Lima City Council's three stooges

It may be the 4 Amigos if Dan Beck's wife get on council repesenting the 8th ward....

One might be correct in questioning the credibility and professionalism of these three members of our city council. However, I would expect the editor of our paper to do so with more professionalism than what is displayed in this blog. Stooges, clueless, naive, petty, buffoons, narcistic...children are taught that name-calling only displays a lack of intelligence and poor grasp of the English language, Lucente should know better. There are more effective ways to get a point across...stooping to this level only makes the author look bad, not his targets.

I have to disagree with SevenOver.
Tom wasn't name calling.He was just making an accurate comparison!

I can see what SevenOver is saying...but I also see that Tom is an opinion columnist and that's what this blog is about, his role as an opinion writer, not as an editor of the newspaper. There are a different set of writing "rules" (for lack of a better word) for opinion writers than there are for reporters and eveyone else who writes for a newspaper. I would expect an opinion columnist to write his opinion... which you just can't do effectively all the time if you have to be nice all the time. While the three stooges remark is negative, it is definitely humorous and nothing unlike any political cartoon one would see on a daily basis in every newspaper. His use of words like "clueless" "naive" "petty"...aren't words any of us want to be called, but he's telling the truth. Those are exactly what these guys are making themselves come across as and maybe if they read it, they'll realize it. Probably not...but that would just show how "clueless" they really are.

I understand that this is an opinion piece...I do not need an explanation as to the intent of this blog. However, I repeat...there are more effective ways for any mature, professional adult to get his or her point across. I am no fan of these council members, but Lucente seems to be making an attempt to turn this into a Rosie/Donald name-calling publicity stunt. Lima does not need this type of journalism, be it opinion or otherwise, any more than it needs the race-baiting and grandstanding that we see within our city council.

That's ok, seven, you are entitled to your opinion. I'm sure there are many who agree with you.

The upside is, Lucente's column and blog are things that anyone who doesn't like him can just stop reading. As for the antics of our city councilmen... we live in Lima, they work for us, what they do affects us and we can't avoid that. I expect better of our publicly elected officials.

Lucente's characterizations are appropriate. His Coulteresque style goes directly to the point, without the wishy-washy political correct crap that's been forced on us the past couple decades. The article was brief and to the point, which is the way it should be. Of course, we can wade through a two thousand word article, that says the same thing, but how many of us would actually read beyond a few hundred words?

Unfortunately, these three are what we get when the public doesn't participate in local elections and only 10% show up to vote.

Hey Folks,
give Tom a break...He's getting to the age where those "Senior-Moments" come hard and fast...Anyway most of the city counsel reminds me more of the Keystone Cops....how did Bugs put it.."MUROOOOONS!
Know why so few people vote??
Because they can see who is running and can see no real difference..so what's the point?
Larry,Moe or Curly...copping that Power knob!!
Ahh,but I wax poetic...

Don Knotts would be glad to see so many of his old "Mayberry" gang keeping up the good work here in Lima.Gomer,Goober and Floyd are present and accounted for!!

Tom,in the spirit of respect for the elderly,I've sent your name to "Cogic". You know...Cantankerous Old Guys Insurance Corp.
You'll be getting mail...and good luck with those dentures...and Happy B-Day!!

I don't have a problem with using satire and visual images which most people are familiar with to make a point. This particular post is somewhat humurous, and does a good job of stating the opinion.

I just wish these news guys would be as honest when they shove their leftist propoganda down our throats in their so called "reporting".

I feal that you have insulted the Stooges by compairing these clowns to them. Have a hart, The Stooges were funney. These guys are not funney, just stupid.

Sevenover how are those childish remarks? How ofter do you actually see a child using a word like narcistic?

This Three Stooges act is nothing new in Lima city government. It has been going on since the beginning of time. The only people with half a brain are the surrounding township governments. They saw through this comedy act and incompetency years ago. Why do you think they have resisted being incorporated into the city or metro government.

I had to laugh at the very first comment. I live in the 8th ward and my support is going to David Adams all the way!

Allen County should take note on the incompetence of Dan Beck aligning himself with these Stooges to gain the control of Lima Police.

Misery loves company ... so does ignorance.

Tom Lucente is very naive in his comparisions. We need economic development in our city. The restaurant he is discussing brought 35 jobs to our community. If everyone on council or the administration worked as hard as Mr Glenn for our community, we probably wouldn't have half the problems we have. Mr Lucente needs to talk to the people who live in the areas where the vacant/abandoned houses are. These people are very happy that someone(s) cares enough to try to make their neighborhoods a litte safer and better to live in. Mr Lucente needs to get out from behind his desk and tour the city. Maybe Mr Lucente should donate some of his time and money to help the less fortunate in our community.
The lady who said that she supports Dave Adams, I would assume that she is a left wing liberal. Good Luck!!

