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The
Kenilworth Rat House at 12714 Kavanaugh Lane
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Greetings Friends! Welcome.
Thank you for visiting the
Bowie City Activist website at www.bowiewatch.org. Here are the highlights of this December 6, 2005 web page:
• THE
KENILWORTH “RAT HOUSE”
• JENKINS CLAMS UP OVER ETHICS ISSUES
• MORE COMMENTARY ON CITY ELECTIONS
•
DAHMS SAYS THANK YOU TO CITY VOTERS
• BOWIE BRIEFS
• MAILBAG
Let's get busy in Bowie!!!
THE KENILWORTH
“RAT HOUSE”
First, there was the “Fly House”. Then, there was the City of Bowie licensed rental property on Kembridge
Drive that is subjected to annual code compliance inspections by the City, but somehow fell through the city cracks and was
allowed to fall into disrepair with code violations. Now, there is the “Kenilworth Rat House”.
What do all three properties
have in common? All three properties are located in District 2 where 22 year veteran Jack Jenkins is allegedly our city council
representative.
A couple years ago, the Bowie Blade News ran a story about the mysterious appearance of swarms of flies
that seemed to migrate from nowhere and concentrate themselves among a block of houses in the District 2 section of Tulip
Grove. The swarms of flies were so bad that they had residents running for cover and prevented simple enjoyments such as family
cookouts and children’s outdoor play. A couple of local pest control companies offered advice. Even an expert from the University
of Maryland was called upon to help.
In retrospect, it is humorous to see how this story unfolded in the courses of
several months in the Bowie Blade News. Still no answer on the source of the flies, until one day a distressed property located
near where the flies were swarming revealed the source of the mystery!
The distressed property in Jenkins’ District
was in foreclosure (ultimately, the property went back to the note holder bank). Several investors attempting to contact the
owner prior to the foreclosure made a discovery. The owners had moved away to nearby Crofton and they learned the abandoned
house was left caked in animal feces!
Thus, the mysterious source of the flies was revealed. It became known as “the
Fly House”. The dwelling had to be completely demolished and today a new house now sits where the “Fly House” once sat among
this subdivision of 40 year old Levitt homes. At the time, some of us were asking the really hard questions: where was the
City’s Housing Department and where was District 2 Councilman Jack Jenkins since it was located in his district?
City
Manager David Deutsch was quick to point out to the Bowie Blade News that the City could not enter the inside of the property
because of Constitutional reasons. I personally found that one interesting, and people will understand why if they know my
background and what first caused me to become a city activist. The Logue/Moore/Robinson regime (Hey Moe, Hey Larry!) of the
late 1980s thought nothing of sending code enforcement into my personal residence on Kavanaugh Lane against my verbal and
written protests that it violated my Constitutional rights. The City felt my personal residence should be considered a rental
property because of the nonsensical reason that someone was living in my house temporarily not on the deed of my property.
But, a house that is a health and public safety threat (which my personal residence was neither) the city gets all concerned
about Constitutional issues. Where is Fred Robinson’s logic?
Let’s fast forward to year 2005.
In the spring
of 2005, I broke ranks with a fellow landlord and we traded letters to the editor of the Blade News regarding the condition
of his city licensed rental property located on Kembridge Drive. How it could be a city licensed rental property, be subjected
to the annual city code inspections and be in the shabby condition that it was in? It had code violations that included a
large stretch of gross black and green mildew on the siding, dilapidated guttering, chipped siding, a shattered kitchen window
in the rear of the property and rotted wood around an upstairs bedroom window trim.
Again, like the “Fly House” we
asked, “where on earth is our District 2 Councilman Jack Jenkins?”
Now, I would like to introduce the city to the Kenilworth
“Rat House” also located in Councilman Jack Jenkins’ District 2. Pictures of the “Rat House” are shown at various spots on
this webpage. This unoccupied property can be found at 12714 Kavanaugh Lane. About a year ago (maybe more), the Bowie Blade
News ran a couple of articles about rats being spotted in the Levitt section of Fox Hill (and, I don’t think the Blade News
was talking about anyone in City Hall – I’m just kidding as I had to throw that in).
When I read the Blade News headline,
and began reading the rat story, I immediately thought of the unoccupied house on Kavanaugh Lane. For you see, I once spotted
a rat on Kavanaugh Lane not far from the unoccupied 12714 Kavanaugh Lane house.
Let me tell you about the unoccupied
“Rat House” located in District 2 Councilman Jack Jenkins district.
First, here are directions to the Kenilworth Rat
House should you care to drive by the property to check it out: Coming from Bowie Town Center, precede north on Route 197
past Route 50. Turn right onto Kenhill Drive (Benjamin Tasker Middle School is a landmark). Make the first right onto Kemmerton
Lane. Follow Kemmerton Lane all the way down until it intersects with Kavanaugh Lane. Turn right onto Kavanaugh Lane, drive
all the way down Kavanaugh until you see an abandon looking house on the left hand side at 12714 Kavanaugh Lane.
It
has never been occupied since I moved on the street in 1988. Local folklore has it that it is owned by someone of Oriental
descent and that someone passed away in the property. Street legend has it that the owner considers the house to be a tomb
for the soul of the person who died in it.
