Teabaggers are still confusing
Someone from a local Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party wrote a letter to the editor of my local newspaper, The Herald Mail, and it was published in today’s edition. This person wrote:
TEA partiers consider themselves educated and responsible enough to make their own decisions regarding all aspects of their lives. Leftists who embrace big government, including Obamacare, feel they are neither well-enough educated nor responsible enough to make decisions regarding their lives. There is no argument here. Both sides are absolutely correct.
If this person ever bothered to read up on our nation’s history, he might discover that our system of government is based on a constitutional republic. We elect people to represent us and to make educated, informed decisions on our behalf. It’s not the best system of government, but I guess it’s better than everything else.
Does this person even know any “big government” embracing leftists? And what exactly constitutes big government? Is it spending billions of dollars on a massive professional military? Is it spending billions of dollars on weapon systems that may or may not work against enemies that may or may not even exist?
I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to spending our money, I’d rather spend it on health care then on the industrial military complex. Mostly that’s because sickness and disease is a far greater risk to America’s well being than any foreign army is. Since April of this year, 10,000 Americans have died due to the H1N1 virus. Thousands of others have died from other medical problems. How many of those deaths could have been avoided if we had universal health care?
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t understand people in the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party. They sat by and just watched President Bush spend billions of their children’s money invading two countries while cutting taxes to the rich.
They didn’t say a word.
President Obama then came into office and actually cut taxes to people making less than $250,000 a year and the teabaggers protest against him by holding up signs comparing him to Hitler.
I don’t get that.
Sending prisoners and the unemployed to Afghanistan
One of the most popular parts of the local newspaper, The Herald-Mail, is the Mail Call section. It’s where people call in and leave messages about the things that concern them. To be honest, I used to think that The Herald-Mail was just making up these calls. Most of them are almost too silly and too entertaining for me to believe that they are true.
I’ve since changed my mind. I’ve realized that the Hagerstown area has no shortage of the type of people that would call into Mail Call.
Here’s one that caught my attention today:
I’m a veteran. What they should do is empty out the prisons, and all these young guys hanging on the streets, and send them to Afghanistan. They’re not doing any good on the streets where they’re at now. All the prisoners and people that’s unemployed and stuff, roaming the streets, send them to Afghanistan. Let them fight the war.
As an unemployed person, I really appreciate being grouped in with people in prison. As bad as getting laid off was two months ago, if this person was in charge, I would be on a plane right now sitting next to Bernie Madoff and Charles Manson heading to Afghanistan.
That would really suck.
Nice sunglasses buddy
There’s a Native American Indian Pow Wow going on this weekend at the Hagerstown Raceway. The Herald-Mail was kind enough to run photos from yesterday’s event so people like me can see some of the sights without having to go to the trouble of venturing out to the raceway and ponying up the $5 admission fee.
It’s not like I haven’t seen a pow wow before. I was once at the Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick when one of these hokey events was taking place in the mall’s center square. I stood there in the mall and watched for a couple of minutes. I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing. What I saw were people that were supposedly honoring their ancestor’s culture and spiritual beliefs by prancing around the mall dressed in costumes made with synthetic materials. Nearly all of the participants were wearing eye glasses, something their ancestors probably didn’t do even if they weren’t lucky enough to have perfect eyesight. One of the female participants was wearing a costume made from pink buckskin.
Though there are many words I could use to describe what I saw, the words “traditional” or “authentic” would not be included.
The whole thing just seemed tacky. It would have been different if what I saw were people engaged in the historic and authentic reproduction of their ancestor’s beliefs. I didn’t see that. I saw something a lot different than that. Instead of honoring their ancestors, if anything, what they were doing was actually dishonoring those beliefs.
Obama open to newspaper bailout
President Obama told the editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Toledo Blade in an interview that he would be open to the idea of assisting struggling newspapers by awarding them tax breaks if they were willing to restructure as nonprofit businesses.
From Michael O’Brien’s blog at The Hill:
Obama said that good journalism is “critical to the health of our democracy,” but expressed concern toward growing tends in reporting — especially on political blogs, from which a groundswell of support for his campaign emerged during the presidential election.
I agree with Obama on this. Good journalism is critical to the health of our democracy. The problem I have is that of all the words I could use to describe the current state of journalism in this country, “good” is not one of them.
Journalism in this country is bad and is only getting worse.
One has to look no further than to the build up leading to the Iraq invasion to see just how bad journalism is in this country. If we had a competent Forth Estate in this country, perhaps the American people would have questioned why we were going to invade a country that posed us no harm, a country that was in no way involved in the terror attacks of 911.
So yes, good journalism is critical to the health of a democracy, but at no time should bad journalism be accepted as good journalism’s replacement.
Hagerstown’s very own health care town hall
United States Senator Benjamin L. Cardin held a town hall on health care yesterday at the Hagerstown Community College and the 450 people that were allowed to attend spent most of the time with Cardin screaming at him about illegal aliens, abortion, and how government health care will result in the elderly being euthanized.
As the above photo shows, there was at least one man walking around the event displaying a photo of President Barack Obama depicted as Adolf Hitler.
Seriously? I just don’t get it.
I watched videos on the Herald-Mail website that showed people screaming at Cardin and reading pre-written statements they brought with them to the event. Their ignorance combined with their rude behavior actually made me feel embarrassed to live here.
A majority of the people attending the event appeared to be at least 65 years of age. To hear them yell at Cardin about the evils of government health care, knowing that as senior citizens, they already enjoy quality government health care in the form of Medicare, would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
The Herald-Mail reported that a man was standing outside the Hagerstown Community College entrance on Robinwood Drive with a sign that read, “Death to Obama” and another one that read, “Death to Obama, Michelle and his two stupid kids.”
Classy.
Maryland’s Sideling Hill Exhibit Center to close
One of the things getting the ax in the 2010 Maryland budget will be the the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center. It’s located out in the middle of nowhere where a big chunk of rock was cut out of a mountain back in the 1980’s to make room for Interstate 68.
The Harald-Mail reported that the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center cost $110,000 to operate in fiscal year 2009 and served 95,000 visitors. That works out to be $1.16 per visitor.
