On the Tenth Day of Grinchmas

On the Tenth Day of Grinchmas, the Grinches want to see... Ten Months of Murray... Nine Forrey FAILS... Eight empty theaters... Seven Abominations... Six Grinches on Council... No golden rings... Fourth Ward Foolishness... Three Evil Websites... Two-Faced Bloggers... And the Portsmouth Times in bankruptcy.

Immediately following the November 2009 election of Jane Murray to be the Mayor of Portsmouth, we wished her and her administration the best of luck and success. On Nov. 4, 2009, we wrote:

We would like to congratulate all of the winners in yesterday's election. All of them, especially Ms. Murray, had impressive victories, and we sincerely wish them all the success in the world. The Mayor-elect and the new City Councilmen certainly have their work cut out for them. We wish them nothing but success.

After that time, we did not criticize Murray. Instead, we focused on informing our readers about the CAVE People of Portsmouth and their hateful and damaging influence on City government, hoping against hope, that Murray had somehow learned from her past legacy of failure and that she would be an effective mayor.

Unfortunately, Murray's narcissism and monomaniacal tendencies are just too strong. We feared she was a train wreck waiting to happen, but her first week is worse than even we imagined. Incredibly, even before taking office, as mayor-elect (!), she became a mouthpiece for a wacky group of anti-nuclear activists whose stated goal is to close down the US Enrichment Corp. at Piketon. Murray called for actions that would cost literally 1000s of jobs that might otherwise come to our area. She said that land which is planned to be used for industrial development should used for an Indian cultural heritage park!?!

We told you about the embarrassing failure of her inept political career in Kentucky, which left behind a series of bankrupt so-called cultural projects, including among many others the failed UK Basketball Museum. (Click on highlighted text for more information.)

So now the biggest question around the City of Portsmouth is

"HOW CAN WE GET RID OF THIS CRAZY WOMAN???"

Recall is the most obvious answer. Unfortunately, according to the City Charter, the recall process will take many months.

Jan . 4: Murray took office. The charter states that recalls of elected officials must be initiated by petitions passed and signed by registered voters of Portsmouth. The recall petitions must be gotten from the City Clerk. The Clerk is not authorized to release until the elected official has been in office for six months.

July 6: Six months from Murray's first day in office would be July 4, Independence Day. But the Fourth is a Sunday. The City Building will be closed on Monday to celebrate the holiday. So recall petitions will available on Tuesday, July 6.

July-August: Petitions must be passed, signed, and returned to the City Clerk. After her review and verification of signatures, the signed petitions will be sent to the Scioto Board of Elections for certification.

September-October: Depending on the speed with which the petitions are circulated and the number of signatures to verify, a special election could be scheduled in October, or even September. However, due to the extra cost of a special election, it is likely that the actual recall vote would take place in the Fall General Election.

November 2: The first Tuesday in November. The likely decision point for the voters of Portsmouth to recall Jane Murray. If the election were held today, we believe she would be recalled. After all she only got 46% of the vote in a three-way election, so she started out with the majority of the voters voting against her. We will be surprised if she can un-do the damage she has done among the citizenry in time to save her job, especially if she does not learn from her early mistakes,

Mid-November: The Board of Elections certify the election results. If the recall is successful, Murray's term would end immediately upon the certification of results. The president of Council, currently David Malone (former candidate for mayor, himself) would immediately become mayor, or another person on City Council, if Malone declines.

After ten months and a few days, Murray's disastrous tenure, would be over and her reign of error over our town would end.

What a fitting end to Murray's treacherous political career, which began with Murray organizing a recall effort against former Council President, Howard Baughman.

On the Ninth Day of Grinchmas

On the Ninth Day of Grinchmas, the Grinches want to see... Nine Forrey FAILS... Eight empty theaters... Seven Abominations... Six Grinches on Council... No golden rings... Fourth Ward Foolishness... Three Evil Websites... Two-Faced Bloggers... And the Portsmouth Times in bankruptcy. The New Year brings both good and bad news, dear reader.

THE GOOD NEWS: The wacky atheist professor, Robert Forrey, announced that he was leaving the area. He's moving away "to prepare a publication for the 300th anniversary of a church [huh?] in my hometown, in Massachusetts." (Thank you, gods of atheism!) THE BAD NEWS: He says it's only for 6 months. Oh well, any break from the deranged blather of his demented little blog is reason to party in P-Town. Here at the Underground, we've come up with a suitable way to celebrate his coming departure. In honor of this wonderful event, we hereby present 9 Epic Forrey Fails!

