I’ve taken some heat since I started this little social experiment.

People “in the know” who toil in the Halls of Power and boardrooms throughout Volusia County tell me of the comments, the tantrums, and the strange angst that these goofy opinion pieces bring to some of Volusia’s “Rich and Powerful.”

Friends tell me of the side-ways glances and open hostility that can come from merely mentioning the fact they read Barker’s View – or, God forbid, agree with some of these weird screeds – others change the topic or refuse to mention the blog at all.

Some have “unfriended” me altogether.

That’s to be expected, I guess, and after 31-years in law enforcement I’ve grown some hard bark – not easily offended.  Truth be told, I like the feud that naturally results from confronting an entrenched power structure when they’re wrong.

There was a time when the competition of ideas and a free, transparent debate of the issues of the day was the foundation upon which sound public policy was built.  Not anymore.

Now, our guiding principles of governance are most often formulated by those who can pay-to-play.

The premise of an alternative opinion forum is that not everyone will agree on every issue.

As the author, my role is to float a notion – generally something that effects all of us – and allow you, the reader, to think critically, independently analyze the information, consider the point-of-view, form your own unique assessment and further the discussion.

People and organizations that agree on everything tend to be more of a dull mutual admiration society, a government agency controlled by a megalomaniac shitheel who suppresses dissenting opinions as a matter of internal policy, or the CEO Business Alliance of Volusia County.

I believe that the beauty – and relevance – of Barker’s View is that it remains one of the few outlets on the Fun Coast where we can discuss and debate the issues of the day, agree to disagree, and remain friends and neighbors.

What I find unfortunate, although not unexpected, is how those in positions of power and influence will invariably attempt to marginalize and silence opposing viewpoints as an effective means of protecting the status quo.

The oligarchical system that passes for governance in Volusia County – to include the various fraternities and societies where power goes to be among like-types – requires that communications be limited to trusted parties.

Any public statement must focus exclusively on the positive – accentuating only that which lends credence to the optimistic smokescreen that helps keep those of us who pay the bills in the dark – even as the stark reality of our collective situation festers around us.

It’s why our elected officials on the Volusia County Council are so often exposed as uninformed churls – figureheads who are fed a steady diet of bullshit and indoctrinated in the imperative of towing the official line, eschewing even the appearance of independence, and – above all else –  always facilitating the wants of those influential powerbrokers who hold the paper on their political lives.

Sad, really.

Trust me – I sincerely appreciate your comments and dialog on social media and off-line – even when that criticism is pointed, harsh and personal.  I subscribe to the maxim that he who seeks the truth should give no mercy – and expect none.

For the record, my working theory is that if you are one of the ‘movers-and-shakers’ or ‘high panjandrums of political power’ I bitch about who put self-enrichment above the civic needs of your constituents and I call you a mendacious asshole – I just naturally assume you feel the same about me.

There now.  That’s something we can all agree on!

I recently read the incredibly interesting – and telling – piece in Sunday’s Daytona Beach News-Journal, penned by the outstanding tag team of Seth Robbins and Eileen Zaffiro-Kean, aptly entitled – “The Project is Real.”

Anyone who has driven down A-1-A recently has seen the gash in the sand that we are told will be the foundation of the towering twin-spires of the Daytona Beach Convention Hotel & Condominiums – a $185 million beachfront monstrosity that is being constructed by Russian developer Alexey Lysich’s Protogroup.

The ground has been cleared and the pilings driven into place – the foundation of this spectacular new addition is ready to go – and everything is in place.

Except the financing.

In typical Halifax area style, the public has been given a glimpse of some extraordinarily beautiful architectural renderings – complete with pixilated little cars and happy shadow people frolicking about – and our hopes have been buoyed by some preliminary construction activity at the site and a parking garage.

Unfortunately, Protogroup has yet to secure the cash necessary to see the project out of the ground.  It’s admirable that Lysich and family have dropped some serious personal coin on the project – but, frankly, we’ve heard it all before.

You may remember that chilly night back in January 2014 when, as the News-Journal described the scene, “200 local power brokers sipping cocktails and gazing into glass cases that held Jim Morrison’s jacket and Duane Allman’s guitar gathered to celebrate the kickoff of condo sales for the planned Hard Rock Hotel and Cafe on the oceanfront.” 

I sure do.

Anyone who was anyone was urinating all over themselves in a fit of excited incontinence over the latest, greatest “panacea project” that was going to save all of us from this festering blight and neglect that is destroying our quality of life and hampering any real economic development.

To ensure the project, J. Hyatt Brown let his hired hands on the Volusia County Council know just how much he supported the removal of beach driving from the strand behind the “Hard Rock” as an incentive for the development (take a guess how they voted?).      

Then, just two-years later, we were all being dressed-down on the front page of the paper by a dejected Henry Wolfond – the Canadian developer who blamed his abject failure on everything except his twisted business model of charging Palm Beach condo and hotel prices in a Hooterville market.

Now, former Mayor Glenn Ritchey – who apparently negotiated the project with the Russians way back when – is once again firing up the Allstar Goodtime Band and playing a rosy tune for all of us skeptical rubes who can’t seem to recognize a good thing when we see it:

“We’re riding the crest of a wave of good things in our community,” Ritchey said.  “Just seeing (construction) cranes creates an air of positivity.”

Hell yeah, Glenn!  I can feel it deep down in my loins!

Excitement is in the air again!  Again.

Unfortunately, the recent News-Journal piece also exposed some potentially uncomfortable information that was found during a review of the “Panama Papers” – leaked documents that contain personal financial information regarding the offshore bank accounts of uber-wealthy individuals and public officials from around the globe.

