OPINION: Commissioner Raymond "Joe" Haynes

 











Mark Halburn's Vendetta Continues

Joe Haynes is being harassed. And one man is connected to all of it: Domestic terrorist Mark Vance Halburn. 

For years Halburn has had a vendetta against Putnam County Commissioner Joe Haynes.

Halburn has also harassed Haynes' wife, Karen, going so far as to call her "a bitch." He also stalks them at every opportunity he can find.
Why?

It stems from Haynes and the County Commission's refusing Halburn's demands to buy his second ex-wife's overpriced house next to the Hurricane Walmart.

Halburn's latest screed manages to repeat the same old shit he's been bitching about for years and twisting the truth to suit himself, as usual.

Let's take a look.

 

Halburn railed endlessly about the condition of the old shelter and now that the new shelter is under construction he is still complaining.

The old shelter was an unsanitary small temporary building built almost 30 years ago and was in poor condition.

Halburn complained that the construction costs were having to be raised privately, but  when the Commission voted to commit $2.3 million to the project, he complained about that too.

Karen Haynes helped spearhead the raising of more than $200,000 for the new center, and also worked to acquire a parcel of land from the State of West Virginia valued at $120,000, hundreds of thousands of dollars that taxpayers of Putnam County won't have to spend.

Combined with historically low bond rates, taxpayers will save hundreds of thousands of dollars more. And donations are still being accepted at The First State Bank, in Teays Valley.

He also complained endlessly about the annual Dog Swim, used to raise funds for that project.

Now he calls the new construction "gold plated"
 

Gold plated? Not hardly.

The new Animal Shelter will have twice the capacity of the old one, a surgical suite, visitation rooms and room for expansion in the future. Not extravagant. Not fancy. Certainly not "gold plated."

Halburn pretends to be an animal lover, but when he was living at his 2nd ex-wife's house, he allowed his dog to roam loose, where he was a hazard to drivers in Walmart's parking lot. He later abandoned the dog and moved to South Carolina after his 2nd ex wife had him evicted from her house. The dog eventually had to be euthanized.

"El Oroso"

Halburn also struck and injured a dog in Hurricane with his car and then had the nerve to go to the owner's house and demand that the owner pay for some alleged damage to Halburn's car. Damage Halburn didn't "discover" until hours after he struck the animal.

It's clear Mark Hallburn has blisters on his fat ass from riding the fence on this matter. There's also a word for what he's doing here: hypocrisy. 

You may have seen the new Valley Park addition. Halburn objects to that too.

The county bought 5.6 acres of land adjacent to Valley Park for $735,000. That money was taken from Tax Increment Financing funds. The fund is made up of money from growth in property taxes from a specific area of Teays Valley set aside several years ago for infrastructure improvements. Exactly the type of project the fund was set up for. No debt was created. In land hungry Teays Valley, when a piece of property becomes available that's adjacent to a park, you don't want to let that slip through your fingers.

An additional $1.4 million was spent for the actual construction of an additional t-ball field, soccer field, a much needed replacement for the maintenance building (oddly enough, the old one burned in 2009. Where was Halburn?), and a long overdue new entrance to the park. 

What Halburn calls "a costly "one room schoolhouse" (frame only)" is in reality a large picnic shelter modeled after the old one-room schoolhouse in Eleanor. The "pig pen" he complains about is actually a sandbox for children.

The new section brings the park right down to Teays Valley Road, making it more visible and more accessible to area citizens

He goes on to blame Haynes for all the woes at the Putnam County Health Department, where Haynes sits on the Board. Strangely enough he doesn't mention any of the other Board members, Jim Dillon, Ryan Lockhart or Gary Sigman.

The Board is not responsible for the day to day operation of the Health Department. That is the administrator's job.
Once the Board found out about the financial problems they requested an audit which is in the process of being completed.

The PCHD made a request for request for $186,000  in emergency funds from the state but later withdrew it because the PCHD couldn't answer required questions IN THE TIME FRAME THAT THE STATE WANTED.

And he complains about the Department renting space in the Teays Center.
He would be complaining if the county had decided to build their own building too. He'd offer some limp dick reason like, "The county is wasting tax dollars. They're depriving landlords of the chance to rent their property. The new building is gold plated."

Halburn got pissed that a Putnam County Health Department Sanitarian Carey Eden was driving a county-owned vehicle-to her home in Cabell County.

Halburn's solution?
Hop in his Korean subcompact and follow that employee home. That's right. He followed her home and then took a picture. 15 miles from the office. He stalked her for 15 miles to Milton and photographed her house. Literally 5 miles from the county line.

It's more than 15 miles to Buffalo. How about Liberty? That's over 20 miles. Should they be able to drive there?

There's no law against county employees driving county vehicles home. There's not even a policy. It's often more efficient to take a vehicle home and get an early start on visits instead of driving to the office to get one. 

Halburn's animus towards the health department stems from former administrator Jacqueline Fleshman's refusal to submit to Halburn's innumerable FOIA fishing expeditions. Combined with information fed to him by a disgruntled employee, Halburn continues to harass that Department. It got him arrested there in April.

Somehow all of this is Joe Haynes' fault too.

And then there are the pools. It always comes down to the pools with this fat fuck.

Remember when the Putnam County Pool was closed because it fell apart due to lack of maintenance?

Built in the 1970s, the pool suffered from years of neglect and continued to deteriorate under the reign of Halburn's hero, Director Cordie Hudkins and former Parks and Recreation President Sally Holliday.  

After decades, the shoddily built pool was in dire need of repairs. Nothing was done under the "leadership" of Hudkins.

Somehow though, in Halburn's lizard brain, Haynes is apparently responsible for the damage.

Instead, through the leadership of Putnam County Commissioners Stephen H. "Steve" Andes, Raymond "Joe" Haynes, and their Parks and Recreation Director Scott W. Williamson, a $138,000 liner was installed to repair the pool and it is now back in operation.

Then there was the decision to, in Fatboy's words, "give back" a $250,000 grant to build a Kiddie Pool at Waves of Fun.
 
In reality, what happened was the County Commission UNANIMOUSLY turned down the grant because it required that the taxpayers of Putnam County cough up a matching $250,000 in order to receive that grant.
There was no money "given back." The grant was never accepted.

Joe Haynes and the other Commission members saved the county's citizens money. Smart commissioners don't take on $250,000 in debt.

 








What is it that makes Halburn obsessed with pools? Could it be that there are lots of children there for him to photograph? Just askin'.

Sour grapes? You bet.

Halburn is a bitter, mentally defective, obese, balding middle aged man with two failed marriages, who refuses to make court ordered payments to his second ex-wife, has at least 6 arrests under his XXXL belt, an inability to hold even the most menial of jobs and the fact that if he ever does find gainful employment he will never be able to retire, Halburn is always looking for a scapegoat to blame his failed life on. This week apparently he has chosen Joe Haynes. Again.
It's just more empty bloviating from a pathetic sociopath with no future.

The record is clear: This responsible leadership of The County Commission has one consistent vote: Raymond "Joe" Haynes. Putnam County voters are happy with the job he is doing. They have returned him to office for a second term.

He and the other Commissioner are doing exactly what they were elected to do. Be wise stewards of the public's money.