Edwards Ad Not Meant To Tell It All

It's The Economy, Halburn!



You may have seen it. The full-page ad that Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards signed on the back page of the Putnam Herald. It was designed to let people know about an upcoming health fair, the Run for the Wall, the Independence Day Celebration, a Senior Picnic, and the new sprayground.



South Carolina resident Mark Halburn is attacking Mayor Edwards for it.
This wasn't an ad touting Scott Edwards' accomplishments It was an ad listing what is going on in Hurricane.

Ah, political hit pieces. In Putnam County, no one does them better than Mark Hallburn.

Halburn asks who paid for the ad? Did Edwards? Did tax dollars pay for it? Was it tourism dollars?
We say who cares? This is something every municipality in the state does all the time. Letting residents know what's happening in their community is not nefarious or underhanded.
Of course, Halburn did what he always does. Filed a Freedom of Information Act request, via email and immediately started complaining that no one would give him what he wanted. Criminal charges, Mark A. Sorsaia, blah, blah, blah.
As usual, Halburn continues to sit on his hands, do nothing and whine and cry about it. At least your toady Jay Smith has the sack to take people to court when they don't comply with a FOIA, lippy.

Halburn never tells the whole story, he just makes up stories. So PutnamLIES.com set out to show you "the rest of the story" about what is happening in Hurricane.

It isn't pretty. But it's not the Mayor's fault.

Halburn says, "It's the economy, Scotty!"
You're goddamn right it is lardass.
Your liberal-progressive-socialist buddy Barack Obama can take the blame for that.
He took an economy that was in the ditch and managed to run it over a cliff.
In Hurricane, vacant store fronts stand where jobs and revenue should be produced. It's not hard to find those vacancies because they all occurred during the Obama depression.

Halburn starts his baseless tirade with, "The "crown jewel" of the Edwards Administration is the vacant A to Z Supermarket. After more than 50 years in business, the Edwards-supported Walmart killed off this Main Street landmark. The building still stands, as a testimony to Edwards' failed economic plan for Hurricane."



A to Z a crown jewel? More like a brown jewel.
What Halburn didn't tell you was that A to Z was shut down by the health department for being filthy, dirty and unsafe.

131 violations. 36 of them critical. Mold on the walls and ceiling tiles, improper food handling, dirty shelves, floor, coolers, and walls and leaking plumbing.
It's a miracle no one died of food poisoning. This wasn't something that happened overnight. A to Z suffered from years of neglect. It was well on its way out long before Walmart came to town. People voted with their wallets and put this shithole out of business. Scott Edwards had nothing to do with this store failing. They did it to themselves.

Then Fats starts in on another of his favorite targets. The Hurricane Marketplace.



Located next to Walmart, 6 of the 13 storefronts are vacant. During the Obama recession, Rocky Top Pizza and American Mattress have gone under. The Alltel-Verizon store moved to another location. Fat Patty's chose not to locate there down because it would have taken too much money to install a kitchen and prepare the space for a restaurant.

It's not Scott Edwards' job to solve the problems of poorly capitalized, poorly managed locally owned businesses.



Tricor built the Hurricane Marketplace. It's now their job to attract tenants. Maybe the rents they are charging are out of step with what tenants are willing to pay. Why aren't you harassing them, Hallburn? Maybe their corporate counsel has told you to leave them alone?

Then Mr. Bankrupt complains that Edwards opened a new business in Teays Valley instead of Hurricane.

Smart businessmen have to work harder in tough times. They do this by locating wherever they can maximize their profit. If this means out of the city limits where rents are cheaper, then we'd say it was a smart business move.

Halburn then accused Edwards of doing so to avoid paying Hurricane's Business and Occupancy taxes.

That's rich.
Halburn is always bitching about other people not paying their B&O taxes. Mark Halburn operated a business from Hurricane for 7 years and never paid ONE DIME of B&O taxes. In 2010 he claims to have made $22,000 from the tax dodge he calls PutnumLive.com. The amount of B&O tax he paid? ZERO.



Down the hill from Walmart is the former Saturn dealership. Edwards can't be blamed for Saturn folding nationwide. The Martin Outdoors RV dealership and Thrifty Car Sales that replaced that dealership only lasted a few months because of the economy. Edwards can't be blamed for for these businesses folding either. The economy killed both of these businesses. Edwards didn't mention this in his advertisement because it had nothing to do with what the ad was about.

