Monday, October 03, 2016

TOP TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ST. AUGUSTINE CITY COMMISSIONER LEANNA FREEMAN, seeking third term, running against reformer Susan Rathbone, President of the St. Augustine North Davis Shores (SANDS) neighborhood association

TOP TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ST. AUGUSTINE CITY COMMISSIONER LEANNA FREEMAN, seeking third term, running against reformer Susan Rathbone, President of the St. Augustine North Davis Shores (SANDS) neighborhood association

Updated: November 4, 2016

We, the People are rightly disappointed in Commissioner LEANNA FREEMAN, who seeks a third term as City Commissioner.  She's let us all down, again and again, voting in lockstep against reform. Upon review of her record, I think that Commissioner LEANNA FREEMAN deserves more scrutiny than ever. What do you reckon?
Enough.  Time to elect Ms. Susan Rathbone to St. Augustine City Commission.

LEANNA SOPHIA AMARU FREEMAN, 
Two-term ST. AUGUSTINE CITY COMMISSIONER, SEEKS THIRD TERM
(Historic City News)


(Folio Weekly)

TOP TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ST. AUGUSTINE CITY COMMISSIONER LEANNA SOPHIA AMARU FREEMAN, seeking third term, running against reformer Susan Rathbone, President of the St. Augustine North Davis Shores (SANDS) neighborhood association.

Commissioner LEANNA SOPHIA AMARU FREEMAN:

1. Anti-consumer and pro-monopoly -- During 2016, she actually proposed a city ordinance to outlaw all taxicabs more than ten years old or with more than 250,000 miles, an ordinance drafted ab initio and proposed by FREEMAN at the behest of SAX TAXI, its owner, JAMES HOWARD and lawyer JAMES GEORGE WHITEHOUSE, lawyer with DOUGLAS NELSON BURNETT's ST. JOHNS LAW GROUP.    Incredibly, Commissioner LEANNA FREEMAN pushed the idea for some eight months until she finally relented -- it would probably have violated the antitrust laws and constituted an unconstitutional taking in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Her delays cost the City staff time and extra advertising expenses for additional public hearings.
During 2009, FREEMAN said, "let them run their businesses and raise their rates" of taxicab companies demanding to install meters and raise rates, conforming to Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR., City Manager WILLIAM BARRY HARRISS and City Attorney RONALD WAYNE BROWN's determination that consumers could not speak on the rate increase -- but taxicab companies and employees could speak in favor of it, because the "rules" classed it as a "resolution," not an ordinance.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post_4672.html
https://historiccity.com/2016/staugustine/news/florida/commissioner-freeman-questionably-menacing-taxis-58749

2. Pro-secrecy and opposes compliance audits of City's no-bid, sole source, "emergency" contracts: Angrily pushed back against no-bid, sole source, "emergency" 450th contract compliance audits -- her adolescent antics including behaving rudely, interrupting Mayor Shaver, "Is this meeting over? Is this meeting over? Do I have three votes? Do I have three votes to move forward?"

http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/03/coverup-four-misguided-commissioners.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/03/gang-of-four-blocking-audit-and.html
https://historiccity.com/2015/staugustine/news/florida/auditing-the-450th-transparency-ahead-51596
 http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/04/speak-out-may-11-2015-at-st-augustine.html

3. Anti-reform: often appears other-directed by City Manager JOHN PATRICK REGAN, P..E., ex-Mayors LEN WEEKS and JOE BOLES and developers and votes in lockstep with Commissioners TODD NEVILLE, NANCY SIKES-KLINE and ROXANNE HORVATH, a/k/a "the Gang of Four," as she badly bungled her legal analysis and voted with three somnolent, supine, satrap Commissioners to support destroying DOW MUSEUM OF HISTORIC HOMES and turning it into a $500/night hotel, voting for DOW PUD after midnight on August 26, 2016, joining Gang of Four in opposing recess to deliberate another day after long contentious public hearing.  The fix was in, the procedures cooked up by the City Attorney were unfair, and DAVID BARTON CORNEAL did not even have a court reporter.  Wonder why?
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-shame-of-our-city.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/08/another-oddity-at-dow-pud-hearing.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/08/dow-pud-cordova-inn-reconsideration.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/09/cordova-inn-streets-inundated-dow-pud.html

4. Contemptuous of citizen concerns and data-based decisions: voted against accelerating street repairs of our decrepit ancient streets, through which vehicles have fallen into sinkholes -- joined Gang of Four in opposing Mayor Nancy Shaver's and residents' modest request to redirect 1/2 of % of City budget on fixing grade D+ streets, with 4-1 vote against on September 22, 2016, ignoring eight speakers and fifty e-mails
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/gang-of-four-strike-out-oppose-12-of.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/hcn-commissioners-refuse-to-increase.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/4-1-vote-against-fixing-city-streets.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/speak-out-for-more-street-paving.html

5. Unresponsive about discrimination, Sunshine and public records: City's representative to all-white St. Augustine Sister Cities Association, effectively run as covert operation by ex-Mayor LEN WEEKS -- she refuses to respond to requests for information or a meeting about Sunshine and Open Records concerns about organization to which at least three Commissioners belong.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/remedying-all-white-st-augustine-sister.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2009/05/ex-commissioner-susan-burk-cants-stand.html

6. Secretive, treating City Hall like a protection racket: Avoids Sunshine and Open Records compliance, refusing to provide any public evaluations of City Manager or City Attorney, insisting on paperless private evaluation.  Voted to hire City Manager without a national search. Voted to hire City Attorney without a statewide search, saying of ISABELLE CHRISTINE LOPEZ "she protects us" (in two-part harmony with NANCY SIKES-KLINE.
As a licensed attorney and respected local litigator, FREEMAN was curiously quiet and remained silent and said nothing when:
A.  LOPEZ did libel law research for TODD NEVILLE (without NEVILLE reimbursing the City) in NEVILLE's meretricious demand to file a libel lawsuit against Michael Gold and Historic City News for expressing an opinion about NEVILLE's alleged conflict of interest concerning the DOW PUD.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/09/doubly-unconstitutional-odd-todd.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/09/nothing-in-writing-no-memo-re.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/09/record-blasts-libel-threat-odd-todd.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/09/nebbish-neville-wants-city-to-fund.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/09/unamerican-attack-on-first-amendment-by.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/09/nebbish-neville-wants-city-to-fund.html

B. LOPEZ wasted more than $219,000 by not directing city's outside law firm to seek court-ordered attorney fees from the Whetstones in their frivolous, fraudulent dock litigation, begun by the late GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE, a friend of FREEMAN's and LOPEZ's -- even though seeking fees was discussed in a Shade Meeting
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/05/21939577-wasted-in-frivolous-fraudulent.html

C. Commissioner TODD NEVILLE abused Mayor Shaver for speaking to visual artists suing the City.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/01/unconstitutional-antics-commr-todd.html

D.  City never "stood up to FPL" and negotiated a better deal, instead, rubber-stamping a 30 year franchise renewal in 2008, despite FREEMAN's touting her law experience in 2008.
http://staugustine.com/stories/080608/politics_080608_033.shtml

E. FREEMAN insulted both her 2008 opponents and never kept her promises:
Her opponents are both retired and have said they will dedicate all their time to being a commissioner. But Freeman said that doesn't mean they would be the best for the job.
"I think that having a lot of time on your hands doesn't exactly qualify you for the position," she said.
** Why are you running for this office: I hear the concerns of residents and feel that with my vaired experiences I can provide the leadership needed to address upcoming issues that will impact the quality of life now for generations to come.
** What is the position's greatest challenge: The greatest challenge will be to create policies that will enhance the quality of life for residents while simultaneously balancing the needs and health of our businesses.

