Been a lot of stuff kicked up this past week, huh? I can now tell you it was all my doing. It was a big scheme I put together in an idle moment and I must say, everyone played right into my hands. I did it to win a bet.
See, I was sitting around with a friend last week and we got to talking about how “Out Of My Mind” ran every week for eight years in the Bradley Weekly, and how since I left the Weekly in July of ’04, and started writing “Out Of My Mind” for HomeTownCleveland.com, the Weekly won’t even acknowledge that I still exist, let alone that I’m still writing my column and where people can find it.
My friend said, “It’s like you’re Israel and the Weekly is the entire Arab world. They hate you.”
Anyway, make a long story short. I bet my friend a dollar that I could trick the Weekly into not only running one of my columns, but also including my little logo in the paper with it, and even going so far as to give their readers my website address.
My friend said, “Wait a minute … you’re telling me that after all these years and as much as they hate you, you could trick the Weekly into running one of your columns, with the logo, and then give out your website address, too?”
I said, “Yep.”
“And you’re putting a dollar on it?”
I said, “Yep.”
He said, “Let’s make it two.”
I said, “Let’s make it three.”
He said, “You’re on.”
If you would all be so kind as to go out and find a copy of the latest Bradley Weekly and turn to page 4, I think you will see that Axo owes me three bucks.
And, since the question of my “deleted” column has more or less been rendered moot, I shall repost it in its entirety.
CLEVELAND/BRADLEY/PEYTON PLACE
Dateline Cleveland/Bradley/Peyton Place: Judge John Hagler has resigned from the bench, citing a compromising audio tape where he is allegedly talking in graphic detail about his sexual fantasies. I know this news traveled fast because I was still reading about it in the Chattanooga paper this morning when I 
received a most interesting email: “Well,” (the email read) “now we know why Hagler ruled against every single thing the sheriff asked for in his budget request. He was being blackmailed.” I don’t know if that’s true or not but it would go a long way in explaining how a judge who has been complaining for years that Bradley County was in dire need of more court security, could turn around and say the Sheriff’s Office was adequately staffed. And that doesn’t even take into account the fact that several new courts have been added this past year.
Let’s revisit a Quote of the Week from last week … “What will come out eventually must come out immediately.” ~ Henry Kissinger
Was the fix in when Hagler made his contradictory ruling on the budget petition? Was he given a promise of recompense, or a threat of blackmail? ‘Course, this is just hypothetical speculation, I don’t know one way or the other. But I will take the opportunity to offer some friendly advice to the many bad guys running roughshod over this community: You give the devil a ride, he’s gonna end up driving. Because what will come out eventually will come out … if not in this life, definitely in the next. Take it to the bank.
Actually, just between you and me, it’s said that tape isn’t the only skeleton the Judge was hiding. And for what it’s worth, the quote-unquote law enforcement people who have been sitting on the tape are neither Cleveland City nor Bradley County. You got to remember, the 10th Judicial District covers a lot of territory. And not to give the culprit away, but their initials are Chattanooga.
Movin’ on …
Okay, it’s official ~ AlGore is a prima dona. After receiving a Nobel Peace Prize (!!!) and an Oscar for his global warming propagnda film, AlGore was in London this week for a big charity gala at the Fortune Forum summit. Only thing, he demanded his own VIP room, wouldn’t let the press attend, even refused to allow some of the VIP guests in and received a stipend of $205,000 (or $6,000 a minute) to deliver a speech that was a rehash of all his other speeches and left his audience restless, bored and talking among themselves. People always show their true colors eventually, don’t they? And even before global warming became a cash cow, “green” was still slang for “money.”
But hey, you think the whole green thing ain’t turning into a monster of epic proportions, consider this … Australia’s looking at a “baby tax” of over five grand for every young’un born into a family that already has two kids … plus an annual $800 “carbon footprint tax” for said young’un. That makes China’s one-child-per-family-preferably-a-boy law look positively altruistic.
Carbon footprint. Gimme a break.