Then Hallburn starts whining about where a Honda dealership was supposed to be built and says the Edwards administration continues to fail to get that project done.
We weren't aware that Edwards was going to build this. All along we thought that Sam Mitchell of Greensburg, Indiana was building that. Perhaps you should start harassing Mitchell about this one.

During the recession, Custom Carpets folded, Champion Windows moved in, and then closed its doors. You know what killed Champion Windows? "Advertising" on PutnumLive.com. Halburn's 29 readers seldom replace the windows on their trailers.

Halburn then complains about a vacant lot next to Walgreen's. It's not generating any business revenue.
THAT'S BECAUSE IT'S EMPTY, DUMB ASS! Scott Edwards doesn't own this property. 
What's he supposed to do? Jerk an old lady out of her car and scream at her? Oh, sorry. That's your job, meathead.

The economy continues to sputter. Stores are being shuttered left and right and more and more people are being thrown out of work. People who do have jobs are careful of their spending, with more of their money going for food and gasoline.
Consumer habits are changing. More people are buying online. Malls and shopping centers are suffering due to fewer people spending due to the reasons given above. They are also suffering because many shop owners can no longer afford to pay the rents charged. People are hurting. Unemployment is rising and nothing is getting better.
With a backdrop like that, it's no surprise that strip malls are not doing well. In fact, stores all over America are seeing reduced sales and are closing, not just in Hurricane.

Halburn prefers to place the blame on the Mayor of Hurricane, Scott Edwards.

And then we get to the crux of the biscuit, the point from which Halburn's vendetta springs. His second ex-wife's property.

"Just up the road are the Walmart neighbors that are still waiting for Edwards and his Putnam County Development Authority to purchase and redevelop."

 

Keep on waiting fat boy. It's not going to happen. You had your chance and you blew it.

"Edwards did make an offer on the blue house-for only $90,000. That's more than $50,000 less than what it appraised for before Walmart was constructed. Why the low-ball offer? Was he trying to take advantage of the Walmart neighbors after their quiet neighborhood was destroyed? You can ask Edwards."

We don't need to ask Edwards. We can look at your deposition.
Edwards did make a offer. The pre-Walmart appraisal plus 10%. About $160,000.
You were greedy and thought you could make more. You never even brought the offer to the actual property owner, your now second ex-wife.

Let's see. Which is greater? $160,000 or nothing at all? Because nothing is what you've got now.

The real question is, are you lying now or did you lie then?



Finally, he grabs a Google maps image showing the Honda vacant lot, the empty Saturn building, the vacant lot next to City National Bank, the house for sale next to it, and the vacant land beside St. Mary's and Willow Tree saying Edwards hasn't managed to get those projects developed either.

It's not the mayors job. 
Edwards didn't mention the following projects that came to town under his administration but we will. You want to assign blame, Halburn? We'll assign some credit.
The Hurricane Gateway, all the improvements at the City Park. Batting cages, the skate park, the new spray ground. Yeah we know it didn't open for spring break. Good thing too. Because IT WAS TOO FUCKING COLD.
City National Bank, Taco Bell, KFC, Arbys, Sheetz, Walgreens, Project Redskin,
renovated and built a little league stadium. The list goes on.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

Nobody cares what you say Halburn. You're not a West Virginian and you don't live here. The good thing is you're 400 miles away and every time you drive back here it increases the odds of you dying in a horrible flaming car wreck.

If Scott Edwards paved the streets with gold, you'd complain they weren't shiny enough.

Edwards Buys Van Outside Of Hurricane

When? OVER 5 YEARS AGO!
Out-Of-State Publisher Prints Another Deceptive Story




The Mayor of Hurricane, Scott D. Edwards has been regularly harassed by Mark Halburn for years. However, PutnamLIES.com has confirmed that Halburn's latest story is completely deceptive and misleading.

Halburn, who likes to lecture others on ethics and "doing the right thing" does not ever "practice what he preaches."

Hallburn writes, "Our camera took these pictures of one of Mayor Edwards' Netranom Communications vans parked outside his Virginia Street office. As you can see by the closup (sic), the Chevrolet Astro Van was not purchased at Hurricane Chevrolet. Instead, it was purchased at Joe Holland Chevrolet, in South Charleston. That means the City of Hurricane did not benefit from the revenue generated by this sale."

