A Doctor On The Public Record: When The American Dream Became The American Nightmare . . . In Asheboro

I was born in 1962.  And this is my 1,962nd post since I answered Greensboro N&R Editor, John Robinson's call to "citizen journalism" back in 2005.

Of course, I think it's now well-established what a crock it was to put any faith in the inherent nobility of the truth-seeking journalists in Greensboro and Asheboro, North Carolina.

I mean, when your local newspaper (that would be the Courier Tribune - owned by the Stephens Media Group) can be bought off by your local government (that would be Asheboro City Hall), things are pretty much in the toilet in America. 

It's not the America I envisioned for 2010 . . . certainly not the life I hoped for all those years ago when I decided to dedicate all of my efforts into becoming a Pediatrician people could trust.  I mean, according to the American playbook, in terms of my personal choices, I did everything "right".  Played by all the rules.  Followed the cookbook for success.  Yet somehow, a "normal" existence in "Mayberry" enjoying the fruits of years of grueling work never came to be.  My dreams of a family and children and changing my little part of the world for the better got trampled by someone else's 20-200 vision.

Somehow the American dream became the American nightmare.  And I haven't woken up.

Meanwhile, I still work every day in a beyond-broken system that literally rewards every bad choice . . . over-looking (even rewarding) corruption and feeding faux-victimhood & entitlement.  It's TOTALLY NOT FAIR to those of us who did make the "right" choices, but have wound up bailing out everyone on all sides.  Something has got to give.

It's what our Havard-educated-yet-totally-oblivious-pseudo-socialist President does not understand.  The government that is now supposed to oversee healthcare did not police ANYTHING when Randolph Hospital worked its dark magic on my life and career.  Bill Clinton's DHHS was asleep-at-the-wheel.  The IRS & U.S. Attorney couldn't have cared less.  And it's certainly now well-established that North Carolina law enforcement is a joke.  Being treated like a nothing and a nobody - after working so hard to become what I am takes it toll.  Indeed, it's that kind of disillusionment and anger that birthed the Tea-Party movement.

I've digressed, but not really.  Getting on with the life I do lead, my 1980 AHS
classmate (neither one of us will be going to the 30th), Henry Millis Armfield ("Buzz") Armfield, Jr.-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields-who-gave-a-million-dollars-to-help-fund-the-Randolph-Hospital-Cancer-Center and I have joined forces to pry public records out of Randolph Hospital . . . most specifically, a list of their Board-of-Directors and Corporate Membership since 1994.

I believe it will be a veritable "who's who" of the people who helped put Asheboro on the map (#4) as one of America's fastest dying towns.

Of course one of the things these right fine honorable gentlemen (and a few ladies) are responsible for is Bob Morrison's $704,020 compensation package as Randolph Hospital's CEO in 2008.

(As you might recall, 2008 was the year that the world went to hell for everyone else.  But Bob Morrison pocketed nearly three-quarters-of-a-million-dollars from a public charity.)

These "right-honorable", many-of-them-supposedly-God-fearing people are also responsible for Steve Eblin running a home-grown Pediatrician out of her hometown for the unforgivable sin of facing down threats . . . doing her duty as defined by the North Carolina Medical Board . . . answering a terrified nurse's call one night in the middle-of-the-night in 1998 . . . saving a very sick newborn baby's life . . . and reporting what happened to peer review and the Medical Board.

Eblin had all the power.  Because no-one-who-was-supposed-to asked a SINGLE question.  And Steve Eblin, oily corporate bully that he is, was going to make sure Mary Johnson ate her whistle.

These "right people" of Asheboro are also LEGALLY responsible for the ILLEGAL actions of their executives - who had no problem knowingly, willingly, corruptly and repeatedly lying under Oath about matters relevant to the Pediatrician's damages claim . . . PERJURY that ultimately defrauded said Pediatrician of the just/fair compensation she was rightfully owed for the waste they laid to her practice, life and career.

These community leaders could cough up the big money for the Bobber.  But somehow, destroying the homegrown Pediatrician's practice and local reputation . . . irrevocably altering her career . . . and putting the doctor and her family through HELL for several years . . . was only worth $125,000.

The problem these right "honorable" people have now is that perjury is a crime without a statute of limitations and this Pediatrician IS NOT GOING AWAY until something is done about it .  She doesn't give a flying fig how many names they call her.

WHAT BOB MORRISON AND STEVEN EBLIN DID WAS WRONG.

IT WAS AMORAL, UNETHICAL, AND ILLEGAL.

AND INSTEAD OF GETTING PHAT PARACHUTES AND RAISES NOW, THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED FOR CAUSE IN 2003 . . . when this "situation" was first brought to the attention of their lawyers, their Board-of-Directors and Randolph County District Attorney, Garland Yates.

Of course, many of our noble truth-loving, justice-seeking local bloggers (one of whom's family name is on the hospital that Randolph's eager-to-cooperate execs schlepped to serve) . . . as they push their "progressive" notions about the government "reforming" healthcare . . . think that what happened to this doctor-formerly-in-public-service right under their stuck-up noses is neither here nor there.  It's "old" news.  I should "get over it" and "move on".

These hypocrites-of-the-first-order have delinked and banned and even cyber-stalked . . . they've reveled in flinging the LIBEL that I'm somehow mentally-unstable for pursing justice for as long as I have - for insisting upon the very transparency and accountability in my own situation that they constantly whine and pontificate about . . .

. . . like the availability of public records . . . records that contain financial data and salaries and NAMES . . . information that is NOT confidential . . . information that we ordinary tax-payers have the bought-and-paid-for-bills-that-kill right to see.

That's why I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Buzz Armfield's e-mail to April Thornton (Randolph Hospital's longtime Barbie-doll in charge of PR) this week (copied to me) - which mirrored my own frustration with the hospital's well-honed stall & obfuscate routine . . . with April insisting that we must communicate directly with Mr. Morrison to obtain information that she would have no problem publishing in a self-aggrandizing press release (information which, in fact, has been published in self-aggrandizing press releases in the past).

The names of these "right honorables" are just NOT confidential, folks.  In other words, if you want privacy, then don't serve on a non-profit's Board of Directors:

Ms. Thornton,

First, you did not provide a contact e-mail for Robert Morrison.  Am I to understand that my family has given a great deal of money to your hospital, and you want me to buy a stamp?  While I appreciate the offer of a private tour, my interest in your organization is not concerned with "brick and mortar", but more so with the management of the medical facility, and especially the financial compensation of senior management, and the board that is charged with overseeing such.

I find it somewhat disconcerting that Dr. Mary H. Johnson has alleged that the head of Randolph Hospital has a salary paid by said institution that would rival that of any CEO with one of the larger banks based in this state. And, please forgive my using banks for comparison purposes, but I once was a banker, and owned several thousand shares of stock in a bank, and I have a rough idea as to how institutions with boards of directors function.

Second, please explain why you cannot provide the information - or at the very least, forward my request on to Mr. Morrison. Both of these things would seem to fall within your job description.

I must question your "process". The CEO of a "state-of-the-art" hospital, I would think, should have more important things to do than handle very simple public records requests - and certainly would not want to give the impression that he or his staff is stalling or withholding information.

Lastly, in meeting with two of my cousins this past week in Winston-Salem, I mentioned the allegations of Dr. Johnson with regard to the financial compensation of the senior management of Randolph Hospital. My cousins, and I feel that the head of a small town hospital could not possibly be earning an annual income of $700,000, more so since the hospital is not run for profit. I feel confident that once you provide me with the requested information, any speculation regarding what Dr. Johnson has said can be settled once and for all.

Thank you,

Henry M. Armfield, Jr.

Of course, as Buzz and his smarter relatives know, it's very hard to argue with IRS 990's posted on Guidestar (register - it's free, log in, click on documents, and see for yourself).  But Bob Morrison is planning setting up his parachute - on our dimes - and it was all supposed to be flown in under the radar.  Plainly and simply, he's laughing all the way to the bank (although probably not First National Bank).

What really KILLS me is the mental picture of one of Randolph Hospital's "right-people" ex-Foundation Board members standing in the middle of a local produce store and assuring everyone within earshot that he was a Board member and he KNOWS that Bob DOESN'T pull down those kinds of bucks.

I have decided not to post THE VERY IMPORTANT ALBEIT FUDAMENTALLY CLUELESS NIMROD'S name here.

But it was very, very tempting.