** What is your greatest strength: I am by both nature and training, prepared to listen to new ideas and interpretations of old ideas without prejudgment. My view of St. Augustine citizenship has come to me as a business owner, as a resident with children and as a St. Augustine native.
http://staugustine.com/stories/080608/politics_080608_033.shtml

F. City continued discriminating against and retaliating against visual artists, resulting in two (2) federal court orders finding First Amendment violations in 2009 and 2012.

Despite her 2008 campaign promises, Commissioner LEANNA FREEMAN is unwilling to use her considerable legal skills to speak out against oppression, fraud, waste, abuse, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance and nonfeasance -- she is AWOL (Absent Without Leave) in the work to make St. Augustine a truly Compassionate City, " where human rights are respected and not neglected.  Of all Commissioners, with her history of passionately defending rights in family law cases, she is the biggest disappointment -- compromiser, sellout and toady for City Hall corruption.  God forgive her for her Philistinism.

G.  Claimed credit for removal of "No Trespassing" signs from Loring Park, credit she did not deserve, while apparently shopping a story to the St. Augustine Record that omitted the City Attorney's role in soliciting UF to erect the signs, while bragging on her "accomplishment."
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/10/no-trespassing-signs-removed-from.html

7. Wasteful: Spends city funds on junkets -- trips to Spain and elsewhere with her pals -- including trip where she fell for faux Picasso exhibit, which had to be replaced with another Picasso exhibit.  Ignores government waste.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2009/05/ex-commissioner-susan-burk-cants-stand.html

8. Easily distracted: Sometimes leaves daytime budget meetings early, missing public comment, based on luncheon appointments or her dumb 'ole divorce lawyer case work.  FREEMAN set the tone in 2008, missing her very first City Commission meeting because she was "on safari."
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2008/12/leeana-freeman-misses-her-first-city.html

9. Not especially empathetic, not an original thinker and not a thought leader: Admitted when she ran in 2008 that she was recruited to run by her then law partner, SUSAN BURK, who said she recruited FREEMAN because they agreed on everything. FREEMAN claimed that she would "protect" our  City -- she doesn't know the difference between our City ("We the People") and the denizens of City Hall, including directors who know not that they know not that they know not.  LEANNA FREEMAN's repeatedly broken her word then and since, as with her support for the DOW PUD and other dodgy developer projects.  In 2008, FREEMAN said, concerning her husband's St. George Street business and her law practice that: ""I have a vested interest in the city," she said. "I don't want to change the face of our city; that's not my goal. I want to protect (it)."  http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2008/03/freeman-sullivan-seek-st-augustine-city.html
In  2016, FREEMAN is, in effect is asking for SUSAN BURK's seventh term. A fulsome, furious defender of City Manager WILLIAM BARRY HARRISS' works and pomps, including depositing a landfill in a lake, BURK infamously published a letter in the Record after her last term ended, accusing a "group" of public comment speakers of telling only "lies" and being "rude," showing her animus and bias for democracy and efforts to end corruption and lawbreaking in our town.  http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2009/05/ex-commissioner-susan-burk-cants-stand.html
Of course, the landfill WILLIAM HARRIS dumped in the lake -- it's now in a proper Class I landfill.  And WILLIAM HARRISS is gone.

10.  Apparently lost interest in serving the people of St. Augustine, instead of special interests: LEANNA FREEMAN sometimes appears tired, inattentive, insouciant, unhappy, scrappy, burned-out, disdainful, raging, petulant, smug, spiteful, snooty, snobby mendacious, malicious or just plain bored. After two disappointing, disagreeable, disingenuous, tawdry, tedious terms as a St. Augustine Commissioner, serving since December 1, 2008. LEANNA FREEMAN sometimes doesn't do her homework. She sometimes brandishes disrespectful, eye-rolling, whining, provocative, mean-spirited, non-collegial and unprofessional demeanor toward many residents and Mayor Shaver, manifested in both her tone of voice and her body language, failing and refusing to maintain eye contact, looking away, looking askance, and showing precisely the same hauteur, sublime ugliness and bad manners as her former law partner, SUSAN BURK, former City Commissioner. Again, FREEMAN set the tone in 2008, missing her very first City Commission meeting because she was "on safari."  http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2008/12/leeana-freeman-misses-her-first-city.html
LEANNA FREEMAN publicly embarrassed herself and Our Nation's Oldest City (perhaps for the last time) at the September 24, 2016 dedication of the ROBERT S. HAYLING FREEDOM PARK, sniping at Mayor Shaver that the City Manager REGAN would present an "accurate history" -- one that omitted the history of environmental racism since 1905 and citizens speaking out and remedying it, opposing efforts to dump illegally dumped material back in Lincolnville or to inflict a children's museum, a coral growing business or an aquarium where FREEDOM PARK is now located -- which would have violated Florida DEP guidelines forbidding construction on top of former landfills.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/here-we-right-wrong-dr-robert-s-hayling.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/accurate-maladroit-commissioner-leanna.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/accurate-chronology-mayor-boles-abused.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/blog-post_24.html

CONCLUSION:  It's time for LEANNA FREEMAN to be booted out of office.  It's time for LEANNA FREEMAN to leave the City Commissioners' office she has encumbered and sometimes disgraced for eight years.

Recommendation: vote for and elect as City Commissioner Ms. Susan Rathbone, a community leader and former educator,  to promote healing, accountability and rational debate, to preserve and protect our Nation's Oldest City, her history, culture, structures and environment.

Yes we can!
Posted by at 1 comment:

UPDATE: Neighborhood Council Election Forum Thursday, October 6, 2016, 7 PM CANCELLED DUE TO APPROACHING HURRICANE


The St. Augustine Neighborhood Council General Election Candidate Forum will be held on Thursday October 6, 2016 at the Willie Galimore Center, located at 399 Riberia Street in St Augustine. Doors will open to the public at 6:30 p.m. and the moderator will begin questioning the candidates promptly at 7:00 p.m.

