The Decision Is Final, Wilber Out, Tilghman In

It's not often you're going to see me disagree with certain Council Member, both in the City or in the County. However, today and tomorrow just might surprise you quite a bit.

While many of you know me as Joe Albero the Blogger, most of you are unaware of my corporate experience. I have spent millions of dollars over the past 30+ years of my life on attorneys. Either for patents, opening businesses, defending myself and Family, or whatever, I've been around a lot more than most realize.

In the case of the City Council, waiting around until almost 10:30 PM tonight to learn the Council had not only let Paul Wilber go, the retained a new law firm and agree to pay the same rate as what they had been paying Paul Wilber's Firm.

I personally have a serious problem with that. I do not believe Mr. Tilghman has the wisdom Mr. Wilber has on Salisbury matters. Now don't take me wrong. Mr. Tilghman is a very fine lawyer. However, as a businessman I would have at negotiated a special rate for at least the first six months until they were able to get up to speed.

Nevertheless, the Council chose not to go that route and I'm confident there will be plenty of people out there challenging why such a deal was made. I do believe in time Mr. Tilghman will serve the City well. I am NOT on the City Council and I do NOT expect those members to tell me why they chose to do what they did. I'm simply stating I would have done things differently.

That being said, I have already spoken to several people who were very pleased to see Mr. Wilber go. Perhaps we'll get into some of their reasons at a later point. In the mean time, Mr. Wilber served the City for 14 years. In that time his Firm has seen a substantial rate increase and they have made millions of dollars from the City of Salisbury.

I do not, nor will I ever feel bad for Mr. Wilber, this is business. Someone said at one point during the closed session tonight, (talking about the Baltimore Colts) they just packed up and left in the middle of the night. I instantly replied, you mean like what's going on with Paul Wilber. Things got quiet really fast.

My point is, things happen. The Citizens elected certain people to run the City. They made a business decision. Letting anyone go is not easy. Hiring someone new will bring on serious criticism, that's a given. Business is business, the decision was made and every one needs to move forward. That includes the Mayor, Shields and Mitchell.

Now, it should be known that Mayor Jim Ireton chose to have nothing to do with the interview process tonight. Once again, he was invited, threw his hissy fit and let it be known he might not participate. He openly stated he thought it might not be legal for him to sit in on those proceedings and Mr. Wilber abruptly told the Mayor he was invited by the Council and it was perfectly legal. Mayor Ireton did not like that answer.

So tomorrow is a new day. WBOC, WMDT and the Daily Times were not present when the Council came back into open session.

In closing, for the record, if you were watching the final open session and saw the interruption, my apologies to all of you. I was the one who raised my voice. I was in the back of the room taking a picture, (shown above) of the Council when Kris Adams daughter Alex Adams turned around and said, "If you take my picture it will be the last picture you ever take". I responded by saying, "don't threaten me". She opened her mouth and said it again. Mrs. Adams then turned around as she continued to take video and put her camera in my face, THE PRESIDENT OF SAPOA. Mrs. Adams, not one of my children would ever be so disrespectful. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. Again, my apologies for the interruption to all of you as well as the Council.

Expect The City To Provide A Letter Of Apology

You can expect the City of Salisbury to provide a formal letter of apology to Councilman Tim Spies. Mind you, you might only see that Press Release here because, well, you know, that would mean the rest of the Press would have to apologize as well.

Holy Cow, I can't Believe What I'm Seeing

I'm going to make this brief for the time being as I have to get back to the GOB. However, from everything I've witnessed so far, Paul Wilber is being terminated as the City Solicitor of Salisbury and if I was a gambling man I'd say Mark Tilghman will more than likely be his replacement.

In the most unusual Council Meeting I have ever witnessed, the Council majority chose to move forward TONIGHT by asking the Mayor and others to go into a closed session to interview the two law firms that entered RFP's RIGHT NOW. The Mayor may or may not participate in these interviews but my guess is that they will absolutely choose a new law firm to represent the City some time after 9 PM.

