A Long Lost Friend
October 30, 2007
What with it being Hell Night (the night before Halloween) and the middle of my honeymoon, I’m off to raise some high Hell. In the meantime, please enjoy this wickedly good feature of mine which was published just last week in EERIE PA Magazine Issue 4 (www.eeriepa.net). In the spirit of All Hallow’s Eve, it examines the reality and belief in witchcraft among some in our society. SPOILER ALERT: It involves murder, magic, me and is pretty spooky. Happy Halloween!
Somewhere in south-central Pennsylvania, a family is worried.
A child has fallen ill and shows no signs of improving.
After a fair amount of hand-wringing and soul-searching, a man enters the house to fetch the remedy – not medicine, not a doctor, but a short passage from a small book. Its pages contain neither the telephone number of a trusted physician nor the recipe for a therapeutic elixir, but nonetheless hold a tried and true method of healing.
Quite simply, it’s faith. Continue reading A Long Lost Friend
When The Going Gets Weird…
October 26, 2007
Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of
principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary, 1911
Things started turning weird here at The Dagger this past week, and after kicking it around amongst ourselves for a few days, we’ve decided to open the books and let you all take a look.
First things first. A group of local businessmen, the prospective developers of the Wetlands Golf Course, bought a roughly $250, bumper sticker-size ad in The Record newspaper today to promote The Dagger. Continue reading When The Going Gets Weird…
An Offer They Couldn’t Refuse?
October 26, 2007
Speaking of benefactors, could The Aegis newspaper, Harford County’s community newspaper of record, have been helping the cause of an Aberdeen annexation opposition group behind the scenes last year?
More disturbing details from the testimony of a member of the annexation opposition, as part of the lawsuit that group filed against the City of Aberdeen, indicate the group, formerly known as Say No Annex or unofficially as ‘the redshirts,’ may have had an anonymous “Godfather” pampering them with services, support and cold hard cash – everything the group needed to take on the Wetlands annexation proposal.
It was long speculated such a “Godfather” existed, especially when the opposition group, which consists of Aberdeen and non-Aberdeen resident volunteers, was suddenly outfitted with matching shirts and signs, began distributing information pamphlets and mailers and purchased expensive advertisements in local newspapers. Continue reading An Offer They Couldn’t Refuse?
Elliott’s (Post)Date With Destiny
October 24, 2007
Ruth Elliott, an incumbent Aberdeen City Councilwoman and former mayor, may have participated in election fraud this March when she allegedly had members of the city’s Board of Elections sign and back-date the official results of a special election held months prior.
Such election fraud, according to the city charter, is considered a misdemeanor and, if prosecuted and found guilty of such an offense, Elliott would have to resign from office immediately upon conviction.
The disturbing details came out recently during depositions and testimony in the lawsuit filed against the City of Aberdeen by a group of annexation opponents.
Even more staggering than the revelation itself are its origins and implications. Continue reading Elliott’s (Post)Date With Destiny
Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
October 22, 2007
As of 9 o’clock this morning life is officially back to normal in Aberdeen.
Well, as normal as can be expected in a city where the gun-toting, airplane-flying mayor is being taken on by a 19-year-old college student, the best source of potable water is straight from the Bay and a Hall of Fame baseball player has nearly bankrupt the place.
Ignoring the advice of his lawyer and legal counsel, who still believe his case to be winnable, Steve Johnson, the would-be city council candidate who may or may not live in Aberdeen, has decided to officially abandon his quest to appear on the Nov. 6 election ballot.
That’s right, I said Nov. 6. Because of Johnson’s decision to withdraw his injunction, he believes the election can proceed as originally planned instead of being postponed until February 2008 or later.
“More important than my candidacy is for this election to go off on time,” Johnson said in an interview Sunday afternoon. Continue reading Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
Show Me The Money
October 21, 2007
The 13 Aberdeen candidates for mayor and city council have raised more than $40,000 among them, but more than two-thirds of those funds are found in the campaign war chests of just two people – Mayor S. Fred Simmons and incumbent councilman David Yensan.
The duo, which campaigned together two years ago when they were both elected for the first time, has raised more than twice as much money as the other 11 candidates for mayor and city council combined.
