Beware of iPennyBid.com

My friend's PennyAuctionWatch.com site is giving me a whole bunch of ideas...maybe branching my Internet companies (here and here) out into the penny auction business.

Of course, if not for PennyAuctionWatch.com, I wouldn't know about the scamming and shill corporations and the scam-software used to make things appear like they're legit. I of course am referring to iPennyBid.com, among others who are questionably suspect. And yes, I know all about the IPennyBid.com's attempts to sue PennyAuctionWatch.com, which is why I'm ready to help my friend throw iPennyBid.com straight out of business.

Defamation? Haha.When an expose Web site (such as PennyAuctionWatch.com) is accused of being a scam for exposing certain sites or raising questions about companies like iPennyBid.com, you know there's an effectiveness to this...

For more information about penny auctions and questionably suspect "penny" bid sites like iPennybid.com, click here:

http://www.pennyauctionwatch.com/?s=ipennybid

YouTube | Red Oak Coin Laundry

Readers, please refer to http://www.elliscountyobserver.com for the new Observer site.

The features are being added from this blog to the main site daily, and we welcome your patience during this transition. Keep sending your comments and news tips, though, to elliscountyobserver@hotmail.com!

Joey Dauben
Publisher

A Running Count...

Well, since I've designated myself as the news agenda-establishing blogger in this county, I'd like to point to a running count of the stories that no one has covered - the Waxahachie Daily Light, The Ellis County Press - this really isn't fair to subscribers or longtime, loyal readers, it's really not. But it is my hope that this short list will spur someone to start covering this...

(or, if people aren't careful, this blog will launch a print edition** and smoke all of the newspapers anyway)

Story 1: Navarro College officials admitting to breaking open meetings laws in discussions on giving Ellis County taxpayers a property tax. Isn't this illegal?

Story 2: Navarro College's efforts at getting the state Legislature - i.e., Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana & Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie - to tweak state law allowing for the passage of a property tax without a referendum (or at least the petitions);

Story 2A: The 92% conservative-ranked Cook and Pitts taking the "hell no" stance at Navarro's efforts (Cook isn't even our representative, but he fights for us anyway!)

Story 3: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms arrest of Midlothian "right-wing" activist Leslie Davis; the warrant originally stated the ATF and DEA, as well as Ellis County Sheriff deputies were searching for an inert rocket launcher (possession of this is not illegal, supposedly), but all that was found was a .22-caliber rifle in Davis' closet that he got when he was 14. To be fair, it's still illegal for felons to possess guns (which is a stupid law, in the first place, but hey, it's the law). Reports said that there were about 100 agents in Midlothian the day Davis was arrested;

Story 4: Mid-Way Regional Airport Construction Defects (allegations) + Video. I won't spend too much time on this, but you can Google Mid-Way Regional Airport Disaster and have a blast.

Story 5: Campaign contributions in the May 12 county facilities bond election. It's just interesting to know, that's all. Not a single newspaper has published the list. This blog has though.

Story 6: The stiff-armed lobbying supporters of Judge Gene Knize made to get their friend, Carol Bush, nominated to the open county court-at-law bench (when Bob Carroll retired suddenly), and the ensuing criticism of new-Judge Greg Wilhelm (elected last year as our county treasurer) from the same forces;

Story 7: The county treasurer appointment of Judy Burden over that of GOP county chair Rusty Ballard being a complete (personal opinion of the publisher, no one else) slap in the face; nothing against Burden, but Ballard would have been a great treasurer.

Story 8: Construction defects and ensuing lawsuit over the Midlothian Conference/Senior center;

Story 9: County Attorney Joe Grubbs' lawsuit and efforts to keep victims of Dr. Chitale of obtaining documents related to the case, despite the state Attorney General ruling requiring their release;

The BIG ONE: The 50+ aggravated sexual assault cases that have gone before Grubbs and his pedophile-protecting assistant Patrick M. Wilson, only to be plea-bargained for a quick conviction and in turn, probation. Resumes get padded while child molesters run the streets of Ellis County in droves.

Did I miss anything? Just for the sake of honesty and fairness, Wilson wasn't the prosecutor on all of the cases, but he was on most of them. The signatures of both Wilson and Grubbs, however, appear on the court documents and paperwork filed at the district clerk's office.

To send questions and comments to this blog, do so at: elliscountyobserver@gmail.com

To send questions and comments as to why our newspapers aren't covering these issues, use the following:

Editor@WaxahachieDailyLight.com
Editor@EllisCountyPress.com

**What would Ellis County politics look like if an infusion of one payment of $50,000 were to find itself under the management of The Ellis County Observer? Well, for a quick look at what the ideas are in driving such a print edition of this blog, visit www.ThePolitico.com.

Prepare for war, Ellis County. That $50,000 just hit the market. And I've got the team in place to make this a very interesting little county...

Lancaster-Red Oak Dealings

Lancaster Councilwoman Resigns
The ultra-gorgeous Kimberly Lankford is resigning, according to today's Dallas Morning News. She was elected several years ago after Vic Buchanon lost his mayoral race to now-Mayor Joe Tillotson. She represents the heavily black District 6 area. I covered Lancaster for eight months for Focus Daily News and loved every minute of it. Even met one of the most honest lawyers anywhere (Thomas Allen), and really fell in love with pissing politicians off via the paper. But it was covering Buchanon and his council colleague at the time, Tim Speaks, that really propelled my interest in doing political reporting.

Anyway, Lankford was the more moderate of the District 6 electorate, though she was a hand-picked successor to Buchanon. Though he's a Democrat, Lancaster needs Vic back. There's a special election in November - oddly enough, Lancaster's next-door neighbor, Red Oak, has a mayoral election then as well to fill the unexpired term of the recently-resigned Ron Bryce.

Speaking of Red Oak-Lancaster...
Red Oak just hired Lancaster's city attorney, Bob Hagar. I don't really know too much about Hagar other than his representing Ferris and teaching me what "objecting to the consideration" of a question was. During a Lancaster meeting one night, then-Councilman Steve Sanderfer threw out one of those parliamentary moves and silenced the entire council chambers. After about 10 minutes of people figuring out what the heck just happened, I made a vow to study Robert's Rules (the original Robert, not Hagar). I'd highly recommend the "objection to the consideration" move to any anti-consensus councilman or elected leader. They're rare. But effective.

Presidential Candidate to visit Waxahachie

Raymond McKinney, a lesser-known Republican candidate for President in 2008, will make a stop in Waxahachie on Sunday, July 15. He will be at the Courtside Bar & Grill at 5 pm.

Don't think this is a large gathering or some kind of convention...it's basically just a meet-and-greet, get-to-know kind of thing.

You can meet the ECO Team there as well.

Bandit Signs

The team over at Bandit Signs in Red Oak -- where I've gotten my yard signs -- really does such a good job at doing what they do, and if there's praise I can heap on David and Laura, I will do it - regularly. Anyway, they've launched a blog.

It's worth checking out: BanditSigns.com/blog