It's also my understanding that Paul Wilber does NOT want to play second fiddle attorney but stated he will represent the City for the Waste Water Treatment Plant. Mind you, the taxpayers can expect Wilber's Firm to charge full rate instead of a discounted rate, should the Council choose to do so.

Man, this is just unbelievable. I'll be back later with more details.

Neighborhood Services Code & Compliance Drops ALL Charges Against Councilman Spies

Once the information was published right here on Salisbury News, once we called out the Daily Times for completely screwing up and purposely attacking and defaming Councilman Tim Spies for numerous alleged violations, once WE cleared the air, Code & Compliance dropped ALL charges against Mr. Spies. It is now a dead issue. Tonight, Mrs. Laura Mitchell made the attempt herself to call out and defame Mr. Spies before she was immediately smacked down by Mr. Spies announcement that all charges have been dropped. She stuttered for several seconds but the reality clearly embarrassed her to no end and turned a shade of red I haven't seen in quite some time.

So you see, when you have a source who knows the TRUTH and spreads the TRUTH, think twice before ever trusting the Daily Times AND other Blogs who have nothing but HATE for those people who truly care about Salisbury and the Eastern Shore.

Mr. Spies, I'm VERY sorry you had to go through all of this and I truly hope the Daily Times, (and others) retract their statements/charges to vindicate you the proper way. Shame on SAPOA as well. Scumbags come to mind.

Let's Talk About Bennett Middle School A Little Bit

With all the discussion going on with the County Council, Board of Education and citizens expressing their opinions, let's go one step further and talk about the new location of the new Bennett Middle School.

First of all, did you know that 90% of the land chosen and purchased for that school is in a flood plane zone, 90%!!!!! IF they build that school, do you also realize their intent is to create floating footers and more than likely there will be severe settlement to the structure.

Did you know Bennett Middle School was never submitted to be remodeled. It was not even an option. Did you know Matt Holloway told the Board of Education several months ago NOT to come back to the Council unless they had a "different design," yet he recently voted to move forward with the original design.

Do you know why John Hall voted YES for the Middle School projects, "for the votes." That's right, he's more interested in getting VOTES from the BOE when he runs for re-election. He actually does NOT support the Middle School proposal.

The, let's go back to Gail Bartgovich and her reason for saying no. How in the hell can any Council vote to sign a commitment letter when the Council has yet to see the 2013 Budget! How can ANY Council Member vote to do so that far in advance.

Since that day we have seen O'Malley state he wants to raise the sales tax to 7%, increase cigarette tax, liquor tax, flush tax, increase tolls and the list goes on and on but more importantly he wants each County to pay for the teachers pension, which will cost the taxpayers of Wicomico County close to an additional $4,000,000.00 a year. Tack on the $3,500,000.00 mistake on Bennett Middle School and oh, wait a second, let's not forget a County TAX INCREASE, which isn't enough to cover Bennett Middle School.

More importantly, don't you ever think for a second that we've forgotten about Pollitt's statement in which you will not only see a tax increase this year, you'll see several tax increases year after year just to help pay for Bennett Middle School, not to mention Parkside renovations and three other schools already on the books, yet no one in the Main Stream Media, the County Executive or the BOE are mentioning.

The politics of this entire thing is so screwed up, it isn't funny. Now, tomorrow you will see the Council Chambers LOADED with wet pants liberals begging for things that are not necessary. Don't you think its time you confront Matt Holloway and say, why were you against it and now for it? To those of you who do NOT support this project, you need to show up at that Council Meeting and be heard.

Wicomico County cannot afford this $100,000,000.00 School. In closing, (for now) I want to add some images from Bennett High School.

You tell me the last time you ever heard of a tennis match at night? The Shorebirds don't even get this kind of technology in lighting but the Board of Education FOUND the additional money in the High School Project to come up with a few hundred thousand additional dollars to buy lights for freakin tennis courts.

If you think for a SECOND they aren't coming up with pie in the sky ideas for a MIDDLE SCHOOL built in a flood plane with soil that CANNOT handle this kind of structure, imagine the additional funding that will have to be used to correct the BS purchase of land that should have never been bought in the first place.

