Advertisers Respond to Fictional Charge Against SBYNews

Tuesday was an interesting day at Salisbury News. We started to receive calls from advertisers to let us know that they were receiving e-mails from a woman named "Takeesha Smith”. “Ms. Smith” claims to be an African-American woman in the area and thinks that Joe Albero is a racist.
There’s just one problem. If Ms. Smith exists, she’s living pretty far off the grid. There’s no phone listing (OK, she may just have a cell phone). A legal records check turned up no “Takeesha Smith” in the state of Maryland. I found a Takeisha Smith in Delaware, but I’m assuming that Ms. Smith would know how to spell her own name.
No, it appears that “Takeesha Smith” is a phantasm. She doesn’t exist. We shouldn’t be surprised.
There are a handful of people in our community who seem to be jealous of SBYNews’s success. They don’t like the fact that thousands of people come here every day as their go-to source for news. They don’t like the fact that our readers and our advertisers make it possible for SBYNews to have a positive impact on our community by donating to local non-profits and assisting our neighbors in need. So, periodically our advertisers are forced to endure the kind of foolishness that they experienced yesterday.
Fortunately for SBYNews, our advertisers are made of sterner stuff than some might expect. Here are just a few of the replies sent to “Ms. Smith” by our generous advertisers (we have deliberately left out any identifying info):

I have never seen anything racist posted by Joe and he has shown me nothing but charitable acts of kindness whenever anyone in our community has needed assistance of any kind.
I am sorry you feel the way you do and everyone has the right to there own feelings.
Please respect mine.

*********************************

I advertise on radio stations, tv stations, in magazines and newspapers. They absolutely do not always represent my views, nor should they.
I advertise to their readers and viewers not them. Hopefully you understand this.
If you chose not to do business here that is your right to do so and I would respect that right. Thank you for sharing your feelings with us.

*********************************

… As Daily Times ad prices have risen substantially in the past few years, we are looking for alternate ways to help "get the word out".
We recognize Joe may not be high on the radar screen of some, but we have always had a very good personal relationship with him, and know that he has been using the ad revenue for charitable work. We also know for sure that he has frequently been quietly generous regarding individuals in need even before he was a blogger.

*********************************

Thank you for your comments regarding our advertising on Joe Albero’s site. Our relationship with Mr. Albero is the same as with the Daily Times. I have had people find fault with us advertising in the Daily Times as well. We deal with a lot of media sources but strictly on a professional level.
… I am sorry for any ill feelings you may have toward Mr. Albero or for anything he may have done to you or towards your family however I can’t be responsible for what he writes or for what the Daily Times writes or any other media writes. We have only had two complaints regarding this advertising. Please feel free to contact me to discuss this further.

I was also informed by a couple of advertisers that they weren’t even going to respond to “Ms. Smith” because they also suspected that she was a fiction. It is ironic (that’s too kind, it’s really disgusting) that someone would pretend to be an African-American woman in a blatant attempt to intimidate the kind, decent, hard working people who choose to advertise here.
But, as I said, our advertisers seem to be made of sterner stuff than “Ms. Smith” suspected. For that, and many other things, we are grateful to our generous advertisers - who make our charitable work possible.
PS – IF I am wrong, and this Takeesha Smith does exist, please contact me. My email address and phone number are below our masthead. Sadly, we believe we already know who is play acting with email.