Today feels like that Kris Kristofferson song. Not that this hangover is about anything I've had to drink.
It's from blogging . . . "citizen journalism" . . . an activity I turned to four years ago to get some help . . . because I had been the victim of a series of un-investigated/un-prosecuted white-collar crimes.
[Pssssssst Fec, the North Carolina Medical Board already knows I'm here . . . so does every local, state and Federal law enforcement agency from Asheboro to Washington . . . and, in this era of healthcare "reform-that-isn't", the VERY LAST thing ANY of them want is public attention cast on this case.]
"Victim." I despise using that word to describe what I am. It isn't what I am.
As many folks by now know, I was the victim of a cyber-stalking incident on Friday night - courtesy of Jeff Martin, aka "Fecund Stench" of Vie de Malchance. I blogged his abuse as it happened . . . here on Housecalls (in the comments on the post linked below) and at Joe Guarino's.
Real time . . . not that I could really keep up with it.
I very much appreciate the calls and comments of everyone who has since had advice to give. I am taking that advice on Monday morning (like the Greensboro police department doesn't have enough to do).
"Mr. Stench" was upset because I had dared to "post-back" on a malicious/warped piece he put up on Mike Baron of "Dam Scam" (I refuse to link Fec's post again - or even go back to his blog - which has now been deleted from my sidebar links).
I was sick & fricking tired of coming home after bad or busy days at work (four hours from my real home no less - for all of the reasons given on this blog) . . . doing what I do (which sometimes really is saving children's lives) . . . and reading that I/others were "booger-eaters" and "morons" and "whack-jobs" and "crazy" and "evil" and "lunatics", etc.
I hear I'm now a "banshee" too.
Well, you had better give me a broom and a megaphone, because I am not going to stand silently by and watch a LOATHSOME attack (Joe's most excellent description) on a very good man battling terminal cancer (multiple myeloma) who is telling the truth . . . a truth that does matter to many of our Greensboro bloggers as long as they have their "potable water" long after Mike Baron is gone.
And Mr. Martin, if taking Mike's back (knowing only a small portion of his pain because I do not have terminal cancer) makes me a "borderline personality", well then, by God, that's what I'll be.
On this blog, I moderate comments, but for the most part I let people say what they think. And people did. A lot of people are weary of "Fec The Terrible's" act.
In addition to what he was doing on the blogs, Fecund Stench (and he IS) played his head games and hurled invective (a word his idol, Edward Cone, likes to use) into my Inbox for well over an hour. He started with a not-so-veiled threat (i.e. typing my home address in an e-mail subject header with a cryptic question in the body of the mail), and when that did not elicit whatever response he was looking for, he really started going for the jugular - by threatening to report me to the North Carolina Medical Board (because, you see, I'm "mentally ill").
Of course, in the course of my blogging, I've already been there and done that.
When these things did not work, Mr. Martin began listing all of the things he had done for me in the blogosphere. I was supposed to understand and forgive him because his modus operandi is to "attack and apologize". He's "well-known for it".
In the course of approximately one hour, I got 27 e-mails.
It wasn't the "you broke Ed Cone's heart" line that burned my butt most of all (one has to wonder where Mr. Cone was when all of this was going down), it was this gem:
"I can count the times I've been to your blog on one hand."
And that, ladies and gents, is when your hands stop trembling and your heart stops racing and you stop being scared and you just get really angry (all over again) and you CONSIDER THE SOURCE.
If this man . . . or any of the Greensboro bloggers he worships and was obviously trying to please . . . was EVER my "friend", I do NOT need enemies.
I have enough of those.
;) and nod (that was for you, Roch). That is, of course, the trademark of the progressive Greensboro blogging elite . . . the well-connected and the well-named who crane their necks looking away from train wrecked-lives like mine and Mike's.
OBTW, I am well aware this keeps me on Fec's "radar" . . . the one I'm supposed to now duck and run from.
As the blips go, I'm one of the big girls.
Sunday Afternoon Update (with after-thoughts added):
Surfing "We101/Greensboro" just now (it appears I'm back on there) I saw the heading for this post at Vie de Malchance (which appears to have gone up sometime last night), and took the bait and looked.