Folks, these liberals don't give a sh!t what you think. They are buying that "swamp land in Florida", "the Brooklyn Bridge", you know how it goes. The Board of Education gets what they want and then, (like the images show above) they'll take chains and LOCK YOU OUT of their property that YOU paid for.

If you are against Bennett Middle School, GO TO TOMORROW'S COUNCIL MEETING AND SAY SO.

New Posts to fall below throughout the evening.

Letter To A Real Editor

Hello Joe,

I would like to congratulate council members Joe Hollaway, Stevie Prettyman, Gail Bartkovich and Bob Culver for their hard decision on the Bennett Middle School issue. As I have said at a recent county council meeting, the make up of this County Council is unique and not an accident.

A conservative council was voted in by the taxpayers to lead this county through some very tough economic times.

Though I might not agree with all the decisions they have made they were right on with this one.

This issue from the very beginning was put forward with smoke screens (14 million dollars suddenly coming out of nowhere), intentionally misleading information (the State will pay for 96% of this project), trying to make an end run around the Charter to make it fit the BOE needs (using previously legislated funding for the project without going through the proper legislative procedures), presenting conflicting information to the County Council (BOE stating the school could not be renovated by a recommendation that someone thinks was made in 2005 but for some reason they didn't have a copy of this document. Councilmen Culver was however able to produce documentation from the County Executive's briefing stating the school could be renovated). Perhaps if the BOE had just told the citizens right up front that they didn't want to renovate the school because it was in the way of the ball fields layouts and a renovated middle school wouldn't go along with the aesthetics and grandiose they wanted to be projected by the new high school.

All the problems that were presented by concerned citizens are all items that could be addresses in a phased renovation of the school. These are the air conditioning, asbestos and lead abatement, electrical upgrade, modern technology in electronics and security are all taken into account during renovation. Wouldn't it have been nice for the citizens and County Council to at least have had something to compare in order to make a decision? I know of a sixty eight year old building at one of our local colleges that was recently renovated to Gold LEED standards. I've recently read where someone said distrust has crept into this project. I've got news for that person. There has been distrust mounting between the BOE and the citizens for many years and it doomed this project from the start. I've also read the recent rant by retired school teacher Mr. Geoff Smoot and found that it is extremely sad that this once productive member of our school system has fallen victim to his own headlines. Mr. Smoot, VOICE believes that if you give the citizens and the County Council the true information they will make a wise decision. I once again invite you to join us in finding the facts behind issues and presenting them to our fellow citizens for them to make informative decisions. We currently have some informative information that we will be putting out at the BOE budget hearings and hope you can come join us. Perhaps you will be able to justify our findings.

To the County Council we once again want to thank you for making the proper decision.

John Palmer Jr.,
President
VOICE Inc.

McGruff Safe Kids Now Warning About Synthetic Drugs

Plan. Prepare. Share. (a division of Boerner, Inc. and a 20-year licensee of The National Crime Prevention Council/McGruff Safe Kids) has produced two new products to help teens and young adults understand the high likelihood of abuse associated with the use of new synthetic drugs.

These “Scary Spice” and “Bath Salts’” broadsides provide valuable information about new and evolving synthetic drugs. “Scary Spice”, or synthetic marijuana, is promoted and sold as a “legal” form of pot, though many of the chemicals that go into it are being outlawed on a state-by-state basis. It is an herb, or plant material, that is sprayed with chemicals to create a marijuana-like high. “Bath salts” are a powder that can be snorted, smoked or injected. It has caused catastrophic side effects, including extreme paranoia, hallucinations, cardiac arrest and even led to suicide.

“Synthetic drugs under any name are nothing to fool around with; Camp Pendleton had these brochures developed to provide a broadside that identified the drugs, the problem and offered helpful resources for people who are considering using these drugs”, said Jerry Cole, Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist for the STAY DRUG FREE program at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base.

