At the Yokel we have a wide network of friends. Despite what the naysayers may say about us, we have fans across the political spectrum. We applaud when our politicians work well with one another in an attempt to make our county a better place to live. It’s those that stubbornly govern (or attempt to govern) from a place of dogged ideology, that makes them seem so angry all of the time, that we focus our ire upon.
So it’s oh so refreshing when we do get to focus on the positive. This story was relayed to us so forgive us if any of the details are off. BOE candidate Lois Jarman asked the Republican Women’s Club of Frederick if she could speak at their monthly meeting. Ahem, we’ve received an update to the story: Lois Jarman was refused the opportunity to speak by a member of the Republican Central Committee. She was, however, invited to speak by a member of the Republican Women’s Club. (Yay, ladies!) Reminder – the BOE race is non-partisan.
We believe these stinky details stand, courtesy of the Central Committee member: She was rebuffed, something about her being a Democrat and a union tool. Well, Mrs. Jarman was not to be put in a corner. She showed up anyway! We hear there was some discussion about still not allowing her to speak, however, those ladies who thought that they should actually hear someone out before dismissing them won the day! Mrs. Jarman was not only allowed to speak, but received positive feedback from some of the ladies in attendance.
Nice try, Republican Central Committee
So for your leadership and unwillingness to be sidelined, we here at the Yokel give Lois Jarman a tip of our hat:
Hell, we will even tip it to those women who not only allowed Lois to speak, but actually listened.
After we had some words of wisdom to drop on our local looney depository the other day, we realized we neglected to specifically address some advice to Frederick County’s most freak flag flyingest BOE candidate (nonpartisan, por supuesto). We sat on it for a bit because every day the cons list we keep runs longer and longer.
*Always. Just who we need on a deliberative body. Someone who guarantees that they will be uncivil and uncooperative. Please excuse the language–it really makes us cringe. We are citing a potty mouth, not using it ourselves. Not that we don’t appreciate a good swear now and then, but we try to respect those who do not share our enthusiasm for such colorful colloquialisms. High Rd., Cindy. Take it. View’s nice from up here.
Although, perhaps after seeing that there is a gallery collection of her nutbaggery plucked from the interwebs, someone wiser than she has told her to zip it up and hope that no one will notice. If only whomever that may be could have intervened for Blaine (who Mrs. Rose adores) before it was too late.
Maybe you like a pot stirrer. Or maybe you heard how important special education is to her. After all, she was able to talk David Vogt into sponsoring a bill to allow special needs parents to opt out of standardized testing. Oh, how did that go?
A few local entities didn’t support the bill. Why, why oh whyyyyy wouldn’t anyone be in favor of something that is supposed to help the children? Check it out. Probably because there are all kinds of special needs. That’s what makes the needs special, after all. Painting with a broad brush is exactly what we shouldn’t do in order to accommodate unique sets of circumstances, so special needs advocacy organizations were kinda, “NUH-UH.”
And let’s not forget her appearance on the Glen Beck show. Here she lamented the fact that children were taught that other countries provided free child care and that child care in the United States was expensive. Also, she was very upset over the fact that children were being taught that they were part of a global community and it was their responsibility to demonstrate when they felt the sting of injustice. Somehow, in Glenbeckistan, these concepts are Un-American? Sure feels like the one who is Un-American is the one who won’t allow any criticism of the United States and wants to ban books. What’s particularly amusing about her appearance is that she is oh so sure that she has the support of the school board to get this book removed. Amusingly enough, that did NOT happen. Maybe because it is a waste of taxpayer money to get a new set of text books every time someone objects to a paragraph, especially when textbooks are hardly the primary way of teaching subject matter in 2016.
Then there’s the April 11th Frederick News Post Board of Education Forum. How can a person running for the BOE believe that salaries are not a concern? Under what rock must one live to think that Frederick County does not have a problem recruiting and retaining teachers due to the low salaries offered here? Just clueless. It’s the starting salaries that are lowest in the state. The ones willing to stomach that aren’t complaining about it as their first on their exit interviews. The ones who were not willing to accept the lowest pay in the state never accepted that job!
On her website there’s a link to a form letter that anyone who wants to opt out of testing is encouraged to use. It comes from a place called the Thomas More center. What’s the Thomas More center? Here’s how they describe themselves:
The Christian values upon which this Nation was founded are under attack. The ACLU and like-minded organizations are using sympathetic courts to destroy the religious and moral foundations of our great nation. Using the metaphor, “a wall of separation between church and state,” which is found nowhere in our Constitution, they attack crosses, Ten Commandment monuments, Nativity displays, Christmas celebrations in public schools, the Pledge of Allegiance, our national motto, “In God We Trust” and prayers at public meetings. The main battleground in this culture war is the courtroom and that is where the Thomas More Law Center is defending the religious freedom of Christians.
