Sorry Tony D’Ambrosio, but your recent Letter to the Editor complaining about me in the wake of the recent levy failure will not keep me off the pages of the newspapers or other media that cover future school levies. I understand that as we speak many people like you who supported the Move Forward Lakota Campaign have realized that in order to force further taxation upon our community that you must neutralize me from the calculation, since facts are not your friend, and charisma is vacant among your lot. Too bad if my vitriolic rhetoric is offensive to you, because if you think you’ve heard the worst of what I can dish out in the past, see how bad it gets if your clan attempt to place another levy on the ballot. Each time I will promise the next campaign will be worse than the previous one, for this was the third time in 18 months that such a thing has been attempted, and the community has told you NO. To ignore the community’s wishes is to spit in their face, and the vitriolic rhetoric is in response to the audacity of the school system, and its radical unions to ignore those past votes and proceed on with future attempts. Such a position is an insult and deserves such language.
For those of you not acquainted with this little tiff between myself and Tony, here is the letter he wrote as it appeared in the Pulse Journal.
I make no apologies about anything stated in that so-called insulting letter. In fact, the reason I said the things I did was to irritate people like D’Ambrosio and their incessant pursuit of imposing on me, my friends in business, and my neighborhood friends more taxes. I consider it an insult that radical teacher unions control our schools and drive up the costs unnecessarily. I consider it insulting to watch our teachers attempt to go on strike as they did in 2008 over higher wages. I consider it rhetoric to disguise an obvious ploy against the taxpayers by using their children as hostages in order to capture further pay raises. When I am lied to and manipulated, it makes me angry, and I do not hold back my anger. So when a reporter asks me what I think, I tell them. When I write, I don’t hold back my thoughts.
Property taxes in the Lakota District are high. It costs approximately $1,140 per $100,000 of property assessment currently. I think that number should be reduced so that we can attract more commercial development to our district. Tax increases are a fools attempt to satisfy their own interests without any knowledge of the bigger picture. Parents who blindly lobby for higher taxes are only thinking about themselves and the children they send to the school. They have no concept of the world outside their neighborhoods. They are what make our communities bad, even though D’Ambrosio attempts to paint me as the extremist.
I’m sure to the pacifist progressive, saying the things I do seem extreme, because they are used to running over all who stand in their path and they use guilt as the weapon. They use the smiling faces of our own children against us in a radical push for ever imposing tax increases. Progressive education has taught us to be “CIVIL” when we are run over, to be kind to those who wish to slap us in the face. When a business owner in our community declares that taxes are hurting them, they are called names, boycotts are initiated, and the guilt of school pride is fully applied to extort more money from them, to silence them into a cold drink at a lonely bar, because they know they are being extorted by an entity in the school that is sold as a friend, but acts like an enemy. That is your CIVILITY! No, I’d say I have not been extreme enough. I have held back much! Believe me!
But one of my readers wanted to come to my defense, so that my temper would not erupt into a boil on epitaphs of fury onto the conduct of Tony D’Ambrosio. So I will place the letter written by one of my frequenters below and allow them to sum up wonderfully what 18,000 others are also feeling, on a movement that is just now gaining its footing. Because it’s no longer just Rich Hoffman that is saying these things, it’s beginning to be others who used to VOTE YES, and have come to learn that the smoke and mirror are hiding a betrayal yet unrealized.
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In response to the Pulse Journal Letter about Rich Hoffman:
I read with great interest, the letter from Tony D’Ambrosio, stating that the Lakota community gives too much credence to Rich Hoffman and that the Lakota community deserves better. I wonder if this levy had passed if you would feel the same way. I also have to question why the levy failure in your eyes can only be linked to Rich Hoffman, and not the notion that perhaps thousands of voters voted against it of their own free will and opinion, and I’m certain for many different reasons we can only imagine.
It makes sense that Mr. Hoffman would be quoted often in the Pulse ( just as the pro-levy “move forward” movement was quoted quite often), because these organizations consists of volunteers who take much of their free time to rally to their cause. Mr. D’Ambrosio, if you were opposed to the levy, did you take time out of your schedule and help the move forward people? Voting is a wonderful thing, but it takes more than just a vote to make a concept come alive, and I would say both sides of the issue did a very good job.
You quoted a lot of things from Rich Hoffman’s blog–and agreed, some of them were very insulting and condescending, its part and parcel of his writing style. If you don’t enjoy, I would encourage you not to read it. I find it interesting that you didn’t see fit to quote many of the other items on his blog. Facts such as the average Lakota Teacher overall compensation is $130, 219 per year. The discussion of the very public and unprofessional feuding amongst school board members. The many discussion about needing innovations in education. A very insightful discussion on what the average American makes, another on successful people who did not go to college. Even more shocking and dismaying, actual letters from community members outlining faculty misconduct by both teachers and administrators, merely swept under the rug. (and in one case, the offending teacher switched to another high school in secret–lucky for those parents!)(Threatening letters written to local businesses that do not support the levy. A letter from a teacher’s spouse outlining how now that the levy has failed, how the teachers need to work as little as possible.
I could go on and on. The point is no one person or opinion can make or break a community.
I agree Lakota deserves better……..read between the lines without prejudice and read the facts. If you still want to vote “yes”, it’s your will and it’s your right. That’s the beauty of democracy!!
Yours truly,
Loyal Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom Reader
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For the answer to everything click the link below!
Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com
The Gunfighter's Guide: 
I read the recent letter from Mr. D’Ambrosie in the Pulse. I thought at the time that he had to be vested in the system in some way. I hope someone will research just why he would feel compelled to excoriate Mr. Hoffman to such an extent.
Warrior, as you say, the union has managed to awaken a sleeping giant. People who read the facts and can’t believe the extent of the lies and fabrications of the union run levy committee. These tactics are used from north to south and east to west in virtually all school districts. Billions of dollars in union dues are extracted from every paycheck. These funds and our tax dollars are used against us. We have been complacent for far too long.
Yes, the proposed work slowdown is a union tactic. The community WILL react with anger toward the union’s self serving demands. The unions have laid the seeds for an environment of all out war. We are angry and we don’t trust anyone in the system. These past levy bouts are just the beginning skirmishes of a war that we intend to win. Our group has been researching the true facts and find your union misinformation, deceptive and malicious. Pure fabrications. Your greed and constant demands for more money, more benefits and less work are totally out of line when compared with the “real world” workforce. You teachers have been intransigent in your demands. You have put the final nail in your own coffin. We simply cannot afford you. After all, most people do not have any children in the school system. (At one time it was 70%.) Many of us are retired and on a fixed income. (A very small fixed income compared to your luxurious benefits.) Many of us have to decide if we can afford our blood pressure medication or groceries. That’s the real world. We do not have the total coverage that you enjoy. We do not have dental, eye, health etc. coverage. We have to decide if we can afford the dentist. People have to decide if they can have a bad tooth capped or pulled. Most go for the pulled because it is cheaper. Real world decisions. I know a teacher who had free braces for four kids. Only two really needed them, but what the heck – free is free. Fact Mr. D’Ambrosie. Then the district has the audacity to hire Ms. Mantia – a double dipper at an exorbitant salary and a paid consultant to dig her up. That’s chutzpah! She was from Sycamore. Maybe the board could do a little research on their own. What makes her so special? I have read some of the transcripts from superintendent candidates. Not one of them could be hired to run a multi-million dollar business. NOT ONE! They are teachers that were hand selected to move up the administrative ladder. WHY? Because they are people who are willing to lead the “change agent” philosphy that is and has changed our nation to a nation of sheep. People who want to be manipulated and used to the advantage of the “state” without blinking an eye. They are people who took special “change agent” courses and are the leaders of the Communist movement to take over our Republic. Many of you refuse to recognize the garbage your children are being fed. You were fed the same garbage, but now things are moving at a faster pace. Why do you think that our children have become so demoralized. Look in their eyes. They have everything and yet they know something is missing. They are taught to be the most self confident children in the world. The self esteem movement was part of the indoctrination. Yet, many cannot read their own diploma and sadly, are not interested in reading anything that would aid in their development. “Harry Potter” is about their limit. Check out the suggested reading list given to them for summer reading. Simply appalling! Sex and violence are the top two categories.
People please educate yourselves before it is too late. Join our fight for the survival of our country. This is not just the schools it is our Republic.
(Sorry to be so verbose, but this is critical.)
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Sandra, I think this is your best post ever. I especially like the part about the children “having everything yet knowing something is missing” and the self esteem movement. That is so true. I see it every day, as I have three kids (ages 7,9, and 12). I was just thinking the other day how the Santa/toy aspect of Christmas must not mean nearly the same thing as it did in previous generations. Now every kid seems to have an XBox, a Wii, a PS3, dozens of games, radio controlled cars, iPods, cell phones, etc. What does a few more toys on Christmas morning mean? They have everything the want and yet, as you said, something vastly more important is missing from far too many kids’ lives. It’s no wonder many turn to sex, drugs, alcohol, over eating, and gangs to fill the void.
As for the self esteem movement, I saw a study a while ago that said American kids are behind the rest of the world in almost every educational development area, but when asked how they believe they rank they consistently say near the top. I take every study with a big grain of salt, but this is one that I can see being accurate. The sad thing is that when they hit the real world when school is over and “the rubber meets the road” they find out how useless that public school education is and end up as “Occupy” protestors.
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I’m glad to know you guys. Great stuff!
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I too wondered how he could quote so many things, but yet completely avoid all the plain facts that are freely shared and explained in the blogs. I agree, perhaps Mr D is vested in some way. I’m sure he was happy about SB 5 not passing, wonder how he feels about the Middletown fire fighters losing their jobs? Weren’t we bombarded for weeks with terrifying images of noone to help us if it passed? So what happened there? lol
You said it right…..this is our future.
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actually I am grateful for the letter concerning Mr Hoffman as it alerted me that he has a website, which I promptly registered for the forum.
I am still waiting to hear about the 1900 people that voted for the levy to send in that amount to the school so the teachers can get their much needed raise. could it be that they really didnt want the levy to pass or did they just want to burden the less fortunate in the area to pay the additional tax?
we dont need to hear the whining from those supporters of the levy UNLESS they sent in the levy money as a donation- then they will have permission to complain about those that voted it down.
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And we love that you are here. People like Tony want to keep believing that everything they have invested in during all their years of life mean something. What they are learning, too late, is that they are on the wrong side. They’ve picked the wrong team. They are still wearing the jersey and their hats, but they know deep down inside that they are rooting for a team that will lose in the end. That is why they are angry.
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Thank you Phil. I always enjoy your posts too.
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