petition — now positioning herself as the victim of the man she just beat. Affidavit claims hands "in pockets the whole time" (impossible with two A&B charges), no idea how he ended up in the street (Livingston: Brook admitted the push), she went to pick up his shoe (Livingston picked up the shoe — she picked up the phone). The shoe lie is the structural tell of the phone theft cover story.
Dec 15 2025 | HPO Hearing — "I Don't Believe You, Miss Hennessey" | Judge Mazanec watches Keystone video in slow motion multiple times. Reviews frog mask video. Hennessey asks if she can sit down — doesn't want to watch the assault video — Mazanec continues. States on the record he does not believe her account. HPO denied with prejudice — rare outcome reflecting bad faith. Third time Mazanec finds her not credible. Zero perjury referrals across all three findings.
Feb 28 2026 | Recorder Photographs Katherine at Winter HooPla — Front Page | 74 days after Katherine swore under oath she was too terrified to appear in public, the Recorder runs her on the front page at a community event — arms wide, relaxed, fully public. Article does not mention the pending arraignment. The same newspaper that published the founding myth in 2020 is still maintaining the beauty brand narrative. Joan Livingston is on the Select Board. The machine's print infrastructure holds.
Mar 12 2026 | Mlynick Ruling — Jenkins Loses Qualified Immunity; HPO Hearing Same Day | Judge Mastroianni denies QI for Jenkins and Paicos personally. Discovery ordered. Scheduling conference April 14. Same day in Franklin County: Judge Powers gags John from referencing Mazanec's three prior findings, allows Elkins to ask about videos she doesn't know exist because Hennessey never told her. Elkins asks whether the November 22 frog mask video even exists — it was in affidavits Hennessey herself filed. John shouts "Hell yes." Six-day AFib episode triggered, resolves March 17. Powers rebukes Elkins for overreaching in open court.
Mar 25 2026 | Bardwell Requests 9.4% Merit Raise — "Fantastic Crew" | Chief presents budget increase to Finance Committee. Jenkins has just lost qualified immunity 13 days prior. Department under outside legal compliance consultant ("Becca") because officers "don't know the laws." Special Town Meeting May 1. New "Motor Vehicle Lockout Policy" item added to agenda March 23 — drafted precisely because there is no documented procedure for what to do when a recording phone gets seized from a public street and thrown in a river. LaPierre: "well worth it." Erving Police Department simultaneously loses its entire patrol force and is declared a public safety emergency. Bardwell: "we track pretty well with the county."
Apr 6 2026 | Letter to Elkins and DA — Videos Transmitted, Full Archive Distributed | John sends formal pre-arraignment package to Elkins and ADA Gagne: all key videos (June 6, 28, 29, 2020; March 2023 parking lot; May 2025 Keystone; November 22 frog mask; Sonny Walters clips), the Six Years institutional record, and supporting documents. Hennessey never showed Elkins these videos. Elkins is walking into tomorrow's arraignment with a corrupted dataset. The full 14-document Deerfield River Archive is mailed to Elkins' firm, DA's office, CJC, BBO, and the Recorder.
Apr 7 2026 | Arraignment — 8:30 AM, Franklin County District Court | Commonwealth v. Hennessey 2641CR000158: A&B (2 counts) + Malicious Destruction. Commonwealth v. Batteau 2641CR000159: A&B. Both represented by Elkins — potential conflict as defenses may diverge. Brook's confession to Livingston ("been after my family five years") puts him at odds with any bystander defense Katherine might try. The bench John built is still standing on the Bridge of Flowers. The phone is still in the river. The archive is in granite, in stone, in medical records, and in every inbox that received the November 29 email and said nothing.
Apr 14 2026 | Mlynick Scheduling Conference — Discovery Begins | Jenkins and Paicos defend personally. Depositions of Bardwell, Gilmore, LaPierre under oath. The Permission Structure email, eight uninvestigated reports, the merit raise request while QI was denied — all discoverable. Erving down to two personnel: Chief Holst and Sergeant Paicos, both named defendants. County jail corrections officers covering patrol shifts. Every non-defendant officer voted with their resignation.
May 1 2026 | Shelburne Annual Town Meeting — Police Budget Vote | Citizens vote on the 9.4% merit raise. The Change.org petition (Deny the Raise, Demand the Audit) will be active. John has asked: read the archive before voting. A yes vote is a formal public endorsement of the Permission Structure, the one-sided reporting policy, the record obstruction, and the department's failure to act between the morning trespass and the evening assault on November 30. It removes the Board's good-faith defense in any subsequent civil rights litigation.
