WFMD – frederick local yokel

One does not remove thyself from public life by continuing to call into the radio!

September 16, 2016 fclocalyokel2 Comments

Despite his promises that he was going to remove himself from the public view, Blaine can’t seem to stay away from those WFMD airwaves.(Which is funny because we heard that DC 101 was super anxious to talk to him last week.) Whether it’s calling Bob Miller up to admit he lied to the judge, or appearing on Pattee Brown’s weekend show to recite a laundry list of excuses, he just can’t seem to help himself.

“What is it now?”, we can hear you groan! Apparently he called in again yesterday to bash Jan’s decision to bring Montevue and Citizens back into county control. False equivalency is up first on the menu:

“The fact is this government shouldn’t be in the health care business. I think that we’re learning that at the national level with people wanting to overturn Obama Care,” Young said.

He’s got to find a way to bring Obama into this doesn’t he? Well, he might be right to a degree. A recent Gallup poll found that almost 60% of people favor getting rid of the ACA in favor of a single payer system. That’s right, people want MORE government regulation of their healthcare.

Here’s the part that really gets us though. You would think if one really wanted to argue how bad a deal being in the healthcare business is for the county one would be a tad more articulate than this:

“We have lost tens of millions of dollars, as high as maybe sixty or eighty million dollars, maybe one hundred million,”

And this part just doesn’t make any sense at all:

“And obviously Aurora must be good at patient care because they’re going to be taking care of the patients now up to the next 18 months. Which my prediction is that they will be in there longer than that. This is just a ploy to kind of say that I’m taking it back and that someone else is going to run it because all we ever heard about was how bad Aurora was,” Young said.

Mostly we heard what a bad financial deal this was for the county. Coupled with the fact that our indigent residents would no longer be guaranteed the care they so deserve. But how is it a ploy? That sentence makes zero sense.

Why does WFMD keep giving him an outlet in which to express himself?

Blaine’s gonna invade the airwaves!

August 26, 2016 fclocalyokel1 Comment

We have it on good authority that Blaine will be on WFMD tomorrow from 11-12 p.m. Wasn’t his sobbing, potentially perjury ridden performance on the Bob Miller show this week enough?What could he possibly say for one hour that any of us would want to hear? It’s really starting to sound as though those rumors about him running for the District 5 council seat are true. Why else would he be torturing us with so many public appearances? If you have something you would really like to say to Mr. Young, please call the studio at 301-694-WFMD (9363).

We really, really don’t want to listen. But for you, our dear readers, we’ll try our best.

Billy Blue Light Special

October 13, 2015October 14, 2015 fclocalyokel3 Comments

The FDR of Frederick County, Billy Shreve (hahahahahaha, poor FDR, rolling in his grave…) was having a regular Fireside Chat on WFMD again this morning. At first we thought we might not listen and just make up what he said, since it was likely to be so predictable. And, yes, we could have nailed it to the wall without the 20 minutes wasted. Jan’s a dictator without a plan who lost money and yaddayaddayadda. We’ve already been through all those counterpoints.

Those newspapers of the nation which most loudly cried dictatorship against me would have been the first to justify the beginnings of dictatorship by somebody else.--Franklin D. Roosevelt — Those newspapers of the nation which most loudly cried dictatorship against me would have been the first to justify the beginnings of dictatorship by somebody else.–Franklin D. Roosevelt (Did FDR read The Tentacle?!)

The true surprise is that Bob Miller pushes back about Jan’s dictatorship. He also calls copious attention to the fact that the people who wanted a charter government were insistent upon a County Executive who had the power to make decisions and act on them, and that “those people” got what they wanted. Wonder which people Mr. Miller is referring to…Does anyone recall Billy expressing any concern about how easily a C.E. might become a “dictator” before it was Jan Gardner’s job?

There was a clip with Jan Gardner from MidMaryland Live saying that she couldn’t understand how a fiscal conservative would have supported the deal made by the BOCC that got us into all this mess, and it’s a question many, many other people wonder about as well, but Bob went to a commercial break and we then came back to some surrealist nonsense about how if you take your car to the government to fix instead of Jiffy Lube then you have to live at the government’s auto repair shop now. This may be a slight paraphrasing, but it did not make a lot more sense. And remember we talked about this back in April.