So what? The last time we looked, this is still America where consumers have the freedom to shop wherever they want and buy whatever they want. Just because he is the Mayor doesn't obligate him to only buying from Hurricane merchants.
Joe Holland pays West Virginia taxes. Maybe the salesman lives in Hurricane. We don't know. And frankly, we don't care. He can spend his money how he wants.



Edwards replied to Halburn,
"What I do at Netranom is none of your business, but, since you have nothing better to do, I have purchased many vehicles from Joe Holland Chevrolet for both business and personal use and will continue to do so as we have established a wonderful business relationship over the years. You should consider establishing good relationships with people and businesses instead of being an absolute a$$ to everyone you meet."

Mayor Edwards obviously made a business decision to buy elsewhere from a dealer where he has had a long time sales relationship, rather than with a dealership in Hurricane. Maybe he got a better deal. We don't know.
That's just being a smart businessman, unlike Halburn who, despite being 50 years old, has never held a full-time job for more than a year and filed for bankruptcy in 2004.

Halburn didn't buy a car from a Hurricane dealership either. Fords, Chryslers and Chevrolets are apparently beneath him.
He didn't even buy an American car, choosing instead to buy a cheap Korean sub-compact from a dealership in Huntington..

You know what the worst thing is about his story?
It's not even news.

PutnamLIES.com called Mayor Edwards this afternoon and asked him one question: Was the van pictured purchased recently?
Mayor Edwards replied, "Oh no, definitely not purchased recently. I bought it at least 5 or 6 years ago – maybe longer. The Astro Van has been discontinued for a while now."

As a matter of fact the Astro Van hasn't been made since 2005.

Hallburn is once again deceiving his 29 readers by reporting something that happened over five years ago like it happened yesterday.

Which brings us to the picture.

Let's look at the metadata embedded into the picture.



See where it says Date/time original? That's when the picture was actually taken.
What's that say?
That's right.
March 14 2010.
He took this picture OVER TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO!

Halburn claims his readers were clamoring to know why Edwards bought the van in another county. We claim this is just more harassment by Halburn to satisfy his childish vendetta against Edwards.

Halburn, who is not a West Virginia resident and publishes his hate blog PutnumLive.com from South Carolina, has apparently run out of news releases to plagiarize. He is now reporting non-stories that happened years ago and doesn't bother to inform his readers of that fact. This is what passes for news on PutnumLive.com.

You may recall that Halburn's second ex-wife recently divorced him and threw him out of her house. He was forced to flee the state due to PutnamLIES.com's exposure of his actions.

UPDATE:
In a effort to deflect criticism for his deceptive reporting, Halburn is claiming PutnamLIES.com manipulated the metadata from his picture. We stand by our reporting. We have altered nothing. The information is embedded in the pictures on his site.
On April 26th, Halburn added a second van picture claiming it was taken "a few weeks ago". Yeah, if you consider December 4, 2011 a few weeks ago. Once again it's an old picture. This one's only a 4 month old picture of a 6 year old van. Nice try, Halburn.
Just another reason why Mark Hallburn and PutnumLive.com have ZERO credibility!

Not Edwards' Job To Run Hurricane Marketplace

Mayor Has No Responsibility To Help Strugging Retail Center

The Hurricane Marketplace opened in March of 2007 after
the Putnam County Development Authority sold the land to developer Tricor International Corporation and they completed construction

Through the years, Hurricane Marketplace has filled many of its storefronts with poorly capitalized, poorly managed locally owned businesses. Many of those small businesses have come and gone.



None of this is Mayor Scott Edwards' fault.
It is not Scott Edwards' job to solve the problem of vacancies there. 
He's the mayor not a real estate agent.

Out-of state hate blog publisher Mark Halburn says Edwards doesn't have a plan, that he's flip-flopping and leaving the shopping center on its own. The fact is Edwards doesn't need a plan. It's not his job.

Neither is it the job of the PCDA. It has done its job. They sold the land to Tricor who built the Hurricane Marketplace. 

It's now the developer's job to attract tenants. Why aren't you harassing them?