All of this really makes the morons running Bell, California look fairly tame.  I'd like to see the citizens of Asheboro make like the angry citizens of Bell . . . and pick up their pitchforks and torches and rise up against this deep-seeded good-ole-boys-winking-and-nodding-at-their-good-ole-boy-friends-brand-of-public-corruption and show Bob/his "team" of rubber-stamping sycophants the door.

Because a "non-profit" hospital needs to be about what's best for patients.  Not what's best for Bob's retirement.

And doing what was best for patients is NOT what happened in 1998.  It's not what happened when "the team" SLAPP-sued me for "libel" in 2000 (too bad for them truth is absolute protection in a Court of law).  And it's not what happened in 2001, when this Pediatrician who fought back was swindled at settlement . . . and therefore was robbed of the opportunity to return home and rebuild what Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin did to service their egos, their malice and their greed.

It's the reason that Courier Tribune Editor, Ray Crisco's LAME musings about jealousy being our biggest malady fall on deaf ears.  My Mother taught his children.  But when it came time to step and do the right thing by hers, Ray was too busy stuffing his face at the hospitals' Dine-Arounds.  It ain't jealousy, Ray.  It's greed and cowardice.

Ray, you see, is one of those "focus on the positive" guys.  He wanted so much to be "important" in the more rarefied Asheboro circles (the kind that get invited to Dine-Arounds) that he long ago forgot that it's HIS JOB to question and criticize the powers-that-be . . . to catch them and challenge them when they do wrong.

Because all criticism of the powers-that-be was deemed "destructive" (or in a doctor's case, "disruptive"), the citizens of Asheboro long ago saw their newspaper (with David Renfro at its helm) sell it's soul to its biggest advertisers (so actually, a reporter taking some money on the sly is small potatoes).

It's very unfortunate that The Courier Tribune specializes in lies of omission.  Because if we had a local newspaper that was worth a damn (sorry, Mama) - as opposed to a bought-and-paid for suck-up machine, I think Asheboro's "not-so-right" citizenry would've put a stop to a lot of this good-ole-boy CRAP a long time ago.  Our town might not be in the top ten of a list nobody wants to be on.

We-the-People might even have a good reason to buy newspapers again . . .

And now, dear readers, it seems like a good time to step back, take a real blogging break, and let word-of-mouth work its magic . . . while I work on projects that need my undivided attention this fall and winter.  Feel free to peruse the sidebar or search the blog archives.  The whole ugly story . . . downplayed, buried and ignored for years and years . . . is all there.

I'm gonna close now with an observation about my hometown of Asheboro, North Carolina:

Asheboro was never really "Mayberry", you know.  It's always been a mill town where the haves ruled the have-nots . . . where the mill-owners decided what was best for everybody - after they decided was best for themselves first.  In large part, this paternalistic environment was fairly benevolent, but ugly things did happen.  Most got along to get along.  Those who didn't like it left.

Those of us who grew up here saw the ugly and learned our lessons very young.  Many left swearing never to return.  Those of us who came back - hoping to change the town for the better - found we either had to "break" and become part of it . . . or have our hearts broken.

It's why I don't feel like going to Pinewood in two weeks and toasting Asheboro High.  Sorry, Jane.  Sorry Suzanne.

Back in the early nineties, things took a more sinister turn.  A group of men with MBA's and law degrees found a small Southern town in North Carolina and decided to take it over.  And they did - with very little resistance - by networking via the various small town civic groups (most notably the Rotary Club) - and even trying to weave local churches into their web.  Over the years, these self-described "right people" preached small town values and charity . . . all the while compounding on what I have often heard referred to as "the mill town mentality".  In a short period of time, they enjoyed absolute power over our banks/economy and our hospital and our community college and our schools and (most disconcertingly) our newspaper.

And you know what they say about absolute power . . .

While they advanced their own careers and filled their pockets (oftentimes on the public's dime), they methodically trampled the hopes and dreams of good people sucked in by their empty promises (I lost count of the doctors who came to Asheboro because of its Mayberrish qualities and wound up leaving in disgust . . . or the nurses who work out-of-town), and literally killed the town.

No one talked back to "the team".  Real oversight and accountability were non-existent.

Small-town values were not reflected at all in the despicable/amoral things these community leaders and their "teams" did.  And their "vision" did not extend beyond their next quarter profits.

It's 2010.  The town has been bled dry . . . by self-serving schemers like Bob Morrison whose absurd/obscene/offensive compensation package courtesy of a "non-profit" hospital that cried poor-mouth to me in 2001 - and in 2010 has been laying off nurses/cutting their time - makes California-crooks-masquerading-as-public-servants look almost angelic (one friend calls Bob the Bernie Madoff of Asheboro).  The worst-kept secret in town in that Federal regulators are preparing to take over First National Bank/Community One . . . Randolph Technical College is on probation . . . Randolph Hospital is the laughing stock of the state (certainly a hospital that no savvy Pediatrician in their right mind would touch with a ten-foot-pole) . . . our local economy is in the tank . . . and our City Council can "hire" the reporters that cover its actions not to cover its actions.

Alcohol aint' gonna fix that.

And I'm wondering.  WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO STOP IT?

When does the local populace rise up and say, "STOP LYING TO US AND STOP RIPPING US OFF!!!" . . . when do they throw these liars and thieves
out?

While they're at it, why can't they send two of them to jail?

A new friend (who understands all too well what I've been through) and I were talking one evening last week on the phone, and something she said really hit home:

Mary, YOU DID NOT DESERVE WHAT THIS TOWN DISHED OUT.  You DESERVE to working at home . . . sleeping in your own bed . . . having dinner with your Mama any time you want . . . seeing your niece and your nephew any time the mood strikes . . . and serving the children of THIS community . . . as opposed to somewhere else far away.

YOU DID THE RIGHT THING.  YOU HELPED THAT BABY AND THOSE PARENTS.  You DESERVE TO BE COMPLETELY VINDICATED and TOTALLY FREE of thinking about this EVERY SINGLE DAY since the day it happened.

We know how you feel.  And we're going to stand with you and we're going to help."

At the risk of sounding maudlin, I had to choke back a sob when I heard that.

"We're going to help".  How many YEARS I have waited to hear someone (someone I wasn't paying just to screw me over) say that?

And isn't it just PATHETIC and sad that, in all of the time that my story has been on the public record, the offer has NEVER come from ANY of the high-minded right people" . . . or politicians . . . or local journalists . . . who should have said it?

The list is long.

P.S.  For anyone else who would like to ask Bob Morrison about this salary & benefits package . . . or about what he did to Dr. Mary Johnson, his e-mail address is rem@randolphhospital.org.

Tell him Mary Johnson sent you;)

Attention Citizens Of Asheboro, North Carolina: Pravda Has NOTHING On The Courier Tribune (Subtitled: When Your Local Newspaper Can Be Bought)

9/20 Author's Note:  This post has been updated (scroll to bottom).

"Every news organization has only it credibility and reputation to rely on ." 
     - Tony Burman, ex-Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News

I promised more . . .

Late Friday afternoon, the following e-mail was sent to Diane M. Winnemueller, the new publisher of Asheboro's Courier Tribune, under the header, A Serious Matter pertaining to the Journalistic Integrity of Asheboro, North Carolina's Courier Tribune.

It has since been copied to Stephens Media Group President, Sherman Frederick; VP/COO, Michael Ferguson; and VP/General Counsel, Mark Hinueber.

I believe the e-mail speaks for itself.  If you're an Asheboro resident, I would suggest that, before sitting down to read it, you pour yourself a very large glass of TEA in a disposable glass.

As the matter-at-hand is very disturbing in a democracy/republic with a "free press", with just one exception, there will be no multiple colors for emphasis today.  Links are simply underlined.

Ms. Winnemuller,

Welcome to Asheboro.

First, I want to thank you for allowing my comments on stories at the Courier Tribune. I would expect that you've already gotten some grief for letting them post. I was actually very surprised when they began to be accepted.

I've been blogging about what was done to me in Asheboro for five years. Yet until your arrival, I had been totally shut down/out by the Courier Tribune.

For your information, several Courier readers have complained that they cannot pull up my comments on recent Courier Tribune stories/columns. There was some angry speculation the comments had been deleted. However, I was able to pull them up when I logged in.

I believe the misconception exists because these readers do not understand that they have to log in to read stories over a week old. It is a policy I would suggest that you and your webmaster rethink as a method of increasing traffic.

However, a suggestion for your webmaster is not the purpose of this e-mail.

Comments on stories are not nearly as important as the stories themselves . . . in this case, stories that have not been told . . . and more importantly, WHY they have not been told.

