The Email That Made Me Go Hmmmmmm...

I recieved the following email from someone who recently graced the pages of this blog - not once, but twice with deeds of misdoing.

Hello..this is Matthew Herycyk..I was just reviewing your blog, and I wanted to inform you that I hope you know my personal information on a "Blog" is Illegal and I will be contacting my Attorney in Fort.Knox , Kentucky if you do not remove my information by November 1 of 2007. I will follow this out through the court system is you do not cooperate, and will be contacting some "higher authority" personell in Charlestown as well. I hate to inform you that I am still active in the U.S Army, and the information you have posted, and picture is not for public relations, or entertainment for the large" Hampshire County" "need to be informed about everything because of no personal life" commitee, being at that you have 24 hours, thanks and have a great non-informed day!....

Matthew J.J Herycyk

For starters, any information posted about you, Mr. Herycyk, was a matter of public record. After all, PHRJ posted your photo, and when they were asked what the charge was against you, they stated it was military desertion. Personally, I believe your indictments in Virginia of issuing and forging United States Postal money orders would not look too good to the "higher authorities" in Charleston you speak of. Or perhaps they're unaware of your Virginia indictments. As for your picture being used for public relations, I can only laugh at that accusation. Do you seriously put yourself on a pedestal that high as to think you could help with our PR? Well, I guess self flattery is better than no flattery at all.

What pains me the most is that you state that you believe we're uninformed. I don't think that's true. Is it, Matt? All-in-all, I'd say we were very informed about your shenanigans, and you're just very uncomfortable with that.

Bus Accident Fritsch's Fault

David Fritsch's decision yesterday to send students to school on dangerous roadways proved to be a bad one at best. Yesterday afternoon, while taking children home, a bus slid sideways on a secondary road and went up against a bank. Thankfully, no children or the driver were hurt, but with the accident happening on Owl Hollow Road, it could have been much worse. Fritch blamed the road conditions for the accident when, in fact, he should have blamed himself. After all, if schools had been cancelled yesterday, this would have never occured.

Late Arrival & Early Dismissal: A Foolish Decision

When the safety of students becomes secondary to not missing a day of school, it is time to seriously consider the ability of the transportation director and whoever else makes the decision to close schools to think rationally. This morning students were picked up by the buses on snow covered roads which proved to be quite treacherous in some areas. David Fritsch, Director of Transportation for Hampshire County Schools, saw fit to send bus drivers out on these hazardous roads to transport students to school after a two-hour delay. The students hardly had time to reach the schools by the time the decision was made for an early dismissal.

Basically what transpired today was the children being taken out in inclement weather to have lunch at the schools just to be sent home shortly thereafter. At the most, they could have received only a couple hours of instructional time. Today is one of those days which have the highest number of absences because of the area in which we live. Some parents will not send their children out in these conditions especially if they live on secondary roads which are not safe for normal travel let alone for buses transporting our children. I realize that the schools must be open a certain number of days each school year for instructional purposes, but to jeopardize the lives of so many students, as well as the staff, just to have that day counted is absurd as well as thoughtless.

The state department of transportation made the announcement this morning that primary, as well as secondary, roads in Hampshire and the surrounding counties was “snow and/or ice covered”. This should have been sufficient to close schools for the day rather than risk transporting the children on dangerous roads. After all, most surrounding counties closed schools due to the inclement weather. The safety of the students and staff should be of utmost importance. Today proved where the board and Mr. Fritsch's priorities lie.