I agree with Mr. Martin. The post was "unwise". And the e-mail copy I made of it (in the event his sainted wife can talk some sense into him and it gets deleted) will be included with 27 other e-mails his alter-ego sent me Friday night . . . in in the complaint I swear out with the Greensboro police tomorrow morning.
As for it being so "easy" to Google my address (in "Fec's" pee-brain, this apparently justifies his actions), and "stupid" for me to allow it, as a physician licensed in North Carolina (a physician that Mr. Martin seems so determined to libel), I am required by law to list my home address with the North Carolina Medical Board.
My home address is my corporate (public) address.
And the Medical Board, in its infinite wisdom, offers no leeway for privacy to those of us who are incorporated as individuals and make our livings (again, something Mr. Martin seems determined to endanger as he endeavors to be "helpful") as independent contractors.
It's just another one of those things that no one in Raleigh thought of when they decided to be so "transparent" to the public . . . especially those members of the public that might be off their medication . . . one of those things that might need to be reformed.
I am informed that home addresses are also listed with the local tax department and are public record.
Mr. Stench, who has now reverted back to his "I'm just a normal guy" act (the one he always resumes once he's knows he's gone too far), is very "concerned" about the family of the unconvicted felons I pummel for their crimes on this blog . . .
. . . the unconvicted felons and their families who have moved right on along with their happy little lives, unencumbered by ANY consequences for their actions.
And/so, I'm not moved.
I have family too - who have suffered for YEARS with me because of what those unconvicted felons did. On Saturday morning, I had to tell my Mother what was going on (after she got back from an Aunt's funeral that I could not attend because I am on-call).
My house-sitter (one of the YaYas/my best friends) . . . who was actually in the house whose address Mr. Stench Googled when this was all going down . . . called to see if she needed to take protective measures and/or leave.
In his post, Mr. Stench is also feigning "concern" about my state of "anxiety". Funny, how he waited a whole day to "get the word" to me that he had not sent anything to the Medical Board.
And OBTW, this one ain't about anyone's politics. Be he a Democrat, or Republican, or Independent, or Mean-spirited-Moronic-Under-medicated-Booger-eater, this was just WRONG.
Filing the criminal complaint won't give me any "peace".
But let's just say I don't negotiate with terrorists, Mr. Martin.
Keep your post up. Take it down. Whatever. It's just more evidence.
Late Sunday Evening Update:
Predictably, when the "To Mary Johnson" post did not extort the desired end (again, I'm not as emotionally fragile as he imagined), Mr. Martin posted another entitled "Sit and Spin" (it doesn't get a link), which totally dropped the "normal guy" facade and revealed his true colors.
I've copied and e-mailed the posts to myself . . . to add to the file (29 and counting) . . . to give to the police tomorrow morning.
You-all have a good night.
Monday Afternoon Update:
It took a while to sort out the jurisdiction (it's the home address of the person on the receiving end of the e-mails), but the initial complaint has been filed with the Randolph County Sherrif's Department.
As this plays out, there may be something filed with the GPD as well.
The "character" of Mr. Stench continues to post vitriol over on his blog. He's going to dissect my psyche for your entertainment (if I am interpreting the data on StatCounter correctly, he's spent hours on my blog all weekend doing "research") and I'm supposed to quake in fear . . . I will retreat if he pushes the right button. Mr. Martin really needs to read the statute. It's not about what's on the blogs (although with every new post he puts up since sending his e-mails, he's digging the hole deeper).
It's about what he did Friday night.
And what Jeff Martin did Friday night crossed a line that sane people in this society do not cross. It was a crime. There is no excuse he can make, or rationalization he can employ to justify the act.
If it had been done to you, or your Mother, or your Sister, or your Daughter, or your Wife, it would not be "funny" at all.
And anyone who supports that - or thinks it is funny - is as sick and warped as he is.
But hey, pass the popcorn!
As of this morning, there have been other developments relevant to my case. I'm not going to blog about them.
Monday Evening Update:
In the "it-don't-get-richer-than-this" department, I just got an e-mail from the N&R . . . for a "possible interview". I'll go on-the-record here with part of my off-the-record response:
Let me get this straight.
