2008-08-20T18:56:20Z http://upshurblog.com/atom.aspx Quick Blog tag:upshurblog.com,2008-03-30:bb6b4b88-0379-43be-9c6c-00d9ec559dc9 Proud Citizen 2008-03-30T10:19:09Z 2008-03-30T10:15:00Z I understand that both the Democrats and the republicans had their county conventions this weekend.

Does anyone care to comment on what happened, how long the meetings lasted, who spoke, what was the general thrust of the meeting, all that kind of stuff?

I think the loyal readers here woudl be interested in hearing about both parties and what happened.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-03-21:382d9685-0d07-4413-95b1-97d8113a1efa Proud Citizen 2008-03-21T07:34:44Z 2008-03-21T07:32:00Z I am horribly late in asking this but are there any Easter weekend activities in Upshur County that anyone wants to share with us?

We also want to talk about the good in our county, not just the bad or controversial.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-03-21:9eab787b-4dc1-4544-bc51-0d5970dedb83 Proud Citizen 2008-03-21T07:31:57Z 2008-03-21T07:23:00Z I'm not going to mention names here (maybe I will in a later post) but word has it that one of the precinct level politicians is bad mouthing other county officials again.

There is nothing wrong with telling constituents, or anybody you damn well please, how you feel about an elected official however there is a line that can be crossed. You don't give up this right just because you hold a public office but I think you have a higher level of responsibility to be accurate in your statements and not make unsubstantiated personal attacks.

Word has it that a certain controversial figure is out bad mouthing almost every other elected official who has disagreed with them, and the comments aren't limited to their disagreements. Instead, the language being used is offensive and probably could be considered slanderous/libelous. Their ethics and honesty are being questioned in a way that is absolutely incorrect and inappropriate. 

To be honest, I'm not really surprised that this person is doing this but what I am surprised about is that they are either too dumb or too irresponsible to consider that word will get around and make them look much worse than the people they are slandering.

Keep it clean people, keep it clean.
 
]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-03-21:cff7bca4-ddcb-4af8-8cd8-fc171ae5e7cb Proud Citizen 2008-03-21T07:20:15Z 2008-03-21T07:16:00Z We are once again being hit with a lot of SPAM coming through as comments. As before, we are marking these as SPAM and then banning the IP addresses.

If you are unable to post a comment (and it is normal for it to take a couple of days to be approved) or have sent an email without a response of any kind, please let us know by sending from another computer and we will try to rectify the problem.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-03-05:50e1ee17-9368-496c-bc6b-4952b4987c4d Proud Citizen 2008-03-05T11:29:12Z 2008-03-05T11:16:00Z If my calculations are correct Democrats county wide outvoted Republicans by more than 3 to 1. This is based on Sheriff's race, the one which garnered the most votes in both parties.

I suspect that a number of what would normally be Republican voters crossed the party line to vote in the Sheriff's race.

What I am curious about is whether the recent national and local events concerning Republicans has caused the swing in that direction to cease. Maybe many people are realizing that you can remain a Democrat without being a liberal.

I wish there was a way to figure out what effect the last episode with Ms. Patterson and Comm. Crittenden had on the voters in that primary. Many votes had already been cast by the time the news became widely known.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-03-05:e95515e0-e151-4fef-b9b4-faa2f2fbd4ee Proud Citizen 2008-03-05T07:49:00Z 2008-03-05T07:36:00Z Although early voting was up from normal, my understanding is that voting on Tuesday was a little slow.

Rather than posting all of the results I'm going to link to the official county vote so you can all look it over.

I was fairly close in what few predictions I gave, although Sheriff Betterton gathered even more votes than I had thought.

Even though he was in the crosshairs of the Conspiracy Committee of the Republican Party, Comm. Crabtree appears to have beaten both of his primary opponents by enough votes where a runoff will not be required.

Comm. Crittenden seems to be the nominee for his commissioner's seat, although Mr. Oney did post bigger numbers than expected.

