By:  John R. McCommas

Over at the Willimantic Chronicle we got a Democrat primary going on for state rep. You better put on your gas mask because this story stinks to high heaven.

It’s an open seat. You might remember this case

Sorry that’s the only news story I have found on the web. White got a sweetheart deal but he did plead guilty. He got no jail time and accelerated rehabilitation.

Now he’s back and wants to represent us in the state legislature.

White is free to seek elective office — I suppose — but in the news/bio story of his candidacy the editor did not mention his conviction nor that he was elected to High Sheriff.

White has been elected prior and since to Windham Selectmen and the Finance Board as well as the Charter Review Commission but his election to Windham County Sheriff

– NEVER HAPPENED!

“That’s something that makes me go hummmmmmmm!!!”

Has White jumped into Dr Who’s time machine and popped back to the past stop his former self from taking the money

– or do we have plain old fashioned bias here?

I am practically positive the young man that wrote the article put the affair in there. He is an honest guy by all indications. I am near certain it’s the editor that took out that part. I certainly will ask the next time I see either of them.

White lost his job of course because he embarrassed himself so much the county government was abolished by voters in the 2000 election. That’s far worse than losing an election. Don’t you think? His term ended a lot sooner than he thought it would end.

Don’t you think its journalistic malpractice not to mention this whole affair? Don’t younger voters and people new to the area deserve to know about White’s past? His Democrat opponent chose not to bring it up. I don’t know why.

When two of our Republicans ran the for town office the public was certainly informed by the Chronicle about their legal troubles. One of them was arrested right before the election and they made it front page news. He of course lost as a result.

The primary is Tuesday. We all know elephants have a long memory but what about a donkey?

PRE has sent each of the residents of Canterbury a letter pleading their case.  We at BoycottNorwichBULLetin do not think that you’ll be seeing a copy of their letter in the Norwich BULLetin publication so we will share it with our readers.  We decided to share the letter included in this blog.

We think that Brian Sear and Lee Wrigley administration should be added to the Hall of Shame for the expense and this lawsuit that he has caused to the taxpayers of Canterbury.

We here at the boycottNorwichBulletin site must apologise to our readers for not keeping up with the false and biased reporting and editorials of the Norwich Bulletin.  However, we will try to keep up to date in the near future.

We’ve had numerous e-mails  requesting that we update our site and in all honesty we need writers from each of the towns that the Norwich Bulletin covers.  If we don’t have the offers, then we can only cover a small area and our readers will become bored.

The other day we visited a local convenience store and were shocked when we noticed that the Norwich Bulletin was as thin as a cheap slice of bologna.  The content was even worse.  It seems that they are taking advantage of “cub” reporters because they possibly don’t have the money to pay for  more experienced reporters. 

We’ve also had reports of the editors deleting comments on their message board all the while keeping other insulting comments such as here:    The Norwich Bulletin message board states to: 

1. Keep it Clean
2. Stay on topic.
3. Be honest and accurate.
4. No personal attacks. Don’t bash anyone based on their race, creed, heritage, or orientation.
5. Don’t say anything here you wouldn’t say in front of your mother at the dinner table.
6. Use the ‘Report Abuse’ button when you spot a rule violation. (Don’t report comments just because you disagree.)

Yet if you visit the above link, you’ll see that the Norwich Bulletin allows its special posters to call Canterbury residents lunkheads .  (Breaking rule #4) In case anyone doesn’t know, a Lunkhead is a stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone’s intelligence and or a dull or stupid person; blockhead.  According to their poster, Canterbury has some “real” stupid people.

So there you have it, a failing newspaper with cub reporters who are trying to dictate what they think that their readership should hear.  We suggest that you cancel your subscriptions because they are only reporting what they think that you should read.

Keep checking this forum. because I think that they just lit a new fire under our butts. 

In another biased “Our View” the liberal editors go on and on about the recent IndyMack Bank collapse and the poor housing market as their lame attempt to chastise republican Senator Phil Gramm for his “whining”  comment which has been taken out of context by the liberal elitist media.  They were taken out of context to hurt John McCain and to build up the media darling Barack Hussein Obama.  Yet the Bulletin editors failed to mention that Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer and his big mouth is partially to blame for the IndyMac collapse, are we surprised that they will go to any lengths to protect their precious fellow liberals? 