If you've used the internet very often you're probably familiar with "fails." Fails are funny pictures or videos on the Internet that usually show some poor unfortunate person earnestly trying to accomplish something, failing miserably, and often making a fool of himself in the process. There are entire websites dedicated to chronicling these "Epic Fails," such as failblog.org. Here are a few of examples of "fails" for your enjoyment. We are pleased to announce that we have discovered some excellent and equally funny "fails" much closer to home, courtesy of our own Wacky Professor Robert Forrey. Forrey likes to tells us poor hillbilly hicks in southern Ohio how brilliant he is. Of course, the under-educated CAVE People have fallen for his line of self-serving BS. Forrey, about whom we have shared so much in the past, is the gay, atheist, patron saint of the CAVE People. His followers dutifully report the latest mental droppings from his blog, RiverVices.com, on such local internet rags such as portsmouthcitizens. info, mollette. info, and inbredidiotsofportsmouth .com, as if the pablum that fall from his twisted brain is actually pure gold. 1. ATHEISM FAIL (River Vices, 12/22/09) Forrey's only claim to fame outside the CAVEs of Portsmouth, is a halfway clever poem he wrote shortly after 9/11, called "The Agnostic's Prayer," which was printed on the website "PositiveAtheism. org." His little ditty starts out "Save us, God, who don't believe in you./Save us from the multitudes who do." It goes on to claim that all religions equally bad, referring to belief in God as a collectivized "psychosis," and to compare nativity scenes to Muslim jihads, etc. For example, "Save us from Bin Ladin and Jerry Falwell," as if Christian preachers practicing their faith are terrorists who want to fly airliners into skyscrapers. Here are the poem's last lines:

"Save us from your followers true, But save us, above all, God, from you."

But strangely enough, on December 22, 2009, he announced "I will be taking a sabbatical from River Vices for the first half of 2010 to prepare a publication for the 300th anniversary of a church in my hometown, in Massachusetts." Are we the only ones who think this is odd? What self-respecting 300-year-old church would hire Forrey to write anything for them? For heaven's sake, he's a gay atheist! (Or as we like to call him, a "gatheist." Or maybe he's a "gagnostic.") What are they thinking? Are there no Christians left in Massachusetts? And if Forrey really believes what he says, why would he support any church? How hypocritical is that? And even worse, walking into such a viper's nest of religious lunatics, as he seems to think of them, could be suicidal! What happened to "Save us from every minaret and steeple,/ Save us from every Chosen People"? We guess "every" doesn't really mean "every" in the mind of a gatheist. Sounds like an "ATHEISM FAIL" to us! 2. ARCHITECTURE FAIL (10/27/09) Like many losers, Forrey is always telling other people how smart he is. He frequently uses words and phrases he doesn't really understand just to impress his followers. For example, after criticizing Mayor Kalb for being "Ignorant and uneducated...about the history and culture of his hometown," he went on to display his own ignorance and lack of education of the same subject.

"The Municipal Building is no Taj Mahal, but it is architecturally important, reflecting the Art Nouveau style that had become popular earlier in the twentieth century."

Art Nouveau style?? Sorry, Professor. That's a big FAIL right there.

The Municipal Building is Art Deco. Art Nouveau is an elaborate style of architecture popular in 19th Century Europe. It's not similar to Art Deco, at all. If you're going to denigrate the mayor for not knowing whether the Municipal Building was built under the Works Progress Administration or not, you should do your own homework. At least, Mayor Kalb got the right century! And continent!

As any college freshman would likely know (except perhaps students who had to sit through your dumb classes), you're wrong as usual. But thank you anyway for your amusing attempt to educate us poor hayseeds in hickville. In Architecture, you get an 'F' for FAIL. 3. CRIME FAIL (5/9/07) In 2007, the CAVE People put forth one of their pawns to run for City Council: Wayne Lee Nichols. (His name may sound like a serial killer, but as far as we know he's not.) Now everyone knew that Nichols' home was fire trap, piled high with rags and trash and other junk, inside, in the front and yards, and even in the street, on a junk-piled flat bed truck. After numerous complaints from his neighbors and unsuccessful enforcement attempts, the City Health Department was forced to take Nichols to court. Forrey and Nichols' other enablers of the CAVE persuasion complained that the City's enforcement actions were political. As Forrey stated on his blog:

"Nichols’ most serious offense, I believe, is not his procrastination in cleaning up his premises but rather his attending city council meetings and speaking up in those periods set aside for citizens to address the city council..."