The race for the Republican candidate for Sheriff looks interesting, with Mandreger edging out Fatheree by only 22 votes. It wouldn't surprise me for this race to be the one the lawsuit springs from, since Mandreger was the one the "elite" of the party was pushing.

We'll wait and see.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-03-03:4cf04230-7010-44b5-bcae-dd66ede2ced0 Proud Citizen 2008-03-03T15:26:04Z 2008-03-03T15:03:00Z I hope everyone realizes that tomorrow is the day to vote in the primary election.

This year's elections are the most important in recent memory, local and national.

Everyone, no matter their party, should vote.

I think my views on certain candidates are well known, but I want to urge people to vote their conscience, not how the party officials are telling them to vote.

My predictions on the local races?

Only a couple.

Sheriff Betterton will be the Democratic candidate. While I think he has done a good job overall, his record with the management of the jail and the way it has benefited the county will earn him the nod and two thumbs up. I would like to congratulate his opponent for a clean campaign. He is an honorable man.

No predictions on the Constable races. Too many good candidates and they have also conducted themselves in a manner that reflects well on all the candidates.

I predict that Comm. Crittenden's race will be much closer than originally thought. If the full story on the recent fiasco was known, I would be predicting his defeat by a large margin. As it is, if he does make it through the primary it will not be by a large margin.

Comm. Crabtree will retain his place as the Republican candidate despite the efforts of the "Conspiracy Committee" to defeat him.

Finally, I predict that there will be at least one lawsuit brought as a result of the Republican primary elections not being in compliance with U.S. law and possibly because of irregularities in the hand counting of ballots.

Hopefully I will be wrong about the lawsuit, but if it is brought maybe it will be the last one for a while.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-03-01:673abb54-17c3-4823-8854-04c079cf05e8 Proud Citizen 2008-03-01T14:25:20Z 2008-03-01T13:59:00Z


The simple answer to this question is that what is good for Upshur County should transcend what is good for any particular party.

I don't care when commissioners or any other politicians disagree. In fact, I would be suspicious if they agreed all the time. The problem occurs when disagreements are not truly over what is the best choice for the county, but what is the mandate being issued by the local political party.

Democrats should pay close attention to what is going on because, until recently, Upshur County has been "trending" Republican. When Ms. Lagrone was elected County Clerk she replaced a woman who was doing a good job despite major changes in her duties. While I don't know this for a fact, it is my firm belief that Lagrone was encouraged to run and supported by the powers that be because they expected her to toe the line when it came to the elections. Unfortunately for them, she instead chose to do her duties in an ethical and non-partisan manner, for which she quickly drew their ire.

It would not surprise me, and I have heard rumors,  Ms. Patterson, the Upshur County Republican Chair, desires to be the next county clerk so that she can control the elections.

All of us, Republicans and Democrats alike, should be extremely concerned about that. Of all of the county offices that of County Clerk CANNOT be handled in a partisan manner. Certainly there is nothing untoward about the Clerk having a political affiliation but the moment that affiliation influences their duties in any manner they should be removed from office. If we know in advance a person has already tried to short circuit the system then they should never be elected.

By the way, if I heard the testimony correctly the failure of the Republican party to meet federal law in the upcoming primary due to the failure to sign the contract and the unsuccessful lawsuit can be placed squarely on the heads of Ms. Patterson and the other members of the Upshur County Republican Party Executive Committee. Apparently they had requested, and had been granted, a deadline for signing the contract until after they had a chance to meet. It was only after this meeting that the refusal occurred and the mess resulted. It appears that since the election CANNOT meet federal standards it at least will cast a shadow on all of the Republican primary elections and it would surprise me if we do not see more lawsuits from those candidates who lose their primary.

By the way, the Gilmer Mirror nailed their coverage of the trial, both factually and conceptually, in the Saturday edition of the newspaper. Likewise, the Longview New-Journal had a good article on the front page of their Saturday edition.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-28:3d1eaaea-eec0-4648-9ea3-c20512085924 Proud Citizen 2008-02-28T23:11:09Z 2008-02-28T22:37:00Z Of course, the Gilmer Mirror comes out Saturday and I expect they'll do a substantially better job than some of the other papers did. At least they will have understood what the evidence that came out in court really said and what the lawsuit was really about.

