Zenyatta

I love fast horses from afar - particularly when the horse is a filly.  A long time ago, one broke my heart.  Tonight, CBS's 60 Minutes profiled the unbeaten Zenyatta.

In The Autumn Of His 27th Year

Twenty years ago today, my beloved cousin, Bill, made a very bad choice.  He died on Halloween day.

I don't so much "celebrate" as observe the day - in his memory and honor.

Bring on the spooks.

"MistaSpeaka" Harold Brubaker (R) N.C. House: Religiously Insensitive, Sexist, Puerile, Dead Wrong With His Facts, And NOT FUNNY

I'm a little rushed right now, but this one is one I wanted to get up today. 

I know it will not change the result of next week's election (since Harold Brubaker is running unopposed - much like DA Garland Yates always does), but I do want it to waft . . . and for anyone in Asheboro reading this to pause for just a moment and REALLY THINK about the caliber of representatives we are sending to Raleigh.

While we're on the subject of leadership, and before I get started, I'm reading a book called The Roots of Obama's Rage by Dinesh D'Sousa.  It's profoundly disturbing stuff.  Where was the press back when this guy was originally being vetted?

Silly me.  Where was the press?  Why it's where the press always has been - in someone's pocket.  Just ask the Courier Tribune's Ray Criscoe.

I digress.  The subject of Harold Brubaker, my representative to Raleigh, speaks to the roots of my own rage about what was done to me in my own hometown (while Harold silently watched) . . . rage which serves as the foundation of this blog's existence . . . rage which I think has a much firmer foundation than the current Communist in the White House.

Moving on along, in Asheboro and Randolph County, Republicans rule.  It's been that way for as long as I can remember.  Indeed I am an ex-Republican.  The joke in Randolph County has always been that our roads are crappy (a particularly sore point with me & my neighbors on the wrong end of Viewmont) and we're always on the dead-end of every bad thing because our politics are "wrong" (as the Dems have long ruled Raleigh). 

The thing is, the joke isn't funny anymore. 

What concerns me most about the up-coming mid-term blood-bath-for-Democrats (I can really see Tuesday from my house) is that several of our most prominent Randolph County Republicans . . . who've been in office FOREVER . . . are trying to suck up to disgruntled Tea Partyiers . . . presenting themselves as the embodiment of hope & change in Raleigh . . . when the truth is, sending them back to Raleigh is just asking for more of the same-ole-same-old in a new red shirt (history is interesting, isn't it?).

It's like flipping a burger laden with Mad Cow.

As I blogged yesterday, the sad thing about living and voting in Asheboro is that oftentimes, we don't have much of a choice.  If there's only one person running for office, and you cannot bring yourself to vote that way, the only choice you really have is to leave your ballot blank.

Such was the case yesterday with ex-"MistaSpeaka" Harold Brubaker . . . who embodies the reason I changed my voter affiliation to "Independent" and have not voted a "straight" Republican ticket in years.

I left it blank.  Indeed, it was hard not to spit on the ballot (feel free to click on the reasons for that).

But the spit would probably short-out the electronic ballot box, I'd be accused of disenfranchising Rednecks (I say that with deep affection and solidarity with said Rednecks) so I thought better of it.

Anyway, last night, my ex, Tim Greene, called me.  He wanted to tell me about a "get-out-the-vote" phone call he got from Harold himself. 

He wasn't completely sure he should tell me.

Now Harold and Tim go way back - Brubaker has done some accounting work for Tim in the past . . . and Tim, like most starry-eyed Randolph County residents, respects the office Brubaker holds, if not the man.  Tim actually thinks Harold is a "very smart man" (I think Harold is a very opportunistic man).  We've had words over it. 

It's always frustrated me how much latitude the locals will give some of these scoundrels-in-office . . . how much people want to be "in" and "cool", even if "in" and "cool" is wrong.

It's well known amongst the locals that Brubaker has used his office to his own personal advantage every chance he got . . . and that actually doing his job in Raleigh is not high on Harold's list of priorities.

It sure has been that way when it came to doing anything to help this lady doctor constituent.

Mr. Brubaker, you see, "has to live in this town" (it's in blue instead of read because in this particular instance, Brubaker might as well be Dumpling . . . or Sleazely . . . or Edwards . . . or Cooper).

I digress.  On the phone, Harold started out by telling Tim (a Democrat despite all of my hard work - and all of my Father's hard work - over the years) that he needed to,  ". . . vote Republican . . . because if you vote Democrat that's just not Christian".

There was dead silence on my end of the phone when Tim told me that.

Of course, this lapsed Baptist could blog all day long on what passes for "Christian" behavior in Randolph County.  From sacred-assemblies-designed-to-soften-up-the-Godly-locals-to-alcohol-sales to a-United-Way-chairman-who-lied-repeatedly-under-Oath-in-Court, the big-guns here are practiced experts in the good-ole-boy art of capitalizing on (and manipulating) the Faith of the locals to their own end$.

My voice dangerously low, "Was THE IDIOT joking?", I asked Tim.

"Yeah, probably . . . but there's something else", he said, sheepishly.  

Tim had apparently told Brubaker about a recent back injury . . . a possible ruptured disc . . . for which he is in the process of being evaluated (MRI's and such) . . . and was in a whole lot of pain . . . etc.

Brubaker responded, "Well Tim, if you hadn't driven that lady doctor-friend of yours out of town she could have taken care of you."

Let's just say "a prolonged pause" and "blood running cold" does not begin to do what this lady doctor thought at that particular moment justice. 

Poor Timmy got an earful.

And so now, shall "MistaSpeaka".  This lady doctor would like to correct a few of his cloudy facts.

(1)  Tim Greene did not run this lady doctor out of town, Harold.  Your real good buddies, Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin did that . . . hiding behind some fairly creative interpretations of rules, contracts and law.  State and Federal oversight was a sad, pathetic joke.  You yourself could not be bothered. 

You're so concerned about state employees being overpaid, but Bob Morrison pulling down over $700,000/year as CEO of a small-town "non-profit" hospital is just fine and dandy?!?

(2)  Moreover, while the lady doctor doesn't work here anymore, she does LIVE and VOTE here, and YOU represent her . . . not that it EVER mattered because, being the USELESS, GUTLESS WORM that you are, you "have to live in this town" . . . ergo you're quite practiced at slurping up the rotten leavings of "the right people".

(3)  And instead of this lady doctor being able to stay in Asheboro and fight for the health and well-being of children here (and maybe keep them from enduring what she did as a child - at the hands of a butcher at Randolph Hospital) . . . where just about every public service for kids SUCKS (including and especially the Child Support Enforcement program that the great state of NC dumped on wannabe GSO trash-king Dick Wells) . . . she's on the road, using her considerable talents to take care of children in other far-Eastern counties. 

