New Forum Changed to "Board" Format.

Okay, I figured out how to change the new forum to the more familiar board format, like it was on the now moribund "Topix." Take another look (upper right hand corner of the page) and tell me how you like it now. By the way, when the forum first comes up, you will see a "Post" button at the bottom edge. Use that only if you want to start a new thread. If you want to reply to an existing thread, click on that thread in the left hand column. You will then see a reply button on the bottom edge as well. By the way, when the reply screen pops up, all of that info it requests is optional, except for a name (i.e., "Mr. Tact," or, your real name, if you prefer) and your message. Oh, yeah. Right below the subject line, you will see some "message icons." "Hi" will always be the default icon, unless you choose another. You can stick any number of smilies anywhere in your message. By the way, when you want to start a new thread, the screen will look the same as the "reply" screen, only the subject line will be blank.

Cisco / RICO update.

A reliable source tells me that bright and early tomorrow (3/31), there will be one, huge FUBAR fur ball of competing attorneys in the same courtroom. There are currently some $10,000,000 in seized assets in play. One set of attorneys are the class action entrepreneurs wanting to gain access to the funds. Then there are the attorneys representing the various defendants wanting access to their frozen assets. Then there are other attorneys representing those charged under RICO, trying to get those charges out from under RICO. Then there is another group of attorneys representing the Cisco clan and sundry in-laws. It will be one hugely complicated mess. Good luck to the journalists covering this one! Let's hope that BTW's name surfaces again and again.

New Forum: "Camden's Soapbox."

Okay, folks, you asked for it: here it is (top right.) This thing does record IP numbers. It's laid-out a little different from Topix and you can damned welll rest assured that it will be run a whole helluva-lot differently than Topix. Primary rule: Show your ass once and I will delete that post and ban your IP number. Libelous posts will be deleted and poster warned once, then banned. I suggest we all Google "libel & slander" law before we go off half-cocked. Mild expletives not a problem, but juvenile bathroom humor and infantile sex talk will not be tolerated. Racist diatribe will not be tolerated. Rejoicing in another human being's physical disability (be it mine or anyone else's) or wishing - or even tangentially threatening- harm to another human being willl not be tolerated. Nor will anything else that pisses me off be tolerated. I think that covers it. Enjoy.

Sunday Funnies, Vol. 5.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN GUILTY OF LOOKING AT OTHERS YOUR OWN AGE AND THINKING, SURELY I CAN'T LOOK THAT OLD? WELL.. YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE. MY NAME IS ALICE SMITH AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST. I NOTICED HIS DDS DIPLOMA, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME. SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK-HAIRED BOY WITH THE SAME NAME HAD BEEN IN MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS SOME 30-ODD YEARS AGO. COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN? UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER, I QUICKLY DISCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT. THIS BALDING, GREY-HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS WAY TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE. AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD ATTENDED MORGAN PARK HIGH SCHOOL 'YES. YES, I DID. I'M A MUSTANG,' HE GLEAMED WITH PRIDE. 'WHEN DID YOU GRADUATE?' I ASKED. HE ANSWERED , 'IN 1975. WHY DO YOU ASK?' 'YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!', I EXCLAIMED. HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY. THEN, THAT UGLY, OLD, BALD, WRINKLED, FAT ASS, GREY-HAIRED, DECREPIT SON-OF-A-BITCH ASKED: 'WHAT DID YOU TEACH ???

Scofflaw Willie uses CCSO website to announce candidacy and to campaign!

Thanks to the reader who alerted me to this. http://www.camdensheriff.org/press_release/details.cfm?id=123 You might as well read Big Thug Willie's self-serving "message," while you're at it. http://www.camdensheriff.org/sheriffs_office/sheriffs_message.cfm Let me guess: Simper Fido took vacation time to write these things, therefor he was not engaged in political activity on the public payroll. Right - and Chuckie Sears is a "simple file clerk." Now, 24 hours later, comes this.... http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/032708/geo_262062694.shtml So, now we know that both BTW and Tommy Gregory will be running as Republicans in the July primary. Gamble, running as an independent, is guaranteed to still be in it in November. Folks, the time to knock Smith out once and forever is in the July primary. Even if you plan on voting for Gamble in November, for gosh sakes, go to the polls help us drive the stake through BTW's heart in July and be done with him. If Smith is gone in July, I see it as a win/win proposition for the county in November.

And speaking of polls....

The current polls on how readers of this blog would vote if the vote for sheriff were held tomorrow closed earlier today. Granted, the sample space is miniscule and my audience is skewed anti-Smith, bu the apparent appeal of Rich Gamble to this small group is interesting. Given that 74% of voting viewers of this blog most closely associated themselves with "damned outsiders" in a prior poll (results still up), perhaps Gamble's being perceived as the only damned outsider candidate gives him a real advantage, at least with this small audience. Note that in the top poll, where the only two candidates on the ballot are Gamble and Gregory, the race remains very competitive, especially this far out.

Snapshot of site stats.

As of today, at noon, the average number of different individuals ("unique views") coming to this blog every day was 55. Of those 55, 26 are first time viewers daily. The blog is viewed an average of 146 times per day by those 55 folks. You can find all the data by clicking the stats bar just below the hits counter on the right hand border. A larger readership would give larger sample spaces for polls and engender more publishable comments. If you feel so inclined as to tell a friend or two about the blog - by e-mailing the link, for instance - I would appreciate it.

Moreland, Altobelli "no bid" contract explained.

When this first came up the other day, I e-mailed Commisioner Berry asking for the real poop on this bone of contention. He immediately e-mailed me back telling me that he was turning the explanation of the matter over to the county administrator, Mr. Howard. Just this morning, I got the following explanatory letter from Mr. Howard. The original, sent as an attachment, was on a county letterhead template. Techno dinosaur that I am, I could not get the template portion of the letter head to copy, but here is the text of the letter. Thanks to both Commissioner Berry and Mr. Howard. As you will see, things are not exactly ( or even remotely) like the way they were first portrayed by critics. E- mail: Mr. Moreno, In response to the complaints you have received on your blog, attached please find a letter concerning the Kingsland Bypass project. Please feel free to contact me should you have any further questions regarding this matter. Thanks, Steve L. Howard Attachment: March 24, 2008 Dear Jay Moreno: In response to complaints you have received on your blog, I would like to provide you with a brief history concerning this subject. On June 21, 2005, the Board of County Commissioners and the Cities of St. Marys and Kingland approved a Joint Resolution to participate in preliminary engineering for the widening of Colerain Road (Phase I). On December 1, 2006, the Board of County Commissioners entered into an agreement for the assignment of existing contracts between the Camden County Joint Development Authority (CCJDA) and Moreland, Altobelli & Associates, Inc. (MAAI) that included the Kingsland Bypass project, as well as other projects. Within the context of the agreement, the Camden County Joint Development Authority’s desire was to assign the County its rights and obligations under the following: - Agreement No. 1: On August 20, 2001, CCJDA entered into an Agreement for Consultant Services with MAAI for the performance of certain services related to the Horse Stamp Church Road Interchange Project at I-95. - Work Authorization No. 1: On November 30, 2005, CCJDA issued MAAI a Work Authorization for additional services on the Horse Stamp Church Road Interchange Project to complete preconstruction activities and to obtain a Nationwide COE 404 permit for compensation. (Ongoing) - Work Authorization No. 2: On November 9, 2005, CCJDA issued MAAI a Work Authorization for the performance of certain services related to preconstruction activities and right-of-way acquisition for Ella Park Church Road. (Ongoing) - Work Authorization No. 3: On November 9, 2005, CCJDA issued MAAI a Work Authorization for the performance of certain services related to a project justification study for the Kingsland Bypass. (Complete) - Work Authorization No. 4: On November 30, 2005, CCJDA issued MAAI a Work Authorization for a conceptual design, traffic analysis, survey and mapping, and environmental clearance for the Kingsland Bypass. (Ongoing) The County acknowledged and accepted such assignment of rights and obligations, of CCJDA, under the contracts as outlined above by executing the agreement for the assignment of the existing contracts between the Camden County Joint Development Authority (CCJDA) and Moreland, Altobelli & Associates, Inc. (MAAI) on December 1, 2006. As noted above, Work Authorization No. 3 has been completed in Phase I of the Kingsland Bypass (Colerain Road) project. Work Authorization No. 4 in Phase I is ongoing. There are two phases to the Kingsland Bypass project. We are now beginning the preliminary process of project implementation for the second phase. Our first step is to have a Joint Resolution between Camden County and the City of Kingsland agreeing to participate and sharing the cost of the engineering and pre-construction for the widening of Colerain Road. The conceptual estimate has been received from MAAI. The City of Kingsland is in receipt of this conceptual estimate as well as the Joint Resolution document. A competitive bidding process (request for proposal) for Phase II will be conducted in the latter part of 2008. To ensure that the County receives valuable input and feedback concerning this project, the City of Kingsland will be providing a point of contact for the duration of this project and have been asked to participate in the future bid opening(s), as they are a valuable partner in this project. Please feel free to contact me should you have any further questions regarding this matter. Sincerely, Steve L. Howard, CPM, CPPO County Administrator Cc: Scott Brazell, Director Camden County Public Works Department Board of County Commissioners SLH/jmb

Flash: Cisco's at it again?

