Mystery of the Missing Letter. I’m So Totally Nancy Drew.
Last Sunday a comment left on this post by “N.F.” indicated that Mayor Dick Davis sent a letter to me. He even provided a link to a copy of the document he claims Mayor Davis transmitted via fax and e-mail. This is a big deal for reasons N.F. points out.
N.F. @ November 6, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Finally, and most importantly, this is a copy of the fax and emails Dick Davis sent to PCP and Merritt Patterson on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, in advance of last week’s paper being printed and/or distributed, and in advance of Merritt Patterson’s piece falsely accusing Dick Davis, obviously attempting to make him look dishonest and/or foolish. She and the paper were informed of the truth; and they apparently ignored it.
It is already known that PCP knowingly printed on its front page as news a story beyond totally false, malicious, and incorrect against the Anti side of the campaign. That’s already been discussed and proved. But, this fax also demonstrates other information generated or written in the paper or on the Web by the PCP and/or Merritt Patterson was known to be false and misleading and demonstrably untrue.
Aside from the fact that it seemed odd for N.F. to have access to Dick’s files, there is nothing found in the link above that indicates it was sent. No fax number, time it was sent or a confirmation report that it actually went through. And there isn’t a copy of an e-mail with the address it was sent to or the time and date it was sent. So I double checked. Nope. Didn’t receive a thing.
Maybe he didn’t even send a letter. I mean, we don’t even know who N.F. really is, he could be some nut. So I decided to go straight to Mayor Davis via e-mail.
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 9:11 AM
To: Davis, Richard
Subject: Park Cities People
Mayor Davis,
A reader sent us a link to a copy of what he/she claims to be a letter, sent by you, via fax and e-mail on October 27, 2010. Can you please confirm whether or not you sent the letter? I did not receive a fax or e-mail from you and am very interested in the authenticity of the letter. [LINK]
Thank you so much,
Merritt Patterson
I hadn’t heard anything by the following day so at 9:37 a.m. on Tuesday, November 9, 2010, I left a voice mail for Mayor Davis asking the same thing I had written in the e-mail on Monday.
Then today I received the following e-mail.
From: Davis, Richard
To: Merritt Patterson
Sent: Wed, November 10, 2010 8:49:23 AM
Subject: RE: Park Cities People
Yes, the e-mail was prepared for me and sent. My notes show that you were copied on it.
So I responded.
From: Merritt Patterson
To: Davis, Richard
Sent: Wed, November 10, 2010 9:07:54 AM
Subject: Re: Park Cities People
Thank you. Can you forward a copy of the e-mail to me? And also a copy of the fax confirmation?
I appreciate it so much,
Merritt
Nothing yet. But I’m so totally on this case.
Dear God,
It’s been a while since I’ve asked for anything. Can this please be the proverbial straw that breaks NF’s back?
Can this put an end to us having to put up with the Harriet Meiers-esque love and devotion shown to Dick?
Ruh roh! Sounds like N.F. is part of the Mayor’s staff; how else could he be privy to a piece of personal mail sent from that office? The game’s afoot, Sherlock; I have no doubt that you will get to the bottom of this malfeasance and that the end result will be the next banner headline of “Skullduggery Of The Week”.
That letter appears to be a screenshot of a Word document or other electronic form, not a printout or physical copy of anything. Note the wavy red line under “iSTOCK” indicating that it’s not in a spellcheck dictionary.
As you may have noticed elsewhere on this blog, N.F. has moved on from the alcohol fiasco to protecting our children from homosexuals, since they are obviously all pedophiles.
Glad to know that he/she is on the case to protect us from all the evils of the modern world.
One of the funniest parts is our mayor’s comment: “the e-mail was prepared for me and sent”.
If you’re Nancy Drew, is Charles a Hardy Boy? This new Bradford guy looks a bit Encyclopedia Brown-ish…
For a government to be trusted, can we ask for transparency as to why N.F. has access to Mayor Davis’ fax transmissions? The transparency was obviously granted to N.F. How about the rest of the community?
@ Eloise – said the nut who posted that African Americans are barred from setting foot in the door of DCC, seeing that we’re now tracking blog postings, and all.
FWIW, I strongly disagreed with N.F. on the Prop 1 and 2 issues, but I find it fascinating that a week after the election two posts, with the promise of more, (and perhaps a column?) devoted to picking on N.F. and another poster on the anti side followed a post on bullying.
@Rico, this is an example why you don’t cast aspersions on a blog. Occasionally those aspersions can be fact checked by the castee.
@Rico and James Tucker:
I’m not sure why someone is a “nut” for talking about controversies between African Americans and DCC. It’s been pretty well documented by pretty much every media outlet in town for the last decade at some time or another. If they now have an African American member, that addition must be very recent. Now, about the lack of Jewish members, anyone have a roster they want to share with the group?