Oh, and the parents of those children down East are very appreciative/grateful to have a Pediatrician on their side who obviously gives a damn to the point of putting herself in-the-line-of-fire when the higher-ups would rather her shut up, roll over, go back to sleep and let a baby die.

Moreover, the people/institutions who now employ the lady doctor appreciate her clinical expertise and her ability to adapt to bad/difficult situations, and turn them around for good.

But of course, the lady doctor has had a whole lot of practice . . . because in the very beginning of her career (the one your buds, Bob & Steve tried to kill), while she was in public service no less, the lady doctor found herself smack-dab in THE MOTHER of all bad situations - courtesy of the home-boys running Asheboro (into the ground).

(4)  I'm fairly certain that God's pretty disgusted with Republicans too. 

THERE WAS NOTHING REMOTELY "CHRISTIAN" ABOUT WHAT YOU AND YOUR VIP CONSTITUENTS DID TO ME.

I've got to ask, Harold.  Were you drunk when you called Tim?  Because what-in-God's name would possess a sane/sober man to say those kinds of things to the man who once called Dr. Mary Johnson his sweetheart and who still calls her friend?

In closing, Harold, you're a bigot.  You're sexist.  You're a coward.  You're ignorant.  You're wrong.  And you're just NOT FUNNY. 

You're a PIG who can't fly for your own crap weighting down your hooves.

Oh, and you did not . . . and will not ever . . . get my vote.

Hummmmmmm . . . I'm wondering if this post makes me "belligerent" . . . or perhaps it just won't be considered "productive"?

And . . . does talking back to bullies make you one?

For "Danno"

On Voting "The Straight Republican" In Randolph County, North Carolina

I was raised by a die-hard Republican, who raised me in a Republican county, and who, as far as I know, never voted for a "damned Democrat" in all of his life.  And in my younger days I was a registered Republican.

After my stint in public service in the old hometown, I am now much more enlightened (I know everyone's a crook - it's just a question of degree), and I'm registered as an "Independent".

Most of my friends (particularly the doctor ones) are bragging about voting a straight Republican ticket.  For Barack Obama, I'm thinking that payback for healthcare "reform" is gonna be a bitch. 

Couldn't happen to a nicer (albeit, utterly clueless) Socialist.

Of course, lately, I've felt like I'm living in Mother Russia.  I hear that now Ray Criscoe is not just protecting the liars running Randolph Hospital, but Keith Crisco and Mike Miller too.  Maybe, in his search for credibility and integrity, good-ole-Ray should just make the community a list of the opinions we can't have and the people we can't say bad things about.

I digress.  Alas, in Randolph County, voting a straight ticket would have me voting for a number of people who did not do right by me as my "representatives" in Raleigh (most specifically we talking about "Mista Speaka" Harold "I have to live in this town" Brubaker).  So voting "the Straight Republican" was not something I could, in good conscience, bring myself to do.

A lot of spots were left blank.

I didn't vote for Judge Michael Sabiston either.  Of course, he wasn't running against anyone.

That's the way it is in Randolph County.  A good portion of the time, we don't really have good choices.

But I have the sticker that says, "I Voted".  And I think I'll go have some tea now.

Greensboro We101: Free Speech, Roch Smith, Jr. Style (Subtitled: Progressive Like Ray Criscoe)

Yesterday evening, before driving home to Asheboro through a monster storm, I sent fellow doctor-blogger, Joe Guarino an e-mail, advising him that Roch Smith, Jr. of the blog aggregator, Greensboro We101, was back to his old tricks . . .

. . . right before an election, no less.

Joe, being a decent fellow, put up a post.  Roch, like Courier Tribune Ray Criscoe, wants people to believe that Mary Johnson is a bully - acting unreasonably and without just provocation.  Poor Roch is an innocent victim of the mean lady doctor's wrath (just like that poor Jeff Martin). 

Roch would like to be "educated".  I elected to oblige.

Sorry I'm late responding to this, Joe. But I drove home through a monster-storm last night and just rolled out of bed.

Roch, your tactics are no better than that crowd at the Courier Tribune - where, excepting the last six months, I've been banned for all of twelve years.

At the Courier last Sunday, I had an entire Editorial in the print edition dedicated to me (without mentioning my name) . . . and some of my friends . . . and that's because Ray-Criscoe-Editor-of-Asheboro's-bought-and-paid-for-Bully-Pulpit is finally running scared.

http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2010/10/courier-tribunes-ray-criscoe-and.html

And I LOVE it - because now the entire town is FINALLY asking questions about what is going on over at that newspaper and City Hall. We have evidence ON TAPE that the City of Asheboro PAID OFF a CT reporter to leave a meeting and not report a story.

Now one would think that, in America, City Hall buying off the fourth estate should be BIG NEWS. I mean, how much more like PRAVDA can it get here? But no. It's not big news in the Piedmont-Triad - where all the premiere, progressive, free-speech-loving bloggers hang out.

Joe blogged about it a few weeks back, and what did we get from the Cones and the Rochs?

Radio silence.

Meanwhile, up in Greensboro, on Roch Smith's Jrs. personal labor-of-love, YOU took down the link to Housecalls without warning to me (I thought you had a Board that provided some oversight of your actions) for the horrible, awful "offense" of taking a break from comments for a while after being VICIOUSLY cyber-stalked last year by your hero, "The Stench".

As best I can tell, this apparently happened after I visited your personal blog and pointed out a few flaws in your legal "arguments" shoring up Jeff Martin's latest sick/warped/ILLEGAL antics (issuing global threats against local firemen - A REAL HOOT) . . . and commented talking about the effect my dance with our local cyber-stalker had on me.

http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2010/10/to-answer-your-question-roch.html

You remember, right? You and Cone traded secret passwords with Martin while it was all going on. And you two thought it was great when the Randolph County Court system did what we all knew it would do (a good portion of the evidence against Martin never made it into the Courtroom because the DA's office and Sheriff's Department threw me under the bus).

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

And here's the thing about that, Roch. You don't know the half of it of what I've been through since - because, for reasons of personal safety, I've not blogged on it.

Your philosophy seems to be, let's feel sorry for anyone victimized by a cyber-bully unless it's Mary Johnson. Oh, and let's victimize the victim some more because we're so morally superior.

Of course, given my dance in the Greensboro blogosphere and with "citizen journalism", it's par for the course.

And, OF COURSE, you want it to reach the point of me bringing it up when I finally do meet with the lawyers ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE. Because you cannot EVER be educated unless lawyers are involved. They are your gods (they're not mine - and no one can say I haven't done my damnedest not to have to hire them again).

It's really kind of sad - and pathetic.

You preach about accountability and transparency and free speech, but every opportunity you get to crap on someone that YOU HATE (because her life experience pees in your Obama-loving blue cornflakes) you CRAP. This latest stunt is (as you like to say) abject hypocrisy. It's not because you're noble or acting on any kind of principle. It's because you LOVE to HATE.

The point kind of is that, in response to your bully tactics, I restored comments on my blog (before I was really ready to do so), BUT you did not restore the blog. I put up a post. I sent you e-mails. You did not respond. You wanted to poke and prod and provoke. It's what you do instead of playing fair.

http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2010/10/since-you-brought-it-up-i-know.html

Everyone on these boards knows your game now is crap, but if you want to continue behaving like a petulant two-year old child, that's your business. I'm not going to beg you to put a blog back up that a decent/compassionate human being with a firm grasp of reality would have not taken down in the first place.

That's not an insult. It's the truth.

I hope you've learned something, and it would be nice if you would be what YOU say you are and restore the blog. Because there are people in Greensboro and Asheboro that need to know what is going on, and my time's a wastin.

Oh, and curiosity killed the cat.

Thanks for bringing this out in the open, Joe.

Roch, like Criscoe, apparently wants people to believe he's a victim - when he's the part of the problem.

"Nobody Reads That Blog Anyway": The Powers-That-Be In Asheboro, North Carolina Could Not Be More Cluelessly, Dangerously Wrong

As a blogger, you know that you're getting the job done when newspaper Editors are publishing Editorials in their print edition directly aimed at you (I really do want to thank Ray Criscoe for the free ad - and I welcome new readers ) . . . and the statement, "Nobody reads that blog anyway" comes up in your ever-increasing "intel".

Of course, that translates into, "Why yes, Mary, the locals actually are reading the blog . . . in increasing numbers". 

And that goes along with what I've been saying all along . . . that the powers-that-be in Asheboro - particularly over at the Courier Tribune (until recently run by David Renfro) and the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation (run by Bonnie Renfro) have never understood the power of the Internet in breaking through all of their Lake Wobegon-style cheer-leading for "the (beautiful/strong/good-looking) right people" running the place (i.e. everything is swell in Asheboro and always has been and always will be . . . and all criticism is destructive criticism) . . . and speaking truth to power.

They've never understood that dissent is a positive . . . and very necessary . . . force for good and growth in a community.  They've certainly never understood that it's bad strategy/karma to treat good people like garbage. 

It may take time, but the wrong you do comes back to you in spades . . . in ways you never anticipated. 

I believe the term is called, "checks and balances".

There is an article in the Greensboro News and Record this morning (honestly, I'm getting the very odd feeling that John Robinson may finally actually be trying to help me stir the turds), that speaks to just that.

I've said before that, in the wake of the economic meltdown, and with medicine on the fast-track to hell, young doctors - and other young professionals - are much smarter & more savy than the newbie lambs were fifteen and twenty years ago.  And they have a lot more resources.  They can go on the Internet, and in a matter of seconds-to-minutes, know a whole lot more about Asheboro (and anyone they are interviewing with) than David and Bonnie (and Bob Morrison/Randolph Hospital) ever wanted them to know . . . they can immediately have information that the "team" of David and Bonnie have worked so vigilantly to cover up/keep a lid on locally.

As the article alludes, companies do it too:  "(the) experts who help companies find locations do their work quietly and most cities never know they’ve been scouted."

They do their work quietly.

A Housecalls hit on StatCounter from someone at Randolph Hospital (nobody reads this blog - yeah, right) underscored that point this morning.  The hit came from a Google search for Bob Morrison at Randolph Hospital.

Here's Steve Eblin and Randolph Hospital.

And Dr. Mary Johnson.

Right now, one of the biggest draws for this blog from outside of Asheboro is my Pediatric Residency Personal Statement.

When the newbies read that . . . and then jump to the sidebar to read what was done to the the person who wrote it . . . for simply doing her job and what was right by a very-sick-newborn-who-was-not-even-her-own-patient twelve years ago . . . it does not say a whole lot that's good about the old hometown . . . or "care you can trust" . . . or a young doctor taking their investment to Asheboro to put down roots.

In short, Asheboro, its newspaper and its business gurus have a very long way to go to clean up their act.  Accountabiliy and transparency have to be more that politically-correct buzz words.

I've said all along that Randolph Hospital needed new leadership more in-tune to modern realities . . . and that the way over-rated, overpaid Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin, community bullies-of-the-first-order, needed to be fired (for cause/no parachutes) and prosecuted for their misdeeds . . . and that the hospital Board . . . and the local Courthouse . . . might prove they're honorable by acting honorably (and with that integrity they all like to talk about).  But so far, it's fallen on deaf ears.  Nothing to see here.  Move on along . . .

. . . even though there IS something to see, a lot of people can see it, and nobody is going to be moving on along at this point (with any success) until it's properly addressed.

Over at our newspaper, the Courier Tribune could start cleaning its house with new (less fawning over the "right people") leadership . . . by blowing holes through all of the ugly - and exposing all the cover-ups (my story-of-woe is not the only one) that aren't so covered up anymore. 

IT IS A MATTER OF ASHEBORO'S SURVIVAL NOW. 

In closing, since I know people are reading this blog, I'd like to leave a message to Asheboro City Council member, Clark Bell:  Dr. Mary Johnson wasn't so crazy or "stupid" after all.

It Seems I Have Been BANNED At Asheboro's Courier Tribune . . .

 . . . just in time to find out that former FNB/Community One President, Mike Miller, has been nominated as a finalist to be President of Pfeiffer University.  Miller's qualifications (compared to the other two clearly much better qualified candidates) seem to be his stewardship of the bank.  Unbelievable!

(The mushroom cloud that will be visible just north of Greensboro tomorrow morning will be my friend, Buzz Armfield's head exploding.)

As the daughter of a teacher, I've always DESPISED the adage, "Those who can, do.  Those who can't do, teach," (credited to George Bernard Shaw).  But in this one case, it most certainly applies.

As for being banned by Ray Criscoe, it's not a big surprise and I wear it proudly - as a badge of honor.  Those who block/ban/threaten/intimidate can't stand the heat.

The Courier Tribune's Ray Criscoe And Journalistic Integrity: Fundamentally Unarmed

There's too much on docket this week, and I'm postponing my full rebuttal to Ray Criscoe's Sunday editorial for a day or two or three.  But we will move forward with something tonight that doesn't require nearly as much effort.  It kind of writes itself.

And it started when a nostalgic friend of mine forwarded a hard-copy of a Ray Criscoe editorial from back in July 2008 (back during Asheboro's contentious alcohol referendum). 

Ray's piece was about journalistic integrity.  (Honestly, sometimes I wonder why lightening doesn't strike some folks dead in their chairs.)

Anyway, Ray was sick . . . and grumpy about all of the complaints he was fielding over the Courier's coverage of the issue (it's well-established who I think he was catering to, but that's all water under a bombed-out bridge now). 

In terms of Ray's own objective self-evaluation of whether or not the Courier covered the news fairly, he opined that it all came down to two questions: 

(1) What do we have to gain?
(2) Do you want to see how our operation works?