Unsurprisingly, Simmons and Yensan, who have been joined at the hip both politically and in their city voting records, share nearly identical campaign finance reports, which show thousands of dollars being donated by entities and individuals with vested interests in the mayor and his right-hand man staying on board for another term.
Get familiar with some of these campaign contributors and political donors. Their names will pop up time and time again. Just like the Matrix (hey, whatever happened to the city’s infamous Matrix anyway?!), the longer you stare at these lists, the better you’ll be able to see the true alignment of the candidates. More so than the color of a T-shirt or which side of the aisle they sit on in city hall, nothing tells the story of an election more than where the money is coming from. Continue reading Show Me The Money
The Day the Election Stood Still (updated)
October 18, 2007
Experts say the most important thing to remember in a hostage situation is to not attempt to negotiate or argue with the hostage taker.
They also recommend against making threats, demands or personal attacks as a means to diffuse the situation.
On Thursday, the Aberdeen City Council got about half the guidelines right – avoiding direct confrontation with the man holding its future hostage, but at the same time laying into him with a savage display of public repugnance.
You see, as of Wednesday afternoon, would-be council candidate Steve Johnson and his team of lawyers and political advisors effectively took the Aberdeen election hostage. Continue reading The Day the Election Stood Still (updated)
A Fair Aberdeen Election?
October 16, 2007
You’ve no doubt heard about it by now, so here it is for your perusal – the full contents of the mysterious letter mailed Saturday to registered voters in the City of Aberdeen.
What’s so curious about the letter is the entity which purportedly mailed it, Concerned Citizens For a Fair Aberdeen Election, used the address for another prominent citizens group, Aberdeen Communities Together.
The letter, as you can see for yourself, asks for Art Helton, a former state senator and member of the New Harford Democratic Club; Steve Johnson, chairman of the city’s Economic Development Commission and a potential city council candidate if the Harford County Circuit Court validates his candidacy; and Steve’s wife, Julie, to be taken off the city voter rolls. The back of the letter contains a petition for citizens to fill out and mail to city elections judge and former city council president Gina Bantum regarding the rights of the trio to participate in Aberdeen elections. Continue reading A Fair Aberdeen Election?
Candidate Zero’s condition upgraded to Candidate Maybe (update)
October 14, 2007
Forced to keep quiet before the court of public opinion during last week’s Aberdeen candidate forum, Steve Johnson will get a chance to speak out today (Monday) in a much more official court when he makes his plea to be certified as a candidate for city council in the Nov. 6 election.
Johnson, chairman of Aberdeen’s Economic Development Commission, owner of Johnson Family Pharmacy in downtown Aberdeen and, until recently, thought to be a resident of Perryman, was invalidated by the city’s Elections Board last week, but will take the issue today (Monday) before the Harford County Circuit Court.
Under the city charter, candidates for elected office in Aberdeen must have resided within the municipal boundaries of the city for a minimum of two years. It is well known Johnson has been living outside the city (he acknowledged as much before us and a group of exasperated city residents a year or so ago). It is just as well known that this particular piece of election law is easily worked around. Continue reading Candidate Zero’s condition upgraded to Candidate Maybe (update)
Thanks for the Memories
October 11, 2007
Some field notes I scribbled down during Wednesday night’s candidate’s forum in Aberdeen:
The Master of Ceremonies mistakenly skipped over and forgot to announce the name of city council candidate Bernard DeWitt. Then, as the catcalls picked up in intensity and he recognized his mistake, the MC had to back up, bend over and look at DeWitt’s name tag before finally saying his name over the sound system.
As much as we all want to love, embrace her and support the idea of her dark horse candidacy, why oh why, did the first 5 words out of 19-year-old mayoral candidate Nicole Burlew’s mouth have to literally be “I don’t really know anything…”?
I was surprised to see every mayoral and city council candidate in attendance Wednesday and I mean EVERY – Steve Johnson, wearing a nice sports jacket, was seated on the periphery with the rest of us who will not be appearing on the Nov. 6 ballot. Recently invalidated as a candidate because he doesn’t reside within the municipal limits of Aberdeen, Johnson, according to the rules of the forum, wasn’t even permitted to submit a question for his one-time fellow candidates. I wonder what he might have asked? Continue reading Thanks for the Memories