Although offshore business entities and banking is legal where permitted – from the “who’d a thunk it” file – some shell corporations and offshore accounts are used for fraud, tax evasion, and the avoidance of international sanctions.

Really.  I’m not making that up.

Apparently – according to the Panama Papers – a guy by the name of Alexey Lysich of St. Petersburg, Russia is associated with an offshore bank account in the Seychelles.

In his defense, Lysich told the News-Journal he – “doesn’t think its him” – and assured us all that neither he, nor his family, has any connection to the Russian government.

After all, “Money is money” Lysich said.

He’s right.  It is.

But – call me crazy – I just like to know the origin and security of it before I get overly excited about the “next big thing” on the long-suffering beachside.

Look, I wish Mr. Lysich well – and I hope his mega-project does everything for Daytona Beach that Mayor Ritchey promises it will – but we’ve been fooled before – and I’m not sure we can afford another boondoggle on the beach.

During my working years I tried to keep an equal “work/life” balance.

Fact is – I failed miserably.

Most people like to think they follow the “work hard/play hard” manifesto, but most of us put our nose to the grindstone and pick our head up 30 or 40-years later wondering where the time went.

I know I did.

After all, putting food on the table, paying the mortgage and providing a reasonably comfortable life for your family takes precedence over leisure and recreation.

Now that I have “time on my hands” – I truly see the value of leisure travel, taking in new things and experiencing unique places – to a balanced life.  Perhaps more important, getting away from the day-to-day allows us to “recharge,” clear our hearts and minds of extraneous twaddle, and invigorate ourselves for what comes next.

Most of all, even short trips from home give us new opportunities to learn something we didn’t know before the journey.

Last week, I took a few days away to drive my 82-year old (going on 28-year old) mom to her summer home in the Holston Valley of east Tennessee.  We packed up her shiny black Ford F-150 Harley Davidson Edition pickup truck (seriously, she’s 82 – five-foot nothing – and drives a Harley truck), along with my niece and nephew, then set out on the open road.

For the next four days, I took in the sights and sounds of Jonesborough, Tennessee – the oldest city in the state – and home to the International Storytelling Center.

While strolling around the quaint town square and spending a few minutes at the Center, I learned that regardless of how sophisticated the culture, historians and sociologists agree that storytelling is our most powerful tool for effective communication.

According to the storyteller’s ethos, “Each of us has the power to tap into our stories, our narrative assets, to become better communicators – to entertain, to share our history and culture, to spread knowledge, to persuade, to advance a cause, to teach, to dream a vision of the future.”

It’s true.  No matter how advanced the medium of transmission – the fact is, storytelling is still how we communicate our thoughts, opinions and experiences as a community.  Be it online newspaper, satellite radio, podcasts or internet blogs like Barker’s View – we can empower, enrich and inspire others through our unique experiences and take on the events of the day simply by the stories we tell.

When I returned home, I took a few minutes to catch up on the news of the day – the topical stories from here on the Fun Coast.

Wow – what a week it was.

From news that the Forbes-listed France family of billionaires – d/b/a NASCAR, Daytona International Speedway and International Speedway Corporation – dug around the couch cushions and found $5,000 from each business entity to contribute to the new homeless shelter – to the mysterious mid-stream resignation of Halifax Urban Ministries Director Mark Geallis, deepening concerns about Bethune-Cookman University’s finances, and the murky dealings of a Russian developer building a $185 million dollar condominium/hotel project on the beach who “doesn’t think” he’s associated with an off-shore bank account in the Seychelles – then reassured everyone with the quip, “money is money” – these were some interesting stories indeed.

But what caught my eye was a recent yarn spun by Dustin Wyatt in the Daytona Beach News-Journal entitled, “Beach advocates question parking policy at new lot.”

Look, everyone is aware that the Volusia County Council – through the machinations of County Manager Jim Dinneen – have done everything humanly and governmentally possible to ensure that Summit Hospitality receives a private, traffic-free beach behind it’s languishing multi-year renovation of the former Desert Inn – a project which (we’re told) is set to become a “Hard Rock” hotel sometime in the next decade.

The assurance was that the strand behind the Desert Inn/Westin/Hard Rock would remain open for beach driving, parking and public use until the hotel opens for business.

Right? 

I mean, that was the deal, right?

As part of the original “deal,” Summit agreed to sell a parcel of land south of the hotel to Volusia County for off-beach parking.  (Why our elected and appointed officials didn’t demand the land transfer as part of the gifting of our heritage of beach driving is – like most things – over my head.)

We were then told County government gave Summit $1.8 million of our tax dollars to purchase the lot – then poured on another $774,635 of public funds to pave a 100-space parking lot (?).

Nearly simultaneous to the grand opening of the off-beach lot – our elected and appointed officials placed a series of hideous lime-green traffic cones emblazoned “No Parking” along the beach directly behind the equally hideous Desert Inn.

Why?  Because they can.

You see, in 2012 the Volusia County Council approved something called a “beach services model” – a power grab cloaked in the always effective “safety and aesthetics” argument – that allowed county officials to arbitrarily remove cars from “major off-beach parking lots and parks.”

Still, this doesn’t adequately explain why Volusia County developed a no parking area on the beach behind the still-under-construction Hard Rock?

That wasn’t part of the “deal” they made with us guileless peons and desperate rubes who double as taxpayers, was it?

According to Ray Manchester – Director of Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue, and latest county employee to communicate beach policy to the public – let us know that “hundreds” of people (including, of course, “families with children”) have been attracted to the space behind the Desert Inn like moths to flame by the new parking lot.