Some Maryland politicians evidently don’t want the center to be shut down. Washington County Commissioner Kristin B. Aleshire sent out an email to various officials:
I hope you will agree that the savings that will be achieved pale in comparison to the loss of this unique regional landmark and the economic benefit it brings to the many folks that travel this route for tourism, vacation, and general access to much of United States west of the mid-Atlantic seaboard.
Economic benefit? He’s got to be kidding. This is no “landmark”. It’s a mountain that’s been defaced so that a stretch of interstate could be put down. Let’s not pretend that it’s one of the seven wonders of the world or a work of art.
It has no historical significance. It’s just a big hole cut in a big rock.
People travel this route because they are going somewhere else. They aren’t going that way to visit the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center. I’d be surprised if a majority of them were even from Maryland or going somewhere else in Maryland. They certainly aren’t spending any money while they are there.
I think I’ve stopped there only once. It was to use the restroom. I’ve never understood why the site deserved a state-run exhibit center. It serves no benefit to the people living here in Maryland. Closing it sounds like a good idea, especially considering that the state has to trim $700 million from the 2010 budget.
Maryland prison guards don’t like to get strip-searched
From Hagerstown’s most respected newspaper, the Herald-Mail:
Eight people who worked at Maryland Correctional Training Center south of Hagerstown are suing nine colleagues over strip searches conducted last year.
The $40 million suit filed Monday in Washington County Circuit Court alleges that the workers’ constitutional rights were violated through “sexually intrusive, humiliating” and unjustified strip searches.
Court papers allege that the searchers, who found nothing, later ridiculed the victims’ underwear and physical appearance.
A Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman says the strip-search policy was later changed.
The lawyer representing the plaintiffs, most of whom still work at the prison, says a nearly a year after the incident “nothing meaningful” has been done.
I’m having a hard time drumming up much sympathy for these prison guards. They were strip-searched because some type of high tech device that detects illegal drugs detected drug residue on them. Drugs are a problem in the prison and some believe that it’s the prison guards that are bringing the drugs in. Go figure.
What I find to be even more ridiculous than the claim that they were ridiculed about their underwear is the claim that the strip-searches were “sexually intrusive.” Really? These eight prison guards perform strip-searches on prisoners. Does that mean they are being “sexually intrusive” when they perform strip-searches on prisoners?
They really shouldn’t be whining about getting strip-searched when they themselves perform strip-searches for a living.
Pastor’s husband is a registered sex offender
From NBC Channel 25:
A Methodist minister in Boonsboro is in hot water with her church. Pastor Helen Smith is accused of not telling her parishioners that her husband is a registered sex offender.
Dr. Helen Smith has been pastor at Benevola United Methodist Church for 15 years. Her husband, 57-year-old David Smith has also been working in the music ministry. But now Pastor Smith’s leadership is in question.
It all started when a church member saw David’s picture on the internet. He was convicted of a third-degree sex offense after his adult daughter brought charges against him, claiming he sexually abused her from the age of five until she was 12.
According to the United Methodist Church, Pastor Smith knew about the allegations as early as 2005. The conviction happened in July 2008. Church leaders say Pastor Smith did not inform them or the congregation until December of last year and what she disclosed was inconsistent with court records.
His entry on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry site can be seen here.
In January, the Herald-Mail published an article about David and Helen Smith of Keedysville, detailing their eco-friendly, “green” lifestyle. It stated that they live off the grid, getting all of their electricity from wind and solar. The article mentioned that the Smith’s travel around the area speaking to groups, teaching people how they too can be more green.
Do any of these other groups include children?
Yes. The article mentions that they’ve worked with the Boonsboro High School Environmental Club, having students come over to their home. Maybe there needs to be a law against convicted child sex offenders from working with schools, having children come to their home. Oh, wait a minute. There already is.
Area realator compares city employees to Nazis
At a public hearing held to discuss the City of Hagerstown’s property tax rate, Tim Light, an area realtor, took the stage and accused city employees working in the Code Compliance Office of being like the Nazis who worked in the Gestapo.
From my favorite newspaper, the Herald-Mail:
After Martin finished his presentation, Realtor Tim Light took the stage.
Light said he represented several Realtors and investors.
The city should consider making more cuts, he said, rather than relying on property owners to create tax revenue. Light suggested starting with the Code Compliance Office because its employees turn away investors by using strong-armed tactics.
He compared the Code Compliance Office to the Gestapo and the Nazis.
“Code Enforcement killed property values,” Light said. “Everyone knows not to invest in the City of Hagerstown. It’s not profitable.”
Unless the folks working in the Code Compliance Office are hearding people into box cars and sending them to work camps in eastern Europe, I don’t really understand the comparison.
Roscoe Bartlett refers to Democrats as the enemy
Area Republicans gathered at the Clarion Hotel & Conference Center on Saturday for the Maryland GOP spring convention where they talked about how awful Democrats were and how courageous Rush Limbaugh is.
From Hagerstown’s newspaper of record, the Herald-Mail:
As Democrats strengthen their federal control, U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., said he feels ambivalent.
Even while outnumbered, Republicans can fight full bore for their causes. Or they can be content to watch Democrats overspend and make bad policy decisions, benefiting the GOP, Bartlett said.The conventional wisdom, he said, is “when your enemy is committing suicide, you shouldn’t interfere.”
And I thought Roscoe Bartlett’s enemy, like all Americans, was al Qaeda. I should have realized Bartlett would put his political party before his country. Silly me.
Bartlett told the crowd that he was with Rush Limbaugh. He said that Limbaugh had the courage to not say that he wanted Barack Obama to succeed.
It should be no surprise that Roscoe Bartlett would think that a draft-dodger like Rush Limbaugh is courageous. Rush Limbaugh avoided military service during the Vietnam conflict by claiming to have an “old football injury”, and then claiming to having a pilonidal cyst on his buttocks. Roscoe Bartlett avoided military service during World War Two by claiming he wanted to pursue a career in the ministry, though ne never actually did.
This is the man that once called for higher gas prices. He failed to report roughly $1 million in property sales in official documents. He also bowed to Reverend Sun Myung Moon at a crowning ceremony held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter what Roscoe Bartlett says or does. The people of the 6th district of Maryland will continue to reelect him to the U.S. House of Representatives every two years.