As you well know by now, mine is a story that the Courier's former publisher, David Renfro and its current Editor, Ray Crisco, have determinedly and methodically ignored for all of SEVEN YEARS . . . in deference to the "right people" in Asheboro. And that story is this:

The WAY-overrated, WAY-overpaid senior executives (Robert Morrison and Steven Eblin) of "non-profit" Randolph Hospital repeatedly lied under Oath about matters relevant to a damages claim (during the discovery phase of their own SLAPP-suit no less) in order to swindle a homegrown Pediatrician-formerly-in-state-&-Federal-service out of the fair/just compensation she was rightfully owed . . . after she was fired for defying threats and doing her sworn duty, saving a critically-ill baby's life.

I have the original, black-&-white, sworn discovery responses proving these allegations in my possession (because of safety concerns, you should know they are not stored in my - or my Mother's - home).

In being run out of my own hometown for doing the right thing by a very sick baby twelve years ago, not only have I endured incredible financial & personal hardship over the years (while the hospital spent the public's money to use the legal system as a weapon of Bob Morrison & Steven Eblin's personal malice, intimidation and retaliation), but the missions of the state and Federal programs I served (to recruit and RETAIN Pediatricians to Asheboro) were thwarted and a FRAUD was perpetuated on the taxpayer:

http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2009/12/dr-mary-johnson-vs-randolph-hospital.html

But in seven years, the Randolph County District Attorney, Garland Yates, has refused to even meet with me to discuss the matter. He has also REFUSED to refer the case to the NC Attorney General's office. No reason or explanation has EVER been provided. I cannot get past the DA's office front door. Yates also shut down a SBI investigation ADA King Dozier had promised before it could take place.

I have been totally locked out by the justice system. I am dirt.

And it is UNACCEPTABLE. To re-emphasize: I am a "home-grown" Pediatrician, born and raised and completely educated within an hour's radius of Asheboro . . . a Pediatrician who came home and did EVERYTHING she was asked to do honorably and well . . . a Pediatrician who was fired for doing the right thing by a patient . . . and on top of all that, I am the victim of a CRIME . . . perpetuated and then COMPOUNDED by people charged with the public good.

NOT ONE step of oversight has worked as it should . . . including the local press . . . which, in this country, is supposed to our last/best defense against corruption.

For what was/is STILL being done to me is public corruption at its purest and most sinister - going on right under the Courier Tribune's nose. This fraud upon the public has been compounded by the Courier Tribune's failure to investigate or report the story . . . I always presumed because of the inherent conflicts-of-interest presented by the husband-wife "team" of David (publisher of the Courier Tribune) and Bonnie (President of the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation) Renfro.

"Bad" news was not reported. Criticizing the extended "team" running Asheboro's "incestuously incestuous" big businesses and its non-profits IN ANY FASHION could not be tolerated. It might affect the town's bottom line. Businesses would look elsewhere. Young professionals might not flock here.

As if.

Before I get to the matter that's been brought to my attention, let us briefly review the Courier Tribune's roll in my sad saga:

When Randolph Medical Associates (RMA) fired me in 1998, the Courier received a number of letters from angry parents on my behalf - demanding intervention/reconsideration by the Randolph Hospital's Board of Directors (an oversight body that never deemed it necessary to meet with me or hear my side of the story). The Courier only printed one or two, edited versions of the most tame letters.

When I sued Randolph Medical Associates in 1999, the Courier Tribune did not report the lawsuit.

But when RMA's "parent company", Randolph Hospital, filed its despicable "libel" (SLAPP) lawsuit against me in 2000, David Renfro made sure that it was front page news I was a liar.

My parents got to read that.

When the lawsuits were settled IN MY FAVOR in 2001, the resolution was only reported as a second-page "short-take". Many of my parents' friends had no idea that Tom and Irene's daughter had "won" the fight.

When I discovered in 2003 that I had been swindled of fair restitution at the settlement . . . by brazen, in-your-face PERJURY, CONTEMPT and FRAUD on the part of a "non-profit's" executive officers, I sent the evidence to the Randolph County DA demanding an investigation/prosecution by his office (or, in the alternative, a referral to the North Carolina Attorney General's office). Mr. Yates blew me off and your newspaper (once again) turned a blind eye . . . in FAVOR of the hospital and the community "honorables" who run it.

Meanwhile, bashing Dr. Mary Johnson has been public sport:

http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2010/05/when-fecund-stench-permeates-courtroom.html

When I appeared at Asheboro City Council meetings (twice - first in 2004, and then again in 2008), to get my story out and literally beg Council members for assistance, my family and friends watched in disgust as your "newspaper's" "reporters" literally put down their pens & folded their arms, and/or walked out.

And now I know why (in other words, there is a reason that every time I've attended a City Council meeting I've wanted to bathe immediately afterwards). It appears that this has not just been a case of the simple "wink & nod" routine patented by the "good-ole-boys" running North Carolina. No. It appears that the Courier Tribune can be bought . . . by the very government officials that it is supposed to help police.

I have been made aware of a tape of an (2/9/2006) Asheboro City Council meeting in which Council members (unaware they are still being recorded) discuss "hiring" Courier reporter, Chip Womick, to do their bidding for the night (in that particular case, walk out of the meeting/not report on what occurred there). Council members are heard disparaging and then laughing at a local private business owner (Pat Bradshaw of Peachtree Street Grocery) who gave a presentation at that meeting (pertaining to a dispute with the city over the administration of the local Farmer's market - a dispute which has since progressed to litigation against the city).

Particularly disturbing is what was caught on tape immediately after the meeting adjourned (with Mrs. Bradshaw long gone). Council members were greatly amused that Mrs. Bradshaw was understandably disturbed when Mr. Womick suddenly stood up and walked out of the meeting right before her presentation.

At the very end of the tape, a voice that I believe to be then-Mayor pro-tem, David Smith, can clearly be heard saying, "We hired Chip" (garbled - either "for the night" or "last night") . . . she had a fit."

Current North Carolina Commerce Secretary (I trust the irony is not lost on you), Keith Crisco, was present during this conversation and yuck-yucking right along.

Pat and Mike Bradshaw have endured all manner of insult and injury due to the low-ball tactics of City of Asheboro.

Listening to that tape/CD makes my skin crawl.

The tape (I have seen and heard the original), provided by the City Attorney to the Bradshaws, who have since given a CD copy to me, has been digitally-enhanced/copied to CD, and certified as authentic by noted Electrical Engineer/Expert, Paul Ginsberg of ProAudioLabs in New Jersey (at Mike & Pat Bradshaw's considerable expense).

If an Asheboro reporter can be "bought" for the night, by the Asheboro City Council . . . and our current North Carolina Commerce Secretary (according to the Triad Business Journal, Bob Morrison's "long-time friend" . . . a man who literally sneered at me when I appeared before the Council) thinks it's a hoot . . . I am thinking that what has been going on in my own situation (for much longer) is probably far more sinister than I ever imagined.

When it comes to the Courier's DESPICABLE treatment of Dr. Mary Johnson, Randolph Hospital buying off the press would certainly explain a great deal.

It's certainly no less plausible than perjury, contempt and fraud totally buried by our suck-up DA.

When I have approached outside news media about my story - every single reporter I've talked to has told me this was a local story . . . that needed to first be told by my local newspaper (it could then be "picked up" on the wire). While, in this era of "healthcare reform", I believe that is a total cop-out on their part, I totally concur that the Courier Tribune should've told this story in 1998 . . . and 1999 . . . and 2000 . . . and 2001 . . . and 2003.

The reporters I've spoken to have all opined (those in Greensboro offered something more akin to a taunt) that I could just file another lawsuit. Then they would be all over it.

Of course, it has long been my position that if the law worked the way it is supposed to work . . . indeed, if ANYTHING in this town (or state - or indeed, in Federal government) worked the way it was supposed to . . . I would not have to file anything.

I believe that the reason Asheboro "won" the dubious "honor" of being named as one of the nation's ten fastest dying towns is because the same tightly-knitted band of yes-men and women have run Asheboro FOR YEARS without benefit of any real checks or balances. Good/honest people have been treated horribly by "the powers that be" . . . many have lived in abject fear. I know I did - FOR YEARS. Asheboro's "right people" (a term Steve Schmidly coined) can do whatever they want to whomever they want and no one will do or say anything about it . . . certainly not our local law enforcement and especially not the Courier Tribune.

Our schools, our medical community, our technical college, our neighborhoods and and our local economy have all paid a horrific price. Everything seems to be in the toilet.

