Special to the Mirror, reader submitted verse. We almost never get to delve into the world of poetry, enjoy:
You came here from there because you didn’t like it there, and now you want to change here to be like there. We are not racist, phobic or anti whatever-you-are, we simply like here the way it is and most of us actually come here because it is not like there wherever there was. You are welcome here, but please stop trying to make here like there. If you want here to be like there you should not have left there to come here, and you are invited to leave here and go back there at your earliest convenience.
Ray Otton says
Pssssssht, that’s not poetry, that’s a diatribe.
This is poetry:
There once was a girl from the shore
Who liked to dress up as a boy.
But she soon changed her mind
When she was to find
She would have to give up Onancock.
Bob says
That’s funny
Laurie says
I resent the sweeping statement that all “come-heres” want to change life on the shore. I was not born on the Shore, but have been visiting for over 30 years, before moving here as a permanent resident 5 years ago. I have a great uncle who was a “come-here” way long before most of you were born, and spent his last years living in Onancock as a retiree. Should he have been shunned because he wasn’t born here? I consider myself as a “belong-here”, but the labels are ridiculous. I love and respect the shore for what it’s been, am fascinated by the history, and do NOT want to see it over-developed, either.
Blue Hoss says
We do not care what you resent. You can consider yourself anything you want and we will view you as a Come-Here, your uncle too.
Laurie says
My uncle??? 🤔
Blue Hoss says
‘I have a great uncle who was a “come-here” way long before most of you were born, and spent his last years living in Onancock as a retiree.’
Sorin Varzaru says
There is very little I care less about then what you or the other “from here” think. The only reason people bought the properties was because the “from here” sold them. No one came and took those properties by force.
Mary Parks says
You see, you really don’t know what you are talking about. The properties and land were sold by the children of locals that needed the money to fund the lives they built for themselves in other places. Generations of The Shore’s children were forced to move to chase money around. You would know that if you were really a local.
Sorin Varzaru says
I don’t see the distinction. the children were “from here’s”. they didn’t want to live here so they sold. to us. I don’t owe you anything. I will try to shape the place I live in an whichever way I see fit. Like someone here likes to say, if you don’t like it, you know where rt13 is.
Publius Americanus says
Sorin,
We agree.
P.A.
Blue Hoss says
It is already over-run with Come-Heres. There are towns that only have one or two native families living in it, almost completely taken over with them. Real Estate companies advertised Our home to foreigners from all over the world. Think what it would be like to have your home advertised, marketed by slick salesman and sold to Come-Heres.
You can look at the compilation of Obituaries for The Shore and tell who if a Come-Here by just the name. You all stand out in the crowd even after you die.
Paul Plante says
Re-read the poem, Laurie, carefully.
It is not a sweeping statement that all “come-heres” want to change life on the shore.
And it does express a truism that is not at all exclusive to the “shore.”
People in small towns all over America are confronted with that same issue – people moving in from somewhere else for some unknown reason, and the next thing we know, NOTHING is good enough for them, and EVERYTHING has to be changed for them at the expense of those who were there and did not desire nor want nor need what the newcomer demands.
Blue Hoss says
They are sooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to be moving to something ‘new’ that they overlook the impact on the people who were already there. Who knows what type of nonsense their slick real estate salesman told them
Laurie says
I have met so many kind and welcoming folks on the shore over the last 30+ years. Y’all aren’t any of those…
Blue Hoss says
Well, bless your heart. There is a road called Rt 13 that will take you away just like Calgon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yjGPgs0_S0
Paul Plante says
WOW, talk about sweeping blanket statements of condemnation, Laurie!
I’m surprised you didn’t call them dregs of society who should be put into a basket of deplorables slated for treatment in some kind of community setting to rid them of implicit bias against “come here’s.”
Ray Otton says
Laurie, you are correct.
The CCM has more than it’s fair share of nasty, condescending jerks. Just look at the responses from exhibits #1 and #2.
One is a “from here” and one is a “don’t live here”. Don’t let either of the bastards get you down.
Paul Plante says
As someone once said, it takes one to know one and right here, Laurie, with Mr. Otton, you are speaking to the original model!
And by the way, our Raymond, who is so vain he thinks them song is about him, which he makes it be every chance he can get, like right above here where he pitches rocks at others to bring attention to himself and his perfection as a human being, is a come-here, and the people where he came from all cheered the day he headed south, because Raymond is a nasty, condescending jerk and they didn’t want him there for that reason.