The lawsuit that was filed last week was brought against Upshur County by the local Republican party. The desired result was that the county would be forced to provide them with electronic voting equipment even though they had refused to sign a contract.

The whole thing involved a comedy of errors on the part of the Chairperson and Executive Committee of the Republicans. It also seems to have involved some shading of the truth in an attempt to make themselves look better.

It was clear from the evidence that Mrs. Patterson was offered numerous chances to sign the contract with the County. It is also clear that she was advised by both the Secretary of State's Office and the Upshur County District Attorney that the contract was legitimate and their advice was to sign it if they desired to use the machines. Despite this advice from those familiar with the law, instead Brenda Patterson chose to meet with the republican Executive Committee, which I understand is composed of John Melvin Dodd (the loser of the last County Judge race), James Crittenden (it looks like he may very well be the loser of the next Commissioner's race)  and Mrs. Patterson. Based on the advice of these three people, the Republican party chose not to sign the contract thus meaning that the upcoming Republican primary is out of compliance with federal voting laws.

One of the factors in the judge's decision was that, by their actions, the Republican party had created a situation with no solution. They had waited to file their lawsuit until even if the judge had been inclined to help correct the mistakes made by Mrs. Patterson he was unable to do so without violating a number of voting laws designed to ensure voting is kept on the up and up.

The newspaper story I read made it appear that the judge's ruling was why the Republicans got to vote at all, but that wasn't the ruling. The Republicans intended to vote on paper ballots all along, and hand count each ballot box in the precinct before returning it to the courthouse for tabulation. It is almost impossible to imagine a situation with more opportunities for voter fraud than the one that is going to exist for all republican voters and candidates on Tuesday night.

The judge also made a specific finding on the record that the County Clerk, Peggy Lagrone, had acted at all times in good faith in her attempts to get the contract signed and in her actions afterwords.

One particularly troublesome piece of testimony from Mrs. Patterson was that she was unaware of the deadline when the contract was due. A deadline had been set so that the final programming of the machines could be accomplished in time to post notices and conduct the tests required by law.

Even though Mrs. Patterson stated under oath she was unaware of the date, this was contradicted by the other witnesses including Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd who testified that not only did he tell her to sign the contract, but that he had discussions with her in which the deadline was quite clear.

Perhaps now we see why Comm. Crittenden launched on Mr. Byrd the night before their lawsuit was filed. Was this an attempt to influence a witness's testimony, an example of what is going to occur if he doesn't get on board, or simply a man with a severe lack of understanding as to the way things really work. And, I might add, a lack of concern for ethical political conduct.

This whole thing could have been avoided if Mrs. Patterson had simply signed the contract once the people with legal knowledge had advised her to. Instead, she retreated into her conspiracy chamber where they are less concerned with an effective county government than they are with one they can control.

Bottom line - the Republicans got none of the relief they requested but did manage to force the County to spend money on the fine lawyers who won the case.

Fiscal conservatives my butt.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-24:233f7543-87f0-449c-833c-57a2b7327811 Proud Citizen 2008-02-24T08:21:12Z 2008-02-24T08:13:00Z I just wanted to inform people how some things work on here.

I truly appreciate the comments being made and, although I often disagree with them, an open discourse is important to become informed and to bring about change where needed.

With that being said, I can tell several people have posted under more than one name and often multiple posts are made on the same topic making it appear that more people have an opinion than is reality. I would ask you to please use one screen name. More than that and it appears you are making an attempt to manipulate opinion in a way that I consider inappropriate.