In the late 1980s, I went to Land Records at the PG County Courthouse and
did a title search on the property and found the property to be owned free and clear. I contacted the owner in writing (in
Silver Spring if I remember correctly) inquiring if he would be interested in selling the property to me. I never got a response.
Here are the code violations on the property (some of the city code violations have been allowed to go uncorrected
by the City for many years):
1. Open and exposed fascia (see photo)
2. Boarded up windows
3. Stone front near
garage is broken and the black construction sheathing is exposed to the elements.
4. Garage door needs paint
5. Chipped
Levitt siding
6. Bushes and shrubs are unkept and untrimmed
7. The entire rear and right side facing the property from
the street needs paint
The rats and mice are entering the property through the original style Levitt air conditioning
unit that is located in the rear of the property. For those unfamiliar with William Levitt construction, modern air conditioning
technology has come a long way since Levitt built Belair at Bowie in the early 1960’s. The original air conditioners used
by Levitt & Sons more resembled a large window A/C unit that was installed into the structure and vented through a blower
that was housed with the furnace.
As the pictures show (scrolled all the way down and on the sides of this page),
the air conditioner has large gaping holes. This allows the rats and mice to enter the property. As a matter of confirmation,
I’ll disclose that my own residence located on the same street had a mouse problem when I first purchased the property. The
property also had the same style original Levitt air conditioner found at the rat house. When I purchased a new heating and
air conditioning system for my home, it also stopped the mouse point of entry and I never had a mouse problem again.
The
chipped siding at various spots on the structure exposes the wood frame allowing another entry point for the mice and rats
to enter the property.
The fact the house is unoccupied does not negate the requirement that the house have operational
windows. The house must have operational windows unobstructed by the boards regardless of whether or not it is occupied. In
other words, the unoccupied status of the property is irrelevant.
“We lack city council representation in Kenilworth”,
said a Kenilworth neighbor who asked not to be identified. "How can the city allow this property to go uncorrected for so
long?"
I challenge the City of Bowie, Mayor Robinson and the alleged District 2 minority elected Councilman Jack
Jenkins to prove this is not a “Rat House” of similar condition as the now infamous “Fly House”.
Additionally, I will
point out to the public that this city activist is the only activist who made a public issue in letters to the editor of the
Bowie Blade News published in May 2005 that asked the really hard question: How is Robinson going to handle a real police
force when city law is so blatantly violated right under the city’s nose – and our “peeled paint police” can’t even see it
for years? Frankly, do you want a city police force like our city’s code enforcement office that allows the Rat House, the
Fly House and the Kembridge rental house go on for years with uncorrected code violations?
Fred Robinson has never
shown he can handle code enforcement correctly. What makes us think he can handle a police force correctly?
EDITORS
NOTE: At press time, it has been learned that the open fascia photographed in early November, 2005 has been corrected. It
is my understanding based on conversations with people in the community that a complaint was filed with the City’s Code office
sometime in November between the time I took the photo and the publication of this page of the BCA.
JENKINS CLAMS UP
OVER ETHICS ISSUES
Barely into the second month of the newly elected city council, have the ethics issues that surround
embattled District 2 Councilman Jack Jenkins continue to follow him. There are unanswered questions from the Jenkins re-election
campaign, and Treasurer Connie Jenkins reply e-mail has raised even new unanswered questions. The Jenkins re-election campaign
has clammed up either because Mrs. Jenkins is afraid to respond or possibly because their attorneys have told them not to
respond. This is not good for the public’s right to know, and Mr. Jenkins has certainly put a dark cloud over his narrow minority
re-election.
I am publishing here the Jenkins ethics issue e-mails and will make comment at the end:
Good
morning Mrs. Jenkins,
I have added my committee members to the blind distribution of this e-mail message.
I
did not see a reply answer to my very simple question contained in my e-mail forwarded below dated Monday, November 07, 2005
1:37 PM. My very simple question was re-requested in my e-mail of Tuesday, November 8, 2005 4:33AM.
It should take
you less than a moment to reply. Unless of course, there is a reason why you are afraid to reply with an answer, or that you
have been advised by your attorney not to respond (which is OK, although at least have the simple common courtesy to say my
attorney advises me not to reply).
Again stated, here is the simple question:
• Can you clarify which individual
or individual(s) are responsible for the weekly review (pun intended) of your Bowie Blade columns? Please identify all individual(s)
who have a hand in the review your work products before they go to weekly publication.
Mrs. Jenkins, is it possible
that the answer to my very simple question which you seem to be avoiding; could an answer possibly be Blade News Editor John
Rouse? Could it possibly be Blade News Editor John Rouse? You have to admit, Mrs. Jenkins, no other city politician (past
or present) over the past 13 years has enjoyed the very same equal access to the mind of this very important man of Bowie,
the man who sets himself up as judge of who does more for Bowie, Blade News Editor John Rouse?
Of course, your reply
message of Monday, November 07, 2005 11:20 AM forwarded below opens up another possibility. Perhaps the reverse situation
is occurring. And, Aunt Agatha makes a big deal about Reggie Wood. That situation is nothing (and, I do mean nothing) compared
to your situation with the Blade News. See www.bowiewatch.org for details.