“This was done (no-parking signage) to provide users of these parks clear access to the beach and the ocean without having to navigate between parked cars and moving traffic.  This no-parking zone doubles as an extension of the park and provides a car-free area where the public can set up for the day safely above the tide line and traffic lane.”

Yeah.  But that wasn’t part of the “deal,” Ray?

The fact is – there aren’t “hundreds” of people on the sand behind the Desert Inn – on the day the News-Journal dropped by, there was one old dude in white socks and sandals squatting on a beach chair and prattling about non-existent kids running into traffic from a non-existent “hotel” that has been under endless renovation for the past two-years.

What gives?

This latest power-play once again demonstrates that Volusia County will openly reverse policy – and shamelessly break promises to constituents – simply to flex their muscles and demonstrate the level of power and influence they have over beach use and access.

Anyone who still believes that our elected and appointed officials in Deland have our best interests at heart is delusional – they are gutless liars – and this latest bald-faced bait-and-switch is indicative of the level to which county government will stoop to ensure that We, The People, remain subservient to their capricious whims – and a distant second to the self-serving needs and wants of speculative developers with a constant hunger for public funds and private beaches.

Stories don’t always have a happy ending – and sometimes they can be downright depressing.

But, hey, like our latest benefactor said – money is money – right?

“But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.  Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner room will be proclaimed upon the housetops.”

–Luke 12:2-3

Even though I am an ordained minister I do not consider myself an overtly “religious” sort.  (www.ulc.org)

More spiritual, I suppose.

As a Man of the cloth and a True Believer, I say my prayers, seek the truth, hope for the best, and on stormy nights I like to take up the Bible and read aloud by the flash of lightening from the Book of Revelations – a downright terrifying, yet exhilarating, account of how this all will end – which, for most of us unrepentant sinners – involves being cast alive – screaming and flailing and demanding to speak to our attorney (who is, no doubt, right behind us in line) – into a fiery lake of boiling Sulphur.

If you’re a politician who routinely violates the public trust, and puts self-promotion and enrichment over the greater civic needs of your constituents – or if you pass time as a pack-a-day, besotted, foul-mouthed opinion blogger with no social grace – you better get your asbestos swim trunks on – you’re gonna need ‘em.

Heavy shit, man.

Another thing I take heart in is the comforting assurances found in scripture which tell us that all things will be revealed in time – what is whispered in the dark and slippery places will eventually be heard in the bright light of day.

Maybe right here on the often prophetic Barker’s View, eh?

This morning I read an interesting piece in the Daytona Beach News-Journal entitled, “Volusia sales tax survey advances – Private funds to pay for effort to gauge public support for increase.”

I don’t know about you, but whenever I read the words “tax” and “private funds” in the same lede, a foreboding sense of dread washes over me, accompanied by a clammy sweat, hand tremors and a metallic taste in my mouth – like biting into a dry cell battery.

According to the News-Journal, the auspicious CEO Business Alliance of Volusia County – a millionaire Star Chamber under the current leadership of the resurrected Dr. Kent Sharples (formerly of Daytona State College) – has hired Tallahassee-based Clearview Research to conduct a study gauging public support for the proposed half-penny sales tax increase – funds ostensibly to be used for transportation, and now, “other infrastructure” improvements.

Being the suspicious asshole that I am – after reading between the lines of the article, I came away with two immediate impressions:

1.)  The fix is in.

When you pay a pollster with private funds – the results of any study, regardless of how scientific or unbiased they may be – will forever be tarnished by the fact that the poll was taken by a private company in the paid employ of those who stand to benefit most from the results.

2.) Once again, the oligarchical fraternity that is the CEO Business Alliance of Volusia County is overtly protecting its private interests and investments by insinuating themselves into a very public – and very political – process.

“Mark – you conspiratorial turd – these guys just want to help!  How in the hell could these rich folks possibly benefit from public transportation infrastructure funds?” 

 Well, let’s have a look-see.

Earlier this year, work was completed on the Williamson Boulevard extension – funded with $15.8 million of our tax dollars – which directly served the needs of Mori Hosseini, the High Panjandrum of Volusia Politics and president of ICI Homes, who just happens to be building his swansong development – Woodhaven – which includes 1,300 homes and 400 apartment-townhouse units on 762 acres west of Interstate 95 and straddling 2.6 miles of the Williamson extension we paid for between Airport Road and Pioneer Trail.

Yep.  A while back, Volusia County entered a “partnership” with the Florida Department of Transportation, the City of Port Orange, and a quasi-governmental agency called a “community development district” which was set up through ICI Homes and the property owner – Mori Hosseini.

$15.8 million tax dollars.

That’s a lot of cheese – especially when our elected and appointed officials are crying poormouth over shrinking infrastructure funds, telling scary stories of $1.5 billion in current needs, and painting a picture of the apocalypse if We, The People fail to approve a one-cent sales tax increase – even as they continue to rubber stamp mega-developments from Farmton to the Flagler County line.

Now, something called the Volusia Roundtable of Elected Officials – a political insulator and groupthink tank – comprised of municipal mayors and managers which will ultimately be responsible for divvying up the cash – hopes to learn the following from the privately funded survey of some 600 Volusia County residents:

Will the public support a sales tax?

Will voters support a tax for water infrastructure or will it be for transportation only?

Is a half-cent or full-cent tax hike necessary?

Will it be better to place the question on a primary or general election ballot?

