Free Republic

I see this as positive, I also see Turkey’s Gul’s decision to withdraw from that race positive. I chalk both these up as victories for us U.S.

You gotta give thanks for this guy:

http://www.mikeonline.com/

He bargained with the terrorist phelps and gave him 3 hours of airtime in exchange that they would not picket the VT funerals. I found this out because I am on facebook as a full time college student.

I pray that the Phelps cult meets a similar fate as the Branch Davidians and the Heaven’s Gate cults.

Hey Kerry, too little too late jackassdonkey. You let your biggest platform get sold down the river.....too late for you to realize how much a loss of the Imus show is a huge loss to the Democrats, you committed political fratricide on this one.

The Wrentham story of the Board of Selectmen vs. the Police Union did not go away today.

There is a new story in the Sun Chronicle today about the selectment hiring an outside independent legal council at $130-$150/hr to do another investigation because apparently the word of the Norfolk DA wasnt good enough.......in other words, the selectmen were proven wrong and need to use town money in the time of deficit and overruns to carry on their witch hunt.

To the Wrentham citizens: there is a recall citizens petition being proposed to vote by the selectmen, I suggest showing for that vote, it's the only check & balance that will be available to the monopoly style gov't our town now has.

OJ Simpson paid alot of money to be "right", at least it came from his own pocket............

This could vindicate:

from today's Sun Chronicle:

Union tells its side of Wrentham police feud



Sunday, March 11, 2007 12:24 AM EST

This letter represents the police officers who comprise the Wrentham Police Association. We are asking Wrentham residents to take a moment and consider our concerns.

We submit to you that Selectwoman Jennifer Firth should step down from the Board of Selectmen as she has proven herself unfit to hold that position. Our call for Ms. Firth to step down is echoed by Town Moderator Keith Billian, quoted in the March 4, Sunday Boston Globe as follows: "For a member of the Board of Selectmen to act in the manner she did, without doing her homework, and making these statements based on rumor, I don't think she has the integrity to sit on the Board of Selectmen."

The facts are backed by hard documentation; public records available to any resident upon request. The documentation includes the minutes of the January executive session; the e-mail from Ms. Firth to Selectmen Dion and Labonte and the e-mail from Ms. Firth to Town Moderator Keith Billian; the tape of the February 6 Board of Selectmen's meeting; the Internet blog Ms. Firth claimed as proof of her allegation; and the District Attorney's investigation. Whether or not you are a political supporter of Ms. Firth should not matter. If you look at the documentation and withhold bias, you will reach your own conclusion.

The documentation, available for your scrutiny, provides the following:

Selectwoman Firth was arguing to remove the chief of police position from Massachusetts Civil Service and place the position under the direct control of the Wrentham Board of Selectmen. Ms. Firth expressed verbally at the executive session and in print on her e-mail, that she doesn't want to consider certain police officers for promotion due to their political activity. In the same e-mail, Ms. Firth states: "We may be required to hire people like this if we go civil service and they are high scorers on the exam."
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When Mr. Billian questioned whether Ms. Firth's e-mail violated the Open Meeting Law, he addressed it with Ms. Firth and she agreed to read it out loud at the Board of selectmen's meeting on February 6, 2007. Prior to the meeting, Ms. Firth sent the town moderator a second e-mail that read: "I had hoped we wouldn't have to publicly disclose the blog in which a police officer suggests killing a candidate for local office (Greg Pazurchek) as it will definitely compromise public confidence."

On Feb. 6, Ms. Firth failed to read her e-mail as promised to Mr. Billian as the agenda indicated she would. Instead, Selectwoman Firth used her position and a public meeting to repeat her allegation that a police officer, whom she stated was identified in a blog document she held up as proof, threatened to kill a political candidate. Selectman Zizza supported the allegation stating he read the blog and confirmed the officer was identified. Ms. Dunn stated she didn't know what everyone was talking about.

The chief of police requested the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office to investigate and determine if a threat was made by a police officer. The DA's report includes an interview with Ms. Firth, conducted eight days after she made explicit allegations against the police. Remarkably, Ms. Firth informs investigators she "doesn't know" who wrote the entry and "doesn't know" who she was referring to as a police officer. Ms. Firth also "doesn't recall" sending the e-mail. The District Attorney's Office formally concluded the threat was not real and a police officer was never identified in the blog, contrary to the claims made by Selectwoman Firth and Selectman Zizza.