But somehow the people who were in charge as everything tanked don't get flushed.

This year, Steven Eblin is chairing yet another committee for another public charity, when he should have been FIRED FOR CAUSE seven years ago. The paper prints fluff praising his accomplishments. I am SICK of it!:

http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2010/09/dance-of-religious-hypocrisy-and-public.html

In short, Ms. Winnemuller, this discovery (my ears are still burning) only confirms what I have long known IN MY BONES about your newspaper. It is bought and paid for. It has no credibility and ZERO journalistic integrity.

I certainly understand that, in taking over from David Renfro, and as a journalist of principle, you may have been unprepared to land in a snakepit. And you are certainly not responsible for things that happened in 2006 . . . or 1998. But this tape is just shameful . . . and has broad-reaching implications.

I'm not really expecting you to find a "paper trail" (because I don't think that even Asheboro City Hall is STUPID enough to write Chip Womick a check or put a pay-off on the VISA card), but I'd LOVE to see a forensic audit of the newspaper's books . . . or of some of the long-time staff's finances . . .

. . . the staff members that ALWAYS seemed to find the most inconvenient times to put down their pen or walk out the door . . . or completely pretend that certain citizens do not exist.

I'm sick of the "right people" in Asheboro pontificating about "small town values" while they treat their neighbors like dirt-to-be-walked-all-over (while the Courier religiously laps up their leavings and regurgitates it as "news" . . . as if it has a ring in its nose).

In short, it's 2010, it's America, you're supposed to be running a newspaper, and I'm kinda wondering what you and your superiors at the Stevens Media Group (whose senior management was informed of my difficulties with the former publisher here in Asheboro long ago - and did NOTHING about it) are going to do to CLEAN UP YOUR ACT?

My Father, who stood with me the first time I stood before the Asheboro City Council (in 2004) . . . who PLEADED with the Council to help (I wonder now how many of them laughed at him afterwards) . . . died before he could see justice done for his daughter.

My Mother, who taught in the Asheboro City Schools for over 30 years . . . who former School Board member, Keith Crisco, could only refer to as "that woman" when she served as local NCAE President . . . is going to see it. I don't care how many "right people" I have to plow through or over.

I look forward to your newspaper's response. I would respectfully suggest that it not be a threat issued by a lawyer. I am SO DONE with threats.

Mary H. Johnson, M.D., FAAP
Asheboro, North Carolina

And there you have it, citizens of Asheboro.  This is NOT just the wink and nod newspapers everywhere afford their major advertisers.  No indeed.  Our little newspaper that boasts the small-town-values . . . far, far away from the former Soviet Union . . . can be bought . . . by Asheboro city government, and (there's absolutely no doubt in my mind) by the "non-profit" mill town hospital that trashed a home-grown Pediatrician's life and career, and now pays its CEO over $700,000/year.

Once again.  Robert Morrison got $330,482 in deferred compensation in 2008 alone.  $48,643 in bonus & incentive compensation.  $30,432 in NONTAXABLE benefits.  On top of a base salary of $294,463.

There is NOTHING Bob Morrison does - or has done - in Asheboro that justifies that kind of compensation.  How many nurses/other staff has he and his minions laid off, pleading hard times?  How many doctors have he and Steve Eblin man-handled and nickled/dimed while they walk away with big money?

But the "newshounds" at the Courier Tribune did not even BLINK!!!  Something is WAY BEYOND WRONG here.  And based on this tape, I'm thinking it's not just because of the fantastic h'orderves Ray Criscoe slurps down at the hospital Foundation's Dine-Arounds, it's because because the newshounds literally have dollar bills stuck up their noses and can't smell that smell.

(The creme-de-la-creme of Asheboro raised $56,000 stuffing their faces and getting snockered for Randolph.  I invite the reader to compare that to "non-profit" CEO, Bob Morrison's, salary and benefits for 2008.)

How SAD is it that ordinary hard-working citizens needing help fighting public corruption and the abuse-of-power cannot turn to their newspaper?

On the other hand, how fortunate is it that we now have local blogs to shine light on this garbage when none of our high-minded local journalists have the stones or integrity to do it?

In short, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Cone, How's THAT for "citizen journalism"?

Author's Note:  I'm taking a blogging break - a REAL ONE - now.  This post needs to stay up for a while and sink in . . . especially for the benefit of some oh-so-noble & progressive blogging-journalists in Greensboro.

And it's clearly time for Dr. Mary to chat up some out-of-town lawyers and cram some TEA down some useless/toothless bureaucrats' throats.

P.S.  Dear Bob,  Dear April (Thornton), Mr. Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields and I are waiting patiently on a prompt answer to that public records request - for a list of your Board Members and Corporate Membership since 1994 . . . since ultimately, THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE for your errors and omissions (i.e. previous failures to produce public records) . . . and THE BOARD APPROVED that obscene/absurd/viscerally-offensive 2008 compensation package.

I think it's time to contact, N.C. Secretary-of-State Elaine Marshall and see if running for the U.S. Senate might finally compel her to do her job. 

You see, by my reading of N.C. General Statute, Elaine DOES have the power to take complaints and submit formal inquiries to non-profits (say like, "Hey Bob, if you could take some time off from counting all that money you skimmed off the top, WHY did you and Steve Eblin feel compelled to repeatedly lie under Oath - and misrepresent the FACT that your financial records & salaries are fully disclosable to the public?).  She can also ask for the intervention of the N.C. Attorney General if she doesn't like the answer (or the non-profit does not answer at all). 

But like Garland Yates, Elaine's just been in a COMA.  Now she wants to be COMATOSE in Washington.  (Here's an oldie-but-goodie from 2008, courtesy of WRAL in Raleigh, in which Elaine makes excuses - and admits what some of us in North Carolina learned the very hard way . . . being registered as a non-profit is bascially a license to scam).

Monday Morning (9/20) Update:

Given that we're talking about the city of Asheboro buying off the local newspaper, there's a link that's buried deep in e-mail above that I think needs to come front and center.  It's an article from Southwest Virginia Today about the death of former superintendent of the Asheboro Wastewater System, Kirk Miller, who was a 1977 graduate of Asheboro High.  I vaguely remember him.  Kirk was reportedly distraught over the way he had been treated by the City of Asheboro - fired three months short of retirement under very suspicious (i.e. whistle-blower-like) circumstances.  He threw himself off the back of his brother's truck on Interstate 81 and was struck by a car.

According to his family, getting fired (especially the way he got fired) destroyed him, because Kirk lived his job - and took its responsibilities very seriously.  And he had been troubled by something going on at work . . . something he did not think to document beyond his city-owned computer.

Asheboro City Manager, John Ogburn (like Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin before him), declined comment when contacted by the press (that would be the press in Virginia as opposed to the press here), citing the old stand-by "confidentiality and privacy".  As was the case in my own situation, it's the reason the Courier Tribune ALWAYS gives for not investigating/reporting "employment-relateed" stories . . . even when you file a lawsuit on the public record.

And never mind that the employees we're talking about wanted the press to ask questions, and wanted people like Steve Eblin and John Ogburn to be put on the spot as they grappled for their lame answers.  It's interesting to me that the family describes Kirk's firing as "political" - because that's the same term Dr. Randy McVeigh (an anesthesiologist long gone from Asheboro) used to describe what he was told when he went on his own reconnaissance mission after I was fired.''

I'm thinking that maybe it's time we got rid of some of the "politicians", and cleaned house at our useless/suck-up/sold-out newspaper.

Now, while Chip Womick is suddenly writing stories about mental health advocates (long overdue in a town that tends to point and snicker), I don't recall reading ONE WORD in the Courier about the death of Kirk Miller - or the circumstances leading up to it.

It reminds me of the way the City of Greensboro treated Mike Baron.  Who is Mike Baron, you ask?  Just another "crazy" Randolph County blogger given short shrift by the local press - because his story is UBER UGLY too.

9/20 Evening Update:  I appreciate the calls and e-mails of support.  I only ask new readers that they spread the word.  Apparently, word-of-mouth is the ONLY way to get news out in Asheboro. 

Fellow doctor-blogger, Joe Guarino, has linked to this post.  In the thread, I have once again been asked to "summarize" my case in "less-than-100-words-or-less".  I believe that's called a Blogger profile (or "About Me" on the sidebar). 

The detailed summary (2110 words) is, of course, also on the sidebar.

I left a special message at Joe's for citizen-blogger-journalist Edward-Cone-of-the-Moses-Cone-Healthcare-System-Cones.