Look, I’m not some weird Cassadaga soothsayer – and I don’t have the mystic ability to read minds – but I can tell you right now how this dubious “study” is going to play out:

The News-Journal defined Rich and Powerful – the influential power brokers who rule their environment and ensure their financial interests by controlling what passes for local governance – will see to it that the “public” WILL support a one-cent sales tax – funds which will ultimately be used to provide transportation and utilities infrastructure for whatever project or development provides the most return on their investment.

If you think for one minute that the Volusia CEO Business Alliance is ponying up funds to a private research firm because they are looking to lighten the load on the taxpayer and protect your interests and mine – wake up and get your head in the game.

As I have written before, the good citizens of Volusia County have seen firsthand the inability of our elected and appointed officials to live within their means.

They have witnessed the mismanagement, the exorbitant executive salaries, raises and gold-plated benefit packages for County Manager Jim Dinneen and the county attorney, the “Taj Mahal” construction projects, the half-price sale of public lands to private interests, the dubious “economic incentives” and cash giveaways, and the County Council’s almost supernatural ability to fund every pet project, infrastructure improvement and private venture of these uber-wealthy political insiders.

My hope is that all 600 survey respondents remember these ugly and continuing insults to our collective well-being when answering on behalf of the other 507,000 of us.

Yeah.  Right.

(PS – Barker’s View will be on-the-road this week!  Please join me again next week for my twisted take on the news and newsmakers that effect our lives and livelihoods here on the Fun Coast!  Stay cool my friends – see you in a few days!)

Through the years, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in New Orleans – the Big Easy – perhaps the most enchanting, yet enervating, city in the world.

In fact, my wife and I were married there – on the muddy, swift-moving Mississippi River aboard the authentic Paddlewheeler Creole Queen – amid the chaos, craziness and incredible pageantry of Mardi Gras.

I have seen New Orleans at her best – and at its worst – and have grown to love it, warts and all.

Despite the spectacular beauty, antebellum charm and almost electric energy of the City that Care Forgot – there has always been an element of real danger – there were 424 murders in Orleans Parish the year we were married (one shooting occurred within 25-yards of us) – and there is an overriding sense that it is a place that doesn’t suffer fools.

For instance, one of the first things an uninitiated tourist learns is – when a stranger with a cigarette tucked behind one ear and a pint of warm gin loitering on any corner of Bourbon Street challenges, “I’ll bet I can tell where you got them shoes, and what street you got them on!” – it’s best to keep walking.

You know the scam, after the rube accepts the bet – the street hustler quickly exclaims, “You got your shoes on your feet, and you’ve got them on Bourbon Street.”

Don’t argue – just pay the man the $10 you owe him. . .

If you’re brave enough (preferably in a group) and you amble into areas outside the French Quarter, you may come upon a guy in a ratty pinstripe suit with slicked-back hair tucked up under a dirty fedora, gathering a crowd for the shell game.

The idea of the sport is simple –  a pea is placed under one of three identical walnut shells, and you simply try to keep track of it while the shells are quickly rearranged.

Usually, there is one guy in the crowd laughing about how bad the hustler is – while another keeps ambling up and placing $100 bets – winning about half the time.

Members of the audience are persuaded to place bets and guess which shell the pea is under – and a player might even win a few bucks.  For a while, anyway.

Then, the grifter will draw the lucky player in ever closer – usually with the help of an encouraging shill working the audience – then rapidly increase the amount of the wager – even allowing the person to place his or her finger on top of the walnut to secure the pea under the exact shell everyone in the crowd saw it placed.

Using wizard-like slight-of-hand, the shark will quickly fleece the unsuspecting dupe – always with a very polished “Awwww, that’s too bad” mock pity – while raking in money hand-over-fist all night long.

It always amazes me that otherwise intelligent people will keep believing, trusting their eyes and failed instincts, even when it becomes apparent they’re being scammed.

You see, a good hustler knows that with the right prompting most people will respond in predictable ways.  Unless you’re the one being hustled – it’s an amazing thing to watch.

I was reminded of this recently when I read the bold headline (frontpage/above the fold) in the Daytona Beach News-Journal entitled, “Rides to the Rescue,” touting the return of carnival rides to the scuzzy wasteland that is the Boardwalk.

“It’s great,” city Redevelopment Director Reed Berger said when he heard about the new rides.

 “This is what we were looking for.  It’s something to do on the Boardwalk.”

 Great.  Yeah.  But why the surprise, Reed?

According to the News-Journal, about a month ago, Berger – perhaps the most ineffective redevelopment official in the history of that dubious trade – entered talks with a South Florida amusement company – Hildebrand Rides – who originally planned to set up Spiders, Twisters, and Rocket Flyers in downtown Riverfront Park this summer.

Apparently, the company works the fall and winter county fair and festival circuit (although the event schedule on their website hasn’t been updated since 2012) and, one assumes from the reporting, that they are looking for a convenient place to set-up shop for the summer months.

Berger convinced the amusement operator to erect a few rides at the Boardwalk instead.

“This is where we needed a catalyst to get that place cleaned up,” Berger said. “The timing all worked out.”

Well, that – and the unmistakable fact that some 10,000 Shriners and their families are breathing down the city’s neck, preparing to flock into town in the next few weeks only to be greeted by the abject squalor, malignant blight and horrific dilapidation that was well documented in a recent photographic tableau on this blogsite – and within clear and open view of anyone who goes anywhere near our core tourist area.

Christ.  How fucking stupid does Mr. Berger think we are?

Please – stop pissing down our backs and blaming it on rain.