And …
Radical Muslims and Islamic organizations in America take advantage of our legal system and are waging a “Stealth Jihad” within our borders. Their aim is to transform America into an Islamic nation. They have already infiltrated the highest levels of our government, the media, our military, both major political parties, public schools, universities, financial institutions and the cultural elite. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, political leaders still claim “Islam is a religion of peace.” Our national leaders refuse to identify Radical Islam as the enemy. Political correctness has paralyzed our government’s ability to deal with these threats. That is why the Thomas More Law Center has been at the forefront of legal battle against this internal threat.
And we would be remiss if we did not mention her current campaign strategy of encouraging people to only vote for her. Out of a slate of 8, of which you can vote for 3, only her. She cannot find one other person on that list that she would like to run with? What does that say about her ability to work with others on the school board? Is this really about the community, or is it just about her? We’ll let you decide the answer to that one.
Hey there Yokels. Lots of regret at Ye Olde Yokel headquarters this week. We wish we had been there adding our snarky voices to the chorus of concerned citizens who focused on a lot of these issues we talk about before they actually became issues. Alas, one must move forward. And forward we go!
This evening the County Council is having a workshop on the repeal of two bills that were passed during the dark days of the last BOCC. Click here for the details:
First up for discussion is the repeal of the Agricultural Rights Transfer Option. Back in November 2014 the BOCC approved this option. In doing so the State of Maryland suspended Frederick’s Tier IV exemption under the State’s 2012 Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act. If you want to read up on it, click the link next to the proposed option on the above agenda.
Secondly, the council will discuss amending the county code. Back in 2012 the BOCC approved certain changes to the code. One of those changes allowed the BOCC, rather than the Frederick County Planning Commission, the right to approve the APFO (Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance) when the developers also submitted a DRRA (Developer Rights and Responsibilities Agreement). In other words, the planning commission could be totally taken out of the equation when it came to making sure adequate facilities exist for a new development. Approval could and did lie totally within the BOCC’s hands. This bill puts the process back in the hands of the planning commission.
Then its off to a closed session do discuss pending legislation (hi Xenu!).
Hey Yokels! It’s finally Maryland’s turn to weigh in on this primary side show. Starting this Thursday you can choose who will run for President, Congressperson, Senator and a slew of local offices. If you don’t align with a particular party, you can still show up to pick three choices for our local school board. We here at the Yokel believe local elections are really important. There’s lots of good choices for the board, except one. Steer away from Cindy Rose. We will have more on her in a separate post soon.
If you are still undecided whom to vote for to run for President, Kirby has some really good advice:
Your friendly neighborhood yokels have been leaving our business cards around town at a few special fun hangouts. If you find one, take a picture of yourself and post it to Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr! #ilovelocalyokel.
Well, we’re off the rails here. Some of our council members threw us for a loop at the April 5th council meeting. For the most part, the theme of the meeting was, “All Aboard!” Most notably, Tony Chmelik was so agreeable (as we discussed in our other post about the weirdness of the meeting) that he just couldn’t wait to vote in favor of things he has been railing against for months. Not just that, though. He actually seemed jovial. Not sure what’s going on with him. To be fair, he has never had Billy and Kirby’s combative style or disrespectful tone, he just gets oddly passionate about stuff that seems very much at odds with his constituency.
Word to the wise.
Which leads us to our further astonishment. Usually the portion of the meeting in which council members make comment leads us into the dark tunnels of their minds. This is especially true when Billy and Kirby have something gnawing at them. Nothing happened! Our brains wrestled around hard with the fact that Billy seemed to have some thoughtful and interesting comments about handling our county’s pressing drug addiction problems, and highlighted first responders’ use of Narcan inhalers. Just recalling it, our jaws begin to hang slack in amazement. Nary a crazy train in sight. If they keep this up, we won’t have anything to say. We, ladies and gentlemen of the county, are not really sure what to hope for! We’ve become kinda fond of our little blogging hobby based on the wacko birds.
We continue to be grateful to Bud Otis. It was no surprise that he was thoughtful and used his position to give voice to the issues members of our community are dealing with. He has proven time and again to be the picture of dignity and positivity. His comments regarding the struggles of servers relying on tips for their income were thoughtful and inspiring. He also spoke eloquently of the needs of FCPS school students who are experiencing homelessness. He highlighted the work of a partnership running the New Horizons program so that these students have constructive activities and a good environment throughout the summer months. There is a gofundme campaign to help meet the financial needs of the program, if you are able to lend a hand.
Life is all about change. Humans, in order to survive and thrive, must be adaptable to change. If not, you end up denying indisputable climate data and supporting a candidate that promises to make everything great again. So we here at the Yokel want to be adaptable. We don’t want to end up stockpiling canned goods and squatting on National Wildlife preserves. We really don’t! That’s why we want to accept all of the changes we saw at the meeting last night no matter how hard that may be.
First we’ll start with someone who could use a bit of change.
AYE Billy AYE!