I've been in the blogosphere for four years . . . blogging about being professionally raped/robbed and left for dead by a local non-profit hospital . . . multiple ethics violations and (as yet unprosecuted) felonies . . . pleading for an investigative journalist to take a look . . . and you want to interview me about Jeff Martin?
Oh manoman, it's been a long, interesting day.
Wednesday Afternoon Update:
In the course of doing my job, I was up a good portion of last night (I'm sure the parents of those sick newborns would very much appreciate what their Pediatrician was having to deal with on the side), and my day is far from done, so we will keep this short and sweet.
Blogging is blogging and we all take our lumps. Mr. Martin, for all of his obfuscating and back-tracking and pathetic excuses, crossed every line (not just with me) and it is not going to stand.
You can like me or you can hate me, but what he did was wrong. It is against the law.
And I've got news for the Fecund Stench. I've been on the Randolph County Sheriff Department's "radar" for a very long time. Just like the Asheboro Police Department (as I was tossed from jurisdiction to jurisdiction), the RCSD poo-pooed my criminal allegations against Robert Morrison and Steve Eblin . . . did not conduct ANY KIND of investigation itself . . . and instead of referring the case out to the N.C. Attorney General's office (where it should have gone in 2003), deferred completely to the stone-walling and habitual intemperance of the Randolph County District Attorney's office.
It's not quite "eternal", but there you are.
THERE WILL BE NO "DEALS".
Thursday Morning Update
There's a break in the baby action this morning, so I thought I'd update everyone on what's been going on from my end.
Concerned/outraged friends in Asheboro continue to send me e-mail copies of Mr. Martin's posts. And I continued to forward the posts, which are an escalation of his e-mail assault, to the Randolph County Sheriff's Department.
I'd like to thank everyone for their calls and e-mails. I'm o-kay. I'm hanging in.
Jeff can say, "I don't know what she's talking about" all he likes, but Tuesday night (I think it was Tuesday night), I was offered a "deal" by the RCSD officer "investigating the case" (who did not seem to understand the difference between blog commentary and communicating threats). The deal was silence for silence. I refused. For that caves to the psychological terror tactics . . . and the on-going online rape of my reputation (such as it is after the professional rape dished out in Asheboro).
Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.
And if a Randolph County magistrate is too dense to get past the not-so-deft snow-job and figure out the difference between blogging and the cyber-terrorism Fec has been dishing out, well, we do have a problem with law enforcement in Asheboro.
Of course, we who live here have known that for a long time.
The GPD is also involved at this point . . . because of threatening e-mails Mr. Martin sent to someone else. They seem to be taking it more seriously.
The SBI was notified last night.
With regards to "the real story" (which Mr. Martin claims to know all about - and to have shared with Ed Cone - implying that I am "not well"), this week there have been what has been billed to me as positive developments with that as well. There will be no further comment until I see how that pans out.
And/so things are far from "dead".
Mr. Martin has spent days on Vie de Malchance trying to justify his actions (nevermind that he's admitted what he did - and that he was wrong to do it). He's continued to lob invective and innuendo trying to get me to "crack" . . . to give up . . . to walk away with my tail tucked.
I was "mean" to our poor, perpetually petulant Fec on his blog. I allowed others to be mean here on Housecalls.
Nevermind the the horrible, awful, cruel things he's said to-and-about me/others over the years. He's the "real" victim.
But here's the thing about that. Bloggers blog. We put up our stuff and we invite commentary. We fight and we spew. We can moderate comments, we can block comments, we can hide comments, and we can delete comments. For all his "pings" now, Mr. Martin played that game until someone stood up last week and flat out told him he was wrong . . . way beyond out-of-line. Fec verbally eviscerated a man with terminal cancer (Mike Baron) who came to our little "community"-in-the-ether because he wanted to tell his side of a story that's gotten short shrift.
Of course, that's my fault too. I should've told Mike it was a waste of time. You can't make his story 100 words-or-less . . . and/or something that a first-grader-suffering-from ADD could understand.
