A letter-to-the-editor titled Navy should act like our guests that received over 250 on-line Facebook forum comments in well under 24 hours had all comments completely DELETED and the notice “No Comments” was instead annotated on the letter’s web page. Many of the comments made had directly attacked the Whidbey News Times for publishing the letter in the first place, along with bashing the letter-writer for her liberal views and factually erroneous allegations.
The letter writer’s allegations, factually incorrect on many counts (such as alleging that the Navy wants to “increase the flight area, and in Coupeville, they want to add more flight hours at the touch and go field”) were met with scorn by most people posting comments. Other recent news articles had made it clear that such claims were erroneous, and, apparently, people knew this to be the case. Hypocritically, the Whidbey News Times had also recently published an editorial titled Online policing an imperfect science in which they stated that “readers unfortunately can expect to see inaccuracies, distortion and even outright lies” on the Whidbey News-Times Facebook forum comments. Apparently, however, it’s perfectly okay for the newspaper itself to print letters that they obviously know to contain “inaccuracies, distortion and even outright lies” in both the hard-copy and on-line editions of their newspaper!
Tags: Base Realignment and Closure, BRAC, EA-18G Growler, EA-6B Prowler, Local Newspaper Censorship, NAS Whidbey Island, NOLF Coupeville, Sound Publishing, Whidbey News Times
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I just saw that the comments were removed. Many of those comments were from active duty servicemembers & their spouses setting the record straight, having been literally spat upon for being heroes of the highest order.
Perhaps a boycott of the Whidbey News-Times by the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce – or even a legit threat of one – could send a message, eh?
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Your observations about many of the folks who had been making those comments are “spot-on”.
The Chamber of Commerce (i.e. Jill Johnson) and the Whidbey News-Times (WNT) are seemingly joined at the hip. Likewise, the WNT most often reports and opines in support of whatever person or entity provides them advertising revenue.
A co-worker of mine today called the Whidbey News-Times reporting “a book of fiction”.
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Sad state of affairs. When I was a cub reporter for The Cardinal in 2002, I not just did a news story on the EA-18G Growler (surprise, surprise) but learned never to let money influence me. Furthermore, if I win the MegaMillions I’m buying that newspaper out…
I do hope the best for & from Jill Johnson and have gotten her to commit to next month’s Navy League. Especially that I really like Commish Homola’s button…
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Bill, They are not joined at the hips they are in bed together. So many times at open forums Jill would put her foot in her mouth and the WNT wouldn’t print her misleading and hateful statements. Here is an example, at the Deputy Sheriff Guild Jill made a statement that active duty and retired military should have not have navy exchange and commissary privileges. Jill says it hurts local businesses.
When Jill lost it at he Farm Bureau meeting she did a 15 minute temper tantrum. Grabbing her head, screaming, leaving the building half a dozen times, the WNT would not report this episode nor would they take my money to print this. This is just two of several episodes that the WNT has protected Jill.
I have more info if anyone is interested. When comparing the qualifications and mental stability of the two candidates for county commissioner 2, I have no choice but to vote for Angie Homola. A vote for Jill is a vote for Councilman Rick Almberg. Rick has done enough damage in Oak Harbor.
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I have wondered how much of an “Angie supporter” you actually might be, and this confirms my suspicions. In retrospect, your candidacy only served to propel Angie past the primary, as it seems she very well may have been “ousted” had you not run in the primary election.
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Mr. Bill, Don’t blame me that Angie Homola made it past the primaries. Island Politics brought the truth out about Jill had her on the ropes and then recanted the facts after Jill said it wasn’t true. All con artists are very good liars. Jill’s melt down at the Farm Bureau and other episodes, her forced eviction in Colorado, Jill repeatedly states national business professionals and political leaders seek her advice. Your come back was great “and all unnamed gods.”
On Jill’s political mailers she brags that she budgets the chamber of commerce payroll. Including herself and her two girlfriends it totals $80,000 annually. How can we expect her to budget the 20 million dollars of the county? If you would like to see the profit and loss statement of the chamber I have it available. You will be shocked, WNT would not print it.