A fancy Greenwich Village food store offered up Hanukkah hams for … well, Hanukkah. Major faux paux, though ~ ham is a big kosher no-no … pork is considered unclean under Jewish law. I guess the gourmet store owners can be forgiven, though, as there are so few Jewish people in New York City, not much is known of their culture. And it could be worse, I guess. If the guy had made the mistake in Islamoland, he’d of been beheaded by now.
Now, look … I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead, but I think we have a new champion for the title, “World’s Biggest Idiot on a Cell Phone.” Out in San Leandro, California, a guy talking on his cell phone evidently didn’t realize he had walked onto the railroad tracks ~ past the flashing lights and around a crossing gate that was down. Big surprise, he got creamed by an Amtrak train. I wonder if he ever even knew what hit him? Rest in peace, poor guy … I guess you were just too dumb to live. Again, no disrespect.
Speaking of California, two gypsy clans out in Orange County have gone to court over which has the fortune-telling rights for affluent Newport Beach. Of course, being fortune tellers and all, I’m sure they already know who’s going to win that one.
But gypsies, huh? We view them with curiosity because they’re a strange and swarthy people who are different from us.
Speaking of strange and swarthy, Andrew Young, civil rights pioneer and former U.N. ambassador, proved just how irrelevant he is this week when he made the statement, “Bill (Clinton) is every bit as black as Barrack.” He also said Clinton had probably “gone with” more black women than Obama. Hmmm ~ gone where, I wonder. But, Andy, I’ll tell you this for free … it’s a good thing you’re black, because if you were a white guy, your career would be over now. Worse, you’d be in counseling with Al “Tawana Brawley” Sharpton and Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson.
Man … just saying Al “Tawana Brawley” Sharpton and Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson makes it hard to breathe.
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December 19th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
CALLING J MICHAEL! Yoo hooooo, hey J Michael!
I am sending this call into the wild, broadcasting in the open and in all directions in an attempt to locate the person once known as J Michael Leonard.
WHAT HAPPENED? I mean, as regards this HTC page. One minute I am reading your weekly blip and the next instant, the blip, page and author are gone. And, it happened just as I was smearing my eyeballs with some crap about Judge Hagler and his apparent thirst for weird sexual fantasies. Talk about being deprived of news. Has some sort of local censorship been slapped on we citizens?
Anyway, when I saw that your column was expunged from the internet I had a splurge of curious and started looking for reasons why mention of the Judge debacle might rate a blackout.
Believe it or not I started finding more answers in the Chattanooga papers about the nasty tape incident. Then, the local Banner printed a few articles into the mix. The combination of the newspaper articles and the disappearance of your column have convinced me that this is no little story. To top it all off, the Weekly went and printed articles also – now that is momentous when that rag spouts morality. I will go on record to predict that this little Peyton Place will soon be on the national news.
Why do I think this is big news? Well, because so many lawyers and judicial folk are involved. When that many of that type start swarming, you can bet there is some real stink just out of sight.
In any case, I wish that I could ask some questions: the first ones would be directed at the judge’s secretary. You know, the lady who first found the sex fantasies on the tape the judge gave her? Yep, since she is the key to this case, I would ask her things like: was the tape directed at her? Did she fear for her personal safety so badly that she handed the tape over to the Chattanooga police rather than the judge or the local police? Is she still employed by the judge? Why hasn’t anyone thought to contact her and get the facts?
Next I would ask the judge himself why, if he put some weird words on a tape he did not want anyone to listen to but himself, he allowed the tape to get into the hands of someone else. Then I would ask him why he felt it necessary to put words on a tape anyway. Couldn’t he remember what he was thinking? Couldn’t he recall his thoughts? Oh, and another thing I would ask the Judge would be why he went to the trouble to put things in the local papers at all.
Then there is the DA. Bebb? If he thinks it is so wrong for someone to try to unduly influence a judge by using blackmail, what does he call his going to see the judge with tape in hand and reportedly saying that if the judge was no longer on the bench there would be no need for the tape to be sent to the Judiciary committee.