Now, sit back and wait for the show to begin as Raymond demonstrates what a master nasty, condescending jerk looks like in real time.
End of communication.
Over and out.
Ray Otton says
Thanks for proving my point.
You might want to get yourself a copy of “Self Awareness for Dummies”.
Paul Plante says
Did I ever say you are a HOOT, Raymond?
If I didn’t, let me say it now when it comes to someone who is a HOOT, you are the epitome, the prototype, or more properly, the Archetype, bar none, and that is an actual fact.
And if you are referring to me as a “DON’T LIVE HERE,” let me take us all back in time to the November 1, 2015 episode of the Cape Charles Mirror, the only MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS still open in America for all points of view, which makes it a GRAND PALLDIUM OF LIBERTY, to a post entitled “Letter: I almost moved there, but thank God I didn’t!” for the reasons for why that is, beyond the fact that you are already there, to wit:
Dear Board of Supervisors of Northampton County, Virginia
RE: I almost moved there, but thank God I didn’t!
I once took a trip south to visit my son who was in the Army in Virginia, and in going through to Norfolk, I passed through your county and thought what a nice place it would be to live because of the traditional values and unity of the people there coupled with the County’s natural, cultural, and historic resources.
After following this re-zoning fiasco you people have going on down there, which, incidentally, thanks to the modern miracle of the internet, is not only national, but international news, as well, as people all over the world tune into the latest citizen broadcast as to the progress of the fiasco, all I can say is thank God that I didn’t.
Having lived out in the country all my life, I am well aware of the ripe odor of chicken manure, especially in August, when it is hot and muggy, and how it crawls up your nostrils and seeps down your throat, and that was from a literal handful of chickens compared to the giant chicken factories you people are planning to saturate your county with.
And as I follow this re-zoning fiasco, I am reminded of your County’s Mission Statement http://www.co.northampton.va.us/gov/administrator.html, wherein is succinctly stated as follows:
The mission of Northampton County Local Government is to provide the necessary services to protect the health, safety, welfare, environment, and quality of life of our citizens consistent with the communities’ values and priorities.
This mission is accomplished by encouraging citizen involvement, preserving the County’s fiscal stability, traditional values and unity of our people through the implementation of effective and efficient government programs; consensus building; managing the County’s natural, cultural, and historic resources; planning for the future; and representing citizen needs and desires to other levels of government.
I think as you people read that over in the light of the conduct of this re-zoning fiasco, which is being watched by the candid world as they follow this train of abuses, you will see, as do I and the candid world, that your Mission Statement on your county website is false advertising.
You say the mission of Northampton County Local Government is to provide the necessary services to protect the health, safety, welfare, environment, and quality of life of your citizens consistent with the communities’ values and priorities, which, of course, would be the values and priorities of the actual people who live there, as opposed to New Jersey land developers or out-of-state industrial chicken-growing operations, and you say this mission is accomplished by encouraging citizen involvement, and preserving the County’s traditional values, which again would be the values of those who actually live there, as opposed to New Jersey, preserving the unity of your people through the implementation of effective and efficient government programs and consensus building, and representing citizen needs and desires, as opposed to those New Jersey land developers or Delaware industrial chicken-growing operators, to other levels of government, but a look at ATTACHMENT B, the SWOT REVIEW of your 5 YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN 2014 – 2018 Adopted by the Board of Supervisors on April 8, 2014 with Updated Status Reports as of 1/23/2015 – Katie H. Nunez, County Administrator and With Modifications as made by the Board on February 23, 2015, as part of the initial Board of Supervisors retreat on March 10, 2012, the Board of Supervisors and the Department Heads identified as Threats to the County the very people whose values you falsely say you are preserving, to wit:
* “No Growth Crowd” – perception of the county; few landowners for the majority of the land
* Perception of “not business friendly”
* Retirees/groups who don’t want change
* Well-organized special interest groups
* Impacts of belief that county is not business friendly; county has excessive regulations, etc. end quotes
By labeling your own citizens as a ‘No Growth Crowd,’ and by singling out retirees/groups who supposedly don’t want change as ‘threats’ to your plans to re-zone your county to open it up to out-of-state business interests who want a place to put their businesses where regulations to protect the health, safety, welfare, environment, and quality of life of the citizens who already live there consistent with the existing communities’ values and priorities ARE IGNORED, you clearly are not trying to build consensus, nor are you encouraging citizen involvement.