Our Fec could not be bothered with the specifics or the facts. No. Instead, our hero told a man with terminal cancer that he was "criminally insane" (Lex Alexander also chimed in) . . . and to move on along with his life and get over it . . .
. . . just as he did with this "whack-job" on so many occasions . . . without apparently even reading this blog.
Meanwhile, those of us who dared defend Mike were "booger-eating morons" and "lunatics".
Friday night, Jeff Martin/his alter, "Fec" crossed a line. As a very wise nurse put it to me this morning . . . he escalated from wanting to shake the baby into silence, to actually doing it.
Most of the rules we play by in the Greensboro blogosphere are rules Jeff Martin and Edward Cone (whose name he keeps invoking) helped make. In the past, the GSO blogosphere has railed in righteous indignation for far lesser offenses against the livelihoods and reputations of bloggers. But not now.
There's been a whole lot of radio silence from the progressive and enlightened this week.
Readers here on Housecalls have commented on Fec's mental status, but I have done my level best to refrain from adding my two cents. I don't have a clinical relationship with him. I've met him once (while shopping in his wife's old store). And I think that what he's done - both now and in the past - speaks for itself.
As Mr. Martin well knows, I've not returned fire in kind. I've made no threats against him or his wife (someone I've made a point of repeatedly praising on this blog) or their livelihoods - although there are several "fat girls" from Randolph County who will not be setting foot in Jodi's store ever again.
But what Jeff Martin has been doing since Friday is illegal and this time he is not going to be getting a free pass.
Of course the story in the News & Record is dead. I would not participate in Mr. Martin's "fun" by giving an interview. Indeed, I pretty much put them on notice that I was not Jack Perdue.
This is NOT about a "blog war" . . . or two "crazy people" going at it online. It's a relatively simple story about a vicious blogger-on-blogger cyber-assault that's been going on for almost a week.
Ergo, OF COURSE, the Greensboro N&R cannot handle it.
This IS serious, folks. But not in the way Jeff Martin would like you to think.
Very Late Thursday Evening Update
This afternoon, I was notified of new developments that should be published in Randolph County's "law log" shortly. I just got home tonight, and have had time to peruse what friends sent me earlier in the day.
And once the case is really underway, perhaps the cyber-cops will be able to determine who "In The Line of Fire" is. This person seems to be holding a serious grudge over my stance in Asheboro's alcohol referendum (can't imagine who that might be;). But that's old news. I pissed-off a lot of "right people" by taking the online backs of the "anti" forces.
No apologies. No regrets.
The really interesting/curious/problematic thing for Garland, King & Andy now is that, in his (or is it a her?) comments at Fec's, "In The Line of Fire" implies that Mr. Martin will have his legal back covered by droves of adoring insiders in Randolph County law enforcement and Asheboro's legal system . . . the system that's already done me dirty more than once.
Perhaps it IS time to call in the SBI. Smells like Lincolnton to me.
As for "the real story", that all came out in the discovery portion of two lawsuits . . . lawsuits that Randolph Hospital ultimately ran from . . . and lied repeatedly during . . . in order to get out-from-under-on-the-cheap.
But hey, our Fec never lets the facts get in his way.
Every nasty post Jeff Martin has put up/directed my way since this attack began on Friday night are simply an extension of his e-mails . . . and an attempt to extort my silence. Ergo, they're actually evidence . . . while previous blog posts and commentary are . . . well . . . bloggers being bloggers.
"In The Line of Fire", an obvious blogging "newbie" suffering from delusions of anonymity, should be fairly easy for local-law-enforcement-determined-to-prove-its-ability-to-be-fair-and-impartial to "ping".
P.S. Wanted to add an addendum before I go to bed. In the wake of the increased traffic spurred by recent events, I decided to move the profile up on my sidebar (it's that somewhere-around-100 word summary-of-my-case prepared just for Ed Cone), and move some things down/around. I also deleted some dead links and removed several old Housecalls posts in order to cut down on clutter. If you can't find something, you're free to search. Nothing has been deleted, and if it really trips your trigger, you can learn all about my experience as one of John Rohinson's recruits to the oh-so-progressive Greensboro blogosphere.