Same Crap Different Year
HEADLINE:
Every Rye Town Election The Republican's Call Up The New York Times, because no one in their right mind takes Bernie "I Forgot To Pay Over 100 Proprty Tax Bills" Abel and The We$tmore $nooze seriously.
PREVIOUS QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Dean P. Santon, a trustee of the Village of Rye Brook, sees it differently....
I haven't seen any evidence of any wrongdoing by the town,'' Mr. Santon said. ''Mr. Abel has been carrying on for a year, basically repeating himself. Mr. Abel is the antagonist. But he's entitled to his opinion.''
NEW YORK TIMES STORY:
.......''In 8 of the last 10 years, there hasn't been an increase in town taxes,'' Mr. Morabito said.
The Morabito and Abel families have both lived in Port Chester and known one another for generations. They had long been neighborly, as many with deep roots in this small town are. But the men began feuding last year, when Mr. Morabito initiated the tax reassessment. Besides making property taxes more equitable, the town is hoping through revaluation to avoid or at least reduce costly legal challenges to its tax assessments, Mr. Morabito said. In the last 10 years, the town has paid $18 million in tax reimbursements because of such cases, he said, and the challenges ''hurt the schools more than anybody.''
Mr. Abel, a retired Air Force fighter pilot and real estate broker, founded The Westmore News 40 years ago so that he would have a venue to express himself.
''In the daily paper, I could only write a letter,'' Mr. Abel said by telephone from his winter home in Florida. ''I was opinionated. I felt I saw injustices and I wanted to correct them. I said 'Heck, to get my point across, I think I'll start my own newspaper.'''
In the early 1980's, Mr. Abel retired from the paper. He handed the reins over to his son Richard, who is now the publisher, and Richard's wife, Jananne, now the editor. He was content, he said, to putter around the office, help with school pickups for his grandchildren and enjoy his time to himself.
But when the town government ordered the townwide property tax revaluation Mr. Abel said, he could no longer keep his opinions to himself.
''He kept going on and on about reval,'' Richard Abel said. ''I don't happen to agree with him on the subject, but I said 'Dad, if you feel so strongly about it, I'll give you a column.'''
Last fall, Bernard Abel wrote his first Town Crier column. He hasn't missed a week since.
''I started digging and I thought perhaps reval wasn't the whole story,'' Mr. Abel said. ''Perhaps the story was the type of government they were running.''
No argument, it seemed, was too big or too small for the Town Crier.
One column chastised a town board member for not fencing in his pool.
Another criticized the entire town board because a Korean War memorial, built by a veterans' organization, includes the board members' names in letters that are larger than the names of the war heroes. In the column, several board members have been accused of nepotism and unethical behavior in their private dealings with town contractors. And the column has accused the town government of bid rigging.
''You tell me who is abusing whom?'' Mr. Morabito said in a telephone conversation. ''Every week there is an article against me, against the town board or about what's bad in the town of Rye. It's been 57 weeks in a row now. It never stops.''
Mr. Morabito said he and the town board didn't respond orally or in writing to any of the columns.......
In compliance with copyright and fair use standards, this story has been truncated. Please click on the Source URL link below to read the entire story.
Source: New York Times
Publication Date: December 21, 2003
Reporter: Debra West
We$tmore $nooze - Bill Of Rights -You have the right to remain stupid and to keep sending Richard "The Drama Queen" Abel 30 bucks for biased reporting.
Anything you think will be replaced with meaningless information.
If you choose to read the hopelessly biased We$tmore $nooze you will only see more of the Same Old Crap.
Knowing or understanding your rights won't make a bit of difference, because you are funding the Abel's Personal Vendetta against the Town Of Rye.
Call 939-6864 To Cancel Your Subscription To The Hopelessly Biased We$tmoe $nooze.
Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla
