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We here at the Yokel headquarters value the past. You can acquire so much insight by studying the choices made by those who came before us. It’s also super enlightening to look back on an individual’s history. There are times when the change an individual makes, in let’s say 10 years time, can be startling.
Way back in the FNP’s archives, we found a fun little article from 2006 about Billy entering the political scene. It is chock full of good stuff, so make sure you read the whole thing, while we point out some of the juicier bits.
You may remember, back in December 2016, there was a ground breaking ceremony at 520 North Market Street for low to mid-income housing. C.Paul Smith wrote a nasty letter to three members of the council, that we picked apart here, in which he so eloquently stated:
“Those who don’t understand market and economic forces should avoid involving themselves in economic development projects.”
When it came to the vote on what to do with this property the vote count went something like this:
So, Billy voted against the findings of the County Executive and then abstained on the selling of said property for $1.6 million! Despite the fact that C. Paul Smith told us that there were NO buyers for said property. For those who don’t remember, this property is being developed with teachers, police officers and other first-responders in mind. Fifty-nine units will be set aside exclusively for those who make less that $60,000 a year. Wait a minute, what say you 2006 Billy?
“Billy wants to introduce legislation giving preference in the moderate income housing program to school teachers, firefighters and police officers who are having trouble finding houses they can afford.” (FNP, March 22, 2006)
Wow! What the heck happened!? Oh, that’s right, a Democrat proposed it. Therefore, there’s no way in Poseidan’s blue seas that Billy could support it! Even if, at one point, he was all for it!
You may recall, that over the last couple of years, Shrelauter has thrown a lot of fits when Jessica and Jerry vote on the budget. Since said budget gives FCPS some of their money, but does not control or dictate how that money is spent, they are corrupt money grabbers. Not that anyone with a brain doesn’t see what their objections are really about. A lame attempt, to be able to control and no doubt further strip, FCPS’ budget. Well, let’s pull this out as a refresher before we move on:
Last week, there was a rezone application brought forth by the developer Natelli. Now, if the rule exists that if you have in any way, shape or form benefited directly, or indirectly from a vote made upon said council, then why didn’t Billy recuse himself?
“Billy has been selling commercial real estate with Tony Checchia at the Frederick Land Co. and also peddles houses and townhouses for Natelli Communities, which is developing a mini-metropolis in Urbana.” (Frederick News Post, March 22, 2006)
Well, well, well that seems looks a straight line from Natelli to Billy’s pocket !!! According to his county council bio, real estate is still listed as his profession. When is the last time Billy sold a Natelli property ? That should be something Billy should be able to answer rather quickly. Because if he has profited from the Urbana development anytime during his tenure on the BOCC OR the Frederick County Council, he needs to disclose that. If voting on a zoning change on a development from which he has profited isn’t a conflict of interest, we are not sure what is!
The first part of our reconvened meeting is beautiful. The ever diplomatic and articulate Rick Harcum explains the bill that is up for a public hearing this evening. You see folks, back in 2010 the BOCC re-allocated the Recordation tax fees from agricultural preservation, parks and school management and put it into the General Fund. At that time, they added a Sunset Provision that said this would all end in five years time. Mr. Harcum praised this act as one was necessary in lean financial times, and as a result of having a Sunset Provision, also recognized that times wouldn’t always be tough.
Fast forward to 2014, the BOCC amended this bill to deter funds from the nursing home to the General Fund and according to the county attorney, wiped clean everything in the 2010 bill,including the Sunset Provision. This proposed bill will re-allocate those funds back into agricultural preservation, parks and the schools. Jerry later remarks in his council member comments, that he believes that all this was done so the BOCC could say they achieved the constant yield. The people who came to speak were in favor of re-allocating the money back. The only naysayer was Tony. He implied that Mr. Harcum was being dishonest in his characterization of these funds as since they were placed in the General Fund they could be allocated to parks, agricultural preservation, and schools if the County Executive so wished. Mr. Harcum then replied that puts them in competition with everything else in the budget.To which Tony still says is misleading. I think we all know that when money is specifically mandated for a purpose in the budget then we recognize as a community, how important that purpose is to us. But kudos Tony for trying to muddy an issue that was crystal clear.
Now it’s time for the sad time of the meeting…council member comments.
Lots of head shaking from Kirby tonight. It’s his Night O’ Apologies! He wants us all to recognize how sad it is to be in business in Frederick County. He tells the sad tale of a business owner in New Market, salt of the Earth people, who after 27 years of selling mulch and top soil are having their lives ruined by the county. Just like the wedding venues and Mr. Natelli. RUINED. He also laments the fact that for the past 7 months or so the county hasn’t been able to find someone to fill the empty Emergency Management Position. “Everyday”, says Kirby, “things get worse and worse around here.”
Billy claims that there are billboards throughout Coal Country PA that state: “Thank you Frederick County for voting against Solar!”. We think this is probably a huge lie, but hey snap a pic Billy so we can see the evidence. We’ll admit it if we are wrong! If it is true, then the billboard owners have been misled as the solar bill has been tabled pending amendments. Billy also laments the sad state of affairs that business owners have to put up with in this county. He’s also sure that Bud is corrupt because he won’t fall into any of Billy’s question traps.
Jessica,after saying some nice things about the Girl Scouts and county staff, lists all the ways Frederick County has been friendly to business. Namely:
She also reminds Billy that we have not voted against solar power. Which is a curious thing for him to be confused about.
M.C. has to spend her time refuting the bookends. Says she would rather find the right person to fill the Emergency Management Services position then to just hire the first person off the street. And that New Market business that Kirby is claiming the county has ruined? Well, a neighbor of theirs filed a complaint with the county since they have been operating outside of proper zoning. And when the county receives a complaint, they have to investigate and uphold county law. M.C. says that the county is looking for ways to work with the business. So perhaps things aren’t as dire as Mr. Negative would lead us to believe. She also reminds us to lock our cars, as the police say most car thefts are a result of unlocked vehicles.
M.C. ends her comments reminding the naysayers to respect their fellow council members. She gently tells them they we all spend a lot of time working on these issues and to disparage people just because they come to a different conclusion just isn’t right. While we agree with you M.C., we don’t see that happening from that bunch any time in the near future.
It’s true!!! Our very own High Sheriff Jenkins is doing commercials for the anti-immigration organization known as FAIR (Federation for Immigration Reform). Look at him all decked out in his Frederick County finery:
Take a gander at FAIR’s Twitter page when you have a moment. Take special note of the articles they chose to share. Breitbart is one of their absolute faves. Perhaps you remember a few years back when the sheriff accepted a trip to the southern border of the U.S. that was paid for by this organization. In this FNP article from 2014, right after Jenkins took this trip, we learned that:
Jenkins expressed concern about a News-Post article stating that the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled FAIR a hate group. It unfairly associated him with the anti-illegal immigration organization, he said.
Well that concern must not have been too great because here he is three years later in a Public Service Announcement for that organization! The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has a lot to say about his particular organization. Here’s some warm and fuzzy quotes that the SPLC complied from FAIR’s current president, Daniel Stein:
“I blame ninety-eight percent of responsibility for this country’s immigration crisis on Ted Kennedy and his political allies, who decided some time back in 1958, earlier perhaps, that immigration was a great way to retaliate against Anglo-Saxon dominance and hubris, and the immigration laws from the 1920s were just this symbol of that, and it’s a form of revengism, or revenge, that these forces continue to push the immigration policy that they know full well are [sic] creating chaos and will continue to create chaos down the line.”
— FAIR President Dan Stein, “Oral History of the Federation for American Immigration Reform,” interview of Dan Stein by John Tanton, August 1994.
Immigrants don’t come all church-going, freedom-loving, God-fearing … Many of them hate America, hate everything that the United States stands for. Talk to some of these Central Americans.”
— FAIR President Dan Stein, interviewed by Tucker Carlson, Oct. 2, 1997
Ted Kennedy?! Umm, okay. After watching the video, we hoped that our Sheriff wasn’t aware of this group’s history. (Be sure you read through SPLC’s link, lots of interesting thoughts on eugenics and white supremacy from FAIR’s original founders). However, after coming across the 2014 article about the trip, we realize that is NOT the case. He’s known, since at least 2014, that there were many concerns about this organization. Those concerns, however, were not enough to dissuade him from being a part of their very Public Service Announcement.
Jenkins does have one supporter that wrote an LTE that appeared in today’s paper. Too bad for the sheriff that he no longer lives here.
And although this doesn’t involve Jenkins at all, we want to make sure you saw Dr Ben Carson spouting his revisionist history of slaves as the original immigrants on a quest for a better life. I thought only liberals were into rewriting history?
Right now our collective blood pressure is through the G.D. roof. If you were following our Facebook updates of tonight’s meeting, you would have seen that things were NOT going well. Because of our collective parenting duties, we were not able to turn in until around 5:30, about thirty minutes in. The hour that we were tuned in for caused this Lady Yokel to have to pour a glass of wine.
So we joined the discussion about whether or not the application for the Urbana rezone should pass. Now, we did not hear some of the comments before 5:30, however, at some point Jessica used the word challenging. The main problem some of the council members have is with the word contiguous as it applies to this property and the opinion that this motion should have been three separate applications instead of the one.
