But the private gathering on Saturday Jan. 29, 2011 prompted a series of events that led to the firing of park ranger Roy Dixon and a flurry of state and federal lawsuits by him against county officials.
These claims, seeking monetary damages and job reinstatement, are built around the premise that Dixon was seeking to protect the rights of citizens who were denied access to the park because of the JM Family function.
Dixon, in an interview with the Sun Sentinel, discussed how he was suspended and fired not long after being identified as the source of an anonymous email complaint to county commissioners.
"You can't kick someone out of a public park," said Dixon, 46, of Royal Palm Beach, who previously pursued other unsuccessful employment and racial discrimination lawsuits against the county government and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. "I'm looking out for the citizens. That's violating civil rights."
But it's an argument that county officials have rejected in reports about the picnic, citing a routine practice of temporarily closing park sections for paid special events. JM Family, which runs auto-related enterprises from its Deerfield Beach headquarters, paid $2,000 for the exclusive use of pavilions, fields and other sections of the park after 1:30 p.m.
"For the past two years JM Family Enterprises has held its annual FunFest — a company picnic and fun event for our associates and their families — at South County Regional Park, which is available for rent and is large enough to accommodate all of our attendees," said spokeswoman Christie Caliendo.
The company has not been a target of Dixon's lawsuits, which the county's attorneys have attempted to get thrown out of court.
Assistant County Attorney David Ottey said the county could not comment on Dixon's claims because the litigation is pending. He said he was not aware of Dixon's latest actions, filed Dec. 11 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, which sought protections under Florida's Whistle Blower Act.
Dixon is a 1984 graduate of Glades Central High who went on to serve as a county Sheriff's Office deputy from 1987 to 2004. Hired as a ranger in 2005, Dixon says he became furious when he learned about the arrangements for the JM Family event. He was assigned to patrol a different park that day.
So the next day, Jan. 30, 2011, he sent an email on his day off claiming to be a disgruntled Boca Raton resident who had been ordered to leave the park.
The email, labeled as a court exhibit, states "the Park Rangers violated our Constitutional Rights to visit publicly owned parks" and threatens a class-action lawsuit.
According to a memo, Dixon initially told Parks Director Craig Murphy by phone that he didn't send the email. But then he came clean and said he didn't trust his supervisors and wanted to go over their heads to the County Commission.
On April 20, 2011, Dixon was fired from his $36,000 job based on three areas of misconduct: insubordination for not following the proper chain of command; use of threats and disparaging statements concerning Parks & Recreation Director Eric Call; and dishonesty, for pretending to live in Boca Raton and initially lying about the email.
In a report filed after the public park closure, ranger supervisor Robert Andino noted "there were no negative incidents between Rangers and Patrons."
"We had no resistance at all from the patrons though several did express that it seemed unfair that the dog park and playground would be included in the closing," Andino wrote.
Dixon, a married father of three children, sued soon after his termination and continues to serve as his own attorney.
"If I lose," he says, "then I lose because of myself."
Source-tribune.com