Invited to participate in the forum are:

City Commission Seat One: Roxanne Horvath and Ron Stafford
City Commission Seat Two: Leanna Freeman and Susan Rathbone
City Commission Seat Three (Mayor): Nancy Shaver and Kris Phillips
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, October 02, 2016

TOP TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WFOY OWNER KRIS PHILLIPS: Puppet Running Against Reform Mayor Nancy Shaver

St. Augustine residents: do read what I've posted on blog in the past: re: Mayor Nancy Shaver's opponent, WFOY Hate Radio Station owner KRIS PHILLIPS, including these TOP TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT KRIS PHILLIPS:

1.  Desecrating our St. Augustine National Cemetery with Facebook photos of her taken there on Memorial Day (above), in violation of federal regulations prohibiting political advertising filmed in national cemeteries, of which she was on notice because ex-Rep. Ronald "Doc" Renuart of Ponte Vedra did it and was defeated by Travis Hutson for the Republican nomination for State Senate as a result.

2. Never apologizing for  hate speech, bigoted anti-Gay, pro-murder statements on WFOY, subject of an FCC complaint after her twice-daily caller and supporter Greater St. Augustine Republican Club Chair MARTIN MILLER said at 8 AM on June 13, 2016 that the 49 Gays murdered in Orlando club shooting "got what they deserved."
3. Wage theft and age discrimination against longtime local newscaster Al Brennan, who described that she was "terrible to work for" and "didn't get along with anybody" and is probably running for mayor to "make money."

4.  Stiffing musicians, resulting in a lawsuit by Broadcast Music, Inc. for not paying WFOY's $49/month licensing fee

5. Late corporate registration filings in 2013 and 2014, resulting in Florida Secretary of State penalties of $400 for late filings, twice 

6.  No ideas on City issues, never attends City meetings, has never spoken at one.

7. Running Sheriff DAVID SHOAR's Facebook postings as her  WFOY "news feed" during the primary election season and o covering up for Sheriff SHOAR f/k/a "HOAR" on the September 2, 2010 Michelle O'Connell shooting, subject of New York Times, PBS Frontline and international news coverage. 
8. Bankrolled by ex-Mayors JOSEPH BOLES, JR. and CLAUDE LEONARD WEEKS, JR. a/k/a LEN WEEKS and former City Manager WILLIAM BARRY HARRISS, including a page one photo in the September edition of BOLES' Council On Aging's "

9.  Subsidies from some ten local government entities, which were charged for air time for Public Service Announcements, which are supposed to be free. http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/09/fcc-complaint-no-1224608-kris-phillips.html

10.  Allowing indecency to air from local "broadcasters," while still not having a seven second delay or a taping system at her 250/500 watt AM/FM radio station.

Does being KRIS PHILLIPS mean never having to say you're sorry?

Quo vobis videtor? (What do y'all reckon?)



WFOY HATE RADIO STATION OWNER WITH HATE BROADCASTER RUSH LIMBAUGH a/k/a "RUSH HUDSON LIMBAUGH, III" at 2013 Orlando gathering (SAR)
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, October 01, 2016

Stolen, Devastated History: Former Dow Museum of Historic Homes Now "The Collector Luxury Inn and Gardens"



Will "The Collector"/DOW PUD project fiasco result in the electoral defeat of St. Augustine City Commissioners LEANNA FREEMAN and ROXANNE HORVATH on November 8, 2016?

Will discerning visitors ever want to patronize crass DAVID BARTON CORNEAL's folly and subsidize the willful State College, Pennsylvania attorney who destroyed Carpenter's House and privatized and carved up our State-subsidized DOW MUSEUM OF HISTORIC HOMES in the name of profiting from a "luxury" hotel in a working class town?

You tell me.

The DOW MUSEUM OF HISTORIC HOMES, in which the State of Florida invested $2.1 million in scarce preservation funds, was sold for $1.7 million by the Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences, which breached its fiduciary duty to the Estate of Kenneth Worcester Dow.



Carpenter's House was destroyed by CORNEAL
(Photos: SAR & HCN)
The Star General Store's logo was painted over by CORNEAL



Speculator DAVID BARTON  CORNEAL looks crushed as he learns my appeal from his demolition of Carpenter's House (temporally) delayed his DOW PUD application; at left is fired former City Planning and Zoning Director MARK ALAN KNIGHT; at right is ROGERS TOWERS law firm partner ELLEN AVERY SMITH
Former Vice Mayor DONALD CRICHLOW lobbied former colleagues less than a month after leaving office and was never prosecuted for it.


HARB voted 2-1 to allow destruction of Carpenter's House, Chairman Randal Roark dissenting


Commissioner TODD NEVILLE and wife HEATHER lobbied for CORNEAL's project, while demanding to use City funds to pursue a libel lawsuit against Michael Gold and Historic City News for expressing an opinion about his alleged conflict of interest -- never reimbursing the City for research done by estimable City Attorney ISABELLE CHRISTINE LOPEZ



Mayor Nancy Shaver, center, was the only Commissioner who approached hearing with an open mind.
Commissioners LEANNA FREEMAN and ROXANNE HORVATH, to her right, face re-election races on November 8, 2016.


Capt. Lee Geanuleas, U.S.N. (Ret.) led the neighbors opposing the DOW PUD

Blake Romeyn Souder, who testified against and researched the CORNEAL deal; 
(that's City Manager JOHN PATRICK REGAN, P.E., who looks askance and uncomfortable)


Well, check out the revisionist history and pure propaganda in the St. Augustine Record October 2, 2016 concerning what is now being called the "The Collector Luxury Inn and Gardens."

Our State of Florida invested $2.1 million in the DOW MUSEUM OF HISTORIC HOMES, the dream of Kenneth Dow et ux.

The Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences breached its fiduciary duty, failing to market the museum, conning Mr. Dow into turning it and his collection of art and antiques over to it when no "respectable" St. Augustine institution would accept them because Mr. Dow was Gay and his wife was Lesbian. Then the Daytona Museum sold the museum for $1.7 million -- yes, less than our State of Florida invested in restoration.

Then Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR. toured contributor DAVID BARTON CORNEAL through the complex, with the dirty deed recorded so it was not publicly known during the 2014 mayoral election (which BOLES lost to Nancy Shaver by 119 votes).

Then developer-directed City Manager JOHN PATRICK REGAN, P.E., firmly in CORNEAL's hip pocket, told First Coast News he was "delighted" with the purchase and privatization of yet another historic property in St. Augustine.

CORNEAL enlisted what he called "THE MINORCAN MAFIA," descendants of prior owners of the homes whom he euchred into thinking the City of St. Augustine would tear down the homes for parking -- or CORNEAL would rent them to students and African-Americans -- if he did not get his way.

CORNEAL enlisted Record development reporter (and former sports reporter) STUART KORFHAGE as his willing amanuensis, with one-sided stories, including one libeling neighbors by implying that they had slashed tires of a painter (who was later arrested, convicted and incarcerated in a child sex sting).

Then DAVID BARTON CORNEAL purchased the services of three prostitutes -- two (2) of five (5) Historic Architectural Review Board members (PAUL M. WEAVER, III and JEREMY MARQUIS) and the City's former Vice Mayor (DONALD CRICHLOW) -- who appear to have violated Sunshine and ethics laws and were never prosecuted.  St. Augustine has no ethics ordinance and state laws are weak and poorly enforced.