I do remember reading Ray's treatise and laughing out loud (that's a bit of an inside joke) . . . indeed I put up a post that talked about it . . . knowing that the editorial went up because the Courier's Editor was feeling real heat in a way he never had before.  Alas, I'm unable to link Ray's ditty here because that puppy is long gone with all of the "new & improved" bells & whistles.

But I've got the text.  It's not just the Internet that's forever.  Ray pissed a lot of ordinary people off during that alcohol referendum.  And they SAVED things.

(As an aside, do you-all remember what "the rights" fed us about alcoholic beverage "control" making Asheboro "safer"?  Wanna tell that to the family of 18 YO Brittany Blakely - who died at my alma mater, Baptist Hospital, on Sunday afternoon after being mowed down on an Asheboro city street Saturday night by the drunk driver of a stolen car?  Wanna take bets on where Morales bought his booze?  OBTW, I'm linking the story at the N&R because I think I've already been banned at the Courier.)

Ray answered his first question like this:

We would gain nothing, but we would lose credibility and eventually readers.  Credibility is a key to a newspaper's existence, and when you question ours, you better come with some hardcore facts to back it up.

Now dear readers-of-Housecalls, that's a door Dr. Mary Johnson could pilot one of those fairly-large-steam-engines-her-Daddy-used-to-fancy through.  Ray keeps asking for "proof" of his skewed coverage . . . or bad behavior on the part of his reporters. 

And today, I think I'll play.

(1)  First there's the inconvenient truth that when I was fired back in 1998, Ray & company rooted through the irate letters parents sent to the newspaper (because they were not getting any good answers from Bob Morrison, Steven Eblin, or RMA/Randolph Hospital Board members), and only printed a few.  The newspaper put up a disclaimer that they had gotten a number of letters, but were only going to put up a representative sample.  They wished me well and all that jazz.

(2)  When I sued Randolph Medical Associates in 1999, the newspaper did not print the story.  All I got out of the Courier Tribune was radio-silence.  It was a lowly "employee matter" not worthy of the public's attention - never mind that this employee was brought home with state & Federal money, and wrongfully terminated for doing her duty as a physician.

No biggie in Ray's book.

(3)  On the other hand of the-magic-trick-designed-to-make-Mary-Johnson-disappear, when I was SLAPP-sued for "libel" in 2000, Ray printed the allegation that I was a liar as front page news.  My horrified parents got to read that. 

It's important to note (for future reference and comparison) that the SLAPP suit was not just about shutting me up . . . it was about instilling FEAR in anyone who might oppose Randolph Hospital's aims and objectives.

(As an aside, my Mother, a first-grade teacher, taught Ray's offspring.  And she did her usual great job.  But when it came time for Ray to step-up/man-up and do the right thing by her daughter, Ray wussed out.  It's a great lesson for the kids who survive walking down our city streets.)

(4)  When I fought the public-leeches running Randolph Hospital off (with a little help from my friends), and executives were forced to run screaming from the Courtroom in the fall of 2001, Ray & his reporters relegated my legal victory to a second-page "short-take". 

Many of my parents' friends had no idea Tom & Irene's daughter had been vindicated with a settlement in her favor.

(5)  And, of course, in the seven years since I started begging Randolph County DA, Garland Yates, to investigate/prosecute the perjury, contempt and fraud of Randolph Hospital executives (here's an oldie-but-goodie that addresses all that) . . . including the five years I've been online . . . Ray and his "team" of noble, truth-seeking journalists have not seen fit to either look at the black & white evidence or ask an objective question of the non-profiteers I accuse.

Moreover, I'm not supposed to be angry or upset that Ray's practiced indifference to right-and-wrong . . . and his uselessness as a journalist . . . has left me open to ridicule/libel . . . and cyber-stalkers (something else Ray did not report) . . . and has kept me from being wholly vindicated/restored and returning home. 

Nope.  We're all supposed to feel sorry for the journalist who has IGNORED a whole lot of "questionable" behavior in the town he claims to cover.  It's been okay to laugh and point and snicker and call Mary Johnson every nasty name in the book for YEARS and YEARS, but we cannot step on poor Ray's toes . . . or Chip's.  Not even once.  We're not supposed to question or criticize anything this newspaper does.  We're supposed to buy Ray's "Fecund Stench" act (i.e. he and his reporters are the poor, pitiful victims of the enraged lady cyber-bully).

Never mind that Ray Criscoe is the one who has had the bully-pulpit all along.

(6).  But wait ladies and gentlemen, there's more.  When I appeared before the Asheboro City Council back in the spring of 2004, and begged for some assistance from Asheboro's elected honorables, the Courier's reporter, J.D. Walker, smugly put down her pen.  Pops stood up to speak too - a proud man on the verge of tears reduced pleading to the stone-cold faces who would, a short while later, spit in our faces by gifting Randolph Hospital with $500,000 taxpayer dollars.  The next day, there was a whole lot of nothing in the newspaper about a local doctor's impassioned plea to the Council for help holding the local "non-profit" hospital accountable for its misdeeds.

(It took an extraordinary amount of courage for me to appear before the Council that night, but this apparently didn't register at all with Criscoe & company.)

(7)  When I protested (yes, protested), not once, but twice, in front of Randolph Hospital (again, in 2004) . . . in other words, when a Board-certified Pediatrician debased herself to the point of strapping a sign to her back and marching back and forth in front of the hospital's old entrance on Fayetteville Street . . . did anyone from the Courier Tribune (which had good notice) show up to even take a picture?

That would be a no.

(8).  As for Ray's standing threat to ban me/others now from commenting on his stories in the "truth-to-power" fashion they richly deserve, until Diane Winnemueller came to town, I was banned at the Courier.  Every single comment I posted disappeared into the abyss, never to be seen by anyone. 

So ban away, Ray.  I'M USED TO IT!!!  And I have a blog.

(9)  As for those ads Ray now wants me to purchase . . . when I first put up the Asheboro Pediatrics/While Wall website (in 2004 - before I answered the N&R's call to blog), I was able to buy an ad (for a ridiculou$ price) in the Courier.

(10)  But since I started blogging in 2005, trying to get the Courier to answer an e-mail or return a phone call has been like trying to score a meeting with the District Attorney (Garland Yates) . . . or swear out a complaint with one of his magistrates.

And here's my problem with that, Ray.  I've already paid the lawyers, (like smiling Steve Schmidly) to short-change me so they can enjoy their liquor and ball games and promote the careers of their own children.  As Steve looked the other way, Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin took EVERYTHING I had worked-like-dog to build (and fought like a banshee to restore) . . . and GOT RIDICULOUS RAISES for their ingenuity. 

Meanwhile, ALL the "right honorables" dived under their desks and played deaf, dumb & blind.