Think through what the reverse situation
of this obvious conflict of interest might be. It is not very pretty, is it? We might need to use “stick figures” for Rouse
to understand (John, I hope you heeded my advice about keeping your superiors informed at Capital Gazette newspapers).
By
the way, my comment about figuring out why incumbents always win and why challengers always lose applies to the years I studied
from 1988 to 2002 before the city’s crooked election system was partially fixed under a legal threat by the NAACP. Incidentally,
your husband Jack Jenkins was on the City Council during those years, 1988 to 2002, wasn’t he?
To figure this puzzle
out, I used the very same skills I acquired while earning my MBA where I analyzed complex employment data, built a linear
statistical model of the stochastic nature, and wrote my business research paper, “Income Differences between Men and Women
in Iowa”. By the way, your husband’s chief opponent, Diane M. Polangin, has been a very vocal advocate for equal pay between
men and women. I’m sure you would agree, I don’t want you, or my daughter or any other woman earning less than any man doing
the very same job, all other variables held constant.
Oh, and did you notice Mrs. Jenkins that there are no women
represented on the new City Council? Isn’t that odd? Did you notice that Mrs. Jenkins?
Please reply to my very simple
question Monday, November 07, 2005 1:37 PM.
I am leaving this campaign contribution and ethics issue (Issue #3) as
an open item pending your response to my very simple question.
I have additional campaign finance issues with the
Jenkins campaign yet undisclosed. I will be taking your final treasurer’s report to my attorneys for their review. Thanks!
Richard
Thought
of the day: “Perception is Reality”. I repeat, “Perception is Reality”.
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard
A. Dahms [mailto:richarddahms@comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 4:33 AM
To: 'Richard A. Dahms'; 'Triad';
'David Deutsch'; 'Pam Fleming'
Cc: 'cab2@erols.com'; 'Dennis Brady'; 'Dennis Brady'; 'geefred1@aol.com'; 'D. Michael Lyles';
'Kurt Kroemer'; 'Gail Booker Jones'; 'bookerjones4bowie@yahoo.com'; 'James Golato'; 'jrouse@bladenews.com'
Subject: RE:
Campaign Contributions & Ethics Issues (Issue #3)
Good morning Mrs. Jenkins,
I did not see a reply answer to
my very simple question. I don't know if you received my reply e-mail yesterday so I am forwarding it out to you again. See
my e-mail forwarded below dated Monday, November 07, 2005 1:37 PM.
It should take you less than a moment to reply,
unless of course you feel the need to run your answer by an attorney.
I finally figured out why incumbents always win
and challengers always lose in Bowie. Since you have inside access (that others do not have) to the Bowie Blade News, check
out the history of city election results going back to 1988. Sort the results between Incumbent (I) and Challenger (C).
You
are more than welcome to throw out of your research my 1992 and 1998 campaigns since I know your bosses/cronies Mr. Rouse
& Mr. Robinson consider me a "publicity seeker" not worthy to live in Bowie - my hometown of 45 years.
By the way,
I don't know if you caught it in other e-mails, but I financed my own campaigns. I put my own money where my mouth is. Logue/Robinson/Jenkins
& others put "other peoples' money" where their mouths are. In the case of Mr. Rouse, he puts Capital Gazette's money where
his mouth is. Do you understand the difference?
Please reply to my very simple question Monday, November 07, 2005 1:37
PM.
I am leaving this campaign contribution and ethics issue (Issue #3) as an open item pending your response to my
question. I have additional campaign finance issues with the Jenkins campaign yet undisclosed. Thanks!
Richard
-----Original
Message-----
From: Richard A. Dahms [mailto:richarddahms@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 1:37 PM
To:
'Triad'; 'David Deutsch'; 'Pam Fleming'
Cc: 'cab2@erols.com'; 'Dennis Brady'; 'Dennis Brady'; 'geefred1@aol.com'; 'D. Michael
Lyles'; 'Kurt Kroemer'; 'Gail Booker Jones'; 'bookerjones4bowie@yahoo.com'; 'James Golato'; 'jrouse@bladenews.com'
Subject:
RE: Campaign Contributions & Ethics Issues (Issue #3)
Mrs. Jenkins,
Thank you for your e-mail message. Before
I provide a more broader response to you with my committee on the blind distribution to witness, can you clarify which individual
or individual(s) are responsible for the weekly review (pun intended) of your Bowie Blade columns? Please identify all individual(s)
who have a hand in the review your work products before they go to weekly publication.
I am leaving this campaign
contribution and ethics issue as an open item pending your response to my question. Thanks!
Richard
-----Original
Message-----
From: Triad [mailto:triad3@visi.net]
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 11:20 AM
To: Richard A. Dahms;
'David Deutsch'; 'Pam Fleming'
Cc: cab2@erols.com; 'Dennis Brady'; 'Dennis Brady'; geefred1@aol.com; 'D. Michael Lyles';
'Kurt Kroemer'; 'Gail Booker Jones'; bookerjones4bowie@yahoo.com; 'James Golato'; jrouse@bladenews.com
Subject: Re: Campaign
Contributions & Ethics Issues (Issue #3)
Mr. Dahms:
I have been made aware of your November 6, 2005 e-mail to
the City Manager and City Clerk with widely disseminated copies in which you state your belief that, in my role as campaign
Treasurer, I falsely certified the October 25, 2005 Jenkins for Council financial report.
