Mr. Martell ably defends himself on the same page.
“Grover claims zero tolerance for personal attacks but seems only to enforce the rule when the alleged attacks are on him. Two meetings ago a woman came up to the podium, pointed at School Board member Art Johnston, called him out by name, and started dressing him down in front of the whole room. Her attack was of a much more personal nature than mine, but Grover did nothing to stop it.”
Mr. Martell who has attended lots of meetings goes on to debunk Chair Grover’s professed latitude “early in the year” by pointing out that ten months ago he shut the microphone off on a woman who was being very civil. Her offense, like Martell’s, was to simply read Tim Grover’s old abandoned campaign promises.
We in the public are treated to Mr. Martell’s words but not a very good picture of him. He himself comments that “Despite the scary-looking picture of me the News Tribune managed to cull from video footage I was not cursing, shouting or making threats.” The Trib kindly reprinted the less than flattering video image of Mr. Martell on this full page free speech extravaganza. Loren’s really a rather handsome fellow but maybe its better for the Trib’s editorial stance to let board member Seliga-Punyko’s fearful hysteria stand. This image could haunt her dreams for years to come.