Billy, who was absent from the second hearing of this issue mind you, is trying, in his most condescending voice, to explain some things. He used the word “challenging” every time he got a chance just to try to stick it to Ms. Fitzwater. Had the nerve to say that if this was “too challenging” for them to figure out then how would they construct a 20 year comprehensive plan? Went on rant after rant about how this council never does anything, he can’t get questions answered blah blah blah. It was horrible. He even goes after the legal staff, deriding all their fancy law degrees since they can’t answer his leading, dishonest questions. And hey there Urbana parents, Billy claims y’all are just fine with the overcrowding in your district. Tis not an issue! Billy also tried to goad Bud into explaining his reasoning. To which Bud states, “I am not responding to any of your inquires.” You know what is challenging Billy? Having to listen to you!
Kirby, who was quiet for a very long time, tells us that the reason he is being so quiet is that if he said what he really thought he would be kicked out of the room. But please don’t confuse his silence for him not standing up for what he believes in! That’s right folks, just because his fellow council members had a difference of opinion concerning some aspects on how this application was brought forth Kirby has to muster up all the stoicism he can to contain his rightful outrage! How very brave of him! He does eventually succumb to his baser nature and calls his fellow council members corrupt! Billy then echos: Yeah corrupt!!!
To this Jerry cannot not keep quiet!! Nor should he!! We are all sick and tired and sick and tired of fools throwing out accusations without any proof. So our hero of the evening, the esteemed Mr. Donald, tells the idiots to define what exactly is corrupt. Because all he sees is people trying to make decisions based on their understanding of the law! He tells them to “back it up or stop talking!”
We then hear:
Tony’s motion is voted down. M.C. puts forth a new motion stating why she’s against the application in its current form. States that she would like it to be resubmitted in three separate applications. It is at this point that we must address Tony’s behavior and tone this evening. He’s very upset that this application isn’t going to get approved and tries time and time again to pin M.C. in a corner. He calls her motion “convoluted” and says that the last time she made a motion it landed them in court. Real mature, huh? We think that Tony is really used to getting his way, so when someone challenges him he doesn’t know how to handle it in any kind of constructive manner. Kinda like the bookends. Great job Mr. Chmelik, you are now officially one of them.
We are going to have to watch the second half, which reconvened at 7:00, tomorrow. Those three have put us over the edge tonight.
This is not the first time your Local Yokels have harped on the importance of being a media locavore. Even if you don’t care for the flavor of what’s available here, if you don’t buy then it will disappear. Then we will really be in the dark. Do you think the Washington Post is going to tell you what Shrelauter has been cooking up with any regularity? (Hint: they are not gonna.)
Local reporter and start-up media maestro Katherine Heerbrandt of The Frederick Extra is an excellent resource. She also shared her experience as the invited guest of Rockville United Church to talk to the congregation after the service. They wanted to discuss the importance of the press and how to ensure that their media diet was nutritious and free of toxins. It sounds like a recipe club many people could benefit from.
We have always been up front that our information comes heavily seasoned with our point of view. It is certainly valuable to look to other sources to achieve a balanced diet. There is no way to get a “Fair and Balanced” perspective from a single source. The fact that a source would tell you such a thing should make you immediately suspicious; news is not like candy, you can consume all you want. If they are threatened that you may sample another source there’s reason to think it is a very serious problem. This is why, much as it pains us, we are willing to look at something we expect to be of no more substance than dried out marshmallows (say WHUT?) or noodley appendages.
Just like nutrition science, what you learned in science has value here. Look at your sources and see if there is peer review in evidence. If you see a headline that stands out in particular, find out what the other sources are saying. Do they corroborate one another or refute one another? Chances are if something sounds like an outlier preposterous, (EX: President Obama gives “Hanoi Jane” Presidential Medal of Freedom) it probably is. You will want to verify that before running with it. This is getting decidedly trickier, the more like satire our reality becomes, so it means we must be even more cautious with our data. If the same source is always an outlier, chances are there is a problem with their research they are a liar, paid by the fossil fuel industry (oh yes, just like in science, it can help to know who is funding the report).
This should go without saying: stop taking a bunk source into account when you identify it. If you look around, and all of the links you find seem to rely on a single source and you are unsure of its reputation, form a hypothesis and test your hypothesis about the reliability of that source. You will come to a valuable conclusion. Scientific thinking. It’s not just for scientists.
Also, good journalists are heroes! Stop taking them for granted!
