Tear Down This Wall Mr. Price

One of the most famous quotes of the Reagan presidency was, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Those words were the only words most people remember from his speech that day, and most people look at that speech, as the speech that symbolized winning the Cold War, although it took 29 more months before the wall finally came down.

Well, it’s time to end the Cold War in Plymouth Township, and it’s time for a certain wall to come down, and I said as much to Supervisor Shannon Price, and I know he has heard my message.

I didn’t say this to him personally, but I said this to the guy who is doing security for Price’s VIP Party being held this evening. Those words were rejected by Mr. Price, and Treasurer Ron Edwards, who is the driving force behind the Plymouth Township Fireworks, and the VIP Viewing Party.

These events, along with the Good Old Fashioned Picnic have come under major scrutiny by taxpayers, and contributors the last few years because of the secretive nature of the bookkeeping for this event. Basically, for many years, there was no public record of how much money Treasurer Edwards collected, and how much of that money went to the actual fireworks display.

It came to light that he has been putting on a lavish VIP Party for high dollar contributors every year, at Hilltop Golf Course, and people started to question that. It came to light that not only was it premium seating for the fireworks, but also there was an expensive dinner involved, complete with Prime Rib dinners, prepared by the Chef at the exclusive Inn of St. John’s. It came to light that Mr. Edwards even flew in orchids from Hawaii for the ladies at his VIP Party. Thousands of dollars worth of orchids. Will there be orchids flown in this year? I do not know that, but they have been for many years in the past. Click on the picture above to see the cost.

It also came to light that there were a lot of politicians invited, who did not make the kinds of donations required to be invited to this event. Now it’s one thing to invite elected officials that cover your political district, but it came to light that only preferred representatives were invited. If Treasurer Edwards did not like you, you were not invited, whether you represented Plymouth Township or not. That kind of preferential treatment makes it a campaign event, not a community event.

This event is advertised as a community event, but there are clearly walls set up to keep the elites segregated from the commoners. The haves, from the have nots. There are not only walls, but there is a security presence to guard those walls. Trespass, and you will end up in the backseat of a Plymouth Township police car, courtesy of Billy Casper Golf, who manages the golf course for the township. Billy Casper Golf, of course, got their marching orders from Treasurer Ron Edwards, and Supervisor Shannon Price.

Well, an interesting thing has happened. Along with all of the scrutiny, it has come to light that Mr. Edward’s questionable bookkeeping practices have come back to bite him. It has been determined that because this money has been donated to Plymouth Township, this money is township money, which makes it taxpayer money, which makes the VIP Party an event that taxpayers should have the right to attend. That point has been debated from all sides, and Ron Edwards will certainly take the position that the unwashed masses should not be able to attend his VIP Party, but clearly they know differently, and they are afraid. That is why they put this in the hands of Billy Casper Golf, and why Carl Berry is working for Billy Casper Golf. When folks start getting arrested, Shannon Price and Ron Edwards won’t have blood on their hands. Those two always have others do their dirty work, and this is a classic example of how they do it.

They are afraid because the taxpayers are angry. They are afraid because there are plans afoot to crash their little soiree. They are afraid because they know darn well that people have a moral and probably legal right to be there. Mostly, they are afraid that they will be embarrassed in front of their richy rich friends, in front of their political cronies, and in front of the corporate sponsors that do not know about the political shenanigans that Price and Edwards are constantly involved in. I am glad they are afraid. They should be afraid, because what they are doing is wrong.

Now the story gets interesting. Because of this fear of a hugely embarrassing incident at the Price/Edwards VIP Soiree, Mr. Carl Berry reached out to me, to see if I could do what I can to put a stop to this potential embarrassing situation. I thought this was interesting because I clearly do not like the way Shannon Price carpetbagged his way into the Supervisor’s job, and I clearly despise the corruption in our township hall under the leadership of Price/Edwards/Conzelman, so why would they reach out to me to stop this? I have no idea. I don’t know if Mr. Berry did this on his own, or if they had him doing their dirty work. Either way, I was contacted by Mr. Berry. Mr. Berry and I have an interesting friendship based largely on our Republican beliefs, as well as a professed mutual desire for healing in our community. We don’t agree on everything, but we do our best to have civil conversations, and reach consensus on issues when we can.

I told him that I clearly think that the troika at the township hall deserves to be embarrassed at their little party. I told him that I could once again infiltrate their little party, and take embarrassing pictures. I told him that this is truly click worthy for me to let it all happen, and not lift a finger to stop it. Then I told him that this community needs to heal. I told him that I love Plymouth Township, and I would think about a way that we could put this whole Fireworks/VIP Party drama behind us, and begin to move forward.