Despite Forrey's attempt at minimizing Nichols' many personal, legal, and financial problems, Nichols already had a criminal record, was a neighborhood menace, and had had a home foreclosed on just a few years prior. (Since then Nichol's has been charged with additional crimes and is now facing serious time in prison.) So, no, "procrastination" was not your candidate's "most serious offense." But the CAVE People were more concerned about their petty agendas than Nichol's own safety and the well-being of his neighbors. On Nov. 4 of this year, Nichols' home finally burned to the ground, heavily damaging Star Dry Cleaners next door and seriously damaging another residence. Star Cleaners had pleaded with the Health and Police Departments for years for help in correcting the Nichols' numerous violations, including flammable debris piled by Nichols up against the Dry Cleaner's building. But thanks to Forrey and Nichol's other enablers, Nichols is homeless and Star Cleaners may never re-open.

But that's just fine with the CAVE People who really care nothing about the man, or the ruined dry cleaners. The burned out, smoked-damaged business stands as yet another monument to the hateful vision of the Forrey followers and their agenda of failure for the City of Portsmouth.

Yet another FAIL by Forrey and the CAVE People. 4. ID FAIL (11/4/2009) Forrey and the CAVE people have been obsessed with our true identity since P-Town Underground first appear. Forrey provided one of their many lame speculations on his website:

"I have little doubt that one of those writing anonymously for the Underground blog is an alcoholic human virus who insinuates himself electronically into the Portsmouth body politic by parasitically taking on the appearance or coloration of his political enemies, of capitalizing on their greater name recognition. A political ally of the Kalb family, this creep started out some years ago by calling himself Look Deeper, mimicking "Doug Deepe," John Welton’s well-known pseudonym. More recently he has adopted the pseudonym River Lices, mimicking River Vices."

An "alcoholic human virus"? I think the professor is trying to hurt our feelings. We have no connection to the gentleman the demented professor is referring to, but if Forrey hates him so much, he must be a fine individual. Chalk up another fail. If you bother to read Forrey's blithering, you will notice that the only attack of P-Town Underground that he can come up with is name-calling. He says we are homophobes, meanies, liars, and any other insult he can find in his nasty little thesaurus. But he has yet to factually dispute anything we have reported. 5. CULTURE AND BIOLOGY FAIL (11/20/09) Forrey shows his lack of knowledge of American culture and biology with the following quote:

"One of the anonymous Portsmouth bloggers [referring to P-Town Underground]posted a photo of the actor Edward Woodward, who starred in The Equalizer, a 1980s TV show about a former secret service agent who uses his gun, “the equalizer,” as a goniff, or law-skirting, free-lance vigilante, the bastard offspring of the same-sex marriage of James Bond and Dirty Harry."

a. The truth is Woodward hardly ever used a gun in his classic TV show. Firearms were always a last resort, but sometimes necessary when protecting his innocent clients against mobsters and murderers in the big city. Also, his gun was not the Equalizer, Woodward himself was. b. The Equalizer was NOT "the bastard offspring of the same-sex marriage of James Bond and Dirty Harry." Maybe no one has explained to the professor that two men cannot have children no matter how many times they try. It is a biological impossibility. Sorry, we know it seems unfair, but reproduction always requires a woman. (Lucky for him. We suspect Forrey would have been pregnant many times over by now.) (Forrey seems to have an obsession with snidely accusing heterosexual males of having homosexual relations, not just James Bond and Dirty Harry, but also city council members and citizens he disagrees with. Apparently it is an attempt at humor, but it is surprisingly common on his blogs. Must be a psychological hang-up.) 6. FINANCE FAIL (3/28/09) Forrey's concern for the fiances of our fine City Solicitor Mike Jones is truly touching as in a recent "expose" about Jones' investment in the Crispie Creme Donut Shop.

Rumors currently circulating about Jones being in dire financial difficulties are just that—rumors, but with the financial meltdown and business recession that have occurred since he acquired Crispie Creme in the summer of 2007, it would not be surprising if Jones was in a financial deep fry, and that he soon may be toast.

Isn't it impressive that the professor can create a rumor, circulate the rumor, deny the rumor, and then repeat the rumor he just denied...ALL IN A SINGLE SENTENCE?! But rumor-mongering is par for the course among the CAVE People. Well, we take comfort in the fact that Jones is a respected attorney and local entrepreneur, with a nice family and a "house on the hill" (as Forrey puts it), while Forrey lives alone in an upstairs apartment on Fourth Street after a lackluster career as a teacher, which he retired from under questionable circumstances. We think we will get our financial advice elsewhere, Professor Fail! 7. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE FAIL (11/4/09) Some people prefer it when the truth is covered up and hidden for the people who have right to know it. Forrey likes it that way.