Commissioner TODD NEVILLE was an advocate for CORNEAL, as was his wife, HEATHER, who attacked opponents on Facebook, calling us "haters," while denying she had been paid to lobby.

City Attorney ISABELLE CHRISTINE LOPEZ inflicted unfair procedures on opponents, who could not aggregate their time, resulting in a fractured presentation by attorney Jane West and clients.

The fix was in, the procedures cooked up by the City Attorney were unfair, and DAVID BARTON CORNEAL did not even have a court reporter.  Wonder why?

At the hearing, it was painfully obvious that Mayor Nancy Shaver was the only Commissioner with an open mind: she valiantly presided at a fair public quasi-judicial hearing on the Planned Unit Development.  Four Commissioners refused Mayor Shaver's reasonable request to recess, with Commissioner LEANNA FREEMAN particularly nasty about the alleged necessity of talking past midnight, rather than deliberating another day.  Commissioner ROXANNE HORVATH obviously prejudged the matter, reading from a crisp statement that had a staple in it.

Neighbors' well-documented, expert concerns about zoning, traffic, noise and other issues were ignored by four Commissioners -- LEANNA FREEMAN, ROXANNE HORVATH, TODD NEVILLE and NANCY SIKES-KLINE (who procured a biased, unscholarly  "opinion letter" emitted by six University of Florida professors who blithered generalities about project benefits at her request, without speaking to zoning experts or any of the neighbors.

In the words of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, a robber baron not unlike CORNEAL, "Let the public be damned!"

So the estimable City of St. Augustine City Commission voted 4-1 (Mayor Nancy Shaver, dissenting) at 12:30 AM on the early morning hours of August 25, 2016 to allow the former Dow museum to be hacked up into 30 hotel suites after, mutatis mutandis, the HARB voted 2-1 to allow the venerable 105 year old Carpenter's House to be destroyed, based on flummery, dupery and nincompoopery emitted by DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and his henchmen, with two of five HARB members recused because CORNEAL was paying them money to work on the project.  At one point that summer, in the City Hall courtyard, I overheard HARB Vice Chair PAUL M. WEAVER, III tell DAVID BARTON CORNEAL that he could "sell ice to eskimos.")

Then CORNEAL held a party at 1 AM, celebrating his corrupt victory, with City Manager REGAN a guest.

This was one of the lowest points in the 451 year history of St. Augustine, and it was ignored and covered up by typically biased St. Augustine Record news stories and editorials.

Now, after destroying the integrity of the homes, after materially altering this historic resource for money, after defacing the authentic Star storefront on Cordova street and installing an inauthentic swimming pool on the property, DAVID BARTON CORNEAL finally plans to open it, perhaps by November 19th.

So this morning, on October 2, 2016, reporter Stuart Korfhage has another impudent attempt at deception and historical revisionism in the St. Augustine Record. Stuart Korfhage's revealingly trite title, after all, is to cover "development," and all of the developers' works and pomps, treating their propaganda as holy writ, more stenographer than news reporter.  There is no Record reporter with the word "environmental" in their title, the Record being firmly entrenched with development and the undisclosed foreign investors in LLCs.

STUART KORFHAGE kind of reminds me of the ditty about corrupt British journalists by writer and civil servant Humbert Wolfe, CB, CBE:

You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
thank God! the
British journalist.
But, seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there's
no occasion to.





FROM MUSEUM TO INN: Dow property set to begin new chapter as The Collector Luxury Inn and Gardens
St. Augustine Record
Posted October 2, 2016 12:11 am
By STUART KORFHAGE stuart.korfhage@staugustine.com

It’s been almost two years since the Dow Museum of Historic Houses of St. Augustine was sold, and now it’s about to reemerge as The Collector Luxury Inn & Gardens.

Tucked in between Cordova, Bridge and St. George streets, the property that has been many things over the last two centuries has been renovated and consolidated into a boutique hotel in one of St. Augustine’s most desirable locations.

“Whenever you can work with something such as this property with such great history to bring it back to life and really give it a life of its own that it will be able to take care of itself is a lot of fun,” said Howard Letts, the inn’s general manager.

Letts works for Charlestowne Hotels, a hotel management company contracted by Collector owner David Corneal.

For more than a decade, Letts worked in Charleston, South Carolina, where the company has seven “luxury” hotels and other properties under its control.

Since May, he’s been in St. Augustine, helping to prepare The Collector — named in honor of the property’s last resident, Kenneth Dow, a well-known collector of art and antiquities — for its first guests.

The plan is to have the inn ready, or at least some of it, for guests by the time the Nights of Lights festival kicks off Nov. 19. That would be about two years since Corneal purchased the property for $1.7 million.

Since gaining approval from the city to demolish one building and renovate the rest of the property in order to make it an upscale hotel, workers have been busy refurbishing nearly every inch of the grounds and buildings.

Some of the work has been for modernization like wiring for television and internet access or bathroom makeovers, and some of the labor has been for structural soundness like replacing termite-eaten beams.

There has been the addition of a small swimming pool, a conversion of one building into a bar, an addition of historical markers, a leveling and re-laying of bricks pavers and new landscaping throughout the grounds.

What is emerging is a mixture of historic elements and modern amenities that most travelers expect. And Letts said the plan is to accomplish this without detracting from authenticity that makes the property so attractive.

The last hotel he worked in had elements dating back as far as 1840, which is comparable to The Collector. The oldest building there is the Prince Murat House that goes back to 1790.

While there has been concern among some in the city that the historic elements of houses will be harmed by the conversion from a museum to a hotel, Letts said those involved are careful to preserve the property as best they can. And when the physical elements can’t be saved, at least the character has been preserved and on some cases recreated.

He can point to Corneal’s project just down Bridge Street in the property that used to be the M&M Market but is now Preserved Restaurant as an example of how the owner operates. That historic building has been renovated in a manner that has impressed many residents and visitors.

“Same dedication to the quality of the project and the history,” Letts said. “There were no shortcuts or corners cut at the Preserved, and there have not been here.”

While anxious to open, Corneal said he’s been pleased with the way his plans for The Collector are taking shape.

“It’s taking on the form that I envisioned it would take, and it’s coming together,” he said. “I think everybody when it’s finished will be pleased with it.”

Early indications are travelers will be drawn to the new inn. High-quality rooms within the city center are few. If The Collector can deliver on its promises, it’s likely to be very popular.

“We really believe we have a nice little niche to fill in St. Augustine,” Letts said. “We believe we will offer a lot of the same intimacy and privacy of the B&Bs but then (have) many of the amenities and services of a four-diamond luxury inn or hotel.”

Richard Goldman, president and CEO of the county’s visitors and convention bureau, said The Collector is exactly the kind of property many visitors to St. Augustine are seeking.

“It’s the area where we had the opportunity to grow the best and that is in the luxury category,” Goldman said.

He added that the inn has the bonus of being in a location that encourages walking because it’s so close to restaurants and attractions. The hope is that the guests there won’t add much to congestion because they’ll check in, have their vehicles parked and mostly leave them while enjoying the city.

