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A Letter to The Editor
of the Shawnee Sentinel
Here is
some material for Sentinel website. Cut and paste as you
like.
A Response to Mayor Jim ...from Julie Stout 10 Sep
2005
I disdain local politics, what people commonly understand
politics to be—the business of government. I could care less who
wins the elections except with respect to how it affects my quality
of life. That is how most people feel about political races, I
believe. We try to pick the “lesser of two evils” and hope for the
best.
On the issues, Jim Kalb does not do well. Over the past
decade of his service to Portsmouth, he has consistently come down
on the what I feel to be the wrong side of every major local issue.
He has supported business interests over the needs of the people
while failing to attract new jobs to Portsmouth. He has endorsed
spending money on every flight of fancy and piece of frippery from
autographs on the floodwall to murals on the sides of new sanitation
trucks too large to fit down Portsmouth’s alleys, all the while
insisting there is “no money” to maintain the sewers or cite
landlords for egregious violations of the health code. Let us not
forget the Marting’s Building. Mayor Jim Kalb continues to support
the purchase and renovation of an old, decrepit downtown department
store riddled with asbestos. When you listen to where Jim Kalb
stands on the issues, you can’t help but come to know a little bit
about Jim Kalb, the man.
Well, I have gotten to know Jim
Kalb, the man, and I don’t like him. He’s certainly not the worst
character we have in city government. At least he hasn’t come to a
meeting threatening to remove anyone else’s teeth. So, what is with
him? I don’t know. He’s not too bright. Certainly not the smartest
bear in the woods. People complain that Kalb doesn’t have an
“education,” and by that, I believe they are referring to his lack
of degreed credentials. I don’t care about that. The worst crooks
are often evil geniuses. That’s why they call them criminal
masterminds.
My husband has compared Kalb to President Tyler,
referring to him as “His Accidency.” Kalb is by no means the problem
with Portsmouth, nor is he the solution. I rather think he is one of
the symptoms. A lot of things in Portsmouth happen by accident. Like
a car crash.
You see it right before the impact, but are
powerless to stop it. Afterwards, people stand
around staring helplessly at the carnage and twisted metal. Call an
ambulance. Call a tow truck. Call Betty Montgomery’s
office.
There is no one behind the wheel of city government.
Who is running the day-to-day operations of the city? Not Jim Kalb.
If there is one thing that characterizes Kalb’s term as mayor, it is
his utter lack of professionalism, his incompetence in managing the
city or even the
mayor’s office, an unwillingness to roll up his
sleeves and get to work.
What does he do? Well, we know he
races dirt bikes. He rides on a float in the parade. This Labor Day
weekend, the public was treated to a spectacle of their Mayor giving
a City Councilman and his wife an “up yours” gesture from the golf
cart he rode in with his two assistants. A
man who does nothing
needs two secretaries. Mrs. Kalb walked three steps behind pushing a
shopping cart.
And Jim Kalb is up late into the night posting
on the internet forums
-Julie
Stout-
Editors Note: Following is a post from Moes'
News Forum by Julie Stout following the disgusting, indefensible
actions of Jim Kalb at the meeting of the Citizens For Reponsible
Government:
"Mayor Jim Kalb asks young mother
bizarre questions of a sexual nature”
Julie
Stout
Jim Kalb will
be lucky to get his job back at Kroger
Regarding
the CfRG meeting at Giovanni's last night,
1. There is a 15 minute rule
regarding the Q & A session for public officials. I assure you
that the only person this has been a problem with so far has been
Jim Kalb. The only person I anticipate it will ever be a problem
with is Jim Kalb.
2. It
was made very clear to me prior to Jim & Allison entering the
banquet room that their sole intent on attending this meeting was to
be disruptive to business. I told them, after expressing surprise at
their lack of shame that they would show their faces down there, "If
you go into that room, there is going to be trouble." Both Kalbs
responded with childish taunts, and Jim said, "Well, I'm going to
stay all night and ruin your whole meeting." Supposedly, he has a
tape recording of this entire conversation.
3. I started the clock on the 15-minute Q
& A when I sat down at the table. I got up to escort him out
after about a half an hour. I did not ask him to leave until after
several members of the group had walked out of the meeting and were
standing out in the parking lot saying that there was no point in
staying for the meeting since Jim Kalb had decided to turn yet
another one of our meetings into a personal campaign session for the
November election. I volunteered to act as Sergeant-at-Arms and ask
Jim to leave.
4. Upon
re-entering the banquet room, it appeared to me that some members
were continuing with the Q & A, which was fine. It was after the
questions were finished that I asked Jim to excuse himself. It is
true that Harold Daub asked him a "question" as I was throwing him
(Kalb) out, but the "question" was along the lines of, "Why are
you such an incompetent fool?"
5. Jim Kalb refused to leave the meeting
after repeated entreaties. The Chairman shook his hand, I believe he
thanked him for coming, explained that the 15-minute Q&A was
over.
6. Refusing to
leave after FIVE MINUTES of me repeating over and over again that it
was time for him to go... then he starts in on me being a bad mother
again.
7. I bounced the
Mayor and his wife out of the meeting like they were a couple of
drunks. Actually, I had successfully shoved Jim out the door,
Allison stood in front of the threshold and said, "You can't MAKE me
go!" like she wanted me to lay her out on the floor and drag her out
kicking and screaming by the hair. I ordered her to take a seat so
that the meeting could proceed as I escorted Jim out to the dining
room.