Apparently, you have based
your belief on two erroneous allegations:
A failure to assign "value" to the "employment relationship Ms. Jenkins enjoys
with the Bowie Blade Newspaper," and
A failure to assign the "value of the campaign endorsement by the Blade News."
Please
be advised of the following facts:
I have no "employment relationship" with the Bowie Blade-News. My writing partner
and I have written the "Reel Opinions" column in the Bowie Blade-News for nearly 13 years as a source of personal enjoyment
and public
service. We have neither been on the Bowie Blade-News payroll for this service nor have we asked for or received
compensation for this service.
As Treasurer, I certified the Jenkins for Council financial report as of October 25,
2005. The Bowie Blade-News endorsement, dated October 27, 2005, was on news stands on the evening of October 26, 2005. Even
if the premise were accepted, which it is not, that assigning a value to an endorsement is appropriate and standard practice,
it would have been impossible for me to
so certify in meeting the October 25, 2005 financial report filing deadline, two
days prior to the endorsement.
Mrs. Constance (Connie) Jenkins
Richard Dahms Comments: Campaign Treasurer and
Blade News movie critic Mrs. Jenkins never responded to my very simple follow-up question. By the way, I have noticed an increasing
tendency of our public city officials to fail answering very simple questions. In this case, Ms. Jenkins as Treasurer for
Councilman Jenkins. As already stated by me elsewhere, the first issue is no other candidate in the past 13 years has had
the same EQUAL ACCESS into the mind of the important man of Bowie John Rouse as Jack and Connie Jenkins. That is one issue
and I will bet Ms. Jenkins did not answer my very simple question because the answer is John Rouse.
The second issue
is much more serious. As I said elsewhere, if Mrs. Jenkins weekly writing is not an employment situation, then it is fair
game to ask if the Blade News relationship is the reverse situation.
One would have to wonder if Councilman Bill Aleshire
would have received better editorial treatment and be given a political endorsement from the Blade News if his wife Clara
had written free weekly library book review columns for the newspaper during the past 13 years.
The second issue is
the perception that a barter agreement exists between the Jenkins and the Bowie Blade News – free weekly movie review columns
in exchange for political endorsements. It amazes me that Mr. Rouse cannot see this conflict of interest.
As predicted
on the November 7, 2005, the BCA repeats his prediction that Jack Jenkins will not be able to finish his term. The Council
will try to keep him on until the time allowed so a special election won't be needed and a council appointment can be made
to replace him. Councilman Jenkins will cite health reasons for steping down, but BCA readers will know the real truth.
If Jack Jenkins had any integrity left, he would resign now.
Interestingly, the Connie Jenkins weekly movie
review column did not appear in its usual Entertainment space spot in the “On the Road” section for the December 1, 2005 edition.
It was replaced by an article written by David Emmanuel. Whether this is a one-time vacation from publication or an attempt
by the Blade News to correct the obvious conflict of interest, time will tell. Obviously, its too late to correct the conflict
of interest for the 2005 city elections.
MORE COMMENTARY ON CITY ELECTIONS
On the November 14, 2005 BCA page,
I gave my commentary on the Bowie City Elections for 2005. In addition to the comments I made earlier, I would like to add
the following comments:
• Prior to the city election on November 8, 2005, the city north of route 50 was under represented
on the City Council. The three At-Large seats (the Mayor’s seat is an at large seat) all resided in South Bowie. This was
a result of the “Hybrid” election system that Robinson came up with in response to the NAACP legal threat of the old citywide
system. Arguably, Jack Jenkins has under represented District 2 and there was a vacancy in District 1. North Bowie has been
under represented on the City Council for the past 3 1/2 years following Robinson’s scheme to extend his incumbency. With
Kevin Conroy’s election, North Bowie now has At-large representation.
• Kevin Conroy’s election numbers were very
good for his inaugural city election. His election numbers beat long time incumbents Dennis Brady and Bill Aleshire. I believe
this sets Kevin Conroy up as one possible successor to Mayor Robinson should Conroy choose to go in that direction.
•
Like others, I use to think Councilman Dennis Brady was a possible successor to Mayor Robinson as the next mayor of Bowie.
I no longer think so. We’ve learned a lot about the waffling Dennis Brady in the recent 1 ½ years. The first indication was
Brady’s taking public recognition at the C&C Dance Company’s Bowie State University dance recital for saving C&C Dance, when
in fact it was not saved! That was very mis-leading. Then, the waffling Dennis Brady could not make a decision on which Council
race to enter in 2005. He considered running for mayor, the District 4 seat and then decided to run for his at-large seat.
Brady did not have the conviction to challenge Mayor Robinson as Councilman Paul Ellington did in 2002. Isn’t that one of
the reasons why we have At-large seats? Don’t the At-Large seats naturally become one possible avenue of mayoral succession?
