The history of “leaking” information to the press as a means of shaping public policy is nothing new.

As far back as George Washington’s administration, Thomas Jefferson and his party surreptitiously provided media outlets of the day with information regarding a secret treaty as a means of stirring mass outrage.

Today, leaks of misappropriated private information or purloined government documents can be facilitated at the speed of light, and disseminated to millions, literally at the touch of a button.

Raw information – unfiltered by the slant and opinion of media moguls with a political agenda.

And for good or for ill – the revelation of bare and unvarnished facts often changes minds – and it helps explain what Justice Brandeis meant when he said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

In Barker’s World, I am fortunate to have a precious few very smart and extremely loyal friends who enjoy engaging in wide-ranging, critical discussions of the topical issues of the day.  They serve as a resilient sounding board for my thoughts, fears and delusions; and they are intelligent enough to point out the error in my thought process – and have been with me long enough to correctly identify the origin of a particular bias.

Although my confidants and I rarely dabble in national or international politics, a close friend has been prompting me to write down my thoughts on the current presidential election.

After several fits and starts, you know, sitting down at the desk and staring at a blank page, wondering what in the hell I could possibly add to this godforsaken mess, I think I may have finally found a message:

If nothing else, this bizarre contest has cutaway our self-denial and exposed the rancid malignancy on the American political system by mega-media conglomerates – and nothing will ever be quite the same again.

 Love him or hate him, Julian Assange – the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks – has changed the rules of the game forever.

We now live in an age where hackers and fringe outlets with misappropriated information may well replace traditional media sources as disillusioned citizens are incipiently drawn to these increasingly “trusted” alternate information sources.

In years past, whistleblowers went to The Washington Post or the New York Times, now those august media outlets have lost all credibility – co-opted by their blatant skewing of the facts in an attempt to protect the establishment and promote select candidates – like Hillary Clinton.

In my view, when once venerated media outlets begin misrepresenting the facts in a coordinated effort to sway the outcome of a national election – the future of our democracy is in jeopardy.

After all, once this base form of mass deceit has been exposed, the national press corps will never again enjoy the public’s trust, and that is a dangerous proposition for our Grand Experiment in democracy.

While there has always been a subtle lean to most media outlets – for example, The Washington Post to the left, The Washington Times to the right – based upon recent events, it appears once respected media organizations, and even individual reporters, have simply thrown off the self-regulatory traces and openly breached journalistic ethics and standards under some weird “the ends justify the means” strategy of protecting us from ourselves.

Regardless, these emerging ‘media’ sources aren’t squeaky clean either.

It is well known that WikiLeaks has been the subject of a continuing federal investigation into various international cyber crimes – to include publishing information held secret by the United States government – and Assange himself has been named in a rape indictment in Sweden (a crime which he denies.)

In early October, Assange vowed to publish leaked emails from the Clinton campaign “every week” leading up to election day.

This hasn’t gone without response.

Among other attempts to kill the messenger, the Clinton’s campaign has speculated that WikiLeaks has been working directly with the Russian government to help Trump secure victory in November.

I don’t know if reading the WikiLeaks Clinton document dump makes me part of the problem (as CNN claims), but the information has damn sure shined a bright light on the inner workings of our nation’s political elite when the stakes are high – and they don’t get much higher than the Presidency of the United States.

From the emails that I have read, the prevailing and continuing theme of these misappropriated communiques continues to reveal the overweening bias and wholesale complicity of the mainstream media – not to mention the ugly quid pro quo negotiations of high-ranking members of our government to limit Mrs. Clinton’s exposure in her gross mishandling of classified material during her service as Secretary of State – among other distasteful revelations.

Clearly, our most trusted news sources have been exposed as mere shills for a political campaign.

They have worked hand-in-hand to stage both the political landscape, and position stories that show Mrs. Clinton in a favorable light, while denigrating all things Trump.

In my view, it doesn’t matter which candidate you support, this wholesale revelation of coordinated media prejudice and favoritism should chill you to the bone.

Will you ever trust anything you read, watch or hear from corporate media again?

How can you?

Regular readers of this forum know how I squawk-on, ad nauseum, about the basic unfairness of our local electoral process – a bastardized system where uber-rich insiders pump unnatural sums of money into municipal and county elections as a means of controlling their personal and professional environment.

Well, bump that up to the national level and add the open collusion and power of once trusted information sources and you get the idea that we are in real trouble here.

The public’s trust in traditional media is lower than whale shit and has been for some time – that’s not breaking news.  But, in my view, the open manipulation of the American political system by billionaire media moguls is.

This campaign coverage is not like watching sausage being made – it’s like watching the corpse of Walter Cronkite being exhumed and hung by the ankles in front of CBS News headquarters in Washington – it is the death of a national “trust” playing out before our eyes, and it is horrifying.

If this is how our nation’s political elite react when the status quo is challenged, imagine what else they are capable of?

To say they have stacked the deck is an understatement – national media outlets, both print and electronic, have exposed themselves for what they truly are – and there is no going back to the way things were “before.”

As reporter Jordan Chariton, writing for the online political commentary, The Young Turks, so aptly pointed out:

“In the end, corporate journalists receiving checks from multi-billion dollar conglomerates have become just as out-of-touch as politicians receiving hundreds of millions from billionaire plutocrats.”

And that may well be the biggest story of this, or any other, presidential election in our lifetime.

 

As regular readers of this forum know, I take a pretty dim view of those who rape the land for personal profit – specifically, unscrupulous real estate developers and the sutlery of lawyers, fixers and political insiders who facilitate their massive and continuing environmental crimes.

These parasitic bastards have descended on the Sunshine State like a shit-storm of predatory, gluttonous money-hogs – corrupting local elected rubes with grandiose ideas and open quid pro quo bribery, all while taking full advantage of the Scott administrations complete disemboweling of Florida’s environmental regulatory and oversight agencies.

Florida has become a surreal place where the wolves are allowed to greedily gorge themselves, churn sensitive wildlife habitat and conservation areas into primordial ooze, and build even more strip centers, cookie-cutter condo’s and gaudy housing developments with absurdly pretentious names like “Riviera Bella” and “Magnolia Preserve,” all strategically designed by real estate marketers to better fleece retirees and refugees from the northeast.

And under the current “economic development” scheme employed by most local governments, they do it almost entirely with our tax dollars.

If you still need proof that these insatiable thieves are actively feeding on the very soul of our state despite dire warnings of the consequences to our natural resources, please read Dr. Robert Knight’s outstanding piece in the Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Building a springs restoration road map.”

Dr. Knight is the director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, a not-for-profit research organization focused on improving our understanding of springs ecology and fostering the development of science-based education and management actions needed to restore and protect springs throughout Florida.

Suffice it to say, Dr. Knight is no lightweight – he’s been studying the ecology and hydrology of Florida’s aquifer for over 35-years.

The crux of his message: “Florida’s springs are dying due to excessive development and lax enforcement of environmental laws, and this train wreck can only be stopped by the coordinated efforts of the concerned public and state officials.”