To make bad worse, Kirby called in from the netherworld and said the worst thing about private enterprise is that you have to go to work every dang day, and insinuated that other people don’t, as though you can’t be fired for doing a bad job if you work at a county run nursing home. He also fails miserably at making the point he wants to make, since if you go out of business as a private facility, you cease to exist. In the case of indigent elderly patients that would necessarily be a worse outcome than the county accepting a loss during that fiscal year.

Numerous people on numerous issues need to recognize that doing the cheapest thing is not always the best (even if and when the premise of said argument isn’t necessarily cheaper anyway). I don’t shop at Kmart. I don’t want anyone receiving Kmart quality healthcare, and I don’t want any kids in this county at Kmart quality schools. As a private business, in the immortal words of Dustin Hoffman, “Kmart sucks.” They aren’t even particularly successful at selling low quality junk. Let’s stop trying to make everything Kmart.

Also, BS looked into his BS crystal ball and decided that in 2 years the whole thing will be run into the ground and losing money. We may need a hashtag to keep updated on the doomsday scenario. #brokein2years ? Open to suggestions, locals!

The water vapors are weighing the council down

June 16, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

I do declare the humidity must be affecting some members of our esteemed county council. Tis the time of year when it is common to fall out from the stickiness that surrounds us like mud on a hog. Mr. Shreve in particular was a tad testier than usual. Makes us want to pull him under the shade of an old Magnolia that our great grand pappy planted back in 1907 and give him a good talking to. Alas, what difference would it really make?

Our first point of bewilderment with Mr. Shreve is this:

Why every week, before the pledge, does he do this? And notice he’s the only one. Does he not want to face the public? Does he worship at the altar of the American flag? What in a donkey’s backside is the meaning of this?

Now particular to this week, Billy goes right in for the no when voting on whether or not to approve the consent agenda. On the consent agenda this week were various budget transfers for departments such as: The Child Advocacy Center, Agricultural Preservation, Housing and Community Services, Planning and Development, Fire and Rescue and Community Development. His particular beef, from what we could tell since we cannot fathom getting in that head of his, was he was really bitter about the council not approving Trout Run and still not getting his budget liaison. Logic of course dictates that he then mess with everyone else’s budget. Thankfully, Billy has no one else on board with his interesting style of governance and all budget transfers were passed 6-1.

Moving on to the approval of minutes for the last three meetings. A unanimous vote! Still Billy cannot bring himself to say Aye. Must be that oppositional disorder rearing its ugly head again. A note to be made about Kirby. He did not seem to want to turn on his microphone this evening. We later discover it’s working just fine. But through all the votes we can barely hear his little “aye”. What’s up with that?

On to everyone’s favorite commission: Ethics. A motion is put forth to appoint four new members. Of course Billy isn’t going to let this go without making some kind of declaration. “It’s sad that 3 of the 5 members of the ethics commission resigned and we are in this position.” Really, really sad.

6-1 approved! Even Kirby. Billy seems to be losing all his playmates. On to Jessica and M.C.’s bill to repeal the English only ordinance. We heard some nonsense earlier in the week about Billy going on WFMD and saying this:

“You either have to stay all English or not all English. And as soon as you open up yourself, you have to provide absolutely everything. If you have someone from the jungle of Brazil from some tribe of 20 people, and they come in and want a document translated, you have to be able to translate it for them.”

With great poise Councilwoman Fitzwater introduced the bill and we know, just know he’s going to say something and of course he does! He insisted that we don’t have to throw out old Blainey boy’s ordinance, we can just modify it. Jessica then snaps at him (Oh the humidity, but how can we blame her? I mean really.). If you have something in writing, she quipped, you can share it with me. Right now all we are doing is reading the bill. Properly chastised he shuts the microphone down.