"The Underground also homophobically suggested that Mike Mearan’s opponent had AIDS, a dirty trick that was followed up by another supporter of Mearan who produced an incriminating dirty-tricks flyer that purported to be from Mearan’s gay-agenda opponent."

We didn't "suggest" that Kevin Johnson had AIDS. The San Francisco Chronicle stated it as a fact in a newspaper interview with Johnson himself. We even reproduced the article, in its entirety, our website. Before moving to here in 2002, Johnson lived in the San Francisco area (you know, where they separate the men from the boys with a crowbar). He was such a well-known gay activist that, when they learned he was moving away, the newspaper interviewed him to find out what his plans were, mentioning Portsmouth specifically. The Chronicle reported Johnson's HIV status, his gay relationship, his gay rights lawsuits, and his gay activism, including gay partner benefits legislation that he claimed credit for passing in California. We believe that voters of Portsmouth deserved the same information that the citizens of California had, and we did our best to share the information. That doesn't make us "homophobes." Just people who care about the truth. Unlike Forrey.

8. JOURNALISM FAIL (5/29/06) In the wacky professor's mind, THIS is what passes for a historic event in Portsmouth's history:

"That’s why the founding of the Shawnee Sentinel in 1995, at Shawnee State U., was an important event in Portsmouth’s history. The Sentinel is far from perfect, and may not always be diplomatic or grammatical, but it has relentlessly exposed our shadow government and their accomplices and stooges in the city government."

The plague on Portsmouth, known as the Shawnee Sentinel, has been a joke since day one. This so-called newspaper is where we first heard of Doug Deepe (as a pseudonym for a convicted embezzler named John Welton) who used the paper to covertly proclaim his innocence and attempt to subvert his criminal investigation. The line of Sentinistas who spread their lies through this rag is a long one, including Welton, Austin Leedom, Wally Leedom (his son), and Harold (Little Daub'll Do Ya) Daub. For your amusement, we present a scan of a notice from the October 2007 issue of the Shawnee Sentinel.

Yes, he is talking about that Harold Daub! The same Daub that the Leedom's, the Mollette's, Forrey, and all the other CAVE People, Sentinistas, and Grinches, put forth as an icon of their inbred little group, the victim of the evil powers-that-be, and an unsung hero of Portsmouth. The same Daub that Forrey praises over and over on his blog.

The Shawnee Sentinel, the newspaper of record for the CAVE Clan, which Forrey calls "historic" and says "it has relentlessly expose[s] our shadow government and their accomplices and stooges in the city government," officially reported that Harold Daub was a liar. Isn't this the funniest thing you've ever heard? The Shawnee Sentinel reports that for over a year Harold Daub used the pages of the Shawnee Sentinel to:

1. write "lies about people" 2. "hurt people and hurt their feelings" 3. "victimize" people, and 4. "damage [people] by these lies"

So Wally Leedom finally "barred [Daub] from writing for the Shawnee Sentinel." (Hoo, boy! We just can't stop laughing at these fools.) Excuse our language, but what we have in here is a classic, CAVE People, four-man ---------. Wally Leedom, son of Austin Leedom, accuses Harold Daub of lying in the pages of the Shawnee Sentinel under a false identity to conceal his activities from his employer and the Federal Government, in the very "newspaper" paper that debuted Doug Deepe, aka John Welton, who now claims to have rock-solid proof that Wally and Austin Leedom have intentionally evaded paying taxes on out-of-state disaster relief work---the work that Leedom is claiming in this very notice. Are you dizzy yet?

As we keep saying, they are an incestuous little group. Forrey must be concerned about the continued well-being of the Sentinistas. After all, when he leaves for Massachusetts, who will be left to sneak them in to the printing presses of Shawnee State University in the middle of the night so they can print their little yellow rag at the university's expence? Ah, your tax dollars at work! And last but not least.... 9. STATISTIC FAIL (5/9/07) Professor Forrey is a malicious person.

Prior to the 2007 City Council election, the dignified Professor Forrey used his blog to insult the incumbent Fourth Ward Councilman Jerrold Albrecht, calling him "rich white trash," an "old man," "a cat's paw for those who control the city," and a "cockroach." He went on to suggest that Albrecht's death or "incapacitation" would be a good thing for Portsmouth, except that "the powers-that-be will be quite ready with another candidate for the city council to appoint as his replacement." (This passes for compassion among the CAVE People.)

This leads us into the final foolish Forrey Fail from his blog. (At least, it's the last one we have time for today.) On 5/9/2007, he stated:

"Because Albrecht is of advanced age, his chances of finishing a four-year term on council are probably less than fifty-fifty, although health experts say taking naps during the day is a good way to achieve longevity, so maybe the odds of him finishing a term are better than fifty-fifty."