In my view, our current “state officials” have created an environment where abject avarice rules the day, and our regulatory agencies have been neutered down to mere rubber stamps – if not blatant co-conspirators – for facilitating environmental crimes by well-connected developers.

We live in a place where scumbags like John Miklos – the uber-powerful chairman of the St. John’s River Water Management District’s governing board – you know, the very watchdog charged with protecting our water supply – can openly sell both his soul, and his huge influence, by representing private clients of his obscene “environmental consultancy” in front of the very agency he is sworn to oversee.

It is beyond ludicrous – its criminal – and the City of DeBary’s recent attempt to surreptitiously acquire and develop the Gemini Springs Annex is a shining local example of how, and why, this environmental thuggery has become so prevalent in Florida.

According to Dr. Knights piece, during a recent symposium on issues adversely affecting our springs, former employees of the state’s environmental agencies made it clear that the current leadership, both in Tallahassee and the water management districts, cannot be relied upon to enforce existing environmental laws intended to protect springs. “Political pressure to accelerate development is just too great for agency staff to oppose.”

I think that sums it up.

If you think Governor Rick Scott gives two-shits, you’re fooling yourself – he’s the poster boy for this gross form of quid pro quo corruption – a reptilian asshole with no qualms about selling the whole damn state to anyone who throws a buck in his direction.

Governor Scott and his wealthy cronies will couch it as “economic development” (our state’s code word for open graft, political corruption and ethical morbidity) but he knows as well as you do that it’s common thievery.

As most of you know, I’m not an optimist.  In fact, I am dark and brooding.  Most people can’t be around that level of gloom for very long, and I have come to understand and accept that.

But if you seek the truth, it is necessary to take the self-protective blinders off.

I am convinced that our system of governance in Florida has transmogrified into an open kleptocracy – a Turkish Bazaar where big money and corporate oligarchs rule and political influence is bought and sold to the highest bidder.

However, it appears that Dr. Knight believes our priceless natural springs can still be saved from total destruction.

He trusts that a “knowledgeable and concerned public” still has the power to counteract what he so aptly describes as “the seemingly invincible influence of dark money.”

I hope to God he’s right.

I encourage everyone to take a moment to sign the petition for “Floridian’s Clean Water Declaration Campaign.”

This grassroots effort is committed to the simple premise that the people of Florida have an inalienable right to:

Clean drinking water whether that water is drawn from public sources or private wells.

Safe lakes, streams, springs, rivers, canals and coastal waters for swimming and fishing.

Protection from water pollution and its effects.

Know the sources of pollution that threaten Florida’s waters.

Protection from water privatization and its effects.

Abundant water for drinking, fishing and recreation.

And that the people of Florida, the state government, and the industries that benefit from Florida’s natural resources have the responsibility to:

Stop pollution at its source rather than allowing it to enter our waters.

Protect Florida’s waters, as well as the people who depend on them, from over-consumption and privatization.

Protect the natural environment which is critical to the health of Florida’s people, wildlife and economy.

Provide clean water for future generations.

Unfortunately, we live in a strange time and place where our elected officials – and the regulatory agents who are sworn to protect our precious natural resources – blatantly steal from those they are sworn to serve, while federal officials in a position to do something about it stand idle.

As Dr. Knight suggests – it really is up to us.

In my view, joining quality efforts like the Floridian’s Clean Water Declaration campaign is a thumb in the eye – a proud middle-finger to the face – of powerful greed-hogs and corrupt politicians.

Please find the petition here:  We Want Clean Water

 

 

As Volusia and Flagler County residents continue the arduous process of digging out following the vicious onslaught of Hurricane Matthew, many in our community have differing opinions on whether the annual bacchanalia of Biketoberfest should be cancelled, or welcomed.

The answer is – you’re both right.

I agree with those who argue that adding 100,000 motorcycles to this witch’s brew of downed power lines, rotting debris piles, sporadic electricity, twisted signs and awnings, and large sections of roadway that are still in ruins.

As the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s Eileen Zaffiro-Kean so insightfully pointed out, “Biketoberfest is all about two-wheeled fun on the roads, and some intersections still don’t have functioning lights.”

Not to mention the privations of friends and family who have been displaced, or those living primitively without power, hot showers, or the ability to refrigerate food or prepare meals – especially the elderly and infirm.

Earlier this week, in the immediate aftermath of the storm, I saw a pack of early-bird bikers from Ontario rolling two abreast on A-1-A, slowing down to sight-see, as several out-of-state utility crews trailed behind them in a valiant attempt to restore power to weary residents.

My blood boiled – not at the bikers, they planned a vacation and here they are.  I get it.

I was angry at the abject stupidity of the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau who failed to see the wisdom in cancelling or postponing an event that requires massive and intensive government resources from east Volusia municipalities and the sheriff’s office – police, fire, EMS, code enforcement, traffic control, permitting, etc., etc. – while our citizens are still in shock; still reeling and cleaning-up from the devastating effects of a Category 3 storm.

It’s almost heartless.  Even cruel.

Putting the wants and desires of those who stand to benefit financially from this annual event ahead of the humanitarian needs and personal convenience of struggling residents is beyond shocking – but it best epitomizes how we do things here on the “Fun Coast.”

But then I consider the other side of the argument.

For years we have allowed our elected and appointed officials – at the direction and urging of their uber-wealthy handlers – to cobble together a fragile, one-dimensional economy based almost completely on the uncertainty and instability of various “special events.”

It’s bikes, beer, and automobile racing.

I understand when that is all you have going for you – the difference between feeding your family or not – it’s important to take advantage of these limited opportunities when you can.

As I’ve said before, our county government has become a plutocracy – ruled exclusively by oligarchs – who know that any form of economic progress or expansion will diminish their influence and span of control.

They know the masses can only be controlled if you keep them hungry.

That’s equally heartless.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record – our area needs deep and comprehensive revitalization with an emphasis on rebuilding our broken tourism industry, stabilizing our governance and leadership, and initiating massive reform of our almost criminal corporate welfare scheme.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, many areas of Volusia County stand at the crossroad of opportunity and transformation.

The third leg of that stool is strategic vision.

In short, now is the time to foster an environment that will attract outside investment and create diverse opportunities – not just those that benefit the well-connected few.

Whether or not our elected officials have the foresight and strength of character to seize the moment without a laser focus on lining their pockets, and those of their friends, remains to be seen.

In my view, now is the time to begin building a local economy that isn’t completely reliant on biker rallies, service jobs, and the largess of a few Machiavellian millionaires with personal profit motives.

 

 

 

“I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown.  It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.”

–Charlie Chaplin

By any measure, we are living in strange times.

News reports from around the nation continue to document the bizarre phenomenon of people dressing in creepy clown maquillage and loitering ominously in residential areas, wooded lots and urban downtown’s, generally making folks uneasy and scaring the bejesus out of small children.

(Given the times they are growing up in, I really didn’t think there was anything that could frighten kids anymore. . .)

In true American fashion, now legitimate clowns are taking it squarely on their big red noses as business tapers off on the children’s birthday party circuit.