Hagerstown Tea Party a raging success
It would seem that the Tea Party protest held in Hagerstown yesterday was a huge success. The Herald-Mail reports that there were “about” 300 people in attendance. The event’s organizers were hoping to attract 200 people.
I’m still not sure what the protest was actually about. I heard over and over again that it was a grass roots, non-partisan movement, but when you look at the people behind the movement, you only see Republicans.
Was it about wasteful government spending? Where have these people been for the past eight years?
Much of the angst coming from these Tea Party people seems to be directed to President Obama. Do they realize that he has only been in office for less than three months? Do they know that unless they make more than $250,000 a year, their taxes under Obama were cut? I hope these people compare their 2009 tax return to the one they filed yesterday. The amount of taxes they will be paying in 2009 will be less than what they are paying for 2008.
I hope those that stood in the rain yesterday in downtown Hagerstown throwing tea bags in that plastic wadding pool will compare their 2009 tax return to their 2008 tax return.
Unfortunately, I don’t think they will.
Thanks to Senator Mikulski, buy a Hummer, get a tax credit
United States Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md) spoke with Heather Keels from the Herald-Mail in a video interview. Senator Mikulski bragged about an amendment to the stimulus bill she proposed along with Republican Senators that allows people to deduct state sales tax and the interest on auto loans for new “cars” purchased from November 12, 2008 through December 31, 2009.
Not a tax credit for people who buy a more fuel efficient car or maybe a car that incorporates hybrid technology. No, in fact, it doesn’t even have to actually be a “car”. People who purchase gas guzzling SUVs or trucks get the tax break too.
She also states that she is planning on running for reelection in 2010. Of course she is.
If you come to Hagerstown, you better bring your own road salt
Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith reported that there were 47 traffic accidents in the city on Wednesday, December 24 from the hours of midnight to 8:00 a.m. The reason? Because the city failed to spread salt, that magical high-tech substance that lowers the temperature in which water freezes.
Only a partial salt spreading crew was scheduled to be on duty. Whatever that means.
The totally retarded aspect of this story is that everyone knew that the weather forecast was calling for freezing rain on Wednesday. If there are two words you don’t want put together its “freezing” and “rain”.
I’m guessing that there were even more accidents than the 47 that were reported. Most fender-bender type of accidents don’t get reported to the police. The city screwed up by not scheduling salt to be spread on a night where freezing rain was in the forecast and it’s going to cost people a lot of money.
Maybe he shouldn’t be a cop
Hagerstown police officer Curtis W. Kelley, 24, has been placed on leave with pay and has been charged with various crimes in connection to allegedly pointing his departmentally issued handgun at his live-in girlfriend.
On September 12, Officer Kelly and his girlfriend got into an argument after she told him she was meeting a male friend she has known since kindergarten. Officer Kelly picked up his handgun that had been sitting on a table in their apartment and pointed it at her. He then allegedly said he wouldn’t shoot her because she wasn’t worth the bullet.
Now that is just rude. I’m pretty sure that the Hagerstown Police Department provides bullets to their officers for free. How bad must a woman be if she’s not worth a free bullet? It’s not like it was a special or exotic bullet. It was just a plain old regular 40-caliber bullet.
That’s no way to treat a lady, especially one you share your life with.
It’s also not a good idea to destroy your girlfriend’s self esteem before she heads off to spend time with a male friend. That’s just asking for trouble. [Herald-Mail]
This is a top job?
Hagerstown’s local newspaper, The Herald-Mail, has a section on their website entitled “Top Jobs“. I think they simply republish on their website the jobs printed in the paper version of the newspaper, but I’m not sure.
While looking over the website this morning, one of the ads caught my attention. It’s for “exotic” dancers at a strip club.
Only the Herald-Mail would refer to a job where a young woman is required to remove her clothing on stage to entertain perverts as a “top job”.
I don’t remember seeing anyone with the name Bible on the ballot
The local newspaper has a photo slideshow on their website that featured various photos taken in Washington County on Election Day. The local newspaper being what it is, failed to put the photos into any sort of context. They didn’t identify anyone in the photos. They offered no explanation as to what the photos were capturing.
For instance, what is this man actually campaigning for? I don’t remember seeing a candidate on the ballot with the name “Bible”. I also don’t remember anything on the ballot that had to do with abortion. I think I would remember that.
If he is Pro-Life, does that mean he is against the death penalty too?
There was something on the ballot concerning gambling. It had to do with allowing slot machines here in Maryland. Personally, I could care less about slots. I don’t gamble or play games of chance. It has nothing to do with my morals or anything like that, I just find gambling to be extremely boring. With that said, I voted to allow slots here in Maryland. The reason? Who am I to tell someone that wants to play slots that they can’t. It’s none of my business.
What exactly is this man trying to get across to the voters? He has a checkmark in the box next to Pro-Life and an “X” next to gambling. Don’t they mean the same thing, a checkmark and an “X”?
I take it that this man was a McCain supporter. I find that to be extremely ironic in that out of the two candidates, Obama is the one that is a born again Christian. He’s the only one that has been married to the same woman his entire life. McCain on the other hand, not so much. He left his first wife for a woman much younger then himself, a woman who’s vast fourtune was built on selling of beer. Most Christians frown on drinking beer, let alone making millions of dollars selling it.
The First Amendment works both ways
Today’s Herald-Mail had a semi-interesting Mail Call entry. It’s from a person who claims they were “verbally assaulted” on election day:
I am writing this to the gentleman and his wife who verbally assaulted me on Election Day as I stood outside E. Russell Hicks Middle School. I would like to remind these fine U.S. citizens that I was well within my First Amendment rights to be there, just as much as they were. Not only am I also a U.S. citizen, but I am also a Christian. I appreciate the constitutional rights that our forefathers fought so hard for. … I was merely peacefully performing a civic duty and standing up for something I very strongly believe in. It would be a dismal day in this great country to wake up and realize that those unalienable rights had been taken away from us.
Except the gentleman and his wife also have First Amendment rights which means they are well within their rights to tell this Christian person standing outside the polling place exactly what they think of him or her. Freedom of Speech works both ways.
This person never bothers to say where exactly they were standing while “peacefully performing a civic duty.” It’s an important point because this person may have been breaking Maryland election law. In Maryland it’s illegal to canvass, electioneer, or post any campaign material within 100 feet of either the entrance or the exit to a polling place (Maryland Election Law § 16-206).