Quite to the contrary, and contrary to the Virginia General Assembly recognizing that the system of representative government in Virginia is dependent in part upon citizen legislative members such as yourselves representing fully the public in the legislative process, which you clearly aren’t if you label those same members of the public as threats, and the citizens of Northampton County maintaining the highest trust in their public officers and employees, which they obviously can’t, since you have rendered them into second-class citizens with your proclamation to the candid world that they are “threats,” you certainly appear to the candid world to be using your public positions to retaliate or threaten to retaliate against these same persons you have branded as “threats” for expressing their views on matters of public concern or for exercising any right that is otherwise protected by law in connection with this re-zoning.
Thus, it seems to me that to be truthful with the candid world who like me, reads your County Mission Statement, that you should change its wording to reflect those facts, that in Northampton County, Virginia, not all are equal.
Respectfully,
Paul R. Plante
Ray Otton says
More endless blather no one cares about, Paul.
No one reads through your endless diatribes against enemies great and small.
No one is interested in the endless cut and paste editorials.
No one admires you for your nasty, condescending tone.
No one enjoys your bullying of other posters.
No one finds relief in your rants and raves.
Be better.
Paul Plante says
YAWN!
Whether anyone listens to me is quite immaterial and irrelevant, Raymond, to anything of importance in the world today, and the only one you can speak for is yourself, because you don’t speak for anyone but yourself, and Raymond, you actually count for nothing in the grand scheme of things because other than carping and whining and talking about fondling your gun, you never have anything of actual substance to say about anything, so I don’t listen to you and you would be the last person on the face of the earth that I would listen to, and I owe a debt of gratitude to Katie Nunez for keeping me away from where you are with your stupid gun you like to scare people with.
So go away, Raymond, your mother is calling.
Paul Plante says
“The First Amendment affords the broadest protection to such political expression in order ‘to assure [the] unfettered interchange of ideas for the bringing about of political and social changes desired by the people.'”
Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1, 14 (1976)
So **** Raymond Otton and all his small-minded friends who try to suppress by bullying the rights afforded by the First Amendment courtesy of Wayne Creed and the Cape Charles Mirror that afford the broadest protection to such political expression in order to assure the unfettered interchange of ideas for the bringing about of political and social changes desired by the people, even when Raymond and his little clique of idiots do not want that interchange to happen because in their smallness of mind, they feel threatened by people who don’t think like them and instead dare to think differently.
Ray Otton says
Paul, I never said a thing about your right to post your blather. Your accusations of such infringements are just more evidence of an unhinged mind.
I’d like to take this opportunity to point out some fine folks for putting up with your mean old self.
1 – Wayne Creed for being a fine example of a Libertarian by allowing you to voice your opinion, however long winded you may be.
2 – Whomever it is that takes care of you while you rant, rave and lash out at people. Having been a veteran of the caregiver wars I can tell you they are 1st class folks for lovingly caring for a lunatic.
I’ll say it again, it’s not too late to learn to be a better person.
Paul Plante says
YAWN!
Raymond, did I ever tell you that you are a CRACK-POT with paranoid delusions concerning myself, who you seem obsessed by?
You are one of those people Sorin says should never be allowed to own a gun, 2d Amendment notwithstanding, and Raymond, I am forced by your paranoid behavior in here to have to agree with him.
As to Wayne, I would call him a REAL AMERICAN, the unsung kind who really make America GREAT by stepping up to the plate and digging for some truth amidst all the lies that come at us on a daily basis by these grasping politicians we are best with in this country today.
Paul Plante says
You really need to reel it in, Raymond, and seek some very good professional help to assist you in getting your out-of-control emotions in check.
Paul Plante says
It is indeed never too late to become as better person, Raymond, and if you start working on it right now, perhaps you’ll even be able to become one yourself.
In the meantime, you are certainly no kind of example of a “better person” yourself that I would want to emulate.
Just saying.
Sorin Varzaru says
“So **** Raymond Otton and all his small-minded friends who try to suppress by bullying the rights afforded by the First Amendment courtesy of Wayne Creed and the Cape Charles Mirror”
Sigh… Unless Ray works for the government, him telling you to STFU is not an infringement on your 1st amendment, it’s … let me see if I can think of an analogy. I got one, it’s like telling someone to stop throwing garbage out of the car window. It’s a public service.
Paul Plante says
Go away, Sorin.
Ray’s mother is calling you, as well.
And yes, Sorin, Ray is a bully who tries to suppress all comments he does not want aired.