As the “Killer Clown” hysteria continues to build, some professional Klumpys and Bozos have taken to staging “Clown Lives Matter” marches in major metropolitan areas.

Who thought we would ever see Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey join the professional victim set?

Could riots be next?  Wild bands of rainbow-haired, harlequin-wearing circus performers piling out of clown cars, en masse, blocking traffic by juggling cigar boxes in intersections and throwing buckets of confetti at stone faced, armor-clad police officers?

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the concept of a performer covering one’s true identity and pretending to be something you’re not – I’ve done it for years.

After all, over-the-top carnival spectacles and the ludicrous pageantry of the circus is alive and well in the halls of governments all over Volusia County.

But let’s face it – when it comes to creepy clowns masquerading as public officials, the City of DeBary takes the pie squarely in the face.

Last week, as we collectively prepared for the approach of Hurricane Matthew, I caught a blurb in the Daytona Beach News-Journal reporting yet another attempt by the Fraudulent Four to kick DeBary’s duly elected Mayor Clint Johnson while he’s down.

In a scene that could only be acted out by the krazy klown troop at DeBary City Hall, the remaining members of the city council – you know, those who haven’t yet been cannibalized by the others over petty political disagreements and personality clashes – voted to allow the ethically crippled Interim City Manager Ron McLemore to march down to the State Attorney’s Office and file criminal charges against Mayor Johnson if he fails to turnover certain records that the council wants to get their hands on.

That’s the same State Attorney’s Office that is actively investigating the actions of former City Manager Dan Parrott, certain city staffers, and the Fraudulent Four on potential public records violations.

It’s part of the city’s continuing nutso strategy – no doubt dreamt-up by their dirty-handed accomplice and city attorney Kurt Ardaman – of “admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations.”

Unfortunately, as history has proven time-and-again, that dubious plan only works for a little while.

Look, it is time for DeBary officials to come to the sobering realization that D.B. Cooper got away with it because he acted alone.  No collusion lasts beyond the first round of interrogations.

Trust me.

(Just for the record – I’m not a criminal defense lawyer, but I suspect it is time to start cooperating with investigators.  Better to be identified as an unindicted co-conspirator than go down with the rest of the rabble.  Right, Lita?)

In Clint Johnson’s inimitable style, when pressed for the records, he responded with an invoice to the City of DeBary demanding over $3,000.00 in reimbursement for “extensive use of information technology and a great deal of clerical or supervisory time.”

Tit for Tat.

Just like when the city’s sniveling public records manager, Eric Frankton, submitted an outlandish bill for some $17,000.00 in response to attorney Doug Daniel’s request for records in Mayor Johnson’s defense.

So, in true DeBary form, the council hired yet another Fishback Dominick attorney, Lance King, to send Mr. Daniels a blowhard opinion that Johnson’s obviously facetious demand for payment is different than a request for public records where fees are statutorily authorized.

You might remember that Lance King is the same law partner of Kurt Ardaman who carted off $4,280.00 in taxpayer dollars in the lead-up to Mayor Johnson’s ridiculous “forfeiture hearing.”

Anyone care to guess what Counselor King made on this latest make-work, cut-and-paste project?

I don’t make this stuff up folks.

(Isn’t there an alarm that sounds at the Florida Bar whenever a small community is being actively raped by a series of predatory Winter Park law firms?  If not, maybe they should get one budgeted for the good of what remains of the legal profession’s reputation.)

As usual, Mr. Daniels was forced to point out the patently obvious to council members, and their cash-bloated legal representatives, when he advised that the city assessing costs to Mayor Johnson’s requests when he was an elected official is just as wrong as Johnson charging for records.

“Clint was making the point that it was wrong,” Daniels said.

No kidding.

As I’ve said before, the Office of the State Attorney does some of their best work at the nexus of politics and criminal conduct.  They have the unique ability to sort the wheat from the chaff.

I have no doubt State Attorney R. J. Larizza and his smart staff will see Mr. McLemore skulking into the office from a mile away.  They have seen it all before, and are not easily fooled.

In his best Emmett Kelly’s “Weary Willie” act, Council Member Rick Dwyer said, “We just want to bring closure,” regarding this raging shit-storm that has haunted this besieged community like a golem for months.

From the painfully obvious column: Mr. Dwyer and his fellow tragic figures on the DeBary City Council are living in some weird parallel universe where no one is held accountable for their actions – a cirque de l’absurde – where the deranged and openly exposed illusionists still desperately want you to believe their act is real.

The fact is, the Big Top is about to come down in DeBary.  And when the make-up is removed and the manure swept away, the good citizens of DeBary will be left with the realization that, in the end, this very expensive and elaborately staged farce really was on them after all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those of us who live in Florida, impending weather disasters cause extreme stress as we anxiously go through our own mental checklists.

Is my home protected?  Are family members vulnerable to harm, and what can I do to mitigate the threats?   Have we prepared for what comes next?

Am I up to the test?

During the approach of major Hurricane Matthew – at one point a Category 4 monster with the potential for catastrophic destruction and extreme loss of life – I had a conversation with a fellow retired law enforcement colleague who noted that this was the day we had trained for our entire lives.

He was right.

For as long as I can remember I have been involved in public safety.

As a young boy I joined the Police Explorer’s, a wonderful values-based program that imparts the important traditions of the police service – honor, integrity and dedication – to impressionable young people.  It also allows an all-important personal interaction between law enforcement officers and kids in the community as they teach basic skills such as traffic stops, crime scene investigation, criminal law, and emergency first aid measures.

I suppose this program was the genesis of a career that would last over 33 years now.

At 19 years old, I enlisted in the United States Army Reserve and completed basic training and Military Police School at Fort McClellan, Alabama – the beautifully set, but controversial former home of the Army’s chemical warfare school – and current home to what is believed to be one of the largest concentration of environmental contamination in the country.

In my view, the United States Army’s Military Police School provides the finest basic law enforcement training in the world.  Those who graduate from this physically and mentally demanding course leave with a variety of skills, but the one thing they can do better than anyone else is traffic direction and control.

Countless hours are devoted to imparting the art, skill and logistics of moving large volumes of vehicular traffic by hand.  An MP buck private with a brass whistle and a pair of white cotton gloves can take over any intersection in the world and move traffic more effectively and efficiently than any computerized signaling system known to man.

At age 22, I was sponsored to attend Basic Law Enforcement Recruit Training at Daytona Beach Community College and subsequently hired as a sworn officer by the Holly Hill Police Department.

As my career progressed, I was promoted through the ranks to positions of increasing responsibility and I have hundreds of interesting “war stories” and funny anecdotes that get taller and more fabulous with each telling.

With each assignment, I realized that beyond protecting and serving a community, the real work of a law enforcement agency is crisis management.  We show up on the worst day of your life and try, in some small way, to make things better.

That’s an extremely tall task – and because most of the ‘problem solving’ arrows in our quiver consist of taking someone to jail – we’re often misunderstood, if not openly maligned.