Forrey, Forrey, Forrey. You poor deranged, math-challenged fool. Your life spans predictions are just wishful thinking and as usual for you, just plain wrong. You claimed he had a life expectancy of just two years (50% of a "four-year term").

Life insurance companies and even the federal government produce handy little charts called "actuarial tables" where you can look up such things. Despite your hateful prediction, the honorable councilman (who is around 70 now) is getting along quite well, stays wide awake at all council meetings, and STILL has a life expectancy of at least 13 more years (and many more we hope, Mr. Albrecht). We hope he serves the City for years to come and continues to frustrate the evil schemes of the CAVE Clan.

A word of advice to Professor Fail. We think you should be more concerned about your own health than Mr. Albrecht's. Looking at the pictures below (Albrecht on left, Forrey on right), who do you think is more likely to drop over at any minute?

Good luck in Massachusetts, Professor.

Make it a Happy New Year!

Don't come back!

On The Eighth Day of Grinchmas

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

Eight empty theaters...

Seven Abominations...

Six Grinches on Council...

No golden rings...

Fourth Ward Foolishness...

Three Evil Websites...

Two-Faced Bloggers...

And the Portsmouth Times in bankruptcy.

A very nice (and rare) success story for the City of Portsmouth in the last several years has been the development of the old "Viaduct" property on the 1600 block of Chillicothe Street. Remember when you had to go to Wheelersburg (to sit in a run down, dingy movie theater) or further to see a movie? Now we have a very nice, clean movie theater right here in town.

Isn't that nice? Who could be against that?

Well, of course, you know the answer to that. The CAVE People. Harold Daub, Teresa Mollette, Austin Leedom and his son Wally, and the rest of their group opposed the project vigorously at City Council meetings and on-line every step of the way: from the sale of the property, the clean-up, and even the installation of a stop light at the intersection.

They objected to the price ($60,000) for which the property was sold to the developer (Mullins Construction). As usual, these Grinches were afraid a local businessman might actually make a profit of something. In fact, for years the City had tried to give the property away (for $1) to Krogers, Lutes, Big Sandy, or anyone would develop it.

They claimed that the property was polluted. For years many of the CAVE people claimed they would not patronize businesses built there because the "toxic chemicals" in the ground. In fact, the State of Ohio certified it to be free of hazards before anything was built there. (As if Buffalo Wild Wings or Penn Station would risk building a restaurant on a contaminated site.)

They complained that the employees would only receive "minimum wage."

In other words, typical CAVE People B.S. As recently as last year, Robert Forrey indulged in more rumor mongering (his stock-in-trade) about the "Toxicity" of the site.

"Residents of Portsmouth may be eating chicken wings, drinking milk shakes, and watching movies on a toxic site without realizing it. Rumors began circulating about seven years ago that the ground under the Route 23 Viaduct site was toxic."

The "rumors" he refers to are those spread by the CAVE People themselves (the Mollette's and "The Shawnee Sentinel," in particular). He acknowledges that there is no truth to the rumors, but apparently, as a CAVE person he is obligated to spread them anyway.

Fortunately, City Council had the good sense to stand up to the Grinches and support Mullins' project, anyway. If they had listened the critics we would have:

No Portsmouth 8 Cinemas!

No Dairy Queen!

No Buffalo Wild Wings! No Penn Station!

Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Ryan Salmons Allstate Insurance

would have moved

somewhere else, possibly out of the city.

And finally, we would not be getting a new steak house.

No Logan's Roadhouse

(coming in 2010)

Thank you, Portsmouth City Council. Thank you, Elmer Mullins. We hope you make a handsome profit on your investment. The citizens of Portsmouth are in your debt.

On The Seventh Day of Grinchmas

On the Seventh Day of Grinchmas, the Grinches want to see... Seven Abominations... Six Grinches on Council... No golden rings... Fourth Ward Foolishness... Three Evil Websites... Two-Faced Bloggers... And the Portsmouth Times in bankruptcy. We received the images and comments below by email (ptownu@yahoo.com), from an individual who says he (or she) is a resident of the Third Ward. This person asked us topost this today, in honor of Bob Mollette's last day on City Council. The emailer states that every time he (or she) thinks about the CAVE People, these verses come to mind:

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

We think it is very appropriate. God doesn't hate people. He hates what people do to each other: petty, selfish, harmful, and mean-spirited actions and attitudes that all of us are subject to. The CAVE People of Portsmouth seem to be obsessed with almost everyone of these, even those who claim to be Christians. We hope that all of us will truly examine our motives as the discussion of the future of our City continues. (As usual, if you have trouble reading the images below, click on them and a larger version will appear.)

