On The Sixth Day of Grinchmas (Part One of Two)

On the Sixth Day of Grinchmas, the Grinches want to see...

Six Grinches on Council... No golden rings... Fourth Ward Foolishness... Three Evil Websites... Two-Faced Bloggers... And the Portsmouth Times in bankruptcy.

Since the 1970s, the Citizens Against Virtually Everything have tried to get control of City Council. (In those days the called themselves the "Little People.") In 1979, they got about as close as ever, when Harold Daub, and the late Mark Price and Andrew Clausing were elected to City Council. They controlled just three seats on the Council but they did a lot of damage in a short time. They drove away a developer who would have helped revitalize the City with a Downtown Mall. The developer went to Ashland, Kentucky, instead, and built what became the Ashland Towne Center. (So thanks to Daub and his friends we have to drive to Huntington or Ashland to shop for Christmas with money that could have been spent here. Merry Grinchmas.)

Daub, Price, and Clausing were recalled in late 1980 (which was, legally, the quickest that the trio could be removed), leaving quite a bit of chaos that still haunts the area today. Daub, supported by the CAVE People, ran for County Commissioner in 2006, and received an embarrassingly tiny number of votes. (We still wonder how he lost with that catchy slogan!)

Since then we have had one or two of their obstructionist gang on Council over the years. With the defeat of Bob Mollette, hopefully, we will never go back to the bad old days.

But it made us wonder. If the CAVE People had their choice, who would be on their dream team? If their Grinchmas wishes came true, who would control our City? Here's who we think they would choose: First Ward: Kevin Johnson Kevin Johnson made this claim on his campaign website: "Deciding to run for Portsmouth City Council in the First Ward was, as you may know, not an easy decision." Excuse us for doubting that.

We reported during the campaign that Johnson told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2002 that he had political aspirations to "shake things up" in Portsmouth. Describing a conservative, California town that Johnson left when he moved to Portsmouth, the Chronicle reported:

"Kevin came into town and stirred things up...He was everywhere, putting on candidates forums...He's very passionate. You knew this was a guy who wasn't just going to move to Concord and quietly blend in."

Doubtless, he won't stay quiet for long in Portsmouth, Ohio. "I've already got a list of 700 names back there, people with political issues to call," he says, letting loose another raspy belly laugh. "Gawd, I love it!" (SF Chronicle, 3/16/2002.) Click here for the whole Johnson story.

He told the San Francisco newspaper of his intention to move to Portsmouth and become active in local politics. The article made it clear that Johnson's priorities were gay rights and gay-friendly policies. Johnson lived here just long enough to be eligible when he announced his run for office. (The 2009 primary election was the first opportunity to run after the required five year residence.) So we don't exactly swallow his "not an easy decision" claim. But of course he is a politician. His most recent blog post (which he entitled "Getting Started") describes some of the multiple commissions and committees, Johnson would like to establish now that he has been elected. (Especially note the ones we have marked with an asterisk*):

Commission on Aging

Community Services Commission

Human Relations Commission*

Parks, Recreation and Open Space Commission

Personnel Board*

Housing & Economic Development*

Infrastructure & Franchise

Neighborhood & Community Services

Policy Development & Internal Operations*

Recreation & Cultural Affairs*

As we reported during the campaign, Johnson also wants to form a "personnel policy sub-committee*" to revise the city charter and personnel policies...to bring them "into the 21st Century." As he stated, "We have a LOT of changes to make."

We believe that the committee and commissions marked with an asterisk (*) above are some of the tools that Johnson intends to use to force a strong gay rights and liberal agenda on the people of Portsmouth. We hope that citizens with traditional moral values will keep a close eye on these proposed new policy-making bodies, and try to be appointed to them if they are formed.

And remember that self-proclaimed "gay rights activist" Kevin Johnson was the candidate of choice of the CAVE People. Merry Grinchmas, Portsmouth.

(If you have any questions about our claims about Mr. Johnson, we strongly recommend you re-read our previous posts about his past and his likely agenda on City Council. Click here.)

Second Ward: Austin Leedom

A vampire named Austin Leedom has been haunting the City of Portsmouth for many years.

In a previous post, we spoke of the odious Mr. Leedom and his nasty little so-called "Shawnee Sentinel" website, where Leedom indulges in bad grammar and delights in portraying Portsmouth in the worst possible light.

But his pathetic and embarrassing website is just the latest reincarnation of this nasty, little, self-proclaimed "journalist." Leedom started his career in 1995 as a reporter for a trashy little newspaper, loosely associated with Shawnee State University, which like his current website was called the "Shawnee Sentinel." It was true tabloid trash. The best use that was ever made of it was as toilet paper for homeless people.

Early on it became an advocate for disgraced local politicians and university personnel: various professors charged with sexual harassment (SSU must have been quite a hotbed of horny professors at that time), a New Boston police chief fired for corruption, etc. One so-called reporter who appeared within the first year of the Sentinel, along with Leedom was Doug Deepe, "a special investigative reporter," whose main interest was in exposing the suspicious circumstances of SSU's firing and the subsequent prosecution of the school's bursar, John Welton, who ultimately went to prison. According to Deepe, Welton was an innocent victim targeted by the University for exposing corruption.

Actually Doug Deepe was John Welton himself. (If you ever wondered where Welton's infamous pen-name came from, it was the Welton's own self-serving attempt to deceive the Sentinel's readers into the thinking that Welton's was the victim, not the criminal in the case. And this was done with Leedom's full knowledge and complicity.)

Over the years since Welton was released from prison, he and Leedom have been off-again, on-again partners-in-grime starting and closing various newspapers and websites and posting to other local web forums. Sometimes working together. Sometimes attacking each other.