FLASH: this just in..... A reliable source tells me that all of the diesel pumps at Ciscos at Exit 1 are roped off AGAIN this morning! Que pasa? Anyone?

"Make believe" pseudo-vocational schools?

Take a minute to read this article from today's GTU. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/032408/geo_260984849.shtml This strikes me as an odd endeavor. It would seem that the primary objective is to raise scores on the CRCT and the GHSGT and increase the graduation rate. However, even though students will be segregated into "academies" based upon their chosen career paths, they will all be taught the same, undifferentiated curriculum - essentially a pre-college curriculum - with no actual vocational training whatsoever. Those who will not go to college will be no more prepared for immediate employment than they are now. In lieu of actual vocational training, it appears that these students will have been given the opportunity to engage in various role playing episodes to try to convince students of the relevance of various elements of the current curriculum to their chosen career paths. Seems to me that the money about to be spent on this might be better spent on ACTUAL vocational training, as opposed to play acting. There ought to be tremnedous opportunities in all of the building trades right here in Camden for the next 50 years or so. What do y'all think? Update: Thanks to Dr. John Tucker, principal of CCHS, who, in response to my e-mail of this morning, suggested that I take a look at the following website for info on the career academies. http://wildcat.camden.k12.ga.us:80/

Sunday Funnies, Vol. 4 (Easter Edition).

It was Easter Sunday, 1967. I was a nineteen-year-old Navy Hospitalman stationed at Beaufort Naval Hospital, Beaufort, SC. I had received orders for there at the completion of Field Medical Service School at Camp Le Juene in early February. It would turn out to be only a six-month posting before further orders to 5th MARDIV, Camp Pendleton. All of the guys who lived hundreds or thousands of miles away, were of course on liberty. Given that my hometown of Savannah was only 45 miles away, I had duty. I was pulling duty in the treatment rooms in the ER. Typically, in the late afternoon and early evenings of Sundays, we would see a lot of dependent kids with UCHDs (“usual childhood diseases”) who really should have been seen during normal business hours in the peds clinic, but cluttering up the ER on the weekends was more convenient for the parents. The first person you would see upon entering the ER was the corpsman at the triage desk. In the typical non-emergent situation, the duties of the triage corpsman were fairly simple: check ID’s and write a simple description of the patient’s primary complaint. This would usually be a one-liner, i.e., “Pt. C/O (‘patient complains of’) cough and sore throat.” Usually, the guys who pulled that duty assignment were people who had shown a somewhat less than stellar aptitude for clinical duties. That Easter Sunday, the triage corpsman was a good ol’ boy from Mississippi named Maynard. I can’t remember his last name, but he was one of only two people named Maynard I’ve ever met, so his first name sticks with me. Maynard’s regular work-a-day assignment was down in the hospital’s linen room where he kept track of bed sheets and pillowcases. For folks of Maynard’s clinical aptitude, it was generally either the linen room or checking out bicycles and camping gear at the “special services” locker. There came a point when I opened the swinging doors to the treatment rooms and called for the next patient. A woman stepped forward with her little boy about four or five years of age. It seemed that the child had received a pet rabbit that very morning. At some point, while the child was holding the rabbit, it had leaped out of the child’s hands. In the process, the palm of the child’s hand had been slightly lacerated by one of the rabbit’s claws. When the woman handed me the form from the triage desk, I saw that Maynard had described the primary complaint thusly: “Pt. C/O small rabbit prick in palm of right hand.” Photocopies circulated around the hospital for days.

Your mission.....

should you choose to accept it, is to go down to the outer edge of the of the Walmart parking lot with your digital camera (not cell phone) and get me good shots of both sides of that gawd-awful looking, hand-painted, white pick-up truck with all of the "Re-Elect Bill Smith" crap all over it and e-mail them to me at: jaymor@tds.net Thank you.

Gregory campaign event today!

Just one last reminder: The Tommy Gregory campaign event will be held TODAY, from 3:00 to 5:00 P.M, at the PSA's Rec Center off of Wildcat Drive, behind the high school. Don't know, but I'm guessing there will be light refreshments. In my opinion, if Tommy is not serving up mini-quiches and key lime cheesecake by tiki torch light, he's missed a great opportunity. See y'all there.

The Six Foot Swami From Savannah, GA.

That's me in 1969 in the front sick-call room of the Hoa Khanh Children's Hospital (AKA "Red Beach Childrens' Hospital") just inside of the front gate of the large, Marine Logistical Supply Base Camp Books, just north of DaNang. I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (HM2) atttached to Force Logistics Command, 3rd Marine Amphibious Force (3rdMAF) at the time.

The Vietnamese "nurse," with about the skill level of an American LPN of the time, was known as "Anna Nurse." All seven or eight were known as "Nancy Nurse," "Cathy Nurse", etc. Then there was Minh, who turned out to be VC nurse.

This is a posed photo for some Marine newspaper PR story. Normally, I spent 12 to 18 hours daily gowned, gloved and bellied up to the OR table in the next room performing minor surgery.

"The Six Foot Swami From Savannah, GA" was the title of a chapter and the name of a character in Lederer and Burdicks "The Ugly American." I always thought of myself as sort of the anti-ugly American.

Here's a link to where I stumbled across the photo on-line nearly 40 years later.

http://www.photoessayist.com/vietnam/stories/hospital/hospital-01.html

This 'n' That.

Well, I've been fighting flu-lite since Monday. I finally felt well enough today to make my first foray from the house since Tuesday. Had lunch at Aunt B's - always good for what ails you. The weather was so nice that I decided to hell with the gas, I'm taking a ride. Does anybody have a review of that Jamaican place across from Aunt B's? What gives with the Walgreens people? I watched them take literally more than a year to build one just like the one in town up at the intersection of F.J. Torras Causeway and Glynn Ave. Where is the economic sense of dragging it out so long? So, how long has there been a gigantic "flagpole" / slash radio tower looming over the old police station in Kingsland? How about that new Mexican restaurant, "El Dorado," in Kingsland where Aunt B's was originally? Any reviews? I see where the latest of a dozen or so restaurants in that little white box a couple of blocks north of Steffens has failed. Building is for sale. Jack's Barbecue has another location at Exit One. Azaleas are in bloom, but they are not nearly so ubiquitous or abundantly flowering here as in Savannah. I think I read somewhere where the soil is not as hospitable to azaleas here. Oh, and whoever commented on what a dumb-ass move it was to not put protected left turn signals up in front of the hospital sure got that right. Passed a backed up mess there today.

Sociopathic, megalomaniacal, Big Thug Willie will not only run on scofflaw record but promises Thuggies more of the same for years to come!

I refer you to page 12-A of today's newly-neutered and BTW-friendly T&G. In the top left corner, we see a photo of BTW cashing in his (well, our, of course) $250,000 chit from his alma mater, The Citadel. He has hosted a meeting of all the Citadel alumni from Glynn and Camden Counties, back on Febraury 6th, in Brunswick. Judging from the picture, I would say it was held at Spanky's on Hwy 17 (Glynn Avenue) where BTW has been known to drop a lot of shared seized asset funds before. Here's what the unlawful contribution of $250,000 bought for Big Thug Willie. Guests included the president of The Citadel, Lt. Gen. John Rosa, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, and South Carolina Secretary fo Transportation H.B. "Buck" Limehouse. All took time out to attend. Who knows how much more money The Citadel has been promised if BTW is re-elected. Of course, the next annual report of the drug fund expenditures, showing where this very meeting was paid for unlawfully from drug funds in a typical Bill Smith "up your asses" gesture to those who would dare point out his being a lying, cheating, morally bankrupt, megalomaniacal, sociopath, unfit for public office, will not be released until just after the primary election . Don't be surprised if BTW bought his big-shot guests plane tickets and put them up in hotels. Oh, by the way, Onan-the-Barbarian is also in the picture. Now, just below that, we have a pro-Smith fluff piece, with no attrribution to a T&G staffer, so they probably printed it just as Simper Fido wrote it. It's about one Candace Jones (remember her, the little hate-America-firster exposed on Rick's blog) graduating with a CJ degree she earned thanks to the totally unlawful "Keneth McCarthy Scholarship" which Smith defiantly steals annually from the seized asset fund. Listen to this crap. "Smith said Jones's (sic) graduation is a validation of the value of establishing scholarships with seized drug assets. (Smith) 'This is a program that works,' he said. 'Having these scholarship funds available was a tremendous benefit to Ms. Jones and let her concentrate on her studies. AND NEXT YEAR THERE WILL BE ANOTHER RECIPIENT, AND THE YEAR AFTER THAT (EMPHASIS MINE). The beauty of these memorial scholarships is that every year another deserving student gets a helping hand (and I unlawfully purchase more votes in flagrant violation of the federal guidelines!) This is a gift in perpetuity from the drug dealers.' " Note that the Citadel photo-op occurred on February 6th, but Simper Fido could not get it into the paper until after they had torpedoed Jonathan Maziarz. That we need a new sheriff is indisputable: that we may need a second local newspaper bears monitoring.

