Mr. Huskey, Your Slip Is Showing

Once again I feel the need to point the disingenuous and downright dishonest nature of Mr. Stan Huskey as Editor of the Norristown Times Herald.

In his most recent posting to his blog Mr. Huskey writes “The role of your local newspaper is to be a watchdog”. My question for Mr. Huskey is for whom is he a “watchdog”? Mr. Marino? Mr. Kane? Mrs. Stagliano? Mr. Schmitt? Just who Stan? Because it is NOT the residents of Trappe. How do I know this? Because the few times over the past two (2) years the Norristown Times Herald has only covered the Trappe Council meetings when they are “summoned” to do so by Mr. Huskey’s cronies.

Furthermore, Mr. Huskey writes “First, I do not know Mark Marino. I think I met him for the first time the other day, but I certainly don't know him. I do know Mike Marino”. Anyone who knows anything regarding Montgomery County Politics knows that if you know Mike Marino, you damn well know Mark Marino. And Mark Marino is one of the Area Leaders for the Republican Party. We have now caught Mr. Huskey in a lie as we can get numerous folks who will testify that Mr. Huskey has known Mark Marino and has not, as he states “I met him for the first time the other day, but I certainly don't know him”.

When various members of the current Trappe Borough Council requested the Times Herald send a reporter to cover a Trappe Council meeting the reply received was “we don’t cover Trappe, our sister publication, the Pottstown Mercury covers Trappe”.

The Mercury has done a “fair” job of reporting on Trappe Borough. Much credit goes to Mr. Evan Brandt of the Pottstown Mercury who at least provided fair coverage in the past. But even Mr. Brandt has his limitations. He takes his marching orders from the Managing Editor Nancy March (OK – but really – no pun intended). As for Nancy March and Stan Huskey … well more on that later. It will be, shall we say “enlightening” along the lines of “good cop, bad cop”.

If you don’t believe this just review the article wherein the Times Herald “splashed” a histrionic article regarding accusations made against the Trappe Borough Manager during a recent court case. The Times Herald covered this story as though the gentleman had already been convicted. They further printed the actual notes of testimony from court deposition transcripts which I believe is unprecedented for this or ANY local paper. By the way, the Trappe Borough Manager won his case and was exonerated but did the Times Herald “splash” that on their front page? Not even a mention was made in their paper that indeed this gentleman won his case and was exonerated. Wow, they really are not appearing to be great watchdogs for ALL of the Trappe Residents and Taxpayers.

Now let us take a look at the piece of journalism that appeared in this past Saturday’s Times Herald wherein the paper makes mention of Mr. Carrig’s reaction to a petition that was presented to Trappe Council. The petition was presented by Mr. Arnold “Bud” Bender of Rittenhouse Square, the same development where Mr. Carrig resides. The exact motive of Mr. Bender is unclear. What is clear is that until the last few months Mr. Bender had not even attended at Trappe Borough Council meeting even though, according to Montgomery County Court Land Records, Arnold Bender and his wife Diane have been residents of Trappe Borough since June of 1988.

This much is clear. It was reported that Mr. Carrig challenged Mr. Bender when the petition was presented. Mr. Carrig stated it was a personal vendetta and he told someone in the audience to “shut the hell up” when they called for Mr. Straus, Council President, to bring the meeting to order. What the paper failed to report was Mr. Carrig’s other “outburst” regarding Arnold Bender’s past. You may remember Mr. Bender in the news about eight (8) years ago where Mr. Bender was forced to resign as Police Chief of Spring City. Off the record, I am told by officials at the Borough of Spring City that Mr. Bender had a sexual tryst in his office where he was literally caught with his “pants down”.

Hmmm, now this is very interesting. The Times Herald reports unsubstantiated allegations of non-residency about Mr. Carrig but does not even question a private citizen, Arnold Bender, writing a "press release" stating Mr. Carrig as being a non-resident. Especially one of Mr. Bender’s character. Sounds personal to me!

Once again the the unethical and downright dishonest Mr. Huskey writes “For some reason the discussion on whether a Trappe councilman still lives in the borough has turned to what business is it of the newspaper or of mine”. I do not know how Mr. Huskey forms his opinions, but it obviously is not based on ANY evidence that Mr. Carrig does not “live in Trappe” and that he remains a resident.

So I did what Mr. Huskey should have done … I called Carrig at his home. He stated that he is remains a resident of Trappe and has been for the past twenty (20) years. When he is no longer a resident of Trappe he will resign from Council. Period. He further stated that if anyone has any evidence that he is not a resident, bring it forward and present it to the Borough and/or the newspapers.

If you have no evidence that Mr. Carrig is NOT a resident, Mr. Huskey, I think I would leave this alone. As they used to say many years back “your slip is showing” ... in more ways than one.