Pat Grubb's Glee Club
It all started with an editorial:
These are the first two panels of the first comic we published in October of 2017. (Note the blue shoes.) The editorial in question was published in the June 2017 edition of the All Point Bulletin. In it, Pat Grubb wrote:
“A couple of years ago, fire commissioner Bill Meursing invited the undersigned to join him for a cup of coffee and essentially asked the newspaper to join the fire department glee club. What I explained to him, apparently unsuccessfully, was that while the newspaper was happy to provide editorial support to the fire department, it was the role of the newspaper to keep an eye on the commission to make sure they were discharging their duties in the public interest.”
(Emphasis added.)
Really? How does his level of scrutiny of the Fire District compare to the standards he applied to the Hospital District?
Here is the last remotely critical article about the Hospital District in the All Point Bulletin:
That was in 2009. Since then, the All Point Bulletin has served as the glee club for the Hospital District and Unity Care (its provider until last year) by turning a blind eye to their failures, shortcomings, and the likely closure of the clinic. So much for keeping "an eye on the commission to make sure they were discharging their duties in the public interest."
In the 21 months of the Small Point Bulletin, we have fully documented Grubb’s hypocrisy. When we were critical of the Hospital District, it was to show how uncritical Grubb was of it despite their demonstrated incompetence. We’ve documented his duplicity over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
Since we were publishing anyway, we took the opportunity to explore some local governance issues that interested us. And while we could make fun of the All Point Bulletin forever, what would be the point now? We'd just end up repeating ourselves. Having done what we set out to do, we think the Small Point Bulletin has run its course.
Consequently, as stated last week, this will be the last regular edition of the Small Point Bulletin, at least until further notice.
We leave you with just one more thing. In Grubb’s June 2017 editorial, he wrote about Shannon that “...her stream of vitriolic emails to the newspaper eventually resulted in her emails being blocked.”
We would like to share that "vitriolic" email exchange with you now. And as promised, we let Grubb have the last word.
1. This was our letter to the Editor of the All Point Bulletin supporting Stan Riffle for Fire Commissioner in 2015:
The Editor:
In our 12 years here, the fire department has not operated at the level of professionalism, competence and effectiveness that it is now. Stan Riffle is one of the driving forces behind this.
After attending a majority of fire department meetings in the last two years, we can say without a doubt that our community is lucky to have Stan as a fire department commissioner. He has worked hard since becoming a commissioner in 2012 and deserves your vote in the upcoming election.
He is the kind of commissioner who is fully engaged in his position. He spends personal time at the fire hall making sure he understands the issues and he comes to meetings fully prepared. In addition, he’s a nice guy who works well with others.
As a retired architect, the district has benefited from Stan’s expertise and clear, rational thinking many times. Examples include when the roof of the fire hall had to be repaired, his input on the installation of the new septic system for the department and clinic, and being a pivotal player in providing the fire chief with what he needed to create one of the best fire departments in the region.
This last point is important for two reasons. It has increased the department’s insurance rating which in turn has lowered insurance costs for every property owner in Point Roberts. Most importantly, we now have nearly 24-7 staff coverage at the fire department and have nearly tripled the number of member who can provide medical care: nine EMTs, six advanced EMTs, and four paramedics. In 2012, respectively, there were four, two and one.
The choice is obvious, Stan Riffle for position 1 fire commissioner.
Victor Riley and Shannon Tomsen
2. We called to verify that the letter had been received and were told that it was the first one so it would run at the top of the Letters section in the next paper. The next paper appeared later that month and our letter was not published. Neither were two others supporting Stan. We followed up with an email to Pat Grubb - we believe this is the one he later described as "vitriolic":
On Nov 1, 2015, at 8:38 PM, Shannon Tomsen wrote:
Hi Pat -
Sorry for the delay in responding. This email address for me is whitelist only so I did not not receive your response to (redacted) until now. I don’t know who (redacted) is so I have removed him from my reply.
We submitted our letter in early October. The online submission form states that someone would be in contact with us but after a few days no one was. I called and spoke to the receptionist who spoke to someone else who confirmed the letter had been received. Initially there was confusion about it running in that week’s Northern Light but that was cleared up and I was assured it would run in the November APB issue - at the top no less! When I got home this past Friday afternoon and did not see our letter in the paper, I called to find out what happened. If we had known earlier in the month you were not going to run it, we would have used other means to get our opinion out.
It is your paper and you can do whatever you want with it. But when you play politics like you do, you should be man enough to own up to it rather than trying to hide behind weak and transparent excuses. We all know you would have found the space if the letters supported your candidate. In general, pretending that you are impartial or that you don’t have an agenda makes the APB no better than Fox News.
Clearly you have issues with the Fire Department for whatever reason. If you look at what has happened within the department in the last few years from the perspective of a member of the community, you have to admit it has hit a very sweet spot and there is no need for change.
From all appearances your life looks pretty great so I continue to wonder at your vindictiveness and pettiness. Aren’t you better than this?
Shannon Tomsen and Vic Riley
3. Grubb's reply:
From: Patrick James Grubb
Date: November 2, 2015 at 2:04:02 PM PST
To: Shannon Tomsen
Cc: (various addressees at Point Roberts Press and members of the community, redacted)
Subject: Re: (Rescued) Re: Letters | All Point Bulletin
Shannon,
I have copied you on a letter to (redacted) which further explains our policy regarding letters to the editor; I don’t believe I need to repeat that here.
In response to your other points, 1. Despite what the online form states, we do not contact every writer who submits a letter. 2. If you were assured that your letter would run at the top, you were misinformed. That is not our policy and I am surprised that you were told that. I will rectify that immediately.
As for the rest of your letter, it’s nonsensical and undeserving of a response.
Regards,
Pat Grubb
All Point Bulletin