8. After about a
minute, Allison voluntarily left the meeting, preferring to stand
out in the dining room of Giovanni's trading insults with me for
about another half hour. I stood in front of the door and refused to
allow Jim re-entry.
9.
Jim insisted he would stand there in front of the door all night.
Finally, Allison got worn out and went across the street to hang out
on the sidewalk with Lee Scott. I guess they are best friends now.
10. Jim hung around for
maybe ANOTHER 15 minutes to trying to eavesdrop at the door in utter
denial of the reality that no one from the meeting was in the least
bit interested in coming out of the meeting to talk to him.
During this
time, he asked me bizarre questions of a sexual nature,
told me that the entire recall campaign had been organized because
someone was jealous they didn't get invited to his birthday party,
told me that he was going to hold his "own meeting at my clubhouse
in Mound Park and I'm going to invite everyone else can come except
the Free Press, how do you like that?", and then finally admitted
that after the November election, he will likely be back working at
Kroger.
Julie Stout
Editors Note: The above message was posted by Julie Stout on
Moe's News Forum following the Saturday night
meeting.
Letter
to the Editor
Published by the Shawnee Sentinel
On
September 1, 2005
The following letter
was collectively drafted by the residents of 25th Street,
Shawnee Road, and Grandview Avenue expressing their dissatisfaction
with their Fifth Ward representative, Mr. Howard Baughman, and the
current mayor, Mr. Jim Kalb, both of whom have ignored the sewer
backup problems of these taxpayers while wanting to spend millions
on “Golden Palaces” for city officials. The Portsmouth Daily
Times refused to publish their letter because Mr. Green said it
was “inflammatory” and “old news”. This is another example of
the Portsmouth Daily Times’ failure to remain “unbiased” in
their reporting. The
only real newspaper in the area, the Community Common, did
print the letter [Sunday, August 28, 2005].
To the
Editor:
In
several city council meetings, Mr. Howard Baughman has referred to
the loose plaster and mold in the Municipal Building and stated how
“unhealthy” it was for the city workers. He felt it should be an
“emergency” measure to spend millions of dollars to get them into a
new facility as soon as possible.
It is
too bad he does not have the same concern for the health of the
property owners in his [fifth] ward on Grandview Avenue,
25th Street, and Shawnee Road, who must live with the
prospect of human waste and other contaminants entering their homes
when heavy rains occur due to city sewer backup. These recurring sewer
backups have caused mold in our homes also. Many of the property
owners are elderly and on fixed incomes, and many are ill, yet Mr.
Baughman and Mayor Kalb wants us to pay additional tax dollars for
multimillion dollar facilities for city government
officials. Neither
he, nor mayor Kalb, offered any help in resolving the problem of
sewer backups into our homes. Therefore, we had no recourse but to
resort to legal action.
It is a
real shame that the health of the taxpayers in the Fifth
Ward is not as important to Mr. Baughman and Mayor
Kalb!!!!!!
(Alphabetically)
Beverly Allen
Carolyn Lewis
Mr.
& Mrs. Larry Boren
Angelo
Crapyou
Mr.
& Mrs. Larry Essman
Victoria Felts
Greg Gulker
Bob
& Priscilla Hunt
Kyle Bruce & Bonnie Johnson
James & Janet Lodwick
Mack
McQuinley
Letter to the
Editor
Published by the Shawnee Sentinel
www.portsmouthohio.info On
September 1, 2005
Letter to the Editor
The following letter was submitted by
Mr. James K. Wilson to the Portsmouth Daily Times in rebuttal to the
letter of the City Solicitor, Mr. David Kuhn, regarding the recall
process, which was published by the Portsmouth Daily Times
immediately after the recall petitions were taken out. The Daily
times refused to print Mr. Wilson’s letter as “unverifiable” according to
Mr. Green, the editor.
This clearly demonstrates the Daily Times “one-sided”
reporting of issues.
The Portsmouth Daily Times will only print the
official “City” line.
The Community Common did
publish the letter as written. Which newspaper should you
believe?????????????
Dear Editor,
In response to Mr. Kuhn’s letter of
July 9, 2005, I wholeheartedly agree that signing a recall petition
is not to be done frivolously.
However, by not signing the
petition:
1.
You will see your property taxes increase
to cover the more than $ 500,000 this Council wants to collect
yearly, for up to 25 years to do something about a city building,
but they haven’t yet decided what to
do.
2.
You will see more denial of taxpayers’
chance to vote before more catastrophic city expenditures are made,
such as the $ 2,000,000 “Martings
Deal”.
3.
You will see the taxpayers continuing to
pay thousands of dollars for legal work being “farmed out” to out of
town attorneys without any effort made to resolve the problems of
citizens, such as the residents of Grandview Avenue and
25th Street who are living threat of raw sewage entering
their homes.
4.
You will see this Council try to
discontinue your right to appear at council meetings and voice your
concerns about items that are not on their printed
agenda.
5.
You will see this Council again try to
impose a fine on you if you park anything in your own front yard for
any time, for any reason, even if you are trying to sell
it.
6.
You will see your rent increase when
rental property owners are forced to pass on the rent registration
fees this Council wants to enact.
If you do not want to see these kinds of
situations continue, then welcome the person carrying the
petition and sign it. Remember, when you sign a petition, you
do not remove anyone from office, but you place their name on the
November ballot to allow the voters to decide. THIS IS YOUR RIGHT.
DON’T GIVE IT UP.
James K. Wilson,
Sr.
Chairman, Citizens For
Responsible Government
Telephone
(740) 354-4793
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