I lament the day I ever believed a word he said.

Weather Report For Randolph County

It's very hard to impress my world-weary friend, Buzz Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields-whose-family-name-graces-Randolph-Hospital's-Cancer-Center.  But sometimes I manage to do it.

Buzz didn't like the way I got jerked around this past week by April Thornton (aka "amt" on the hospital website's contact form), and has joined me in my public records request . . . mostly because he doesn't like what he's seen so far . . . and (unlike a certain well-named blogger in Greensboro) he's thinking some of the rest of the Armfields ought to be clued into what the family money is shoring up . . . and what their name endorses.  The CEO of Randolph Hospital skimming $702,020 off-the-top in 2008 is almost as criminal as repeatedly lying under Oath in the discovery phase of his own SLAPP-suit.  You really do have to wonder where the hospital's Board of Directors is hiding (my guess would be a golf resort) . . . and/or if they are all in a coma (my advice would be to hitch an ambulance and move on up the road).

(And yeah, baby. Keep telling yourselves that everything Steve Eblin does is all for the kids.)

But what I discovered last week (with a LOT of help from other friends) . . . and what I did with it yesterday (that was pretty much all me), has even Buzz reeling.

This was in my Inbox this morning:

And on the weather front this afternoon, Tropical Storm Mary became Category 2 Hurricane Mary. It is expected to increase to a Category 4 before making landfall in Randolph County later on . . .

The Hurricane herself is aiming to be a Category 5, with a storm surge that wipes out all the ugly (even I did not realize how ugly it was).

It's way past time.

Saturday Late Morning Update:  My sainted Mother (two real hurricanes have actually borne her name) firmly admonished me this morning to clean up my language (duly noted), and (a bit more gently) to remember that the First Presbyterian Church is no more responsible for the EVIL deeds of Steve Eblin than the Episcopals at Good Shepard are responsible for Bob Morrison's.  "I know that you're very angry about the way you and others in this town have been treated . . . and about what you've just discovered . . . but these church people do not understand what it is like to be forced to live with (and think about) something every single day for almost twelve years, Mary."

My Mother does have a point.  In short, the mostly-good people of Asheboro have lived their happy lives and don't have a clue . . . mostly because their suck-up/sold-out local newspaper won't tell them (we'll get to that very shortly).

But letting "the good people" totally off the hook is also a bone of contention with Mom.  Because I think it's time they did understand . . . that they took off the blinders and stopped focusing so determindedly on the positive to take just the slightest passing glance at the negative . . .

. . . and do something about it.

I've quoted the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. before on this blog, and it feels like the right time to do it again:

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words of violent actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people.

Our generation will have to repent not only for the words and actions of the children of darkness, but also for the fears and apathy of the children of light.

Praise the Lord and pass the tea.

The Fruits Of Evil MBA School (Subtitled: WHAT IN GOD'S NAME Justifies Paying Randolph Hospital CEO, Robert Morrison, $704,020/year?)

Still savoring the post on Steve Eblin.  But today, I feel compelled to move on along (See?  I can do it!).

I have not updated the Asheboro Pediatrics website (which debuted in 2004) since I began blogging in earnest in 2006.  For a long time, I have been wanting to re-visit the "Salaries" page.  But, you see, contrary to what the Roch Smith Jrs. and Ed Cones and Sue Polinskys and Fecund Stenches of the Greensboro blogosphere think, I have a busy and very productive life.

I actually practice medicine.  I take care of sick babies and children for a living.  It is a calling for me, and I am actually am quite good at it - particularly in terms of having seen and done it all - in the ruralist of rural areas.  I had wanted to do it in Asheboro for the rest of my life.  But that didn't work out. 

For a very long while, after what happened in Asheboro, I was paid peanuts to do it . . . taken for granted on a number of occasions . . . by people very much like Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin (but who were never quite so viciously or self-servingly EVIL).  But the singular beauty of a Locums position is that you can pick up and move right on along when the people-in-suits behave badly.  Ironically, as the economy tanked, and rural areas found it difficult to recruit/keep doctors, my services became more and more valuable.

As it turns out, good/experienced/"old school" Pediatricians willing to take the call and do the grunt work are not a "a dime a dozen" after all.

As regular readers know, back in December 2009, I submitted a public records request (by certified mail) to Bob Morrison, CEO of Randolph Hospital, asking for a list of the community "honorables" who have served on the Boards of Directors (and Corporate Membership) of Randolph Hospital and Randolph Medical Associates (RMA) from 1995 to the present day. 

As obfuscation is his nature, Mr. Morrison has yet to comply with the request . . . which was resubmitted on Thursday via e-mail through Randolph Hospital's Director of Public Relations, April Thornton (who is already playing games).  I am resolved that, as a taxpaying citizen, I'm going to be afforded the rights and avenues of access available to anyone else. 

This "you must communicate only with Bob Morrison" bullshit (please excuse the flowery verbiage) is TOTAL BULLSHIT.  I'm quite certain other non-profit CEO's do not concern themselves with simple public records requests.  Ms. Thornton needs unpucker and do her damned job.

(Pause for deep, cleansing breaths.)

This information is public record . . . by virtue of the hospital's (and its "controlled affiliate's) status as a non-profit . . . and it is recorded on their IRS 990 returns.  Of course, these returns were withheld as "highly confidential" during my litigation with the hospital.  And hospital executives REPEATEDLY LYING about the confidentiality of the financial information contained within those returns serves as the core of my as-yet-uninvestigated-and-unprosecuted perjury claim against Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin.

Disgusted with the games that Bob Morrison and his sycophants continue to play, I've recently combed through my old files, and done some perusing at Guidestar, and have decided to update my "Salaries" page here (using what I can find) . . . with some minor modifications.

The question I keep getting asked by people who don't swallow the Courier Tribune or Triad Business Journal's "fluff" hook, line and sinker (the club is getting bigger) is, "How can Bob Morrison make that much money as the CEO of a small-town Bandaid Station?".

It's a good question.  It's not like Bob (or his left-hand man, the oily and EVIL Steve Eblin) is some captain of industry who built it for them to come.  Asheboro's only "non-profit" hospital serves a more-or-less captive audience in a largely rural, economically-struggling county.  The money Randolph Hospital's executives make, as people who do not see a single patient, is more or less skimmed off the top.

This time around, I thought I'd take a modified and more focused approach to the the "Salaries" Page on the APeds website, and simply focus on the salary & benefit packages of Morrison and Eblin (the liars in question).

I want the ordinary "wrong person" in Asheboro to see just how much money these two have made on the backs of the poor and the indigent . . . while driving doctors (who do the grunt work) out of town.

The earliest records I have begin in 1994.  So we will start there and move to the closet records I have to the present day. 

I do not have the returns for several of the years I was employed by Randolph Medical Associates.  Why, you ask?  Because at the time, (1) Randolph Hospital and its lawyers ("experts" on non-profits) dubbed them "highly confidential", (2) my attorney was too stupid/incompetent/ignorant/complicit to get them (the N.C. State Bar does not have a problem with this), and (3) I'm not going to join Guidestar/pay money now to get them. 

Please remember that IRS 990 returns actually cover the hospital's fiscal year (from October of the year listed on the return to the September 30 of the following year).  Taking 1994 as an example, the return covers October 1, 1994 through September 30, 1995.

Let us begin (I apologize for the slightly squiggly columns):

Year                   Salary     Expense Account   Benefits

1994

Bob Morrison       123,163                0                     0

Steve Eblin           72,489                0                     0

1997

Bob Morrison      209,684         3,600                     0       

Steve Eblin          95,561         3,600                       0

1998

Bob Morrison     256,712         6,000                       0

Steven Eblin      154,087         3,000                       0

1999

Bob Morrison    280,930          4,608                       0

Steve Eblin      170,546          3,600                       0

2000

Bob Morrison    306,752       7,680                  32,272

Steve Eblin      188,412        6,000                 13,632

2001

Bob Morrison    331,661        5,184                  32,003

Steve Eblin       203,559        4,050                  12,385    

2002

Bob Morrison     246,242      5,184                    24,156

Steve Eblin       160,925      4,050                      3,464

2003

Bob Morrison      308,767       6,082                  24,424

Steve Eblin        194,695       4,171                    4,483

2004

Bob Morrison      318,527     6,417                    27,839

Steve Eblin        209,834     4,401                      6,550

2005

Bob Morrison    379,634       68,40                    27,969

Steve Eblin        237,983       44,64                    69,28

2006 

Bob Morrison         326,219          6,840            28,109

Steve Eblin           215,430          4,464              6,920

2007 

Bob Morrison      326,219           7,092              29,133

Steve Eblin        215,430            5,112               7,231  

Now, 2008's return (the last one I have) is where it gets REALLY Interesting:

Bob Morrison:  Base Compensation   294,463
                      Bonus & Incentive Compensation   48,643
                      Deferred Compensation   330,482
                      Nontaxable Benefits   30,432
                      Total:   704,020

I MEAN, I GOTTA ASK.  IS ANYBODY ELSE BLINKING AT THAT? 