In August 1992, I was deployed to South Florida under state mutual aid agreements in support of recovery efforts in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.  I led a group of five officers assigned to the Liberty City area of Northwest Dade County.

It was during this important work that I first became interested in the command and control strategies of emergency management operations – a fascinating and highly dynamic function that combines a variety of skills across the public safety spectrum.

In 1996, I was accepted to the prestigious Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy at Quantico, Virginia.  The National Academy prides itself on admitting only the top one-half of one percent of law enforcement officers internationally by nomination.

How I was accepted to this elite program can only be explained as a clerical error – regardless, it remains a mystery.

The National Academy allowed me to work and train with colleagues from around the world on issues of great importance.  The closer we became, the clearer it was that police officers the world over face essentially the same basic issues. (Through a foreign colleague, I also learned that the enhanced interrogation techniques used on suspected kidnappers in the Philippines are very different than those we employ in the United States. . .)

Later in my career I was fortunate to attend the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA National Emergency Training Center at Emmetsburg, Maryland.  An extraordinary campus located near beautiful Catoctin Mountain and the Presidential Retreat at Camp David.

This incredibly advanced training environment provides first responders, emergency managers, elected officials and tribal governments the opportunity to learn and exercise state-of-the-art disaster management and response techniques.

I continued to study the emergency management discipline and ultimately earned the FEMA Advanced Career Development Certificate through the Emergency Management Institute.

Studying techniques in a controlled environment is one thing – putting them to practical use is something else.

I had the opportunity to respond to a variety of natural disasters over the years, including the 1998 Florida Fire Storms; then responsibility for commanding law enforcement operations during the 2004 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which resulted in three Presidential disaster declarations in two months.

I also had the great honor of serving as Chairman of the Volusia/Flagler Police Chief’s Associations Standardized Emergency Management Protocol Committee for multi-jurisdictional incident command.

During the City of Holly Hill’s response to unprecedented flooding in May 2009 – a disaster that resulted in yet another Presidential disaster declaration – I was assigned as Incident Commander with additional responsibility for logistical planning and operational support for a regional FEMA Disaster Recovery Center.

Later, I was appointed as Chief of Police and also served as the City’s Emergency Management Coordinator with responsibility for the development and maintenance of response, contingency, and continuity of operations plans and the strategic command and control of emergency response and recovery operations.

Based upon this training and operational experience, I became eligible for the Florida Professional Emergency Manager designation through the Florida Emergency Preparedness Association – a title that requires compilation of an exhaustive peer-reviewed training and operational portfolio.

The point of this weird resume review is to show you that the City of Holly Hill spent a ton of time and money to provide me with a solid base of knowledge to best serve the citizens of my community during mass threats to their safety.

I never forgot that – and I never will.

Although I retired as Chief of Police in the spring of 2014, I was very honored to remain active with the agency as a Reserve Police Officer, a sworn position that requires I maintain the same training and certifications as all full-time personnel.

So, when a Category 4 buzz saw was barreling down on the community that provided me with literally everything I have, or ever will have, I knew where I would be for the duration of the storm.

I wanted desperately for everyone to be safe.  I wanted the community to survive what could have been a devastating blow to life and property – and most of all, I wanted to know that the team I left behind when I retired was up to the task of serving and protecting during the worst-of-the-worst.

During the response to Hurricane Matthew, I was honored to serve in the field providing operational support and law enforcement services before, during, and immediately after the storm.

I learned a lot about myself – mostly that I’m not a young officer anymore, in more ways than one.

But the most important thing I learned is that when they were tested to the maximum – the very imminent threat of a major Category 3 hurricane less than 100 miles away – the administration and staff of the City of Holly Hill performed with incredible dedication and perseverance to provide second-to-none emergency response and recovery operations.

Anytime you relinquish control of something you care deeply about, you have a lingering worry that perhaps the “new” person in charge won’t pay as much attention as you did.

Those fears were immediately and forever purged from my mind when I observed the incredible leadership and stability under pressure demonstrated by Holly Hill Police Chief Stephen Aldrich, Deputy Chief Jeffrey Miller, Lieutenant Chris Yates, and Fire Chief James Bland.

They conducted themselves as true professionals and provided outstanding command and control of emergency operations during dangerous and difficult conditions.

Most important, the courageous first responders of the Holly Hill Police and Fire Department put themselves in harm’s way, staying out in the elements responding to calls for service far beyond what was safe.  They are incredibly inspiring and remain my personal heroes.

In addition, the unsung crews of the Public Works Department were at their very best, and quite literally prevented catastrophe on several occasions under the expert guidance of Director Mark Juliano.

I also want to mention the extraordinary leadership of City Manager Joe Forte – a former fire chief who so adroitly handled the comprehensive management of both city government and emergency operations with such incredible precision and professionalism.

To say that I am proud of Mr. Forte’s contributions to the community is an understatement, and I am so blessed to call him my friend.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that somewhere during 32-sleepless hours of working with these professionals among the howling wind, destruction and torrential rain, I was finally able to mentally pass the baton – to stop worrying – and come to the realization that the young men and women I left in charge when I retired are more capable, adept and mentally equipped than I ever was.

These fine men and women more than passed the ultimate test – and they have earned my enduring respect and admiration.

I cannot tell you how proud I am of these incredible professionals.

God bless all first responders, and those who serve in the center of the maelstrom every day to ensure that others may live.

 

Photo Credit: The Daytona Beach News-Journal

 

Here in coastal northeast Florida, we face the potentially devastating effects of Hurricane Matthew beginning as early as tomorrow evening.  Rushing your personal hurricane preparedness measures to conclusion is extremely important.

During my professional career, I received the Florida Professional Emergency Manager designation and have served as incident commander for response and recovery operations during three hurricanes and unprecedented flooding in eastern Volusia County.

As much as I harp on the foibles of government – emergency management is something our local, county and state officials do extremely well.  Please stay tuned to local media outlets for official information regarding potential evacuations and other lifesaving preparedness measures.

Remember – it is never too early to evacuate if you live on the barrier island or in flood prone areas.  In fact, leaving before evacuation orders are issued can help you avoid heavy traffic congestion and long delays.

Please remember the Five P’s of Evacuation:

People/Pets:

Consider the needs of each member of your family – especially young children and persons with special needs.  Pets are family too – make sure your furry friends evacuate safely with you.  Many shelters accept pets – please remember shot records, leashes, pet food and bowls.    

Prescriptions:  

Prescriptions, with dosages; medicines; medical equipment; batteries or power cords; eyeglasses; and hearing aids.   

Papers:

Important papers and documents (including hard copies and/or electronic copies saved on external hard drives or thumb drives.)

Personal Needs:

Personal needs – such as clothes, food, water, first-aid kits, cash, phones and electronics chargers – and items for people with disabilities, children, older adults and those with limited English proficiency.  Pet food and bowls.        

Priceless Items:

Priceless items, including a few pictures, irreplaceable mementos, and extremely valuable items.

When you return:

Only return home when authorities say that it is safe to do so.

If your home sustained structural damage – do not enter – and avoid entering any structure that is surrounded by flood water.