Jill always tries to get the voters to feel sorry for her, that she grew up on a 5 acre farm in poverty, had to do without and had to pick green beans and strawberries to help the family. When it was my turn to speak I said Jill, it is a 5 acre estate your father is the President of the Whidbey Island bank chain. Then she exploded, she can’t stand someone bringing out the truth.
You may have forgotten all the full page ads I ran against Angie Homola’s failed environmental policies. I would have rather seen Jim Campbell run against Angie Homola. Now we need to think and investigate before we vote.
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No, I certainly cannot blame you for how the voters voted, but if you really think Angie Homola is a better choice than Jill Johnson, then we are in serious trouble, either way. In any case the “spoiler” role is the net result of your candidacy, whether you hoped for that, or not.
Obviously, you know I advocated for both you and Jim Campbell during the primary and I was also highly critical early on of Jill Johnson’s fiscally liberal and duplicitous statements regarding increasing local property taxes for public schools. Her statement “I’m all-in, blindly!” made it clear to me that she is merely a political “hack” looking for votes any way she can connive them.
Angie Homola, on the other hand, has purposely used her elected office for personal gain and her lowering of the speed limit along West Beach Road adjacent to her house from 50 mph to 40 mph shortly after taking office is said to be a “quid pro quo” payback for a $10,000 campaign contribution she got back in 2008. Her doing so makes sense in no other context, as the BOICC had been (correctly) rejecting petition from a small group of Angie’s neighbors to lower the speed limit there for well over a decade. That short stretch of West Beach Road is also directly adjacent to MY house, so I know the facts and background of that issue first-hand.
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Bill, Maybe my mere 560 votes were votes taken away from Angie Homola. I may very well have been the spoiler for her OR if I ran as a Republican, I’d be running against Angie in the general election. The biggest 2 letter word in history “IF”.
I checked with the DOT on installing street signs, such as Yield, Stop, Winding roads, redesigning roads, redesigning curbs, caution lights, reduced speed signs, etc. It depends on how many high speed traffic infractions and car accidents in a period of time to determine changes to roads. The stretch of West Beach had a high volume of excessive speed infractions, and car accidents. The last one there was a teenager in a Toyota Pickup cutting a telephone pole in half speeding in excess of 70 mph. At the same time those lights were installed at West Beach, 2 lights were installed in Hillcrest on Loerland Rd. Speed limit there is 25 mph. Multiple telephone poles cut in half by idiots speeding.
A mayor or a county commissioner cannot, themselves, delegate what type of street signs or road alterations can be changed just by their say-so.
I could be wrong, but that is what I found out in my investigation.
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Obviously, it really doesn’t matter whether the posted speed limit is 50 mph or 40 mph when someone simply decides to go 70.
Of course, improved public safety was not the actual reason the speed limit was lowered along that stretch of West Beach Road. The Island County Road Engineer had vociferously argued AGAINST lowering the speed limit there for well over a decade, too. The posted speed limit was NOT a factor in whatever accidents had occurred there.
The dates on these articles are wrong as they mostly all say 03 Jul, 2008, but this is the chronology:
“Unsafe at present speed?”
http://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/news/22098539.html“West Beach speed debated”
http://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/news/22098879.html“Disputed speed limit cut likely on West Beach Rd.”
http://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/news/53047782.html“County cuts West Beach speed limit”
http://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/news/53611167.htmlOnce Helen and Angie came into office, that “dynamic duo” punched this through. My favorite quote is from “Disputed speed limit cut likely on West Beach Rd.”:
““We all know the worst part about living out there is road noise,” said Jerry Homola, husband of County Commissioner Angie Homola.”
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“A mayor or a county commissioner cannot, themselves, delegate what type of street signs or road alterations can be changed just by their say-so.
I could be wrong, but that is what I found out in my investigation.”You are wrong and your investigation is faulty.