The well known camera whore Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, released a letter to the press stating that IndyMac was facing failure which in turn caused a panic among depositors which led to money being withdrawn, around 1.3 billion in an 11 day time span.  While the bank may have had it’s share of problems, Chuck Schumer made sure that he would be the one to put the nail in it’s coffin.   Grant you that the bank are not at all innocents in this matter because they were the ones handing out home loans to deadbeat people such as here, and  here, who never should have been afforded a loan.  The editors at the Norwich Bulletin also fail to let the readers know that most of the people in foreclosure bought homes beyond their means, but it sounds so much better for the liberal elites to blame the economy and the current administration.

It comes as no great surprise that most on the Left and their children are in therapy and prescriptions to antidepressants are on the rise, we think part of the blame has to go to this type of the sky is falling, the  doom and gloom scare tactics and propaganda all too often used by the media.  Take for instance the Norwich Bulletin Editors recent “Our View” Population growing at a rapid pace”. 

The major facts that the editors don’t tell you is the population is growing because of Immigration, likewise Illegal Immigration, something the hypocritical Norwich Bulletin seems to gloss over as a positive in their numerous articles about “Immigration“.   (Notice that the politically correct liberals at the Norwich Bulletin never mention “Illegal Immigration” and the problems it causes to our economy.

The Census Bureau estimate of the overall U.S. population and the foreign-born population for 2006 and our estimate of the share of U.S. births attributable to immigrant mothers indicate that the share of population increase attributable to immigrants since 2000 has averaged about 75 percent of the annual population increase of about three million people

The Bulletin editors “Claim” that hunger is because of the slumping economy, yet they fail to mention the fact that there is and will be a food shortage because we continue to use food based ethanol to power our vehicles.  However, we have our own oil reserves to power our country for well over 100 years.  More than enough time to develop alternative sources that do not require taking food from the supply chain.   We can all thank the whining enviromentalists at their failed attempt to eliminate oil. 

The “Our View” Editors are crying about the doom and gloom of droughts but there’s not a mention about the severe floods that wiped out crops which in turn added to the food supply shortage and high food prices.  News flash:  Droughts, Floods, Hurricanes, Cooling, Warming, Record Highs and Record Lows, are part of a normal weather patterns, they always have been and always will be.  

We at BoycottNorwichBulletin think that it’s time for you to spare us of your constant leftist fear mongering of global warming, your doom and gloom, misfortune, sorrow, pity and despair. 

The Norwich BULLetin did two recent articles in the same day and by two different reporters about the   Regional Dog pound in Killingly.  One sounded like a glowing report about  Brian Sear deciding to go Regional :

First Selectman Brian Sear said the benefits of switching services, beyond the more than $6,000 in savings to the town, include the larger staff of five employees and a host of volunteers, providing more service to the town and more contact and care to animals.  Sear said the service provides round-the-clock emergency response, but keeps regular business hours for calls about nuisance animals. He said the switch had been considered for some time.  “My feeling is overall it’s a better situation for the town,” he said.

and the other article was about how the Regional Dog Pound is at its maxium capacity. (please read the comments on the page with the article. )    I’d like to know why the BULLetin felt the need to have two different reporters cover this story.  This is just more of the typical Biased spin of the Norwich Bulletin. 

“They’re at maximum capacity now,” Killingly Assistant Town Manager Kim Darigan-Newman said. “And we want to play a role in helping, both with the facility itself and with adoptions.”   the existing housing crisis is making available space even tighter.

The readers can see a more indepth blog regarding the dishonesty of the Canterbury Brian Sear administration by clicking here: 

We here at BoycottNorwichBulletin.com are pleased with the recent Supreme court ruling in favor of our 2nd Amendment rights to protect our right to own a gun.  This is a huge win, but unfortunately the ruling was 5-4 and it easily could have gone the other way.  Had it not been for 1 Supreme Court Justice, our right to self-defense could have been stripped from us forever.   The  fact that 4 United States Supreme Court Justices chose to vote against the Constitution is chilling to the very core.