Never touch downed electrical lines or damaged equipment or appliances until you are certain that utilities have been shut off.

Never use lanterns, torches, open flame or matches to examine damaged buildings – always use flashlights and keep extra batteries available.

Carbon monoxide kills. Use a generator or other gasoline-powered machine ONLY outdoors and away from windows so fumes do not get inside. The same goes for camping stoves. Fumes from charcoal are also deadly; cook with charcoal ONLY outdoors.

Avoid wading in floodwater, which may be contaminated with oil, gasoline, or raw sewage.

Watch for dangerous debris (e.g., broken glass, metal fragments), dead animals, or venomous snakes in floodwaters.

Before walking through debris, check for hidden dangers.

Underground or downed power lines may electrically charge the water.

Care for yourself and each other:

Look for signs of depression or anxiety related to this experience, such as feeling physically and mentally drained; having difficulty making decisions or staying focused; becoming easily frustrated on a more frequent basis; feeling tired, sad, numb, lonely, or worried; or experiencing changes in appetite or sleep patterns. After the storm, seek help from local mental health providers if you detect these signs in yourself or others.

Most of all, remain calm and help yourself, your family, and your neighbors prepare for this potentially catastrophic weather event.

If you live on the coast – or in an area prone to flooding – consider evacuating now.

Getting to a shelter just a few miles inland can make a big difference.

Remember – we will get through this together.

God Bless.

 

 

 

 

“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.”

Justice Louis Brandeis

As a recovering government employee, I read and interpret things differently than others.

I suppose it’s much like an illusionist watching a magic show – when you know the mechanics of the tricks and understand how the practitioner manipulates reality for a desired outcome – it becomes an exercise in judging the performance, rather than being mystified by the magician’s sleight of hand.

As regular readers of this forum know, I have very little regard for elected and appointed public officials, or parasitic political insiders, who intentionally manipulate our sacred system of governance for their own self-interests.

Please understand, I’m not talking about honest mistakes.

Government has far too many moving parts to get it right every time.  God knows I made my fair share of errors and omissions – episodes that still make me cringe when I think about them.  But I always tried to keep my good call/bad call ratio at about 60-40 – and I was blessed with a very forgiving community who knew my heart was pure and in the right place.

The civil service is a hard dollar, even on a good day.

You take near constant criticism from carping boors like me, and everybody has a hard opinion on how you could have done things better, cheaper, more efficiently.  The fact is, most public servants – and even some elected officials – are extremely hardworking, dedicated and very smart people who carry out their duties with a pure commitment to values-based service.

Unfortunately, on occasion, the stars align in some weird celestial improbability and you find yourself in a dark time and place where nothing makes sense.  Up is down.  Down is up.  White is Black – and it seems like you’re watching a never ending game of “Can you top this?”

Of course, I’m talking about the Debacle in Debary – an avaricious shit-storm of controversy, human greed and base treachery set in a quaint riverside community in West Volusia.

The fetid stench of this horrific mess has left even hardened political observers queasy and off their feed.

In August, four members of the current city council completed the circuit wired months earlier by the misogynistic power-monger and personally disgraced former city manager Dan Parrott, when they voted unanimously to oust duly elected Mayor Clint Johnson.

You know the story.  The ceremonial elected head of the community had very strong opinions on the myriad issues facing the City of DeBary – and to say he was outspoken is an understatement.

He frequently took to social media to vent his frustrations, air his thoughts and foster a useful dialog with his constituency.

The Mayor’s openness, limpidity, and personal commitment to the highest ideals of participatory governance flew in the face of a city administration that was actively attempting to hide the fact that they were engaged in a sleazy deal to develop 102-acres of sensitive conservation lands as part of a much larger transit-oriented development adjacent to the SunRail depot.

If they were successful, the right people stood to make a lot of money.

The city’s utter lack of transparency in that now exposed disaster has resulted in an active criminal investigation by the Office of the State Attorney and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement – complaints to the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida – and suspicions of abject quid pro quo corruption by the powerful chairman of the St. Johns River Water Management District’s governing board, the secret influence of mysterious developers, and the possible complicity of certain city staff members continue to swirl.

I’m not going to rehash it.  It hurts my head, and besides, the circumstances of that screw-job are well established.

If you’ve been in a medically induced coma for the past several months, please come up to speed with the outstanding investigative reporting of the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s intrepid Dinah Voyes-Pulver – and you can find my goofy opinions on the topic here at Barker’s View.

Suffice it to say that things came to a head for Mayor Johnson when Dan Parrott and the depraved city attorney, Kurt Ardaman, cobbled together a list of self-described “charter violations” which, after many fits and starts, they prosecuted in a ridiculously orchestrated kangaroo court comprised of a hired-gun outside attorney (who did his best to keep his supper down) and the four remaining elected officials sitting in the supercilious role of judge, jury, executioner – and hypocritical co-conspirators.

At the end of the day, four ostensibly smart people openly voted to amputate the people’s duly elected mayor on the flimsy evidence of a few tweets and the warped “testimony” of the city’s pitiful records manager, Eric Frankton, and the congenitally corrupt TOD “marketing director,” Roger Van Auker.

It was the most bizarre tribunal ever witnessed in the annals of quasi-judicial shams – and the word “DeBary” will soon be adopted by Henry Campbell Black’s law dictionary as the unabridged legal definition of hypocrisy.

Now, this utterly farcical council has directed interim City Manager Ron McLemore (who is rapidly burrowing himself into this controversy like the sycophantic little Guinea worm he is) to contact the State Attorney regarding possible criminal charges against Mayor Johnson for his refusal to release records staffers and council members are seeking.

My God.  These people have completely lost the capacity for shame.  How much more of the taxpayer’s money are they willing to piss away to personally persecute and humiliate Clint Johnson?

Perverse.

But the worm is beginning to turn.

Last week Mayor Johnson’s attorney, the bright and aggressive Volusia County councilman Doug Daniels, filed an elegantly constructed Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Circuit Court seeking judicial review and reversal of this low-rent travesty.

In summary, Mr. Daniels rightly holds that:

“DeBary interpreted its charter prohibitions so broadly as to include speech routinely required of elected officials, speech necessary to make policy and hold the city staff accountable.  It violated Johnson’s right to free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and his rights to due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.  Perhaps worse, it made it yet more difficult for DeBary citizens to hold its troubled city government accountable.”

Just reading this restored my faith in the system.  My mood has taken a drastic turn for the better.

It won’t be long now before an actual jurist has the opportunity to get their mind – and the law – around this rotten turd and reverse the damage to the extent possible.

These jabbering fools on the city council are about to learn that the whole dynamic of the game changes when the Piñata hits back.

The sad reality is that, when all is said and done, the citizens of DeBary will be left holding a crippling – and totally avoidable – bill for massive legal fees, as their treacherous city attorney lines his pockets, and those of his friends at select law firms on the tree lined streets of old Winter Park.

If anyone thinks this is over – hide and watch.

As Robert Burton said, “He who goes to the law takes a wolf by the ears” – a sage proverb the powers-that-be in DeBary are about to learn firsthand.