And reread that Supreme Court decision I posted to see if you can comprehend it this time.
You are so busy trying to defend your buddy the bully Raymond that you totally failed to grasp the import of what the court was really saying.
Ray Otton says
Ouch, the Leftist explains the 1st amendment to the self-professed defender of liberty.
Thanks, Sorin.
Paul Plante says
The Cape Charles Mirror is so fun!
Paul Plante says
And Sorin, my goodness, dude, I owe you an apology for being so harsh to you above here, where I should have been much more gentle with you, instead.
How on earth could you possibly be expected to understand why the First Amendment here in the United States of America affords the broadest protection to political expression by people like myself in order to assure the unfettered (unrestrained or uninhibited) interchange of ideas for the bringing about of political and social changes desired by the people when the dictatorial political system you grew up in and are used to afforded no protection whatsoever to such political expression in order to assure there would be no such unfettered interchange of ideas for the bringing about of political and social changes desired by the people?
For proof that unfortunately, you are unable to grasp the AMERICAN CONCEPT of an unfettered exchange of ideas because you grew up in the kind of repressive society Raymond Otton and his gun-toting ilk would impose on us free people here in America if they could, we need go no further than your analogy about the aggressive bully Raymond Otton telling me to STFU is like telling someone to stop throwing garbage out of the car window is a public service.
To you quite obviously, Sorin, coming from a repressive society as you do, ideas that you and Raymond Otton do not like or want heard because they threaten you are the equivalent of the garbage that is thrown out of car windows down here, which garbage throwing was recently the subject of a Cape Charles Mirror expose.
Thinking such thoughts and making such analogies makes you out as a person with a still-born intellect, Sorin.
Just saying.
Paul Plante says
In his Notes on Virginia, under “Immigration Policy,” Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson had this to say on the subject:
“The first consideration in immigration is the welfare of the receiving nation.”
“In a new government based on principles unfamiliar to the rest of the world and resting on the sentiments of the people themselves, the influx of a large number of new immigrants unaccustomed to the government of a free society could be detrimental to that society.”
end quotes
Study that, Sorin – see if it speaks to you in any way, and Sorin, welcome to America!
One day, perhaps you will learn what it is other than a pot of gold to be milked by immigrants for all it is worth.
Ray Otton says
Hey Paul, I see you haven’t had a chance to pick up that copy of “Self-awareness for Dummies”. If you had you’d know by now the only one in this thread acting a bully is YOU.
Doesn’t matter, keep digging that hole you’re in. At this point you’re 1/2 way to China where you’ll be right at home.
Paul Plante says
(Spoken sotto voce so as to not set Raymond off further, walk softly around him, people, if you should see him coming at you in a rage because he doesn’t like the fact that he cannot control what it is I get to say in here because he carries a gun and you never know with those types when it is they might go “postal” and start using it, creating yet more gun violence statistics here in violent America thanks to people like Raymond Otton who see the use of a weapon as the first way of resolving what might have otherwise been a trivial matter, like the shadow of a pencil-neck dude with a receding chin, an obvious sign the dude is a liberal, touching the shadow of Raymond without his express permission and sending him ballistic in a towering rage, screaming “GET YOUR SHADOW OFF MY SHADOW” while brandishing his pistol around to terrorize the pencil-neck dude and give Raymond some sport at the same time – as for me, each day I thank God for having Katie Nunez scare me away from down here so I don’t have to worry for my personal safety when Raymond is on the prowl for trouble – what a terrifying thought that is for me, the image of being confronted by Raymond in a rage in the condiments aisle of the Food Lion – so thank you Katie Nunez for saving my life in that way)
Ray Otton says
Paul, you need to learn when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.
This is when you should fold ’em ‘cuz you’re becoming a real embarrassment to yourself.
Paul Plante says
YAWN!
Raymond, you are very tedious.
And you are a stalker, besides!
See if you can process this in your pea brain – what you think about anything is totally immaterial and irrelevant to me.
I DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU THINK, Raymond.
So stop being an A-HOLE whose only purpose is to emulate a fly at a family picnic in here by always showing up to buzz around and track **** all over the food to spoil it so nobody wants to touch it.
Your obsession with me is very disturbing and is as clear sign that you have some very serious mental defects troubling you.
GO AWAY!
Ray Otton says
Paul says “blather, blather…………GO AWAY!”
Are you trying to infringe on my 1st amendment rights?