Now, in this era of "healthcare reform" and "accountability" and "transparency" and "change", you want me to BUY AN AD for the privilege of directing your-methodically-kept-in-the-dark-ordinary-readers to a personal blog that tells the story YOU should have told as NEWS years ago?

WHAT GROWN-IN-THE-BACKWOODS OF RANDOLPH COUNTY PRODUCT ARE YOU SMOKING?  WHAT PART OF DR. MARY JOHNSON GAVE AND GAVE AND GAVE SOME MORE AT THE OFFICE OF RANDOLPH MEDICAL ASSOCIATES CAN YOU NOT GET THROUGH YOUR INCREDIBLY DENSE SKULL?

Of course, it just goes to PROVE that in Randolph County, there are all kinds of ways to obstruct justice.  The Courier's theory-of-spoon-fed-journalism has always been if they didn't report it, it didn't happen.

Enter, stage right, Mike and Pat Bradshaw, owners of Peachtree Street Produce . . . who contacted me several weeks ago to update me on their own tale-of-woe (battling with the City Council over the fair administration of the local Farmer's Market).  Pat and Mike have followed my story and this blog for a long while.  They know my pain because they've lived it - and have endured many of the same gutter-snipe tactics.  They wanted to share some very interesting evidence - recorded on tape - of how the City of Asheboro and the Courier really work.

You see, the Courier really works like Pravda.

And here's the thing about that.  What's on that audio-tape only shores-up a rumor (emphasis on the word rumor) I heard back during the annexation wars, that some of the Courier Tribune reporters, laboring away for their measly salaries, burned out by fronting the self-serving press releases and boring AP reports as their own news, and tired of staying all hours of the day or night to cover this meeting or that event, had started accepting payment on the side from people/organizations who wanted them to show up and report on their activities.   

And/so, when I listened to the tape the Bradshaws produced, I was dumbfounded that Council members were arrogant/dumb enough to say the things that they said on-the-public-record . . . but sadly, I was not very surprised it had happened . . . or that the rumor I'd heard was true.

These people think they are above reproach.  It's a thing amongst "the right people" in Asheboro.

Now, it stands to reason that, if this scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours stuff was going on, it was a CASH-only, under-the-table free enterprise.  So "the (absolute) proof" Ray taunted for in his Sunday editorial is not going to be there.  It's also for sure that Asheboro City Manager, Chip Ogburn, didn't flip out a DISCOVER card for Chip Womick. 

And I seriously doubt either Chip is going to confess.

(When you think about it, it's rather like Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin and their Board of Directors and the hospital's lawyers and our DA's office and the newspaper all pretending that sworn discovery responses proving perjury do not exist.) 

But all of that does not add up to the notion that public does not have the right to ask questions - or formulate opinions - about the people/institutions involved based on what they know of the principals and what's on that tape.

So, as far as I am concerned, Ray Criscoe can take all his big bad "libel" talk and stuff it where that half-sun on his home page doesn't shine.  As he well knows, a "libel" claim is an up-hill battle in this land-of-free-speech . . . particularly for public figures subject to scrutiny.  Ray would not prevail in such a lawsuit - and he knows it.  Moreover, the counter-suit that I would immediately file would destroy ALL of the newspaper's credibility . . . and the criminal charges it could generate for those on the periphery (perjury is one of those crimes without a statute of limitations) would decimate the reputation of the advertiser he's labored so hard for twelve years to shield.

Purely and simply, Ray is trying to SCARE people when he should be working to clean up his newspaper's act.  For starter's, I'd like to hear an explanation . . .  from everyone implicated in that tape . . . for what's on that tape.

And all I've heard so far is a whole lot of "I don't recalls" and challenges to "prove it".

It's NOT my job to prove it or disprove it, Ray (I keep myself quite busy taking care of babies and children far from Randolph County - services that people in other parts of this great state actually appreciate).  It's yours.

Indeed, instead of threatening readers and allowing the defamation of the very few citizens who have heard the tape-in-question (I'm working on a way to make that a whole lotta citizens) . . . citizens who have formulated very strong opinions because of the way we've been treated FOR YEARS by his newspaper and his reporters . . . perhaps Ray ought to take up the case of "explain-what-we're-hearing-on-this-tape-recording" with the City Council members who were actually caught-on-tape . . . you know, the same Council members who seem to be so profoundly memory-impaired now.

(I think . . . it's called . . . investigative reporting.)

But shoot at this messenger and she will shoot back (figuratively speaking, of course, as we know how stupid the political-correctness can get these days).

And really, if Ray Criscoe truly wants to encourage his readership to comment, then perhaps he needs to drop the "we're gonna sue you for libel" act (don't just take my word for it - PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF about SLAPP-suit tactics) that FAILED SO SPECTACULARLY for Randolph Hospital, and STOP trying to INTIMIDATE people into silence (it really does bring back the memories of back in the early days, when Mike Bridges quizzed angry parents about what I had told them . . . or Bob Morrison told nurses they'd be deposed or disciplined if they spoke up). 

Because . . .

(1)  It's a despicable FEAR tactic unworthy of a real journalist.
(2)  It aint' gonna work on this already battle-scarred home-girl.

As for "free speech" at the Courier, I'll believe in that when I don't have to log in 47 different times in order to read or comment on the stories . . . when I don't have to fight the SPAM filter with all of the stupid rules . . . when I don't have to drop the caps and the links . . . when I don't have to ask someone else to post a question/comment because I can't log on . . . and when I don't have to worry about being banned because what I'm saying (which happens to be the truth and he knows it) puts Ray's short-shorts in a wad.

I might also believe free speech is alive and well at the Courier when someone returns my phone calls & e-mails in an equal fashion to readers like the mysterious "Beth Smith" (apparently, she's on speed-dial) . . . fair play and an even hand being SOOOOOOO important to the Courier's Editor.

We'll close with another excerpt from Ray's 2008 editorial:

If you visited here, you'd see regular folks like yourself, hard-working people trying to make an honest living.  They raise families, they volunteer in the community, they love their country and their jobs.  Some are liberal, but in our building, most are conservative.  No that either matters, because they try to keep their politics out of their work, and they have editors who make sure they do.

You see, many one our current staff are seasoned veterans who have nothing but the utmost integrity.  I've known them for years and believe in every one of them.  So, again, if you question any of my workers' integrity, you'd better have some evidence with you.

Once upon a time Mary Johnson practiced Pediatrics in Asheboro.  She was an ordinary hard-working idealistic girl who went away and got the education and "made good".  And in coming home, she just wanted to make an honest living - be near her family - and do right by her patients.  She loved her job.  She volunteered her services to the community.  She loved her country.

She paid her dues and then some.

But while serving an NHSC obligation, under the administration of President Bill Clinton (precursor to the utterly-clueless Barack Obama), somehow things went horribly wrong.  She was fired by the "non-profit" she worked for . . . her practice and all she had worked for destroyed (because she had answered a nurse's phone call and done the right thing by a dying baby whose life she saved) . . . courtesy of overpaid suits motivated by greed and malice. 