This last picture is, of course, from Teresa Mollette's website, portsmouthcitizens.info, and it is typical of her constant name-calling and accusations of city officials. In other words, "sowing discord among brothers."

We hope that the Mollettes are not too surprised at Bob's defeat by a kid that no one had ever heard of before. But they probably are. Teresa's years of ballistic tirades and hate-filled accusations were a major source of embarrassment to the citizens of Portsmouth. The people in their incestuous little group of malcontents, no doubt, loved it and egged her on.

But really, Teresa, is it appropriate for you to call the elected Mayor of Portsmouth a "tool and a fool" and to constantly refer to Mrs. Kalb as "the mayor's second wife"? Even openly wishing for the death of your husband's fellow councilmen? If you really wanted openness and communication and fairness as you claim in you various websites, perhaps a little grace and common decency would have been preferable.

At any rate, we can now say good-bye and good riddance to the Mollettes, and thank you to the voters of the Third Ward.

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

NOTE: Well, we're just halfway through the Sixth Day of Grinchmas and it's already Christmas Eve. It just seems like the more we dig into the rat's nests of the CAVE People's incestuous little schemes, the more we uncover. (It's sort of like termites.) We hope to finish our 12 Days series by New Year's and we appreciate the patience of our readers.

Now enjoy Part Two of the Sixth Day of Grinchmas...

Fourth Ward: Wayne Nichols

We now return briefly to our Fourth Day subject, the pitiable tool of the CAVE People, Wayne Lee Nichols.

On election night, Nov. 3, Nichols' home on Eighth Street burned nearly to the ground. Robert Forrey had the indecency to make the truly bizarre claim that Mayor Kalb had something to do with the fire, despite the fact that Forrey knew Nichol's house was a fire trap piled high with so much trash it endangered Nichols' neighbors. He also knew that Nichols had a criminal record and a reputation for consorting with drug addicts and prostitutes. Still, he defended Nichol's 2007 run for City Council. He and the other CAVE folks were unanimous that he was the best candidate, even though they were well aware of his sordid past. Nichols, now awaiting a January trial for

Was Nichols truly "qualified" for the office for which the CAVE People endorsed him? We'll let his record speak for itself. Specifically his record in the Scioto County Common Pleas Court and the Portsmouth Municipal Court. (See below.)

Source:

http://www.sciotocountycpcourt.org/

Source:

http://www.pmcourt.org

Fifth Ward: Larry Essman In 1993, Larry Essman moved to Portsmouth and bought a house on Grandview Avenue. Shortly after purchase, he installed a commode in his basement...without getting a building permit from the City. On several occasions over the next decade, sewage backed up into Essman's basement through the non-approved basement commode. By his own admission, it was recommended to him that he install a backflow preventer in his sewer line, at a cost of $5,000, to prevent continuing property damage, but he decided "the preventer probably would not solve the problem." So instead of installing the recommended backflow preventer (or removing his basement toilet), Essman and others sued the City of Portsmouth for over $2,000,000. The lawsuit has been in limbo for several years now, but is slowly workingits way through the courts. (You can read the story in Essman's own words here.) Essman is a darling of the CAVE People and a supporter of Jane Murray. She recently appointed him to serve on her cabinet of volunteer advisers. Essman will “deal with all financial matters of the city,” according to a report in the Portsmouth Times. So the citizens of Portsmouth face the following bizarre situation: a man with a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the City will serve as a volunteer advisor "on all financial matters" to the newly-elected mayor, who has another multi-million dollar, copy-cat, lawsuit of her own against the City. Huh? As the kids say nowadays: "Awkward!" Only in Portsmouth, friends. This could happen only in Portsmouth. Sixth Ward: Richard Noel Who could represent the CAVE People as Sixth Ward Councilman better than Rich Noel? That's a rhetorical question. No one could. Next to Wayne Nichols, Rich Noel is probably the most cynical, hypocritical candidate ever put forward by the CAVE People. In 2005, the C.A.V.E. People organized Citizens For Responsible Government, whose purpose was to recall Councilman and local businessman Marty Mohr (6th Ward.) In Portsmouth, to recall a candidate, you must provide a name on the recall ballot to filled the candidate's un-expired term. The pawn they chose was Rich Noel. Fortunately, Mohr survived the recall. But after months of lies and vicious attacks by the CAVE People (including attacks on his business, accusations of adultery, and other lies we won't repeat), he decided not to seek re-election. Unfortunately, Mohr's withdrawal opened the door for the CAVE candidate to run and win the 6th Ward Seat in 2007.