Mr. Brady valued his Maryland Municipal League position more and decided to run for the safest seat that would assure his
re-election and retain his MML status. Brady didn’t have the conviction to put his mayoral aspirations into action and challenge
Robinson as Paul Ellington did. Ellington did very well in 2002 coming within 600 votes of Robinson. Brady might have won
the mayor’s seat in 2005 had he had the conviction, and now his long held mayoral aspirations may never happen.
•
I would again point out that the John Rouse Blade News endorsement of Brady & Jenkins together. This is a significant departure
from previous Blade News political endorsements.
DAHMS SAYS THANK YOU TO CITY VOTERS
I would like to thank the
city voters who expressed their conscience and who took the time to write my name in for mayor of Bowie. Your vote of confidence
is greatly appreciated. I made an assessment that the race for Mayor in 2005 is not a level playing field. Why John Rouse
and Fred Robinson would think that I would compete on an un-level playing field is beyond me. They must think I am stupid.
The Greater Bowie Chamber of Commerce (GBCC) with its “State of the City” address held right BEFORE the city election
to bolster Mayor Robinson in the Bowie Blade News a week before elections is a good example. As pointed out before on this
website, the US President addresses the US Congress with the “State of the Union” a couple months AFTER elections. But in
Bowie, the Chamber of Commerce and the Bowie Blade News hosts the event immediately BEFORE elections to provide support for
the incumbent Mayor.
It’s funny from my vantage point as I first became aware of this ploy by the GBCC working in
collusion with the Blade News way back in 1992 when I first ran for Mayor. The GBCC did not even invite this 1992 Mayor challenger
to re-but Mayor Logue or to even speak. It is even funnier because when Mayor Robinson and Blade News writer/crony Gerard
Devlin devised their scheme to alter our city elections because Robinson was receiving too much political competition, the
GBCC also altered the “State of the City” address to coincide with the new election cycle.
Please see my final letter
to the editor of the Bowie Blade News in response to Aunt Agatha for my explanation why I did not run for mayor in 2005.
In
each of the Bowie city elections that I have participated in (1992, 1998, 2005), this flamboyant city activist has set city
election records in each:
• In 1992, the people of Bowie honored my “Citizens for New City Management” campaign running
against 10 year incumbent Mayor Richard Logue with 1,475 votes. It set a city record for the largest vote a mayoral challenger
ever received against an incumbent Bowie Mayor up until that time. In preparation for the 1992 election campaign, I began
making requests of the City under the Maryland Public Information Act and the Code of Bowie to inspect certain city financial
records. The Logue/Moore/Robinson regime stonewalled my requests for access to the city’s financial records and I hired the
prestigious Baltimore law firm Venable, Howard and Baejter to represent me with the city. Venable attorney James L. Shea wrote
the landmark March 1992 letter a month before the 1992 city election. He is the same elections attorney whom I counseled with
again in 1998 following an election incident involving Fred Robinson and most recently within the past month regarding the
2005 elections. City manager Charles Moore announced his resignation four months later while I was making the financial preparations
to file a substantial lawsuit against the City within the time allowed by the state statute of limitations. Following Moore’s
resignation, Mayor Richard Logue announced he would not seek re-election in 1994.
• In 1998, “Citizens For Dahms98”
turned the 1998 mayoral contest into a three way race raising the issue that the City of Bowie was not receiving its fair
share of state and county resources, and hoping if I was not successful myself that I would take enough votes away from Fred
Robinson so Betsy Burian would be elected Mayor of Bowie. The 1998 mayoral contest was the closest mayoral contest in modern
Bowie history with Fred Robinson narrowly achieving election with 50.4% of the vote. This candidate (along with city candidate
Doug Peters) was the first to use a website and internet technology in a Bowie city election. In contrast to my 1992 campaign,
I also set another city record receiving the fewest votes by a Bowie mayoral candidate on the ballot. I publicly thanked 290
city voters in a letter to the editor of the Bowie Blade News.
• In 2005, following a 3 1/12 year absence of city
elections in Bowie as a result of Mayor Fred Robinson and his crony Blade News writer Judge Gerard Devlin (John Rouse, did
I spell his name right this time?) self serving scheme to avoid city voters following Robinson’s narrow election in 1998 (50.4%)
and the subsequent aggressive mayoral challenges by Michael McArdle and Councilman Paul Ellington, I again set city election
records without my name even appearing on the city’s election ballot. This Bowie City Activist is the first website in Bowie
history to provide “blog coverage” of a city election with its periodic updates at www.bowiewatch.org. Potential litigation
involving mis-conduct in the 2005 city election is attorney/confidential. Additionally, if the Bowie Star numbers are correct,
I am claiming the 13 write-in votes that I received for mayor to be the highest mayoral write in vote ever received by a write
in candidate for mayor of Bowie!
Again, I thank the city voters who wrote in my name. I continue to be the city’s
alternative independent voice of reason, a voice crying out in the wilderness of public confusion in my hometown of 45 years,
or as one BCA letter writer wrote, a city maverick.