Wow

Seems like there could have been a better angle like a cigarette dangling off the lips of moe

as for Curly...

in fairness anybody who has taken the time to travel south of the square for that matter south of elida road could see that the restaraunt referred to has been at the least a mini boom for the main street area and it has employed people which is refreshing for our area, kind of the def for economic dev

bet you would see that more than 10%, far more of the people of Curly's ward support him as well

The 3 people that Mr Lucente is discussing are trying to do the job they were elected to do. The city council broke the record in 06 for being the council that discussed and passed the most ordinances. The city council has been a joke for years. It's about time that we have people on council that actually care about the people and businesses in our city. It sickens me to see people on council that do nothing to hep the people. They are only there to collect a pay check. Our newly appointed city council president has done nothing in his 16 years on council except draw his pay. He belongs to no groups in our city to better the city; he has never gone to a neighborhood meeting to listen to the concerns of the people. He once stated that he didn't concern himself with the welfare of the people. We need people on council who will work for the betterment of the people--- not be a rubber stamp for the administration.

Mr.Magnus, coming in here using the fake name "Larry" and defending yourself as though you are someone else just shows a little more of your lacking qualities to be a city councilman, let alone council president. How about you step up, be honest, admit who you are (you might as well since you signed in under your real name and email---geesh). I'd welcome to hear your input here, but trying to trick everyone into thinking you're someone else just takes away even more of your credibility.

I live in the 8th ward. I am very happy to have someone run for the seat that will have a mind of their own. I don't want someone that the mayor selected to run to be my councilperson I want someone that will be my voice and do what is right for the people. For these reasons, I will support Ms. Beck for city council.

SUSAN,
MY NAME IS LARRY. IT'S LARRY MAGNUS. RAY IS MY BROTHER. RAY IS A VERY GOOD PERSON. HE IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO HELP PEOPLE. RAY HAS BENEFITS FOR PEOPLE AND GOOD CAUSES. RAY HAS A FREE THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS DINNER EVERY YEAR. RAY IS INVOLVED WITH MANY GROUPS TO HELP THE PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY. I AM VERY PROUD THAT RAY IS MY BROTHER. HE IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED ON COUNCIL.

Larry, since you signed in under "rmagnus@wcoil.com" it makes more sense that you would be Ray, but hey, if your brother doesn't mind you using his email to log on to things like this, I guess that's his poor judgment.

But since you are family, maybe you could answer a question that has been brought up repeatedly on various forums about your "brother". How is it he is a councilman but does not actually live in the ward he represents? Yes, we all know he owns the apartments across from his bar...but it's pretty common knowledge that he doesn't live there. A lot of people want to know the answer to that one.

I'm glad he does the free Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner every year, it's the least he can do for that neighborhood to make up for all the low life scum he attracts to that bar the rest of the year. (Yes, I've been to his bar, wouldn't choose to go back either.) If he wants to clean up that ward, maybe he should start with his own business.

Bill, wanting a city council person who has a "mind of their own" is exactly what we need...NOT the wife of the local sheriff. I don't care how good she is, how loyal, how smart, how qualified she is, at the end of the day, she goes home to her husband, the sheriff. There is no way she is not going to be influenced in some of her decision making based on what her sheriff husband wants. That would be ok if her husband was a local business owner, or practically any other job, but there should not be a direct connection like this between the city council and the sheriff's office.

Susan are you saying no woman can be good in an elected position if they have a spouse who is in an elected office? I believe we can go through history and find many women who served with a husband also serving as an elected offical and find that many women excelled. You just don't like the Becks. Now back to the issue- "The Three Stooges." And by the way I like the way you give it to Magnus. Sometimes your bitterness is good.

My thinking is that all of the comments seem to be coming from people who do not live in the districts that these 3 people were elected from. (Family does not count) Could it be that this segment of the electorate cannot read, do not have computers, or just do not give a @*%#. I really can not wait till the discussion starts on combining city and county governments into a metro group. Then these types of council members will be involving the whole county in their immature ways.

Not at all, madaboutit. It has nothing to do with her being a woman. If the roles were reversed and it was the man running for office and his wife was already the elected official, I'd feel the same way. Conflict of interest. Simple. Now... if she were running for an office of jurisdiction that in no way crossed paths with her husband's office, that would be different. I am all for getting more women into office.

By the way, saying that I "just don't like the Becks" is completely ridiculous and I am smart enough and mature enough to make my voting decisions based on the important things..NOT whether or not I "like" somebody". I have always supported Dan Beck, I still do. I don't always agree with the way he handles some things around here, but for the most part, I "like" him. I don't know his wife and I have no reason to have any dislike for her whatsoever. This is not a personal issue with the Becks at all. It would be the same if any other elected official's spouse was running for city council. (Why do people always have to jump to make it personal?)