After the District Attorney's report was released and in spite of the finding that the allegations were false, Chairwoman Dunn publicly proclaimed her "100 percent" support for Selectwoman Firth and has refused two requests from the Wrentham Police Association to be placed on the agenda for the last two meetings so we can respond. Ms. Firth was placed on the agenda to read her e-mail with one week's notice. Obviously, the damage control wagons are circling.

Now, Ms. Firth informs The Sun Chronicle and Country Gazette that the complaint filed by Wrentham Police Association to the Ethics Commission will not be pursued. The fact is that The Wrentham Police Association complaint was not formally received by the Ethics Commission when Ms. Firth publicly pronounced it dead. The fact is our complaint has not been dismissed or even addressed. Does Selectwoman Firth have an explanation for her claim that our complaint is not being pursued? It this another thing she misinterpreted? Who will she blame for her actions this time?

None of what you just read can be dismissed as "he said, she said." Selectwoman Firth's words and writings are her own. All of it is available for your review. Ms. Firth cannot run and hide from her own words, nor will we allow her to blame the police who she targeted for a smear campaign.

In closing, this subject has absolutely nothing to do with contract negotiations. We understand it is the job of selectmen to put our wages and benefits on the table to negotiate. What Ms. Firth tried to do is put our integrity on the table and we will not stand for that. Our integrity is not up for bargaining Ms. Firth.

William McGrath

President

Thanks CIN, if you were to describe/classify the media type of FR, would you call it a forum? thanks in advance.

ping

Wrentham town democracy in fight or flight mode?

Wrentham brouhaha widens


BY STEPHEN PETERSON SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 1:24 AM EST

WRENTHAM - The feud between the police union and the board of selectmen has widened, with selectmen abruptly canceling a public forum at the end of Tuesday night's board meeting, where police intended to confront selectmen about the ongoing Internet controversy.

"We're not having a public forum this evening," Chairwoman Mary Dunn said, declaring the meeting adjourned. The vote to adjourn the meeting was 2-1, with Selectman George Labonte dissenting and Dunn abstaining. Jennifer Firth and John Zizza, subjects of the so-called blog controversy, voted in favor.

"We're here as residents of Wrentham and taxpayers," said police Sgt. William McGrath, the head of the police union. "We're here to address a matter between Mrs. Firth and the police."

Firth countered: "I have a right to have an executive session."

Dunn said that while a public forum is listed on the agenda, there is a notation that "this agenda is subject to change."
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The boiling issue stems largely from comments Firth made at a February selectmen meeting concerning an Internet blog, where comments critical of selectmen were posted. Firth speculated a police officer posted the comments and Zizza backed her up, the union contends.

Accompanied by three police officers, McGrath said after the meeting he intended to read a statement addressing the issues.

"This open forum was created as an opportunity for residents and taxpayers to voice concerns about issues in town," McGrath said. "It is a continuation of their efforts to hope the issue has died."

Dunn said later, "I don't think it is productive to continue" discussion of the issue. "This is union business, and not the place to take priority over town business," she said.

Dunn added that it is appropriate to cancel the public forum, "if you think a volatile situation is going to take place."

McGrath discounted that the controversy is solely a union issue, saying it involves the integrity of selectmen.

He also noted it was Dunn who originally pushed for public forums during selectmen meetings.

Dunn confirmed that she did so during the late 1990s, when she wasn't on the board. She said Tuesday's meeting was the first she could recall in which the forum was canceled when someone wanted to speak.

"That is my prerogative," Dunn said. "I run this meeting."

McGrath called that a double standard, saying Firth was able to get the issue on the agenda of the February meeting.

Dunn said the union was invited to meet with her and Police Chief Joseph Collamati Jr., but declined. She said the union has been put on the April 3 selectmen's agenda, but she is requesting that the union indicate beforehand what it plans to discuss.

"I've given them every opportunity to come to the table," Dunn said.