Here's a thought. How much is the rent at Hurricane Market Place? Most likely it is overpriced in this economy. Maybe potential merchants feel the rents are too high. The size of the store fronts vacant there would represent a small business or mall type store. Those stores are not opening right now. Potential customers do not have the disposable income until the economy rebounds.

Why aren't you harassing Tricor? They manage the property.
It's not the Mayor's problem to solve. Do you not understand this? How much government do you want? Do you just want government to do everything for you? Maybe you haven't noticed, but the economy is SHOT! There is no recovery taking place. Unemployment numbers are cooked through little tricks like not including people unemployed for more than 12 months. Real unemployment is closer to 15% or better and it's sky high for 18-35 year olds who lack experience, regardless of education level.

The only thing government CAN and SHOULD be able to do is lure business by creating an environment that stimulates growth, the rest is up to a number of other variables. Entitleists like you are the reason that America is in the shape it is in today.  
You are dumber than a bag of hammers.

Why is it that you always have complaints, but never a single viable, realistic solution? Moron.

Halburn has moved out of the state, but continues to harass Mayor Edwards via text. It's OK for him to send texts to Mayor Edwards with inane ideas, but when Mayor Edwards sends Halburn texts Halburn calls them "harassment text messages."

When PutnamLIES.com asked Mayor Edwards about any plans he told us, "I have no plans for the Marketplace because it is a private business. Private businesses make their own decisions on who they rent to, how much the rent is, etc. As the Mayor, I do what I am supposed to do. If Halburn is such a brilliant businessman, why didn't he buy it and rent it cheap or whatever he thought he should do to get it rented? He never paid his B&O taxes the entire time he lived here anyway. Halburn should simply not worry about what the owners of Hurricane Marketplace do or how they conduct their business. He doesn't even live here anymore. His opinion doesn't matter at all."

Halburn also admits that he comes from a long line of drunks and mental defectives. He doesn't trust himself to stop once he starts drinking. As you can see from his appearance he obviously has no self control.

Halburn says more businesses mean more B&O taxes for the city. That's funny considering Halburn NEVER paid one dime of B&O taxes to the City of Hurricane in his entire residence here, despite having his office in and running his business from his second ex-wife's house.

Halburn then makes more ludicrous suggestions on how to run the business and the town.



He continues to beat the dead horse of having the PCDA to donate its land above Dollar Tree for a park. Except as PutnamLIES.com has pointed out previously, this takes commercial property off the tax rolls forever.
Which means the taxpayers lose twice.

If it wasn't his idea and the PCDA did something like that, he'd criticize them for throwing the public's money away by giving away a piece of property that was to be used for development.

 

Halburn then gets to his solution for everything. Buy his second ex-wife's property.

Then he starts on us. "A "trash blog" that some say is funded by Edwards calls the empty storefronts a "national problem" caused by the recession. This isn't true. In Ashland, Kentucky, Barboursville, Nitro, Princeton, South Point, Ohio, and South Ridge, retail stores next to Walmarts have filled the shopping centers and are doing great levels of business. Hurricane stands alone with this problem."

Some say this site is funded by Edwards? Some say? YOU say. If you have any evidence of that, prove it. Show us your evidence.
There is none, except what exists in your own fevered imagination.
You've made the same allegation in the past except then it was Joe Haynes that was doing the funding. Which is it? Joe or Scott? Or both?

How about neither?
Because that's what the real truth is. We get absolutely no money from anybody to do this. It costs nothing for us to run this site. Nothing.
Maybe someone called "Wendy James" from "People Against Cyber Bullies" told you that she was able to find the site registered to some name we made up in Hurricane and she was researching bank transfers. That was bullshit, because that was us too. You got taken in again, you cocksucker.

You're just angry that we helped your second ex-wife see exactly what kind of beast you really are and she threw you out.
How many of those shopping centers have had local businesses open stores there in the last 5 years? Then you say Hurricane is the only place that has this problem.

You're delusional Halburn. This problem has nothing to do with Scott Edwards or the PCDA, shithead. This problem IS national. With your boy Obama running the economy into the toilet, malls across the country have vacant storefronts. Almost double the vacancy rate of 6 years ago. The economy is in the shitter.
Why don't you admit what your REAL agenda is?
You hope it will make the value of your second ex-wife's property increase .
Before the Walmart was built, and without authority to do so, you refused an offer for that property thinking you could hold out for more money. You were wrong and now she's stuck with a piece of land no one wants.