Now, we’ll watch the crime rate fall in DC and other murder capitals where citizens rights to own a gun has been stripped from them by liberal democrats.

While this should have been a major news story, our local biased Norwich Bulletin and the liberals who run it had a short blurb by the AP.  Yet these same liberals went on and on about protecting the 1st amendment right of one Canterbury citizen.  Does the “editorial staff  at the Norwich Bulletin” think that only certain parts of the constitution should be protected?   What say you Hackett, Lind and Konrad?  

This is the second letter I had sent into the Norwich Bulletin and they failed to publish. It seems very convenient for the liberals who run the place to ignore Letter to the Editor mail in time……the paper is useless and even more biased than ever. Please remember that many others letters against this budget went ignored by them as well.

This letter went out to the BULLetin on Friday morning.

Reject Canterbury’s High Budget Hike

Dear Editor,

On Tuesday, June 24^th, the residents of Canterbury will again go to the polls to decide their fate and to decide how much money should remain in their wallets.

In tough economic times this second budget is no better than the first one we voted down, it’s far from a responsible budget, actually, it is filled with mainly wishes and wants rather than needs.

The newly run administration led by 1^st Selectman Brian Sear have been busy lately, they are giving raises to the library and extending hours, they have hired back the old ZEO and increased the salary by $20,000 and this is right after we voted the last budget down.

4 new teachers at a pay of $70,000 each for less than a possible 8-10 new students is just irresponsible, and they want us taxpayers to fund after school sports coaches at $10,000 even though all children are not chosen or allowed to participate. What ever happened to volunteers?

With the possibility of fuel raising to over $6.00 per gallon and in turn the food prices rising, It’s most important for the residents of Canterbury to go to the polls and send a loud and clear message that now is not the time to be frivolously spending our money but instead to be cutting out the fat.

On June 24^th, I urge all Canterbury residents to VOTE NO to every question on the ballot.

Donna Avila

Canterbury, CT

Today 6/23/08 I get this reply:

Ms. Avila-

Why is the biased Norwich Bulletin failing to report on the Chris Dodd scandal?  About a month ago the elitist liberal editorial board was singing praise for Chris and his Mortgage Bail Out Plan, but not a mention about the hypocrisy of their hero Chris Dodd and his close ties with Countrywide mortgage, you know like “Big Oil”, the lefts favorite punching bag.   

In 2003 Chris Dodd received a $506,000 refinance loan for his Washington DC residence and a $275,000 refinance loan on his East Haddem, CT residence.  All for a 4.25 and a 4.50 percent fixed interest rates.  This will save Chris around $75,000 over the course of the loans.  It’s a great deal that everyone should have been afforded, but of course that’s not the case.  One must be a “Friend of Angelo” , that would be the CEO of Counrtywide Mortgage, Angelo Mozilo.   

So Mr. Conrad, Ms. Lind and Mr. Hackett, is that egg we see on your faces?  Will we see a new in depth editorial on how great it is to use taxpayer money to bail out people who should have never taken out on a mortgage to begin with, or will we see an “editorial” about how typical Washington insiders like Dodd and Obama’s buddy Johnson take advantage of their power and exploit the taxpayers of this Country? 

Why they would  jeer  Rhode Island for not opening Beach Pond this year is beyond us here at boycottnorwichbulletin.com.    The Norwich BULLetin and its  ”Our View” staff should be ashamed of themselves. 

The Democratic-dominated Rhode Island is facing a severe budget crisis near $434 Million that Gov. Don Carcieri is trying to fix.  The Norwich BULLetin failed to mention the costs to open Beach Pond and made themselves look like fools for Jeering the state of Rhode Island for its attempt to save money.

DEM spokeswoman Gail Mastrati said $34,500 from state bond funds was allocated last year to restore vegetation where heavy recreational use has led to erosion. The plants will also filter runoff from Route 165 before it enters the pond.

The dilapidated building had been vandalized and was a safety hazard.

“To invite or allow people to come and recreate, we should be able to provide them a safe and healthy environment,” said Jay Aron, a forestry supervisor for the Arcadia Management Area, which is 14,000 acres of mostly forested land that offers a variety of recreational uses.