McGrath said all police officers not working the night shift had planned to attend Tuesday's meeting, but because the board "attempted to label us bullies and intimidators, we pared down our presence."

Firth and Zizza are the subject of a complaint by the police union to the state Ethics Commission that they have discredited the department with their statements.

Firth said she has been told by the ethics commission the issue has been essentially dismissed, but McGrath insists that is not true.

The commission neither confirms nor denies investigations.

The Norfolk County District Attorney's office two weeks ago found no evidence that a police officer made threats on the Web site freerepublic.com. Dunn said she thought the issue was moot at that time.

The union has also demanded Firth's resignation.

No harm, no foul, it was my very first campaign so there were some mistakes to be made. But I know that either "they" or others know of the recent discussion involving this issue. Obviously because of the Freepers posting on it, but also because of searches being done on FR out of curiosity. Pretty much logical evidence of this is the contact from the Gazette, which is what I believe to be S.O.P. for a good reporter, unlike the Sun Chronicle which runs with the story of the people that lean their way, take their words as gospel, though they are horribly innacurate. The Chronicle story has evolved painfully because of the errant nonfacts proposed, their reporting was basically as sound as the Selectman's source of "hearing it on the street". It's the same thing with the KPHS story down here, the Chronicle leaned hard because the the reaction of the "poor me" students, parents and schoolboard, but once the "other side" of the story leaked out, the views changed to "equally responsible", that's the new mantra for saying yeah, you are right, we are wrong- "equally responsible" allows them to take no blame until the other side caves............

LB, not to mention now that all of a sudden this is "anonymous" that she doesnt know how she found out anything regarding the thread, and believes that it is being used against her for political gain.

gentle reminder, she dug up this oldie but goodie herself.

She's had to make a molehill to make a mountain out of it, because there was no molehill to begin with......

Yes, but this opens up a whole new can of worms:

The confusion, she said, is that Labonte’s son in-law was taking part in the chat thread. Labonte also has a son who is a Wrentham police officer, but Groves isn’t a policeman and has never been connected with the Wrentham Police Department.

"I think there’s been a lot of confusion for two years," said Firth this week. "I think the confusion is around the fact that it was a relative (of Labonte) involved."

Firth said she is disappointed the chat thread has sparked so much rumor and has been allowed to fester over two years in the town’s undercurrents. "I find it unconscionable that it was ignored," she said.

Greg Pazurchek, meanwhile, said on Monday that, while the internet posting was disturbing, he never felt directly threatened. He is questioning why the thread has been brought up now, and why it has been allowed to get so out of hand, especially since, he said, Labonte could have stopped the entire conversation Feb. 6 simply by pointing out that his son-in-law, and not his police officer son, was involved.

"Why is he adding fuel to the fire instead of saying, ‘Wait a minute, this isn’t a police officer. Yeah, the guy (Groves) was trying to help me and some arbitrary person wrote this alleged threat’?" Pazurchek said, noting that, at the time the chat thread was active, "I knew it wasn’t a cop."

****Well Greg, if you knew it all along, why did you not step in to tame the allegations & rumor of your associate Firth?

***Well, Firth sits next to GL at every meeting, how did she not in small talk ask "what's up with this guinnessboy thing"?

*****she shot first and asked questions later, she did not communicate with anyone on this issue, she ran wild with her witch hunt...............

I did like the Bellingham reporting though, clean cut, precise, mostly factual, except for Greg's bias on how this could have been handled better........

Par you were mentioned by the Sun Chronicle, they have proven themselves hacks every step of the way.

The district attorney's report portrays Firth as confused over who wrote the post. "Oh, I don't know how to read these things anyway," she was quoted as telling investigators.

Par35 et al, here's the latest from the Boston Globe, Firth's comment might give some insight as to why Par35 was mentioned and not phantomlord.....at any rate, phantomlord's comment came well before anyone knew where or when the campaign was involved.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/02/25/threat_accusation_spurs_police_protest/

This whole thing has really blown up in the face of the accusers.....

Par35, I'll take a look at the original to see if you even posted on it.....

LB initiated a post asking for help with advice & volunteers for the campaign I was running.

I have the entire thread.