Mate of CCSO's skipper of USS Willie outs Commisioner Berry as consigliere to drug courier!

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2008/03/19/opinion/letters/4letter3.19.txt As you can see, the Thuggies are attacking on all fronts. Well, almost all fronts. They seem to be a little timid about attacking Tommy Gregory. Does he know where too damned many bones are buried? I'm sure BTW and MaryAnn are getting ready to turn the machine loose on Rich Gamble any time now. Moreland, Altobelli, & Associates website: http://www.maai.net/

Are two Hands better than one for Thuggie scheme?

This "publisher's note" appears on the left border of page 5-A in today's T&G. " Publisher's note: A Letter to the Editor was published in our Jan. 9 edition titled 'Article on sheriff omitted fact about Walker." It is the policy of the Tribune & Georgian to contact all letter writers prior to publication, but due to inexplicable reasons Vernon Hand was not contacted before the letter ran. We have contacted Mr. Hand and he stated that he did not write the letter published. We have learned of another Vernon Hand who lives in Camden County but have been unable to contact him as of press time on March 18." How convenient. So what if it turns out that the other Mr. Hand wrote it and was indeed contacted? Does Jonathan Maziarz get his job back? Not a ghost of a chance in Hell. Another good man has fallen victim to BTW and the Thuggies, but their day is coming.

Does Gamble announcement assure Smith win?

I just moments ago received my hard-copy of the T&G by mail. Their online version is not up yet. It says that Rich Gamble announced his candidacy for sheriff last week. How did that manage to remain a scecret? I think that Rich Gamble is a highly qualified candidate and would no doubt do a good job. I voted for him last time. But, having said that, and given that I see no possibility of either Gamble or Gregory pulling out for the good of the county, then barring an indictment and conviction, I think that we have just seen a move which will give us another four years of an even more arrogant and vindictive scofflaw - Bill Smith - as sheriff. Comments? Now, T&G is up. Here's the link: http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2008/03/19/news/top_stories/1topstory3.19.txt

T. Gregory campaign event this Saturday.

In case you missed it the first time I posted it, here it is again. On Saturday, March 22 from 3 pm to 5 pm, at the Recreation Center Community Room, a Meet the Candidate meeting will be held for Tommy Gregory. As you may know, Tommy is running for Sheriff. On the March 22nd, Tommy will be speaking about his candidacy for Sheriff and his plan to improve the Sheriff's Office. Please see the attached flyer.I hope to see you there. Please pass this email along to your family and friends. Everyone is invited.----------------------------Gregory For SheriffP.O. Box 109Waverly, GA 31565(912) 576-3905www.GregoryForSheriff.com----------------------------PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT TOMMY GREGORY SHERIFF Note: I, Jay Moreno, have no official or unofficial affiliation with the Gregory campaign.I'm just passing on an e-mail I received a few moments ago. UPDATE: 3/19/08 I do plan on being there, though.

"View Site Stats"

Man, yesterday was the busiest day yet on this blog. "Page views," or hits, were up 150% above the average. If you have not yet noticed, there is a bar just below the counter on the right hand border which reads "View Site States." If you will click on that, you can track the growth of the readership. Once you get to the stats, if you will scroll down on the left border until you get to "7 day trends," I find those data most informative. Oh, and there is one page - I forget the name - which shows the times of day in 1 hour increments and how many hits occur in each period. For some reason, I get the highest number of hits between 2 and 3 P.M. Anyone have any theory on why that is? P.S., Before you Thuggies go there, no, the system does not record my own visits as a "page view" or any other datum, so I can't manipulate the figures - not that I would, if I could.

Now, a THIRD anti-Jay blog!

http://www.blackcopters.blogspot.com/ Here's my latest theory: Note that when this new, blatantly anti "Julian" blog started, all activity (such as there was) on the equally green and black and equally pro-BTW "Debate Camden" blog ceased. Come on TG3, a decorated young Thuggie hero such as yourself should be able to keep up two little half-assed blogs at once, right?

Here's the kind of ignorance and greed we damned outsiders are up against!

I found these posts just a moment ago on Topix Kingsland - what's left of it. an intrested citizens Kingsland, GA Reply » Report Abuse #178 Monday Mar 10 I still think sheriff smith is a good one and for those that dont then get busy and run for office yourselves if YOU can qualify . then let us all see how well you do ok?talk is cheap but doing the job is altogether different and handling the criticism is a job in itself .It isnt a walk in the park for anyone to serve the public in this capacity or any other one really You just cant possibly please everyone all the time and do your job the weay its supposed to be done. an intrested citizens Kingsland, GA Reply » Report Abuse #179 Monday Mar 10 personally I dont know what celebrate recovery is that some churches seem to have but our church could benefit from some money from the funds It needs a bus for the younger and senior groups to go places for special purposes, so lets get some for the First baptist of St. Marys if there is still some in thereand not put such a strain on all the members there,there are a lot of members that have retired and some laid off from the mill and having a hard time as it is,so how about some freebies for them?Im sure it would be greatly appreciated Does anyone know, at what point in, apparently, the relatively recent past, the local school system started to teach "civics?" Do the older tribals have any knowledge of early American history, "a government of laws, not men," the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, separation of church and state, any of that?

For Bill or Fairley?

Or was the F.B.I. just in town for lunch?

FLASH: FBI mobile command center in Camden today!

This just in from an informant: Within the last hour (12:00 to 1:00 PM) a large, blue bus, marked FBI mobile command center, pulled into Kingsland's Chick-Fil-A. About a dozen, well dressed, armed, F.B.I agents got out and had lunch. My intrepid informant was there. When he approached the G-men and asked if they were in town investigating "our sheriff," he was told that they can't comment on an on-going investigation. Pressing on, my informant then said something like, "Well, I guess your not being able to comment pretty much confirms that you are investigating Sheriff Smith." F.B.I man is reported to have said, "Sir, You need to mind your own business and get out of here." Informant said, "If it's about him, it is my business," but then let it drop. I wonder if they have room and accommodations on that bus for a few extra passengers on the return trip? One can always hope.

Camden consumers' wish list.

This morning, I had one last assignment for tonight left to print. My black ink cartridge was down to fumes. I had placed an on-line order which was supposed to arrive Friday, but it's not here YET. Fortunately, I had just enough ink left. That got me to thinking. This county is big enough now that, by dammit, we should not have to travel 50 miles north or south to buy anything especially with gas heading north of $3.00. High on my list of businesses I'd like to see come here is a big-box office supply store like Office Depot or Staples. I could go for some more restaurants, too. A steak house comes to mind. A Baskin-Robbins would be nice. A REALLY good seafood place serving ONLY locally caught, fresh seafood. Tell, me what else just bugs you by not being here? Also, what, if anything, would you NOT want to come here?

Sunday Funnies, Vol. 3

(By way of setting this up, you should know that for some 20 years, I inspected merchant vessels for the Quarantine Division of the U.S. Public Health service, in all east coast ports from Port Canaveral, north to Georgetown, SC.) One hot summer day in the Port of Savannah, I was inspecting a chemical carrier. She was Bahamian flagged with an all Brit officer complement on board. When I arrived at the captain’s office, he and the chief steward were just finishing up business with a boarding rep from a ship chandler. It was, as it turned out, also “tea time.” Given that it was my last inspection of the day, I accepted the Captain’s invitation to take tea with him and his officers before dealing with the business at hand. We were soon joined by the chief mate and the chief engineer for the daily ritual. When the mess man arrived with the tray, the captain apologized profusely for having neither hot scones nor crumpets. It seemed that the cook had gone ashore for dental work. I graciously assured him that the tin of “biscuits” (Brit-speak for “cookies” – though “crackies” would be more accurate) would be just fine, all the while thinking how lucky I was not to have had to choose between the two theretofore never actually eyeballed treats. It being summer, the captain, who had no doubt been ashore earlier with the ship’s agent, was decked out in summer whites. Picture John Cleese, of Brit-com fame (Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Faultey Towers, etc.) in white shoes, white knee socks, white shorts, and white shirt with gold, four-striper shoulder boards. I mean, really picture John Cleese –as Basil Faultey. The captain, at about 6’4,” was a dead ringer. Even the accent was dead on. As we sat there talking about the best places to go on River Street, the world news headline du-jour, etc., my usual problem of holding in check my tendency to ape the accent when I’m talking to Brits was nothing compared to the effort to keep from goofing on how much the captain resembled Cleese in a skit. At one point, I imagined a stuffed, “late parrot” glued to his shoulder board and almost lost it. I got through tea all right, then performed the inspection without incident. When it came time to go ashore, the captain, a quite proper Brit, insisted upon escorting me personally from his office down to the gangway. I almost made it. Just as I reached the pivot plate at the top of the gangway, I turned to shake the captain’s hand and, as always, wish him and his crew a safe voyage. That’s when it just popped out. “You know, Captain, you really remind me a lot of my favorite British comedian.” “Oh, I say?” “Yes, John Cleese. I’m guessing you’ve heard that before, right?” “No – not really.” DEAD SILENCE. Long, straight faced, dead silence. Then (captain) – “Well- then – cheerio!” Debating whether to use the gangway or simply dive headfirst over the side, I shook his extended hand without further comment, then turned for the gangway. On the way down, when my shoulders were about level with the weather deck, I hazarded a glance to see if the captain still had that considerably-less-than-amused look upon his face. To my relief, amazement, and utter delight, he was high stepping across the deck in a perfect rendition of John Cleese’ famous “Ministry of Silly Walks” bit. He kept it up for the full fifty feet back to the door to the house where he disappeared without ever breaking character or looking back. Laughed so hard I nearly fell off of the gangway.