Were you still referring to me about "giving it" to Magnus? If so...thanks. I just have no tolerance for people who come into forums tricking people and acting like they are somebody they're not. If it's really Ray posting, fine, he should come in and be honest about it, I'm sure people would really like to converse with him. If it was really his brother posting, fine too... he should sign in under his own email instead of using his brother's. Personally...I think the first two postings from "Larry" were Ray and the last one (the yelling one) might have actually been Larry...but who knows. It's just tacky no matter how you look at it and it blows away any credibility he/they could have had if they'd just been honest.

SUSAN,
I DON'T HAVE MY OWN COMPUTER. I DON'T LIKE THE COMMENTS YOU ARE MAKING ABOUT PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW. WHY DON'T YOU GIVE YOUR REAL NAME INSTEAD OF USING THE COWARDS WAY. RAY DIDN'T KNOW THAT I SENT THE MESSAGES. HE IS TO MUCH OF A PERSON TO STOOP TO YOUR LEVEL. SEND ME YOUR "REAL" NAME. DID MY BROTHER BAR YOU FOR SOME STUPID STUNT? TELL ME ONE PERSON ON COUNCIL THAT HAS THE BACKGROUND THAT MY BROTHER HAS.

GO GET EM SUSAN...................

AND I HARDLY EVER AGREE WITH MR. LUCENTS BUT HE IS DAMN SURE ENTITLED TO HIS OPINION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Larry, so tell me, how does Ray feel about what you're in here saying? Does he want you defending him? Does he care that you used HIS email to do it? You say he doesn't even know, well, maybe you should tell him that you screwed up and made him look even worse than he already did and that you gave out his private email address to anyone on the internet who wants to see it. You know, even if you use someone else's computer, you can make your own email address, for free, through hotmail or Yahoo, then you wouldn't be putting your brother in questionable circumstances by doing these things. I wouldn't give you my "real" name if you paid me. There's a difference between not giving your "real" name for security purposes...which is why I am not stupid enough to do that, and not giving your real name so that you can pretend to be someone else. Big difference. That would be like me making up different names and coming in here and writing comments saying, "Good Job Susan! I agree!!!", just to make it look like I've got support from other people. That is what we call immature, and bad online forum behavior. Maybe if you'd have started out your first comment with, "I am Ray Magnus' brother....", you'd have gotten a much more positive welcome. Or, you could have just used common sense and made your brother's email private when you registered here, then none of us would have ever known it was you.

No, Ray has never had to "bar" me from anything. Why? Well, for one, I don't go to dives like his bar. I made the mistake of going there once, it was not my kind of place. For another, I don't give anyone at any establishment any reason to "bar" me, maybe those are the sort of people you're used to being around though, assuming you spend time at Ray's Place.

As far as your asking me to name anyone on council with the background Ray has...what does it matter? Some people won't ever be the quality we need on our city council, especially as president, no matter how much "experience" they have.

I notice you never answered my question about where Ray's actual living residence is..could it be because he doesn't even "live" in the city of Lima? Choose your words wisely on that one, I know a member of that family.

I once made unnecessary, snide comments about Ray's Place myself. Two...maybe three?...years ago, we drove past it on our way home from a family gathering. (I DO live in that district.) I snorted in disgust...embarrasingly, yes, it was more of a snort than anything..."Even on Thanksgiving, you can't get the drunks out of the bar...that is so sad!" The next morning, I read in the Lima News how the regular patrons of Ray's Place (that would be the "low life scum" that Sus refers to, I believe) spent their day packaging meals for the elderly and the shut-ins of this neighborhood. So much for my feelings of false superiority...you may find your own to come back and bite you in the rear, Sus...you never know.

As for the Becks...I had the opportunity to work with the family on a fundraiser for a faith-based organization. They were very gracious and went above and beyond in helping with our fundraiser...far more so than any other elected official has done to this date.

Side note to Sam: At no time did I state that narcistic was a remark a child would make. I did, however, state that even children are taught not to resort to name-calling in an attempt to make a point. I question why any educated professional would stoop to that level.

Comment regarding the organization of this blog site...many sites afford a measure of privacy to respondents by keeping their e-mail address hidden so that it is not available to all visitors to the site. Had I realized that this site did not do so, I probably would never have posted. Mr. Lucente, you might want to look into such privacy regulations...at the very least as a courtesy to your readers.

