Cancellation of Tonight's Scranton City Council Meeting? (Luzerne: condo, live)

[ScranBarre]

What an interesting turn of events this has become! Beleaguered city council president Judy Gatelli canceled tonight's meeting because she felt threatened by some images and/or comments on the anti-mayor web site of Joe Pilchesky, a former City-Data member (http://www.dohertydeceit.com) (broken link). She claims that she felt that threats were being made against her, and she refused to hold the meeting tonight for that purpose. After poring over various threads on that forum, other than some juvenile banter about her obesity, her masculinity, etc., the only vestige of a "threat" I could see was the avatar of one member---it's a very gory animation of what appears to be an elected official having his head shot off. If I were in President Gatelli's position, I would most understandably feel threatened by this. Given the fact that the folks at DohertyDeceit have had a history of disdain for Gatelli, logging onto that forum and seeing that animation would have me on edge too. If people on there support and defend images of public officials having their brains splattered everywhere, then who's to say that Gatelli's mug couldn't face a similar fate? There are a LOT of scary, freaky, crazy people in this city, and the prospect of a disgruntled taxpayer storming the meeting and shooting Gatelli and/or the other members of the "Doherty Three" is realistic given the RAGE so many people in this city have right now.

I know many city residents are fed up with their elected officials, but I'd say even WeLuvPA would agree that relating an avatar like that to Gatelli was in poor taste, at best. For as much as I dislike certain people (Ray Lyman especially for constantly hogging the podium), I'd NEVER condone an assassination.

Tonight's series of events has created a media blitz, and DohertyDeceit's message boards are currently heating up. I'd expect the Scranton Times and WNEP-TV's Talkback Online to likewise be a flurry of excitement soon. What I don't understand is how just about every community in NEPA can have political corruption, yet Scranton's officials are the only ones so brutalized? Don't people in Scranton think that politicians elsewhere are just as bad? Why the threats?

[weluvpa]

Actually Paul the live coverage was pulled for good and all camers will be removed on friday. This is actually a ploy to cover up what has been going on in the city and I have talked to 3 out of the 5 council members tonight and they still do not really know what the hell Judy was thinking....More to come I am sure.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

Actually Paul the live coverage was pulled for good and all camers will be removed on friday. This is actually a ploy to cover up what has been going on in the city and I have talked to 3 out of the 5 council members tonight and they still do not really know what the hell Judy was thinking....More to come I am sure.

I read about that in the Scranton Times-Tribune with DISGUST! At press time she was "considering" it, but I suppose now it's official. Thankfully, I'm not working next Thursday evening (to my knowledge), so I hope to attend to see the carnage LIVE! Are we allowed to bring popcorn and/or soda? LOL! I can't wait to see Janet Evans tear into Gatelli like a cheetah pouncing on its prey while Fanucci giggles in the middle and the audience cheers in approval!

The ONLY "threat" I could perceive from DohertyDeceit would have been that avatar, but even then there was no link between it and Gatelli until she tried to "connect the dots." She was going to have TWO police officers present at tonight's meeting to serve as bodyguards, and she still chickened out. Oh boy! At least next week's meeting won't matter without having Channel 61, as I'm sure WNEP will be all over the story.

[FightinPhils]

I agree SWB. I say pull the plug on televised meetings. People can still attend, but it will end this "must seeTV" and these goons looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Televised meetings are making Scranton a laughingstock, as all of Lackawanna County cable subscribers, and parts of Luzerne, get channel 61.

And I'm not a big fan of Doherty, but the antics of these "legion of doom" and DD.com goons only serves to give Scranton a black eye and make us all a laughingstock.

Why don't the legion of doom go out and do something positive rather than just showing up and making government meetings into "WWE Smackdown" and ranting and raving and hurling threats and 3rd-grade insults on a web site?

[weluvpa]

Which speakers do you consider the legion of doom? What about the residents with a legitimate concern? Watch what you say and who you include ok because you do not know the difference. There are alot of people with real problems that get lumped into that same group.