The next order of business is something we have wanted to see happen for quite sometime. We here at the Local Yokel love our festivals. The 4th of July, In the Streets, special events at Rose Hill Manor count us in! What we do not love is seeing the mountains of trash that are full of recyclables. Our fair State passed a law requiring that all counties pass ordinances that require event organizers, within certain parameters, to provide recycling. Yay!!! Now keep in mind THIS HAS TO HAPPEN! It is a State law and Frederick County must comply. The Department of Solid Waste Management presented a lot of information to the council. And they underlined the fact that THIS HAS TO HAPPEN. Well, looky over to the left, who is going to make this difficult? That’s right Billy. He tries to make the poor solid waste people give him an estimate as to how much recyclables would be generated at a picnic or a soccer tournament. And these poor souls. Silence falls and then a response of, “There is really no way we can estimate that.” He then wants to know what private companies charge to haul this stuff away. They don’t know. His point, I suppose, is that he thinks this will put an unfair burden on people. But hey, this isn’t for little outings. It’s for events that are expecting over 200 people and take place on public property. Why can’t this man see the big picture on this or anything else for that matter? Thankfully passed 6-1.

Next oddity on the agenda. Kirby wants a lobbyist. What for? To send to Annapolis, because according to him we are missing out on millions of dollars that are either sitting in some secret bunker or being distributed to other counties. Bud rightfully asks if this is not the job of our elected delegates and state senators. Aren’t they not the ones elected to bring back money to the county? And if Kirby’s contention, for which he has no proof, is correct, then we have a problem. It was agreed that they would meet with the delegation to see if they were in fact missing out on this secret stash of cash.

It was within this conversation that our good buddy Bud almost gave us a fainting spell. He called Kirby Congressman Delauter! And oh my stars do not even joke about such a thing Bud! He quickly and quite loudly added: “Sorry about that”! Wouldn’t we all be sorry indeed?

Hey folks our county is in The Washington Post! Oh wait, it’s about Kirby. :(

May 29, 2015May 29, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Who is responsible for Frederick County government's latest spiral of shame? — Who is responsible for Frederick County government’s latest spiral of shame?

We have to wonder if Kirby and Billy set up a schedule of which one of them is going to embarrass the county each week. On Sunday afternoons do they sit down with their Champibbles and Fireball shots and decide whose turn it is? Can you picture it? We certainly can:

Kirby:” Well, Buddy you did go on the radio and claim that everyone in the county calls you when their loved ones have a drug problem.”

Billy: “True enough, but let’s not forget you submitted an unbalanced budget to the dictator in hopes that she would consider it.”

Kirby: “Yeah, that was a doozy, but you’ve refused to vote on budget issues or follow Robert’s Rules of Orders.”

Billy: “True that! But I can’t think of anything new to do this week, so can you help a brother out?”

Kirby: “10-4. I’ll think of something good. Why do you think Bud and Tony don’t attend our little get togethers”?

So Kirby it was. And we all know the story of the ethics decision, the WFMD interview and of course the contentious council meetings. But guess what?! Now everyone else does as well! This morning The Washington Post ran a little story about our most esteemed council man’s latest behavior. A paper with a circulation of over 400,000 and a website with over 50 million readers. GREAT!

He refused to be interviewed for said piece but we did get this nice little quote.

“I haven’t bid county work in four years, but I think I should have that option like everyone else,” Delauter said.

And now we are going to have to read this book:

How can we keep doing this week after week? Are Kirby and Billy ever going to get it together? Kirby brought us all a little bit of infamy back in January with his “suing the newspaper for using my name antics” and we really hoped he learned to tone it down. But no, now he’s a celebrity and not in a good way. Therefore, everything he does is going to be considered newsworthy. So until he’s finally taken his leave of the council we suspect we are going to have many more national embarrassments to endure. So Salut Billy and Kirby, this one’s for you!

Tip of our hat

May 23, 2015May 23, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

This week we have seen an explosion of immaturity from Councilmen Delauter and Shreve. If it had not been for the wise, mature and thoughtful words of our new BFF, Bud Otis, we may have had Delauter’s excavation company dig us a hole where we could drink our fireballs in peace. Bud’s response to the wretched, vitriolic mess that came out of #’s mouth deserves repeating:

“As President of the Frederick County Council, I have continually voiced my support for the highest ethical standards possible for elected officials. We serve the citizens of Frederick County and they deserve officials who are honest, avoid the appearance of impropriety and are open in their activities on behalf of the citizens. My perspective is in line with the overwhelming majority of citizens who want honest government processes and leadership. My perspective has not changed from when I served as Chair of the Ethics Commission.