Seven, this site DOES give you that option not to make your email address public when you register. Run your cursor over any member's name and look at the bar across the bottom and see. When you run it over your name, it shows your email address. Run it over mine and everyone else who registered as "private" and all you see is the blog url or the person's member number. You can still go in and change your settings to make yours private, although I don't know if it would change it on the postings you've already written. It would be worth a try. If it doesn't, all I can think of would be to make it private and then go back and delete all the postings you've put on this blog (of course, you can copy and paste them back into the comments again so they aren't lost but your email won't show anymore). As for other sites that do not offer this sort of privacy, that's the great thing about using a free hotmail or yahoo email account. You can make one up like "SevenOver@Yahoo.com" and use that email address when you register for these things...then your privacy is not compromised.

I hope that helps.

To change your current member settings, go to "Admin" up there on the right column just above the calendar. Click on "Admin" then from there you can edit your settings.

SevenOver,

There are a few things about this blogging software I am using that I do not like so I have been looking at others. This was chosen in a hasty decision to get a blog online. I am taking my time researching other software to make sure I get what I want.

As far as e-mail addresses are concerned, I am under the impression that you don't even need to give an e-mail address to post to this blog. I have been looking over the admin area and it doesn't appear to give me any option to remove your e-mail address from what you have already posted, or I would do that for you.

Nor could I find a setting that globally hides e-mail addresses, probably because the user does not have to give one to post.

Thanks for pointing that out, though. It is just one more reason to find new software.

-tjl-

SevenOver,

Now, as far as your questioning my professionalism ...

I would expect far more from my councilors ...

When someone acts like a stooge and a buffoon, it is certainly fair comment to call them a stooge or a buffoon. I am not insulting their appearance or their hygiene or anything childish like that. I AM however, insulting their public behavior. And while the image might be somewhat sophmoric, so is their behavior. And it makes a really good point. After all, it inspired you to comment, did it not?

-tjl-

Happy G,

Coulteresque? Perhaps, but I am better looking than she is!

-tjl-

Chaatrat,

Well said!

-tjl-

Ray,

I received their mailing, but my bifocals aren't ready yet, so I couldn't read it!

-tjl-

Ben,

Thanks for the comments.

-tjl-

Ken,

You are right. I should send an apology to the Stooges' families!

-tjl-

rallen13,

Very good point. I live in the city limits and wish I lived in the township simply because Lima's government is so messed up.

-tjl-

Larry/Ray (or whoever you are)

A fast-food restaurant that provides 35 minimum-wage jobs is NOT economic development. And begging for money to tear down a single house is NOT solving the abandoned properties problems. Ray and the other Stooges are on City Council. They are in a unique position to do so much more.

Want real economic development? Why aren't the Stooges using their combined power to fight to bring down Lima's opressive tax rate? Lowering taxes in this community would serve as a catalyst for economic development, which would, as a side benefit, put an end to the abandoned properties issue. That would be doing something for the community. Building a restaurant, tearing down a single house, petty bickering on the council, accusing the judicial system of racism. None of that does anything. Those are simply bandages.

Good intentions and buffoonish public behavior does nothing to solve the root of the problems facing this city. And because we have councilors like the stooges, who care more about getting their names in the paper and possessing the prestige of being on the council, we will get nothing real acomplished, only facades like a fast-food restaurant or a front-page picture of a house being torn down. Heck, for every house they tear down, two more are abandoned.

Give me a break. Tell your brother to start acting like a lawmaker instead of the philanthropist he thinks he is. If he is not going to use the power of his council seat tell him to step aside so someone else can.

-tjl-

Tom said to Larry, "Tell your brother to start acting like a lawmaker instead of the philanthropist he thinks he is. If he is not going to use the power of his council seat tell him to step aside so someone else can."

Excellent idea... and as one of his duties as a councilman, he could try cleaning up the crime in his ward--starting with his own family.

"tlucente wrote:
Happy G,

Coulteresque? Perhaps, but I am better looking than she is!

-tjl-
13/01/07 10:49 "

You wish!

Potts and Pitts - what a difference. One is A and the other is Z. If Mr. Pitts wants to do well at City Council, then all he has to do is to pattern himself after Mr. Potts. The real statesman and gentleman on the Lima City Council. Mr. Potts, now there is a man we can all respect!

"Larry" - I wouldn't want to be associated with someone of your "brother"'s experience. His bar is a low-life biker bar. He openly breaks the no-smoking laws (a fine example for Mr. Pitts' sons, I might add). I bet he wouldn't do half the charity he does if he didn't get free press and advertising out of it. The true measure and character of a man is what he does and how he acts when he thinks no one is looking. I'll put my money (or buy tip chances, if that's the way the betting is done) on not much character at all. Finally, "Larry", the least you can do is learn the acceptable online etiquette and stop yelling in all-caps.