Your vendetta against Edwards and the PCDA stems from this.

Your only concern with the vacancy rate is that it lessens the non-existant demand for your second ex-wife's property.
If the vacancy rate was 0%, you'd be complaining about the excessive noise all of the traffic generated.
The ONLY reason you want to see more development is to make your second ex-wife's property more valuable in hopes of getting a cut from a big profit. Period.
Remember the church and the video gaming club that called you about locating there last April? Look at what date it was. April 1! Did you seriously think that was real? It was us, and you printed it, dummy!
How about that Denny's that you assured your (29) readers that was to be built? How's the breakfast there?
Oh yeah. That's right. It hasn't been built.

This isn't about stupid politicians. It's about one stupid, self centered, entitleist and that's Mark Hallburn.

Perhaps if YOU were not constantly reporting such negative stories about Hurricane more companies would be more willing to locate here.

A guy that can't find or hold a real job has no right to tell anyone how to run their business.
______________________________________________________

Putnam's Job Killers? Not Hardly.

Halburn's Negative Attitudes Killing Putnam County Jobs



Halburn's latest screed tries to blame Putnam County Commissioners Stephen H. "Steve" Andes, James H. "Jim" Caruthers, Raymond "Joe" Haynes, Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards and others for all the ills he sees in Putnam County's business climate.

He claims that business, transportation, and education projects have been killed by those local officials. He calls their voting records anti-business and anti-progress and says they're keeping business and progress from Putnam County which hurts our community and causes needless job losses.

That just isn't true.



As he did, we'll also start with the picture above this paragraph. That's a vacant lot behind the Mi Pueblito Mexican Restaurant, in Hurricane - near Gino's and Tudor's.



Halburn complains that in 2004, Putnam County Commissioners Steve Andes, Jim Caruthers, and Joe Haynes turned down a Tax Increment Funding proposal that was needed to build an office building and retail stores. The lot remains vacant, allegedly costing Putnam County construction, office, and retail jobs.

First of all, you stupid bastard, Joe Haynes wasn't even on the County Commission when this decision was made.
At that time the Commission President was Jim Withrow with Andes and Caruthers being the other two members. But that's just the kind of shoddy reporting we've come to expect from Putnam County's news loser.
(ed. note: After reading it here, Halburn went back and changed the name on his blog to Jim Withrow. You can send us a check for the proofreading, you fat fuck.) Tax Increment Funding money is created when a property is assessed before the property is developed, and then it is reassessed after development. The difference between the two tax values is used to pay back bonds that fund the development.

At the time, WV Commerce Secretary Kelley Goes said that the state approves tax increment financing for water, sewer, road and other "off-site" infrastructure improvement projects.
"We typically don't do retail and residential development," Goes said. "Our philosphy with TIF is you exhaust all other funding allocations, and TIF fills the gap."

So what is the real story here?
Developers approached the Commission about using TIF money to fund their project.
How much are we talking about here?
SIX MILLION DOLLARS!
And WHO are we talking about here?
Former barber and state senator Oshel Craigo.
The man who owns Gino's Pizza, Tudors Biscuit World and a string of other businesses and land all across the state.
He milked the people of West Virginia for 22 years in the WV Senate and then he then wanted them to finance his latest project.
A 16,000-square-foot office building and another building for retail stores. The office portion was to be occupied by the Department of Health and Human Resources which would then move from Teays Valley to Hurricane. Which, by the way, would have doubled the rent that they were paying.
The County Commission said no.
The site could have been developed without TIF funds, but it has not. The County Commission is not to blame for that.

Oshel Fucking Craigo can get financing on his own. He doesn't need the people of West Virginia to underwrite his development projects.
The County Commission's vote wisely saved the citizens' money.
They were right to keep the taxpayers from getting clipped again by Oshel the Barber.
Hallburn takes money from Craigo's companies for ads on his blog, a fact that he does not disclose.

His next whine is is about Rt 35 and another one of the politicians that he has a vendetta against, Karen Facemyer. Facemyer is another Putnam county representative that Hallburn has repeatedly harassed over his non-existent noise issues.