That was the 1st week that was.

Well, it's less than 3.5 hours until the end of my first week here on my first ever blog. According to the very sophisticated counter and stats program I've added to this thing, it looks like when the clock strikes midnight, I will have had the following averages for the week. Views or "hits" per day: +/- 175 Avg. individual new viewers per day: 35 Avg. returning visitors per day: 27 I'm sure that's peanuts compared to Topix Kingsland when I was on there (though probably equal to or more than now.) At any rate, as the ostensibly most reviled pariah in the county, I'm happy with the numbers. I've enjoyed it thoroughly and plan to keep on doing it. Amazingly, I've only had to abort two really nasty comments. It sure is nice with those "bottom feeders" restricted to their own septic tank. See ya'll tomorrow. Have a good weekend. P.S., Spread the word!

Latest info on Cisco mess.

I hear from a source that when the court-appointed receiver took over the operation of all three locations DBA "Cisco's," they literally forced Fairley Cisco to turn over all of the credit cards and cash from his wallet, as well as the change from his pants pockets. Maybe BTW can butcher a hog and send it over to his house. They have also confiscated Cisco's rather extensive gun collection, including a 12 gauge "streetsweeper" rotary magazined, pistol grip shotgun. Now, this is interesting. My source has heard that a former employee has recently come forward with information about the existence of at least one two gallon "gas measuring can" with a false bottom. Further details are a little sketchy. If you've ever observed the Dept of Agriculture inspectors, you know that they bring their own cans. Do any readers know if maybe gas stations are required to run their own tests for pump accuracy by pumping a metered 2 gallons into a 2 gallon can? Perhaps some unwitting employees were measuring less than two gallons into a can Fairley Cisco had made with a false bottom and therefor unwittingly certified that the checks were showing that the pumps were properly calibrated. That could explain how no honest employees figured out the scam.

69% align with "damned outsiders."

In one of my current polls, (one day left to vote) I ask if folks are "more aligned with" the "indigenous tribe" or the "damned outsiders." So far, 69 % align with "the damned outsiders," versus only 21% with the "indigenous tribe." I realize the fact that I am the author of this blog no doubt skews the readership. Nonetheless, 69% is still high. Question: If the majority of Camdenians of legal voting age are now post-NSBKB, damned outsiders, why are the same old, inept and generally crooked good ol' boy pols still controlling the reins of government at all levels for their own selfish interests and that of their indigenous Brahmin buddies and benefactors? We damned outsiders clearly have the numbers to change that - and have had them for years now. Why have we not flexed our collective muscle? There's not a scintilla of doubt in my mind that we have potential candidates among us who are far more qualified than most of the tribals now holding elected office. Why are they not stepping forward? Why do we damned outsiders have such a dismal percentage of actual, regular voters as compared to the tribals? Surely, the prospect of a call to jury duty every once in a blue moon with little likelyhood of actually being selected can't be that big of an impediment to registering and voting. Any ideas on how we can get more damned outisders and decent, right-thinking tribals to the polls? How can we successfully encourage more qualified damned outsider candidates - or qualified tribals who will eschew good ol' boy favoritism? Comments?

"Our sheriff" just gets 'em fired (so far.)

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080313/D8VCH57G0.html But then, again, what was the attempt to have the Cumberland Three arrested?

Tommy Gregory Campaign Event

On Saturday, March 22 from 3 pm to 5 pm, at the Recreation Center Community Room, a Meet the Candidate meeting will be held for Tommy Gregory. As you may know, Tommy is running for Sheriff. On the March 22nd, Tommy will be speaking about his candidacy for Sheriff and his plan to improve the Sheriff's Office. Please see the attached flyer. I hope to see you there. Please pass this email along to your family and friends. Everyone is invited.----------------------------Gregory For SheriffP.O. Box 109Waverly, GA 31565(912) 576-3905www.GregoryForSheriff.com----------------------------PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT TOMMY GREGORY SHERIFF Note: I, Jay Moreno, have no official or unofficial affiliation with the Gregory campaign. I'm just passing on an e-mail I received a few moments ago.

DA Stephen Kelley and associates in town.

Well, it's 4:20 and I just got back to the house from a trip out that started with lunch at Aunt B's around 12:30 today. Directly ahead of me in line was "our" state district attorney, Stephen Kelley. Kelley had a leisurely lunch with 9 associates at one long table in the middle room. One was a professionally dressed female whom I'm fairly certain was an attorney - maybe an assistant D.A. One of the guys was in a dark business suit and also had attorney written all over him. The other seven males all had on at least $125 wool blend trousers, freshly laundered pima cotton dress shirts, $50.00 ties, $250.00 shoes, gold shields at the waist and were packing high carry, medium frame, semi-automatic pistols. All could have been featured in Men's Health Magazine. Put simply, they were definitely not from around here. Looked more like Hotlantans to me. By contrast, one well larded CCSO deputy and what appeared to be a detective (short, stocky, light blue golf shirt, medium frame semi-auto carried at small of back) were sitting out in the main dining area. It struck me as odd because you very rarely see uniformed CCSO people eating at Aunt B's unless BTW is picking up the tab with seized asset funds. They were seated so that the detective was able have a good view of who all come through the serving line. Forward observers for BTW? On his own behalf, or for Cisco? Who knows? I'm guessing that team did not drive down here from Brunswick just for the lunch. Anyone heard anything?

T&G Watch

Take a moment to read today's letters-to-the-editor and the current letters-to-the-editor-policy. http://www.tribune-georgian.com/ Click on "Opinion" tab on front page, then scroll down to letters. I haven't reviewed their printed letters-to-the-editor policy in quite a while because I had it virtually memorized. I distinctly remember that at some point in the past (possibly right up until Jonahthan was fired), part of the policy stated that there would be no mention by name of any business. There was one caveat: if , say, Habitat for Humanity wanted to thank Mark Giddens at Winn Dixie for providing deli platters for Habitat volunteers, that was okay. Now, today, we see Iron Sheila McNeil writng in, ostensibly to thank publisher - now publisher AND editor - Alan NeSmith for an opinion piece he wrote last week in which he apparently got onto readers for not shouldering their civic resposnsibility to support local, small time merchants - the kind who buy advertising from his paper. Of course, McNeil goes on to gig Hallmark for betraying her by offering their cards thru Walmart and even - horrors - grocery stores. In her last paragraph she threatens that if we don't shape up and buy her cards, with much higher markups, she'll just close up shop, go back to Sea Island, and subsist on Edo-Miller revenues. God help us! Then, we see a long letter (word count?) from a lady who lambastes an unnamed AC contractor ( but you can call her via her number in the letter and she we gladly tell you who that contractor, who likely does not advertise witht he T&G, is.) However, she does sing the praises of Turner Heating and Air, a local AC contractor who does advertize in the T&G. Lastly, we see a letter from a man who praises a local, franchise harware store, Ace Hardware, which does advertize with the T&G, by name, for providing good customer service. Clearly, that is one post-Maziarz editorial change. It will likely prove to be a slippery slope indeed. It also increases the list of folks who may well have been militating for his firing. If you folks notice any other post -Mariarz changes which I've missed (however exceedingly unlikely that may be :-)), please bring them to my attention.

"Debate Camden"

Thanks to the reader who alerted me to the new, pro-BTW, anti Rick & Jay blog. http://debatecamden.blogspot.com/ That sunset behind the county landfill is gorgeous. Who knew? P.S., If the color scheme of this new blog looks familiar, but you just can't quite place it, let me help you out: http://www.4tbpartdeux.blogspot.com/ Hmm, Very interesting: TG3 showed up on Topix not long after the foul farewill message on the above linked blog. Then, after his deadline for me to withdraw his name from this blog passed (or else- he would sue me - no papers yet and I'm fairly confident BTW's boys could find ME), he disappeared again for a week. Now, this anonymous, pro BTW, anti Rick & Jay blog shows up one day and TG3 returns to Topix the next. Interesting, indeed.

Sue Jonathan Maziarz? I bloody well doubt it.