Letts said the value of the location is one of the many positives of The Collector. It’s close to many popular areas but just far enough away to be relatively quiet most of the time.

“We’re only blocks away from the water or blocks away from the (Plaza de la Constitucion),” Letts said. “It’s a great city with nothing but growing visitation, which is due to the fact of the history of the city the friendliness of the people. The restaurant scene in St. Augustine has grown. And it’s just got a great selection of attractions and, of course, our beaches.”

The new hotel, with its 30 unique rooms, will fit into the city almost seamlessly, Letts hopes. The goal is to be comparable to successful downtown hotels like the Casa Monica and the Hilton Historic Bayfront Hotel.

“I hope I hear (from future guests) what wonderful service they received and how this is their new home away from home when they’re here in St. Augustine,” he said. “Because they actually are homes and that’s the feeling we want to give them.”
Posted by at No comments:

Betty Griffin House Discrimination Case Reveals Underside of Local "Non-profiit" in St. Augustine and St. Johns County, Florida



What did Betty Griffin House ever do to speak out against Officer-Involved Domestic Violence?
What did Betty Griffin House ever do to get Justice for Michelle O'Connell?
I love the Betty Griffin House thrift store.
I hate their bigotry, and uncritical support for Sheriff DAVID SHOAR f/k/a "HOAR."
Time for a change in leadership at BGH?


Posted September 29, 2016 12:01 am - Updated September 29, 2016 03:51 am
By STUART KORFHAGE stuart.korfhage@staugustine.com
Former Betty Griffin House Thrift Shoppe employees file lawsuit, claim retaliation for complaints

Comments
1 Share
Six former employees of the Betty Griffin Thrift Shoppe in St. Augustine have filed a lawsuit in St. Johns County that says they were fired in retaliation for making complaints about what they perceived to be hazardous working conditions.

The suit was filed Sept. 21 by attorney Maria Mattox, a Tallahassee-based lawyer who specializes in cases of workplace discrimination, harassment, retaliation, termination and other civil rights abuses.

The complaint says former employees Jeff McCoy, Patricia Van Brocklin, Genevieve Kelly, Robin Seery, Chris Bassford and Shani Fields experienced some form of retaliation. Seery and Fields also claim they were not paid the legal minimum wage for all their work. And Fields also claims racial discrimination.

Individually, the claims are listed as in excess of $15,000, which is standard for civil suits.

A public relations specialist working on behalf of Betty Griffin House said the management could not respond to specifics of the complaint because of the pending litigation.

“At this time, Betty Griffin House has not been notified of a lawsuit,” said Joyce Mahr, CEO of Betty Griffin House, in an email statement sent to The Record on Wednesday. “This will be a matter for the court to determine and we believe the judicial process will adequately address the dispute.”

Betty Griffin House is a nonprofit agency that provides emergency shelter and other services to those who have been abused. The organization runs two thrift stores to help pay for the services it provides.

In the official complaint, the employees say the difficulties began around October 2015 when Mahr was given oversight of the thrift stores and hired Teresa Olivas as the director of sales.

“Upon accepting the position of director of sales, Olivas made it clear that she desired to remove many of BGH employees she inherited that were hired by past management and to replace them with new employees she could hand pick herself,” the complaint reads. “As much was clear when Olivas privately conveyed to plaintiff Chris Brassford the she intended to ‘clean house’ once she took over.”

Van Brocklin had been made store manager in July 2014, the complaint says, and McCoy was named operations manager in April 2015.

The complaint says the two “raised concerns in regards to certain hazards within the BGH thrift store” before Olivas was hired. Their concerns included black mold on the thrift store ceiling tiles, improper cleanup of fiberglass insulation, an infestation of rats, poor lighting and a dangerous storage platform.

According to the complaint, management’s action in response to the concerns was “minimal to nonexistent.”

McCoy and Van Brocklin said they sent photos of moldy tiles to Olivas on March 18 and went on vacation a week later. They both returned to work on March 30 and were fired the next day.

On April 28, an investigator with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration visited the thrift store in the Anastasia Square shopping center. The complaint says several of the other plaintiffs mentioned their concerns about hazards to the OSHA investigator while Olivas was present.

Following the visit from OSHA, the employees who spoke about concerns were subjected to “bullying and intimidation tactics,” the lawsuit says.

Seery, the complaint says, was denied paid leave for a time she reported being out sick. She also listed various disputes with management and said she was terminated after making a workers’ compensation claim.

Also in the complaint, Fields said as an African-American, she was subject to “a hostile work environment, disparate treatment, different terms and conditions of employment, and was held to a different standard because of her race by the all-white upper management.”

The lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Howard Maltz of the 7th Judicial Circuit. There are no court hearings scheduled at this time.
Posted by at No comments:

County OKs controversial Ponte Vedra development, supported by TRUMP-SCOTT campaign manager, lobbyist SUSAN SUMMERALL WILES

St. Johns County Administrator MICHAEL DAVID WANCHICK's wrecking crew took the ball away from County Commissioners and allowed a development Ponte Vedra neighbors opposed, at the behest of TRUMP-SCOTT campaign manager and louche lobbyist SUSAN SUMMERALL WILES.
How corrupt.
Hope the neighbors appeal.
WILES lost a big one this summer when the County Commission listened to We, the People -- it was about to refuse to put slot machines on the ballot when the proposal was withdrawn by ROGERS TOWERS lawyer ELLEN AVERY SMITH. Slot machines are not legal here now, and the conmen supporting it argued the Florida State Supreme Court might allow it one day, with maladroit County Attorney staff falsely telling Commissioners the case was likely to be decided "this summer."
How corrupt.
Could MICHAEL DAVID WANCHICK's back room approval of the Ponte Vedra development have anything to do with the fact that SUSAN SUMMERALL WILES is DONALD TRUMP's Florida campaign manager and Governor RiCHARD LYNN SCOTT's campaign manager?




Posted October 1, 2016 12:02 am
By JAKE MARTIN jake.martin@staugustine.com
St. Augustine Record
St. Johns County administrators approve plans for controversial Ponte Vedra Beach development

St. Johns County administrators on Thursday gave the go-ahead for GreenPointe Communities, a Jacksonville-based developer, to start constructing a 22-home subdivision called Ponte Vedra Preserve, whose development has been contested by neighbors on several fronts in recent years.

The property is located on about 17.13 acres on the west side of Ponte Vedra Boulevard, north of Mickler Beachfront Park and the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve. It is across the street from the ocean and from Ponte Vedra Beach resident Nancy Condron, who has led the fight against the developers.

It was a fight with seemingly small beginnings.

A legal dispute in 2011 over beach access — provided by a path located on Condron’s oceanfront property — resulted in a 2013 ruling by Judge [J.] Michael Traynor of the Seventh Judicial Court that an easement agreement was still valid and future landowners within Ponte Vedra Preserve would be allowed to use the path. The rulings were upheld on appeal by the Fourth District Court of Appeals.

