Nazareth Circles the Wagons

Lance Colondo with his favorite blogger
Note: This is obviously my spoof.

Last time I visited Nazareth's thin-skinned Borough Council, nearly two years ago, I brought cupcakes. They were tossed in the garbage. Things were even worse last night when I decided to mosey over and chime in on theft charges filed against Mayor Carl Strye for skimming at the Vigilance Hose. Before the night was over, I had been called venomous, a cancer, a disbarred lawyer with no credibility, a landless peasant and a variety of other insults I'm unable to recall at the moment. It was chaos, mayhem and misery. My work was done. I had called on each and every one of them to resign. Unable to argue facts, these petty tyrants descended into name-calling.

When I arrived at Council, what caught my attention was how jocular they all were. Not a care in the world despite serious criminal charges of theft against the Mayor. It was still business as usual for the good ol' boys.

I also noticed that the room was packed with what appeared to be about 20 residents. I assumed that several of them would demand the Mayor's resignation for an admitted theft.

I assumed wrong. One fellow wanted to know about street sweeping and driveways on Green Street. Another talked about flowers in the circle and the need to combat the bad press and tell the good news about Nazareth. "This town rises to the occasion," said a male cheerleader who completely ignores the reality is that the worst thing you can ever do is ignore bad government. Then there's Becky Butz, who was in a tizzy last year over mailers by the Nazareth Borough Police union to raise money for scholarships. She had nothing to say about criminal charges against the boss of that police department. She instead spoke about plants until we were all ready to wither away.

They were all ignoring the elephant in the room.

A culture of corruption in Nazareth.

I chose to confront it head on. I barely got three sentences out before Lance Colondo, the newbie on Council, began interrupting. Colondo, who looks as though he just stuck his fingers in an electric socket, was unwilling to entertain any criticism at all. If he could dig a hole and his spiked-hair head could fit inside, he would put it there. 

But facts are facts.

Nazareth Borough Council was warned two years ago that, unless it acted, it would be facing a shitload of civil rights lawsuits. Now it is.. Amazingly, some of them are from their own police officers. Nazareth has already paid one police officer off with $440,000, the largest sum I know of for a police officer in the Lehigh Valley claiming a civil rights violation.

Nazareth Borough Council was warned two years ago that, unless it did something, the DA would start sticking his nose into what's going on. Now he is. The result is theft charges against the Mayor for skimming at the Vig Hose. And who's to say it ends there? I certainly don't.

I point blank accused him of lying to my face when I asked him about the Grand Jury. The man who wanted to handle things "in house" couldn't even look me in the eye. But Colondo and soon others began shouting away.

"You're a disbarred lawyer!" shouted Colondo, reporting news that is now 31 years old.

"Stop the presses!" I retorted.

I also slammed Borough Council for unanimously voting last year to seek a $52,900 gaming grant from Monroe County for the American Legion.

That is a private social club, and this is of absolutely no benefit to the Borough, unless you like to gamble.

"What were you thinking?" I asked them.

Amazingly, Council member Larry Stoudt  voted for it even though he tends bar there and was actually placed on ARD not long ago for trying to use police resources to find out who is diming the clubs.

This is a clear conflict of interest, but Stoudt last night claimed he is an unpaid volunteer. That is horseshit because I know for a fact that he accepts tips there.

None of them seemed to understand that you don't spend public money on a private social club.

In the meantime, we have a police department going to hell in a handbag with a police chief, a police commissioner in charge of two full-time cops as well as one part-timer who does not back up other officers and likes to go on 70 mph chases.

When I was done exercising my right to speak, which I had to do over their shouting voices, they of course retaliated with epithets instead of addressing the facts.

The only one who came close to actually responding was Carl Fischl, who announced everyone is entitled to due process of law. That is certainly true, but I am not asking Council to hang the Mayor. I want him to resign, and so should they.  He admitted to his theft in grand jury testimony and has waived his preliminary hearing. Innocent Mayors don't do that. He's slinking around for an "in house," as he would put it, deal.

Allentown City Council, to its credit, has unanimously called on Fed Ed to resign, and he hasn't even been charged. He's entitled to due process, too, but City Council believes that the federal investigation is a dark cloud over Allentown that won't be lifted until he is gone.

The same situation is true in Nazareth.

Thee rest were just insulting, and would applaud each other's epithets. The audience was on their side, too.

How dare I speak poorly of the good ol' boys!

One of the biggest cheerleaders, pom poms and all, was downtown manager Stephanie Varone, who complained that I am a "cancer" preventing her from bringing five businesses to Nazareth by June 1.

Varone has 20,000 reasons to be a cheerleader. But she's wrong. Businesses will not come to a town run by a thief or a top-heavy police department that is failing miserably. . .

The highlight of the night, for me, was when John Samus wanted everyone who owns real estate in Nazareth to rise their hands. Most people did. I did not.

Then he asked me, "Do you own a home?"

I don't, and he was very pleased with himself.

"Does this mean I'm a second class citizen?" I asked.

"No."

"Are you saying that only the landed gentry may speak?"

"No."

"Then what is your point?"

His only point was to establish that, unlike the good ol' boys. I am poor. I'm part of the riff raff and need not be taken seriously.

I am under the impression that every citizen has equal rights, regardless whether he owns real estate and pays property taxes.  I know my vote counts as much as a millionaire's.  That means something comes election time. These people need to be removed from the offices in which they've become far too entrenched.

I will work very hard next year to ridding the borough of these weeds.