Illinois man married to a Filipina complains of bias by neighbors

PALATINE, Illinois – A retired county employee feels that his marriage to a Filipina employee is getting to be a liability as he is trying to raise a family. Richard Holmes of 476 Geri Court of Palatine, Illinois said that his neighbor appears to be getting the breaks in his dispute for a small patch of land owned by the Village of Palatine. “I feel I am being discriminated against by my neighbor and some officials of Palatine village because I happened to be married to a minority woman," Holmes told this reporter. It all started when Holmes complained to his neighbor, Greg Sobkowiak, against filling dirt to a “path eight-inch down and eight-inch wide by six-foot long" after he earlier dug and “filled it with pea gravel." But it turned out that the small piece of land in dispute is owned by the Village of Palatine. When Elias Koutas, Palatine’s assistant public works director of the Department of Public Works, stepped in the dispute, Koutas asked Holmes to “re-plant grass in the right-of-way." But Holmes is hesitating to do so because it could confirm Palatine police allegation that he (Holmes) “readily admitted he sprayed the grass with a grass killing liquid." Holmes, however, has misgivings for following Koutas’ advice to plant grass because at one time, his Filipino wife, Violeta (nee: Bolodo) and his stepson, Louie Salisid, saw Sobkowiak digging up the disputed area. The previous exchange between Holmes and Sobkowiak has turned personal when Holmes investigated Sobkowiak’s claim that he (Sobkowiak) is a licensed land surveyor. Sobkowiak’s claim, however, did not check out. In his effort to convince Holmes that he could draw the dividing line between their properties, Sobkowiak told Holmes that he is a licensed land surveyor. This prompted Holmes to inquire from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) if Sobkowiak is a licensed surveyor. Jody Watson, executive assistant of IDFPR, wrote Holmes that “we have no record of (a) Greg Sokowiak holding a license as a land surveyor in the State of Illinois." Holmes said even Palatine Councilman Scott Lamerand, Palatine Village Manager Reid Ottesen and Palatine Mayor Rita L. Mullins would not join his corner on the matter. He feels that he could not get a fair hearing from these officials because he is married to a Filipina. “What they don’t know is that me and my wife, Violy, are both registered voters and we could certainly be voting for the rival of Mayor Mullins in the coming election," Holmes explained. Holmes said his only option now is to take the matter to court. Reached for comment, a spokesperson of Mayor Cullins said she was aware of the case but she did not make any further comment. - GMANews.TV