BOWIE BRIEFS
- Several days before the city election, I
was on the streets waiving to passing motorists at the corner of routes 197 and Kenhill Drive with my “Stop City Lawsuit/Save
C&C Dance” sign. A woman in her vehicle stopped at the traffic light rolled down her window and said to me, “I went to that
SCHOOL when I was a child” (emphasis on “school” mine). And Mayor Robinson, Councilman Brady and the minority councilman representative
Jack Jenkins don’t think the C&C Dance Company is an educational institution in compliance with the land covenants? Go figure!
- One of the greatest joys I receive is spending time with my Kenilworth Elementary School community. Recently, on a very
beautiful fall Saturday, a group of volunteers including yours truly spent the day doing clean-up on the school grounds raking
leaves and cleaning up trash. Our PTA president provided a much needed trimming of the bushes in front of the school. A good
time was had by all. We are pleased and blessed to have Kenilworth Elementary serving our community.
- As mentioned
on an earlier BCA page, I cancelled The Dahms Group, LLC membership in the Greater Bowie Chamber of Commerce (GBCC). The Chamber,
in an act of discrimination, denied placing my cancellation advertisement notice that I published here on the BCA website
in their newsletter. Most recently, I received a letter from member attorney Benjamin Woolery stating my membership dues would
not be re-imbursed because its’ not their policy to do so per the Chamber’s by-laws. To Mr. Woolery, I would say I really
don’t care what your by-laws read. The incestuous relationship between the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Bowie have
hurt political competition as evidence by the mayor running unopposed this year for the first time in modern Bowie history.
Furthermore, the Chamber’s by-laws do not discuss unethical acts by Officers of the Chamber that would cause a member (or,
at least this member) to cancel membership. From my independent outside vantage point, there appears to be a very incestuous
relationship that has developed between the City of Bowie, certain members of the Bowie City Council and the Greater Bowie
Chamber of Commerce. This incestuous relationship goes beyond the normal boundaries of a city government lobby.
-
Related to the last Bowie Brief item regarding the GBCC, I spoke with a prominent Bowie politician who by chance I ran into
at the Bowie Town Center Starbucks and is a reader of the Bowie City Activist. I respect this individual highly and continue
to do so. However, he made a comment to me that City Manager Mr. Deutsch's clarification that the Council did not approve
spending city money outside of the city limits meant the BCA was wrong. Not so as it relates to Councilman Jenkins! It was
Councilman Jenkins who did all those verbal cartwheels to support spending city money to benefit GBCC members located outside
of the City’s corporate city limits. Fortunately, the rest of the Council had the sense to not let that happen.
-
A grassroots watch dog group is organizing to focus on the implementation of a Bowie Police department. The BCA supports the
creation of this watch dog group. With Bowie under Fred Robinson being one of the highest taxed cities in America without
a local police force, this watch dog group is very necessary. A mayor who will throw away $72,600 attacking a reputable dance
studio, will think nothing of implementing a police force in the least cost efficient manner possible causing your city taxes
to grow even further. The watch dog group is just now getting organized, needs a name and needs more volunteers. Here is a
chance to serve Bowie. If interested in being on the ground floor of this activist effort, please e-mail me at richarddahms@comcast.net
and I will put you in contact with the organizers.
- In order to prepare the Bowie City Activist website for future
Commercial development, and to avoid the potential of being victimized by internet piracy and clones, The Dahms Group, LLC
announces that it has procured additional domain names and extensions that are similar to www.bowiewatch.org.
- As
I write this edition of BCA, I am also listening to Channel 4’s public service program Viewpoint hosted by Joe Krebs. The
topic of this program is raising awareness about the condition of children and outreaching to parents and the challenges of
child rearing. The guests are the Executive Director of Covenant House Washington, the Executive Director of Building Bridges
across the River, Inc. and Washington City Councilman Vincent Gray representing Ward 7. The Executive Director of Building
Bridges mentioned their afternoon DANCE PROGRAM (emphasis mine) as an outreach to children to keep them off the streets and
doing something educational and productive. I wanted to send Joe Krebs and his guests on the Channel 4 Viewpoint public service
program information about our three stooges in Bowie (Robinson/Brady/Jenkins) who have wasted $72,600 attempting to evict
the C&C Dance Company.
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MAILBAG
Letters to the BCA can be sent to richarddahms@comcast.net.
Please indicate whether or not you want your name to be published.
CLEAN BOWIE. Richard, help keep bowie clean, adopt
a street well, I adopted a street last year through the county adopt a road program Old Chapel Road, From RT 197 to Racetrack
Road you are only suppose to clean 4 times a year, at the rate I am going, I believe I am so many years ahead it is unbelievable.
But, I do enjoy the numerous thanks you, and nice interaction with the citizens. I even planted a small flower garden anyhow,
have a good day.
Mike Rogers
COUNCIL PROCLAMATION HONORING THE C&C DANCE COMPANY. I sure hope Cheryl told the
Mayor and the Council to stick the award where the sun doesn't shine.
BIASED BOWIE BLADE? Hopefully, the Blade (maybe
the “Bowie Butterknife” is a better name?) will print unbiased information or a real story.