"Integrity and experience." Yeah, right. 1. When Noel campaigned to recall Mohr in 2005, one of his arguments against Mohr was that he illegally accepted City-provided health insurance as a City Councilman, a benefit that all council members have had available for many years. When Noel was elected in 2007, one of his first acts was to sign up for the same insurance. (The man has a strange concept of integrity.) 2. Due to an oversight dating back over 30 years, Rich Noel's residence was never connected to the City water and sewer systems. To this day, Noel remains on a private well and a septic tank while all of his neighbors on Dunlap Road, above and below him, have to pay for City services. As a result, when the garbage collection fee was initiated in the 1980s, Noel's residence was never added to the City's billing system and Noel knowingly received free garbage pickup for over 20 years. Shortly after his 2007 election the City found the mistake. Noel is now being billed but he refused to pay for the 20-plus years of free service the City mistakenly provided. We understand that the City Health has yet to enforce sanitation regulations that require Noel to connect to the water and sewer system, like every other citizen who lives adjacent to a sewer line. Much of this information was reported in the Scioto Voice newspaper of Wheelersburg. (Click on images below to read the articles.) 3. Maybe he doesn't need the water/sewer and garbage service because he doesn't really live there. A 2008 report in the Scioto Voice newspaper (see the first article above) accuses Noel of maintaining his residence in Porter Township. Noel's Wheelersburg home is larger, nicer, and better maintained than the Dunlap Road house. He forwards his calls to his phone in Wheelersburg, and neighbors report that he spends most of his time at there, near his daughter and grandchildren. Oddly enough, he DOES have water and sewer service in Wheelersburg. So Noel's only water and sewer bills are paid, NOT to the City he represents, but to Scioto Water, Inc., and the Scioto County Sanitary Engineer. Now that's some "integrity" for you, right there. If you would like to discuss Mr. Noel's integrity with him, make sure you call ahead of time. It can take 30 minutes or so to get from Wheelersburg to North Moreland. If that's not enough evidence of Noel's hypocrisy for you, how about this? Back in 2006, when the Mayor and some members of Council were trying to salvage something positive for the City out of the Marting's fiasco, they held an open house at Marting's so citizens could see architectural drawings showing the development possibilities for the structure, which for better or worse is now owned by the City. The City displayed the drawings, gave tours of the building, and provided refreshments: punch and cookies. Noel and several other CAVE People showed up wearing hardware store dust masks, as if it was dangerous to breathe the air.(An environmental study had already shown the building air was safe). During the open house, Noel kept his mask on. Except when he went to the refreshment table to eat cookies and drink punch! That is our classy Sixth Ward Councilman, Rich Noel. (If Noel wasn't a hypocrite he would were a dust mask every time he walks in the City building and work toward replacing it. Instead he is content to condemn City workers to inhale whatever flakes off the crumbling ceilings and walls.) Remember. Mr. Noel is the kind of candidate the CAVE People want to see running Portsmouth. MERRY GRINCHMAS TO ALL!

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...

On the Fifth Day of Grinchmas

On the fifth day of Grinchmas, the Grinches want to see... No golden rings... Fourth Ward Foolishness... Three Evil Websites... Two-Faced Bloggers... And the Portsmouth Times in bankruptcy. The CAVE People do not want you to have golden rings. Specifically, those little golden rings of sugary goodness called donuts! "What's that?" we hear you say. "We've seen the CAVE People. It's hard to believe they are ALL against donuts!"

Well, ok. You caught us. They're not ALL against ALL donuts. Just Crispie Creme donuts. And just since City Solicitor Mike Jones became a co-owner of the Crispie Creme donut shop. One CAVE Person in particular hates Crispie Creme donuts: our favorite Grinch, Robert Forrey. You know how some old people are. Especially if they don't work...if they live alone...and if they have naturally nasty dispositions. If they left their job under suspicious circumstances. And they have alienated everyone that should matter in their lives. And if they look like they are constipated a lot. The type of person has nothing to do but pry around in other people's business. Retired Professor Robert Forrey, of the River Vices blog, is just that type of person. And like the Grinch, his heart is three sizes too small. That makes him a very mean old man. Unfortunately, he is mean AND not very smart, so his blog is filled with factually incorrect AND mean-spirited statements. A great example of this is his recent entry about Portsmouth's favorite donut shop. ("From Dollars To Donuts.") Forrey reports that, in 2007, "Mike Jones and a partner" (that is, business partner, NOT the type of "partner" Forrey normally is concerned about) "completed the purchase of the Crispie Creme Donut Shop, at 1202 Gallia Street. The value the County Auditor put on the donut shop was $107,990, but Jones and his partner paid an eye-popping $325,000 for the property. Did Jones confuse Crispie Creme with the national chain Krispy Kreme? What was he thinking? I suspected there might be an error in the $325,000 figure, so I checked with the County Auditor’s Office to make sure that figure was correct. I was told it was. Granted the valuation put on property for purposes of taxation is usually less than the putative market value, but a nearly 300 percent increase can hardly be accounted for on those grounds. The $325,000 for Crispie Creme sounds as inflated as the $2 million dollars the city paid for the Marting building."