“As a family man of honor with a long-standing record of ethical service to our citizens, I cannot stand by and allow fellow Council Member Kirby Delauter to make rude and offensive comments about me and other officials during a public broadcast. His recent behavior is reprehensible and warrants a public apology. This is especially important in light of Mr. Delauter’s vote in support of the recently approved Code of Civility.

“Regarding the recently issued Ethics Commission advisory opinion, I would like to clarify that the commission issues opinions based on its interpretation of the Ethics Ordinance. The commission does not create the rules, but it interprets rules that others adopt. County Executive Jan Gardner’s Executive Order, which I fully support, specifically addresses the procurement process and brings fairness and clarity to the citizens and those who wish to do business with Frederick County Government. As the executive and council continue to build our foundation for the future of Charter Government, we are determined to level the playing field for all those interested in bidding on projects with Frederick County Government.

“As I have said before, I believe the Ethics Advisory Opinion is wrong in its position that an elected county council member’s private business can bid on and perform work on county capital improvement projects and contracts. I believe that our citizens agree with me that there is an inherent conflict of interest or appearance of favoritism with an elected official bidding and performing work on county government projects.

“Disparaging others publicly in an emotional rush of words is not appropriate or reflective of a public servant who seeks to have the respect of his constituents. I welcome any citizens to contact me and share their opinions on my positions.”

Wow, wow,wow! Mr. Otis you get our very first tip of our hat:

For you sir are a class act. And if your party isn’t happy with you remember there’s always plenty of room on the other side.

Kirby blows a gasket…and now Cupid is dead.

May 21, 2015May 26, 2015 fclocalyokelLeave a comment

Not only is the honeymoon over but I think this council (looking right at you Kirby!) killed Cupid tonight.

Let us begin with Kirby’s disgusting call into Tim May’s show on WFMD. Why do we call it disgusting? Because Kirby said that Bud had his head up the County Executive’s skirt. Yes folks, you heard us correctly, her skirt. Now somehow we don’t think this same statement would be made if the County Executive were male, which leaves us here at Local Yokel even more angry than we already were. But, deep breath, we shall continue. There was some more banter in which Mr. May insinuated that Bud did not have proper man parts, followed by Kirby stating that Bud better, “tread lightly around me”. So you can all see how very mature this whole interaction was. And how this set the tone for the upcoming meeting.

So the meeting. On any other place on Earth this would probably be a pretty boring thing to observe. After all, it’s a meeting to vote on the budget and property rate. That’s all. But no, no,no #KirbyDelauter has a bone to pick and he’s going to make it all about him.

The meeting begins with two barely coherent Kirby supporters (seriously readers we need to step it up and start having our own speakers because this is too much), who claim that Kirby is being hunted down and persecuted. Because this is exactly like that but let’s move on.

So Kirby claims that he is a live and let live kind of guy (cough, cough, gag. )But since the President of the Board called me a criminal and put my business on the spot (never happened,) I am going to do the only logical thing and go after Jerry and Jessica. Because FCPS is a business and they are voting on their business just like Kirby! It’s exactly the same thing, exactly! He then goes on to say that if the teachers voting on the budget isn’t a conflict of interest nothing is. NOTHING. And since they were endorsed by the union that proves they are corrupt. (I really hope he didn’t hurt himself coming up with all of this). So Jerry (our hero) once again schools him. I know, as a teacher, Mr. Donald is used to repeating himself to a bunch of high schoolers. Too bad he has to keep doing it with adults. But since we’ve previously written about what he said, we won’t repeat. Billy amusingly chimes in about his love of history. Sorry Billy we cannot write history buff next to your name. He basically makes Jan’s, Bud’s and everyone else’s point for them. He tells us that Kirby is losing millions of dollars by not getting county contracts. A Billy says what?

Then Kirby goes after our friend Bud, which we will not tolerate.