Man faces fines unless he moes his grassland habitat
Sharpsburg resident Dean Joyce has been notified by the Washington County Commissioners that he has to mow his natural meadow habitat down to 18 inches or he will face huge fines. Joyce decided to return his 3-acre field into a natural grassland habitat shortly after moving into his home in 2000. He is originally from Australia and he wanted to learn more about the flora and fauna of the United States.
I have to hand it to the Washington County Commissioners. When they decided to illegally give $10,000 to a Hagerstown all-star Little League team to supposedly cover travel expenses that were already being covered by Little League, I thought they couldn’t do anything as stupid ever again. Clearly I was wrong.
Joyce’s field is the way a field is supposed to look. It’s natural. It’s the way God intended a field to look. [The Herald Mail]
Porcelain clown doll freaks out some Hagerstown residents
And to think I thought the city of Boston was bad when they treated a stupid Lite-Brite character flipping the bird as some sort of terrorist attack. It turns out Hagerstown is a city of scardey cats too.
Someone left a black and white porcelain clown doll on the front steps of Hagerstown’s very own methadone clinic. Someone called 911 and the Hagerstown City Police responded by shutting down traffic so they could investigate this vile terrorist threat. It rook them an hour to realize that it posed no threat.
A porcelain clown doll? That’s what we’ve come to?
Too bad we don’t treat child pornography like we do marijuana
Two local residents were arrested and charged with drug crimes on Tuesday after the Washington County Narcotics Task force executed a search warrant at their home. They found two pounds of pot, along with nine marijuana plants.
On January 31, 2008, Washington County law enforcement officers executed a search warrant in the home of Robert A. McKee. They seized two computers, 30 videotapes, and printed materials from his home that officers described as being child pornography. At the time of the search warrant and the discovery of child porn, McKee was an elected delegate to the Maryland House of Delegates. He was also the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County.
Robert McKee was not arrested. Robert McKee has yet to be charged with any crimes.
I don’t understand how possessing marijuana causes you to be immediately arrested and charged with a crime, but possessing child pornography does not. Which is worse, marijuana or child porn?
Robert McKee was forced to resign from the Maryland House of Delegates and from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County.
A month later.
Herald-Mail continues to smear Kelly Cromer
If the Herald-Mail newspaper is going to continue smearing the reputation of Hagerstown City Councilperson Kelly S. Cromer, I guess I will continue to blog about it. Being that the Washington County Ethics Commission cleared Cromer of acting unethical the day she was pulled over by a Hagerstown police officer for speeding, I thought the Herald-Mail would move on.
Evidently I was wrong.
Today’s edition included a front page story reporting that the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) voted unanimously on July 16 to rescind Councilwoman Kelly S. Cromer’s associate membership. This was before the Washington County Ethics Commission even ruled on the matter. Their decision wasn’t made public until July 31.
Today’s article included something that appears to be factually wrong. It reads:
She also was quoted as saying the police department had a vendetta against her because she questioned the validity of a program under which some city employees are permitted to drive city-owned vehicles to and from work.
She was never quoted as saying the police department had a vendetta against her. Someone who claimed to have been with Cromer when she took a phone call from the reporter from the Herald-Mail asking about the incident claimed on a message board that at no time in the phone conversation did Cromer say the word “vendetta”.
Shortly after reading that, I emailed Dan Dearth, the reporter who wrote the article, and asked him if Cromer actually said the world “vendetta”. He promptly replied:
Rick,
I never quoted her directly as saying that. I asked her whether she felt some city officials and some members of the police department had a vendetta against her. She said, “Yes.”
Thanks.
Dan
Dan Dearth was the one that chose the word vendetta, not Cromer. She only answered in the affirmative when asked if she felt “some” city officials and “some” members of the police department had a vendetta against her. She did not answer in the affirmative that she felt that the entire police department had a vendetta against her. The key word is “some”. The way it reads in today’s paper is that Cromer was quoted as saying the entire Hagerstown police department had a vendetta against her.
She never said that.
Can anyone even blame her if she does feel that some in the Hagerstown police department have a vendetta against her? How else did the newspaper learn about the traffic stop three weeks after it happened? Someone leaked the story to the newspaper and it wasn’t because they were a supporter of Councilperson Kelly Cromer. They did it to make her look bad and the Herald-Mail seems to be going out of their way to do everything they can to help.
My letter to the Herald-Mail over their editorial concerning Kelly Cromer
I blogged a while back about the local newspaper’s war against one of Hagerstown’s city elected councilmembers, Kelly Cromer. I read an editorial that was even more of a hack job then normal. I decided to temporarily lift my self-imposed ban on writing more letters to the newspaper. I originally blogged that if the newspaper didn’t publish my letter, I would go ahead and publish it here.
I don’t think they ever published my letter, so here it is:
I read the editorial published June 24 (Cromer’s apology for incident isn’t enough) and I was amazed at what I read. By demanding that Hagerstown City Councilwoman Kelly Cromer prove that her version of events concerning the May 26 traffic stop are true, you are in a very real sense demanding that she prove her own innocence. That’s not the way that it works. If Cromer committed some type crime or abuse of power, it’s up to her accusers – mainly the Hagerstown Police Department and the Herald-Mail — to prove her guilt. So far that hasn’t happened.
Much of what we know about this traffic stop was learned from reading a special supplemental report written by the officer that stopped Cromer, a supplemental report that was written the day after the actual traffic stop. We know from reading the supplemental report that the officer had to call his supervisor during the traffic stop and ask for advice. I wonder, did this officer receive any more advice the next day while writing the supplemental report? If so, how many people helped him write the supplemental report? Do any of them drive city owned take-home vehicles?
Cromer made no public mention of this incident until three weeks later when a reporter from the Herald-Mail contacted her while she was on vacation. The reporter asked if she believed there was a vendetta against her and she answered in the affirmative. Cromer didn’t choose that word “vendetta” to describe the situation, it was your reporter.