It is patently clear to me that the Chamber of Commerce set – and their redundant cronies in the various “convention and visitors bureaus” – who threw off the traces of ethical and moral conduct when they actively courted and encouraged Shriners International to hold their Imperial Session in Daytona Beach – a place hardly ready for primetime, large scale conventions – are getting nervous.

Look, it took a $24,294.25 taxpayer funded bar tab to get it done – but they did it.

Now, just days before tens of thousands show up to be entertained, Reed Berger and company finally get off their numb asses and throw a strategic coat of paint around, sweep some sand under the rug, and haul in a few midway rides to cover up the godforsaken mess that is the storied ruins of our Boardwalk.

Graciously, the “E-Zone’s” benevolent dictator – George Anderson – has entered a short-term “deal” with Hildebrand Rides.

If history holds, Mr. Hildebrand might be in for a ride more terrifying than any Tilt-a-Whirl in his inventory.

“We haven’t talked about anything beyond this summer,” Anderson said in the News-Journal.

Of course they haven’t.  It is what it is.

Eyewash.

A short-term – clumsy sleight-of-hand – designed to put something, anything, in that festering hole in the heart of the only tourist draw on the World’s Most Famous Beach.

I mean, after you’ve taken the wife and kids to the incredibly engaging, always entertaining, Main Street district – or fought off roving bands of aggressive panhandlers for the umpteenth time near the Bandshell – you simply must enjoy the unique sights, sounds and smells of the Boardwalk on a humid Daytona Beach evening.

Right?

Our tourist and redevelopment officials are beginning to get queasy – and their fear is palpable.

As I’ve said before, I’m no marketing strategist – but even a rube like me can understand the impact of negative word-of-mouth by 10,000 victims of a bait-and-switch scam on future convention and tourism business.

And this ham-handed attempt to quickly spruce-things-up on the virtual eve of a mega-convention – while attempting to convince long-suffering residents that a few temporary carnival rides represent a renaissance – is just mean-spirited and unconscionably wrong.

Too little.  Too late.

Like I said, it always amazes me that otherwise intelligent people will keep believing, trusting their eyes and failed instincts, even when it becomes apparent they’re being scammed.

Awwww, that’s too bad. . .

I don’t know about you, but the near constant lecture of citizens by members of the media on the importance of civility in the local and national discourse is wearing thin.

Maybe it’s a sensitive point for me because I write a goofy personal opinion blog focusing on regional politics – and, I admit, I can often resort to salty language or tongue-in-cheek anecdotes to describe my thoughts on the machinations of the local ruling class.

But this ‘do as I say, not as I do’ scolding by print and electronic media outlets in the aftermath of the horrific shooting of a Republican member of Congress and others by a politically obsessed madman in Alexandria, Virginia is, in my view, the epitome of hypocrisy.

In his recent opinion piece, “When political nastiness turns violent,” Pat Rice, the editor of the Daytona Beach News-Journal, wrote:

“These are strange times. Even in local debates about friction-point issues like beach driving or homelessness, it’s become OK to demonize the opposition. What happened to the notion that there can be more than one reasonable point of view?”

He went on to say that in the age of social media, “Anyone with a laptop and time to kill can spread vicious lies.”

What Mr. Rice failed to mention with sufficient emphasis is that news outlets who buy ink by the barrel – or those with 24-hour televised and online access to millions of Americans – can spread some wildly venomous lies as well.

Earlier this year, the internationally respected public opinion pollster Gallup reported in its annual confidence poll that Americans’ trust in the “establishment” media reached its historical nadir with only 32% of consumers stating they have a “great deal or fair amount of trust” in their news sources.

And this growing distrust wasn’t simply an off-shoot of the still highly contentious 2016 presidential election – cynicism, mistrust and wary skepticism of mass reporting has been free-falling for the past 20-years.

As a result, citizens are increasingly turning to alternative sources of news and opinion, even as the tone of our political discourse continues to reach new lows.

Perhaps there’s a connection?

In fact, to my complete surprise, Barker’s View has – as of today – received 90,279 views in just eighteen months, with hundreds searching and reading these screeds daily.

Clearly, the growing popularity of this site has nothing to do with the richness of my writing – or the depth of my intellectual analysis of the news and newsmakers of the day.

Not by a long shot.

Perhaps blogsites like Barker’s View provide a constructive source for the many in Volusia County who are thirsty for an alternative to the regurgitated corporate/government press releases, marketing spin and carefully crafted sound bites that attempt to paint an artificially bright picture of life on the Fun Coast – something that is completely counter to the abject reality of our day-to-day lives in the Halifax area?

Look, if my posts sometimes seem mean-spirited, even hostile towards our elected elite, it is born from the frustration of watching our system of governance co-opted by uber-wealthy power brokers and their store-bought politicians who consistently ignore the will and needs of their constituents.

Who said We, The People are simply supposed to shut up and quietly take what we are handed in the interest of political courtesy?

I cannot think of anything more profane, perverse or anti-American than that.

In short, I – and others like me – are tired of being lied to, ignored and marginalized by the very people we elected to represent our best interests and serve as stewards of our hard-earned tax dollars.

And we will not remain silent.

In my view, our system of governance thrives and does its best work in an atmosphere of robust and spirited debate of the important issues of the day – in fact, it demands it.

A healthy democracy requires the competition of ideas – something that can only happen in a place that values transparency, personal freedom, and the honest exchange of ideas.

Even when that discussion involves concepts that make self-serving politicians and powerful appointed officials uncomfortable.

I like Pat Rice.

In my view, he is a caring and professional newspaperman who has gone the extra mile to ensure that the News-Journal takes the thoughts and suggestions of the people it serves to heart.