Also, people who subscribe have absolute anonymity. Unless I get an email asking me to do it, there is no way for me to know who subscribed or what their email address is. This is a safeguard built into almost all blogging software. So if anyone is worried about SPAM, unwanted emails from me or anyone else, or anything else which might come from giving your email please be reassured that this cannot happen.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-23:e713ee20-10b9-48fc-b359-de5f419a5b25 Proud Citizen 2008-03-21T07:22:45Z 2008-02-23T10:11:00Z

Just yesterday I stopped comments on a blog entry because it was getting too heated and it had degraded into name calling and at least mild obscenities.

But two new stories are now popping up that are just too juicy to ignore and guess who is involved?

Thursday night the Upshur County Taxpayer's Association held a candidates forum, allowing a few minutes of speaking time for all those running for office who chose to attend. 

I thought the mood was fairly upbeat until Comm. Crittenden's turn came. Rather than list his accomplishments and goals for the office he wants to be re-elected to, he instead chose to use his time to attack his favorite target, County Clerk Peggy Lagrone. Inappropriate? Probably. Unexpected? A little since he has strong opponents in the race and his time would have been better spent explaining why popular perception of him as a troublemaker is inaccurate.

What was to come next was absolutely unbelievable.

During his tirade against Ms. Lagrone he branched out and proceeded to unleash his venom on the only other Republican to be elected county wide. Essentially, he accused Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd of conspiring to shield Peggy Lagrone from improprieties she allegedly committed.

First, the impropriety he seemed to be most shrill about was that the County Clerk had sent a multi page letter to other county clerks encouraging them to support the Make A Wish foundation, a charitable organization whose mission is to "grant the wishes of children with life threatening conditions". While I have not seen the letter and am unaware of the costs involved, it is my understanding that there were less than twenty five of these letters sent, that the total cost was about $15, and that when Ms. Lagrone was informed by the county auditor that it might be inappropriate she immediately reimbursed the county for the postage and paper out of her personal funds.

Give me a break.

According to the Gilmer Mirror, Mr. Byrd responded to the allegations by Comm. Crittenden on Friday. Why did he wait until Friday to respond? Why didn't he address the issue at the taxpayer forum that same night?

Because Mr. Byrd was at the little league fields helping with the draft of teams, one of which he coaches.
Some public officials apparently take the concept of "helping the county" to mean something more than making sure we look horrible in the newspapers as often as possible.

So why did the attack come when Mr. Byrd wasn't present? Perhaps someone realized that in a battle of wits he may have been unarmed.

I was puzzled as to why the commissioner would now be attacking Mr. Byrd, who seems to be doing a good job and has received at least one compliment on this very blog by a frequent commenter with strong republican leanings.

Then a rumor made it's way to me that may explain everything. Scuttlebutt has it that the Upshur County Republican Party sued Upshur County on Friday because the Republican chair had refused to sign the contract where the county would agree to lease the voting machines to the party for use in the primary. I understand the Democratic Chairman, Jim Eitel,  promptly signed and returned the contract but the controversial Republican Chairperson Brenda Patterson refused to do so despite being warned of deadlines which had to be met to ensure  there was adequate time to post legal notices, conduct tests, etc.

While I don't know all of the details my guess would be that they are now mad at Mr. Byrd because a) he may be representing the county against the party as is his obligation as the District Attorney or b) he may not be able to represent the county because he is now a witness if anyone, on any side, asked his advice or presented their position to him.

Since they're now attacking him my hunch is that if he gave advice, it was advice they didn't like and the constant attacks on Ms. Lagrone have already demonstrated what happens when you don't do what they want.

It puts Mr. Byrd in an awkward situation because of the ethical and legal obligations of his office but I was happy to see he responded to the attacks in a professional, yet firm, manner.

As the issues develop I will post more, but I recommend everyone pick up Saturday's edition of the Gilmer Mirror for more information on the meeting.

Comments on this blog entry are welcomed, but will be closely monitored.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-22:d7326e51-43d4-403e-8839-0df99213dc59 Proud Citizen 2008-02-22T22:11:56Z 2008-02-22T22:01:00Z Although it has proven to be a popular topic, I am closing the comments on the entry "Politics are a funny business".