If nothing else, perhaps the good people of DeBary can forever use this catastrophe as the ne plus ultra example of how a criminally bent city manager, a few greed-crazed staff members, and a compromised and complicit council can change the soul of a once proud and progressive community forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My grandfather was a wise old sage.

He was born in “Bloody Harlan” County, Kentucky, at a dark place called Cranks Creek, near the confluence of Martin’s Fork to be exact, not long after the turn of the last century.

His grandfather, George Washington “Wash” Smith, was forced to move the family across the Cumberland into Lee County, Virginia, following a bitter feud with the Cawood clan – a deadly quarrel that began as a festering dispute over local partisan politics related to the infamous Turner-Howard Feud.

The Smiths were Republicans – the Cawoods, Democrats.  And they were all crazy.

It all started when a long removed uncle of mine, Noble Smith, shot and killed his 22-year old brother-in-law, Charlie Cawood, in a general store where whiskey was sold and drunk over a plank counter.

It seems Charlie Cawood, a man with a bad disposition who hated the GOP, was drinking heavily when he reached down, grabbed his young son, and stood him up on the bar.  He made the boy dance like a rooster – flapping his arms and stomping about – then encouraged the child openly denounce the Republican Party.

Everyone laughed.  Except my Uncle Noble.

Words were exchanged and Noble ordered Charlie to leave the bar and not return.  Local historians say that, although Charlie left, he returned a few minutes later having armed himself.

That’s when my uncle picked up his 1873 Winchester and killed ol’ Charlie in the doorway.

Noble didn’t say a word – just raised his rifle and fired – then collected his orphaned nephew and went home.

Due, in part, to the politics of the day, Noble was acquitted of murder following a trial at London, Kentucky.   The newspaper reported the following:

 “When we went to press last week the case of Noble Smith for the murder of Charlie Cawood, in Harlan County, was on trial. Nine speeches were made in the case for the Commonwealth and five for the defense. Friday the Jury came in with a verdict of acquittal, and Smith was discharged from custody.”

Unfortunately, the outcome didn’t help and the bad blood thickened.  Ultimately, Uncle Noble took his family and moved west to Washington State where they prospered in logging and timber.

The rest of the Smith kinfolk moved deep into Lee County where they established a farm and homestead in the White Shoals area of the Powell River Valley near present day Rose Hill.

The family farm was located on bottomland at the end of a very rough wagon trail, not a road really, constructed primarily of smooth grey flat river rocks.  The rutted path wound through the woods past the entrance to a system of karsts and caverns which were used to hide troops and cattle during the Civil War.

By design, the land they settled was so inaccessible, so hidden away, that if it had not been for the advent of the Tennessee Valley Authority, I’m not sure my people would have ever been found.  I’m convinced that World Wars could have been fought, depressions and recessions could come and go, and my great grandparents would never have known until they brought their burley tobacco to market and overheard the news from other farmers.

I have a small, well-worn leather pouch that belonged to my great grandfather, Creed Smith.

Inside is a silver, quarter-sized dried fish scale – perhaps a good luck piece – a few coins, and a paper ledger. The old man and his mule would plow neighboring fields and he would record the cash transactions in the journal.

He always charged more for the mule than for himself.

Eventually, my grandparents packed up their young daughter and hauled her out of an old wooden cabin in the Virginia backwoods for jobs building the great hydroelectric dams at Norris and Fontana.

When my grandmother got tired of traveling with the TVA, they ultimately settled in Kingsport, Tennessee, where I was born and spent a great deal of time in the company of my grandfather.

Both of my maternal grandparents had a unique way with the language, and I learned a lot about life from their humorous homespun euphemisms.  They were from a different time and place and it showed.

In fact, when my grandmother – who was one of the funniest women I have ever known – would write a letter, she used the old English “ye” rather than “you” in her correspondence.  She never quite learned to pronounce the word “pizza” – and always answered the telephone with a drawn out, “Aw-right?”

When I would try and good-naturedly correct her, she would say, “Honey, hush.”

My “Granny” talked constantly, told funny stories with a flourish, and found humor in just about every situation.  In the late afternoon, we would often sit in a long wooden swing on her front porch while she shelled peas or stringed beans, giggling and talking as her arthritic fingers worked her “mess of beans.”

I can honestly say, I haven’t laughed quite as hard at anything since she passed – a wonderful spirit.

On the other hand, my grandfather was a very quiet man, although with a great sense of humor, who taught me valuable lessons with his old-timey mannerisms, ways and sayings.

For instance, he would always give me his spare change which I carried around in a little hand-me-down squeeze purse he gave me.  Whenever I would build up a nest egg, granddaddy would carry me downtown to a small newsstand on Broad Street where I would buy a “poke full” of candy – a box of popcorn that erupted all golden, hissing and popping, from an ancient, oily machine that filled the entire street with that wonderful salty/buttery aroma – and a short bottle of cold “Co-cola” for far less than a dollar.

The wonderful singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith once described the smell of a Woolworth store like, “popcorn and chewing gum rubbed around on the bottom of a leather-soled shoe.”

That’s what Wallace News smelled like.

While I thumbed through the magazines and perused the candy rack, my granddad would sometimes play the machines at the back of the store.  Later in life I realized that those “pinball” machines were probably more than just a time-and-dime waster.

On occasion, when I was really flush, I would pick out an additional comic book or two – maybe drop a nickel in the slot and take another ride on “Champion” the buckskin mechanical pony (with a real leather saddle) that went up-and-down and back-and-forth on the sidewalk just outside.

My grandfather would look down at me and warn, in that thick southwestern Virginia drawl, “Son, you’re going through your money like shit through a goose.”

Naturally, when I got back to the house I would burst through the back screen door and repeat my new found aphorism to my grandmother.  In turn, she would act shocked and admonish that I, “Ought not talk ugly,” threatening that if I did she would have to “cut me a switch.”

She never did – and it was always obvious from his mischievous smile that my grandfather was secretly proud of the fact that he had added to my growing vocabulary in such a meaningful way.

I was thinking about my salty primary education the other day while reading the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s coverage of the Volusia County Council “making good” on their promise to give the International Speedway Corporation a down payment of $12 million in public funds on a total commitment of some $20 million for the One Daytona complex.

That’s $5 million cash – we’re going to borrow the rest.

The more I read, the angrier I got – and the good Lord knows my grandmother would not have been happy with the “ugly talk” that filled the room.

Our own county chair – and forth stooge – Jason Davis, was quoted as saying, “You go by today and tomorrow it’s changed.”

Yep.  That’s the way those government-funded construction projects seem to go, Jason.

See, Auntie Lesa tells you how much of our money she needs, then those guys with the big Tonka trucks build things that benefit her family.

Now, put your cowboy hat on and let’s go get ice cream.

Tragic.

In other news, last month the County Council agreed unanimously to continue its $250,000 membership with Team Volusia, and signed off on budgets totaling some $13.4 million for the county’s three – count’em – tourism advertising agencies.