County spokesman Michael Ryan told The Record on Friday there was a person who, at one time, owned hundreds of acres in the area and who eventually started selling off the land, piece by piece. Sales paperwork and court documents indicate the seller had retained a 10-foot perpetual easement on the beach path in question, essentially stating someone could buy the house but anyone could use the path.

According to documents provided by the county, the land to be developed at 1044 Ponte Vedra Blvd., known as the “Stockton Property,” had long been used for agricultural purposes and consists of forested land, pasture areas and some wetlands and other surface waters. An existing trail road runs the length of the property, along with a small residence.

The previous owners of the Ponte Vedra Preserve property initially tried to sell the land to a developer but were unsuccessful with the beach access question legally, and quite contentiously, up in the air. With the beach path opened, developers purchased the land and started making their way through the building process.

The St. Johns River Water Management District, determining in January that the building plans would not negatively affect the water table or surrounding environment, issued an environmental resource permit for a surface stormwater management system. Condron appealed, but a judge with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings concluded that the 22 single-family units would have a lower environmental impact than the property’s agricultural land use (due to installation of infrastructure to properly dispose of rainwater, runoff and sewage, among other mitigating factors).

As indicated in county documents, members of the public had expressed concern over the impact of drainage from the proposed project on the nearby GTM-NERR. However, the ruling specifically noted post-development total nitrogen and phosphorous output would be substantially less than what was being produced for agricultural use.

A complication arose last year when an engineering need for two feet of fill dirt to provide proper drainage was identified by county staff for many of the homes. Although required by and compliant with the St. Johns County Land Development Code, the same could not be said for the Ponte Vedra Zoning District Regulations, which limit the amount of fill that can be placed under new single-family residences. However, per the regulations, exceptions are made for variances granted by the Ponte Vedra Zoning and Adjustments Board or if required by any governmental agency having jurisdiction.

The board heard the developer’s request for the variance on May 11, 2015, but the meeting concluded with a 3-3 vote (due to the absence of one member), constituting a denial. The developer appealed the denial to the St. Johns County Commission on June 15, but the commission remanded the project back to the PVZAB for a re-vote with all members. The variance was then approved by a 4-3 vote on July 13.

According to a presentation by county staff at that meeting, the fill dirt variance would not affect the density of the property, as it was being developed under existing Zoning and Future Land Use designations.

Attorney Jane West, representing Condron, questioned the source of the applicant’s hardship (which is required to obtain a variance) and told board members the applicant could build up to eight homes on the property without any variance.

“The circumstances negatively affecting the use of the property are general to the Ponte Vedra Zoning Designation and are caused by the property owner,” West said. “The issue that is before you today is an issue that is caused by the property owner.”

Brad Scott, PVZAB chair, said “elevation topography” was a clear, proven hardship and that the situation on the subject property was consistent with those of properties that were granted variances in the past, adding he didn’t want to get into “legal technicalities.”

West, on behalf of Condron, appealed the PVZAB’s approval with the County Commission on Aug. 12. The County Commission considered and continued the appeal of the variance on Oct. 20 and then again on Dec. 1.

The project sat dormant for months before County Attorney Patrick McCormack, on April 6 of this year, issued an 11-page legal opinion on GreenPointe’s position that a variance was not even required, due to the exception language in the Ponte Vedra regulations. McCormack said the exception language could be invoked only if the applicant could demonstrate no other “reasonable” development methods, including alternative construction techniques, are available and that additional fill was the minimum necessary to meet government requirements. County Administrator Michael Wanchick issued his interpretation of the legal opinion the following day, confirming McCormack’s position.

A Facebook post dated May 5 by Ponte Vedra Citizens Against Preferential Zoning for Developers indicates the community group was unhappy with the county’s conclusions.

As written in the post: “When it looked like we were so effective in preventing GreenPointe from filling the Guana River basin’s floodplain with dirt to build more houses, the county abruptly changed course. The unthinkable happened. The county attorney decided to go against its own staff determination that a variance was needed for all that fill dirt. The county attorney opined that it is okay to truck in tens of thousands of cubic yards of fill dirt — without any oversight from the county. The experienced expertise of our St. Johns County government engineers and planning officials that oversee our laws was summarily dismissed.”

According to a status update released by the county on Friday, GreenPointe re-engineered the project and on Aug. 1 submitted modified construction plans proposing the use of stem walls, rather than fill dirt, to establish building pads for the single-family residences. The county, as indicated in the status update, determined the use of stem walls would eliminate the need to obtain a fill height variance and that the project in its revised form would comply with county code and Ponte Vedra regulations.

Ryan said the county approved the construction plans at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

“Upon receipt of the plans, the applicant is authorized to proceed with construction of the project,” the status update reads. “The developer has indicated that upon finalization of the construction plans and the appeal deadline, the variance request will be withdrawn as it is no longer required.”

Ryan said the County Commission, as of Friday, has not approved this project, although developers can start work on the site immediately. He said “anything administrative,” meaning any action taken by county administration or staff, is appealable with the County Commission, with exception of only a few circumstances (not necessarily applicable here) that must go straight to court.

“It’s appealable,” Ryan said. “The issuance of the construction plans is appealable.”

He said the project could be appealed within 30 days of the county’s approval of the plans.

West told The Record on Friday she received word from the county attorney’s office earlier that afternoon that the construction plans were issued but that she had not yet seen the building permit.

“The county attorney briefly mentioned they were considering using stem walls instead of using a bunch of fill dirt,” she said, adding she had not yet seen any documentation on how much dirt would be brought on the property. “We don’t know if it eliminates the need for a variance.”

She said when the appeal regarding the PVZAB’s decision went before the County Commission, commissioners “heard a little bit of argument and then made the decision to postpone the whole thing.”

“They did not want to make a decision at that time and it still has never been heard,” West continued. “Even if everyone thinks it’s all well and good, have the county commission make that decision. That decision should not happen behind closed doors.”

West said she and her client would explore all their options for how to proceed but could not speak to the possibility of filing an appeal without reviewing the county’s decision on the re-engineered plans.
Posted by at No comments:

Record editorial regrets not making Florida "redneck city" list: wry irony or yearning for bad old days?