Well, today, some anonymous, bloviating, Thuggie scumbag is claiming that recently fired Jonathan Maziarz, former editor of the Tribune and Georgian, is about to be sued for some of his actions as editor. Here, you can read it your self: http://www.topix.com/forum/city/kingsland-ga/TV6NJTAARI9AGI0JV/p2#lastPost A rational, low-down, political dirty trickster would be satisfied with having done Maziarz in anonymously. But we are dealing with the collective genius of the BTW gang here. It could well be that , much like they dragged poor old octogenarian Ben Jenkins off of the ilsand shoved a affadavit under his nose, and produced two long-time BTW attorneys for him, they have convinced someone - perhaps Vernon Hand - to act as their cat's paw. At any rate, the truth about the politically motivated "assasination" of Jonathan and probable castration of his publisher will eventually out. Stay tuned.

Has anyone seen L. J. Williams?

I have it from a reliable source that the citizens who were unconstitutionally swoooped down upon by BTW's goon squad, at the behest of BTW patron, Fairley Cisco, filed a lawsuit against L.J. with the clerk of the court on the 26th of February. So far, the sheriff's crack detectives have apparently been unable to locate L.J., in spite of his being the official CCSO photographer. That must be it: what other explanation could there be for the lawsuit not yet being served? Wait a minute - maybe L.J. is over there on Ben Jenkin's Cumberland leasehold, wearing a Gilley suit, camera at the ready, and waiting in ambush for the Cumberland Three to return.

And you thought I was censorious!

Check this out: http://www.wtvq.com/content/midatlantic/tvq/video.apx.-content-articles-TVQ-2008-03-05-0011.html Opinions?

Will the real Vernon Hand please stand up?

This was posted on Topix Kingsland on January 3rd. bigman Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse #73 Jan 3, 2008 Dear Editor,I read with interest your article on "Deputies Descend on Cisco Mover" in which you outlined possible abuses of power by Sheriff Bill Smith, done on behalf of his close friend Fairley Cisco. The article quoted "Captain Wesley Walker, a Sheriff Administrator" several times and it was also noted that the Cisco residence was actually partly owned by Ciscos daughters and that, when One Call Renovations was searched by the CCSO Department, deputies were looking for possible stolen property belonging to the Cisco daughters.What was not made clear is that Wesley Walker "Sheriff Dept Administrator" is actually the husband of one of Fairly Ciscos daughters. How could such an obvious fact and one so relevant to the entire abuse of power angle be overlooked by your reporter? The conflicts of interest from this fact are too numerous to even mention. By the way Mr. Editor, unlike your reporter I checked and found Mr. Walker to be the #2 man in the sheriff department. Only Bill Smith tells him what to do. By the way, Walkers father-in-law Fairley Cisco is a convicted Felon( Income Tax Evasion) who a few years ago served a year in Federal Prison for odometer fraud on the people of Camden County.The Tribune must do a better job of detailing facts. The failure here makes one wonder why the newspaper chose to omit such obvious and important information. The entire thrust of the story would have changed if the newspaper had simply done its job.(Lets see if this article make it) Now, here is the text of the letter supposedly from Mr. Vernon Hand, published in the T&G on January 9th : Letters Article on sheriff omitted important fact Dear Editor, I read with interest your article on "Deputies descend on Cisco mover" in which you outlined possible abuses of power by Sheriff Bill Smith, done on behalf of his close friend Fairley Cisco. The article quoted Capt. Wesley Walker, a sheriff's office administrator, several times and it was also noted that the Cisco residence was actually partly owned by Cisco's daughters and that, when One Call Renovations was searched by the CCSO department, deputies were looking for possible stolen property belonging to the Cisco daughters.What was not made clear is that Wesley Walker, sheriff's department administrator, is actually the husband of one of Fairly Cisco's daughters. How could such an obvious fact and one so relevant to the entire abuse of power angle be overlooked by your reporter? The conflicts of interest from this fact are too numerous to even mention. By the way Mr. Editor, unlike your reporter, I checked and found Mr. Walker to be the No. 3 man in the sheriff's department. Only Bill Smith tells him what to do. By the way, Walker's father-in-law, Fairley Cisco, is a convicted felon (income tax evasion) who a few years ago served a year in federal prison for odometer fraud on the people of Camden County.The Tribune must do a better job of detailing facts. The failure here makes one wonder why the newspaper chose to omit such obvious and important information. The entire thrust of the story would have changed if the newspaper had simply done its job. Let's see if this article makes it.Vernon HandWoodbine = 1170396000) && (nAdsysTime Now, here’s Big Thug Willie’s letter to the T&G of earlier this week Letters Camden sheriff addresses recent issues Dear Editor, Your paper needs to get the facts straight with regard to purported letters to the editor. Concerning the purported letter to the editor from Vernon Hand, which appeared in your Jan. 9 issue, pleased be advised of the following: · Mr. Vernon Hand is an illiterate resident of Woodbine. He did not write the letter, sign the letter, know about the letter, or approve the letter and he strongly disapproves of its contents. · The letter contains the statement that "[t]he conflicts of interest from this fact are too numerous to mention." These alleged conflicts of interest relate to the fact that the sheriff's office administrator is the husband of one of Fairley Cisco's daughters. For your information, there is no conflict of interest involved in the sheriff's office's handling of the investigation referred to in the purported letter. When we receive a complaint from anybody in Camden County concerning a situation which, in our opinion, needs to be investigated, we treat it precisely the same, regardless of whether the complaining party is or is not related to any employee of the sheriff's office. · The purported letter also contains a reference that Fairley Cisco is a convicted felon, who a few years ago served a year in federal prison for odometer fraud. I have inquired into this matter and determined that Mr. Cisco did serve time about 25 years ago (when another sheriff was in office) on a misdemeanor conviction. This is completely irrelevant. As stated above, when a complaint is received from or pertaining to any resident of Camden County, my office determines whether the complaint should be investigated, without regard to whether the complaining party has ever been convicted of a crime or is personally acquainted with any employee of the sheriff's office.I think I know who pretended to be Vernon Hand without his knowledge or consent, but I won't name anybody without absolute proof. I can say, however, that before you print any more letters to the editor, you should determine whether the purported author of any such letter actually wrote it.Also, in your Feb. 13 issue you printed a story labeled "Sheriff's fate in hands of feds." Although I certainly acknowledge your responsibility to print the news, I object to your repeating a bunch of defamatory statements made against me by Steve Berry. Everybody knows that Steve Berry is a political adversary of mine, and the only reason he makes these statements is that he continues to hide behind my status as an elected official, which pretty much gives him carte blanche authority to state anything about me without being sued for libel. = 1170396000) && (nAdsysTime William E. SmithCamden County Sheriff Then, yesterday, on Topix, presumably the same “Bigman” had this to say: bigman Kingsland, GA Reply » Report Abuse #4 Yesterday I would like to comment on the letter in the T&G today. I know Mr Hand personally and find him to be a straight up, honest person. I resent anyone calling him illiterate, especially the Sheriff of this county. Mr Hand told it like it was and Mr Smith cannot take it. Shame on you Bill. Be careful what you say of others. You may have power over this county but God has power over you. By the way Mr Hand is not illiterate. Beats me what's going on, but the assertions that I or Rick had anything to do with it are absurd. Will the real Mr. Hand please drop by the T&G office with ID and the original letter in hand? Could this be the Trojan horse that BTW used to dispose of Jonathan Maziarz?

Sunday Funnies, Vol. 2, early edition.

It was a Sunday – the only day when all tenant commands at Camp Las Pulgas (“The Fleas;” the sub-camp at Camp Pendleton farthest from civilization) stood down. I was pulling duty at the dispensary. Just after lunch, a cocky young butter bar (Marine 2nd Lt.) showed up for sick call. He stated that he had been “toughing out” a bad case of his recurrent tonsillitis for about a week over at the “combat village.” However, he related that just after swallowing a mouth full of green beans over at the chow hall, his symptoms had taken a sudden and marked turn for the worse. He stated that he had suddenly experienced a “scratchy feeling” in his throat. Attempts to clear his throat only exacerbated the “sharp, prickly” sensations. After duly noting all of this on his SF-89, I began my physical exam. Yep - febrile with exquisite tenderness and swelling of anterior cervical lymph nodes, bilat, as expected. Then , he said “Ahh.” I was definitely not expecting the foreign object clinging firmly to his swollen, erythematous, exudate – covered left tonsil. Maintaining my practiced, clinically detached straight face, I uttered the classic, ambiguously uninformative words, “Uh huh!” I stepped over to the nearby stainless and glass cupboard where I retrieved a seldom-used, large pair of forceps (picture a foot-long pair of tweezers.) Almost as an afterthought, I picked up an emesis basin on my way back to the standing lieutenant. I told him to hold the basin under his chin and open wide. He complied – eyes fixed firmly upon the humongous forceps. I reached in and deftly detached the clinging foreign object. Still firmly clasped in the forceps, I brought the object out far enough from the intrepid lieutenant’s nose for him to be able to bring it into clear focus. Trust me – you really didn’t have to be an entomology grad student to recognize it immediately as, no doubt, the largest, most heavily spurred, intact, American cockroach hind leg either of us had ever seen. The foresight to grab the emesis basin turned out to have been prescient.

