FILE : ADDENDUM_GRIEVANCE_INITIATION_FORM_KERNS

Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide background information (context) and to list evidential artifacts
regarding the unprofessional, if not unethical, conduct by Mechelle Kerns, a member of the Register of Professional
Archeologists.

Background
A project is currently underway in Frederick City, Maryland, to develop a downtown and hotel project on a 1.9 acre
parcel of land which has a 170 year history of industrial tanning operations which for some period of time, was the
economic backbone of Frederick City . known as Fredericktown in the nineteenth century.
Mechelle Kerns (Kerns CRM Consulting) was hired by Kann Partners (Baltimore) to conduct an archeological dig
around an area on the parcel known as the Birely tannery in and around the southeast corner of the parcel.
This corner had two previous occupants
1556 : Michael Raymer Tannery, and
1764 : Matthius Nead Tannery
These tanneries operated in close proximity for approximately four decades until the early 1800s, when the Birely
family bought out the Raymer tannery as well as a suspicion of a buyout of the Nead tannery as well.
A fourth tannery, owned by the Kunkel family, operated on the southwest corner of the parcel from 1821-1861.
Its important to note that there is no know record of tanning methodologies regarding the operations of the Raymer,
Nead or Kunkel tanneries . oak bark specific, used by Birely at least until 1891, or the use of arsenic for
bacteriological control and / or chromium for molecular binding by the three tanneries as well by the Birely family in
the 1891-1920s era when tanning encountered a serious decline as an economic engine for Fredericktown and
Frederick County.

Foreground
As the archeologist of record, Kerns CRM Consulting, without disclosing the lack of information regarding tanning
methodologies of Raymer, Nead and Kunkel tanneries on the parcel, as well as no knowledge of the subsurface
geological profile or subsurface geological hydraulic distribution patterns, stood in front of a project developer
funded presentation to the public and stated, contamination on this site is a fallacy.
A local, facebook based, satirical news outlet . combining straight news reporting as well as satirical reporting
regarding local Frederick County issues took immediate exception to Ms. Kerns assertions that contamination on
this industrial parcel was a fallacy.
The Frederick Chronicles (https://www.facebook.com/The-Frederick-Chronicles-489681077776883/) contacted the
Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to seek their understanding of the planned archeological dig at the
Birely site. The following image (next page) displays the understanding by MDE and the diametrically opposed
view by Ms. Kerns.
As you can see from the MDE email text and the social media comment by Ms. Kerns, there is an extraordinary gap
in understanding.
The Frederick Chronicles pursued the gap of misunderstanding, between MDE and Kerns, which led to a series of
satirical images published at the Frederick Chronicles with extraordinarily aggressive responses from Ms. Kerns.
The list of chronological images are provided on the following pages for your review and consideration.

This image presents the contradiction of understanding between MDE and Ms. Kerns social media posting.

This image presents a satirical view of the Birely Tannery dig project and a social media response from Ms. Kerns
referring to a private citizen as a pathological liar.

Immediately following Ms. Kerns pathological liar social media posting, the above email was sent to the Maryland
Department of the Environment (MDE) as a protest.

Ms. Kerns continued harassing and stalking social media postings, stating that Patrick Allen had gotten her fired
from the Birely archeological dig project.
The Frederick County newspaper, The Frederick News-Post published an article on Sunday, August 28, 2016, in
which Ms. Kerns admitted to lying about being fired from the project and had only made the social media postings
to get Mr. Allen to hang himself . and admitted to purposefully lying to achieve her objectives. As noted in the
Frederick News-Post article:
A consultant hired to work on the downtown hotel and conference center who falsely claimed she
was fired has fanned the flames of outrage among project critics.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/levels_of_government/municipal/city-noteshotel-project-consultant-fires-back-on-facebook/article_7b57a48b-1a04-5e31-bae9-a862229e3c67.html

Following this admission of lying, which constitutes unprofessional and unethical conduct by a member of the
Register of Professional Archeologists, a more formal complaint was sent to:

Maryland Department of the Environment

Hilary Miller, Director
Land Management Administration
hilary.miller@maryland.gov

Society for Historical Archaeology

Karen Hutchison, CAE
karen@sha.org
J.W. (Joe) Joseph
jwjoseph@newsouthassoc.com

Brian Dietz, Chief

State Assessment and Remediation Division
bdietz@maryland.gov
American Cultural Resources Association
Executive Director
Marion F. Werkheiser
marion@acra-crm.org

Maryland Historical Trust

Elizabeth Hughes
Director/State Historic Preservation Officer
Elizabeth.Hughes@maryland.gov

This image presents the email complaint sent to the recipients noted in the above table.
A full text copy can be provided, if requested / desired.

Following numerous libelous and slanderous comments by Ms. Kerns on several social media pages and on the
same date as the Frederick News-Post article outing Ms. Kerns as lying regarding her employment, Ms. Kerns sent
a certified letter, referred to as a Demand Letter outlining specific demands which must be met or she would file a
lawsuit.
According to Maryland State law, Ms. Kerns extortion letter and possible lawsuit meet the criteria of a Strategic
Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Effectively, a lawsuit designed to stifle free speech. The language from the
Maryland State statute is provided at the top of the next page.
An image of Ms. Kerns extortion letter is provided on the page, following.

An image of the letter is provided on the following page

As you can see from the demands, they are preposterous, insofar as:

I have no FB admin privileges to the FoFC Downtown Marriott Watch FB page.

I have no control over the publishing schedule of the Frederick News-Post newspaper.

I will not arbitrarily, on Ms. Kerns demand, give up my right to free speech.

Summary
In summary, it is unfortunate, but it sometimes happens, there is a bad apple in the barrel. Mechelle Kerns has
clearly demonstrated herself as a bad apple and has cast a shadow of doubt and disrespect over the archeological
profession.
I strongly encourage the Register of Professional Archeologists to sanction Ms. Kerns by removing her from the
registry as well as any other actions which can prevent her from continuing or restructuring her unprofessional and
unethical conduct regarding current or future projects.