Mr. Rice is also busy juggling the incredibly harsh realities of publishing a daily paper in the digital age – a time when the business of news is almost universally controlled by mega-conglomerates with overt political slants –and the non-stop fight to squeeze a profit is reflected in continuing staff reductions and the painful cost saving measures of out-of-state editing, proofing and printing that is ruining the product.

It’s a hard dollar.  I get it.

Interestingly, in his opinion piece, Mr. Rice found space to take a swipe at the President – agreeing with those who believe “…the nastiness increased with Trump’s presidency.”

I hope Mr. Rice would also agree that the cage match known as The Media vs. Donald J. Trump – a hostile, trench warfare-type battle – has resulted in some of the most sustained and caustic attacks on a sitting president ever, and, conversely, the harshest public rebuke of the national media in our history.

He might also concur that this hyper-incendiary, non-stop narrative naturally results in building anger and frustration.

We live in a time when we all consume the same media silage – much of it originating from dubious “unnamed sources” and “persons close to the Oval Office” – where self-righteous talking heads and so-called “journalists” in the paid employ of national media outlets use the exact same language, words, phrases and terms in what passes for “reportage” in 2017 America.

Now, news outlets on all sides of the political spectrum are pointing fingers of blame, insisting that the lunatic perpetrator of the cowardly ambush of Republican politicians was incited to violence by either the virulent, hateful rhetoric of the left – or the often-divisive public policies of the majority party and the White House.

The fact is, this despicable act of terror was the isolated criminal act of a mentally disturbed misfit who resorted to the last horrific act of a coward.

Fortunately, his deranged personal and political motivations died with him.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop “the mainstream media” from immediately politicizing the tragic event – prompting disgusting tweets and posts on social media implying that the attack was somehow deserved, the expected knee-jerk calls for gun control, and wall-to-wall, hour-after-hour speculative “reporting” that transitioned the matter from criminal incident to political football at light speed.

In my view, the media’s round-the-clock promotion of this weird “see what you did” blame game – and continuing insinuation that the hostile rhetoric of “the left” or “the right” has provoked an atmosphere where political violence is a foregone conclusion – is patently wrong and serves no constructive purpose.

In fact, it undermines our democratic values and traditions more effectively than the one-off act of some sick bastard living out of a van.

Everyone understands that violence and terroristic threats are counter to the collective and enduring character of our nation – and they must never become an accepted part of the national exercise of our differences.

And the madness we witnessed this week should never be allowed to have a chilling effect on the spirited and robust debate of the myriad issues faced by an American citizenry graced with the rights – and responsibilities – of free, open and unfettered speech.

My favorite singer/songwriter is the incomparable Ray Wylie Hubbard – the enormously talented Texas troubadour/philosopher/bard best known for penning the 70’s anthem, “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother.”

In 2010, Ray released a superb album entitled:

“A. Enlightenment  B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C).” 

Say what you want – that’s a damn good title – and a pretty fair experiential lesson for life in post-millennial America.

As much as we like to think we live in the Land of the Free, the fact is, our daily lives and livelihoods are increasingly controlled by forces we can’t begin to understand – or compete with.

Allow me to lay some heavy ‘enlightenment’ on you:

We live in a world where it’s difficult to comprehend what’s happening at City Hall – let alone in Deland, Tallahassee and Washington – because big money has effectively taken We, The People out of the equation.

We’ve been written out of the contract.

Our Rich and Powerful – the descriptor used by the Daytona Beach News-Journal to identify those who manipulate and control our destiny through an artificially created economy built upon the carefully directed flow of public funds – know what’s good for us, and themselves.

They purchase politicians at election time like chattel and use them as a convenient means of controlling their environment.

We are simply a means to an end – a necessary nuisance whose presence is required in the voting booth – and whose tax dollars are necessary to grease the right wheels in a system that no longer bears any semblance to a representative democracy.

Our local ‘powers-that-be’ tell us what they want us to hear – as though we were addle-brained children.   They paint some weird Fata Morgana on our collective horizon – a superior mirage that can only be realized if we follow their twisted logic – a panacea hotel, boardwalk expansion, or acquiescing to millions in corporate giveaways to make way for the “next big thing.”

While our lawmakers in Tallahassee simply ignore us.

Anyone who still thinks government has their best interests at heart – or that politicians give a tinker’s damn about the will of the people they represent – need look no further than the Florida legislatures shocking foot dragging in developing reasonable regulations for medical marijuana.

During the regular 2017 legislative session, lawmakers got hung-up on intractable differences over capping the number of storefronts – and ultimately failed to agree on how many dispensaries the state should have before time ran out.

So much for the concept of a free, open and reasonably regulated marketplace, eh?

Fortunately, the legislature was forced into overtime to hammer out issues related to economic development (read: corporate welfare funding) and education allocations – which provided a last/best opportunity for lawmakers to formulate rules and regulations for the implementation of medical marijuana in Florida.

When Governor Slick Rick Scott perceived the two sides were close to a deal, he added the “pot bill” to the special session, and, finally, a compromise came together.

Regardless of your feelings on the medical marijuana issue – the fact that our elected officials in Tallahassee initially shirked their sworn duty and refused to conform to the will of the people, put the objections of the always tight-assed law enforcement lobby over the needs of their most vulnerable constituents, and allowed the petty money grubbing and bickering inherent to our legislative process to hamstring a constitutional amendment supported by 7 out of 10 Florida voters – should be a real eye-opener for everyone.