WHAT IN GOD'S NAME JUSTIFIES A SALARY LIKE THAT FOR THE CEO OF A SMALL TOWN, "NON-PROFIT" HOSPITAL?

Maybe Morrison's ABSURD/OBSCENE salary is the real reason the Bobber does not want to provide me with a list of his rubber-stamping Board of Directors & Corporate Membership . . . because these community "honorables" should be ashamed . . .and (as always) they're not too keen on being held accountable themselves.

Steve Eblin:      Base Compensation   175,504
                       Bonus & Incentive Compensation:   24,907
                       Deferred Compensation   25,138
                       Nontaxable Benefits   10,050
                       Total:  $235,599

Keep in mind that Randolph Hospital employs two other Vice Presidents, Sandra Allen and Lynwood White, who make as much or considerably more than Steven Eblin.  Sandra is the only clinician in the bunch (i.e. she's the only one who might actually touch a patient once in a great while).

I'll pause for just a moment to let the reader do a little rudimentary math in their head.

Also keep in mind that back in 2006 (making like an Armfield - Hi Buzzy!), both the Asheboro City Council and Randolph County Board of Commissioners gave $500,000 apiece of the taxpayers money to help fund Randolph's new Cancer Center . . . a cancer center that, if the truth be told, Randolph County did not need so much as it needs primary care providers and a psych ward and a hospital that focused a little bit harder on the needs of the people non-profits are supposed to serve. 

I'm wondering how much of that money actually made it to the Cancer Center?

As always, my beef with these two over-paid, over-rated, LYING JERKS with their EVIL MBA's, is that while they were stuffing their own pockets, Morrison and Eblin could not see fit to fairly compensate a Pediatrician whose practice they wrongfully/maliciously destroyed (3 years of soul-sucking work down the tube - with what was left handed over to the eager Kathleen Riley . . . whose salary jumped to 200K by 2000) . . . whose reputation they bashed (I'm "crazy" dontcha know) . . . and whose career they irrevocably altered and very nearly completely de-railed. 

Doors were slammed in my face and windows nailed shut because of what these two vindictive posers did.  And they thought it was FUNNY.

But in 2001, after three years of what can only be described as HELL (and loosing ALL of the fruits of three years of hard labor before that), the pain and suffering of Dr. Mary Johnson, a home-grown, Board-certified Pediatrician, who took the 24-7 call, and rescued her colleagues, and saw the patients was only worth $125,000 (less than one year's salary) and a bunch of broken promises.

Dr. (I EARNED it) Mary Johnson is not supposed to be PISSED OFF about that.

At least you might better understand why I have no use for smiling Steve Schmidly as a lawyer.

Now that I've got that out of my system, unless something pops up, I think I'll take a break for a day or two. 

But hold on tight chickadees . . .  

. . . THERE'S MORE to come.

Sayeth The North Carolina Medical Board: "When Doctors Drift, Questions Of Competency And Ethics Are Key"

If you could not tell, I really enjoyed writing the post on Randolph Hospital VP of Corporate Planning & Development (and United Way co-chair) Steve Eblin.  Very cathartic in its way.  I'm sure in a day or so we'll be seeing the boys and girls at the Courier run damage control for Eblin (in the form of yet another puff piece) . . . or the hospital/United Way will send out an expensive/flashy flyer.  That's what usually happens when a shot from this blog hits a little too close to the bridge.

Say it slowly after me (insert zombie drone):  Steve's not an oily, lying unconvicted felon, who, in developing the corporate, has treated a whole lotta good doctors like crap, and thinks Pediatricians are "a dime a dozen". 

Give him your money.  Trust him.  Do it for the kids.

But on this Friday morning, the Courier is too busy pimping for Bob Shackleford, who amazingly to me, still has a job.

Meanwhile, another bunch of snots, this time over at the North Carolina Medical Board have sent out another "Forum" newsletter, and proved all over again that the Board is proudly over a decade behind the times.  That crowd in their ivory tower in Raleigh really makes me want to go ahead and hire the lawyers and get it over with.

This time, the article is on medical "drifting".  Now those from Asheboro need to park your dirty minds.  "Drifting" is when a doctor (generally a generalist) presents him/herself as having training or expertise that he/she does not.  For instance, in the old days, many a doctor could do a Family Medicine residency and then move to ED work or OB.

My medical license gives me leave to practice medicine and surgery.  But I trained in Pediatrics (dime-a-dozen though my skills may be), so I don't practice surgery.

These days, its more about "income supplementation" - as a pumper of Botox (I've yet to understand why ANYONE in his/her right mind would consent to letting a physician inject any variation of one of the world's deadliest neurotoxins into their face to get rid of a few wrinkles) or "Pain specialist".

But twelve years ago, during what I like to call the NC Medical Board's TOTALLY COMATOSE PERIOD, it could be demonstrated by a family practitioner selling himself to parents as a neonatologist and "the Chairman of Neonatology at Randolph Hospital" by virtue of being a NALS instructor.

Steve Eblin and his marketing minions ran adds for this moron . . . promoting Mick Irwin's skills above those of the hospital's own Board-certified Pediatricians . . . who actually did have some small expertise in the matter of neonatal resuscitation and transport.

It almost cost an innocent baby her life . . . and unsuspecting parents their only child.

It cost a home-grown Pediatrician her dream.

And let's be clear where the oh-so-noble, ethical North Carolina Medical Board was . . . indeed, where they STILL are . . . when the "dime-a-dozen" Pediatrician needed some help:

NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.

The Dance Of Religious Hypocrisy And Public Charity (Subtitled: Ode to Steven E. Eblin, Chairman Of Randolph County United Way)

This post has been updated (on 9/15 and 9/16).  Scroll to bottom.

It was a weekend to brood.  Darkness was almost visible . . . just over the hill.  I'm a little put out with both Muslims and Christians behaving badly today, so I'm going to vent.

First, expounding in an expansive fashion on one of the messages in Saturday's 9/11 offering, I've got to say that all of the angry, not-so-peaceful Muslims out there beating their chests about their inalienable rights (in this county as opposed to countries run by Muslims), and burning Bibles and flags and threatening death & destruction because somebody in the U.S. had the bright idea (not really - although for a very brief moment it did appeal to me) to exercise their free speech by burning a Koran, are fundamentally, hypocrites of the worst order (not that it registers with them).

In all of the comments that this infidel/lapsed Baptist/Christian Agnostic read Saturday - on 9/11 blog posts and news stories from all across the political spectrum (it's the first anniversary I've really had the resolve to dive into all that) - one theme kept playing out . . . as an inconvenient truth screaming over the smoke and rubble of thousands of lost/broken American lives . . . WHAT ARE THE PRESUMED BILLIONS OF "PEACE-LOVING", "MODERATE" MUSLIMS OUT THERE REALLY DOING TO QUELL THE EVIL BREEDING IN THEIR MIDST . . . EVIL FINDING ITS JUSTIFICATION IN THEIR HOLY BOOK?

Honestly, I don't have any kind of "agenda" when it comes to asking this question, but since I do know people currently in (or going to) Afghanistan, I just want to know.  Where are the armies that these peace-loving folk raised against the "hijackers" of their faith?  Where are the rank-&-file's protests against the terrorists who have corrupted their religion's message of peace (because I've gotta say, if they have a "silent majority" it's been pretty damned silent)?  Why are American servicemen & women doing all of their dirty work (and the bleeding & dying) for them?

Moreover, if the terrorists themselves are calling it a "jihad", how can anyone in our government . . . especially our Commander-in-Chief . . . insist that this is not, in its sick/warped way, a "holy war"?  I'm thinking that all of the high-minded/politically-correct notions on our side of the equation don't mean a pile-of-bloody-sand to the people screaming "Death to America!" (yeah, we got that message already).