A comment was posted yesterday that was extremely interesting, but appears to have gotten several of the Republicans posters on this blog quite upset. Upset to the point where they are attempting to post comments with name calling and profanity. As I said a few weeks ago, I don't like to censor or edit comments but as the moderator of this blog I can certainly choose not to post things that I consider in poor taste or objectionable and I am now exercising this option.

I am not approving the last few comments made and, in fairness, I am removing the comment that they found so objectionable.

I hope people will continue posting and expressing their opinion, but this has to be done in good taste.

The basic guidelines for comments will be:

1) No profanity
2) No insults or personal attacks
3) No campaigning without prior approval]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-13:e1e676c8-a595-433f-b143-fcf0c6481c99 Proud Citizen 2008-02-13T08:28:50Z 2008-02-13T08:25:00Z Believe it or not, our blog is read by people across the U.S.. I assume they are former residents but some may be considering a move here.

We have so many interesting places and stories here in Upshur County if anybody was interested in writing an entry on one of them I would be sure it was posted.
]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-13:8ece0bfd-f884-4e66-85cf-4e5f32ddd43f Proud Citizen 2008-02-13T08:25:19Z 2008-02-13T08:20:00Z It was interesting to see the audience, 400+ I would guess, at Sheriff Anthony Betterton's fundraiser last week. What was particularly interesting was that not only were there a lot of people but there were many prominent Republicans as well as Democrats in attendance. This "crossing of the lines" can only bode well for Upshur County, since we need everybody working together on our problems.
]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-09:cdf32b6e-53e4-49ef-8468-6850892d1347 Proud Citizen 2008-02-13T08:34:14Z 2008-02-09T10:54:00Z We have been having trouble late last year with SPAM comments and emails to this blog. As a result I am afraid some real emails may have been filtered out or erased without a reply and if so we apologize.

Please continue posting and emailing as it appears that most of the problems have been resolved.

Unlike many sites we do approve comments before posting. They aren't being filtered for content, except for foul language or inappropriate comments, but many of the SPAM comments appear to be legitimate until they are reviewed.

]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-06:ddc690c2-900f-4e55-811c-35f18c038c03 Proud Citizen 2008-02-06T23:46:59Z 2008-02-06T23:45:00Z That was some storm that came through here last night. If anybody has any pictures of any damage please feel free to email them to the blog and I will post them for all to see.

If anybody wants to comment on anything that happened with this storm please do so.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2008-02-02:7e6f1b48-c65d-4cc6-a579-c49ed5e62dca Proud Citizen 2008-03-01T14:24:21Z 2008-02-02T10:52:00Z

The political season is starting to heat up, but very little compared to previous years.

There is one interesting political note, although it isn't really a direct issue with any particular election this cycle.

Today the Gilmer Mirror ran an article concerning the ongoing feud between Peggy LaGrone, the County Clerk, and James Crittenden, the Precinct 1 commissioner who is up for reelection. Interestingly enough, particularly in light of what I believe to be the motivation for this incident, John Melvin Dodd, the recently defeated Republican candidate for County Judge, was the only witness and was very vocal and apparently supportive of Comm. Crittenden in the Gilmer Mirror.

Ms. LaGrone is the first Republican, at least in recent years, to be elected county wide. Her victory was hailed by the local Republican party as a tremendous feat. Many people who follow Upshur County politics were interested to watch how things developed since the County Clerk is in charge of the elections.

However, after her election it became clear that Ms. LaGrone was reaching out to the local Democratic party in an attempt to show that she would run elections impartially and not allow her part affiliation to influence her actions.

That's when her trouble started.

Comm. Crittenden has been a controversial figure on the Commissioner's Court since his election. Attendance at the meetings, a review of the press coverage of the meetings of the court or watching the tapes clearly show that the majority of disagreements during court are generally between Crittenden and the other members, singularly or collectively, including Comm. Crabtree, another Republican. Many believe that Crittenden is simply a mouthpiece for the local Republican Party chairperson, Brenda Patterson, a controversial figure herself including a recent court case involving the contents of an application for a rival filing to run for her position.