RD Comments: The Bowie
Blade News is not an independent news source in Bowie. It is considered an important communications arm of the City Council
and city administration. I have plenty of examples of this fact observed over the years, but Mr. Rouse interjecting himself
with his email of Sat 11/5/2005 8:12 PM and published on this website during my communications with the city regarding the
campaign finance and ethics issues is the best most recent example of this truth. Another recent example of this truth is
the November 23, 2005 edition of the Bowie Blade News. In that edition, you will find the Mayor’s View column printed on the
opinion/editorial page A8 listed under the large heading “Commentary”. This is the space where the “less esteemed” editor
John Rouse’s commentaries are usually found. In the November 23, 2005 edition, Mayor Robinson’s “Mayor’s View” column replaced
Mr. John Rouse’s normal print space spot. It’s very subtle, but this discerning reader noticed it.
So people fully
understand the Bowie Blade News is the official publication of the incumbents where the most favored incumbents are celebrated.
Discerning readers of the Blade News could figure out that Bill Aleshire in recent years was not a favored incumbent. Perhaps
if Mr. Aleshire’s wife wrote a weekly free column for the Blade News like Mrs. Jenkins does, Mr. Aleshire might have received
better press treatment from the Blade News.
FIGHTER. You sure are a great fighter for what you feel is right. I do
admire you for that.
RD Comments: Thank you for your kind words. As I once told Blade News writer Cheryl Allison during
an interview in 1998, I grew up on the streets of Bowie. As I learned on the streets of Bowie, when someone picks a fight
with you, you fight! When the Logue/Moore/Robinson regime raped my Constitutional rights in the late 1980s sending code enforcement
into my personal residence against my verbal and written protests, I gave the city a damn good fight. Because I didn’t take
the rape like a good city boy, people like Fred Robinson label me as “someone with a grudge” or a “malcontent”. That is an
outright lie. I could personally relate to the plight of the C&C Dance Company, and I will continue my public advocacy for
the rights of the business until either 1) the C&C Dance Company is saved; or 2) the owners personally ask me to stop my public
advocacy.
The more I investigated Robinson’s attack on the C&C Dance Company, and read the existing land covenants,
the more I found my first instincts were correct - that this is yet another Fred Robinson screw-up, only this time it has
cost city taxpayers $72,600 attempting to evict a reputable dance school with 1,000 students. Mayor Robinson doesn’t care
about your tax dollars – it’s not his money at risk!
Does anyone believe if Fred Robinson or Dennis Brady had to personally
pay the $72,600 in tax money they have wasted on the attack of C&C Dance, they would do so? Of course not!
The owners
of the C&C Dance Company fronts at risk the capital of operating and managing the dance education business. The landlord,
MIE (or now known as St. John’s Properties) fronts at risk its own capital and financing to operate and develop the Melford
property. The only players in the City of Bowie vs. MIE Properties saga that doesn’t have any of their own money at risk is
- Fred Robinson, Dennis Brady and minority District 2 representative Jack Jenkins! These three cowards use taxpayers’ money
to finance their litigation!
Professionally, I learned to be a fighter in the business world from my MCI Communications
Corporation experience. In the 1980s, I sat in the United States Federal Court of Chicago with MCI founder and Chairman William
G. McGowan during the re-trial of the financial damages in the largest private Anti-trust litigation in American business
history up until that time, MCI vs. AT&T. Small upstart MCI had to fight for its right to exist and Bill McGowan persevered
fighting the world’s largest corporation, AT&T and the former Bell Operating Companies. I could write a book on the lies of
the monopolists and how they tried to kill MCI and put us out of business. They aren't any different than the political monopoly
liars we have here in Bowie. However, David can still beat Goliath!
I learned many things while employed by MCI in
its corporate headquarters for much of my adult life - some of which apply right here in Bowie if you read my final letter
to the editor of the Blade News.
FINANCE WEENIES. Let's hear it for the MBAs and MBA types. Hip hip hooray!
James
Golato
ROUSE. Will you be sending around what John Rouse wrote to you?
RD Comments: I have received several
inquires. I have sent it out on e-mail and I’ve also posted it here at the website.
SIGN DESECRETION? What were you
"allegedly" doing with Mr. Rouse’s signs?
RD Comments: I scotched taped the BCA website business cards to the Blade
News reserved parking signs at the “Dennis” Brady building. I wanted to get Mr. Rouse’s attention to look at the website and
find where I predicted Mr. Rouse would let his personal and business relationships with Jack and Connie Jenkins to interfere
with his objectivity and editorial responsibilities. I was also hoping Mr. Rouse would read the Mailbag letter on the September
3, 2005 BCA page.
A GOOD GIGGLE! Thanks (for forwarding John Rouse’s e-mail of Sat 11/5/2005 8:12 PM). It amounts
to my giggle for the day!
MORE ON ROUSE. (John) Rouse’s reply is laughable! What has he ever done for Bowie other than
his day job at the Blade which he gets paid to do?
OOOOPS! Aunt Gabby misspelled the name of the game. It’s called
“Bunco” not “Bonko”.
LETTERS TO THE BLADE NEWS. Richard, are you really going to quit writing letters to the Blade?
Are you going to fall back into the crowd?