What I find to be the most peculiar thing – and that’s saying a lot — about this whole controversy is how the Herald-Mail found out about the traffic stop in the first place. It would appear that someone from the Hagerstown Police Department or some other city employee leaked the story to the Herald-Mail. Three weeks after the fact. It appears to me that this was done to make Cromer look bad in the eyes of her constituents. She is certainly taking a lot of heat for a word she herself never said. What would motivate someone to do such a thing? Maybe just maybe it was in response to her suggestion that the city investigate the validity of the take-home vehicle program. I can’t help but wonder if the person who leaked the story to the newspaper drives a city owned take-home vehicle. Since we will never know the identity of this person, we are left with only our suspicions.
Rick Rottman
Hagerstown
Booze party!
The local newspaper, The Herald-Mail runs a daily feature called Mail Call. It’s where they publish comments left on an answering machine, supposedly by people in and around the Hagerstown area.
I’ve had the theory for some time now that most of the calls are fake. I think they are made up by someone over at the Herald-Mail. Listening to a bunch of voice mails and transcribing them word for word sounds like a lot of work.
That’s something not often associated with the Herald-Mail.
This one cracked me up:
I’m a resident in the North End of Hagerstown, and I’d like to make a comment on this article in the paper this morning about shutting down the street to have a booze party. We can’t even have a nice Christmas tree in the square anymore because they said it interfered with the flow of traffic, but yet they want to have a booze party. I think it’s ridiculous. They call it an art district down there. How does that coincide with a booze party? Someone please tell me.
I’m going to out on a limb and take a guess that this fictitious caller doesn’t like booze parties. What he or she is referring to is the Downtown Live Hagerstown music festival. It’s a one day event where national bands and musical artists come and play on the square in downtown Hagerstown. They shut down Washington and Potomac street to vehicle traffic and make it a pedestrian-only area.
It’s been a huge success the first two years it’s been held. Though they serve beer, I don’t think any of the street vendors serve hard alcohol.
The Herald-Mail’s war against Councilwoman Kelly Cromer continues
I promised myself a while back that I would stop writing letters to my local newspaper, the Herald-Mail. I wrote a letter last year where I referred to the deceased Rev. Jerry Falwell as “an idiot”. My comment was edited by someone at the Herald-Mail to read that I called him “a fool”.
They made me sound like Mr. T.
I read something this morning that made me do a reversal on my self imposed no-letter to the editor policy. It was a heavy-handed piece of drivel pretending to be an editorial calling for, among other things, Cromer to write a check to the United Way (huh?) for claiming that a Hagerstown police officer was “lying” when he submitted a report stating that she asked him if he “knew who she was” when he stopped her for speeding.
I doubt they will publish my letter. If they do, I will make sure to link to it. If don’t publish it, I will post it here.
This isn’t the first time the Herald-Mail has editorialized about the Cromer traffic stop. On June 14th they published an editorial accusing Cromer of being too quick in accusing the police of a vendetta.
What they failed to mention was that it was the Herald-Mail — not Cromer — that came up with the word “‘vendetta’.
I read a post over on the Herald-Mail message board written by someone claiming to be a friend of Cromer’s. Among other things, this person claimed to have been with Cromer when she received the phone call from the Heard-Mail reporter asking about the incident. This person claimed that at no time did she hear Cromer use the word “vendetta” when talking with the reporter.
Huh?
Last week I emailed the reporter who wrote the story and asked him if Cromer said the word “vendetta”. I got a response almost immediately. He wrote:
I never quoted her directly as saying that. I asked her whether she felt some city officials and some members of the police department had a vendetta against her. She said, “Yes.”
So there you have it. The mystery is solved.
If there is no vendetta, why was the story leaked?
Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith is weighing in on comments made by Hagerstown City Councilwoman Kelly Cromer concerning a supposed vendetta against her for looking into the city’s take-home vehicle program.
He wrote a memo to Hagerstown City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman asking that something be done.
From the Herald-Mail:
“This traffic stop was conducted on May 26, well before any contentious debate in reference to take-home vehicles.”
That’s not entirely correct. I remember reading about Councilwoman Cromer’s interest in the take-home vehicle program before May 26. In fact, I emailed both Councilwoman Cromer and Herald-Mail reporter Dan Dearth about this subject on May 19. Something I read in the article caught my attention:
In February, The Herald-Mail filed a public information request seeking the cost the city incurred to provide employees with vehicles for fiscal year 2006-07 and to date for fiscal year 2007-08. The city responded almost a month later, saying, “There is no document that satisfies your request.”
This didn’t sound right to me. I used to have a job where I was given a company car. One of the things I had to do was to keep a detailed record of the miles I drove each week. I had to keep track of both the miles I drove on company business and the miles I drove for personal reasons, such as driving back and forth from my home. These personal miles had to be kept track of so that a dollar value could be determined and then this dollar amount would be reported on my W-2 as taxable income.
The City of Hagerstown has to keep track of the cost of all personal mileage. Otherwise they would not be able to correctly report this figure to the IRS. That’s something they simply don’t have a choice in doing.
As far as vendettas are concerned, why did someone from the Hagerstown Police Department leak the story about the traffic stop to the Herald-Mail three weeks after it happened? If Police Chief Arthur Smith doesn’t appreciate what Councilwoman Cromer is saying about one of his officers, maybe his police department shouldn’t have leaked the story to the newspaper.
I get the feeling Councilwoman Cromer does not like Mayor Bruchey
Hagerstown city councilwoman Kelly Cromer on the the Herald-Mail online forum:
The Mayor doesn’t care one bit if we look bad, as a matter of fact he tries very hard and goes out of his way to try to make some of us look bad. He only cares about himself. He is a liar and a phony. His day is coming, I have an ace up my sleeve that will be life shattering for him.
Cromer is referring to Hagerstown’s mayor the honorable Robert E. Bruchey. Either they are playing a lot of poker or she doesn’t like him.
Not that there is anything particularly wrong with a city councilwoman not liking a mayor, especially if one is a Democrat and the other is a Republican. Sometimes I think government works better if everyone involved hates each other’s guts.
It’s not like this is unprecedented. In 2006, Hagerstown Mayor Richard Trump resigned after only nine months in office. It was reported that he quit because of his inability to get along with the city council. Bruchey — who already had one term as mayor under his belt — stepped in to fill Trump’s position of mayor.