In her attempts to be vindicated & restored, Mary Johnson played by ALL the rules, but it was impossible to prevail when no one else was paying any attention to them.

In fighting the battle, Dr. Mary Johnson, Pediatrician to other women's children, never got to have children of her own - or raise a family.  Opportunities that were once hers for the asking turned to ash in the raging fire of Randolph Hospital's BRUTAL retaliation.

It was, IN FACT, Ray Criscoe's JOB as a journalist to tell her story . . . to balance the local scales of justice, and to help her hold those abusing their power accountable.

Instead, Ray Criscoe, Editor of the Courier-Tribune, pretended she didn't exist.  He sold his soul to the boys writing the advertising checks at Randolph.  His reporters SNICKERED and PLAYED DEAD. 

Integrity, Ray?  Credibility?  Tell me another good one.

As for evidence, I've "brung it", Ray.  The problem is that you are fundamentally UNARMED.  In terms of blogging and commenting on news stories, you're five years late to the party . . . and you're acting like a toddler who left the hot water running for too long, stuck his toe in the tub and jerked it back because it's scalding.  You cannot take the heat that years of the see/hear/smell no evil act have brought to your newspaper's doorstep. 

FOR EVERY DAY OF GOING ON TWELVE YEARS, I'VE ALREADY SEEN HOW YOUR OPERATION WORKS.  I cannot get that time back. 

What's more, Ray, despite all of my e-mails and phone calls - and blogging for five years - I'VE NOT "VISITED" BECAUSE YOU HAVE NEVER INVITED ME IN.

Maybe if you told your readership the truth you'd have enough readers to tell the advertisers to take a hike.

In closing, Dr. Mary Johnson is a seasoned veteran of the blogosphere now, and she is going to chase Ray Criscoe (and the Steven's Media Group, if necessary) to Hell and back . . . and eat a sandwich . . . and chase them some more . . . until they start doing right by her and this town . . . a town Forbes magazine put on life support in 2008.

Once more thing, Mr. Criscoe.  The fight for justice is NOT rooted in malice, but righteous indignation & rage (I so get the people flinging tea) that ANYONE could have been treated as sorrily by a mill town proclaiming "small town values" as I have been.  It is very simply about what is right and what is wrong. 

And for twelve years, you've been totally, utterly in the wrong.

You've allowed REAL bullies to flourish.

Afterthought:  Come to think of it, this post looks like a pretty good rebuttal to me.

Since You Brought It Up: I Know Something Of Cyber-Bullying, Ray . . . and Roch

Before we get started, I feed the need to make one thing very clear:  This blog owes its very existence to the "journalists" at the Courier Tribune and the Greensboro News & Record . . . local newspapers so beholding to Randolph & Cone Hospitals for economic support that they could not tell their readers the truth about what those hospitals did to a home-grown Pediatrician in public service. 

So, to coin a phrase, Ray, "I didn't do it.  YOU did."

It's been almost a year since this happened (just something else Ray Criscoe and Chip Womick and J.D. Walker and Mary Anderson, the Courier Tribune's champions of "free-speech", sitting high-and mighty in their bully-pulpit, did not see fit to report) . . . and it's been a very long haul to get from there to here . . . but with the next post, I'm probably going to open Housecalls back up to comments. 

As the real victim of a real cyber-bully and his friends on the Asheboro City Council/at the Randolph County Courthouse, I needed a break and I took it.  ZERO apologies.

(There's a lot the know-it-alls in the Greensboro blogosphere don't know - because for safety reasons, I have not blogged about it.)

Comments will be moderated.  Anons need not apply.  And if you come on board to call me names or threaten me or my livelihood, don't plan on getting posted.  I will, however, log your comments in a folder (as they will come into my Inbox first) and save your IP address . . . and if it becomes a problem again, we shall dance like the Randolph County Stars. 

It will be glorious.

Oh, and next time, I'm calling the Feds as opposed to a Randolph County magistrate . . . as I took everybody's advice (including the Feds) last November, and played by the rules, and gave "the locals" a chance . . . and (big surprise) the locals did what they ALWAYS do if you're not "right people".

I don't check often, but I did notice yesterday that, once again, my blog had recently been removed from the Greensboro aggregator, We101.  I sent an e-mail to Roch Smith, Jr., with whom I have a history.

(My story-of-woe in Asheboro, you see, does not exactly shore up the inherent accountability of all the wonderful things President Obama's new healthcare "reform" measures hold in store for the average wrong person - and in Roch's book-of-blue, I must be marginalized/silenced - as opposed to helped.)

"Where's my blog? ", I asked.

The answer was in my Inbox this morning (of course, I was anticipating it - after leaving a comment on Roch's blog this past weekend - about Jeff Martin's latest brush with the law):

Your blog must allow comments. We101 exists to promote an understanding of the communities in which we live. We believe that a necessary component to this is the ability to engage in conversation as accommodated by blog comments. If your blog does not allow comments, please enable them before submitting your blog to We101. Blogs that do not allow comments will be removed."

I responded this morning:

I saw that coming. You KNOW why comments have been disabled, Roch.

You're all warmth and understanding for a well-known local cyber-bully who calls victims of local government malfeasance (even the ones dying of cancer) horrible names, and/or pelts their blogs/Inbox with insults alleging they're mentally-ill (I guess he wants some company) . . . and who threaten public servants with violence (that's a real hoot . . . because, you know, in your world . . . and in his . . . all firemen are fat lazy slobs and all policeman are corrupt doughnut-eaters).

The victims of you friend's malice - whistle-blowers in the blogosphere to tell the public the truth - cannot rely on law enforcement to protect them (particularly in Randolph County) from the consequences of his online antics . . . or his libel . . . because the law (as usual) is light-years behind what is going on in real life.

They most certainly cannot rely on anyone in the blogosphere to help reign him in - with strong condemnation of his actions. No. You guys pass around secret passwords and laugh at his antics and pontificate about "free speech", even as a good portion of you cannot own your speech by signing your real names.

Meanwhile you IGNORE the plights of the whistle-blowers you invited into the ether.

It's all very high-minded and enlightened.

Before you dumped my blog at We101, did you pause to consider that in the wake of what happened, I have very real safety and security concerns?

Your liberal double-standards betray you, Roch You make me sick. And I can see next Tuesday from my house.

I feel a post coming on.

I hope this post - and all of the future ones I hope to write - contributes to understanding the communities where we live . . . and blog.

Ray Criscoe's Motto: Better Late Than Never

Ray Criscoe's Sunday morning editorial finally came online this evening at 7:03 PM (only after I had typed the thing into this template - for tomorrow's Housecalls' post . . . from print by hand - all the while trying not to vomit).