I mean, that’s what YOU’VE been accusing me of trying to do to you from the beginning of this thread, right?
You can stop reading what I write any time you like.
This would be a good time to take my advice because you aren’t doing yourself any favors continuing with the Marxist tactic of accusing your enemies of what you are guilty of.
Just tryin’ to help.
Paul Plante says
It is interesting to note that I have been following so-called “social media” sites on a similar basis as the Cape Charles is today, with topics under discussion by the supposed “public,” since 2001, which is 20 years now, and on each of those sites, as is the case here with Raymond Otton, who can only comment on the people commenting because he can’t contribute anything to the topic itself, there has been a “Raymond Otton look-alike” doing the same exact thing, for the purpose of rendering the dialogue simply stupid to kill the conversation totally, by turning off the readers with his incessant BULL****, in this case, about myself, and here goes the topic, all to hell, as Raymond and all the Raymond look-alikl3s through the years have intended.
Never do they have any comments about relevant subjects to offer, only attacks on people posting, as if the Raymond Ottons of the world are those whom we should all look up to and obey.
Look at our own Raymond, with all his BULL**** about “trying to help me,” as if after over 70 years of doing just fine on my own, I somehow need advice and help from Raymond Otton on how to live my life and conduct my affairs.
How stupid the very concept.
And to see just how stupid and infantile this continual stream of BULL**** from Raymond Otton really is, let us simply go to Ray Otton says @ MAY 6, 2021 AT 11:48 PM:
More endless blather no one cares about, Paul.
No one reads through your endless diatribes against enemies great and small.
No one is interested in the endless cut and paste editorials.
No one admires you for your nasty, condescending tone.
No one enjoys your bullying of other posters.
No one finds relief in your rants and raves.
end quotes
Now, for the last twenty years, that is the same BULL**** these Raymond Otton clones always spew, as if they somehow knew what was in the min of every single person in America and could therefore speak for them as this version of a Raymond Otton is doing here, and it is real stupid here in the light of a recent episode of the Cape Charles Mirror where we had as follows:
“Cape Charles Mirror Reaches 2 Million Views”
NOVEMBER 22, 2020 BY WAYNE CREED
The Cape Charles Mirror has reached 2 million views, and our comments total nearly 15,000.
end quotes
So there we have an idea of just how powerful is the mind of this Raymond Otton that he can know the thoughts of 2 million people concerning myself, as if each of those 2 million people were even aware that I exist, or care what I say.
Turd leavers is the name these Raymond Otton types have gained and earned over the years, and the name is quite appropriate.
Ray Otton says
Paul, the only person in here I battle with is YOU.
History shows that I’ve argued with other posters but I walked away after having my say, contrary to your contention that I only come in here to harass you and add nothing to the conversation.
In fact, early on you declared a few “Hear, Hears” for comments I made that conformed to your political opinions.
So, “Old Paul” thought I was a useful addition to the CCM as opposed to “New Paul” who cries for me to STFU and leave.
So what changed in our online relationship?
I came to realize you are the typical internet bully, the condescending jerk, the blow hard and the thin-skinned asshole all rolled into one and I don’t like condescending, blow hard, thin-skinned, asshole bullies.
But I’m a forgiving kind a guy, ask Sorin.
So, if you do a little self-examination, realize the truth in what I’m telling you and try to lighten up in your attitude, then I’ll be on my way.
Mary Parks says
Sorin Varzaru says
MAY 5, 2021 AT 9:33 PM
I don’t see the distinction. the children were “from here’s”. they didn’t want to live here so they sold. to us. I don’t owe you anything. I will try to shape the place I live in an whichever way I see fit. Like someone here likes to say, if you don’t like it, you know where rt13 is.
30 years ago, at this point, you would be meeting my son and husband, but they have both passed on. You are a problem. In years past you would have been forced to see the solution.
Sorin Varzaru says
From what I hear, 30 years ago the place was too much of a dump for me to want to move here.
Note: 30 years ago it was awesome. 30 years later, now it’s a dump. Por qué?
Sorin Varzaru says
>Note: 30 years ago it was awesome. 30 years later, now it’s a dump. Por qué?
I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Hey, you know where RT13 is 🙂
Note: I also know where the Town of Cheriton is. 1)Use brain 2)Avoid the dumb 🙂
Paul Plante says
All beauty and all ugliness and all things in between have to be in the eye of the beholder since there is no other possible place for them to be.
Ray Otton says
Based on your comments in this thread, your eye needs adjustment.