Ed's note:
In 1964, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said St. Augustine was "the most lawless city in America." Now, we're a "compassionate city," rejected for membership in the top 100 Florida "redneck cities," a fact the estimable St. Augustine Record says it regrets.
St. Augustine Record fishing columnist, Opinion Editor and ex-Editor JAMES SUTTON'S mentor at Flagler College was Flagler College Vice President A.H. "Hoppy" Tebeault, Jr., Flagler College Gargoyle newspaper advisor-censor, and former St. Augustine Record Publisher.
A.H. "Hoppy" Tebeault was a vicious Jim Crow segregationist and white supremacist whose St. Augustine Record called civil rights activists "outside agitators" and worse, allying itself with corrupt Sheriff LAWRENCE O. DAVIS, publishing the names and addresses of African-American school children desegregating local schools (resulting in parents being fired, blacklisted and firebombed).
Neither "Hoppy" Tebeault nor the successive corporate owners of the august St. Augustine Record ever apologized for being a propaganda organ for the Ku Klux Klan, providing advance notice of KKK rallies and giving front page notice of Mayor Joseph Shelley's threats that students protesting records would have criminal records and never get a job.
Because when you're the unhappy mentee of an unhappy, uncouth, unkind, uncaring, radical reactionary rebarbative right-wing retromignent redneck peckerwood newspaper publisher -- and utterly and hopelessly provincial -- the last thing you ever want to do is admit error.
Right, Jim?
Personally, I'm relieved that St. Augustine is now officially a "Compassionate City" and no longer qualifies to be a "redneck city."
"We, the People" have won some 60 victories since a federal court ordered Rainbow flags to fly on our Bridge of Lions from June 8-13, 2005, a First Amendment victory the Record opposed, just as it does not support 2009 and 2015 court decisions vindicating the rights of visual artists.
Yes, the Record (which shares space with the anti-artist Chamber of Commerce) actually allied itself with commercial landlords in criminalizing art and music in public places.
Criminalizing public art and music was a damnably stupid decision.
It  has rendered St. George Street into one lengthy tacky t-shirt mall, as Cathy Brown says.
How odd for a newspaper to be against First Amendment rights.
Shall we call it a redneck peckerwood excuse for a newspaper owned by troglodytes and run by second-raters?
What do y'all reckon?







Racist Georgia lawyer J.B. Stoner speaks in Slave Market
He was later convicted of Birmingham bombing.
Note Sheriff's badge on belt of man at right and
"Gadsen flag" favored by Tea Party today.


Monson Motel owner James Brock pours acid in pool,
an overt act mentioned by President Johnson in taped phone call to
Georgia U.S. Senator Richard Russell, helping end Senate filibuster
and enactment of Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Racist Mayor Joseph A. Shelley, M.D.

Posted September 30, 2016 10:23 am
Alas, a ‘Best’ list we did not make
St. Augustine Record

St. Johns County, and St. Augustine in particular, should make the People Magazine cover for “Best” places, at least in the Sunshine State.

We’ve got best beaches, holiday lights, college, school district, flip-flop chic beach town, art, culture, historical resources, livability index, B&Bs — you name it, we’ve been “it” at one time or another.

We are, however, distressed, to find that our area was completely left out of the latest demographic study, this one offered by Roadsnacks.net.

It determined Florida’s “Most Redneck Cities,” and we did not place even in the top 100.

This less-than-scientific survey did, nonetheless, attempt to set criteria for its investigation, looking for statistical data on important categories. It began with criteria from the definition of “redneck” from Merriam-Webster dictionary: A white person who lives in a small town, especially in the southern U.S., who typically has a working-class job, and who is seen by others as being uneducated and having opinions and attitudes that are offensive.”

It also based statistical data on stereotypes. So it parsed the data base on small towns, the number of dive bars per city, number of mobile home parks per capita, number of tobacco stores per city, number of guns and ammo stores per city, as well as the number of Piggly Wigglys nearby.

Okeechobee won the sweepstakes as Florida’s No. 1 redneck city. With its 5,613 population, it ranked first in guns stores per capita, fourth in fishing shops, second in mobile home parks and had a high school graduation rate of 73 percent (which actually isn’t bad at all; the state average in 2015 was 77.9).

The remaining members of the Top 10 in descending order are: Clewiston, Arcadia, Starke, Inverness, Quincy, Brooksville, Perry, Westville and Mascotte.

We’re happy for Starke, our only regional contender; but, frankly, chagrined it was Northeast Florida’s only real contestant. Starke’s strengths were its fourth-place ranking for guns shop in the state, its fourth place in fishing gear and its 18th ranking in tobacco stores.

We think the data was flawed, because the researchers were not really attuned to nuances of redneck reality. Tobacco stores are no real indicator of actual tobacco use when, in fact, Kangaroo stores sell more shiny-topped cans of dip than any specialty outlet. Gun shops are statistically poor indicators of gun sales when measured against local garage sales, swap meets or the family weapon shows up at the old Armory.

And, in the case of St. Augustine, we feel we were gypped by the researchers’ narrow and stereotyped grasp of “redneckedness” as anything other than an inland phenomenon.

We certainly realize that a very clear redneck sub-species — and among the finer in terms of F-150 lift kit gadgetry, mullet net sorcery, datil pepper cookery, Cracker cattle mastery, shrimp boat wizardry and architects of both small churches and big deer camps — owes his lifestyle and lineage to those Iberian seafarers who carved a living from this stubborn land 450 years ago.

We hail the Saltwater Redneck, upon whose tanned shoulders this city was truly built. We had working-class people with offensive attitudes and opinions when Okeechobee’s citizens were still speaking without vowels and living on oyster middens. And we demand a recount.

Culture counts.
Posted by at No comments:

EX-MAYOR JOE BOLES' PUPPETS -- KRIS PHILLIPS AND WFOY HATE RADIO

Unwilling to admit defeat, the corrupt, onetime "mover and shaker," ex-Mayor of St. Augustine, Florida, JOE BOLES, has a doozy of a puppet running for Mayor, KRIS PHILLIPS, one who supports bigotry on her radio station, WFOY. In 2014, I listened to that station for a month: beyond peradventure, it is steeped in bigotry, with unbalanced unhinged uncouth blather from the likes of RUSH LIMBAUGH (see photo of PHILLIPS with RUSH LIMBAUGH). If your business model is appealing to bigotry and belittling people, and your "business experience" is bogus, you won't be St. Augustine Mayor in the 21st century. What do y'all reckon?



Ex-Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, Jr. spent some 20% of his primary election funds on hate radio, WFOY, and still has a radio program on it, along with the Council on Aging. BOLES is using PHILLIPS as a bullet in his gun as an attempt to install a puppet mayor of the 1%.

St. Augustine Record, October 13, 2013:



Newstalk 102.3 FM WFOY’s President Kris Phillips was among a handful of elite (sic) radio station affiliates invited to a reception last week honoring talk show host Rush Limbaugh for his 25 years of syndication.

Limbaugh’s noon to 3 p.m. show is the No. 1 rated syndicated radio talk show in the country.

It has been broadcast on WFOY for more than 2 decades.