Forrey goes on to complain that the Southern Ohio Growth Partnership and American Savings Bank would make loans to a business that in Forrey's vaunted opinion is doomed! Not content to slander Jones' business endeavor, Forrey goes, as he puts it, "Closer To Home."

"Unfortunately, Jones’s indebtedness is not confined to his business. He appears to have financial problems closer to home. In April 2005, two years before taking out the two mortgages on the donut shop, he bought a home in Portsmouth, on “the Hill,” at xxxxxxxxxxxx, for $xxxxxxx. (We left this information out, for the sake of decency.)... If the City Solicitor is no better at handling the city’s legal problems than he is at handling his own finances, his term in office may seem even longer to the citizens of Portsmouth than it will to him."

What a disgusting person Forrey is! What a bitter, nosy, old busybody! The self-importance and lack of decency of this man knows no bounds. What business of his is it how much Jones paid for his house? Does he know how much Jones has in savings? Does he know how much his wife makes? Forrey seems amazed that an attorney would be able to afford a house that costs six figures, and uses that fact to claim that Jones is a crook.

Reader, how would you like to have Forrey snooping around the Courthouse digging into your personal information? And if it were any of this vile idiot's business, if he had even an iota of common sense, he might realize that Jones was not just "buying a building." He was buying all the equipment: the donut presses and fryers and display cases and cooling racks and refrigeration units and whatever the hell else it takes to make donuts. Forrey probably does not even know that the building has a basement with even more equipment in use down there.

The new owners also bought a name. A reputation. An 80-plus year relationship between the people and a cherished establishment. People in Portsmouth have a love for the Crispie Creme shop. What person in Scioto County doesn't have fond memories of being taken to the donut shop by mom or dad and picking out their favorite donut and drinking a cool carton of milk? Crispie Creme is a wonderful Portsmouth institution. Thank God someone has the foresight to keep the place going. A normal, decent person would hope that the owners profit handsomely from their investment, but not the CAVE People. They would love to see it close its doors, just like they want the Portsmouth Times, the hospital, and the City itself to fail. Dear Reader, think of your fondest memories of Crispie Creme donuts. Now read what Forrey has to say: "...a walking-dead donut shop." "a financial deep fry [that] soon may be toast." "artery-clogging cholesterol and ass-over-the-stool obesity." "the only healthy thing about a donut is the hole." "a business that appears to have nothing going for it but donut nostalgia." "how in the world [has] it managed to stay in business." Forrey, maybe you should eat a donut sometime. But don't buy a Long John, because you might not know where to stick it. Apparently, the thing that really gets Forrey's panties in a wad is the fact that some of the financing for the purchase of the donut shop was assisted by the Southern Ohio Growth Partnership (the "evil S.O.G.P."). Imagine that! An organization whose main purpose is to make small business loans in Southern Ohio actually helped someone buy a business! What an underhanded thing to do. Obviously they are all crooks! (That's sarcasm, Mr. Forrey.) Or as Forrey concludes, "Jones was bought and paid for from the beginning." We at the Underground can't help wondering, Mr. Forrey, if you're such a brilliant businessman, where are the thriving businesses you've started? If you know so much more than American Savings Bank, why aren't you living "up on the hill"? How much does your house cost? Have you ever had a real job, Professor, instead of sucking on the government teat and brainwashing the "backward children of Appalachia" with your atheism and homosexual propaganda? Despite Forrey's oh-so-brilliant financial analysis of Mike Jones' business and personal finances, we believe the donut shop will do just fine. The people Portsmouth love their Crispie Cremes. They have increased their product line and have expanded into outlets around the county to share the goodness of their products. It's rare to go by the shop and not see people sitting and enjoying coffee and a donut, or picking up an order while their vehicle idles outside the door. PHS students seem to love it and Crispie Creme literally has dozens of coffee shops around the county that they supply donuts to, as well as brownies and turnovers and cookies. As usual Forrey doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. With the holidays upon us, why not make a special effort to patronize this fine local business that Forrey, the outsider from Massachusetts, attacks so callously? Let them know we're glad they're here. Give the gift of donuts. Make someone happy.