I don't get it.  I really don't.  Of course, not only am I an "infidel" I am a woman.  Second-class citizen.  Piece of property (not even a good piece of property since I cannot bear children).  Can't set foot in many mosques.  Fit only to be covered with a tarp-with-eyeholes . . . or, better yet, stoned for my heretical views.

Of course there are all kinds of stoning.  And that brings us to the Christian side of the hypocrisy aisle . . . a lot closer to home . . . in a small all-American Southern town called Asheboro . . . in a county called Randolph . . . and a "non-profit" charity called the United Way . . . and its 2010 campaign co-chairman, Steven E. Eblin (Steve's wife Rhonda, is the other chair).

A friend of mine (this time it wasn't Buzz-Armfield-of-the-Asheboro-Armfields-whose-family-name-is-on-Steve's-cancer-center) sent me a hard-copy of Friday's Courier Tribune featuring a fourth-page short-take on the life and times of my ex-boss, Steve Eblin, Vice President of Corporate Planning & Development (I like to call it Vice President of Vice) at Randolph Hospital.

That position translates into Steve strategically ciphering how to "win" our little part of the world for Randolph Hospital . . . to totally dominate the medical landscape.  He's been trying to do it for all of his seventeen years here.  The problem with Steve's very tired, very old, very heavy-handed/strong-arm approach is that if you really want a medical community to thrive and grow . . . if you want to attract creative, principled young professionals-who-by-their-very-nature-are-not-mindless-drones . . . you need to STOP trying to control everyone and own everything in it. You've got to let the fresh ideas in.  You must have standards that don't bend to expediency or mill town cliques.  You've got to really care about the people - as opposed to the money they can make for you.  Of course, in all of that, you've got to look to the long-term and exercise some common sense.  Bob and Steve don't get that.

And Asheboro has paid a very high price.

Now admittedly on this blog, I've been giving Randolph Hospital CEO, Bob Morrison (as captain of the ship), a much harder time than his left-hand man, and my ex boss, Steve. 

I think it's time that changed. 

Steve Eblin, after all, was the President of Randolph Medical Associates - one of the people who recruited me home to Randolph Hospital.  Steve Eblin was the man who made most of the promises to we "dime-a-dozen" Pediatricians, and then systematically broke every one (HE IS A HABITUAL LIAR and a contract he signs isn't worth the spit it takes to rub any smudged ink off your finger).  Steve Eblin was the businessman who had no clue how to run a practice himself (so he hired incompetent out-of-town managers to do it) . . . . the corporate genius who approved the threats his minions issued (on a pile of trumped-up rubbish), and who ultimately fired me for doing-the-job-he-recruited-me-home-to-do and saving a sick newborn's life.

Steve was behind the hospital's advertsing that presented Mick Irwin as something he was NOT.

And apparently, in our three-year association, Steven Eblin never ever comprehended what Mary Johnson was about.  His bad. 

Actually (to coin an Asheboro City Councilman's sputters in Court), his STUPID.

Steve would be the same ex-boss who told my colleagues that "Good Pediatricians are a dime a dozen" . . . the same boss who did not want to market our "non-profit" to the East side of town (those people could go to the Health Department) . . . the same ex-boss who basically told this young professional to "shut up or else" when she complained about problems in Pediatrics at the hospital she had been hired to help "clean up" . . . the same ex-boss who expected this doctor to put "right people" first . . . the same ex-boss who fired this Board-certified Pediatrician after she answered a terrified nurse's phone call in the middle-of-the-night to rescue a Cone-owned Family Practitioner-who-fancied-himself-a-neonatologist and save a newborn baby's life . . . the same ex-boss who methodically destroyed this young Pediatrician's practice (never mind what his agreements with the Federal government said) to absorb as his own . . . the same ex-boss who brazenly lied to the doctor's patients and colleagues (and rubber-stamping hospital Board members) about what had actually happened . . . the same ex-boss who sued the Pediatrician for telling the truth to the government she served . . . the same ex-boss who lied repeatedly under Oath about matters relevant to the Pediatrician's damages claim in order to get out of his own despicable SLAPP suit (designed to humiliate the Pediatrician and destroy what was left of her reputation in her own hometown) on the cheap . . . the same ex-boss who, with help of his "right people" friends (may of them attending Asheboro's prominent churches), has avoided accountability for his EVIL deeds.

I'm sure I've left something in the saga out, but you get the drift.

The God's-honest truth ladies and gentlemen, is that, despite my loan-repayment-for-service agreement with the National Health Service Corps (an agreement that RMA's first practice manager apparently signed without internalizing or ever intending to honor) . . . an agreement designed to recruit and RETAIN Pediatricans to Asheboro . . . and despite what he told anyone who would listen while he legally muzzled and man-handled me . . . Steven Eblin NEVER intended to allow me to break off from Randolph Medical Associates and form my own private practice (much less take Laurie Anderson with me). 

He wanted me gone - and to keep "the business" for himself.

Steve didn't kill me.  But if I had been a weaker being . . . made of the "crazy"/less-than-steely/"stupid" stuff that he and another Steve and a cyber-stalker/his lawyer would have you think I'm made of . . . he might have.  Not a drop of blood would have been spilt - and it would not have been Steve's fault.

(Strategically speaking, you have to ask yourself, is it really in the best interest of psych patients/their beleaguered families to be ANYWHERE NEAR Randolph Hospital?)

Anyway, moving on along (see, I can do it), the article (which wasn't posted online . . . I'm sure because the powers-that-be knew I would comment on it) waxed poetic on Steve's educational background (it's in blue because it's just so progressive - I've embellished in red):

Steve is the Vice President of Corporate Planning and Development at Randolph Hospital.  He a master's degree in (Evil) Business Administration from Xaiver University in Cincinnatti, Ohio, as well as a Bachelor's degree in (Evil) Hospital Administration from the University of Kentucky.

He currently serves as chair of the Randolph County United Way Endowment and the Randolph County United Way Board and president of Randolph Community College Foundation.  He also serves on the board of the YMCA Board of Trustees and is a member of First Presbyterian Church and the Asheboro Rotary Club.

He is past President and Vice President of the Asheboro/Randolph Chamber of Commerce, past chair of Asheboro's First Presbyterian Church Board of Deacons, a past board member of the Boys and Girls Club and a past board member of the MERCE clinic.

In short, Steve Eblin is "right people" and indeed, one of the people who helped put Asheboro on Forbes 2008 list of "fastest dying towns".

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you earn a glowing write-up in Asheboro's Courier Tribune, courtesy of Asheboro's own version of Lorraine Ahearn, Chip Womick.

(You really have to wonder what these posers are paying Chip on the side to write this tripe and pass it off as "news".)

Chip goes on to quote "Saint Steven" (again, with my own embellishments) . . .

"This community has been a wonderful place for us to live the past 17 years ( yeah I suppose so, especially when seven years ago your non-profiteering butt should have been indicted for perjury) . . .  One of the things that has always impressed both of us is the generosity of the citizens of the community in terms of both time and money (yes, indeed Steve, that's how you got the Cancer Center up - capitalizing on that generosity and siphoning off financial support from Hospice and Relay-For-Life).  We hope, with the help of many volunteers, that we can lead a campaign that will tap into that generosity, so that the growing needs of the community can be at least partially met through the United Way of Randolph County".

It really does feel like some things are coming around full circle (mostly because in Asheboro, the same "right" people rotate through the same jobs/boards over and over again).  You see, back in the day, when "dime-a-dozen" Dr. Mary roamed the halls of Randolph Hospital, Bob Morrison's wife, Peggy was Executive Director of United Way.

Bob ran Randolph Hospital and Peggy ran United Way (I guess they picked-up this non-profit tag-team technique at Bob's EVIL business school).  And during the fund-raising drives, RMA employees were told they had to attend "mandatory" lunch meetings where they were force-fed United Way presentations and coerced into donating.

I myself fell for it . . . donating $1000/year while I was employed by the hospital's "controlled affiliate" . . . designating my money (inasmuch as the United Way's schemes allow) to go to the women's shelter and other charities that pertained to animals or children . . . that is until the year Bob & Steve fired me. 

I had actually renewed my 1998 pledge (which put me in some kind of hot-shot "club" of donors) in January, but was fired on February 2nd (given only a five day notice when my contract spelled out six months).  So, after assessing my resources, I promptly retracted the pledge (as little things like paying my own mortgage and feeding my own animals fairly suddenly took precedence over charity), and when I did it, you would've thought Peggy was going to have a stroke. 