Golly, I just realized that I can’t type fast enough to keep up with the questions that keep popping off in my mind. Can you help? I mean, how about answering questions the way you used to do. How about using HTC as a sounding board for what we citizens think of this mess?
Oh, and can you tell me if it is legal for me to ask for a copy of the tape under the Open Records Act? If the local DA or county officials have the tape, can any citizen ask for a copy? I would think that the tape is a public record considering it was used in an investigation that has already been closed.
My interest would be to determine whether or not the Judge was unduly influenced to make a decision in any case involving public money – like for the purchase of an airport site, parklands, or maybe for the payment of legal fees.
Golly J Michael, I didn’t mean to write this much. Want to do me a big favor? Repost your article mentioning the Judge case on the page and then attach this as a comment. Maybe some of the ‘old hands’ will also want to comment.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Dang Troublemaker … I always knew you were long winded, but … well, but nothing ~ I always knew you were long winded. As you can see the column is back, so I hope you feel better. I just did it to win a bet.
You raise some good questions, though. Maybe some bright bulb can come in and answer them.
But say … why aren’t you writing a regular or semi-regular column for HTC anymore? Put your thoughts out there for the masses to ponder. You want, I’ll post your comments here as an entry on the front page. Give it a title and a by-line. You still want to be called Texas Troublemaker or you want to go with something else? Something a little newer and sexier and maybe a little more 21st century? Like maybe “Tennessee Troublemaker”? Give me the word, I’ll set you up in a column again.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
You pulled the article just to win a bet? You sly dog you! Went and contrived a plan to have the Weekly quote an article you have written? Man, that is cool; actually more than cool – it is awesome; like magnifico!
Note that magnifico word? I think it is below the border talk for super good. I used it because I am learning mexican so as to be prepared for the coming tide.
Oh, back to the Peyton Place article – Yes, as a citizen I am concerned about this latest flap involving the judiciary/law enforcement/ Bradley county governments. I haven’t lived here all my life so I am still sensitive to possible corruption and perhaps,the misuse of my tax dollars.
I note that you haven’t answered my questions or commented on my comments. Is it because your current employer is still trying to be nice to his antagonists? If so, you ought to remind him that the great majority of voters did not put him in office to be nice to anyone. We put him in there to expose, arrest and jail anyone who is corrupt, violates laws or steals public funds. As far as the current public flap, since the incident occurred in our county, I would like to see the sheriff take an active hand in getting to the bottom of this possible blackmail/retaliation charge. Maybe start the ball rolling by getting a copy of the tape, interviewing the secretary and then following the leads. Incidentally, folks at the Chattanooga paper say that they have been unable to locate the secretary. Does anyone know where she is, her name?
With regard to me having a place on the page to vent my juices – I wouldn’t mind you doing that. However, I would want it to be a place where the comment/article is posted and then folks could offer answers or explanations. Of course with someone monitoring things to keep out the nuts/trolls.
No kidding, you tricked the amateurs at the weekly into printing your article? Did fat momma or bimpo pay you for the article?
December 20th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Thursday in Peyton Place.
Golly J Michael, what is going on in this weird world? I woke up,got ready for the day and then went to the web to read the latest.
First thing I noticed was the amount of traffic you have generated on the Weekly forums. Some of that crap is as inane and trivial as what appears in bimbo’s block. Anyway, when I tried to login and make a comment of my own, I found out that I could not. Imagine that – after having been a member for years, I have apparently been banned. Can’t understand why because I haven’t posted at the Weekly for maybe two years. Have you been banned too?
I’ll touch bases later – right now I have to go do some shopping. You have any idea of what type gift would be appropriate for the child of an unwed mother and her lawyer boyfriend? I am in a giving mood today.
January 5th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Is it true that Jimmy Logan is involved in picking the cannibals replacement? At least we have someone we can trust in the selection process.
April 4th, 2010 at 8:15 am
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