I happen to support medical marijuana in all its forms, because I believe it is the right and compassionate thing to do for seriously ill people.

Unfortunately, the Florida Police Chiefs Association and other state and national organizations representing law enforcement executives don’t agree with me – and there are millions of reasons (and dollars) why.

After all, the “War on Drugs” has been so wildly successful in Florida and elsewhere that we should keep doing the same thing over-and-over again while expecting different results.

Add to that the greed factor in Tallahassee – a historic problem that helped Florida become the epicenter of the opioid epidemic – and you get the idea that perhaps profit motives are taking precedence over sound public policy.  Again.

Remember?

In the first six months of 2010, Florida medical practitioners bought more Oxycodone pills (41.3 million) than all healthcare providers in every other state in the nation combined.

You might also remember that in 2009, during the height of Florida’s “OxyContin Express,” Slick Rick Scott was working overtime to – inexplicably – torpedo efforts to create a prescription drug database which would have helped curtail the proliferation of “pill mills” that illicitly supplied dangerous and highly addictive narcotic pain medication to the Southeastern United States and beyond.

Now – far be it from me to cast aspersions – but I find it interesting that Governor Scott accumulated much of his incredible personal fortune in 2002, after founding a chain of walk-in clinics in Florida called Solantic – which has been described as the “Starbucks of Healthcare.”

When you add the Governor’s earlier shenanigans at Columbia/HCA, which was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud after Scott was forced to resign in 1997, and you get the idea Rick is relatively comfortable profiting from the dark side of the healthcare industry.

It is estimated that medical marijuana will be a billion-dollar industry in Florida in just three-years.

Do you think ensuring that the right people were perfectly situated may have played a role here?

Anyone else of the opinion that setting the economic playing field was more important to Florida legislators than fulfilling the therapeutic needs of their constituents?

In my view, if you’ve ever seen someone you care about struggling with the horrific effects of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, the devastation of chemotherapy, or the debilitating results of post-traumatic stress disorder, I’m sure you can appreciate the benefit of anything that can bring effective palliative relief.

And if you truly are suffering – I could care less how you ingest medicinal marijuana.

But compassion wasn’t a factor here.

In my view, this represents the ne plus ultra example of how those we elect to high office – at all levels of government – routinely ignore the will of the public they are sworn to serve – an arrogance of power that I find both ethically and morally contrary to our system of democratic governance.

Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, I think we can all agree that the greed, squabbling and back-handed swipes that have resulted in legislative gridlock in Tallahassee simply cannot continue.

Look, I have been openly appreciative of House Speaker Richard Corcoran’s efforts to clean up state government – but his willingness to enter “secret” budget negotiations with Slick Rick and the obstructionist Senate President Joe Negron – was, in my view, counter to his stated goal of transparency in government.

In fact, it stinks.

Then, before the recent special session, Corcoran and Negron couldn’t even agree on what they agreed upon during their clandestine parleys.

See what happens when politicians conduct public business outside the public’s view?

Interestingly, I think Congresswoman, and 2018 democratic gubernatorial candidate, Gwendolyn Graham summed it up best when she said, “They made a secret backroom deal, now they can’t even agree on the secret deal they made, and they’re costing taxpayers with a chaotic special session filled with dysfunction and devoid of any leadership.”

 Unfortunately, she’s right.

All we truly know at this point is our reptilian Governor got what he wanted in the end – millions of tax dollars to fund his pet corporate welfare conduits – Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida.

 (Yeah, I’m aware of the limitations that have been put on Enterprise Florida. Do you really think these provisions will hamper even one tax dollar from flowing into the right hands?  Hide and watch.)

The rest of us got a ham-handed, clear-as-mud plan to implement medical marijuana which will invariably face legal challenges from John “For the People” Morgan, and every other facet of this budding industry.

“For the People.”

Now there’s an enlightening concept our elected officials at all levels of government should reconsider.

When I was a kid, I was a mischievous little shit.  Always up to something.

That meant I caught the blame for everything – regardless of my actual guilt or innocence – and my angry accusers were usually right.

In fact, my father used to joke that he should give me a spanking before he left the house to save time when he got home.

My old man could be a tough disciplinarian – and his physical and verbal punishments for my various transgressions would be considered downright abusive by todays parenting standards.

While his discipline was never wanton or cruel, it was rigorous, and always designed to teach me that with personal freedom and responsibility comes accountability.

He was from another era – one that demanded exacting standards of conduct and a strong work ethic – and anything less was unacceptable.

But when my father knew I was in the right – or wrongfully accused – he fought like a rabid badger to support and defend me.  He was a former Marine Corps officer, and standing up for that which was right and just was important to him.

I like to think he passed that trait along to his son.

As a career law enforcement officer – I always instilled in those under my command that it was just as important to prove a person innocent – as it was to find the guilty party.

Besides, blanket accusations are disheartening and wrong – regardless of the circumstances.

Earlier this week, I saw some disturbing photographs circulating on social media that were apparently taken from the Main Street Pier during the recent Memorial Day weekend.  The pics showed a group of people socializing on the beach with trash of every description collecting around them at the high-water mark.  It was depressing.

For some reason, the sight of so much concentrated garbage littering the ‘World’s Most Famous Beach’ reminded me of a recent episode of Comedy Central’s “Tosh.O” – a nationally syndicated television program that is wildly popular with the “young adult” key demographic.

During the show, comedian Daniel Tosh introduced an on-line video of a road rage encounter which occurred somewhere in the Halifax area:

“Welcome to Daytona Beach – a city even Floridian’s think is too trashy.”

