The View From The Cheap Seats
By Jerry Haferkamp
Hey, Stupid. Listen up! I’m trying to sell something here!
That should have been the header of Ed Watkins’ egotorial in the latest issue of the Non-Citizen. All who read it should be aware the next step in logical progression would be for him to try to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn or oceanfront lots in Arizona. Be on your guard. He obviously thinks you’re stupid.
The only sentence that isn’t arguable is his first sentence. “The 350 voters that elected Dottie Greer in 2004 got much more than they voted for.” I couldn’t agree more. After that sentence, the spin is so bad that I think I heard the tornado sirens going off.
He spins that Greer switched positions on the fireworks issue. Not true. After her attempt to ban the sale of fireworks failed she introduced legislation that restricted their use, called for increased enforcement and provided funds for that enforcement coming from the sellers of the fireworks. It worked well. The failed attempt to ban the sale and the subsequent tougher enforcement of their use were both in the best interests of our citizens’ safety
He spins that she helped lead “nasty” campaigns against two “respected” developers. Both of these “respected” developers wanted to annex into the city without adequately addressing the creek stabilization in their respective developments. One had enough influence on a State Rep to have a special law that applies only to him help force the city to hook up his sewers to our overcrowded Mississippi treatment plant. This plant now has a committed 97% of its capacity. If a developer inside our city needs to hook up, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources would have concerns and would become involved. Development inside our city was sacrificed to take care of a developer outside our city. Besides, our city is spending hundreds of thousands to stabilize creek banks already in our city. Why should we subject our taxpayers to more of this?
He spins that she voted to “kick” the mayor off the dais. (What a great mental picture, especially the “kick” part) Why didn’t he spin that the mayor thought it a good idea when she had her rubber stamp, no concern for the residents council? In the same paragraph he attacks Greer for telling the Beautification Committee that if they continue to violate the law as they apparently did in the past, she would take the appropriate action. In past egotorials, Ed claimed the committee members “resigned en masse”. Only two who apparently didn’t like to obey the law resigned. Volunteers or not, the laws should be followed.
He spins that Greer flip-flopped when she voted to have our former City Administrator Williams removed from his office after voting previously to hire him (in fact Mrs. Greer was a desenting vote). The facts are that Williams hadn’t fulfilled the provisions of his contract prior to the expiration of his contract. When he no longer had a contract with the city (and still doesn’t) he refused to vacate the offices he was using. Of course, that is when a contract was a contract and a man’s word was his bond. A judge recently ruled that contracts aren’t contracts, and seemingly Williams’ word means nothing to a man of his character, or lack thereof.
Eddie’s halo done slipped off his noggin. There are 10 commandments, not nine. He keeps forgetting the one about “Thou shalt not bear false witness”. That means don’t lie. Somebody, look it up for him.
If I had more space, I would decipher Kenny’s rant in the box above Eddie’s. I did go back and read the past two issues of the FCN and the only mention of the former mayors was praise for them in Riddler’s column and a small mention in this column. They weren’t “vilified” anywhere. In the spirit of equal time in this column, if I comment any more on Kenny today I would have to comment every time I pass a barnyard and heard a certain beast of burden bray.
The Non-Citizen should start using spell check. In big red letters on the front of the political ad rag there is an error. There is no “r” in fiend. According to sworn deposition, this same f( r )iend submitted petitions that she knew were fraudulent. Isn’t that fraud? I think that if I submitted a check to my bank that I knew was fraudulent, I would be just as responsible as the person who wrote the fraudulent check. I think Banas won’t touch those who are directly responsible for submitting fraudulent documents to help their cause.
Of course, that’s just the view from the cheap seats.
Will ward seven voters support our residents and Dottie Greer, or will they support fraud?
Tell the power brokers and the Non-Citizen that you aren’t stupid!
Say “NO’ to fraud and deception! Vote to retain Dottie Greer!