Tread lightly Kirby! We don't take too kindly to your messing with Bud. — Tread lightly Kirby! We don’t take too kindly to your messing with Bud.

Kirby accuses Bud of tossing him under the bus and creating a circus. “You are trying to put me out of business!” “I am not going to take this lying down!” And we are about to blow a freaking gasket because we all know that Kirby does not need to be a council member! Why is he a council member? Seriously, District 5, why?! And Kirby, you want the contracts there’s a simple solution…resign.

We are very proud to announce that our friend Bud can defend himself very nicely.

He tells Kirby that he stands by his opinion that he believes there is a conflict of interest. And that the question of whether or not the teachers can vote was solved by the voters when they elected them! Excellent point our friend. We are really tired of Bud being called a turncoat, but we’ve said a lot about that already. So read our past posts on this and stop it! Now! And #, if your business is so dependent on county business and food is literally being snatched from your children’s mouths then do everyone a favor and relinquish your seat.

Billy Shreve…Take Three!

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

For a few days it had been quiet, almost too quiet in the land of Billy Shreve. But as a mother of young children surely knows, when it’s quiet there’s trouble a brewin’.

So this quiet time was spent “updating the facts”. Good Poseidon of the Sea that can’t be good can it?!

Stop going on the radio Billy! Just stop it!

No it was not. And oh how we apologize to Bob Miller for our critique of his morning show. Because we did not know (and wished we still did not) of the horror that awaited us on the afternoon program with Tim May. So many apologies Bob. As an example of the extreme sacrifice we go through for you let us tell you a story. A nice caller pointed out that laws and contracts get changed all the time. When people’s opinion of a matter change or a new administration comes in it isn’t unusual for changes to be made. Well this poor nice caller did not realize that he committed the high crime of blasphemy with what seemed to us perfectly rational arguments. But, thankfully Private Eye/Man of the Cloth Tim May was there to point it out. Because dear caller you know what law can never been changed? THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!!! BAM! Take that you ignorant fool, argument over.

So to continue, we come in at the 3rd hour, because as much as we love you dear readers, there is only so much in terms of our sanity that we are willing to sacrifice. At the beginning of this hour we are welcomed by the very persistant voice of our friend Mary. Mary, leader of the “How could you Bud Otis?” brigade had some very reasonable remarks about Jan. It’s too much b.s. for us to wade through on a Friday. But she did leave us with some good sound bites. Jan’s governance so far has been “hypocrisy in action” and damnit “Facts Matter”! Well thankfully that was over quickly and on comes Billy.

Now, from the looks of his Facebook status it seemed as though we were going to get some new information. But looks are often deceiving. Because all we heard was the same old, same old that we heard on the last two radio appearances. (See #1 and #2 here) He was asked why the CEO calls him instead of Jan. The best answer Billy can give is that Jan won’t reach out to him. Why she should have to do this is beyond us. But he then goes on to say that he and Kirby were in on the deal from the beginning so he feels more comfortable calling them. Which one is it?

We pointed out in an earlier post that the way the Continuing Care agreement was crafted it was very easy for Aurora to get out of treating future indigent patients. Billy as much admitted to this, saying that the county would have to pay the full rate. While he did not specify exact dollars we can only assume the full rate is a shitload of money. Billy did leave us with a couple of thoughts on the subject of Aurora. First of all, he didn’t start all this hoopla because CEO Snow called him (a departure from his earlier statements) it’s because the poor residents have been calling him personally worried about their future. Man, to be Billy’s phone. How does it not ring all day and all night? But the piece de resistance that Billy had to say about the nursing home is this: Aurora is like Disney World and the county’s is like a prison. That’s right folks, it’s all sunshine and cotton candy up in Aurora’s house. But the county run home, you might as well be in Alcatraz.

Then we get to talks of the budget and oh how cute, nobody can remember Bud Otis’ name. These guys are hilarious. Billy starts off by saying that the budget process was the worst process he had ever been involved in. The worst! He wants more positions and he’s still whining about not getting his meeting with the budget officer. But it’s just the same old same old we’ve heard from the past few weeks. We had some glimmer of hope we would hear something new. Right before the last break Billy was warned that he was going to be asked why he can’t be civil. But of course, they never came back to this point. Because Blaine called in and repeated the same exact lines he said on last week’s Bob Miller’s show.