The disagreements between the Commissioner and the County Clerk have been heated, and it is generally believed among the local politicos that it is approaching the vendetta stage, with the top members of the local Republican party now doing their best to discredit their only county wide office holder. What could be the motivation for this? Could it be because they didn't want an impartial election official?

I would urge Ms. LaGrone to not allow herself to be drawn into the squabble and continue running the elections fairly.

My prediction...another Republican will announce their candidacy for the County Clerk position, and it will be one of the true believers whose real objective isn't to run the County Clerk's office but rather to gain control of the election process in our beloved county.

Regardless of your party affiliation if this occurs it should infuriate you and your vote should never be for that person.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2007-10-15:6c2da32e-419d-4712-98f7-303c454bdbe5 Proud Citizen 2007-10-15T08:37:35Z 2007-10-15T08:28:00Z The Yamboree Association President, Jeff Dodd, has been telling people there are a few changes in store for this year's festivities.

First, there is a new Queen's float, bought at cost to replace the old one originally donated in the 1940's.

Next, the parade route will be longer. It will now continue past the First Baptist Church make a few zigs and zags and end up back at the staging grounds.

They have also arranged more parking so that kids in the parade will not have to cross Hwy 271.

Finally, there will be more and bigger rides at the carnival on the square.

Everyone who gets a chance come by and support the local civic organizations that have food booths set up around the courthouse.

If anyone knows of any other Yamboree news or changes please drop us an email and let us know.

Be sure and go to the YamCam to see the square as the setup starts and during the festivities.]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2007-10-05:bd862991-03e7-4126-a3e0-2128561c2b7a Proud Citizen 2007-10-15T08:37:13Z 2007-10-05T07:41:00Z Tele's has been open for quite a while, and has a number of new stores (at least one in Diana, two in Longview) but the original is just west of Harmony on Hwy 154.

I've yet to have a bad meal at Tele's, with the only dish on the menu that I don't care for being the queso dip.

The fajitas are always good served, of course, on a sizzling platter, but my favorite selection is a seafood dish. Unfortunately, I don't recall the name, but it is red snapper covered in a tequila cream sauce, topped with a couple of grilled shrimp, and is served with a cold seafood salad and beans. The sauce is excellent and much more refined than you would expect from the simple decor of the place.

I would also suggest a dish that is basically beef or cheese enchiladas topped with fajita meat and pico de gallo. This meal is accompanied by beans and rice.

The original Tele's is almost at capacity during most lunchtimes, a testament to its quality given the remote location.

If anyone has any other restaurants they would like to suggest we feature on this blog please let us know.

]]> tag:upshurblog.com,2007-09-27:7dd8424e-2a24-4108-b63d-83e1422c4219 Proud Citizen 2008-02-23T11:05:15Z 2007-09-27T11:54:00Z Once again Upshur County is receiving a black eye due to acts of animal cruelty.

A few weeks ago a mobile home in Big Sandy was the object of attention when law enforcement officers found a large number of dead and dying animals in what can only be described as hellish conditions. The two women living there were arrested by the Big Sandy Police Department and are now facing prosecution.

Within weeks the Ore City area had its' turn at infamy when a large number of horses were seized and charges brought for the owner's failing to care for the animals, some of which have been returned now.

Now a "puppy mill" in Gladewater has been shut down by the Upshur County Sheriff's Office and 246 dogs seized due to neglect and cruelty by the owner, who has been arrested. This story has been picked up for nationwide publication by the news services.

Are these types of acts any more prevalent in Upshur County than anywhere else?

Of course not.

What has happened to us is just an un-fortuitous turn of events.

The initial case was discovered because of complaints by the neighbors. This likely raised the awareness level of others and now many people are on the lookout for similar cases and are aware that something can be done about it when it does occur.

In the meantime, UC still has to suffer the derogatory comments.

By the way, a special tip of the hat to the law enforcement officers and agencies who had to go into these places to rescue what animals they could and to investigate the cases. A distasteful but necessary job.]]>