In Peggy's wacked-out world, in order to save face (like I care what these posers and liars think), I was supposed to keep right on giving to her charity with a big smile on my face . . . after her oily, carpet-bagging husband and his "team" of minions kicked me out onto the street for refusing to cover-up an ugly mess at the hospital-they-want-to-entice-all-the-locals-to-use (as opposed to Moses Cone or High Point or Baptist).

I digress.  While Steve Eblin enjoyed the last seventeen years of his Teflon-coated life in Asheboro, the home-grown Pediatrician he threw out on the street struggled mightily to stay afloat.  For a very long while, in order to pay the lawyers and make ends meet as I worked on the road, I had to fore go much in the way of charitable giving. 

It really hurt my heart. 

I am happy to report that that has changed over the last couple of years (as I now work for institutions that KNOW good Pediatricians willing to take the call and clean up the messes are MOST CERTAINLY NOT a dime-a-dozen), and I have resumed tithing and other charitable endeavors . . . to benefit the churches and institutions that fed my soul while users like Steven Eblin and Bob Morrison did everything they could to trample it . . . to destroy my life and career. 

They had to win . . . to dominate and control the medical landscape and all of the professionals in it.  It didn't matter how. 

And (key point) no one stopped them.  Remind you of anyone?

[I want to say right here and right now that I owe a lot to John Rogers, pastor of First Baptist Church.  And while I'm not yet the Baptist I should be (forgiveness does seem to be a BIG sticking point), the fact that I'm still a Baptist at all is a testament to his patience and labor, the faith of my Father and my Mama's prayer.]

Looking back on the wreakage of a dream-that-was-probably-doomed-from-the-start, I wonder what I (as a young professional) might have been able to accomplish in the last twelve years - if I had not been treated so badly by the lying, self-aggrandizing, over-paid, over-rated jerks running Randolph Hospital. 

I also wonder how many other young professionals have been turned off by word-of-mouth in the larger medical community - and decided to take their talents somewhere else.

Strategic Steve (whose "vision" always seemed a little short-sighted) set his example all right.

Long story short:  United Way of Randolph County will NEVER AGAIN see another dime of my money.  While I do understand the argument for United Way's existence . . . and I know that there are smaller charities that do have to stand under UW's umbrella in order to survive, these days and in this economy, I will KNOW where my money is going and what for.  And its distribution will NOT be managed by the likes of Bob & Peggy Morrison - or Steven & Rhonda Eblin.

As an anecdote to this story, as the lawsuits flew, I'll never forget what Peggy Morrison had to say about the generosity of locals back in 1999 - after a Hurricane named Floyd.  People down East still very reverently and sorrowfully refer to the storm as "the great flood".  But for Peggy-of-the-untouched-Piedmont it was an inconvenience that interfered with the mission of filling her own coffers.

I've digressed. Here's my biggest beef with Steve Eblin, and ALL of the church-going, "right people" like him in Asheboro . . . who tend to say one thing to the butt-licking newspaper reporters, yet do quite another on a day-to-day basis (between Sunday-morning-go-to-meeting times):

I'm thinking that the former chairman of the Board of Deacons at First Presbyterian Church ought not to put his hand on a Bible and swear a false Oath to God . . . an Oath that he then uses to swindle someone he cheated out of the hard-earned fruits of her labor in Court.

Thou shalt not steal and all that.

Carrying right along with that thought, I'm thinking that if the former Chairman of the Board of Deacons at First Presbyterian Church does swear out that false Oath to God . . . and then negotiates a deal on the lie (in effect, stealing) . . . then maybe he, being a God-fearing man (along with his boss - who did the same thing and who attends the Episcopal Church) ought to own up to it once he/they are caught.

And I'm also thinking that if the former Chairman of the Board of Deacons at First Presbyterian Church doesn't own up to it - and make amends - then maybe some of his right honorable fellow church-members ought to say/do something about that.

I'm also thinking that if his fellow God-fearing church-members don't shame him into doing the right thing by a doctor he wronged, then maybe his Board of Directors at the local "non-profit" hospital (a good many of them fine, honorable, church-going men) ought to fire Mr. Eblin for cause.  Because, you know, the officers of "non-profits" (like public officials) are answerable to the public that subsidizes their operation . . . and ought to be held to a higher standard . . . and really ought not to be able to lie/cheat/steal and get away with with it. 

(At least that's what Brooke Schmidly says about members of local ABC boards.)

And I'm thinking that if the Randolph Hospital Board of Directors cannot or will not do the right honorable thing, then the Court where the false Oath was sworn should pick up the slack, uphold the law and charge Mr. Eblin (and his boss) with perjury.

Perjury being a felony with no statute of limitations . . . a crime that has no statute of limitations because (everywhere else but Asheboro) perjury spits in the eye of justice . . .

. . . and of God.

God's Son, Jesus, threw the money-changers out of His Father's temple.  As a woman who prefers old red Ford trucks to pricey Beemers, I really like that "rough & tumble/in-your-face" side of Jesus.  It speaks to me as the "cheap grace" so many in my hometown would-have-me-accept never has.  For make NO mistake.  2000 years ago, Jesus himself would have shown Steven Eblin and Robert Morrison the church door and told them to clean up their act before they came back.

But in Asheboro, these money-changers oversee our public charities.  They walk "arrogantly and cliquishly" above the law.

I simply cannot abide hypocrites and liars.  I will not pretend.  And I most certainly will not be silent or run scared any more.

Bottom line:  I guess I'm wondering where all the Christians and Rotarians are when it comes to policing their own.

Again, remind you of anyone?

Finally, in the spirit of charity, I'd like to close this post with a very special message for Brooke Schmidly.  If you or anyone else at your Courthouse or in County/City government has the ability to help people-who-shall-not-be-named-and-who-deserve-to-be-helped . . . and you/these mysterious others have any real inclination to help them, then HELP THEM.

STEP UP.  DO RIGHT BY THEM.  BECAUSE IT'S CRYSTAL CLEAR THEY WERE DONE WRONG.  Pretend you're Mary Johnson trying to assist a battered homeless woman when Cheryl Freeman calls . . . or Mary Johnson ignoring Steve Eblin's threats in order to help a very sick baby that needs you RIGHT NOW - not after you take a poll of fat-cat-wannabe executives at home alseep in their beds.

But DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT, send not-so-cleverly-engineered messages oozing poorly-veiled threats . . . by dropping not-subtle hints conveyed via third parties . . . that your important friends cannot lend a hand or offer a job because of what Dr. Mary Johnson (or even Henry Armfield) might be saying on the blogs.

Because that's not just a lie, IT'S A DAMNED LIE!  And I will call you OUT.

It's also just LAME.  What you're trying to pull off now is akin to holding someone hostage and them shooting them after you get what you want (which is my silence).  Mary's not playing.  (Or as they used to say in Washington, I don't negotiate with terrorists.)

Of course, going after me . . . or my well-named pal, Buzz . . . is a little too obvious AND problematic for you (as neither of us ever really cared about being in the cliques or snozzing at the clubs/bars, don't work in your county any more, and intimidation/out-right libel hasn't worked to scare us off), so you turn your sights on scared people in desperate straights (put there by the mysterious others you imply can now "help").

It's despicable.

If your Father didn't tell you anything else about me, he should have told you I do not respond well to threats.

Threats are what started this 12-year-old mess . . . a mess that wouldn't be a mess now if your Dad had done right by his client.

Author's note:  This post is dedicated to anyone who ever wanted to tell off their old boss . . . or "advise" a lawyer as to where to go . . . or help a friend done wrong and getting jerked around.

9/15 Update:  I'm thinking Morrison and Eblin met at (EVIL) Business School - as (according to this uber-nauseating 2008 puff piece by the Triad Business Journal) they both got their (EVIL) MBA's at Xavier University.  I've always wondered about the "Ohio connection".

9/16 Update:  We're gonna try a public records request ONE MORE TIME.  Sent to Randolph Hospital (via "amt") by e-mail this morning:

I have made this request before. This time I hope it is answered fully and promptly.

As a matter of public record, I would like to obtain a list of "non-profit" Randolph Hospital's Board of Directors and Corporate membership for every year since 1994.

I would also like a list of "non-profit" Randolph Medical Associates' Board of Directors.

I am happy to pay any associated copying or mailing costs (although it seems to me to be a fairly simple thing to type out/send). Feel free to advise by e-mail.

If I do not hear from you within the week, I will submit the request by certified mail. However, it is my hope that we can get this accomplished without any more obfuscation or games.

I am tired of the games in Asheboro.

Thank you,

Mary H. Johnson, M.D., FAAP