“Beach Pond is a small part of our area,” Aron said, “but for three months from Memorial Day to Labor Day it takes 80 percent of our staff.”

Closing Beach Pond to swimming for the summer, Mastrati said, will save $95,660 in staffing costs.

 

The Norwich Bulletin is at it again with their hypocritical views about bullying at town meetings.   In essence, the Norwich Bulletin is saying that it’s wrong to go to town or selectman meetings and become upset or let any emotions show.  Yet  just a few weeks ago they cheered the Town of Canterbury’s lawsuit and the woman who initiated free speech.   They claim rudeness, intimidation,  name-calling and heckling is uncalled for but yet they praise free speech such as here  here  and here .  

We’re supposed to trust a newspaper who speaks out both sides of their mouths?  Wow, what kind of editorial staff members do they really employ down at that place?  JEERS to the Norwich Bulletin.

In a recent story about a Canterbury person donating ACLU lawsuit winnings to the Canterbury Town Library, the Norwich Enquirer once again shows their bias. The line they frequently use is this:

“When current First Selectman Brian Sear entered office, he reinstated public participation”

How do you read that quote? I believe the Bulletin would have you think that Mr. Dupont wouldn’t allow anyone from the public to speak at Board of Selectmen meetings.

Now for the truth:

Neil Dupont did not put public participation on the agenda of Canterbury Board of Selectmen meetings for a time after Ms. Kildea filed suit against the Town. As stated at the time, the Board of Selectmen needed to discuss this matter with the Town Attorney in order to draft guidelines by which public comment could be held in a manner as to protect both the privilege of comment and the Town. Once these guidelines were established, the comment periods were once again put on the Board of Selectmen agenda. This was long before Brian Sear entered the office of First Selectman. This reinstatement was reported by the Bulletin at the time it occurred.

A Canterbury citizen recently discussed this constant “error” with a Norwich Bulletin “editor” and reporter. Apparently they don’t like the guidelines established by the previous Board of Selectmen (while they have never been changed by Selectman Sear). This is the sort of opinionated reporting this site and the citizens of the areas the Norwich Bulletin are complaining about.

As citizens, we MUST demand that agencies such as the Norwich Bulletin report in an honest and unbiased manner.

A citizen from Canterbury wrote a message to the reporter who wrote this “article” demanding a correction to this frequent characterization of the facts. The following snippet is taken from part of the response of this “reporter”:

Citizen comments were allowed again at selectmen meetings last August after the ACLU filed the lawsuit. That was when Neil DuPont was still in office.
When Sear came in, he added to the comments DuPont allowed and then added another participation forum. DuPont’s reinstatement, if you want to call it that, was hardly participation, not with 3 minute limits and the BOS having discretion what to respond to.

Dustin Racioppi
Norwich Bulletin
Reporter
860.XXX.XXXX
dracioppi@norwichbulletin.com

More Global Warming fear mongering coming from the Norwich Bulletin and those who are catering to the crowd. A theory or consensus does not make it a fact. See the open letter to the “Sky Is Falling Chicken Littles”. Another place to start would be at ICECAP because you sure won’t be taught about the other consensus in your local public school or reading about it in liberal media.

The pendulum is beginning to sway in a different direction now that more and more evidence is mounting to show cyclical weather patterns are the most likely cause of the latest scam bought into by the Liberal press. The newest patterns are that we are going to start a 10 year cooling trend. What will Mr. Gore and his lemmings have to say then?

It seems sort of ironic that the president and publisher of the Norwich Bulletin comes out tooting their horn only days after this site was introduced.  We feel that if one repeats themselves often enough, maybe in their own mind they’ll even believe it.   If they throw out enough propaganda, the readership will believe it too. 

We here at www.boycottnorwichbulletin.com  would like to think of ourselves as not being so easily fooled by the honking of the Norwich Bulletin horn.   

Now that the residents of local towns and cities are voting down the inflated budgets,  has the Norwich Bulletin decided that just maybe their readers are ignoring their insulting cheers and jeers?  