His complaint about this matter? He blames West Virginia
Senators Karen Facemyer, (R-4th) and Mike Hall, (R-4th) for not getting U.S. 35 completed, saying they "drank the "no tolls" Kool-Aid." After their constituents spoke out against any tolls on that road, they took the position that the segment could be built-without tolls. Which it could have been.
Facemyer and Hall both did something that is rare in politics today. They listened to the wishes of their constituents and acted accordingly. They did what they were elected to do.

Where was Hallburn during this debate? All over the map.

First he said "Finish the new US 35 - Even if it means tolls."
Later, when County Commissioner Haynes came out in favor of tolls if it would help complete the road, Halburn criticized him for it! Why? Because whatever Haynes is for, Halburn is against.
He criticized Mason County officials for changing their vote endorsing the tolls after they learned the tolls would increase yearly.

Like fellow liberal John Kerry, Hallburn was for the tolls before he was against them.

Then after the public outcry over the tolls and the was the whole matter was handled, Hallburn suddenly eschewed tolls and called for the road to be completed with tax dollars.
He even called Senator Hall " a genious" (sic) for his plan to finance the road through budget surplus money.

Looks like 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.



Then there's the old Black family airstrip located just above the Hurricane Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace. Several years ago, the Blacks offered half of that property, free of charge, to Marshall University to build a Putnam County campus. Marshall said "No, thanks." The County Commission was even willing to sell bonds to finance the construction. The lot is still vacant.

We fail to see how any politician at any level is responsible for this. Marshall made a business decision. With the main campus less than 25 miles away in Huntington, regional centers in Teays Valley and Pt. Pleasant and a Graduate School in South Charleston, Marshall obviously saw no need to spend the money to build an unneeded facility in Hallburn's backyard.
Certainly Hallburn's profanity laden article about Marshall's plans to build a new center didn't help.



Next, he moves on to harping about the vacant land owned by the Putnam County Development Authority above the Hurricane Marketplace.

This time, he blames another one of his favorite whipping boys, Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards for the land not selling. Hallburn came up with a hare brained scheme that the PCDA donate the land as a park to create business traffic for the Hurricane Marketplace. Apparently, they're the bad guys for not giving away land paid for with public money.
He continues to complain that the Hurricane Marketplace still has six empty stores, refusing to recognize that the country is in the worst economic downturn since the great depression, overseen by his fellow über-liberal, President Barack Hussein Obama. And that malls across the country are suffering the same problem.

And, as usual, he unethically neglects to inform his 29 readers about his interest in developing that land. He thinks it will increase the value of second wife's run down property and make it easier to sell.

He continues to blame Edwards and the PCDA for not buying the dilapidated, overpriced property owned by his second wife and her mother by saying by saying that he has refused to redevelop the Walmart neighborhood. Halburn has compounded his stupidity and unwillingness to take responsibility for his own problems by refusing to build his own soundwall and plant his own trees to protect his family from the non-existent "excessive noise" from the store.

The photograph below shows the location in Teays Valley where Sheetz wanted to build.



Sheetz applied for a zoning variance with the Putnam County Planning Commission. It was denied.
The Planning Commission's reasoning?

Sheetz gave an inadequate explanation of safety issues associated with the location of a new traffic light. The site sits between two residential neighborhoods that are in extremely close proximity to the proposed light. A new traffic light could just as easily create problems which may be worse than what currently exists. Safety concerns were also raised regarding children at the bus stop at Green Acres and White Rock Subdivisions.
Sheetz had no answers about how to correct these problems, so the variance wasn't approved.
There's no evil intent. Just a common sense ruling. Sheetz is free to correct the problems, answer the questions and reapply.

Of course Hallburn's desire for a donut and a cup of coffee outweigh the need to keep our neighborhoods and children safe.

Hallburn says more jobs were killed by the politically-appointed bureaucrats. We think that Halburn was embarrassed once again because another project that he promised would happen fell through.

Then we get to the pools. Somehow we always do.

Every year at the end of the summer, Halburn starts complaining about the pools closing.
He whines that closing the pools before Labor Day puts lifeguards out of work.
No, numbnuts, the lifeguards are out of work because they're back in school. They voluntarily left their jobs. It doesn't effect the unemployment rate one iota. That's why the pools are closed. There are no customers. They're all back in school. It's not economically feasible to keep a pool open for a couple of swimmers a day. Try and get that through your thick skull, fatboy.

