Spin Doctors

I got 3 comments from Jerry Droz’ friends, or maybe they’re cronies. I wonder what it takes to be an official crony? Do you have to go to school or something? Anyway, they were all positive, glowing accounts of the man. There were some very interesting things about the comments, though. Let's see what they had to say.

This one is from Randy Wybeck. He says,

Why are you knocking , Jerry Droz?!!I lived on , Mccullen. When he moved in it was filled with Meth dealers & criminals. I don't know what he does but , in 3 months he got them out of there. All the junk cars that were littered all over were gone within weeks after he took over. My vote is for , DROZ!

This is very interesting because the law suit that Jerry filed against my friend, Jerry’s next door neighbor, was just thrown out of court by the Judge. The lawsuit was because my friend, who is a licensed contractor, was parking his vehicles in front of a property he owned while he was working on the property. The Judge basically said that this is something you should take to the city and is not for the courts. So, if according to Mr. Wybeck Jerry has cleaned up junk cars off the street before, and did it “within weeks after he took over”, then why didn’t he know that this is not a matter for the courts. Was this nothing more than a frivolous lawsuit against my friend?

Now, anybody who has read my blog for any length of time knows how I feel about neighbors making a nuisance with parking vehicles on the street. I had to deal with my neighbor who was keeping more than a dozen junk cars, trucks, dun buggies, and trailers filled with construction debris on the street. I first tried to work with my neighbor to leave me a few parking spaces on the street. When that failed, after 3 years of trying to work with my neighbor, I went to the city. This is the way the system works. Jerry Droz sued my friend, who is by all accounts a honest, decent, generous, hard working man – sued him in court with in weeks of their first encounter for parking 2 or 3 vehicles on the street while there is construction going on at the property.

Now, just to make this clear. My friend and his wife own exactly 4 vehicles. The wife’s vehicle has probably been to the property in question only a few times and stayed only a short while. She’s not the construction type. My friends other three vehicles consist of a 1940s era pick-up truck. This is the truck he drives on a daily basis. There is a 1964 ford truck, which he uses for dump runs. Finally, there is a Uhaul type box truck for equipment and tools. Now, I know my friend well enough to know he is not going to park all three in front of the work site and then walk home. At most there were 2 vehicles left on the street over night. Jerry Droz sued him in court for this.

This is not something that happened last year or 5 years ago. This was just last month. The Judge’s ruling was just handed down on Friday, August 11th, 2006. It begs the question: Why didn’t Jerry Droz go to the city if he felt there was a problem with the parking of trucks on the street. If we can believe Mr. Wybeck, that jerry Droz single handedly took care of the “Meth dealers & criminals” and “All the junk cars that were littered all over” “within weeks after he took over“, then why did he tie up the courts with this if he knew it was a city matter?

This doesn’t sound like someone who will make an effective Mayor to me. It does not sound like someone who understands the way the city works, or is willing to work with other people. I have to judge somebody on their actions.

Another comment came from someone calling themselves Golden. First, I can’t help but notice that the comment has the same typos as in Jerry’s letter to Community Development when I was adding my house to the Local Register of Historic Places. Notice how there are spaces before and after the commas, and there is no space after the periods. Jerry and Golden must have attended the same school. That is the only conclusion I can possibly make.

Golden writes,

What?!! Are you nuts??!! This guy is Eureka's miracle. He has done nothing but good things for the City.You better tell the truth , Greg because that's slander. You'd be surprised if he showed the Governor your letter , too.Then you'd really be in hot water.

Now, first off, as far as I know, Jerry Droz has only lived in Eureka for 4 years. Calling him “Eureka’s miracle” might be a bit of a stretch. What exactly has Jerry Droz done to be considered Eureka’s miracle? I read 2 local newspapers a day and I don’t recall seeing Jerry’s name come up too often. Lets’ see, a few months ago there was a story in the paper about how he couldn’t get the 20 signatures necessary to appear on the ballot. Then another story about how he managed to get them. Finally there was the story about how he shouted down the Mayor at a press conference. Oh, and by the way, The First Amendment to The Constitution does give everyone the right to Free Speech, but it does not give you the right to be rude and interrupt people.

Then Golden implies I’m not telling the truth. I’m not sure what he means by this. I have only quoted Jerry’s own written words, which are on public record down at City Hall. You can go to the Community Development Department and look at Case No. HPO-05-003. Golden then accuse me of slander, but I think he means libel because I wrote it on my blog. Golden, “slander” is oral defamation, and “libel” is written defamation. The real question is, am I committing libel by quoting someone’s own words and then stating my opinion on what they said? I don’t think so.

Buuuuuut, but, but, but, but the best part is Golden’s final line. It’s just 2 paragraphs up but I have to repeat it again because it is just too good.

You'd be surprised if he showed the Governor your letter , too.Then you'd really be in hot water.

What does this mean exactly? Does Jerry Droz have a hot line to the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento. Maybe there is a special red phone on the Governor’s desk labeled “Eureka’s Miracle”.

"Governator here. Miracle, are you in trouble? I'm on my way!"

Or maybe I going to get an angry email from Governor Schwarzenegger? Would that be cool, or what? Of course, I’d blog about it for a week. Or even better, maybe some hired goons will come up from Sacramento. You know, there’s nothing like the personal touch one gets with hired goons. It shows that someone’s making the effort. Of course, I’d probably have to send them directions, because I’m not sure if anyone in Sacramento knows where Eureka is. I'll tell them I live in the capital of Jefferson State. That’ll confuse them even more. I can just hear them now, "Wait, which one is Jefferson State? Is Eureka in Canada?"

EDIT

Not seconds ago I just got the following comment from another Jerry Droz supporter. Notice again, the odd puncuation with the commas. It is the same way Jerry Droz and Golden write. They must have all attened the same school I guess. It's also odd that even though the comment was from "John" he starts his comment with "John said". Why his he writing in the third person?


John said , You were indeed lucky , Jerry , is about 6'3'' and 230lbs. By the way the Police didn't ask him to leave , he already left.
I personally know the man , he's done a lot of good things for our community so , i gotta tell you, no matter how much you may dislike him , my vote goes to him. He stood up in Court against drug - lords when others backed down. John of Eureka , California