Chalking It Up

[XLFD]

Someone at the Ludington Pitchfork, our interface on Facebook, posted a picture of our beautiful Cartier Park, but what it portrayed was not a beautiful part of it, it was an ugly slanderous shot at a local champion of government accountability and transparency:

As more of a cat person, I figured that whoever did this libel should have done a little more research or been a little more favorable to my past girlfriends, who may not all have been Greek goddesses, but they weren't canines.  Who could have done such a thing?

My first thought was someone who works for the city government.  On a couple of occasions in the recent past, I have used sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk around the city hall in order to alert folks to the corruption within.  As I currently am exposing their cheating on your taxes in order to take more from you and in order to balance their books for audits, and shining light on the Oakes Hoax among other things, city hall loyalists likely figure they have good reason to attack my name in this same manner but use wholly unacceptable language and untrue accusations. 

One should recall, just two months ago a letter written to the MCP acknowledged that disgraced city councilors in the process of being recalled were misleading a regular attendee at "Coffee with the Councilors" about one of the recallers, making her believe multiple false claims about someone who she calls the Artful Dodger (me).  None of them were claiming bestiality, however.

Having some sidewalk chalk of my own, I went over to city hall last night shortly after I read the defamatory walkway scribblings and made some writings of my own about a government out of sync with ethical conduct.  On the sidewalk in front of LPD, I wrote:  "Thief Jones:  Public Extortionist" celebrating his recent self-created policy change that allowed him to charge hundreds of dollars for body cam videos that had been released free over the last several years before he decided to cut the public off from looking at his officers break the law.

At the north entrance of city hall, I gave a nod to the opportunistic person who is the titular head of local government:  "Jeanne $. Hoax, Grifter Manager".  On the sidewalk leading to the east entrance I wrote a summation of:  "Corruption Central".  On the Ludington Pitchfork site I noted that I did this and that I was conducting an experiment to see which sidewalk scrawling would be dealt with first this morning (or however long it took).  I wrote to the acting city manager (Jackie Steckel) and the LPD chief last night to have the Cartier Park writing removed.

At 8:50 AM this morning, I went to Cartier Park and looked for the offensive graffiti about me, and found it on the circular path closest to the graveyard exits, Nothing had been done to erase the vulgar libel, but on my way I noticed that something had taken place with my words at city hall.  On my way back from the park, I took pictures shortly after 9 AM:

As you can see, somebody chalked a reply underneath my statement, somebody who left out a 'g' on the word 'according'.  Nothing too profound here, other than someone (most likely with the city) had sidewalk chalk already before the stores opened and put down this and the followin':

 

This was a mildly amusing reply and whoever wrote it, in my non-expert opinion, was not the same person who wrote out at Cartier Park or at the other entrance.  We're all happy that Chief Jones will finally get some days in kindergarten, maybe he will learn a lesson that it's not right to engage in public extortion by creating a new policy on his own.  

Lastly, we find that Jeanne $ Hoax did not wet her pants last night, which is quite an accomplishment for some people that are 75 years old and fraudulently getting paid big bucks by the citizens of Ludington (enough to afford the best in adult continence protection).  The chalk color is different, but whoever wrote this probably did the LPD add-on too because of the penmanship, writing style, and wit.  

It's rather impressive that they were able to respond to my sidewalk chalk scrawls at city hall so quickly after city hall employees arrived for their business day but took quite a while to remove the chalk down at the park from the pavement, finally getting it done around 11 AM.  

Seeing stuff like this happen is always annoying enough for someone dedicated to fighting corruption in local governments and bringing transparency and public accountability back, but it only indicates that they are past the stage of ignoring me and into the stage of laughing at me, which brings me closer to winning.  

[Freedom Seeker]

Shouldn't city hall have surveillance cameras to see who responded to your writing ?

Why after all these years all of a sudden? Seems like it could be in response to the latest effort at the Ludington school to keep transgenders out of girls sports. The theme would be fitting with the character of such defamatory libel.

[XLFD]

They probably know who responded to the writing, but there's nothing in the Ludington City Code making it a crime to exercise your First Amendment rights, even of LPD officers or city hallers.  I was secretly hoping for a reply to see whether the one who wrote the nastygram in Cartier would show his unique chalk handwriting (check out that distinctive "M").

Could it have been some blowback from my recent stance against Title IX Amendments?  Possibly, it could have even been motivated by WMOM's Chris, since he's gone into puppet mode for the COL, but I think the location in a city park, the timing of it being on a late afternoon Thursday, and especially the mode used points to the City.  I have twice used the same sidewalk chalking maneuver in front of the city hall and LPD this year and they have not yet thought about outlawing sidewalk chalk because I'm reminding users of the COL's corruption (as they won't allow for comments on their social media, and not all read the LT), so I expected some reprisal at some point. 

Their chalk responses made so quickly solidified that suspicion for me, I suspect those were made by LPD since they have chalk handy to mark tires and suspect the DPW (who also chalk in the same color as what was at Cartier) may have assisted at the park.  I don't expect anybody else to come forward.

[Freedom Seeker]

I have a hard time believing someone who works for the city would use such vulgarity in making a written defacement on a public walkway where children frequent.

Maybe it's OK to voice your free speech in temporary sidewalk chalk, but wouldn't there be a law against obvious defamatory libelous vulgarities?  Maybe you can ask the thief to look into it?

I did notice the curvaceous "m" in Tom.  There is inconsistency in the "t"s also. Maybe 2 people wrote it.   There is fairly obvious differences in the writing styles at city hall from the park.

[XLFD]

I understand your doubt of the COL, but with the additional knowledge I have but am not releasing at this stage, the data points better align with an interpolation of city action, rather than somebody butthurt about my gender identity non-affirming stance at the school board meetings.  

I would hope that most people understand that making statements about city policy and official actions on the sidewalk is different than making untrue and hurtful comments about a private individual on the same medium.  But I have did some research on the topic and found that sidewalk chalking as a form of protest is lawful where not strictly prohibited.  And since the COL will not allow for comment on their social media platforms, this will become a medium which I will be using regularly against the unlawful and unethical actions of the COL.

[Freedom Seeker]

Thanks for the explanations and hunch ... so true. If sidewalk chalking is legal protest medium, a response of vulgarities and libel still should not be. Total shame on whomever did this, especially if from a city employee.

I hope the new chief of police is not getting personal satisfaction from this, and like his better judgment with the recent fishing  in the harbor reversal ... looks into this obscenity issue.  

https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-752-365#:~:t....

[Barney Reinberg]

A badge of honor....wear it proudly X

[XLFD]

It's not my footprints imprinted forever in the sidewalk like at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, but yeah, this is somewhat of an honor because some cowardly person was so triggered by my journalism or activism to risk getting caught doing this in the middle of the day in a place where they could have easily been seen by those using the walkway.  That's why my guess of who did this was city DPW/Utility Maintenance workers perhaps working with the campground manager.  There's at least one of the former who might bear a grudge from when I took his truck key in the ignition on that foggy day last year and brought it back to city hall.

[Willy]

Even the nature walk at the park has become politicized. When will these foolish people wake up. Never a dull moment with the Left in Ludington.