Oh come on, Rico. Merritt wasn’t “picking on N.F.”, she was simply responding to a pretty serious accusation. If someone questioned your professional integrity and scolded you for something you didn’t do, wouldn’t you want to get to the bottom of things? If N.F. is being truthful, he or she shouldn’t have a problem backing up their claims. But where is old N.F.? Probably kicking themself for thinking Merritt wouldn’t call their bluff. It’s okay, N.F. Just admit and apologize and we’ll all love you for it.
I agree with Rico. This blog is full of cyber bullies that think what they post is OK since its anonymous. I’ve got kids at the Middle School and the High School and thankfully they’ve never experienced the venom that is this blog. I haven’t agreed with everything NF has posted, but the personal attacks are out of control.
@Zoe – Merritt certainly has the right and responsibility to defend herself when accused of wrong doing. What is the point though of this week’s column attacking Lifelong Parkie and equating him/her to the Church Lady?
If there are so many bullies on this blog, there must be quite a few people who love abuse to continue coming back into the discussions.
@ bc, the DCC has had Jewish members for a long time. The DCC has plenty of problems and there is certainly a lot of room for criticism, but there has been an effort to make some changes. There are also homosexual members!
@B – maybe we should wait to see what she has to say. I just re-read the post and thought it to be fair given the comments. How can you say someone (Merritt) is out of line for calling a person close-minded (like the church lady) in response to someone saying somebody’s work is “repugnant” and calling them a “transplant.”. If they weren’t the actual comments I too would have thought they came from a parody.
I don’t often agree with Merritt and have never engaged in the blog before, but I gotta stand and applaud ber for taking on the community bubbas….I mean bullies…I mean “leaders” — who don’t really lead but follow.
bc & mainzer
DCC and many other country club/clubs are a PRIVATE CLUBS and they can decide who they want.
Hey Merritt,
Maybe Steve M is working on it for him.
“Yes, the e-mail was prepared for me and sent. My notes show that you were copied on it.”
What a weird formulation. I would have said, “Yes Merritt, I sent the email to you on ____, 2010 at approximately ____ a.m./p.m., and to ensure that you received it, sent a copy by fax to 214-_______. My fax machine confirmed it was delivered.” Or something like that. Isn’t he a lawyer? He should know how to tie up those kinds of loose ends in his communications. It’s just common sense.
But “my notes show that you were copied on it”? Really? Who says that? Does he mean he sent the email to someone else and cc’d Merritt? Does this guy have any clue about anything?
Also, did anyone notice that it took him two days to respond to Merritt’s email on Monday, and then only after Merritt followed up with a voice mail on Tuesday morning? I’m sure he has a lot on his plate as we all do, but sheesh. A little responsiveness would be nice. And why is it so hard to cough up an email with a time and date stamp?
Even if everything happened as the mayor and N.F claim and the ball was completely dropped on PCP’s end, the mayor’s odd, sketchy answers aren’t helping to clear up the situation.
@Uppercase Matt – good catch on the red wavy underline. It does look like a screenshot, or perhaps a picture of a word document on a computer screen.
@bc,
Huh? Don’t lump me in with Rico’s comment to @Eloise about african americans if you don’t mind. It had nothing to do with my post. My comment pertained to “cast[ing] aspersions” on people who post here. To expound further, if you’re the caster don’t be surprised if the castee defends themselves by calling your bluff and doing a little investigating. You can’t call defending your integrity “bullying” or “picking” on someone.
Neal: Lawyer? I know it’s anonymous, but I’m one and I smell it out. You could also be just a very good businessman. Anyway, you nailed it. That was a very careful choice of words.
James, we finally agree on something! Well said!
@B
Actually, I was kind of surprised that Merritt singled out Lifetime Parkie like that, too. I would have preferred it if she had simply said that a recent comment got her thinking about the qualifications of being a real Parkie and something like, “What exactly are the requirements for calling oneself a Parkie? Discuss.” I was so focused on Rico defending NF that I wasn’t thinking about the other commenter. Unlike Lifetime Parkie, NF is inviting a rebuttal from Merritt by claiming to have evidence of impropriety. My bad!
I realized Merritt and her gang of followers were bullies years ago – and she keeps proving it.
Buddy: Yes, I’m a recovering lawyer.
@cowgirl, can you explain the bully thing more? Asking questions is wrong? Challenging the herd is wrong? I’d really like to hear your response. I agree she can be unorthodox and snarky, but that does not equate to bully.
In fact, I would accuse the Citizens Council and their cronies – the Mayor, etc. – with bullying before I did a pesky columnist.
Bullying? DCC? A lot of people are missing the point of this post. The mayor is making what appears to be false representations to his citizens. That’s pretty important stuff! When questioned about it, he takes two days to figure what the best way out of it is, and then send a very cryptic response. Maybe he is telling the truth, but if so, that is something that can be tracked down via the email records. But in the more likely case that it isn’t, shouldn’t that be a BIG CONCERN to the citizens of UP??