Cleaned and sanitized for your protection.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Just this morning, I've taken an executive editorial decision regarding comments and the future viability of this blog. I'm sure you've noticed that the Thuggies' noses are already under the tent. No doubt, they have an orchestrated plan to destroy this blog in much the same way they destroyed Topix Kingsland, GA. Ain't gonna happen. As Barney Fife used to say, I've nipped it in the bud. Effective now, all comments will be help in a cache until such time as I review and approve them for release. Rest assured that I will check for new comments several times daily. There willl be no more "bottom feeding," degenerate, Thuggie vermin coming on here and contaminating this blog with bathroom "humor," aspersions upon someone's sexuality, sex organs, anal aromas, religious beliefs, etc., etc. This is not to say that opposing points of view will be censored. Quite to the contrary, rationally expressed differences of opinion, well argued, are solicited. Every fiber of my being rebels against any diminution of free speech. However, the First Amendment is not a suicide pact. Jay Moreno

Will we soon need another local newspaper?

Just 48 hours ago, we learned that Jonathan Maziarz was fired. No details have surfaced yet, but I have the faith that they eventually will. Now, in today's T&G, we have a letter from Sheriff William E. Smith. I've lived here for 14 and 1/2 years and I just can't recall a previous letter from BTW. I don't know that I ever recall his responding to reporters' questions, much less writing a letter -to-the-editor. Here's BTW letter: http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2008/03/07/opinion/letters/01letter3.7.txt Now, here is the letter from Mr. Vernon Hand that BTW refers to: http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2008/01/14/opinion/letters/3letter1.9.txt Wouldn't you love to have been a fly on the wall to hear the conversation BTW had with Mr. Hand before he wrote this letter revealing Mr. Hand's alledged illiteracy and purported total ignorance of the letter ascribed to him. Don't you find the timing interesting? I get banned from Topix Kingsland; a week later, Johnathan gets fired; 48 hours later, BTW goes on the offensive in the T&G. Kind of looks like BTW knew the firing was coming. Had no trouble beating the mid-afternoon Thursday deadline to be published in today's paper, now, did he? Anyone who knows what threats were made that lead to Jonathan's firing, please come forward. You community needs to know. I, for one, will being watching the T&G very closely. I'm not all all certain that I trust their editorial integrity at the moment. Time will tell. Perhaps it's time for a new paper - The Damned Outsiders' Gazette. Update: 03/07/08 @1930 HRS. Bill's Letter to the T&G Comments Showing posts 1 - 3 of 3 The real Bennie Joined: Wed Feb 27 Comments: 1161 Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse #2 1 hr ago I think it's great that Rick and Jay taught a man who can not read or write to write such a well written letter. Maybe they could use the process that they used on Mr. Hand to teach others. not sarcasm Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse #3 28 min ago The real Bennie wrote: I think it's great that Rick and Jay taught a man who can not read or write to write such a well written letter. Maybe they could use the process that they used on Mr. Hand to teach others. LMAO!!!!!!!!!! Showing posts 1 - 3 of 3 Well, that's one theory. Here's another. I'm sure we all remember how BTW wrote the complaint and provided both the lawyers and the transportation from Cumberland Island to get poor old senile Dr. Ben Jenkins to go along with BTW's attempt to jail the Cumberland Island Three. Moreover, we've all seen how BTW recruits octogenarians and folks with relatives in his employ to write favorable letters-to-the-editor. Bearing all that in mind, contemplate this scenario. BTW goes to Mr. Hand with a plan. A letter - ostensibly from Mr. Hand, is written and mailed or otherwise communicated to Jonathan Maziarz, the target of the dirty trick. When Jonathan uses the usual method of confirmation, a phone call, someone is there on the line to con him further. Suspecting mnothing, Jonathan okays the letter for publication. Smith waits a while. After all, we have to believe that it took a while for someone to mention the letter to the supposedly illiterate Mr. Hand, who, by definition, could not have read the letter in the paper. Now, in the same way he helped Ben Jenkins pursue trespass charges against the Cumberland Three, BTW assists - well, actually does it all - in a threat by Mr. Hand to sue the T&G unless they fire Jonathan Maziarz. Jonathan is subsequently fired. The preceding was all supposition. However, does anyone doubt that Smith is capable of such a thing? 1959 HRS: Now comes this: bigman Kingsland, GA Reply » Report Abuse #4 11 min ago I would like to comment on the letter in the T&G today. I know Mr Hand personally and find him to be a straight up, honest person. I resent anyone calling him illiterate, especially the Sheriff of this county. Mr Hand told it like it was and Mr Smith cannot take it. Shame on you Bill. Be careful what you say of others. You may have power over this county but God has power over you. By the way Mr Hand is not illiterate. Interesting, very interesting. Does anyone else know Mr. Hand?

From deep inside the Savannah federal courthouse....

comes this report. Remember when Officer Mighty Mole was reporting from within the CCSO that BTW was subjecting his deputies to "voice stress tests" to try to figure out who was leaking to the press and the GBI? It now turns out that the feds are taking the position that that was an prosecutable attempt to impede the investigation. Look for that in the form of multiple obstruction of justice charges when he is indicted. Also, the feds were very interested in the Bill Smith / Fairley Cisco connection BEFORE the shorting gas pumps were discovered. They are even more interested now. Apparently, subornation of perjury charges will be included in the indictment. My source cites the assertion that Smith urged deputies who took trustys to his ex-wife's house in Charleston to lie and say that they took other deputies to the house as but one example. The federal prosecutorial team, brought in from Atlanta, specializes in high profile, political corruption cases. They are reported to be the best of the best on the federal team. Reportedly, they have a 98% conviction rate in cases they have enough confidence in to present to a federal grand jury. Their indictment rate is virtually 100%. Word from inside CCSO is that higher ups are not sleeping well. Easterling, Sleazy Talker, Blundy, Nastrioanni, Boo Boo Byerly and Dyals are all wrecks. Dyals has already stated that he is not going to lie to protect anyone. As you read, the grand jury investigation is ongoing. Stay tuned.

The true history of my Camden "arrest record."

