OBSERVER OPINIONS by Slager (with commentary by commonsense)

Just call it a momentary lapse of reason.

First you ruin Batman, now Pink Floyd.

Last week the pressure of keeping the Observer going finally got to me. I had begun to buckle under the financial strain of keeping two newspapers afloat during the worse economy since the Great Depression.

I’ll bet at .75 for 8 pages, the economy had no impact. 

On top of that I’ve had to shell out legal fees to fight a ridiculous lawsuit that I believe was designed solely to drain my financial resources.

What happened to I’ll never give up?  I’ll take on anyone.  Oh you’re finally starting to realize it’s not as easy as that.  Court is expensive.  So is divorce court.

If that wasn’t enough, the hate bloggers had begun writing shameless things about my wife and children for the entire world to see.

I don’t remember reading anything about the children.

But what began to finally push me over the edge was the apathy and fear many local residents had displayed regarding the upcoming election. Only three candidates had stepped forward, each apparently sharing the same political philosophy and backing.

Based on YOUR opinion.  And probably the fact they don’t believe in the current BOS.  So that automatically makes them bad.

From this perspective, Wareham wasn’t being given much choice, and that was very disheartening for me, especially because it occurred primarily through intimidation.

Which one of those candidates were intimidating people? Another fabricated notion!

I’ve never wanted the Observer to be just another community newspaper. I always hoped we could serve as a catalyst for positive change. Knowledge really is power. An informed public is a powerful one, but power only matters if it is used to make things better for everyone.

Although preying on the elderly and the un-educated proved to be more of an easier route for The Wareham Observer to report the “truth.”  Because Slager’s “version of the truth sells papers.”

I had begun to doubt the success of that dream. The Observer may have succeeded in bringing the truth to its readers, but if our readers weren’t inspired to act on that truth, then what difference had we made?

Change “may have succeeded” to “initially tried to bring”, then decided to go with lies, half-truths, and opinion.

Apparently more than I realized. Three new candidates stepped forward on Friday to take out nomination papers - Cape Verdean businessman Walter Cruz, and Onset residents Christopher Gay and Richard Hagopian. Former Observer columnist Pat MacLeod had taken papers out earlier last week but decided the next day not to run.

You pompass, ego-centric ass!  Your head is so fucking big that your actually think it was YOU that inspired them to run.  God forbid they have a mind or passion of their own.

Now there are a total of six candidates vying for the soon-to-be-vacant spot left by Jim Potter. Wareham has a choice.  I do not know much about the three new candidates.

Once again, because you said they didn’t have a choice?  I don’t know any of the six candidates.  Tell me, which one is on the democratic town committee with Bruce, Brenda, and The Donahues?

Onset certainly deserves the kind of representation it received during Potter’s term on the board. It would also be wonderful if the Cape Verdean community had a voice at the table.

Yes, awesome chairman.  He kept things in order.  I mean, did what he was told. 

Perhaps I shouldn’t care so much about Wareham, but I do. The thought that good people chose not to run for fear of being smeared by the power elite was difficult for me to swallow. Scaring people away from participating in the political process is nothing less than tyranny.

If they were truly scared by that bullshit you just wrote, clearly they didn’t have the balls to be a politician anywhere in America.

But three local residents stood up to these shameless tactics, and by doing so they’ve restored my faith in this town. I don’t have a horse in this race. I just wanted everybody else to have one.

Maybe because they “stood up to these tactics” didn’t have so much to do with the “smearing,”  but maybe it was more that they had less or no history of controversy in comparison to the Maple Springs complainer you are eluding to.  You know, the one that advertises with you.  They one you would want to say nice things about so she'd continued to advertise. 

Last week I finally showed signs of strain. In an edition of the Observer Dossier, I questioned the wisdom of continuing this battle. I’ve put my heart and soul into the Observer. The pressure it’s put on me financially and emotionally has been considerable.

Now you know what its like for the people you spread lies about.  Now you know what its like for the people that were steamrolled by the Selectmen for no good reason.  You made your bed, now you have to lie in it.

Things will be particularly difficult over the next few weeks. I can’t get into too many details, but there will finally be a hearing on the Tommy Joyce lawsuit in March. His attorney has done everything imaginable to stretch out these proceedings. We’ve filed a special motion to dismiss under Massachusetts’s Anti-SLAPP law.  According to Wikipedia,…..

Wait a minute!  This makes perfect sense now!  You’re going to cite from a source that is “user created.”  An Encyclopedia that anyone can contribute information to at any time, factual or not.  They don’t check facts.  Me, you, everyone can add what we want on any subject we want.  This explains your whole “news reporting.”  This is why the library is dead.  Because people like you think that if it’s on the Internet, it must be true.

A "SLAPP" lawsuit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) is "intended to intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition. Winning the lawsuit is not necessarily the intent of the person filing the SLAPP. The plaintiff’s goals are accomplished if the defendant succumbs to fear, intimidation, mounting legal costs or simple exhaustion and abandons the criticism. A SLAPP may also intimidate others from participating in the debate."

Yeah, the suit couldn’t possibly be based on the facts that you lied and slandered the Chief of Police.  No way!  Now everyone remember the term SLAPP for the next time Bobby threatens to sue you.

Such lawsuits are illegal in Massachusetts. If a judge rules in our favor, Joyce will be required by law to reimburse us for all our legal expenses and court costs. We remain confident that we will prevail.

Didn’t it seem so easy in the beginning?  Court’s a bitch!  If you knew anything about it before you started your crap, you probably would have avoided it.  Now you’re getting the hard lesson.

But getting this far has been brutal. I do believe the intention of this lawsuit was to immediately silence our criticism of Chief Joyce and, ultimately, to put us out of business.

Because my lawyer said I should stick by that phrase.  It relates to the wording of the SLAPP statute verbatim.  I do recall your initial claim of why the lawsuit was filed was because it was the dying wish of Mrs. Pillsbury.  Changed your tune already?

Although his lawsuit has not intimidated us into silence, the next few weeks will present the most difficult challenge we have ever faced.

I’m not a lawyer, maybe flox can help me out, but aren’t you supposed to be intimidated and pressured to be silenced in order for the SLAPP statute to apply to you?  You just claimed you are not.

Our attorney must be paid in full prior to the hearing. In this economy, even a few thousand extra dollars are hard to come by.

Welcome to the real world dip shit!  You must have tried James Sokoloff first because he doesn’t get paid unless you win.  Then he explained the difference between a personal injury attorney and a defense attorney, and now you’re fucked.

We will manage somehow. We always do.

A thinly veiled attempt to solicit money for your legal fees.  I can’t even see your brain-dead supporters wanting to even touch that one.

My wife lights a candle at church every Sunday. If God’s not pulling for that woman, he’s not pulling for anyone. She is truly a saint.

Then she looks back at the pew, sees that you’re still sitting there, and realizes her prayers have yet to be answered.

Last week I finally stood at the precipice and looked down. I saw the distance remaining between each ledge. For a few moments that distance seems too far away.

One of the last acts of a desperate man.  A wise man once told me to be leery of those that hide behind the Constitution or the flag or religion.  You’re one flag away from hitting the trifecta!

But after learning that Wareham doesn’t completely belong to the power elite just yet, I took a few steps back, dusted myself off, and hit the ground running.  That’s the only way to fly.

You are NOT a martyr Slager!  Only in your head.  You created this power-elite bullshit.  If anyone is wielding their power out of control, it’s the current BOS.  I claim no allegiance to either, but I was certainly better off with those deemed the “power elite” than I am with the current morons.