I have no idea if Cromer’s criticism of Bruchey has any validity to it or not, but I do appreciate her candor. She is an elected official that says exactly what she thinks. And considering the fact that she is a criminal defense lawyer, I think she knows a thing or two about the legality nuances of libel and slander. If she says that Bruchey is a phony and a liar, I have to believe she has some kind of credible evidence to back it up.
We all know that people don’t say stuff on Internet message boards unless it’s true.
Hagerstown bar selling crack cocaine may lose liquor license
Who knew selling crack might result in the loss of your liquor license? From the Herald-Mail:
The Waterin’ Hole Tavern at 15 E. Baltimore St. in Hagerstown faces a $2,500 fine and the revocation of its liquor license after the owner and several patrons were charged recently for selling crack cocaine.
Therisa Lamp, owner of The Waterin’ Hole, appeared at a hearing Wednesday before the Board of License Commissioners for Washington County, also known as the liquor board, to answer the charges.
Board chairman Robert L. Everhart said a decision would be made within 30 days.
What’s to decide? It seems like a no-brainer.
The fun never ends with the Herald-Mail Forum
I blogged a little yesterday about my troubles with the Herald-Mail message board. Mostly I told people to go to Steve Likes to Curse and read Steve Shives’ excellent breakdown on what went down.
I emailed the Herald-Mail website administrator explaining what happened. I’ve yet to get a response. My suspension was removed yesterday. I only knew this because I read about it in the comment section of Steve Likes to Curse. If they were going to remove my 2-day suspension, they ought to at least tell me. What good is announcing it on a message board I was led to believe I was suspended from?
When I went back to the message board, I found the following post from the moderator:
After careful consideration of all the factors involved, and rereading the initial post and the subsequent replies. I have reconsidered my original judgement [sic].
Bentcorner used the term “Negro” and not the other “N-word”, for the record.
After researching the term “Negro”, it does not appear to have the same connotation that the other “N-word” has. While his post may or may not have had anything to do with the nature of the thread is not being considered. It did not take the post off-topic (anymore than what anyone else has ever done).
Bentcorner has my sincerest apologies for my hasty decision and is hereby reinstated.
The moderator had to research the word Negro to learn that it didn’t have the same connotation as the N-word? This is the same person that thought removing all the letters except the letter “N” was a good way of making the word not racially offensive. There’s only one word in the English language that has the same connotation as the N-word.
It’s the N-word.
As soon as I found out that my suspension had been lifted, I began deleting all my posts from the Herald-Mail message forum. The reason? I don’t appreciate how the moderator is able to edit posts. He drastically altered my comment. He made it appear I wrote something all together different then what I really wrote. Who’s to say it won’t happen again?
If he truly thought my comment was racially offensive, he should have just deleted it. He didn’t do that.
I’m once again suspended from the Herald-Mail forum. This time it’s for a year. I can’t log back on again until March 25, 2009. The reason? I don’t know. Once again, I wasn’t informed of the reason. It can’t be for anything I’ve posted because I haven’t posted anything since my initial suspension. I’ve only been deleting my posts.
There is no rule against that.
Click here to see a screen capture showing that I was suspended for a year.
Turns out being labeled a racist is not as fun as you might think
I was suspended from my local newspaper’s message forum yesterday for posting a comment they deeded to be “racially offensive“.
I’d like to explain what actually happened, but I’m still too pissed off to put it all into words. Luckily for me, fellow Hagerstown blogger Steve Shives of Steve Likes To Curse already blogged about it. He does a much better job then I ever could describing what actually happened.
I’m not even going to try. Go read Steve’s blog post and let me know if you have any questions.
Hagerstown Herald-Mail glorifies politician caught with kiddie porn
In today’s Herald-Mail, there was a front page article on Robert McKee. He is the state delegate recently caught with child pornography. Two weeks ago sheriff deputies obtained a search warrant to enter his home where they discovered a substantial amount of child pornography including computer images, video tapes, and magazines.
Did the Herald-Mail investigate the matter further and find out why it took two weeks for anyone at the newspaper to find out about this? Did they discover why McKee was allowed to continue working as the executive director of Big Brothers & Big Sisters?
No. They ran a story that glorified Robert McKee for all of the wonderful things he has done over the years. This man who possessed a substantial amount of kiddie porn.
The most revolting part of the article was where they talked about the wonderful things he has done for Little League:
Williams, the president of Williamsport’s Conococheague Little League, said McKee regularly volunteered to be a district representative at games.
“He was for the kids,” he said. “He was great for Little League.”
He was for the kids? Gee, I wonder why this sick freak was so interested in the kids.
62 weeks later and Wal-Mart is still selling Nazi t-shirts
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I was reading The Consumerist when I noticed a post about Wal-Mart still selling t-shirts in their Men’s department with a Nazi SS Totnekopf or “Death’s Head” image on it.
Whoops.
I’ve lost track how many different times Wal-Mart claimed it was taking prompt action to removed these shirts. The U.S. Congress even got involved.
I was the one to discover this little bit of Wal-Mart goodness. It was back in November 2006 that I noticed it at my local Wal-Mart store here in Hagerstown. I took a picture of it with my cell phone and then compared it to reference images online. It was an exact match. I decided to blog about it and it kind of took off from there. I was interviewed on the telephone by someone from the AP which resulted in the story appearing in just about every newspaper in the country. I was interviewed on my local NBC TV news about the story. That interview then was carried on CNN and MSNBC.
I learned a lot about the whole news business. The reporter from the AP was extremely professional. When the article first ran on the AP newswire, it incorrectly said that I was a veteran of the U.S. Navy. I am a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. To me it wasn’t a big deal. The reporter must have realized his mistake, contacted me, confirmed that I was in the Air Force, and resubmitted a corrected article. The incorrect article stayed online only for about an hour. I was impressed.
I wasn’t impressed with my local hack newspaper, The Herald-Mail. Even though I only live a few miles from the newspaper, they didn’t even bother to ask me any questions before writing an article about me finding the shirt. Sometimes I forget they don’t bother to research their articles. My guess is they are too busy writing fake Mail Call comments. I think they just took information from my blog post and then added details from the AP story.
