Ron Price's "complete and factual account": ADMITS to stealing signs! Alleges conspiracy by Teamsters! Plus: Price's science crusade!

In case anyone believed that Yours Truly had some kind of obsession about "getting" Ron Price, bear in mind that it has now been well over six months since I've posted ANYTHING about him. And if I never did write about him again, I would have been happy. In fact, I've rather enjoyed not having anything new to write about the disgraced Rockingham County Board of Education member.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.

Here now is another chapter in the bizarre and twisted tale of...

The last time we peered into this sordid drama, Price had dropped his lawsuit against local publisher Richard Moore and his wife for trying to hold Price accountable for all the campaign signs that Price was caught stealing on the night before the 2006 election (which saw Price taking fifth place and getting the last of the new at-large seats on the board). Price said on live television on the night of the election that he had taken the signs, wrote about it on his blog and then that disappeared, before the following appeared on December 7th, 2006...

Well, it only took him about 19 months, but Ron Price has finally posted the "complete and factual account" of what happened on the night of November 6th, 2006, which caused what he called a "commotion". But instead of making it an entirely separate post, Price edited his original post where he promised to make available his "factual account" and published it THERE instead! The result signifies either very sloppy blogging skills... or perhaps a deliberate attempt to make sure that the account was buried and kept off the front page of his site.

In any case, someone found it. And guess what? Ron Price admits that he stole the signs! But not only that: Price makes it out to sound like everything that happened to him was the result of a conspiracy involving the Teamsters Union!

Price also claims that he was going to call the campaign that he was opposing, to let them know where they could find their signs (you know, the ones that he had hidden in the trunk of his car). And as if to add insult to injury, he closes out his "account" by stating a desire that the kind of shenanigans that he pulled during the last election don't happen during this election year, and kindly offers advice (including use of GPS systems) to stop this kind of behavior.

What the #%*$?!?!?

Here, read it yourself. I'm going to post it exactly as Price has it on his blog, in case he ever decides to send it down the ol' "memory hole". And remember: this account only appeared on his blog in the past week or so, in spite of the 2006 timestamp...

Thursday, December 07, 2006

As Paul Harvey would say- Now for ‘the rest of the story”

The last week in September 2006 the Business Agent of the Teamsters, Local 391, invited me along with other candidates for a screening. Because this was a scheduled school board meeting night I requested that the meeting be rescheduled which they did. The meeting was rescheduled until the following Monday, the first week of October. When I entered the union hall that evening the lobby was filled with hundreds of signs for the opponent of the candidate I was supporting. This remained in my mind as I answered the questions that were asked by the Business Agent and his colleagues. There were other candidates there that night that also saw the lobby full of these campaign signs.

November 6, 2006 while traveling home along RT 14 from Eden, I noticed that several signs for a candidate that I was supporting were missing and that signs for his opponent were now set up. As I proceeded along I observed that near the base of each sign lay a sign of the candidate I was supporting. As I backtracked several times to confirm the status of these signs I found there were dozens of signs taken down and they were lying at the foot of the newly erected signs of my candidate’s opponent. Based on the number of signs taken down and their proximity to the newly erected signs I felt it was an orchestrated act and blatant evidence of the attitude of the perpetrator(s).

As I restored my candidate’s signs to an upright position I placed the opponent’s signs in the trunk with the plan to take them to the DOT location in Wentworth and let the opponent’s campaign know that they were there. This would accomplish two things: it would delay whoever was taking down my candidates signs and putting up the opponents signs because they would have to get additional signs or go to Wentworth to retrieve the signs that had been moved. As I was getting into my car the Teamster’s Business Agent pulled up beside me yelling threats at me from his car. Because of the hostile manner I did not answer but drove on down the road. I was not going to get into a confrontation with this very hostile individual.

Deductive reasoning begs the question was the Business Agent there by coincidence? Since there was a plethora of my candidate's opponent’s signs at his facility was there some connection? Was the person who started following me, when the Business Agent turned off in communication about a handoff? If so why were they working together?

A number of people called me about similar problems they had with their signs. Relating the same type of orchestrated events. I finish this account now because we are now approaching a new election, which could be hotly contended if the same type of events surround this election as they have in the past before my arrival in Rockingham County? If there are signs pulled down or destroyed it will be an assault on good politics. They will undoubtedly be taken down during the late hours of the night in lightly traveled unlighted areas. Obviously signs are important but cannot be the highest priority for law enforcement as they are there to protect life first. If you see evidence of sign tampering and have access to a cell phone call 911 from the location, the call will be automatically routed to the respective law enforcement department. If you must wait and call from a landline, do so, however, in both cases give as much information as possible such as: the GPS location, location markers and if possible return or wait for law enforcement to arrive.

If we all keep a watchful eye and keep on the alert for any shenanigans it could make this year’s politics better in Rockingham County.

Words fail.

Also on his blog, posted in the past few days is a very strange, rambling screed against evolution being taught in schools to the detriment of creationism. If you read The Knight Shift on a regular basis you know where I stand on this issue: that neither the people behind evolution or the people behind creationism give a damn at all about children. I've no doubt that both camps are after political affluence and that's it and unfortunately as happens all too often, it's the children that are being used as weapons by both sides against each other. Personally, I do believe that God created the universe. I have a lot of problems... scientific problems, mind you... with evolution. And if it stopped right there, Price and I would be on the same page. But when he signs on to a political agenda, ignoring the fact that this is the kind of thing best left to families, religious institutions and personal inquiry, then I do feel a moral obligation to call him out on that too.

I honestly don't know what else to say. In fact, I don't know what else could possibly be said as additional commentary for this foolishness. A school board member admits to illegally removing (some would call that "theft") campaign signs and then hints that the Teamsters made him do it, then has the gall to tell the rest of us to "do as I say and not as I do" for this coming election.

And some people wonder why I've lost hope in America...