He continues his bitching saying in Eleanor, the Putnam County pool also closed early. Then he complains about the $158,000 renovation of the pool. After decades the shoddily built pool was in dire need of repairs. Somehow, Haynes, Andes, and the Putnam County Parks and Recreation Commissioners were apparently responsible for this damage even though they've only been in office a short time.



Then he complains about green water at the pool, saying they still aren't maintaining it properly. Of course they're not, asshole. THEY'RE NOT MAINTAINING IT AT ALL!!! The pool is closed for the winter. That's why it's only half full.

And then there's the Dog Swim. Started by Karen Haynes (who Hallburn called a bitch, by the way, because she is married to his enemy Joe Haynes) as a way to raise funds for a new county animal shelter, this has been a pet peeve of animal hater Mark Halburn since its inception. He moans about the fact that the pool is usually closed before the swim due to the lack of lifeguards, saying that in 2010 the swim, which is only for a few hours on one day, cost more than $1,142 by using some arcane mathematical calculations. PutnamLIES.com proved those numbers wrong when we determined the actual cost for the day was only $250.



The next dead horse he attempts to whip is the proposed kiddie pool at Waves of Fun in Valley Park. In the grass below the wave pool he says there should be a kiddie pool.



And once again, you guessed it, it's all Andes, Caruthers, and Haynes' fault for turning down a $250,000 grant and canceling the kiddie pool project.
No, what they did was turn down a grant that would have required the taxpayers of Putnam County to cough up a matching $250,000 in order to receive that grant.

 














And once again Hallburn talks about screwing kids.


This is the photo Mark Hallburn stole from Scott Edwards and added to his opinion blog.

Earlier this year, Hurricane Mayor Scott D. Edwards brought out a group of children for the groundbreaking ceremony of the sprayground at Hurricane City Park. It was supposed to open by August. However, Edwards wisely decided to save the taxpayers money by having city workers install the facility instead of spending $50,000 $100,000 to hire outside contractors.



What's Hallburn's problem?
Project delays prevented the pool from opening this summer.
Now, crews will have plenty of time to get things right instead of rushing the installation only to have the facility open for a couple of weeks at the end of the season. That $50,000 $100,000 Hallburn claims that Hurricane would have quickly made it up by families flocking to the town and shopping before and after the kids enjoy the sprayground. That kind of money is not generated by people swimming ALL SUMMER, much less in two weeks. Once again Halburn demonstrates his lack of business acumen by saying that positive publicity would have been valued at more than $50,000.
Publicity isn't worth shit, lardass. If it was, your negative publicity would have run you out of town years ago.

There's a pattern here: If it's one of Hallburn's political enemies: attack, attack, attack.



Hallburn isn't finished with his stupidity. He has this lame brain idea to to rename Orchard Park Road and Saturn Way to Hurricane Motor Mall, as if that's going to sell some cars.. Calling something a "motor mall" doesn't make it so. It's not any government's job to tell businesses what name to operate under. This is just one more just another way for him to attack Scott Edwards.

If Hallburn is serious about jobs, there a few things he can do.

First, get one himself.

Second, hire some employees for his oh so successful & lucrative opinion blog.

Third, move the "offices" of that oh so successful & lucrative opinion blog out of his second wife's basement into one of the vacant storefronts that he is constantly complaining about.

And fourth and most importantly, stop running down and harassing those business and government leaders that he disagrees with.

After all, how many businesses want to locate in an area where they have to worry about some asswipe with a blog badgering and extorting them into taking out an ad or have to worry about him making a scene because he thinks someone treated him rudely?

As for Hallburn, the gutless pussy with all the answers doesn't even have the balls to run for election, because he knows he would be soundly defeated for any office that he would run for and his inflated ego won't let him accept that fact. Putnam County voters are pretty smart, they see through his act.
But you really wouldn't expect a "man" who won't take responsibility for his own problems to take responsibility for others, would you?

Stop blaming everyone else for the problems you've created for yourself, crisco and look in the mirror. If you're so goddamn smart and have all the solutions, step up. Show your true colors and run for office. Negativity kills jobs!
Put up or shut up!

Put Up Or Shut Up

GOVERNMENT NEWS

For years Hurricane asshole Mark Halburn has been bitching that the zoning for his second wife's property was changed.

