Beginning My Blog

First, I'd like to thank Graelyn Brashear for inviting me to blog on the Barnegat Patch. I've never done this before (other than LTE's), but I do look forward to making some interesting, informative and worthwhile contributions to this website. I must say, I didn't intend to have my first blog be a response to one of the readers of my last Letter to the Editor about the Township Committee and their self-likeness to the Masters of the Universe, but I couldn't fit it in the Comment section, so here goes, and let the sparks fly.

To F.R....thank you so much. I had a feeling that you would leave a comment on my letter to the Barnegat Patch Editor regarding the delayed introduction of the budget and the Barnegat Township Committee using their position on the dais as a “bully pulpit.”

Oops….did I say F.R.? I really meant E.T., and I don’t mean that cute little extraterrestrial.  Oops again...sorry, I really meant to say Eric Thomas, a non-existent voter and taxpayer in Barnegat. Come now, how cowardly are you that you can’t use your real name? Just so you know, I will be blogging on this website very shortly, and to do so I had to provide my name, address, phone and photo. I don’t think you would qualify to be able to blog on this great website, because I doubt very much that you will provide that information.  After all, you don’t really exist.

Freedom of speech is a most valued right and one not to be stifled or controlled. I didn’t see anyone stifling all those Republican candidates running for President this past Memorial Day Weekend – all those Memorial Day events on Saturday, Sunday and Monday where they campaigned throughout the country – even Sarah Palin hopping onto a motorcycle and making a ridiculous entrance into Washington for the all the media to capture. 

Our mayor and committee, on the other hand, hold a position of trust and they should behave appropriately and professionally in accordance with that trust as they perform their duties – and as such not use that position as a “bully pulpit” by singling out anyone from that dais. They campaigned and asked to be there to represent the entire township, and because of that, the entire township has a right to question and address the Committee’s actions.

I am proud to have exercised my right to freedom of speech at Pet Day, which was a public event, held on the public’s property, much like Community Day and Pirates Day. You certainly have a right to disagree with me, just as I have a right to all of my “inalienable” rights.

Mr. Thomas, I will also add that I will not engage in any further responses to your diatribes, since I will not subject myself, nor give credence to your nasty, vindictive and “name calling” rants, as anyone knows who has read your ET tirades on the various blogs in town (including ET of Barnegat, Downtown Barnegat, etc.) – so respond all you like. I will not.