I have been called and emailed from many Portsmouth residents informing me that they will not support the Columbia Music Hall since they are now aware that Lee Scott is allowing other drug dealers and/or porno picturing taking men to work inside the new Music Hall. It appears that all the time and effort put in by Lee Scott may have been for nothing as I too join those individuals that are supporting not attending any events at the Columbia until Scott does the right thing and remove these people from being in employment positions at the Columbia whether these people work for "free" or under the table.
They say you can normally get an indication of a persons future actions by reviewing their past history. Lee Scott was convicted of drug charges back in the 1980's. This bust was not a small time arrest, it was one of the biggest drug busts at the time that Scioto County had ever had.
Upon Lee Scotts return to the Portsmouth area he announced that he was a "changed man and his past was just that, his past." Scott told all of us that he would not associate himself with drug dealers especially after he married a lawyer and has a young daughter to support. So what happened to those words Lee Scott? When did you decide to return to running with dope dealers?
Ever since the Columbia Music Hall has been opened Lee Scott has allowed a convicted drug dealer to operate his sound boards/lighting system for the Columbia. This individual is named Joseph R. Ferguson who resides at 309 Front Street. Ferguson was convicted in 2000 for trying to distribute cocaine in the area with a purchase value of $20,000. That was the value of the drugs at cost to the person who bought the drugs, not what the drugs could be sold for on the street. According to law enforcement officials the cocaine found during the raids could have a street value of upwards of $200,000 or more depending on how the drugs were mixed and resold.
During the arrest of Ferguson at his Front Street residence, nude pictures of little girls were found. The newspaper quoted former Assistant Scioto County Prosecutor Rick Brown as saying the nude pics would result in additional charges of child pornography against Ferguson. Ferguson's lawyer, current 1st Ward City Councilman Mike Mearan, (known around town as set the pedophiles free Mike) took his client in and worked out a deal for Ferguson to plead guilty to the drug charges in exchange for not filing the sex crimes against his client. Apparently it worked and Ferguson is now allowed around little kids again.
If you have young children that may be going down to the Columbia Music Hall I would reconsider letting them go, especially unsupervised. Lee Scott broke his promise to the people so the people should make Mr. Scott reconsider his actions.
It's only a matter of time until we read in the paper that drugs were inside the Columbia Music Hall. Who will stop them since we now know former drug dealers/abusers are blessed to come and work for Lee Scott.
More on this story later.
I would like to release to the public today that Austin Leedom and I have worked out an arrangement for me to return to writing stories for the Shawnee Sentinel. Our agreement is with the understanding that we return the Sentinel to the path it originally started down, one of exposing corruption in Portsmouth and Scioto County. I will still keep my blog but I have given permission for my stories to go online with the Sentinel and I will be writing stories that will only appear on the Sentinel website.
From now on stories found on the Sentinel will have names attached to them and the people will know who wrote the stories. This was not followed while Austin was gone out of town working to help restore phone service to devastated areas around the country. So, stay tuned. We are about to start rocking the world again.
Finally, a man that calls himself Lookdeeper, possible sexual predator Gary Daniels, stated on Moe's Forum that the Concerned Citizens Group was going to shut down the CCG Roundtable after Daniels went in and blasted Teresa Mollette owning this site without the permission of the CCG Executive Committee. My sources tell me that the CCG Executive Committee met and decided that Daniels was not telling the truth because the CCG authorized the runboard before current President Bob Forrey took over. The CCG Executive Committee decided that a disclaimer (which was discussed prior to Daniels outburst by Teresa Mollette to the CCG group) is all that was necessary and that the CCG roundtable would continue.
If by chance the CCG decides to close their roundtable, I will open up another CCG roundtable for the people to write on and discuss city issues as is currently available. Gary Daniels is a resident of Westerville, Ohio and has no right ordering the CCG members to do anything. Daniels needs to stay in Westerville and take care of his court ordered payments to his ex-family. His money would be better spent taking care of his own back yard before he gets in another persons!
John Welton (DD)