He offers no proof, just scurrilous accusations.

Earlier this year, he brayed about uncovering the double secret zoning change to the property which PutnamLIES.com proved to be wrong. It wasn't even her property. Anyone that could read a deed and a map could see that.
Except the dummy.

In his latest rant he continues demand that the city do something. He claims "neighbors" made some kind of agreement. Notice he never specifies exactly what the agreement was or who the "neighbors" actually are.
There's only about 3 of them. Name names.
Notice how he once again fails to disclose that his second wife is one of those property owners.
PutnamLIES.com says that the only neighbor he's talking about is HIM.
The entire article is as incoherent as its author.

He says the zoning was changed.
We say produce the documents ordering the change.
Prove it. Show us the documents.
He bugs the shit out of everyone and his brother with FOIA requests but never seems to file one for this.
Wonder why that is?

This is just another in a long line of baseless attacks against Scott Edwards by a habitual whiner.

PutnamLIES.com says put up or shut up.

HALBURN WON'T ADMIT WALL WILL NOT STOP NOISE

Assclown Does Not Understand The Laws Of Physics

For years, Hurricane asshole Mark Halburn has told anyone that would listen the that the city needs to order Walmart to build a sound wall.


Halburn enjoys the view from his front yard of the wall that he hopes someone will build for him.

The neighbors have accurately said that his crying has contributed greatly to noise levels and that the loudmouth has been throwing up false arguments to generate sympathy for himself and publicity for his failing website.

As he has used lame arguments to get the sound wall, Halburn has bullied council members and other politicians who wouldn't buy his rhetoric, including C. Brian Ellis and West Virginia State Senator W. "Mike" Hall. All along, Halburn has refused to provide any scientific evidence or statements from sound engineers that a "sound wall" has any impact on sound waves.

Of course, anyone with common sense knows that the reason Halburn never produced any evidence or sound engineer opinions is that there isn't any.

Now, PutnamLIES.com has a recording of Edwards admitting that Halburn is lying in his article.

"I've said nothing different to him for a long time, other than for him to get away from me or to get out of my face," said Edwards. "Looks like a made up story again."

Now that Edwards has finally spoken the truth on the issue, it remains to be seen if Hurricane City Council members will continue to put up with Halburn's shit or run his fat ass out of town.

Halburn claims that Realtors have advised the neighbors that keeping the commercial zoning will make it easier to sell their homes. However, none of them have had any offers under the current zoning and none are actively marketing their property.

About 15 lawsuits have been filed over construction blasting and construction noise. Halburn lost his lawsuit last year.

Edwards is a member of the Putnam County Development Authority Board of Directors which put together the Walmart project and served as a non-elected Hurricane City Council Member when the Walmart was planned. He was elected mayor in 2007 in an election that included a number of disputed ballots in unsealed envelopes. After both the required canvass and a recount requested by the challenger, the final tally showed Edwards was the winner, whereupon the loser challenged the results.
The WV Supreme Court found that the ballot dispute was a moot point because Edward's challenger failed to file his challenge in a timely manner.

PutnumLlVE.com has alleged that the City of Hurricane changed the zoning without the neighbor's knowledge or permission, up to four decades after they bought their homes, but has provided no proof of those charges

Halburn alleges that Edwards refuses to put the Walmart sound wall and trees on the city council agenda.
The question should be asked, just how often does this need to be brought before Council?
Halburn brought it before Council twice in Dec 09, after which the city contacted Walmart and was told in no uncertain terms that the company had no intention of building or allowing others to build a sound wall on their property.


He then brought it up again the very next month, in January of this year.
Thinking that, for some twisted reason, the city should build the wall.
Walls and trees are not the city's responsibility.

This means one man, Halburn, is preventing an entire neighborhood from having peace and quiet by his incessant non-stop whining about Walmart.

Halburn used to publish a daily diary chronicling the daily excessive noise. However, he has pulled it at least four times because he couldn't take the criticism originating here and on Tyler Hollywood's site that made light of his imagined problems and insane rantings. It reappears from time to time after people stop paying attention to him. The last few times he has hidden it with no links to it.

Councilwoman Lana Call says "The city can't afford it."
Halburn ducks the real issue: personal responsibility.
He refuses to be responsible for his own problems.