“We were contacted by the United States Marine Corps and were hired to develop a self-guided presentation on synthetic drug abuse said, Kurt Boerner, president of McGruff Safe Kids, a 20-year licensee for the National Crime Prevention Council said. After research, including interviews with resources in the drug use prevention field, and drug treatment field we developed these “Scary Spice” and “Bath Salts” brochures. In creating this material we used our extensive experience gleaned from 20 years of working with law enforcement agencies, the business community and community resources to create another valuable personal safety guide.”

The information described below provides details of the disastrous effects that these drugs have had on people. The objective of these pieces is to convince people to stay drug free and/or seek help for drug related issues.

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Historic Louisville Church Owes LG&E $32,000 Dollars

LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- A historic Louisville church is in danger of holding worship service in the cold and dark this weekend. As of Thursday night, Lampton Baptist Church is without power.
"I said, well, how could it be this much?" asks Longtime Pastor James Miller. Rev. Miller recently discovered the church has a $32,000 LG&E bill. "It just blew me away."
And this didn't just happen overnight. In fact, the first sign of trouble came last January. Church official Roberta Alston says, "And then the next bill that came in was this, which was really shocking."
"$17,000 in one month... after they had paid it down," says Miller.

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Breaking News- The New City Solicitor

Mark Tilghman is now the new City Solicitor.

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Charting The US (Un)Recovery

How does the current recovery compare to those of the past? The following charts from the Council on Foreign Relations [8] puts the current (un)recovery in context and despite some apparently bright news recently, the pictures underline the economy's weakness since the NBER's recovery began in June 2009.

The x-axis shows the number of months since the end of the recession. The dotted lines are composites of prior recoveries representing the weakest and strongest experiences of the past. The recovery's start date is set using the recession dates established by the National Bureau of Economic Research's Business Cycle Dating Committee. By the committee's methodology, the current recovery began in June 2009.

Go Here To See

IRS Says It's Ready To Field Your E-Filings

If you're organized enough to have all your tax documents in order, you can go ahead and get a jump on the tax season by e-filing. The Internal Revenue Service says it's ready to process tax returns filed online.

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US Rebounds? Prosperity Around the Corner?

America overcomes the debt crisis as Britain sinks deeper into the swamp ... Britain has sunk deeper into debt. Three years after bubble burst, the UK has barely begun to tackle the crushing burden left by Gordon Brown. The contrast with the United States is frankly shocking ... The latest report on "Debt and Deleveraging" by the McKinsey Global Institute shows that total public and private debt in the UK is still hovering at an all-time high. It has risen from 487pc to 507pc of GDP since the crisis began ... The ordeal of belt-tightening will be grim, dragging out for a generation if Japan is any guide. The Japanese at least began their post-bubble debacle as the world's top creditor nation with a trade super-surplus and a savings rate of 17pc. Britain has no such buffers. It is a very different picture in the US where light is emerging at the end of the tunnel. American banks, firms, and households have been chipping away at their debts, more than offsetting Washington's double-digit deficits. The total burden has dropped to 279pc, down from 295pc at the peak of the boom. Households have purged roughly a third of the excess, roughly tracking the historic pattern of post-bubble deleveraging. – UK Telegraph

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Average American Worker Spends Nearly $1,100/Year On Coffee

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Obama Sides With TSA Against Ron and Rand Paul

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Walmart Casts Itself As "Retail American Idol" In Search For New Products

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Deputies: Waffle House Patron Shoots, Kills Armed Robber - Greenville News Story - WYFF Greenville

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. -- An armed robber was killed by a customer at an Upstate Waffle House early Saturday, according to Spartanburg County deputies, and a second armed robbery suspect who fled the scene was later arrested.

The shooting happened at the Waffle House on Chesnee Highway just after 1 a.m.

According to an incident report, two armed men entered the restaurant and tried to rob it. A customer in the Waffle House, who is a concealed weapon permit holder, was also armed with a handgun and attempted to hold the suspects at gunpoint until law enforcement could arrive, deputies said.

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FAA Funding Back On Track

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2011 was yet another record breaking year for gun sales, with Americans purchasing some 10.8 million firearms, a 14% increase over the previous year and up over 50% from ten years ago as reported by the National Shooting Sports Foundation:

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Agriculture Secretary Re-Deploys Poultry Inspectors

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