We’ve done a few posts about Billy’s oppositional defiance disorder.When he can bring himself to vote he never, ever says Aye. Everyone else can do it, but Billy likes to be a trailblazer. Nobody is going to tell him how to talk, no sirree Bob. Until Billy sends us a message explaining why he does this we’re going to refer to him as a:
Next on the agenda is some sewer talk. The two amendments to the code and one out of sequence item concerning sewer hookup to Lewistown were passed with little to no fanfare. Then came the third reading section of the evening.
First off, Jessica tables the bill concerning the changes that can be made to historical designations. Of course Xenu is playing a hand in this. And the FNP articleon it acknowledges as much. We here at the Yokel agree with Mark Long’s public comments concerning the Scientologists turning the land over to the park service. Enough is enough. We don’t want a bizarre cult recruitment center thinly disguised as a very ineffective drug treatment center in our neck of the woods.
The next bill was also tabled. This time it was medical cannabis that landed on the cutting room floor. In a separate FNP article we learn:
Keegan-Ayer said after Tuesday’s County Council meeting she didn’t have four votes among the seven council members to approve the bill. In early March, she told The Frederick News-Post she believed a majority of the council supported the legislation.
She said Tuesday that she was aware of concerns among some council members, but declined to elaborate what they were.
“In my opinion, they were not based on fact,” Keegan-Ayer said of the concerns.
What’s that you say?! Some council members hold opinions that aren’t based on facts? When did this start? Oh that’s right December 1, 2014. Come on people, enough craziness about marijuana. There’s even been research suggesting that we may not have the opioid/heroine addiction problems if Nixon hadn’t made everyone so cuckoo over marijuana and let it be researched as a pain management drug. Let’s all operate in the real world..please!!!
Now we come to the part of the meeting that still has us scratching our watches and winding our butts. Remember a few weeks back when Councilman Chemlik was all so against the impact fees? We recall a longsoliloquy in defense of our poor, downtrodden developers. Fast forward to last night and oh how things have changed. We like the change, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t want an explanation! Tony is now for both of these fees! He was so very excited to vote for them that he screamed Aye into his microphone before the vote had even been taken. We would like to accept his vote and move on, but we can’t. What the hell happened?
Now, now Slim, let’s not assume the council meeting is going to stink!
Hopefully y’all’s livers are nice and rested from last week’s council hiatus. Because, holy moly this week’s agenda is long and controversial. We’re fairly certain Billy will be back, probably basking in the glory of his film award. Maybe he’ll even walk in on a red carpet! Any hoo, grab your agenda, find a comfy chair and prepare to settle in for a good long while. As always, this game is just for fun! Billy and Kirby aren’t worth wrecking your health over!
8, yes 8 budget transfers are on the table! Kirby doesn’t like the Department of Aging and Billy won’t vote on principle. So, when they cause problems on the simplest of items have a sip of your Manhattan Transfer!Perhaps we can transfer them to another jurisdiction?
Blah, blah, Billy will vote against the minutes, the dumbest thing he can do. Now its time for County Executive Appointments. 4 this week! If any controversy occurs over these fine citizens who volunteer their time to help our government just have a Celebration Cocktail in their honor. We’ll ignore the naysayers this time around.
Sewer time!!! Two public hearings on amendments to the sewer plan and a new sewer line for Lewistown. Have to say we love the Out Of Sequence moniker that refers to the Lewistown issue. If anyone is “Out of Sequence” during this discussion mix up a pitcher of Sewer Rat.
Sorry Templeton!
There’s four items on the third reading agenda. Which means these issues could be settled this evening.
Special Exceptions Uses in Connection with Historic Structures AKA keep Trout Run from becoming a reprogramming center. OOH! OOH! We may get to see Gumption the Dragon again! If she’s there have a Green Dragonin her honor.
Medical Cannabis Growers tonight could be your night! If Billy chimes in with any last minute amendments that he didn’t bother to tell anyone about quietly sip back some Liquid Marijuana.
Last chance to cause trouble on the impact fees. First off It’s Revisions to School and Library fees. If (when?) Tony decides to take up the banner of developers and drags this meeting into 2 hour territory mix up a Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea.
Last, but not least, School Construction fees. When Kirby goes on about how Jan didn’t negotiate with builders, but instead blackmailed them (perhaps put a gun to their heads) and he had it all figured out but nobody wants to listen to him go ahead and pour yourself a Mad Hatter.
Now, there’s some legal matter (hmm!) that the council needs to go behind closed doors to sort out. Last time Billy objected, if he does so again swig back Aida’s curse.
Public comment and Council Member comment is unpredictable and we think that’s enough alcohol for one evening.
We’ve been blogging for a whole year now!!!! So go ahead and wish us a Happy Birthday and if you really like us why don’t you suggest some friends go ahead and follow us? Don’t forget we recently joined Instagram and Tumblr too! Show us some birthday love and find us there!
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