RD Comments: I bid farewell to the Blade News and I will not be writing
any more letters to the editor until they have cleaned-up their business and editorial ethics act, and become a little more
independent as we would expect a hometown newspaper to be. I have been writing letters to the editor since the late 1980s
following the assault on my civil and constitutional rights by the Logue/Moore/Robinson regime. I retire from letter writing
with the lifetime achievement of the Blade News’ all time letter writer ahead of Pastor B. Sison and the late Harris Berman.
Most uniquely, Mr. Berman wrote his final letter posthumously published a week or so after he died (and, even announced that
he was now dead in his letter!).
I will not be falling back into the crowd because I will be working on upgrading
the BCA website in the next few months and will continue writing for my own local media outlet – this website. I would like
to say again the community receives better and more objective reporting from the competing Bowie Star.
SIGNS! SIGNS!!
EVERYWHERE SIGNS!!! Hi Richard, I just wanted to add to the comments made about campaign signs... that from the moment I had
all my signs out they started disappearing. I have replaced many signs up to four times. I can’t continue to keep replacing
signs. As the candidates and everyone who reads the paper knows, I have the smallest budget of any of the candidates in my
district. My campaign is mostly self-financed. So this disappearance of my signs has put a serious hurt on me.
At first,
I thought it was vandals, and then I thought it was pranksters during the homecoming celebrations, and finally I thought it
may be Halloween mischief or the combination of all three combined. But when I started getting frequent numerous calls from
people telling me that my campaign signs were missing from their lawn while other campaign signs started popping up (sometimes
on the same property without permission of the landowner) adjacent to where mine were, the timing and frequency started making
me have serious doubts that it was only vandals. I understand that some things are coincidental, but when the same coincidences
occur repeatedly, they no longer appear to be coincidental.
Who is doing this? Why do people do this? Why can’t people
just let everything be and let the best candidate win? If this is done by someone who wants to stir up controversy between
the candidates why don’t they get some courage, become a candidate and stir up things in a legitimate manner.
I believe
people who run for office are altruistic in nature and therefore I refuse to believe that any candidate would go to such devious
measures. Maybe I am naive, being new to politics. Even though 70% of my signs are missing, and I am a serious threat to other
candidates, I refuse to believe that either of them are of the character that would do such a thing and I would never point
fingers to anyone. Like Diane, I also went to City Hall and asked if they had any of my signs and I was told that they did
not have any. I do not know where al our signs are going. Could there be a great big sign heaven in the sky?
James
Golato
RD Comments: Jim, I know how you feel and I share your frustration. In 1998, a friend of mine whose backyard
fence faces highly traffic visible Northview Drive allowed my campaign to staple 8 “Dahms Mayor” signs along his prominent
fence. Every night, these signs were taken down (and, causing damage to my friends’ prominent fence). It became a daily routine
during the campaign of going to Northview Drive in the morning to re-staple 8 new replacement signs along the fence. But,
I didn’t whine about it like Dennis Brady did during his comments at the swearing in ceremony earlier this month.
In
my case involving the prominent Northview Drive fence, I suspect double agent man Jack the Boozer knows something about it.
If there is a "sign heaven", then I'm sure you will find some "Dahms Mayor" signs there.
KUDOS. As usual, a superb
job on the BCA newsletter. I sure wish it had a wider circulation. More people need to see what is really happening in Bowie.
I do enjoy reading the BCA. Keep up the great journalism.
THANKS. Richard, Forgot to send you a note last week. Thanks
for your kind words in the latest Activist. I hope to live up to my promise to the residents of the 3rd District and the City
of Bowie.
Todd
Todd M. Turner
Council Member
City of Bowie - 3rd District
P.O. Box 2253
Bowie, MD
20718-2253
www.turnerforcouncil.org
todd@turnerforcouncil.org
(301) 785-0487
"Leadership, Dignity & Vision
for a United Bowie"
RD Comments: Todd, congratulations on your election. You worked hard and you ran a good model campaign.
Your election ousted Gail Booker Jones. I appreciated your kind words for Gail on the evening of your swearing in ceremony.
I would ask that you remember your fiduciary responsibility as a city council member. Unlike the old guard, Fred Robinson
and Jack Jenkins in particular, please remember who you represent – you represent the citizens and not the city administration.
I know Gail understood her fiduciary responsibility.
In fact, the ones who move up to the next level from the Bowie
City Council – Leo Green Sr., Audrey Scott and Doug Peters come immediately to my mind – understand the importance of constituent
service and fiduciary responsibility. People like Fred Robinson, who twice ran unsuccessfully for County Council during the
1990s in a predominantly Bowie County Council district running against Greenbelt’s Richard Castaldi (now a Bowie resident)
– the very same seat successfully attained by Audrey Scott and now held by Doug Peters – fail to learn that constituent service
really does matter. I don’t think Fred Robinson ever learned the value of constituent service despite his many years on the
City Council. I believe this is why he failed to move up to the next level of government legislative service with his two
unsuccessful bids for County Council. I found Richard Castaldi to be very constituent oriented as well as Audrey and Doug
after him.
Best wishes to you on your success as City Councilman representing District 3.
--------------
The
Bowie City Activist can be reached at richarddahms@comcast.net.
Have fun in Bowie land! Until next time, this is your
Bowie City Activist,
Richard
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Gaping
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