My solution? Tear down this wall. Tear down the wall that separates the elites from the commoners. Tear down the wall between the haves, and the have nots. Quit treating a $20 dollar contributor differently from a $1,000 contributor. Heck, in many cases, the guy who contributed $20 feels it more than the company or person that coughed up a $1,000 check. I know this better than anybody. So for the person that donated $20, they have to wonder how much of that went to actual fireworks, and how much of it went to Hawaii, to buy orchids for the ladies. They have to wonder how much of that $20 went to buy prime rib for one of Price’s or Edward’s political allies.

I told Carl to tear down the wall. He said he wanted to save this community event, so I told him to make it a true community event. I told him to make some seats available, by raffle, or some other means, to allow a small number of community members who made those $20 donations to be VIP’s for a night. I also told him to make a small number of seats available for local disabled children, to make them the true VIP’s for the night. Give these kids a night they will remember for the rest of their lives. Carl rejected out of hand, allowing any people from the “general public” into the event, so we concentrated on the children. I was fine with that.

I thought this was a really fair thing to ask for. I do not begrudge folks who make a high dollar contribution to have some perks. I really don’t. I don’t think for a minute that the guests on the VIP list would mind one little bit if you were to invite some kids to this VIP event. I think they would love it. I think you would see a line of women walking up to the kids and showering them with orchids. I think our kids would be the highlight of the party.

I think that I offered Shannon Price an idea that would have made him a hero in this community. I didn’t even ask for him to do it at this year’s event. I made it clear that he could announce it for next year, and be a hero. He could have stood up and said that from now on, this VIP Party is a community VIP Party. From now on, this is truly a community event. From now on, we will do our best to make our community members VIP’s for at least one night a year. Shannon Price could have been a hero. I told Carl Berry that if he could make that happen, I would do everything in my power to stop people from crashing this little party.

Mr. Berry came to me with every single imaginable deal that could be done, as long as the wall stayed up. He stated that there was a safety concern for kids at the VIP Party, so he wanted to put them in their brand new overpriced pavilion. Well I had a problem with that. If there is a safety concern for kids, isn’t there also a safety concern for the rich people too? Of course not! To put children in the pavilion is nothing more than making them a political prop for the township, and I am insulted by that. I just couldn’t get them to understand that if you want to call it a true community event, the VIP Party either needs to end, or they need to invite others to the party. They just don’t get it.

So apparently, Shannon Price, turned every reasonable option down. The deal never happened. He kept stalling, and time ran out. It doesn’t surprise me though. I never thought they would tear down the great wall that Edwards built. Ron Edwards would never allow such a thing. So my desire to tear down this wall was not to be. I am obviously no Reagan, and they are no Gorbachev. Heck, They remind me more of Stalin, and I’ll tell you why.

If you step one foot on the golf course, you will be asked to leave, and if you don’t leave, they will call the police, who will have the duty to ask you to leave, and if you don’t, you will be ticketed for trespassing, and asked to leave, and the next step is a ride to jail. The Ron Edwards way. Don’t mess with Big Ron Edwards. Or Bulldog Shannon Price. Yes, he likes to call himself a bulldog.

The responsibility for this falls squarely on Shannon Price’s shoulders. Our police don’t want to be arresting folks for trespassing, they are our friends and neighbors. They want no part of this, but they have no choice in the matter. The only people with a choice are Ron Edwards, and Shannon Price, who didn’t even get elected to his position of power in our community. The people didn’t pick him, Ron Edwards picked him. The people got stuck with him, and so far, he doing an admirable job as Edward’s puppet.

Heck, I actually think that if Edwards wasn’t involved, Mr. Price may have actually went along with my plan, because he almost never passes up an opportunity to look like a hero, especially when it is politically expedient, and isn’t going to cost him anything. He just doesn’t have the guts to trump Edwards, which makes him a terrible supervisor. A political puppet. Edwards personal eunch.

In the end though, after much consideration, I have come to one conclusion, and it’s going to really bother some folks. I have to ask those who rightfully want to crash this VIP Party to have some restraint. I am humbly asking people not to crash the party. I know that it’s township money paying for it. I know that if you contributed any amount at all, you have helped to pay for the VIP Party. I know that what Shannon Price and Ron Edwards are doing is wrong for our community. But I also know that there are going to be some good and decent people at this party who did nothing worse than contribute their hard earned money to what they believe is a community event. They don’t deserve to be treated badly, and more importantly, if we crash this event, we only lower ourselves to the level of people like Ron Edwards, and Shannon Price.

They can have their little wall for now. They can divide our community for now. It won’t last though. There is an election in the not too distant future, and this election will decide who gets elected, and not appointed, to be Plymouth Township Supervisor.

I will not be gong to the fireworks, even though I made a small donation. I can not, and will not go to this event until they tear down this wall, and make it a true community event...