Wayne Barrall

Thursday's visit to the Sheriff's Department.
Wayne Barrall after he aproaches me with axe in hand.

Wayne rolls up fire hose after fire was put out.

The Wayne Barrall saga continues. After having major issues with Firefighter Wayne Barrall a couple of years ago, my Wife and I truly thought we had resolved Wayne's issues with us as we shook hands and Wayne swore he'd never go back to that place that got him in trouble to start with, I/We were wrong.

As many of you know, (and we have now learned) Wayne has a temper problem. He tends to like to bully people, UNTIL he is bullied back. It takes a bit but when Wayne learns someone is not going to back down, he becomes one of those apologetic people who acts really sorry for what they did. You know the "Eddie Haskel" kind of guy from Leave It To Beaver.

A very good friend of mine had applied 3 1/2 months ago to the Delmar Fire Department as a Volunteer. Soon after he had applied he sent me a couple of pictures of a crime scene, (I believe) and wanted me to credit his images, in which we did. Once Wayne Barrall saw these images and his name on Salisbury News, Wayne freaked out. He contacted this friend of mine and told him, (more or less) he better choose who he wants to work with, the cancer of society Joe Albero or Wayne Barrall. He went on to say he would never use his images again if he ever sent anything more to Joe Albero.

OK, while this was pretty stupid, I asked my friend, what does Wayne pay you? He replied, NOTHING! I suggested, (seriously) that he simply respond with a kind message that you have received his message and thank you for your concerns. Considering this friend was trying to get on board with the Delmar Fire Department, I thought it best he keep cool about it and move on.

Low and behold, Wayne starts writing this friend back telling him that if he continued to work with Joe Albero and stay associated with me, his chances of getting involved with the Delmar Fire Department would, (more or less) become non existent.

When I personally saw these letters I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. My first thought was, man, this guy has one hell of a discrimination lawsuit not only against the Fire Department, he has one hell of a case against Wayne Barrall. Then I started thinking, just what in the hell had I done to Wayne to get him to stab me in the back like that, especially after we had Wayne by the ba((s in Court and he begged to resolve the case in a recess. Because my Wife and I felt he was so sincere, we chose to come to a settlement and stay on a friendly basis, or so we thought.

After seeing these letters several weeks ago and being in somewhat shock, two days later I got a desperate phone call from Wayne Barrall saying the roof was about to cave in on the Delmar Fire Department, could I come up there with my snow blower and help them clear the snow off the roof. As I stated in a Post last week, the first thing that came to my mind was, Kiss My A$$. Not only had this man Wayne Barrell stabbed me in the back, he was holding my friend hostage with his application and proving the Good Old Boy Network was still alive and well in Delmar.

However, as I had stated to you last week, I put those thoughts aside for the better good of the Fire Department and I went up there and fulfilled their request. When the letters continued to my friend from Wayne I made contact with a former Chief of the Delmar Fire Department and expressed my concern over the possibility of a discrimination lawsuit, based on Wayne's threats.

While I expected them to follow up on the information I provide, as well as my offer to show them the letters so they could see I was in fact telling the truth, the Delmar Fire Department chose not to look at the letters and instead spoke to Wayne. Wayne told them it wasn't true and they believed him. Mind you, I have these letters, they could have read them and they chose to believe Wayne once again. Can you say, Good Old Boys. I should add, the person I was talking to said that they were the person who handled applications and was NOT familiar with this particular applicant. Funny, my friend has been calling every single week to see if there's been an update and has YET to get a call back after 3+ months. Makes you wonder why this person never received his application, eh? My friend of course became concerned after the first 30 days because he was told it would be complete within 30 days.

Very soon after this I received a phone call from Wayne Barrall demanding that I never make contact with the Fire Chief again. I simply told Wayne that I was not a 14 year old wanna be Firefighter that he could bully around, I'm a grown man who will not be told what to do. I simply hung up the phone on Wayne.

Moving forward to yesterday. I received a text message there was a barn fire at my neighbors farm so I immediately went over there to see if I could help them move things or whatever they needed. When I arrived there were no Firefighters there and they were pulling equipment away from the barn. I took some early pictures and once the Fire Departments started arriving I stepped back away from the fire and away from any one's path to the fire. That's when Wayne came around the corner and started towards the fire. He then stopped, went well out of his way, turned around and demanded, (while yelling and axe in hand) you better not take any damn pictures of me Albero. I immediate replied, you better get out of my face Wayne. He continued to demand I not take any pictures and I told him to shut up and get out of my face. I'm sure the rest of the Firefighters on the scene were shocked that someone would stand up to a man yelling at me with an axe in his hand but everyone stayed away from what was going on as they, (professionals) had a job to do and they got it done.

Wayne finally turned around and went to the Chief and demanded I be removed from the scene. The Chief told me to leave and I said, I'm NOT in any one's way. He then said, look Joe, I don't want to have problems with you, can you just not take any pictures of Wayne. I replied, he takes pictures of me, he's at a fire scene, with all due respect I'll take any pictures I want of Wayne or anyone else for that matter. He again, (very politely this time) asked if I'd work with him so they could get their job done and I agreed to move away from where I was standing.

Mind you Folks, where I was standing I was in no ones way. When they asked me to move to another spot, I was then right in the middle of everything. That's when I chose to simply leave. The fire was very small and with the crews they had there, I knew nothing was going to spread and further.

For those of you wondering what the first picture is all about. Another friend of mine happened to be at the Sheriff's Department and saw Wayne Barrall pull in and go inside yesterday. I then received a phone call after the fire scene from the Sheriff's Department stating they had just had a visit from Wayne Barrell asking if they could talk to me about calling the Fire Chief and so forth. I listened to what they had to say and when it was my turn I then explained just how Wayne had treated me, (with axe in hand) at the fire scene, soon after his meeting at the Sheriff's Department.

You see Folks, Wayne Barrall is nothing short of a bully. However, just like any other bully, if you stand your ground, two things will happen. One, they'll become physical or two they'll back down. As an adult, it would be extremely stupid for any one of these bully's to get physical as they will certainly find themselves behind a jail cell, and for what? To prove you're the tougher guy!

I have had enough experience with Wayne Barrall to know the man needs anger management help. The man may also need to get slapped with a lawsuit and feel the pain for his actions. He may even need to be charged criminally with his threats, something I am seriously considering since he continues to prove he's a loose cannon.

Some have said there are two sides to every story. Well, you have mine. I never once said a single word to Wayne yesterday to bring him towards me or to boil. I was standing well out of every one's way when Wayne went out of his way to start his threats. I provoked nothing. The Delmar Fire Department needs to truly reassess their situation with Wayne Barrell. The fact that the man takes pictures of everyone else for a living and then tries to demand other people cannot take Wayne's photo is beyond me. To be quite honest with you, I had no real interest in taking Wayne's picture anyway. I mean, does this guy think he's a celebrity that everyone wants to see in print? I think not.

Removing snow off the roof of the Delmar Fire Department.