As the new Anti-CAVE website the Irish Mob reported recently, Doug Deepe, aka convicted felon John Welton has been accusing his former colleague, Leedom of tax evasion. He claims Leedom has bragged about it on several occasions. (CLICK HERE for the original story):

Does Sentinel Owner Austin Leedom Pay Taxes? Does the owner of the Shawnee Sentinel Website pay his fair share of taxes? Well out of his own mouth Austin Leedom told me that he refuses to pay Portsmouth City Income Taxes on income he makes when he works out of the State of Ohio. Leedom has been asked this question directly by Portsmouth Mayor Jim Kalb but Leedom refuses to answer the question. So, if what Leedom told me is the truth, and it was told to me during the 2004 tax year, what right does Leedom have to denegrate any public servant? I knew there might come a day that Leedom would turn on me so I wrote it all down, dated it, timed it, and had a witness sign it, including the location where it was told to us, and the time it was said to us and I have verified that my friend still has his copy of the document. The statement was made during a morning breakfast at the Gallia Street McDonalds. The time has come for Leedom to come clean on his tax information. Leedom leaves Portsmouth and makes thousands of dollars after hurricanes, floods, ice storms, etc. ... He rarely writes stories. He still uses my stories even though my attorney wrote him an email to stop using my intellectual property. Leedom now has hooked up with a well known drug abuser named Joe Ferguson and Leedom is promoting how honest this guy is and how great his (Ferguson's) investigations have been. I challenge anyone to go find a story Ferguson actually investigated and didn't just hear on a scanner or get a call to come rush to see a fire or something to that affect. Ferguson pled guilty to drug charges. This guy claims to be disabled yet he worked for "free" (if you believe that) for Lee Scott at the Columbia Music Hall. Could Scott have been paying Ferguson under the table too?? Are Leedom and Ferguson two peas in a pod? Only their tax forms and the people that hired them know the truth about these matters. Until Leedom shows his out of state income and proves to the people of Portsmouth that he paid his fair share of city income taxes nobody should ever believe a word he says or writes. I believe Leedom told me the truth, that he won't pay his city taxes on the money he made while working out of state. -John Welton (aka Doug Deepe)

Whoever said there was no honor among thieves, must have known the CAVE People.

Sorry to repeat ourselves but it must be said. The low-life Austin Leedom is the type of person that the CAVE People want to run the City of Portsmouth. People like the Mollette unapologetically supported Leedom in his 2007 run for the Second Ward Council seat. See below for more.

Third Ward: Teresa Mollette The idea that the Mollette's will go away or quiet down with the stunning and welcome defeat of Bob Mollette in the November election is probably wishful thinking. Especially the wife of the outgoing councilman.

Mrs. Mollette is literally so full of hatred for everyone who has a differing idea about the direction the city should be taking, that she actually wishes death upon her political enemies, as you can see by the outrageous letter produced below. She claims that her political enemies are literally "deserving" of being shot.

[NOTE: The following documents were sent to P-Town Underground at our email address (ptownu@yahoo.com) by sources who wishes to maintain their anonymity. Mrs. Mollette distributed her 3-page letter to Portsmouth city council members and to the local media, prior to reading it aloud at a council meeting. The internet posting appeared on a web forum operated by Mrs. Mollette herself. Of course, we will honor our source's request for confidentiality. We have independently verified all information presented below.] In 2005, the Melchers, owners of the Melcher funeral homes, were attacked and shot by burglars. The couple received life-threatening injuries and still feel the effects to this day. One of them lost an eye. Teresa Mollette, in a post to her web forum on 10/3/2005, condemned the attack. Her next thought was to wish that other "individuals" in the community had been shot instead. (Click on the images to read full-size.)

"When I first learned about the tragic crime I kept asking myself why? Why the Melcher's? Why to such good people, I could think of a few more deserving individuals of such a crime? This type of crime those deserving individuals are promoting in our community by their actions and/or inactions. While I was pondering these whys out loud an individual in our community made this comment to me, "If it had been one of these individuals instead of the Melcher's the community would have taken little notice and forgotten about it quickly." God speaks in mysterious ways. Teresa"

In case there might be any question who the "more deserving individuals' were that Mollette was referring to note the phrase "by their actions and/or inactions," Mollette herself provided the answer. Less than two months prior to the horrific attempted murder at Melcher's Funeral Home, Teresa had submitted to City Council a long, rambling manifesto accusing council members of "tyranny...dictatorship...rape of the constitution...cover-ups of abuse and corruption..." and all many of heinous crimes. The 3-page letter was written and signed by her alone.

The subject of the letter? "RE: ACTIONS AND/OR INACTIONS BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS"

Who were the "public officials" deserving of attempted murder? Mollette's letter left no doubt:

"Public officials like Martin Mohr, Howard Baughman, Greg Bauer, Carol Caudill, Ann Sydner, David Malone, Gerald Albright, David Kuhn, JoAnn Aeh and many others are being exposed to the public's view... "

So if some lunatic with a gun was looking for someone to punish for all of the city's perceived crimes (tyranny, rape, cover-ups, corruption, etc.), the killer would have "hit list" ready made, thanks to the deranged ramblings of the wife of a Portsmouth City Councilman.

Believe it or not the letter above is typical of Mollette unhinged tirades and attacks on public officials at many City Council. Also please note her slobbering praise for the reprobates, John Welton and Austin Leedom (candidate for Council at the time) on page 2 of her diatribe. As we have said before, the CAVE People are a vile and incestuous little group.)

Thank God the people of the Third Ward rejected Bob Mollettte and his dreadful wife in November. (Now can they please just go away?)

TO BE CONTINUED...