Did I mention the $1.5 million we handed to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University?

We’re told it’s to bailout struggling startups who find themselves short on cash at the university’s new “research park” – which is, apparently, another name for a place where folks gamble on their unproven ideas with your money.

Also, County Manager Jim Dinneen recommended approving the sale of public property valued at $800,000 to ERAU for the obscene half-price of $400,000.

Just gave it away to their friends at the Harvard of the Sky.

Oh, don’t let me forget, county officials are all set to vote on their proposed $849 million budget – that’s right, EIGHT-HUNDRED-FORTY-NINE-MILLION DOLLARS – which, naturally, includes a tax increase.

Not to mention the Volusia County School Board who just adopted an $852 million operating budget.  Like board member Linda Cuthbert said, “That’s a lot of money!”

Thanks for your insight and elucidation, Linda.

(Does someone help these people with their communications – or do they just blurt out the painfully obvious like victims of delayed echolalia or a child learning to talk?)

Not to fear, County Manager Jim Dinneen has a “plan” – it’s called Little Jimmy’s “Go to Zero by 2018.”

I’m not sure if Dinneen means he wants zero debt by 2018 – or he plans to spend every last dollar until all accounts hit zero?

“It’s about cost control because we can get out of shape really quick and really fast,” Dinneen told the News-Journal’s editorial board.  “It has to do with fiscal discipline.”

(Sorry.  I just snorted coffee through my nose and threw-up in my mouth a little.)

Let’s talk more about “Go to Zero” later, shall we?

After reading of Mr. Dinneen and our elected officials weird idea of “fiscal discipline,” I was once again reminded of my grandfather’s prescient warning – we truly are going through money like shit through a goose – and I don’t think that poor, diarrheal bird’s bowels are going to tighten up anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

 

“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men…”

 John Adams, 1776

As a casual observer of regional politics and governance, what I enjoy most is determining how seemingly disconnected people, events, and issues come together to form the whole.

Deciphering the interesting personal and professional relationships of the players – and the money.

In many ways it’s like working an intricate jigsaw puzzle, except you keep the jagged pieces floating around in your head, then use those random parts to solve a three-dimensional brainteaser.

Initially, you may have more theories and speculation than hard answers, then, suddenly, another fragment will come into play and the whole dynamic changes.

It’s like Hercule Poirot contemplating a whodunit.  Except, I’m not as smart as Inspector Poirot – I still have to ask myself the difficult questions. . .

By any measure, Mortenza “Mori” Hosseini has mastered the art of controlling his environment.

In fact, one might say that Mr. Hosseini is the Political Picasso of this time and place – the King of the Realm – someone who casts a very wide (and some say, dark) shadow over national, state and local affairs.

For many years, residents of Volusia County have quietly accepted the fact that we are governed not by a representative democracy in Deland, but rather a “Benevolent Dictatorship,” ruled by the big three plutocrats – Mr. Hosseini, Hyatt Brown and the France family.

We have watched as they bought and sold our elected officials like chattel, stood by as our elections were artificially manipulated by the infusion of unnaturally large sums of cash, and quietly worried as Mr. Hosseini used his vast wealth to purchase increasingly greater political influence; ultimately becoming the most powerful person in the State of Florida.

If you have political ambitions in Volusia County, wish to serve in elective office, or on a governing or advisory board in this state – even receive appointment to a judgeship – you will be required to prostrate yourself before the High Panjandrum of Political Power and ask for, well, his permission.

You see, unless you are anointed, your chances of participating in our “democratic” system of governance in any meaningful way is slim to none.

Mr. Hosseini is president and CEO of ICI Homes, one of the largest residential home builders in the United States.  An incredibly successful developer with diverse business interests.

In addition, he is an alumnus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, where he currently serves as the powerful chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees.

In April, a dozen current and former members of ERAU’s Student Government Association issued an open letter – accompanied by a petition containing some 1,500 signatures – questioning the motives behind Chairman Hosseini’s altruism, his “outsize influence,” and the “cronyism and conflicts of interest” engaged in by some sitting members of the board.

In summarizing their very real concerns, the former SGA members wrote:

“The board should not be the personal playground of those seeking buildings named after them.  Nor should it be a vehicle for trustees simply along for the ride, padding their bios with a board seat.  It should be an honor and a privilege that comes with great responsibility – and accountability.”

Understand, this took some chutzpah – the students and faculty have been nothing short of courageous.  After all, you don’t strike out at the king without damn good reason.

During this internal brouhaha, we also learned that between 2010 and 2012, ERAU paid more than $1.5 million to Hosseini-owned companies in lease payments for office space, utility costs, and aircraft charter services, “at fair value in the ordinary course of business.”

Indeed.

I guess the ERAU alumni were right – perhaps Mori’s motives weren’t so philanthropic after all.

Last week, in an insightful article by the Daytona Beach News-Journal entitled, “ERAU presidential search draws faculty fire,” we learn that Mr. Hosseini’s reign is again being openly challenged for the second time in five months.

Now, professors and staff faculty members are showing their displeasure over the board’s heavy-handed process for selecting the university’s next president.  In fact, the faculty senate recently took the board to the woodshed – issuing an unprecedented vote of no confidence – the most powerful statement of disapproval available to faculty members.

We now have alumni, the student body and the faculty calling for a change in leadership and direction – talk about a crossroads moment with max pucker-factor for all involved.

Most colleges and universities use a system known as “shared governance” where faculty, administrators and the board work collaboratively and share in the decision-making process.  At ERAU, Mori operates by the only method he knows – he stacks the deck with board members so the outcome of the presidential search becomes a foregone conclusion.

Now, here’s where things get interesting – at least for me:

In early August, Mr. Hosseini and interim university president Karen Holbrook, came before the Volusia County Council and asked for (read: Ordered) $1.5 million in public funds, ostensibly to be used to assist companies using ERAU’s new research park who need additional startup funds.

According to the News-Journal’s report, “In addition to the $1.5 million requested from the county, ERAU board chairman Mori Hosseini and interim president Karen Holbrook asked to buy county-owned land located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Clyde Morris Boulevard and Bellevue Avenue. The land is valued at $800,000, but school officials offered half, or $400,000. The school district uses part of that land now and County Manager Jim Dinneen anticipates, if approved, it taking a few years before the sale is finalized.”

Little Jimmy Dinneen.  That dirty scumbag lies to us even when the truth would serve him better.

It seems Dinneen’s “a few years” turned into little more than one-month when an item recommending approval of the sale of the county-owned “B-1 Barn” property at Clyde Morris and Bellevue to ERAU suddenly appeared on the Volusia County Council’s September 22, 2016 agenda.

The recommended sale price: $400,000 – just what Boss Hosseini ordered.

Of course, the half-price, bargain basement sale of public property to a private concern (whose former president was making well over a million dollars annually) was unanimously approved by the county council.

Now, I’m just speculating here – not making accusations, mind you – just asking a question:

Didn’t we learn in April that Mori Hosseini took somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million dollars out of Embry-Riddle in the form of “office space, utilities and aircraft charter services” associated with university operations?