Ladies and Gentlemen, To this day, the cowardly, lying backshooting, anonymous Thuggie scum who publishes http://www.supportoursheriff.blogspot.com/ in support of Sheriff Bill Smith continues to attempt to foist off on the public the canard that I am after Bill Smith because of my bitterness over having been incarcerated in the county jail, twice. The intent to make the public think that I indeed committed a couple of crimes and was justly convicted and sentenced are clearly the lying, libeling vermin's intent. Nothing could be further from he truth. When they succeeeded in having me banned from Topix Kingsland, and perhaps more importantly to them, had all of the damning evidence against Smith erased, they no doubt thought that they had erased forever my explantion of the actual history of my "jail time." Not so: here, again, is my original explanation from the old "Recall Sheriif Smith" thread pon Topix Kingsland. "Well – finally! I’ve been wondering why it took the beleaguered thugs so long to play what they consider their trump card. Careful what you wish for, fools. You see, decent, law abiding Ladies and Gentlemen, their flawed assumption is that once you learn that I have been arrested twice – and never convicted of squat – here in Camden County (and no where else on Earth, ever), you will discount my campaign to rid the county of its rogue, thug sheriff and such of his rogue underlings as clearly need to go as being merely sour grapes. Apparently, the fools have never heard the old lawyers’ dictum, “Never ask a witness a question to which you do not already know the answer.” Many of you will remember my first politically motivated false arrest in 1995. I was running for St. Mary’s City Council against incumbent Kyle Lewis. Actually, I was running against the entire Brandon machine, but Lewis, in particular. At any rate, about two or three weeks before the election, I was out putting up campaign signs. I put one up on the telephone pole in front of what used to be Reddick’s convenience store there across hwy 40 from Shadowlawn. When I passed back by a scant 20 minutes later, it was gone. I pulled in and asked the lady at the counter in the store if she had seen who removed it. She said I needed to talk to someone named “Jack” at the truss plant behind the store. As I went to walk back there, a pickup truck with two white, adult males and a 10-11year old boy pulled out and stopped suddenly right in front of me. The driver asked “What can I do for you?” I asked if he knew who had ripped down and destroyed my sign. Turns out the driver was one Jack Barfield, Jr., who managed the truss plant and rented the store from the late Mr. Reddick. Barfield hollered that he had and became very belligerent. He got so worked up that he flung open the door and jumped out. When I stood right where I had been, he suddenly found himself between me and the door of the truck. When he realized that I had 6 inches and 100 pounds on him, he altered his course of action and ran into the store. I immediately went to the phone and called 911 to request an officer on the scene. For all I knew the little thug was going after a gun. A county officer responded. (Note: Strangely, the road and right of way were in the city, but the actual store property was in the county – still is, I believe.) I told him what had gone on. Told him I had had hundreds of my signs ripped down (interestingly, most by the teenaged son of a former mill worker who is also now one of BTW’s deputies – I caught him red-handed) and that I was trying to put a stop to it. Barfield continued to rant and rave and act like he was on the urge of physical aggression. The officer asked me to write a brief description of what happened. I complied. He then told me that he would talk to Barfield about not tearing down any more campaign signs, but then asked that, in light of Barfield’s agitated state, I would go ahead and leave so that he might have a better shot at calming him down. I was NOT arrested, given a citation, or even so much as a cross word from the investigating officer. That was late on a Friday afternoon. I turns out that both Jack Barfield, Jr. and his dad were accounting and tax clients of my opponent, Kyle Lewis. Apparently, some heads were put together over the weekend. Bright and early the next working day, Jack Jr. and the other guy in the truck drove up to Woodbine to the office of the now deceased Chief Magistrate Joe Strickland, an old buddy of Kyle Lewis and cat’s paw for Sheriff Bill Smith, who was a campaign advisor to Kyle Lewis. The lying bastard Jack Barfield, Jr. (someone please be sure to let him know I wrote that) perjured himself by swearing out an affidavit that during the aforementioned confrontation, that I had brandished a pistol. The lying redneck friend also perjured himself. “Judge” Strickland was of course delighted to be able to issue a warrant for my arrest. Immediately upon getting wind of the warrant, I called and found out that the bail was, near as I recall, $300.00. I went straight to an ATM, withdrew $300.00 and drove immediately to the jail in Woodbine, where I turned myself in, as any decent, law abiding, and totally innocent citizen would do. Before they had even put my finger to the inkpad, a deputy came in and told the guy processing me that he had just received a call from “the Major” telling them to make my booking a “quick and painless as possible.” I was well treated and in and out in less than 30 minutes. I never spent a nano-second in a cell. I was told late that “the Major” was Maj. Dayton Gillette, who then ran the 911 center, and not too very long thereafter had a split with BTW. Now, in those days, the T&G was only published on Wednesdays. The Friday before the Tuesday election, the DA’s office announced that they were dropping the charges for lack of evidence of any crime having been committed. Of course, that info did not hit the press until the day after the election. The entire county recognized it for what it was – a low down, filthy dirty, politically motivated false arrest. Of some 600 votes cast, 125 good souls recognized it as such even before the dismissal and voted for me anyway. I later learned from my attorney that what actually happened is that the DA summoned Mr. Barfield, Jr. up to his office. He pointed out that the police report, complete with accompanying contemporaneous statements from me, Barfield, and his redneck buddy made no mention of a gun whatsoever. Barfield was then counseled as to the possible consequences of a conviction for perjury and filing a false report. Barfield declined to press the issue further. So, decent, law-abiding Ladies and Gentlemen, what say you: is that an arrest I should be ashamed of? Now, as to the second arrest – a legitimate but totally unwarranted arrest, complete with politically motivated harassment and deprivation of civil liberties. I believe it was February of 2001. For about 6 months, ending in late August of 2000, I had a crack at driving tractor-trailers across the USA east of the Mississippi and into Canada for Schneider trucking. Closest thing to legalized white slavery in America today. About a month or so before I decided trucking was not for me, I got a bogus traffic ticket from a local yokel cop from the tiny burg of Port Wentworth, GA, just over the I-95 bridge over the Savannah River. Never will forget the look on the officer’s face when I told him to tell his chief, Jimmy, that Jay said hello. He and wife, Dotty, had been insurance clients of mine. He was way more surprised when I told him I, unlike 99.9% of other truckers the little lying bastard was ripping off, would, in fact come back to court. So, a few weeks later, I did indeed show up at the municipal court in Port Wentworth where I demanded that my case be remanded to state court, because I wanted a platform to let someone know how they were preying on OTR truckers. Of course, the clerk of the P.W. court, shocked that I had demanded a remand, could not tell me a court date. Said to watch my mail. Well, a month went by, then 6 weeks. Nothing. I got on the phone to the clerk of state court in Savannah. I told the guy that I was concerned that I had not heard anything. He assured me that they were way backed up, that a delay of that length was not unusual, and to just keep watching the mail. And so, I did. Now, at that time I was working the 3-11 shift of a job in Jax. One Thursday night, my relief failed to show up. I worked a double, getting off at 0700 on a Friday. By the time I drove home, took care of some chores, and got a bite to eat, it was about noon when I hit the sack. I had not been down for 5 minutes when there came a loud knock on my door. When I opened then door (hidden behind it in my underwear), there stood a uniformed CCSO deputy with a warrant for my arrest. You guessed it – it was a warrant for my arrest for “failure to appear” in state court in Savannah the week before. I, of course, had never received anything in the mail announcing a court date. More on that later. The deputy – who had not nearly so much trouble finding me as BTW had finding his buddy, Dr. Ben Jenkins, twenty years ago – followed me back to my bedroom and watched me throw on some clothes, all the while hurrying me along. For some reason, I ended up grabbing a short sleeved cotton shirt in February – with no Tee-shirt. The officer noticed that on the back of my door, I had hanging a pistol target – one of those ones with the life sized silhouette of a thug with a pistol in his right hand. He noticed that the ten ring was virtually shot out of it. In a suddenly strikingly more friendly tone, he commented, “Hey, that’s some pretty good shooting. What do you shoot.” Caught off guard, I responded casually, “ A Paraordnance P-13 .45 – a nice gun.” Without thinking, as I was saying that, I was reaching for my pistol in my bedside stand drawer to show it to him. About halfway there, I froze. When I turned around and looked, he was stranding there with a very strange look on his face and his hand on his pistol with the holster unsnapped. That’s when it hit me that I was definitely in the hands of the old enemy. Having survived that near fatal near mistake, I was marched out to the back seat of the patrol car and hauled off down to the jail annex in Kingsland. Got there about 12:30 on a strategic Friday afternoon. Went through the usual booking procedures, which includes taking your wallet with all of your money, then had my shoes taken away and was locked into a holding cell, where the temperature had been chilled down to what felt like somewhere in the high fifties – literally. In this nearly bare cell, there was a microphone, a CCTV camera, and a telephone. I was alone in the cell. I immediately called my aunt and uncle in Savannah. Within an hour ( I verified with later calls) my bail money - $600.00, as I recall, had been received at the Western Union franchise up at Flash Foods on Harriets Bluff Road. But you know, it was the damnedest thing. In a department where everyone has a county car, no one could be spared to drive up to Harriet’s Bluff road and get the money so that I could be set free. So, by no later than 2:00 PM, all of my bail requirements had been met, if only the dirty, low down bastards would drive up there and get the money. Supper time came. I got a dry bologna sandwich and iced tea – not a lick of steak, quiche, or key lime cheesecake in sight. Right after supper, they brought in this poor black fellow who, odds on, was a schizophrenic off of his medication. By the way the staff called him by his first name and ridiculed and mocked the poor devil, I took him to be a regular. After having their thuggish fun with a poor devil that clearly should have been in route to a psychiatric facility or consultation, they locked him into the holding cell with me. Note that they put him in with a blanket around his shoulders to protect him from the cold the dirty bastards were deliberately subjecting me to. It was now the early evening of Friday. I had not slept since around noon on Thursday. I dozed off sitting bolt upright on the hard, cold concrete bench. The next thing you know, I awoke to find the clearly psychotic black prisoner standing directly in front of my face with his penis in his hand, getting ready to either urinate on me or commit sodomy. Now, remember, they are watching all of this on the monitor in the control room. My guess is that they had observed the poor devil engage in that sort of aberrant behavior during previous incarcerations. They likely put him in there in high hopes of him doing it to me. My guess is, the no good bastards probably still have the video among their favorite play list. I kept asking from time to time if they had yet been able to go to the store on Harriet’s Bluff to pick up my bail. No – they were still too busy – which they obviously were not. Then it happened, around 10:00 PM. Two of the evil bastards were out in the booking area just in front of the holding cell. Apparently, not realizing how well they could be heard in the holding cell (solid door with small, thick glass portal), one asked the other “Hey, man what’s the story on that Moreno guy – why is he still here.” The other replies, incredulously, “Oh, haven’t you heard. We’re supposed to make sure he stays in here over the weekend, then Monday, we’ll haul him up to Savannah. And that comes straight from the Big Boss, himself.” Obviously, Sheriff Bill Smith. I flew into a purple rage, cursing the low down, dirty bastards for all I was worth. I then got on the phone to my uncle again. Remember that the filthy, criminal bastards are monitoring everything I’m saying – and presumably my uncle’s end of the conversation. I told my uncle Harry what the vermin were pulling. He became highly pissed as well. I told him to get in his car, drive straight to Brunswick, meet with Judge Amanda Williams, and get a writ of habeas corpus. He said he would, immediately, and after that, he was personally driving to the jail to get some answers. We hung up. About two to three minutes later, the cell door swung open, and I was marched up to the glass window overlooking the control room. They gave me back my shoes and my wallet, but no money. When I asked how I was supposed to get home with no cash, they laughed and said that was my problem. When I asked, “What about getting my bail?”, it was, “Oh, yeah, we picked that up hours ago,” with big shit-eating grins all around. So at about 10:45 on a damned nearly freezing night in February, wearing only cotton work pants and a thin, cotton, short sleeved shirt, and not having slept in about 34 hours, I was shoved out of the door without a red cent to my name. This would be by the minions of the same son-of-a-bitch who retrieves convicted drug dealers from over 100 miles away and brings them home at county expense. But hey, he’s only a felon – not a political enemy. I had to walk all the way up to Winn Dixie, where I had to use my phone credit card to make a local call to a taxi company. From that exposure, I contracted a God-awful cold which caused me to miss work. Now, when I finally went to state court in Savannah, I first had to answer the charge of contempt of court by way of failure to appear. I told the judge the story of how I had come to acquire powerful political enemies in Camden due to my political activism and run for office, the false arrest in 1995, the abuses of BTW’s goons that Friday, and so on – much of it with printed documentation from news accounts. As to how I came not to receive the summons, I told him my theory. In a very unwise money saving move, the state court in Savannah had started using a post card style of notice – one that could be read in its entirety by everyone in the postal system who came in contact with it. I suggested that someone in the St. Marys post office made certain that I did not receive it, in eager anticipation of the grief it would surely bring me to. Why? Well, I’ll tell you why. One day, during the campaign of 1995, I stopped by St. Marys City Hall to ask then city clerk Gwen Mungin a question about campaign reporting. When I did not find her in her office, I went to the front desk to inquire as to her whereabouts. While I was waiting to be acknowledged, I observed a city employee, on the city clock, brazenly stuffing envelopes with Councilman Kyle Lewis’ campaign literature, I further noticed that they were being mailed in envelopes with the postage imprint of some non-profit organization. I quickly wrote down the identifying number assigned to that one particular organization. When I went to the St. Marys Postmaster and asked him, in person, to reveal the owner of that number, he refused, citing privacy concerns. With the help of a reporter friend, who gave me a copy of a booklet on everything you every wanted to know about freedom of information requests, I drafted one properly and returned to the postmaster. He VERY grudgingly an angrily revealed that it was none other than the good ol’ boys of the St. Marys Kiwanis Club – a political action committee flying false colors. So, was I surprised that someone purloined my notice to appear – not a bit. The judge obviously believed me. Not only did he dismiss the failure to appear charge, but, in an extraordinary gesture, he said that, in so far as it was in his power to do so, he would like to officially apologize for all I had gone through on behalf of the State of Georgia. Then, we got to the matter of the traffic ticket. Well, it turns out that the little weasel had been found out. The officer who wrote the ticket had simply failed to show up for work one day, left no forwarding address, and could not be found, despite the DA’s best efforts. My case, and all pending cases written by the weasel were dismissed. The judge dismissed my case with a second apology. So, decent, law-abiding Ladies and Gentlemen, once again, what say you: is that an arrest I should be ashamed of? Do my experiences related here ( may God strike me dead if they are not all true exactly as I have related them) leave you more or less inclined to return William E. Smith to the office of sheriff in ’08?"