In our opinion, fiscal responsibility should always be top priority and not just at times when we’re feeling the pinch.  If we were all more fiscally responsible in our budgets, then we wouldn’t be struggling to make ends meet when the economy isn’t going as well as expected.  It’s a lesson most of us were taught at a very young age, it’s called  ”Saving For A Rainy Day”.    Evidently, the editors of the Bulletin while jeering those who decide to be fiscally responsible were never taught that simple lesson.

 Jeers to the Norwich Bulletin.

So the Norwich Bulletin promotes residents speaking up against utility rate hikes, but how do they feel about the citizens that speak out against the high municipal and school budgets?  Would they get a cheers or a jeers?   A potential 4 mill increase for the Putnam taxpayers whom a handful of residents were in favor of get a cheers and Kelly Middle School holding off spending on 40 million in renovations until the economy improves constitute a Jeers.  More double speak from the editors of this newspaper?, or is one increase over another justified? 

In our view and at this time with rising costs surrounding us at all angles, all taxpayers should be speaking out on any additional and unnecessary spending and that includes increases in municipal and school budgets.  It’s time for all towns and cities to buckle down with the out of control spending. 

We at www.boycottnorwichbulletin.com received an e-mail from a Norwich Bulletin reporter who by the looks of his letter appears to be slightly angry with this new blog. We hope that the next time he makes a conscious effort not to send a letter when he seems to be so upset. We believe that we have answered all of his questions on the mission statement that’s titled “Why We Boycott the Norwich Bulletin”. We feel that any further correspondence would be unnecessary. (His cell phone number was removed from the original e-mail to protect his privacy)

The tone of the below e-mail shows us what obviously appears to be his apparent lack of objectivity , and thus, one of the main reasons for the existence of this blog in the first place.

If the reporter feels the need to do an article on the local resident web sites and blogs, then by all means include this one. Though, seeing how this reporter has already formed an opinion, we’re sure that it would be rather entertaining and unbiased.

I’m a reporter at the Bulletin and I’ve got two things for you boycotters.
First, I’m doing a story on resident-run websites and blogs this week. If you are
interested, please get back to me, I’d like to hear from you on why you run the site
and what good you think it gives the general public. Or any other thoughts. My
number’s below. It’s a cell phone.

Second, I see a whole lot of griping on this site and not a lot of fact. You’ve got
stories in Canterbury or anywhere else that you feel need to be brought to light?
Doesn’t hurt to try and track down a reporter. That’s me. I’ll leave it at that
until we talk, if we do.
Thanks.

Dustin Racioppi
Norwich Bulletin
Reporter
dracioppi@norwichbulletin.com

An opinion editor from another Gatehouse Media publication submitted a piece to the Norwich Bulletin titled 2 Views on the Rev. Wright

I read the article, twice. I only saw one view and it’s completely skewed to the left.  The author, Rick Holmes, simply glossed over the fact that many people watched more than snippets on the drive by media, and there is much to be questioned about this preacher from Chi-town. We watched as he dove into to his tirade at the NAACP dinner and as he danced and bopped on stage,  obviously enjoying his extra time in the lime light. One could question his motives for trying what appears to be undermining Obama’s drive to the Whitehouse.

The more ridiculous parts of this silly piece is the way it attempts to give the Reverend kudos for speaking with Bill Moyer’s. He should have just appeared on the “View”, it could hardly get anymore softball than Moyer’s.  There seems to be a pattern of forgetfulness, the trip to Libya for instance. Who was it he went with again, oh that’s right, Louis Farrakhan the country’s most famous black racist and anti-semite, this of course is not mentioned. Why this person feels the need to prop up this obviously twisted personality is beyond me, but it must also be asked why the editorial staff at this sorry excuse of a paper excepted the revisionist version of the Rev. Wright.

There is an old saying that fits this piece perfectly, “Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining”. 

Here’s some More Fluff by the same Opinion Editor.

Upon reading a recent letter to the editor stating that FOX news should get a spanking because of their coverage on the ever unpopular Rev. Wright, I had to snicker because the writer claims that he’s a Fox News fan and he watches it for about four hours per day.  Does he think that most  of us were born yesterday?