It's called not playing fair.  And that's how Ray has always played with Dr. Mary Johnson.  It secures his good eats at the Randolph Hospital Foundation Dine-Arounds.

I posted a comment . . . which I'm also posting here, as it most likely will come down there (hey, maybe I'll get banned . . . ooooooo . . . ahhhhhhh!!!):

About time this ditty was posted online . . .

. . . since it addresses online behavior. 

And yes, thanks!!! for doing an editorial, Ray.  You've done more for "the buzz" today than I've been able to accomplish in the whole six months you've allowed me to comment.

A couple of brief observations on your Editorial:  You say the Courier has never banned anyone.  But you actually have.  Before Diane Winnemuller came on board as Publisher, my comments were never posted.  Everything was routinely deleted.

As for buying an ad to publicize the blog that you don't want anyone to read, I tried that too.  Your paper refused to sell.

At the risk of being accused of "self-promotion", a full, comprehensive rebuttal to this editorial will be posted on Dr. J's Housecalls (anyone interested can Google it) over the next several days.  We'll be working on posting a very special Letter-To-The Editor from 2007 . . . and audio-of-the-eye-opening City Council meeting that has given many folks pause to question the paper's journalistic integrity . . . and scanned Court documents as irrefutable proof of the very serious allegations that I have made on these boards against some very important people in Asheboro . . . "questionable behavior" that the Courier Tribune has refused to investigate or report (in favor of one of its major advertisers) . . .

. . . lies of omission and exclusion (determinedly, methodically treating selected citizens as if they don't exist) being the worst kind of lie.

The problem that the-very-important-people-I-accuse-of-very-bad-things (nameless here because we must play by Ray's rules) have is that something can be both defamatory and true.  Since we are talking about free speech, truth is absolute protection in a Court of law.  I'm sure Ray is very familiar with the thoroughly-American concepts of opinion, good faith, reasonable belief, fair comment, and standards-applying-to-public-figures that were laid out in New York Times v. Sullivan.

For the record, after a very pleasant e-mail exchange, I'm also working with Beth Smith of Montgomery Community College to clarify the identity of a poster using her name on these boards.  Several possibilities.  Perhaps the Courier will help us clarify.

It also seems to me, Ray, that if you wanted people to be truly accountable for their comments - and to police themselves, perhaps you ought to have the same requirements online that you do in print - in other words, that the poster comment under their own name (as I do), and provide a local address.

Oh, and look Ray!  No links.  No caps.

As for the Courier's motto, it's been twelve years.  Better late than never is wearing a little thin.

The Editor Of Asheboro's Own Version Of Pravda Speaks: Will The REAL Bully Please Stand Up?

I've taken some irate phone calls this morning about an "Editorial" (I use the term loosely) in the Courier Tribune by Ray Criscoe that would give Pravda a run for its money.

Ray addresses the Courier's online comment policies.  My name is not mentioned, but it's clear who is in his bulls-eye.

Once again, it's no one that deserves to be.  Ray is nothing if not consistent.

I've told people I'm actually delighted.  And that's because I'm quite certain anyone reading the paper today is asking themselves, what or who is Ray talking about?  They're going to look into it and ask questions - because that's what Americans do. 

And in my book, in terms of exposure of the very ugly things Randolph Hospital did to me . . . amoral, unethical, illegal things that Ray and his "team" have NEVER wanted to tell the ordinary plebes of Asheboro about (it ain't just some of our politicos that need to be shown the door next Tuesday), that's a TOUCHDOWN!!!

Alas, like an update on Randolph County Manager, Dick Wells' plans to live up to our nickname of "Trashboro", and turn northern Randolph County into Greensboro's local garbage dump (many folks missed JD Walker's now-buried story back in September - a story which, predictably, was a little lax on the details provided by yesterday's front-page declaration-of-salvation in the Greensboro N&R), I cannot pull up the text of Ray's editorial online.  But as soon as I have it in hand there will be a word-for-word response on this blog.

Dr. Mary Johnson has been telling the truth from DAY ONE, Mr. Criscoe.  You and your ex-publisher (that would be David Renfro) just didn't want the good people of Asheboro (people you thought were easy to control and manipulate) to know what was going on right under their noses. 

It was all about protecting "the right people".  Meanwhile, our town went on life support. 

And now we're well on our way to being a regional trash-dump.

You're a pathetic excuse for a journalist, Ray, and you've been in the business of shielding liars for too long (choosing instead to slurp down ordurbs and hobnob with your major advertisers) . 

You don't return e-mails.  You don't return phone calls.  You don't print (or heavily edit) Letters-To-The-Editor.  Your reporters put down their pens, walk out of meetings and ignore/marginalize/minimize if something happens that you don't want to report.  When ordinary folk ask you to cover their event, you don't show up - and mumble lame excuses when challenged.  You for damned sure don't investigate anything - vapid, inane, cheer-leading press releases are your stock and trade. 

You've even declined to sell ads for this blog (so the offer you made in your Editorial today was just a WHOPPER).   

I was also banned at the Courier for eleven years.  My comments NEVER went up until Diane Winnemuller came to town.

You put up an Editorial and make it clear you'd delete any rebuttal.  But you're all about "Free Speech".  It's abject hypocrisy. 

So I'm asking.  How can you have the foggiest idea what the truth is - much less tell it to someone else?

Videos don't lie, Ray (the spread looked delicious).  As for "potential libel", I'm fairly-well educated in that (something else you/your publisher couldn't report with an even-hand).  And tape recordings of City Council members at public meetings don't lie.  The black and white of SWORN DEPOSITIONS do not lie.  IRS 990's do not lie.

Where the HELL has your newspaper been except lapping up the leavings of "right people"? 

"Free Speech"?  Honestly, who are you trying to kid?  And who is the REAL "bully" here?

Dr. Mary is DONE.

Your problem now is that, so are a lot of other people . . . people you've ignored, dissed or kept in the dark . . . FOR YEARS.

Like I said, I will address Ray's "Editorial", point-by-point, as soon as I get the text . . . since, in addressing the online behavior of his readers (and as of right now), "Free Speech" Criscoe has not had THE GUTS to put it online.

Sunday Afternoon Update:

I now have the print-text of the Editorial-in-question, and will post something shortly that specifically addresses Criscoe's treatsie point-by-point.

I also have a letter from Pat & Mike Bradshaw's attorney . . . addressed to Ray Criscoe in 2007 (that's three years ago if anyone is counting) . . . which BEAUTIFULLY tackles the issues that Mary Anderson spun-like-a-barn-spider in her story last Sunday - including the little matter of Courier reporter, Chip Womick, being hired to do the Council's bidding (something that no one on the Council can apparently remember now).

In terms of "proof", I'm sure the Chipper did not keep VISA receipts, but do I BELIEVE what I'm posting because I've heard the tapes (and still have a certified CD copy in my possession).  Moreover, the Council Member doing the talking sure sounds a whole lot like Asheboro Mayor, David Smith (you see, I've attended Council meetings where other Courier reporters put down their pen, and am quite familiar with the sound of his voice). 