This change was done by a resolution by the commissioners not the Public Works director as it is normally done. Phil Oakes the Public Works Director was against the changes so Angie, Helen and Dean made a resolution making it happen. Normally this type of change is not done by resolution it is done by the Public Works director based on long standing priciples and evidence of road safety issues. In this case it was done to satisfy a small group of people, a special interest group, that happened to include one of the commissioners that voted it into law.
Again another special interest group prevails over residents on the Islands.
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Exactly. You know…more and more, methinks Phil Collier is an Angie Homola supporter, and always has been.
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Yup….he even has an Angie for Commissioner sign in his yard…
That says it all. Nothing but a plant for Angie.
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Bill, Cliff, Jeff Lauderdale is more than welcome to put a sign in my yard and other property’s that I own. I disagree with Homola on several political issues, but she balanced the budget without costing the taxpayers an arm and a leg. Jill Johnson if elected County Commissioner will misappropriate funds as she did with the Chamber of Commerce. I do not vote for unqualified candidates simply because they have a “R” after their name. You two may vote for Mickey Mouse and Goofy just because they have a “R” after their name, I investigate who I am voting for. Give me one good reason why I should vote for Jill Johnson? What has she done in her 41 years of life except for lip service? All candidates had to fill out a financial report and Jill being a hot shot political fundraiser for 12 years, 7 years as financial director of multiple organizations, 2 years at her dads bank, 5 years destroying the Chamber of Commerce prior to her marriage last October she doesn’t have a pot to piss in. What is up with that?
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You say you “do not vote for unqualified candidates” but you ran yourself as an unqualified candidate. How do you explain that? Maybe because you had no intent of winning? Being a shill for Angie is all you really have going for you.
Your campaign consisted of zero substance except attacks on your opponent. You lied, you told stories, you used every possible method to smear and attack your opponent. Most if not all of your lies and smears were proven to be wrong repeatedly and you still insist on repeating them ad nauseum as you have done here.
You are one of the most unbelieveble people I think I have ever seen run for any political office on the Island and I have lived here all my life. No one in my memory has ever ran a campaign here based on hate, lies, rumors and bullshit like you have.
If there is any moral to this story it is one that proves there are people here, like yourself, that will do incredibly idiotic things to embarrass themselves and prove that they are not responsible enough even to listen to much less vote for.
So in other words, your incessant attacks are totally unbelieveable, your lies? They are just lies and nothing more. Anything that comes out of your mouth is suspect because you have been proven wrong in basically anything you have stated so far.
Stop embarrassing yourself Phil. You lost. Get over it.
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I prefer Jill – provided she shows up at a Navy League meeting – to somebody who wants to tell the United States Navy how to run flight ops and what aircraft for flight ops at NAS Whidbey Island.
Yes, I only like the Patrol force and LOOOVVVEE me some Growler Noise but please, if G*d forbid I’m Island County Commish stop me from demanding a Super Hornet fighter/attack squadron!!
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If you want a boycott don’t boycott the WNT that would be worthless. I would suggest boycotting their advertisers, now that would be effective. Especially if you told the advertisers the reason you will no longer shop with them is because they advertise with the WNT.
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I don’t think pitting the military community against the chamber of commerce chattering champagne class is going to get a win Cliff. I do hope that advertising dollars are pulled back and I win the MegaMillions – for I will buy that newspaper out and turn it into a pro-troop, pro-taxpayer newspaper.
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The only effective way to boycott a newspaper like the WNT is through their pocketbook…they survive on advertising, not readers, not their website and not subscriptions. Until the businesss community steps up and says enough is enough the WNT will continue to be the WNT…
The only other thing that will effect them is competition. I hope you win your millions… we could use a reasonably reliable unbiased newspaper here on the Island.
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I just hope Jill Johnson and her Chamber of Commerce issue a demand letter telling the WNT to get their act together…
Problem is, I’m going to be quite and proudly conservatively biased and pro-troop!!!
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Cliff, As you stated a couple statements above, everything that comes out of my mouth is a lie and bullshit, name one statement that I can not back up with facts.
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“All con artists are very good liars.”
“What has she done in her 41 years of life except for lip service?”