And isn’t that the exact amount – among other financial concessions – Mori asked for and received from Volusia County, ostensibly for incentives related to the ERAU research park?

So, when the music stops, the only one left without a chair is us – the taxpaying citizens of Volusia County.

Everyone is whole – except us?

Am I missing something?

Is it possible that this perverted Three-Card-Monte scam has become so prevalent and so lucrative that they don’t even try to hide it from us anymore?

As I’ve said before, the students and faculty of ERAU have something important to say, and in my view, they deserve to be heard.  They are living in a microcosm of what the rest of us deal with everyday.  The difference being, we pay for it in exorbitant fees and taxes – while the students fund it with their outrageous tuition.

I have a feeling this won’t end well – at least for those courageous faculty members and students who had the guts to point out the obvious.

And it won’t end well for the rest of us either.

So long as we continue to elect candidates who are bought and openly controlled by uber-wealthy political insiders, we will get what we deserve.

 

 

They say the more things change, the more they stay the same.

For instance, historians tell us that during a scorching week way back in July 64 A.D., a huge fire ravaged Rome.  Some 70 percent of the city was gutted and over half the population was left homeless.

It was, by all accounts, a disaster of epic proportion.

Depending upon who you believe, Nero, the fifth Emperor of Rome – who’s reign was marked by lavish personal luxuries and tyrannical, self-centered, rule – either started the fire for his own sinister motives, or he was the hero who quickly organized fire control measures and humanitarian relief efforts to assist the thousands whose homes and businesses were destroyed.

Regardless, as with most of Roman history, this episode didn’t end well for Emperor Nero.

He became so unpopular and distrusted that a few years later he was declared an enemy of the state and committed suicide by thrusting a dagger through his own throat.

Because I have been psychologically programmed through near constant negative reinforcement, I instinctively distrust most politicians.  As a result, I tend to believe the popular fable that has Nero arrogantly entertaining himself by playing a fiddle (a “lyre” to be historically correct) while the conflagration consumed the city.

Yet, old Nero lives on in infamy – his entire time in power remembered for one colossal screw-up.

In fact, the tale has become so popular that the phrase “fiddling while Rome burns” has come to exemplify politicians who focus on trivial matters while neglecting significantly more serious threats.

Sound familiar?

I was reminded of this allegory last week while reading the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s interesting article, “Mushroom Motorhomes?  Volusia chair pushes to loosen law against plugging in RVs.”   

In short, our own Mad Hatter, Volusia County Council Chairman Jason Davis, recently proposed that the full council make changes to the current ordinance prohibiting owners of recreational vehicles from connecting to water, sewer, or electricity – or generally using the vehicle for residential purposes – except in a designated RV park.

Why?

Well, because one improbable interpretation of the ordinance might adversely affect Mr. Davis.

Oh, and his brother.

Everyone – and I mean everyone – realizes that the intent of the ordinance is to prohibit your neighbor’s Uncle Eddie from parking his mint green 1972 Condor II in the driveway, dumping the “shitter” in the storm drain, and generally establishing homestead.

Besides, it’s a non-issue.  According to the News-Journal, at best, code enforcement fields about 20 complaints a year countywide – all for people living in motorhomes outside designated parks.

My point is – who gives a damn?

I write, ad nauseum, about the cancerous blight and dysfunction that threatens the vitality and progress of our core economic drivers; I bitch incessantly about critical issues, such as homelessness, crime, environmental debacles and unchecked spending, problems that are virtually ignored – or simply kicked down the road while the corrosive effects are allowed to fester – openly and publicly – for everyone to see and feel.

All while we wait for our elected officials to act.  To do something.  Anything.

We wait, dumbstruck, while ostensibly bright people look to the sky, waiting breathlessly for the next great silver bullet – that one real estate developer that will lead us out of this troubled place like a great visionary Pharaoh of Progress.

We wait, as our public infrastructure is left to crumble.

We wait, as our water supply dwindles, and more recharge areas are destroyed by development.

We wait, as our beach is pushed further and further out of reach – physically and financially – with exorbitant entrance fees for families and visitors in vehicles.

We wait, as our disastrous county manager, Jim Dinneen, lectures that we can no longer afford transportation infrastructure while he openly carts $300,000 in taxpayer dollars out of the county coffers each year in obscene compensation for his dedicated service to a few political insiders and influence peddlers.

We wait, while our county council literally gives away tens of millions in public funds to private special interests, as homeless people are physically pushed onto a vacant lot with two water spigots and a portable toilet.

We wait, while Mr. Davis has the audacity to waste precious time and resources modifying an RV ordinance so he and his brother can periodically vent their musty play toys. . .

I could go on – but I won’t.

Like me, you live it every day – I’m preaching to the choir.

After all, this isn’t the first time Mr. Davis has gone off the reservation.

Anyone remember his fateful trip to Washington for what the rest of the council thought was a simple request for transportation funds?

Instead, out-of-the-blue, he went to the Capitol and concocted his own kooky plan to have SunRail make a sharp right turn north of DeBary, then follow State Road 472 and across I-4 – where another station would be constructed – then along I-4 to the Volusia County Fairgrounds – where yet another station would be built – then northeast, across I-95, finally terminating at a third station at the Daytona Beach International Airport?

Hell, at the end of the day, he can’t even get a few miles of track to connect the City of Deland.

How about his ridiculous request that the full council vote to support his strange get-rich-quick scheme du jour which would have him and a friend clean-up the Mosquito Lagoon with something he called, “Reef Balls”?

Oh, there was that time he submitted “suggestions” to the Charter Review Committee which would not only permit the county chair to submit tie-breaking votes in private – but would also provide Mr. Davis with a 67% percent pay raise, bringing his annual salary to some $85,000.00.

Remember?  Anyone?

Well, I do.

One might think that in the waning moments of his ill-fated reign, Mr. Davis might at least attempt to leave things slightly better than he found them – to make some effort in the public interest.

You know, the whole “legacy” thing?

Something other than being forever remembered as a double-crossing, ineffectual cartoon character in a goofy bush hat and ill-fitting suit who presided over perhaps the most embarrassing chapter in Volusia County history.

Please don’t think for one minute that the heir apparent, Ed Kelley, is any better.

He’s worse – by a long shot.

If you don’t believe that Ed Kelley will use the full might and treasure of government to serve his own interests – and those of his friends – look no further than his rule in the City of Ormond Beach.

The difference is – Jason Davis is congenitally stupid.

Ed Kelley is something else altogether.

He’s a mean-spirited perennial politician who is wholly bought and paid for by the same wealthy insiders that have controlled this county like a private fiefdom for years.

Stupidity you can educate – unchecked ambition and political aggression is something completely different.

Be aware of that when making your own Sophie’s Choice this November.

How does Chairman Davis’ effort to change the RV ordinance benefit you and I?

It doesn’t.

What it does is underscore the fact that the County of Volusia continues to treat it’s constituents like mushrooms:

They keep us in the dark and feed us bullshit.

 

Photo Credit: The Daytona Beach News-Journal