Vox Populi

Folks, every day, when I check out my hometown newspaper, the Savannah Morning News, I always look forward to reading a feature the call "Vox Populi," Latin for "Voice of the People." Here's a link so that you can get the feel of it. http://savannahnow.com/node/457280 I thought that this might be a good spot for similar terse observations upon whatever is on your mind. Comments certainly do not have to be limited to Camden goings on, though no doubt most will be. Have at it.

Drycleaning crisis finally exposed on Topix Kingsland

Well, it's good to see that some good has come of the total cessation of any discussion of the malfeasance in office of Sheriff Bill Smith. Now, the forum has been freed up to deal with the issues that really matter to the people of Camden County. Here's an example - a new thread on the scandalous lack of good drycleaning establishments in the county. Dry cleaners in Camden Posted in the Kingsland Forum Comments Showing posts 1 - 3 of 3 the concerned citizen Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse #1 12 hrs ago Just picked up some clothes from Bubbles and they stunk, not to mention took a week to come back. Do I have to go to Jacksonville to get decent service? Pokieman Kingsland, GA Reply » Report Abuse #2 10 hrs ago Dear sir; I must agree with you as. Where can you get good , fast service in this field? My wife and I are both white collar workers and spend a sizable chunk of change on dry cleaning per month. To our shock and dismay, many times buttons are missing, more wrinkles are present , and new spots appear , so severe that the owner bought a brand new pair of slacks for my wife. I gather everyone makes mistakes ,so who has the best rep. and service , locally, in your opinion? an intrested citizens Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse #3 10 hrs ago I wouild like to see another dry cleaners here in St, Marys and have it close by / competion is what makes a business keep on its toes, Showing posts 1 - 3 of 3 Yes, folks the new TOPIX has been purged and sanitized for your protection. Fascinating, ain't it?

Jonathan Maziarz: Victim No. 2 of the BTW purge?

About 12 minutes ago, this was posted on the skeletal remains of Topix Kingsland. What about this Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse #1 9 min ago "Johnathan Mariaz just got fired from the Tribune & Georgian. I am particularly SAD to hear this news because he is one of the only people that have stood for truth, honesty and integrity in reporting the news. Just because he informs the community of legislative issues that we need to be made AWARE of is no reason to fired him because the elected can’t stand the pressure. Clean the slate in 08.I for one will miss his editorials." Not wanting to jump the gun, I called the T&G and talked to the publisher, Alan NeSmith, son of the chain's owner, "Dink" NeSmith. All he would say - tersely - was that Jonathan was no longer with the newspaper. I fully concurr with the sentiments expressed by "What about this" on Topix Kingsland. Jonathan's views on social isuues and the environment might have been a litttle - actually a lot - to the left of prevailing sentiments in our area, but I always took comfort in the old addage that "When you're 25, if you're not a liberal, you have no heart; when you're 45, if you're not a conservative, you have no brain." He had time to grow. But with regards to holding elected officials' feet to the fire, he was far and away the best editor the T&G has had since I moved here in August of '93. I'm sure that he will be re-employed just as soon as he wants to be - and hopefully as an editor with a better paycheck. I really do regret the community's loss and wish him, his wife, Marco, and the wild weiner dog the best. So - and no, I'm not likening myself to a newspaper editor - but it is intersting that in the span of about a week, they silenced me (or so they thought), and got Jonathan fired. Did anyone notice that Gordon Jackson's byline was not on the Cisco story in this morning's GTU? Let's hope that Gordon has the flu or is on vacation. They took a shot at him as one of The Cumberland Three - and missed. You can be sure that he is still high on the hit list. They are trying their damnedest to intimidate Rick Rogers into silence, but it is not working. The BTW bear is severely wounded. A wounded bear bears watching. Let's hope the federal grand jury puts the bear down once and for all. 30 - 45 minutes later: I've been thinking about this. If I recall correctly, the very last of Jonathan's opinion pieces was the one where he commented upon the phenomenal growth of blogs; their impact on politicis nationally; and, finally, commended his readers to Rick Roger's blog. Was he fired because of that or did he know the firing was coming and published that as a means of allowing his readers to continue to get the true scoop on Smith's mis-and malfeasance and criminality in office? I note also that Jonathan's name appears nowhere in today's hard copy of the T&G. I further note that the Topix poster said this morning that he "just got fired." I wonder if Jonathan first knew that he was fired when he noticed his name (and perhaps an opinion piece) were not in today's paper. That would be a real class act, wouldn't it? UPDATE: 03/06/08 @ 1055 HRS. Today, on his blog, (http://www.camdenganews.com/blog/) Sandy Feller suggested an effort to convince the T&G publisher, Alan NeSmith, to re-hire Jonathan Maziarz as editor. Should you wish to participate in such an effort, here, from the T&G online, are their contact points: By telephone (912) 882-4927 By fax (912) 882-6519 By mail P.O. Box 470, St. Marys, GA 31558 By e-mail Publisher: anesmith@tds.net

Cisco, Meet Rico.

Well, I see where a judge has frozen all assets of one Fairley Cisco as well as those of the successor owners. Here's the GTU article: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/030508/geo_253977052.shtml Looks like the possible -who are we kidding - probable - indictments will be a Cisco family affair. I particularly noted the fact that the judge had better sense than to instruct BTW to deliver the notices of the freezes on assets. He cut BTW out of the loop and assigned that task to the GBI from the get-go. Smart move. We shall see.

Seen Around Camden

03/04/08 While on my way home from Brunswick this afternoon (no new skin cancers - sorry), I crossed the I-95 S bridge over the tail end of Crooked River. Parked there on the southbound side, well off the pavement and onto the grass, with its bumper about touching the concrete bridge rail, was a red, civilian pickup truck with Camden plates. Could not see the driver, who was no doubt down at the edge of the creek seeing if perhaps some redfish had mosied that far west. Now, back in my fishing days, I might very well have succumbed to that same curiosity, were it not for the sure and certain knowledge that I would have gotten a ticket. But, no such worries for the driver of that truck. I had no sooner deduced why the truck was there than I realized that there was not a ghost of a chance in hell the driver would even be disturbed, much less ticketed. Who can tell me how I knew that? By the way, I'll come back to this post from time to time to post more dated "sightings." You might want to check it now and again. If you folks see anything suspicious, curious, humorous, tragic, or otherwise interesting here in Camden, post it here in "commments."