Build the wall! No, not that wall!

Folks, this evening our fine county council hearing was infiltrated by a bunch of Carroll Countians trying to tell us what to do! Carroll County!

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M.C. tells the room at the beginning she isn’t taking any nonsense. Three minutes is all y’all get! And don’t think you can come in and put your name above other people on my list! We love it!

These people have come decked out all in red to give us some dire warnings! But mind you they aren’t anti-Frederick County!

Red is apparently  the color of the evening:

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What is this?

 

Here’s some quotes from those in favor of the river plan:

“We had to take valuable time from our family, friends and jobs to protect our property rights!” Ah, no you didn’t.

“You vote against this plan, you will have no plan!”

” I have no dog in this fight, but I am a supporter of the Constitution!”

“Politics is driving this process in Frederick County”

“There is no need for regulations, because the Monocacy River is already getting cleaner!” On its very own we suppose.

“I see a lot of people in red.” (Turns to audience in a ridiculous attempt at theatrics to have the red shirts stand. Then comments.) “The minority is laughing.” No lady, we are all laughing!!!! And just in case you didn’t know, Carroll County: just because you brought more people to the meeting doesn’t mean you are the majority. Our Frederick County Council does not bow down to the likes of you people!

“It will be sad to see a political agenda destroy our plan!”

“Before the election, nobody wanted to support that thing!”

Another Carroll County guy uses his time in the White House situation room as to why we should pass this plan.

“Frederick County is hostile towards the river!”

“Some of you know it’s the right thing to do but won’t vote for it because of your political handlers!”

Something about socialism..blah, blah, blah! What do words mean again?

” I am concerned about the perceived land grab!” Yeah, perceived is all it is!

Is your head about to explode yet? Why do these things always descend into a Parks and Rec public comment parody? And why are people who have things like this happen in their county:

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How dare they slither across our border and illeaglely insert themselves into our local democratic process?

Trying to tell us what to do?!

There were heroes in blue as well:

“I’ve heard people say things like: My property rights are more important than the river.”

“The Monocacy contains dangerously high levels of nitrates and phosphorous!” Not to mention the fecal matter!

“We need a Frederick County science based plan!”

“The plan is a travesty! I was horrified at the bullying and sarcasm displayed by the Carroll County members of the river board to anyone who didn’t share their beliefs!”

“This really short changes Frederick County. Carroll County does not use the Monocacy as a drinking source like we do.” Also gives examples of the rude behavior of the Carroll County members of the board.

“The reason we have a Monocacy River Board is to protect the Monocacy River.”

“Property ownership doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want with your property.”

“The health of the Monocacy River should be a property right.”

Why does it seem like all the scientists testifying are against this plan? Hmmm.

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This Carroll County farce of a plan cannot be passed! Maybe we should have a hearing to build a wall to keep these people out of our public hearings!  Unless, of course, they are willing to take the #monocacydrinkingchallenge!

 

 

River board row

The bottomless well of drama with regards to the Monocacy River Board brings up some particular issues we have with the inconsistently applied logic surrounding this. (e.g. Border Wall: GREAT!!! Monocacy River Health: LAND GRAB!!!)

We recently hosted a bit of a brouhaha on our wall when we got persnickety about Sheriff Non-Expert spending more time mugging for the Fox News cameras about border issues he is ill acquainted with, in spite of his famous field trip, than dealing with the likes of human trafficking and opioids (the third pillar of #BeBEST, y’all! get with the program, already). It’s a bug up our toots that the same Wall Enthusiast Clan has labeled efforts to preserve the river as a land grab when it is not, yet taking ranchers in Texas’ access to the waterway their cattle use actually would be a land grab that would destroy their livelihoods.  heavy sighhhhhhhhh 

Here is a sample: OH NOES…the example we were set to provide was from a Local Wall Enthusiast who apparently deleted his dumb argument when confronted with how ill informed he is about stuff that happens way far away. Yippee? This is a great opportunity to note that the same fool was back and forth and up and down with some ladies disputing him in the comments, but as soon as a man told him he didn’t know what he was talking about, he tucked tail and ran, deleting the evidence of his misguided assumptions. Protip: mansplanations are not better than information.

