The full depositions in The Reporter's lawsuit against Delaware County

In this blog article, I am publishing the full original texts of depositions of County officials in the lawsuit of newspaper The Reporter (Walton, NY) against Delaware County, NY and its Supervisors and County Attorney, in individual and official capacity.

I personally purchased from Pacer.gov.

Taxpayers of Delaware County - enjoy if you can.

Because if YOU need to resolve an issue through a court proceeding, you, most likely, won't be able to afford an attorney.

And the defendants - list below:

#	Name	Position in Delaware County	Town (Supervisor Of)
1	Delaware County, New York	Municipal entity	—
2	Tina Molé	Chairperson, Board of Supervisors	Town of Bovina
3	Arthur Merrill	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Colchester
4	Mark Tuthill	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Delhi (retired)
5	Thomas Axtell	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Deposit (retired)
6	Jeffrey Taggart	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Franklin (retired)
7	Wayne E. Marshfield	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Hamden
8	Jerry Vernold	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Hancock
9	James E. Eisel	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Harpersfield (retired, DEAD)
10	George Haynes, Jr.	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Kortright
11	Betty L. Scott	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Masonville
12	James G. Ellis	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Meredith
13	Carl Patrick Davis	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Middletown
14	Allen R. Hinkley	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Roxbury
15	Eric T. Wilson	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Sidney
16	John S. Kosier	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Stamford
17	William Layton	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Tompkins
18	Joseph Cetta	Member, Board of Supervisors	Town of Walton
19	Amy Merklen	County Attorney	—

 - who caused this lawsuit by their personal misconduct - are pilfering your tax money through the third year now of costly litigation, including these depositions - that you, for yourself, won't be able to afford.

So - enjoy reading, if you can.

#	Date	Name	Role / Position	Status
1	14-May-25	Wayne Shepard (1)	Delaware County Office of the Aging Director (retired)	Not a Defendant
2	15-May-25	Wayne Marshfield (1)	Town of Hamden Supervisor	Defendant
3	23-May-25	Wayland Gladstone	Town of Andes Supervisor (retired)	Not a Defendant
4	6-Jul-25	Arthur Merrill	Town of Colchester Supervisor	Defendant
5	25-Jul-25	Jerry Vernold	Town of Hancock Supervisor	Defendant
6	29-Aug-25	Shelly Johnson-Bennett	Delaware County Public Information Officer; Commissioner of Planning, Parks & Watershed Affairs	Not a Defendant (here)
7	3-Sep-25	Kimberly Shepard	Co-owner, The Reporter	Plaintiff
8	16-Sep-25	Joseph Cetta	Town of Walton Supervisor	Defendant
9	19-Sep-25	Randy Shepard	Co-owner, The Reporter	Plaintiff
10	25-Sep-25	Joseph Ermeti	Delaware County Public Defender	Not a Defendant
11	26-Sep-25	Allen Hinkley	Town of Roxbury Supervisor	Defendant
12	8-Oct-25	Wayne Marshfield (2)	Town of Hamden Supervisor	Defendant
13	8-Oct-25	Wayne Shepard (2)	Delaware County Office of the Aging Director (retired)	Not a Defendant
14	15-Oct-25	Amy Merklen	Delaware County Attorney	Defendant
15	29-Oct-25	Tina Molé	Town of Bovina Supervisor; Chairperson, Delaware County Board of Supervisors	Defendant
16	30-Oct-25	Lillian Browne	Editor, The Reporter	Plaintiff’s editor