I wouldn’t call fact-checking and watchdogging of politicians’ integrity bullying. It is one of the foundations on which this country is formed.
I always thought it was strange and a bit creepy that a public official took such a visible and forceful role in an election that was not about his office. The mayor should try to reflect the will of the people, not change it to match his own. Yet that is what our mayor was doing, and it now seems that he is getting caught up in a web of false statements. Why is nobody concerned about that? What else will he make up on the next issue that affects you even more?
@Rico, James Tucker, Mainzer: My apologies for casting aspersions in a previous post on the folks at the DCC. Since I am not a member, I haven’t been keeping up with their recent expansion of membership to African Americans, Jews, and homosexuals.
I guess I shouldn’t have asked N.F. to join the rest of us in this century when I myself had not kept up to date with how DCC had recently deemed it okay to let minorities join. I had generalized my comment based on past news accounts and I will (hopefully) readily admit where I have made factual errors.
And maybe the folks at HP city hall should take a page from Chief Adams and the HPISD in their transparency and quick response to seemingly any and all requests for information, which I believe have been exemplary.
@Eloise, the “casting aspersion” comments had nothing to do with your posts or Rico’s response to you. I could care less about the DCC.
Did it occur to anyone else that the mayor may not be very computer savvy and has an assistant manage email for him?
@Merritt, Update?
@Avid Reader, After I responded to Mayor Davis at 9:07 AM yesterday (copy above) I did not hear anything. So at 2:56 PM yesterday I sent the following e-mail. I have not received a response of any kind.
Wed, November 10, 2010 2:56:37 PM
Fwd: Park Cities People
From: Merritt Patterson
To: Dick Davis
________________________________________
Mayor Davis,
I wanted to make sure you got the email below and also ask who would have had access to the screen shot for distribution in the comments section of our website.
And one last thing, you said the email was prepared for you. Who prepared it?
Again, thanks so much,
Merritt Patterson
You would think The Honorable Mayor would be more than happy – and accessable – to speak with the local newspaper regarding these controversial issues, and to speak about this topic that he obviously felt so passionately about. Shouldn’t the Mayor be available for his constituents questions and concerns? This is quite a hubbub for our tiny burg, of which he is the leader – why the elusiveness?
kmom,
There will be no response from him
@kmom: Maybe McFly is right and our esteemed mayor just isn’t tech savvy. Maybe he dictates to some unfortunate assistant* the emails he wants to send, and then makes that assistant print out or read aloud every email he receives. Maybe he hasn’t the slightest clue how to successfully operate a computer or a fax machine. Maybe he doesn’t know how to log onto the internet, and maybe he has no idea any of this discussion is going on. All of which, if true, raise a whole other set of concerns about his competency.
*Perhaps the assistant is named “Nancy Futterman”, “Nigel Flax” or “Nadine Fergus”. I digress, but you get the idea.
@kmom – it’s because they are beyond reproach. This has been a very telling episode for our “leadership” and should give everyone in our community pause. Let’s hope that this lack of transparency and willingness to be held accountable isn’t soon forgotten – particularly in the next election cycle.
no one other than the 10 people who read this blog care.
did you vote in the last city election? i sure as heck didn’t and i’m sure i won’t in the next one either.
The Mayor can only speak through the voice of community spokesman Steve Mace, once it has been approved by rock star assistant Liz Specter and approved by City Manager Bob Livingston.
Maybe it’s time for some crack newspaper columnist to do an open-records request for all UP salaries — which would be fun reading, and would also include any persons with actual initials of NF.
So has anyone (with a lot more insider knowledge than me, for sure) determined exactly why the mayor and others got the panties in such a wad over this alcohol thing? Was it on religious grounds, or buddies of theirs who would take a financial hit of some sort if it passed?
I find it hard to believe they would have gone to such personal expense – both in $$$ and prestige – to push the anti-campaign so aggressively and what I consider to be slightly dishonorably with all the truth-stretching and “hell will come to our town if this passes” hyperbole.
I mean, they were even able to twist the arm of the leader of SMU, who had previously stated he wasn’t going to get involved.
It all just seems a bit…. odd.
@N.F., You are pretty close to the mayor. Maybe since it is supposed to back up good chunks of your numerous arguments you could get the Mayor to respond to some concerned citizens with some details.
If any of you happened to be at a certain funeral today, you would perhaps have a bit more sympathy and be a tad bit nicer to those around you and in particular our mayor. It has been a very difficult week and you all need to say “I’m sorry”
Enough. He is a good man, a good father, a good law partner and in other words is just like you all. Please don’t expect him to twitter or jump on your email especially in the face of a community tragedy experienced this week.
What happened? I don’t know. Obviously something very sad. I am so sorry.