So there you have it folks. Same old same old. The only updated facts was that Billy only acts in the interest of the old, poor patients of Aurora. Not CEO Snow, whom apparently has Billy’s direct line. Why he keeps torturing us with these radio appearances we cannot guess. But we’ll be here to listen so you don’t have to.

This week in radio appearances…

May 7, 2015 fclocalyokel1 Comment

First we must start with a complaint! We have had to listen to WFMD three times this week! We were subjected to propaganda such as: ” Fox News, we report you decide” and some odd PSA about how you are the worst parent in the world if you allow your graduating senior to go to beach week. We want you to know what we go through for you, our gentle readers.

Let us begin with yesterday’s phone in appearance by Blaine Young on the Bob Miller show. Martyr Blaine is very, very upset about some things. First of all, he begins with, “Every deal that has my name on it is a bad deal for the citizens of Frederick County.” Well, duh. And then after repeating this platitude goes on to say, “Plain and simple, in this day and age the last thing the county needs to be in is the nursing home business.” He then repeats this for all you idiots who didn’t understand him the first time. Bob Miller, helpfully points out that technically we are still in the nursing home business if we are paying for the 58 indigent residents that were there at the time of this deal. To which Blaine said that it’s only for a little while and the government doesn’t know what it’s doing and it’s a horrible center and money, money, money. But here’s the kicker. Jan you need to get over Blaine! Stop texting, calling and blaming everything on him! He’s moved on gosh darn it! Why can’t you let him be!? We must give a shout out to Bob Miller. At the end of the interview Blaine told Bob that he is soliciting funds for his new Presidential Library. Bob responds, ” What’s it going to have in it? Two comic books? I didn’t even know you could read!” We were shocked as well. And it’s really funny to make fun of people who actually like to read. Hilarious!

So, last night we were helpfully alerted to the fact that Billy was going to make yet another appearance on Bob’s morning show. First, it’s at 7:20, then no it’s 8:20 but he didn’t actually make it on until 8:36. So there’s 16 minutes of our life lost forever! All kidding aside we do appreciate some of the push back that Bob has given Billy over this whole Aurora scandal. He once again asked Billy why he never contacted Jan directly. Billy says he didn’t need to, he contacted the lawyers. Bob points out that she may have been able to explain to him her reasoning for withholding the next payment to which Billy replied, ” I don’t think if she explained it the results would be any different. The process is the process.” We feel the same way. There are no words that Jan could have used that would have gotten through to him. NONE. So it was much of the same re-hashing of his appearance earlier in the week. But at the end Billy tells us the real reason he came on the radio. He claims the residents were calling Aurora concerned they were going to be kicked out. Even though both Aurora and Jan have publicly announced this would not be the case. He doesn’t care about Aurora, no siree Bob, only our poor residents.

Well, well, well, that is certainly news to us. But we have a very specific question. Billy and Blaine both claim that the poor residents of Frederick County will still be allowed to use the nursing home, with county funds, if need be. However, this clause in the Continued Care agreement :

IV. FUTURE INDIGENT CARE. In addition to Aurora’s continuing care obligation for the subsidized MALF residents required, above, after leasing CCRC’s Facility Business Assets and Real Property as defined in the Asset Purchase Agreement Aurora shall accept new assisted living residents requiring financial assistance, to the extent MALF beds are available, provided County agrees to pay, and continue to pay, Aurora’s full private pay amount in place at the time of each admission. The County’s commitment to fund these additional MALF residents must be reflected in a separate written agreement between Aurora and the County shall not be required or inferred by any provision of this Agreement.

leaves us with this question: If Aurora fills up all the beds, can they turn the indigent away? No where in this clause, or in the agreement itself, is there any requirement that a certain number of beds be set aside for this purpose. So it seems as though the county has left a nice loophole for Aurora to get out of providing care if they should happen to fill all their beds up. If that is the case, I believe we will have to side with Jan that it’s a bad deal for Frederick County.

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