Limbaugh attended the event. Syndicated talk show host Dave Ramsey also stopped by to congratulate Limbaugh.
Posted by at No comments:

MAYOR CANDIDATE KRIS PHILLIPS NEVER APOLOGIZED FOR WFOY ANTI-GAY REMARKS AFTER 49 ORLANDO MURDERS

109 days ago I wrote WFOY radio station owner KRIS PHILLIPS and have received no response re: St. Augustine Republican Club Chair MARTIN MILLER stating 49 Gays killed in Orlando "got what they deserved." No response. No apology. Here's the correspondence:




-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: kris ; kris ; pcanan
Sent: Sat, Oct 1, 2016 9:53 am
Subject: Re: Request No. 2016-255: WFOY broadcasts anti-Gay hate speech by Greater St. Augustine Republican Club Chair Martin Miller

Dear Ms. Phillips:
1. I wrote you on June 14, 2016 -- some 109 days ago -- about the indecency emitted by WFOY on our public airwaves.
2. On the morning of Monday, June 13, 2016, Greater St. Augustine Republican Club Chair MARTIN MILLER stated on-air on WFOY that the 49 Gays murdered in Orlando on June 12, 2016 "got what they deserved."
3. You did not respond.  Why?
4. You have provided no records.  Why?
5. Your silence for some 109 days is inculpatory -- it is both an admission by silence and an adoptive admission under evidence rules.  Will you ever apologize?
6. I have filed an FCC complaint against PHILLIPS BROADCASTING, INC. about WFOY's indecency and bias.  
7. I now understand that the man who said that 49 dead Gays in Orlando "got what they deserved" --  Greater St. Augustine Republican Club Chair MARTIN MILLER -- is helping to manage your St. Augustine mayoral campaign.
8. Is that correct?  Have you, KRIS PHILLIPS, WFOY and your mayoral campaign given significant encouragement to hate speech?  Your impecunious radio station blasts out Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing haters, without balance or reply.  When informed that deeply offensive anti-Gay views were broadcast from a local supporter, you ignored me.  Why?
9. Were you aware that local races in our town are, by law, nonpartisan?
10. Please call me to discuss today.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: consumercomplaints <consumercomplaints@fcc.gov>
Cc: judgelitt10 <judgelitt10@gmail.com>
Sent: Mon, Jun 20, 2016 5:25 pm
Subject: Re: [FCC Complaints] Re: WFOY, St. Augustine, Florida -- Hate Speech Against 49 Gays Killed in Orlando

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998


-----Original Message-----
From: FCC <consumercomplaints@fcc.gov>
To: Easlavin <easlavin@aol.com>
Sent: Mon, Jun 20, 2016 2:59 pm
Subject: [FCC Complaints] Re: WFOY, St. Augustine, Florida -- Hate Speech Against 49 Gays Killed in Orlando

##- Please type your reply above this line -##
This ticket (#1041872) has been updated.
FCC Consumer Complaints (FCC Complaints)
Jun 20, 2:59 PM EDT 
Hi Ed
Your complaint provides valuable information and is shared among FCC bureaus and offices to spot trends and practices that warrant investigation and enforcement action. If the FCC needs more information about your complaint, we will contact you directly.
Each year, the Enforcement Bureau takes hundreds of actions on behalf of consumers that result in tens of millions of dollars in penalties. These actions encourage companies and individuals to abide by the law and reduce future misconduct.
Thank you for your help in furthering the FCC’s mission on behalf of consumers.
Easlavin
Jun 17, 11:14 AM EDT 
WFOY AM & FM, St. Augustine, Florida:
1. Violates FCC decency rules: On Monday morning, June 13, 2016, at or about 8:30 AM, twice-daily caller Martin "Marty" Miller, President of the Greater St. Augustine Republican Club, stated to radio host Kerry McCarthy that the 49 Gay people murdered at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando June 12, 2016 "got what they deserved." Station owner KRIS PHILLIPS has not responded to my e-mail messages. Broadcaster Kerry McCarthy has not responded to a Facebook message requesting that she call me. Please investigate. 
2. May violate FCC payola rules: WFOY does not disclose to its listeners that air time is purchased by political consultants and candidates, including the Kerry McCarthy show and Mike Davis and Troy Blevins show. While there is a disclaimer that their views may not be those of the station owner, KRIS PHILLIPS, listeners are apparently never been told that the programs are pay-to-play or bartered. McCarthy and Davis are past political candidates. McCarthy is hired as a political adviser or lobbyist by candidates and others. 
3. Often goes off the air for lengthy periods of time, twenty minutes to one hour. Is this being reported to FCC?
Please note: In 2008, then-candidate Ms. Judith Seraphin and I complained to FCC because we were defamed by one of the station's pay-to-play or barter broadcasters, who used three of FCC's seven prohibited words in lambasting us. Then and now, this radio station:
A. Failed to tape record its call-in programs.
B. Failed to provide a seven-second delay for its call-in programs.
Please investigate.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: kris <kris@1240news.com>
Sent: Mon, Jun 13, 2016 12:44 pm
Subject: Re: Request No. 2016-255: WFOY broadcasts anti-Gay hate speech by Greater St. Augustine Republican Club Chair Martin Miller
Dear Ms. Phillips:
1. Mr. Martin Miller, President of "The Republican Club of Greater St. Augustine," is a frequent caller on WFOY radio. 
2. Please preserve, and provide me with a tape recording of, Mr. Martin Miller's telephone call to the Kerry McCarthy Show this morning (June 13, 2016) re: 50 Gays murdered at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando June 12, 2016 "getting what they deserved."
3. Mr. Miller calls WFOY twice per day -- every morning and every evening. 
4. On a station that spends much of the day on hate, his hate calls stand out as over the top.
5. Please preserve all tapes of Mr. Miller's calls pendente lite.
6. What steps do you plan to take about anti-GLBT, anti-Semitism, anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim and anti-African-American hate speech on your station on a daily basis?
7. The ancient equitable maxim is, "silence gives consent," or in the 1980s slogan of ACT-UP: "Silence = Death."
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: kris <kris@1240news.com>
Sent: Tue, Jun 14, 2016 5:32 pm
Subject: Re: Request No. 2016-255: WFOY broadcasts anti-Gay hate speech by Greater St. Augustine Republican Club Chair Martin Miller

Dear Ms. Phillips:
1. Your lack of response to my June 13, 2015 e-mail (below) is, at best, inculpatory -- it is an admission by silence and adoptive admission.  
2. As the recipient of paid advertisements from our local governments, WFOY a government contractor.  F.S. 119.  Please provide the tape recording.  
3. WFOY has become known as "Hate Radio."
4. As an FCC licensee, you have a duty not to foment hate.  
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
904-377-4998


-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: kris <kris@1240news.com>
Sent: Mon, Jun 13, 2016 12:44 pm
Subject: Re: Request No. 2016-255: WFOY broadcasts anti-Gay hate speech by Greater St. Augustine Republican Club Chair Martin Miller

Dear Ms. Phillips:
1. Mr. Martin Miller, President of "The Republican Club of Greater St. Augustine," is a frequent caller on WFOY radio.  
2. Please preserve, and provide me with a tape recording of, Mr. Martin Miller's telephone call to the Kerry McCarthy Show this morning (June 13, 2016) re: 50 Gays murdered at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando June 12, 2016 "getting what they deserved."3. Mr. Miller calls WFOY twice per day -- every morning and every evening.  
4. On a station that spends much of the day on hate, his hate calls stand out as over the top.
5. Please preserve all tapes of Mr. Miller's calls pendente lite.
6. What steps do you plan to take about anti-GLBT, anti-Semitism, anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim and anti-African-American hate speech on your station on a daily basis?
7. The ancient equitable maxim is, "silence gives consent," or in the 1980s slogan of ACT-UP: "Silence = Death."
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998



Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)