Public Service Announcement

This evening the Mayor took the opportunity to announce the greatest deal Salisbury has to offer.

A Citizen complained about the horrible curbing and sidewalks in Salisbury and the Mayor let everyone know that the City is willing to go 50/50 with any property owner if they want to have their curbs repaired.

Let's see, double taxation and then 50% off the expense of fixing something your tax dollars are supposed to repair and replace anyway?

I say if you're an old man or and old lady, trip over this huge chunk of concrete lying around, especially near your property and sue the City and tell them you'll settle for 50% of the repair costs and call it even.

I Was Right!

This evening during the public comment I asked the City Council and the Mayor directly if there was any truth to the rumor that the City is consideirng auctioning off two horses. The Council Members kind of sat there stunned and I looked directly at the Mayor and said, maybe the Mayor knows?

Barrie shook her head yes and then turned towards the Council and said, well, that is, if the Council aproves these horses as surplus items.

I was then told I would be made aware of them if they came up for auction. An interesting note, last week Chief Webster claimed he knew nothing at all about these horses going up for auction. I found that interesting because I found out through a Police Officer.

The $38,000.00 Shortfall!!!!!!

Now here's one of the most interesting items I have ever come across not only in my time going to Salisbury City Council Meeting but in my entire career to boot!

As many of you know, I have been involved in the manufacturing business most of my life so far. I have owned restaurants, upscale billiard rooms and numerous other business ventures over the past 25 years.

During all that time I have had to rely on numerous attorneys to help guide me through multiple processes and fortunately I have chosen very reliable attorneys and firms to get me ahead.

During that time I have "ALWAYS" received itemized billing to assure I was getting what I paid for. Forgive me for coming off simple here but what that means is that I received billing that clearly stated just how much time was spent on each and every item and what the law firm was billing me for.

The City of Salibury and attorney Paul Wilber are completely different though. Paul Wilber just sends the City a bill and this evening he clearly admitted to such. Lady Campbell raised attention to two different proposals being brought in front of the Council referencing this exact matter.

The first was the fact that this could not be brought forward as a resolution as this would not be legal to do so. She said it needed to be an ordinance and even Paul Wilber stated, "Legally the safest course is to go this route."

Now if Lady Campbell didn't bring this up, these funds would have been pushed right through and no one would have known what they spent this $38,000.00 on! Paul Wilber then said he didn't think there would be enough time to present the entire bill being itemized and that he might need even more time to do so. This proves once again that they do not itemize the bill and Paul also stated they weren't prepared for such a thing.

The Mayor said she is the one that reviews and aproves all of the legal bills and now you all know she has done so without ever being able to truly question what the City was actually paying for. This is NOT good! I'm not suggesting Paul Wilber ever cheated the City of Salisbury but if he ever did, who would ever know?

Gary Comegys then became upset with Debbie Campbell bringing this up and stated, "This is a nit to pick at to delay payments." NO IT'S NOT! This is how business is run and you people, (meaning most of the Council) have absolutely no clue what they're doing!

When you go to a store and purchase items, each one is rung up and you have a record of what you purchased. When you get a bill from Paul Wilber's Office you get one number and nothing is itemized. From the sound of this particular bill, Mr. Wilber spent quite a bit of time using this firm to go over the City's Budget and racked up a $38,000.00 bill in doing so and this was not expected and or in the Budget.

It's no wonder so many local attorneys are donating maximum funds to support certain candidates in the County Executive Race so they can hopefully become the County Attorney and deliver the same kind of billing! Gotta love that Good Old Boy system!

A Day Late & $1.25 Short!

I was told last week that Greg Bassett had been asked questions about the local Blog Sites and he replied, "We're not allowed to read them or we'll be fired."

Yesterday I posted an article about how I did NOT receive my Sunday Comics and as this photo will CLEARLY show, they finally arrived TODAY!

What spoils all of this is that Sunday is over. No beacon, no rolls, no bagels and everyone is now out of the house for the day and I refuse to sit here and laugh alone. I've been told that's not healthy. LOL

Nevertheless, Mr. Greg Bassett and or any other Daily Times Employee who read my post yesterday, "You're All Fired!"

Seriously though, it's nice to know The Daily Times respects my Blog Site enough to read it every day. It's a clear compliment. Besides, I have far better pictures, wouldn't you agree? Don't use this one as one of my examples though, it wouldn't be fair.

China Town Buffet Rip Off!

Last night some friends called and asked if we'd like to join them for All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Food. Being that my son is a huge fan of Chinese food and we hadn't been there in quite a while, we decided to go.

I came to learn that Friday, Saturday & Sunday evenings they add some crappy Alaska King Crab Legs and some shrimp stuff to the menu and they increase the prices from $8.95 to $11.95. IMO, definitely not worth it.

Nevertheless, we strolled in there with a total of 7 people. My friends daughter brought along her boyfriend who had already eaten earlier and wasn't interested in eating again, but they charged him anyway for a dinner.

Here's the kicker of it all. We got our bill and there was a 15% gratuity added to our check. Mind you, the waiter got us drinks, but that's it! I'm sure this comment is going to bring on a bunch of sly remarks but as I have owned restaurants in the past, All-You-Can-Eat doesn't qualify for massive tipping!

Besides the fact that I will tip what I feel they deserve. So I walked up to the Owner and asked him why, (if this is a serve yourself restaurant) they feel they can get away with adding this 15% gratuity? He replied, they got your drinks, right? Yes. They crean up youa diches, right? Yes. Then they deserve a 15% gratuity. I responded, NO! I'll decide what I want to tip them but they did NOT serve me! He could see I was not putting up with his BS and he said I didn't have to pay the 15% if I didn't want to. The Owner said they also own the Tokyo Steak House across the street and the average tip is 20%!!!! OK Jackass, I hope you're claiming that to the IRS?

The next thing we knew our waiter was standing some 10 feet away from our table rudely staring at us and wouldn't move. I looked at him several times and his stare was one in which he didn't even blink and he was very bold. This lasted a good 10 minutes before we decided we should leave.

Considering I have been in the restaurant business I am one of the best tippers I know. However, when I go into a place I serve myself, they're NOT going to get 15% tip from me, period! They had already charged us for someone who didn't eat and then they added a $14.00 tip to boot?

Seems to me Salisbury may be loaded with restaurants but like I have said in the past, friends of mine in Ocean City will travel to Salisbury to eat the day Salisbury opens up a quality restaurant and they're right! Just because there are plenty of places to eat doen't make the service and or food any good. I can't wait for the Wamplers to open up in Pittsville!

Just Curious?

If you're pulling out of Sam's Club heading south in front of their building you'll come to a stop. Straight across the street and behind Circuit City is this building. Does anyone have a clue what's going to be located there? Usually they have a sign but there's nothing there. Just curious is all.

Just Behind Lowes

The first two photos show the south bound mess between Sam's Club and Lowes. The second two photos show the north bound section with that huge drop off across the whole road. Traveling north or south bound is just as bad as any RR X-ing anywhere I've ever seen. Oh, a little tip for you. If you're traveling north bound, stay real close to the center line and you won't get bounced around as much when you go over that huge drop off.