“she doesn’t have a pot to piss in”
The above sounds exactly like lies and bullshit Phil….that is coming from a sore loser. Explain it away any way you wish…
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Cliff, I lost to Angie and Jill. I chose to endorse Angie and NOT Jill. If I would endorse Jill, you would not be doing these personal attacks on me. Jill is the candidate that brags on what she has done in her lifetime…repeatedly. She IS a con artist! At the 164 member Farm Bureau meeting, she stood there telling the farmers: “I am against raising the property tax”, then at the Deputy Sheriff’s Guild, she says “if elected I’ll have a special tax levy for the Sheriff’s Dept.” She endorsed the two-way to one-way on Pioneer so that Holland Happening and the 4th of July parades can go down the street to enhance business. When Pioneer was open, she took it on herself not to have the parades go through Pioneer costing the merchants loss of revenue! This is only 2. I can go on…
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I have no problem with you endorsing anyone. That is your right. However, your personal character attacks and continued lies against your opponent show the truth about you and this does not reflect good on your character.
Your opinion does not matter to anyone but you Phil, you turned your political campaign into a personal attack on your opponent and I would suspect that most people view it as such.
I guess you really don’t relize how small that really makes you appear does it? You can’t win on the issues so you make it personal.
Your description of what happened at the Farm Bureau meeting are complete lies, I talked to MANY people that were there and they do not support your description of what happened, not even close. Just more lies from Phil…
You are a real piece of work Phil…an embarrassment to yourself, the office you ran for and Oak Harbor.
Oh…and here are the statements you asked me about again, you rememeber, the ones you claim are not lies and bullshit:
“All con artists are very good liars.”
“What has she done in her 41 years of life except for lip service?”
“she doesn’t have a pot to piss in”
In case you are unaware those are personal attacks Phil, not a discussion about the issues. We expect our candidates to discuss the issues not make personal attacks against their opponents. I guess you just don’t get it do you? And you probably never will…
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Cliff, Obviously you have your blinders on and only seeing and hearing what you want to believe. You have such a hatred for Angie Homola that anybody supporting her, you are doing personal attacks on them such as you are to me. Your sounding more and more like the reporters of the WNT. I have ample proof in writing by neutral parties about Jill’s blow up at the Farm Bureau, apparently you won’t believe the evidence either . I won’t respond to you anymore, you win your vocabulary of “lies” “bullshit” are starting to embarrass me.
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Number one. I don’t “hate” anyone. I leave that up to people like yourself. I do not “hate” Angie, but I certainly do not agree with her philosophy or her leadership of our county. That is obviously a difference you have a hard time discerning.
Number two. You need to be embarrassed, and you did it all to yourself with no help from anyone else including me.
Number three. I could care less if you respond or not. If you did it would just be more lies and BS anyway…
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Cliff, I fill your love.
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The newspaper certainly serves themselves poorly. Subscriptions have been dwindling, as have advertisers.
And they can’t figure out why?
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As a former resident of Whidbey Island, it saddens me to see the WNT go the way of so many other media outlets.
Here’s an article I wrote in response to Ms. Haglund’s letter: The Sound of Freedom.
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Tim, I loved your blog post I referred to it in my first response to this senseless, hurtful attack: http://www.growlernoise.com/2012/09/a-response-to-caralyn-haglund.html
There have been subsequent replies and a letter to the editor submitted. I hope that newspaper realizes just how much trouble they’re in right now.
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Hi Josef, thank you for the link! Did I hear you call in to Dana Loesch’s radio show today?
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You did and I’ll post a YouTube shortly! I call into Dana from time to time, even gave her roses this summer after she got a C-9 Greyhound full of hate mail on every seat!
Dana Loesch is the rock star of my generation!
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LATEST NEWS…
Letter to the editor leads to criminal investigation on Whidbey
http://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/news/168982116.html
Deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the harassment of an elderly Coupeville woman who wrote a letter to the editor that spawned a controversy.
Deputy Chris Garden said the letter writer, Caralyn Haglund, was in the sheriff’s office crying because of continuous harassing phone calls and cars driving by her home since the letter was published in the News-Times Wednesday.