Phantom Lord, I'm assuming, was using a tongue in cheek comment, not a threat of harm. Basically, what he was saying in fewer words is that its a lost cause to run a candidate in MA that is a conservative, a republican or even a moderate independent for that matter.

I didnt even chime in to the post until #40 or so in which I explained details about the election, the candidates, and I called the Wrentham Citizens Allaince the "democrat bleeding hearts". I will not retract that statement, basically because I believe it to be true, they are the town NIMBYS. They are anti business. The townsfolk pretty much know this.

Little Bill called the candidate in the beginning a rat, short for DemocRAT, LB didnt even know what town or players were involved in the beginning.

In the midst of the campaign TWO YEARS AGO, Greg (opponent candidate) came accross the original post. I'm assuming that their side were as busy as us and did not do a full analysis of the post, in fact at that time TWO YEARS AGO, the thread was shown to the police and it died on the spot TWO YEARS AGO.

Greg even congratulated us (me) for our victory by shaking my hand and saying congratulations "guinnessboy", I figured I'd give him that one, that it was part of the game.

The original post was taken down from FR 2 YRS AGO.

fast forward to today.

On the original thread that was taken down there were some lampooning posts of the selectmen that were put on the later part of the thread about post #53 or so. It's just name calling pretty much, nothing to lose sleep over, and it was posted by handles that I don't recognize.

The importance of how the police are pulled into all this is:

and this is public knowledge:

The Cheif Colamatti is retiring, they are looking for a successor as far as I see it.

There is an officer with the first name William. Firth and whoever she consults with, were convinced that the William on the force is Little Bill.

This whole thing basically is based on insinuations, innuendos, allegations and hysteria.

So now according to the current cheif the police's image has been sullied. All because those in possession of the original thread that must have figured that it could be used as an agenda tool maybe out of revenge of election defeat 2 YRS AGO (who knows).........

Anyhow, even to this point, when this all dredged up, they continued to not do their homework, both sides are completely lazy and it shows.

They pretty much see it that Little Bill and Guinnessboy wrote EVERY SINGLE POST on the original thread.

Nothing is further from the truth, I've got the whole thread in print here. In fact, there really wasnt much of anything derogatory coming from myself or LB other than opinion, which really wasnt that inflamatory.

Nothing to make them want to say "I'm going home and taking my ball with me".......

Now she finds herself in a mix with the police union because she didnt do her homework.

they never bothered to ask, hey who exactly is guinnessboy and little bill.

The police station is literally 100 paces behind town hall, think in the era of communication that someone could have walked, called on a landline, cell phone or sent an email to ask, hey cheif, you ever had an officer Ronald Groves?

Maybe ask the current Selectman how this whold freerepublic post relates to him? I mean there has to be some kind of communication going on while they are sitting together? This can all come up in small talk.

To sum it up, In my opinion, the absolute truth is not what is wanted here by her/them. They wanted to shoot first and ask questions later. That's why there are so many errors in the Sun Chronicle and Firth's testimony because nobody is doing their homework. Except the DA who cleared the police, and now the police union is asking, where's the beef?

Godspeeder good luck Freepers!

Here is a recent archive thread from the Sun Chronicle, the third story down finally tells the other side of the story:

"Brown won't apologize"

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/shared-content/search/?search=1&o=0&l=15&q=brown

Thirsty, I was going to reply a funny to that, but I don't need them to add impersonation of an officer to the mounting list of supposed allegations they can use against me or anyone..............

Disturbin, you are correct, this is the same KP.

Today's Sun Chronicle has a majority of letters in support to Brown with regards to KP vs. Brown. It's amazing when the articles come out with a perspective of "Brown is wrong", but when the letters from the actual real life folks/readers, more see it that the school/kids & teacher should apologize & take accountability.

After all, it was KP that drew first blood, now they want to play victim and demand apology, example below:

KP ignoramus: "you are a jerk"

recipient: "you called me a jerk"

KP ignoramus: "you owe me an apology now"

recipient: "huh?, how does that work?"

There is absolutely no logic in this state, and it's going to get worse under Gov. Tony Robbins, or whatever his name is.......Deval Dukakis I think............or Dukakis Patrick, or Dr. Phil, I dunno