So GOOD LUCK with any "potential libel" claims sticking Ray.  You're talking to a woman who has already done that dance-with-the-Randolph Stars and (although you didn't want to report it on your front page) sent Randolph Hospital packing a long time ago . . . 

. . . never mind that Bob Morrison & Steven Eblin still swindled her.  And, as PERJURY, CONTEMPT and FRAUD saved them from paying out a crapload in civil damages, the high-minded "honorables" sitting on the Hospital Board think that's a job well done! 

Playing the Feds/taxpaer for the fool, and firing a doctor for saving a baby's life, and LYING to her patients about what happened, and suing her for telling the truth, and lying repeatedly under Oath to minimize the value of her life & work when you were finally dragged into a Courtroom under Garland Yate's dubious jurisdiction, IS ALL IN A DAY'S WORK for this crowd of winking & nodding mill-town posers.

You simply cannot argue with tape recordings (even if they are from 2006) . . . or sworn depositions (from 1999 & 2000). 

But if you're Ray Criscoe, champion of free speech-as-they-practice-it-in-Communist-countries and practiced-butt-kisser of "the right people, you can IGNORE the truth right under your stuck-up nose.  You can not-say-a-word or investigate a thing, and keep right on scarfing down the pricey ordurbs. 

And from your bully pulpit, you can call anyone who calls you on it a "bully".

The Courier Tribune is a MASTER of the lie of omission.  And it's far past the time that stopped.

To Answer Your Question, Roch . . .

The more progressive/enlightened types in the Greensboro blogosphere continue to chuckle at a local blogger who long ago stopped being funny.

I no more buy the "ill-advised and accidental" excuse now than I did last November . . . and I expect if there was not a very good chance that Jeff Martin could have found himself back in Court (albeit in Guilford County - where bug-eyed members of the Asheboro City Council wouldn't be there to front his cowardice or call the victims of his determined malice "stupid" in open Court) for communicating threats (this time against members of the GSO Fire Department - hey at least they weren't women) . . . "The Stench" would not have been "inspired" to "redact" them so quickly.

Comments are still down on this blog because, truthfully, I have not recovered from what Martin did.  The "child-of-a-borderline-Mother with sociopathic tendencies" was indeed "merciless".  He wanted to frighten me and make me feel vulnerable . . . and he did.  No doubt he's still quite proud of himself.

I've not gotten over it.  Just another day (of almost twelve years of days) in Randolph County. 

But hey, the Cones and Smith-Jrs of this ether (sharing secret passwords in the background) thought the libel was amusing, so that's what's really important.

There's no "probably" to it, Roch.  It was illegal.  And once again, Jeff Martin, "domestic terrorist" (which is, in my opinion, actually an insult to decent pirates) emerges unscathed. 

Oh well.  Maybe strike three will be the charm.

Randolph County Manager, Dick Wells Wants Asheboro To Live Up To Her Nickname: "Trashboro"

In the light of a new day, I'm thinking there might have been another reason for the powers-that-be at the Courier Tribune to have removed "Beth Smith's" comments (referring to Asheboro as "Trashboro") . . . not-to-mention my blistering responses . . . from the comment thread of Mary Anderson's spin-job on Pat & Mike Bradshaw's battle with the City of Asheboro (over the fair administration of the Asheboro Farmer's market).

The Courier KNEW something controversial and provocative was coming . . .

Randolph County Manager Richard (I like to call him Dick) Wells, has volunteered Randolph County's services in the disposal of Greensboro's trash.

It's front page online at the Greensboro News & Record - the spin being that Randolph County will be Greensboro's "savior".

Nary a word over on the Courier Tribune.  Not a Womick or a Walker or an Anderson in sight to break a story of this magnitude.  Nope.  Let the News & Record (with their track record) spin it first.

Mr. Wells (as I indicated previously, I like to call him Dick - after the way he treated Ginger Hunt and decimated the Randolph County Department of Child Support Enforcement) says this project is on a "fast track" . . . and the citizens of Greensboro could be dumping their trash in Randolph County as early as 2012.

Dick's proposal will involve using the old county landfill here (closed since 1997 because no one wanted to upgrade it to meet state specs - kinda like the roads over on Dave's Mountain that Billie Wilson and Walker Moffit built) . . . and, if Dick gets his way playing "savior" . . . the project will eventually include an additional 160 undeveloped acres nearby - surrounded by chicken farms (which, I'm sure Dick will reason, stink anyway) and bordering a river (so much for water quality downstream).

That actually makes sense.   In "Trashboro", crap always flows downhill.

Locals, of course, understand that Randolph County is now serving as the new "East Greensboro".  And if Dick Wells has his way, I anticipate that we here in Randolph County are going to have about as much voice in this process now as did the lesser beings living around Greensboro's White Street Landfill back in the 1940's.

For all of the trash-talk about "environmental racism" whenever the subject comes up in Greensboro, at the time the landfill was built, those most affected were rural folk and predominantly white.

History does have a way of repeating itself.

The Jabbas who've run "Trashboro" and Randolph County into the ground cannot get the young professionals to flock here . . . because said Jabbas have a history of treating them like garbage. 

So now the Jabbas gonna sell their souls and our land - for someone else's garbage.

It's all to give the progressive folks in Greensboro more time (30 years) to figure out how to process their garbage in a prettier, less-smelly, more environmentally-friendly fashion . . . never mind how their DUMP will affect the rednecks and Republicans further south.

The Randolph County Jabbas will be heroes and saviors for doing it.  Never mind how bad it smells . . . and is gonna smell . . . in northern Randolph County.

I, for one, am so gratified that we in Randolph County can once again take a hit for the smarter, prettier, much more progressive and enlightened citizens of Guilford County. 

"Cooperating" with Cone, and concentrating on the wrong things, has turned our local healthcare to crap.

"Cooperating" with Greensboro has the water going somewheres else.

But in Greensboro you see, "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all of the children are above average".  They must be serviced. 

They cannot be expected to take care of their own garbage.

Afterthought:

Here is a list of the Randolph County Commissioners (aka Jabbas) - including Dick Wells - who want to turn Randolph County into a trash-dump for Greensboro.

And here is the e-mail address of Dick Wells: 

CountyManager@co.randolph.nc.us. 

(My suggestion . . . as I have a lot of experience writing these very important types . . . is that you send yourself a copy, flag it as "important", and ask for a "read receipt".  Otherwise, it will be like dropping a comment-of-any-substance at the Courier Tribune . . . and deleted to SPAM.)

Citizens of Asheboro, Randleman and Randolph County, if you do not want this to happen . . . if you want Dick Wells to take his "fast track" to a really bad smell and stuff it . . . I suggest your start writing these "right people" right now.