Garden said the behavior is criminal harassment. He urges people to refrain from calling or going to the woman’s house.
“People should grow up and be mature about this kind of thing,” he said. “It’s OK for people to have a difference of opinion.”
If you wonder why GrowlerNoise.com has domain privacy, there’s your answer. This kinda crap that has happened before must cease. Yes, the Whidbey News-Times shares in the blame, but… the reaction crossed the line as well.
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Now, the WNT also has an editorial they have christened “Our freedoms include free speech” .
How utterly hypocritical for the Whidbey News Times (WNT) to write an editorial defending “free speech” while also claiming “we are not censoring anyone’s opinion” immediately following their act of TOTAL OBLITERATION of ALL 300+ comments posted in response to the ONE letter THEY THEMSELVES chose to print – a letter which is STILL posted on-line.
Moreover, the newspaper KNEW that one letter to be factually ERRONEOUS to begin with, based on previous news stories they had run! Nonetheless, they chose to use that factually bogus letter directly on the heels of yet another editorial in which the WNT had warned folks that “readers unfortunately can expect to see inaccuracies, distortion and even outright lies” in their Facebook on-line forum.
Apparently, however, it’s perfectly okay for the WNT to print something both in the hard copy and on-line which they themselves ALREADY KNOW to be full of “inaccuracies, distortion and even outright lies”! And then they DEFEND IT after OBLITERATING 100% of the words ALL OTHERS had made in response!
The WNT’s policies and actions both epitomize and glorify journalistic hypocrisy!
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Please make that a full blog post. Please do.
In other news, hopefully this will make today’s WNT:
Dear Editor;
I am sortieing off this letter to light into the agitators making outrageous demands upon our Navy, especially Mrs. Haglund’s hurtful recent letter. Quite frankly if the agitators want to keep agitating; I wish the US Navy would get on with a proposal to move naval flight operations to Skagit County where the resulting zoning would protect volcanic floodplain farmland from further development.
Let me be blunt to those concerned about the economy: I am disabled and therefore cannot drive a car, much less serve in the US Navy to my shame. Therefore, the Sound of Freedom the agitators complain about brings me to Whidbey to cheer our heroes on. If I had my way, I’d live under a NAS Whidbey runway approach path.
Finally, hopefully likeminded patriots will please join the Oak Harbor Navy League on Facebook and hopefully come out to a Navy League meeting. I would also highly encourage folks to bookmark the fan of NAS Whidbey Island website GrowlerNoise.com as that pro-Navy website pushes forward for our troops. Ultimately, as long as our troops keep playing the Sound of Freedom, I’ll get their backs.
For America;
Josef A. Kunzler
Sedro-Woolley, Wash.
United States of America
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You don’t need the hacking skills of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to figure out what’s going on with Sound Publishing. Just click “print” on your submissions and you’ll have a record of everything before it’s taken down.
Meanwhile, it would be interesting to know how many faux facebook members are posting on their blogs. It appears that they got their journalistic ethics from Josef Goebbels.
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The WNT is gaining the reputation that many of us have noticed for years. They are a partisan organization who uses their paper for partisan gains and to monoplolize the newspaper advertising here. Now that they have taken over the examiner they have a monopoly on the advertisers and the stories that are printed here on the island, that is there game plan. Advertiser now do not have a choice if they want to advertise in a newspaper here on the island, the only other choice is the Whidbey Marketplace which I would advise all people to advertise with instead of the WNT.
More and more people are seeing them for exactly what they are…
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Whidbey Marketplace (on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/WhidbeyMarketplace )
and “Whidbeylocal.com” ( http://www.whidbeylocal.com/ ) offer advertising alternatives to the WNT.
While Whidbey Marketplace is apaprently published “print only”, they do have a Facebook page (provided above) and they do accept ads via the web at http://www.whidbeymarketplace.com/
“Whidbeylocal.com” is a web-based-only entity.
Full disclosure: I have absolutely zero affiliation with either Whidbey Marketplace or whidbeylocal.com.
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