Speaking of hacks, Christina Hoag from the Miami-Herald wrote that I was a “World War Two buff”. If she had bothered to speak to before writing her article, I could have told her that I was not a World War Two buff and that I had no interest in becoming one. I even sent her a tongue-in-cheek email telling her that I wasn’t a buff of any sort and that I wanted her paper to publish a retraction. I was afraid that the World War Two buff community would become angry that I claiming to be one of them. I didn’t want to get on their bad side. She actually replied as though I was serious. She even attempted to argue the point that I was a World War Two buff.
I think I would know if I was a buff.
The funniest part about these t-shirts still being sold at Wal-Mart is the specific Wal-Mart where they were found. They were found in a Wal-Mart in Palmdale, California. Though I now live in Maryland, I am originally from the Palmdale area. It is the Land of My People. It’s where I grew up and lived until I was 19. I find it to be so ironic that these shirts are still hanging on the rack in Palmdale, or as I like to call it, Palmtucky. In Palmdale, the mullet isn’t just a hairstyle, it’s a way of life.
When free fluorescent light bulbs are not free
A couple of weeks ago we got two free fluorescent light bulbs in the mail from our electric company, Allegheny Power. We made the switch to energy efficient fluorescent over a year ago. I took the box containing the two free bulbs and put them on a shelf in the laundry room and didn’t think about them again until I was reading the local newspaper, the Herald-Mail:
Allegheny Power’s efforts to supply its 220,000 residential Maryland customers with energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs might have burned out some post office personnel.
And as it turns out, the package of two bulbs isn’t free — customers are being charged 96 cents on their monthly bills for one year — in all, $11.52 — under the category of energy surcharge.
“The charge became effective in October,” said Todd Meyers, spokesman for Allegheny Power.
He said the Maryland Public Service Commission on Sept. 26, 2007, gave the utility permission to add the surcharge to customers’ bills.
So the free light bulbs aren’t free after all. The electric company was given permission by some state agency I’ve never heard of before to send me something in the mail I didn’t ask for or even want.
I have to hand it to the Herald-Mail. They know how to research a story:
Contacted by telephone, a large Hagerstown supermarket chain store spokesman said a comparable light bulb made by General Electric sells for $7.99 for each bulb.
They want to know how much fluorescent light bulbs cost so they get on the phone and call a grocery store. It’s not like whoever answered the phone knew how much fluorescent light bulbs cost. They would have to put the phone down and go look. All because some reporter is too lazy to actual research a story.
The Herald-Mail is a joke.
I called Jerry Falwell an idiot, not a fool
Last week I read a letter submitted to Hagerstown’s premier newspaper of record, The Herald-Mail. The letter’s author was pointing out what a great man the late Jerry Falwell was and he stated that the reason some people didn’t like Falwell was because he was conservative.
Something like that.
I didn’t like Falwell. It wasn’t because he was conservative. It was because he was a dick. I think he was a bully who picked on gay people.
I decided to write my own letter pointing out why some people (like me) didn’t like Falwell.
Today my letter was published. In the letter, I wrote that Falwell was a “bigoted idiot”. They changed it to read “bigoted fool”. This bugs me because I don’t use words like “fool”. It reminds me of Mr. T’s famous catch phrase “I pity the fool“.
This isn’t the first time The Herald-Mail has altered my words. It will though be the last. Every time they publish one of my letters, they change words. A word here, a word there. It’s annoying.
No more. I have a blog. Why do I need to write letters to the newspaper? If I want to call Falwell an idiot, I can. I can call him much worse.
The Rev. Falwell’s ‘flaw’ wasn’t his Christianity
To the editor:
I wanted to respond to John Miller’s recent letter proclaiming the many supposed virtues of the now-deceased Rev. Jerry Falwell.
People are speaking ill of him not because of his conservative views. They are speaking ill of him because he was a bigoted fool idiot.
He said that God had created AIDS to punish gay people and the societies that tolerate gay people. He said that if you were not a born-again Christian, you were a failure as a human being.
He also blamed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on pagans, abortionists, feminists, gay people and members of the ACLU. He also said that gay people were satanic beasts and that when they are finally all annihilated that there will be a celebration in heaven.
Who in their right mind not only believes these things, but actually says them aloud for others to hear? The fact is that Falwell gave Christianity a bad name.
He made Christians look bad. Who knows how many people Falwell kept away from Christianity with his intolerant and narrow-minded views?
Real Christians, the people who actually follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, don’t go around blaming pagans or the ACLU when things go wrong. Real Christians don’t talk about celebrating if a whole group of people were to be exterminated.
Rick Rottman
Hagerstown
Local Marine injured in Iraq
I realize it’s not as important as Anna Nicole Smith dying, but a local Marine serving in Iraq has been injured. This from the local newspaper, the Herald-Mail:
U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Dane Fonte of Smithsburg was injured Wednesday afternoon in Iraq when he was hit by a grenade on a rooftop, Fonte’s parents said Saturday. The 21-year-old Fonte is being treated at Bethesda (Md.) Naval Hospital for bone fractures around his right eye, which also received some retina damage.
That’s one word you don’t ever want associated with your retina. The word “damage”. My hopes and prayers go out to Dane and his family.
I tried looking online for more news about this attack, but I couldn’t find anything. The only results I got were for the before mentioned article in the local newspaper. I then tried to do a less structured search. Instead of searching for Dane Fonte, I searched for MARINE+INJURED+IRAQ+GRENADE. I got lots and lots of results. None of them were about Dane Fonte though. It seems there is no shortage of news articles about Marines being injured in Iraq with grenades. Just none about 21 year old Dane Fonte.
UPDATE – The Herald-Mail updated their report. Here is what was published in today’s eddition (11 February):
SMITHSBURG – U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Dane Fonte was injured Wednesday afternoon in Iraq after a grenade exploded during an engagement in Anbar province, his parents said Saturday.
The incident happened while Fonte was on a rooftop during several hours of off-and-on fighting with insurgents, but he managed to avoid the brunt of the explosion, Jeff and Carlann Christopher said.
Fonte, 21, is being treated at Bethesda (Md.) Naval Hospital for bone fractures around his right eye, which also received some retina damage, according to his parents.
“That’s the major concern,” said Fonte’s mother, who added that wounds to her son’s leg and arm were sutured on Saturday.
Though his eye now is patched, Carlann Christopher said her son could detect some amount of light since he was flown from Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, a suspected staging area for insurgents fighting U.S. troops.
