Todd Paris, Staff Writer and Salisbury Attorney
♦ I’ve been quiet for a few days reveling in the sense of satisfaction that the even the Salisbury Post has tried their hand at the truth about some of the issues that RFP has been championing for the past four years about the crime and poverty in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina. The Post’s “Editorial: Salisbury Faces Facts” on July 26th 2016 (which might be mistaken for one RFP’s) concludes, “People who insist we talk only about positives hold the city back from making needed improvements.”
The RFP has often been accused of being the “bearded crank with the signboard” who marches back and forth at the city gates, proclaiming “The end is near.” Since these public admissions, I find myself being halted repeatedly by citizens who say, “Wow, everything you and Mensing were saying turned out to be true!” Indeed!
Revelations disclosed in the print media include: city residential vacancies having gone from 9 percent to 14.5 percent, a poverty rate among families with children that rose from 19.5 percent to 35 percent since 2000, and median family incomes adjusted for inflation that fallen by almost 27 percent since 2000. Hey Marge, ready to call the realtor?
Local elected politicians seem disturbed by these inconvenient truths, including but not limited to our newly elected Rowan County Commission Chairman Greg Edds, who apparently “popped the cork” on his Facebook page soon after this information was published. That this information should come from a source so highly influenced and supportive of Salisbury’s wealthy ruling cabal is all the more telling.
Edds says, “The reality and depth of our fall is hard to accept and painful to admit.” “Those that actively work against progress then criticize the results are a cancer on the community and need to be labeled as such.” A copy of this FaceBook Post is here for your edification and study.
Here’s your “tumor”, Greg. I have been associated with Greg Edds since 2014. I personally fought against his election in 2014, and can tell you that based upon personal experience, that the English language lacks sufficient negative aadjectives to express my true lack of regard for Chairman Edds. If I asked Chairman Edds for directions to Taco Bell, I would fully expect to be dining on KFC at dinner.
However, wondering if Chairman Edds is disturbed by the truth leaking out, even in “their” local paper, RFP has decided to provide the attached form for “aggrieved” elected officials and their highly paid bureaucratic shills to submit so as to assuage their hurt feelings. These folks know who they are.
Rowan Free Press Complaint Report
The Rowan Free Press, really cares about your feelings and wishes to know exactly how we have hurt them. In order to speed this along we ask that you to check off the following information:
Date and Title of Article ________________________________________
The article has: (Check one of the following)
( ) Prevented me from performing an illegal act (like giving away government land to an anonymous LLC for free.)
( ) Exposed that I as an elected official have done something stupid in the past or am planning something stupid in the future. (like Fibrant or the “Option A” county-wide school busing of over 5K elementary school students.)
( ) Exposed an inconvenient truth that we were trying to keep hidden. (Like Fibrant is not turning “a modest profit,” but is in fact losing $10,000 per day.)
( ) Published true crime stories that have “slipped past” the local media and allowed the public to know how bad things are. “Bum Rips Cellphone Off a Teen then Stomps Him”
( ) Exposed embarrassing crime and educational statistics that we would as soon keep quiet.
( ) Interfered with the Salisbury’s wealthy ruling cabal’s plans to benefit Salisbury at the expense of the rest of the county.
( ) Pointed out that quasi-governmental units like RowanWorks and DSI are failing miserably. “Salisbury’s Slide the City Cancelled!”
( ) Forced my bud Rory Collins into “early retirement.”
( ) Finally forced the local print media to admit how bad things are in this town.
( ) Prevented me from ruling over Rowan as regent and ruler and crumbling the will of other elected officials by frequent lunches.
( ) Exposed future public works projects for the expensive and useless boondoggles they are.
( ) By making it hard for us to waste public money on public works projects that are stupid and serve no real public purpose.
( ) Exposed that our expensive BoE computer give-away has failed miserably and that our School Superintendent is a colossal failure.
( ) Prevented the busing of over 5,000 rural elementary school kids in towards Salisbury, which would have surely saved “our fair city.”
( ) Other _____________________________________________________________
Please note that while we care, we do not care like a “Care-bear” and may use this information to torment you into becoming an honest public servant and furthermore, that our fondest wish is that when a commission, council or board of elected officials meet and have bad news that they would rather the public not know, that someone will say, “What if RFP finds out.”
_____________________________________________
Name and date
Greg Edds, Before He Became the Face of Negativity Since His 1,000 Hours of Economic Development Study.