It’s March y’all! And even though we haven’t had much of a winter this year (thanks Al Gore!), lions and lambs are still on our mind. Maybe it’s because Kirby pulled this out when describing Trump last week:
Or perhaps we just like sweet little lambs:
As always, this game is just for the chuckles. Be responsible and stay informed.Away we go:
We start at 5:00, which is not the norm, we suspect it’s due to Billy’s whining about start times. We know he’ll shoot down the minutes, so we won’t bore you with that. How Shrelauter will act when the Finance Department asks them to extend the contract with the outside audit company is up to debate. If they don’t see the value in an outside company checking the books, let’s all encourage them to pull the Lion’s Tail.
A decision will be made concerning the rezone request for the Urbana application. The last two council meetings were devoted to this issue. You can read our coverage here and here. We are all hoping for smart, responsible growth in our fair county. We need adequate roads, schools, police, fire and rescue, libraries, and retail to make life good! Let’s toast to smart growth with our Smarty Pants cocktail. We can figure this out together!
On break until 7:00. We may hear a squeak out of Billy depending on the end time of the first part. Oh, he’s become so tiresome to us.
After the council reconvenes, there is a 2nd reading on a bill to reallocate the county recordation tax. Read all the details here. If this is in any way, shape, or form painted as some kind of tax hike, slam back a pitcher of Red Lion.
Onto public and council member comments. Our crystal ball isn’t giving us a real clear signal this week. However, we can posit that since Billy was absent from the last meeting he’s going to have a thing or two to say. When he and the yin to his yang, start a yapping, sip on your Warm Wooly Sheep cocktail, since we all need some comfort by this stage of the meeting.
It looks like #kirbydelauter has a brand new website up and running. We are guessing it is just to make sure you know all the ways you can give him your hard earned cash money, for anyone who still has something left after the rush to invest in gold bouillon. Honestly, if we could send him a negative check for all the pain and suffering we have endured over the last almost 2 years we would. Maybe we will send him a bill instead. Like an invoice. Not proposed legislation. We are still waiting to see him come up with one of those on his own. We may as well be Waiting for Godot.
He also wants to make sure you know who all his friends supporters are.
We skipped around the recording of last night’s meeting. If you have two plus hours to spare, please knock yourself out. It was all devoted to a continuation of the hearing for the Urbana rezoning application. Being subjected to one of the county attorneys cracking open a 1974 dictionary to read the definition of the word contiguous was too much to ask of your Lady Yokels. We do know that there wasn’t a decision made, final vote will occur on March 7, and that our old pal Billy didn’t show up:
Council member comments were fairly tame. Tony wants us all to know that he was out of the house from 6 a.m. -11:45 p.m. last Tuesday and almost didn’t have a chance to wish his twins a happy birthday. (Happy Birthday Tony’s twins!) But, he thanked everyone for their civility. Kirby had NO comments this week! Jerry wants people to come to Brunswick this weekend for BBQ and wooden train whistling. Jessica informs us that it is the 40th anniversary of the Frederick Arts Council and there will be a celebration at the Weinberg. M.C. applauds the sale of the Fredericktowne Mall and Bud makes sure all of our county employees know how much they are appreciated.
Kirby’s on our radar again. He’s a facebooking and writing his monthly diatribe for the noodley appendage. Curiously, Kirby thinks that Trump is worthy of some biblical quotations:
Who is the lion in this scenario? Not to mention wise and knowledgable!!!??? Because LOLLOLLOL, he cannot be speaking of Trump! But, then again, making connections is not one of Kirby’s strong suits:
It’s the first of the month and that means it’s time for the “Guest Columnist” (what in the world happened to Galahad Sweetbottom?) to shine. We won’t go over the whole Hough ethics bill as we have already covered it here and here. And The Frederick Extra had an excellent piece about the whole Hough political nonsense here. We do think ,though, that we are going to have to check on Kirby’s donations over the next year. It will be fun to compare/contrast his donations with Senator Hough’s.
Ethics nonsense aside, we would be remiss if we did not point out a few quotes that made us chuckle. First off, is this imaginary conversation Kirby has between the reader and himself:
Now, you may say: “Delauter, you’re crazy, maybe it was just an odd coincidence?” Really?
OH MY!! Well, he got the crazy part right. Kirby’s been stepping up his attempts at creative writing lately. We know that imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery, but when one does it so poorly it’s hard to feel good about it.
Kirby sums up said piece with a quote in the spirit of former County Commissioner John “Lennie” Thompson:
Similar to the words of former County Commissioner John ‘Lennie’ Thompson: If Jan wins, you lose.
We can’t help but wonder how Mr. Thompson is going to feel about Kirby using his old campaign slogan, If the Developers Win, You Lose, in this manner. Please let us know, Lennie.
This week’s county council meeting is a continuation of last week’s. So here’s your drinking game plain and simple:
frederick local yokel 