Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Mr. Laurence McNamara confirms Mrs. McNamara used offensive language ("N-word") at Lake Worth City Hall

This account appeared in a recently created tabloid published by Margaret Menge (Vol. 1/Issue 12). Considering her background in "community" news facts and calm analysis aren't high on her list of priorities. What's different here is she quotes Mr. McNamara, an eyewitness, on the incident:
     [Delores] Key walked up to Dee [McNamara], according to Laurence McNamara, and asked her to move, telling her the front row was reserved for the candidate's family.
[and later. . .]
     "She [Mrs. McNamara] pointed at her own skin and said, 'Are you calling me a n[----]r?' " Laurence remembers.
     Dolores Key, who is white, took offense.
     "She [Dolores Key] got all bent out of shape," said Laurence, and told Dee about seven times to apologize.
So, there you have it. Confirmation from Mr. McNamara that the incident did indeed occur. Mrs. McNamara's supporters fall into two camps: one is the incident never happened and the other is Mrs. McNamara was exercising her Free Speech. The one camp, "it never happened", has now been debunked. Now on to Mrs. McNamara's use of the 'N-word' and Free Speech: she has every right to use the 'N-word'; whenever or wherever she pleases. (Although I wouldn't encourage her to do this in certain neighborhoods.)

What Mrs. McNamara's supporters fail to grasp are people such as Mr. Parrilla also have the same Free Speech protections as others, including Ms. Menge, who hold those principles in such high regard. Free Speech is a two-way street. At a protest by Mr. Parrilla none other than Margaret Menge showed up to express her displeasure with Free Speech on a public street:
Ms. Menge (on left) angrily confronts Serge Jerome, Jr. at a protest in front of Mrs. McNamara's house.
The irony is people like Ms. Menge, who claims a prestigious career in journalism, wrote the following on Mr. Parrilla's preparation (request for emails) for his protest in front of Mrs. McNamara's house:
     Those emails were dug up by a private citizen, says Mark Parrilla—Himself.
[and. . .]
[Mr. Parrilla] did a public records request for all of the emails Dee McNamara ever sent to the city. And then he started organizing a protest, inviting everyone, via Facebook, to join him in protesting in front of the McNamara's home on North Lakeside Drive.
So? And the point is exactly? Here is more creative writing by Ms. Menge:
     He [Mr. McNamara] said Dee [Mrs. McNamara], a former fashion designer turned real estate agent, lost the listing at 402 North Lakeside Drive due to Parrilla's calling the owners and blasting her as a racist. The McNamaras [sic] have held open houses at the home for months, and spent many hours painting and fixing up the property so that it could be sold. The home was listed for $745,000. 
You can see that property here and the new listing agent.

What Ms. Menge fails to mention is this: Mr. Parrilla contacted Mrs. McNamara's former employer and informed them of Mrs. McNamara's two Facebook pages which have since been deleted. Here is one of those entries:
There are so many more points to make but will end with this: the incident with Mrs. McNamara's use of the 'N-word' occurred on Monday, March 16th. Within hours it was the buzz of the town. However. . .
  • In Vol. 1/Issue 10 (March 20) Ms. Menge writes nothing about the incident
  • In Vol. 1/Issue 11 (March 27) still no mention of the incident
  • The following week she takes the week off "to reflect"
It's not until Vol. 1/Issue 12 (April 10) that she reports on anything concerning the incident: a full 25 days later.

If you wanted to find out the facts about what happened in City Hall on March 16th you had two choices: this blog and The Lake Worth Herald