 “Where the worst of Jacksonville meets the worst of Orlando.”

 “A city still covered in piss and puke from 1980’s Spring Breakers.  I could go on, I grew up in the area. . .” 

 Wow.  Even tongue-in-cheek – that’s harsh.

As I understand it, the photos posted to Facebook depicted guests of an organized event held just south of the pier, and patrons and employees of Joe’s Crab Shack clearly observed the group littering and consuming alcohol along a section of beach near the pilings.

When those with a seagulls-eye view from the deck above became concerned about the crowd’s total disregard for the environment, they called them on it – with a bullhorn – and verbal swipes and middle-fingers were exchanged before Beach Safety officers were called to intervene.

That’s when the focus naturally turned from littering and disorderly behavior – to admonishing law enforcement for “not doing more.”

In my experience – write tickets for littering and they’re condemned as Nazi Sand Troopers with nothing better to do – issue warnings, or less than a contrived number of citations, and they’re slackers.

Am I wrong?

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.  (Interestingly, no one lost their life – and there were no major incidents over the record setting weekend.)

Even County Chairman Ed Kelley got in a few cheap shots.

Thus began another scrimmage in Volusia’s Blame Game – a weird local pastime where everyone is held responsible except the guilty few.

When these photographs went viral, the Daytona Beach News-Journal took notice and the individuals seen trashing the beach were loosely reported as part of an unnamed “out-of-town event.”

Wait.  I missed something.

So, I read the article a second time – searching intently for the name of the event.

Nothing.

Rather than properly identify and focus on the specific “out-of-town” group responsible – the News-Journal reported that the concentrated debris field near the pier “offers only a snapshot” of every mile of the Volusia County coastline that weekend.

Bullshit.

Anyone who visits the beach with any regularity will confirm that – for the most part – visitor’s pick-up after themselves, use the trash receptacles provided, and tend to leave the strand much as they found it – especially in areas where on-beach parking allows visitors to be self-contained.

Are there exceptions?  Of course – especially on summer holidays when the place is packed.

But I can personally vouch that the beach doesn’t look like a fetid junkpile every weekend (that’s limited to the Boardwalk) – nor are visitors regularly moved to fighting words over instances of wholesale littering.

In my view, the unfortunate incident near the pier should be addressed for what it was – a group of people attending a privately sponsored event who acted irresponsibly in numbers too large to allow for effective police intervention.

So, why come down like everyone who enjoyed our beaches on Memorial Day weekend are all somehow equally responsible?

In Volusia County, nothing – and I mean nothing – happens on the sand without a paid permit.

Don’t believe me?

Ask the Ocean Deck – or any other established business on the beach about the height of the hurdles one must clear to host a planned event.  Given this onerous permitting process, surely County officials can identify the sponsors of the event depicted in those unsettling photographs?

That said, why haven’t those responsible for promoting, managing and profiting from this “out-of-town” event been held personally responsible?

Why?  Because in Volusia County it’s easier to label single issues as part of a “larger problem” – one seemingly impossible to manage given current resources.  As an example, “There’s room to do better, even as the problem seems to be getting worse,” said George Recktenwald, deputy county manager.

Respectfully, Mr. Recktenwald, in this instance you are not at fault.

(I realize that after working for the accountability-averse Jim Dinneen these many years your Pavlovian response to any problem is to immediately assume guilt and take personal responsibility – that’s honorable.  But honestly, George, this is clearly an isolated incident that deserves a targeted response.)

To lend credence to the “widespread problem” narrative, the News-Journal reached way back and reported that, “Two years ago, beach cleanup crews carted away 13 tons of garbage after the July 4 weekend, according to a News-Journal article. On a normal weekend during the summer, beachgoers dump between 10 and 12 tons. That’s about two full-grown elephants stacked atop each other.”

 (What a Great visual…)

The article also reported that during the Memorial Day Weekend, the county collected some 29.67 tons of trash “from the sand and surf in the days that followed — that’s about 12 tons more than what’s left behind on an average four-day weekend during the summer.”

 Obviously, the insinuation being that on any given weekend visitors “dump” and walk away from nearly 34,000 pounds of garbage on the shoreline – suggesting that what we saw in those awful Facebook photo’s is nothing new.

I’m not buying it.

How much of that 12-tons of trash represents properly disposed of refuse collected from receptacles provided by the county for that very purpose?

And who was the group responsible?

Ah, screw it.  The one’s who should be asking these questions, won’t – and I’ve become numb to it.

For what it’s worth, if you went to the beach last weekend and left nothing but footprints in the sand – thank you.

And to those valiant souls who stepped up and cleaned up – despite the taunts of the crowd – you are my personal heroes.

If you sponsored, promoted or attended a poorly managed event near the Main Street Pier and wantonly trashed our beautiful beach endangering precious sea life and shorebirds – then shame on you.

What you did was disgusting and wrong.

Unfortunately, affixing proper blame for this and other problems we face is not a high priority for our elected and appointed officials.

In what is becoming a universal characteristic of the physical, civic and societal decomposition of large parts of the Halifax area, the true violators – the slum lords, grifters, greedy developers, neglectful property owners, inept shovel-leaners passing as public officials, and those who openly loot public funds from redevelopment initiatives, etc. – those that give real credence to Daniel Tosh’s grim narrative – are never held personally accountable.

For anything.

Why do you think that is. . .

(Note:  After posting, I learned that the News-Journal discovered a date discrepancy between the photographs (which were taken on Saturday) and the “event” (which occurred on Sunday).  In turn, they erred on the side of caution and refrained from naming the sponsors.)