“There’s 10 fingers, there’s 10 toes, his personality is there,” she said in an interview from the hospital.
She said Fonte’s superior officer, Cpl. Joshua Pitcher, was not as fortunate, and now is “fighting for his life” after receiving more severe head trauma from the same device.
Jeff Christopher received a cell phone call about his son being taken to the hospital Thursday afternoon while he was at Lowe’s in Hagerstown.
He wasn’t told the extent of his son’s injuries, but left the store and immediately drove to Twigg Cycles in Hagerstown, where his wife works, and went to the hospital.
“We didn’t talk a whole lot,” Carlann Christopher said.
Her husband, a Marine Corps veteran, has traveled to Bethesda several times in the last few months with other members of the Hagerstown chapter of the U.S. Military Veterans Motorcycle Club. They also have traveled to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., to support other military personnel injured in the line of duty.
While with their son, Carlann Christopher said Fonte’s sergeant, who lost his legs in October, was one of a number of people who have stopped by to visit him.
“He came in to see him walking on prosthetics,” she said.
“This place is a living miracle,” she said. “The outpouring of love … There’s nothing we could ever want for.”
“The nurses and doctors at Bethesda Naval have been the best,” her husband added.
Despite attempts by his father to deter him from joining the Marine Corps, Fonte enlisted immediately after graduating from Smithsburg High School in 2003, his mother said.
He was deployed to Iraq in September, and was scheduled to complete his term of service with the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment in August.
“He’s just worried about his guys still over there,” Jeff Christopher said. “That’s all he’s concerned about.”
Fonte’s younger sister, Casey, 18, said her brother was “out of it” when she first saw him Thursday.
On Friday, he was laughing and telling jokes, she said Saturday.
“He still has all of his body parts, thank God,” she said while cleaning her brother’s room at their parents’ house off Vodys Court in Smithsburg, where his Marine Corps unit’s colors fluttered in a chilly wind.
A standout football player and wrestler in his years in high school, Fonte’s mother anticipates a hearty welcome home from the community for her son, who she said has an infectious smile and personal drive to be the best.
“I think if Dane ran for mayor of Smithsburg, I’d think he’d win hands down,” she said.
Non-handwashing Hagerstown men using public restrooms have been warned
One of my favorite parts of the local newspaper is something called Mail Call. It’s where people that want to share their opinion with Herald-Mail readers call a special phone number and leave a message on voice mail. Newspaper staff take these voice mails and publish them in the paper.
Most are extremely boring, but a few of them are sometimes extremely funny and quite entertaining. Here is one from yesterday’s edition (24 Nov):
“In local public restrooms, I’ve noticed that fewer than half the people make any effort at washing their hands. And of those who do stop at the water faucet, the majority only run water over their hands without applying soap. Probably fewer than one in 10 actually leave the restroom with clean hands. And the well-dressed are no more likely to wash than the guy in blue jeans. Think about that next time you shake hands or eat from a salad bar.”
I always thought wearing blue jeans was considered well-dressed in Hagerstown.
I picture some guy standing in the men’s room at the Hagerstown Valley Mall with a clipboard taking notes. At least he is not observing whether men are using an adequate amount of toilet paper or not. At least I don’t think he is. I’ve never really noticed. I try not to look around so much when I’m in a public men’s room. It’s a philosophy I wish more men would adopt as their own.
One of the reasons I don’t like shaking hands with other men is that I always automatically assume they just got done handling their junk or picking their nose.
Hagerstown’s Memorial Boulevard
I wrote a letter into my local newspaper last week, The Herald-Mail. The letter was published in today’s issue. The letter pertained to the renaming a street here in Hagerstown in honor of Willy Mays. One of the greatest baseball players of all times. He actually played his first professional baseball game in Hagerstown. The street that was to be renamed in his honor is where the baseball stadium is located in Hagerstown. It actually has true historical baseball significance associated with it. It’s not every city that can claim to be the site where one of the best baseball players of all time got his very first start.
The street’s name was never changed. It seems some Hagerstown area people got upset because they felt that renaming Memorial Boulevard to Willy Mays Way would be an insult to military veterans. Even though nobody is really quite sure why Memorial Boulevard was named Memorial Boulevard.
People tend to believe that it is called that to honor military veterans. Not that there is any proof or evidence of that. It’s my belief that Memorial Boulevard wasn’t renamed Willie Mays Way simply because he is black.
It’s not because Hagerstown especially loves military veterans.
If Memorial Boulevard was to honor veterans, where was the actual memorial? The street lacked a true memorial for decades. It took the threat of naming the street after a black man to get the enough people interested in paying for a real memorial.
Here is the letter:
I’m responding to a letter you published written by Louise Dawson of Hagerstown. In her letter, she states that the reason Memorial Boulevard was not renamed Willie Mays Way was because people complained. The reason they complained she states was not because Willie Mays is black, but because “veterans did not want it changed.”
For the record, I’m a veteran of the U.S. military. I wanted Memorial Boulevard renamed Willie Mays Way. I thought it would be a fitting tribute to one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Not only a tribute to the player, but to the city where he played his first professional baseball game – it’s a fact that those of us who live in Hagerstown can be proud of. The street and the city actually has some historical baseball significance connected to it.
What I am not proud of is the way some of our city’s residents treated Willie Mays. It has been documented that Mays was subjected to racial slurs during the game. He also was not allowed to stay in the same Hagerstown hotel with the rest of his teammates. I, for one, am ashamed of the treatment Willie Mays received here. Renaming of the street in his honor would have been a positive first step in righting a past wrong committed by people of this city. It would have sent the message that the people of Hagerstown today do not agree with the way Mays was treated. Not only is Hagerstown known at the city that treated Willie Mays wrongly during his first professional baseball game because he was black, it’s now known as the city that more recently refused to rename a portion of a street to honor him.
It’s not as though a famous World War I epic battle took place on Memorial Boulevard. From what I can tell, few even know actually what war, battle, or group of warriors Memorial Boulevard is supposed to memorialize. That’s if it was even named Memorial Boulevard to honor anything at all. The fact that few city officials or residents even know why it was named Memorial Boulevard speaks volumes of its significance.
Blame military veterans for not honoring Willy Mays if you must. Just don’t blame this veteran.
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