And on the subject of information, we know Billy Shreve has a history of being loosely acquainted with science. Holy moly, that old historical reference is a doozy. We were having a Local Yokel STEM night and discussing a science article about how the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park has changed the river health there because now the deer stay out of the deathtraps that river valleys create for them and their population is better controlled by natural predation, so the vegetation on the river has helped to create a barrier against erosion. Apparently Yellowstone is trying to be Yellowstone and let the Grand Canyon keep doing its thing. Billy will be sad. The fact that we had all individually read or seen something about this brought us to our next point. Being ignorant is a choice, whether you are talking about eminent domain or erosion.

Information.

Anywhooooo. M.C. Keegan-Ayer goes above and beyond in the name of transparency and service to the citizens who have vested interests and legitimate concerns, and who’s against that? All of the Republicans on the Council. Isn’t that a great irony? Well, actually…not so much anymore, sadly. More like par for the course. Philosophy has nothing to do with their decision making. Tribalism is the whole picture. No wonder Bud Otis disassociated from the party and has gone rogue independent maverick-like.

If you will click through the link above about M.C. Keegan-Ayer’s resolution in the Frederick News Post, we would like to make a special mention shoutout to the astute engaged citizenry commenting on the article there. We thought “petulantly lazy” as a description of Billy Shreve perfectly addressed his conduct both yesterday and since forever. We would also like to boost one comment in particular–that of Matt Seubert, who is the current president of RALE.

Well done, sir! Although we would be remiss if we didn’t say that although none of the present day coterie of LocalYokels lives in D2, we also think Lisa Jarosinski is pretty cool. She has been actively involved with RALE as well. Bipartisan chill, between her and Steve McKay. D2 could be a win-win race, if Republicans do it right in the primary.

Let’s stop voting for people who don’t care about anything but causing problems and creating scenes. It will make our hobby very boring, which would be better for everyone in Frederick County. In fact, if we could do that, the whole country would be better off.

 

Hey, did ya hear the news? Clean water is NOT a right!

If you are in tuned to local issues, it’s very likely you’ve heard about the recommendations of the Monocacy Scenic River Advisory Citizen’s Board. If you are interested (and who isn’t interested in clean water am I right?) please peruse the report available  on the Frederick County website.

Since the river does not belong to any one person, and there is lots of science on the effects of riparian buffers on waterways, it is in our collective interest to protect this valuable resource. Clean water is a RIGHT. That’s right a RIGHT. For without it we cannot live. Perhaps you know that the human body is around 65% full of it! Wait..what’s that Council member #?”

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Kirby would you read the damn report!!!! The whole thing!  Not just that report but also the Lake Linganore Source Water Protection Plan! The river belongs to all of us and we need to discuss how to protect it! Farmers, citizens, government officials, and scientists (yes scientists!) need to come together and rationally discuss how to best do that. And guess what? Not everyone is going to get their way! Some sacrifices, in the way of planting trees around the river, are going to have to be made.

According to numerous reports, we are in danger of having either a scarcity of  clean water OR water that is too expensive for many to afford. IN THIS COUNTRY. Read about the scarcity report here and the report about how 1/3 of Americans will not be able to afford clean water soon here. Due to global climate change, hydraulic fracking, and lack of investment in water infrastructure we are on the cusp of having a major problem in this country. We need to protect our waterways. You don’t have the RIGHT to pollute a communal water way because you own the property next to it.

If property rights are so important,even more than the right to that life sustaining combonation of hydrogen and oxygen, then can Kirby please explain his support for a wall along the border? You know the one that Texans aren’t so keen on because of all the land that will have to be grabbed up ? Oh, wait, that’s different right? #alternative facts