The Ghost of Mr. Erwin Won't Go Away

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post " Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "C...": I think you should keep reminding the board about Doug Erwin. They don't want his name brought up, b/c it was a big scandal at the time, and EVERYONE in Tampa knew Erwin was telling the truth. He was known as a good guy by everyone who knew him, and many did know him. The board was scared of the press at the time, and the board and administration closed ranks and stuck together in an attempt to make him look like he is wrong or lying. But the entire city and county knew he was not. Your posting the Erwin files a while back showed how horribly they treated him, and people need to know about that. They would love for you to shut up about it, but don't. This case needs to haunt them the rest of their lives, because they attempted to destroy a good man. That is just plain evil. Publish this comment. Reject this comment. Moderate comments for this blog. Posted by Anonymous to Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch at 5:40 PM

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post " Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "C...": Erwin case is telling. "Follow the money." Erwin brought to light questionable construction contracts. Also, reported internal corruption. Same thing happening at HCC. Publish this comment. Reject this comment. Moderate comments for this blog. Posted by Anonymous to Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch at 4:54 PM

A good thing about my losing my computer's hard drive and having to hustle to get another computer was that I had a few days to clean out my desk. Lo, I found a stash of Erwin files that I never got on the computer. I will begin copying them soon. Presently I am engaged in writing the state superintendent to make Broward School Board honor my public-information on the hiring of Dr. Hamilton, one of the chief crooks in the Erwin case, as its lobbyist.

One of the worst things about the K12 bureaucracy is its incestuous hiring practices. This closed system that passes the bloated-pay top jobs around to a circle of C- and D-student dumbasses like Hamilton. These dumb=down the schools from the top with negative impact on students and teachers.

I am also writing Dr. Machem, president of UF, complaining that despite being marginally illiterate, Le Hamilton got a PH.D. there. Since Hamilton's writing showed him to be illiterate, I am sure he bought and paid for his. I wonder if he bought off the thesis committee. I am going to complain and send a copy to the hoity-toity group that monitors university quality in the state.

The effort to shut up Mr. Erwin came from the top. So the top must have been knee deep in graft. The same is true of HCC.

I know how bad HCC is. I fought the administration the entire 28 years I was there. My latest sally at HCC was to keep the administration from firing all the elderly women in the bookstore whom I had worked with. The administration wanted to replace the in-house bookstore with a commercial outfit. One of the women had just had a brain operation, for goodness sake. These old women would never have gotten anything but minimum-wage jobs with no medical benefits. Clearly the HCC administration thought a national outfit would yield more graft opportunities than the in-house situation.

But a few of the bookstore women's and my jumping up and down at a series of meetings saved their jobs. I accused the board and administration of putting the bookstore women on an ice floe and pushing them out to sea to die like the Eskimoes do with their old people. I didn't hold back. What's the good of being circumspect when you deal with thugs? There is no use being civilized when you challenge barbarians hip deep in graft.

The administration shut down my email access to the college. I called the division of community colleges, which made them turn it back on. The guy who ran against Kurdell was involved in shutting me up. He's the head of technology there. He denied it when he ran for office. I did the smart thing and sent him $200 and urged him to run again.

If you are going to fight these critters, you have to gird up your loins and wade in with all you've got. I think this a good way to spend one's leisure time.

I have lost all my files on my old hard drive. This above picture, taken at dinner on the ship by a waiter when I took one of my grandchildren on a cruise for her birthday, is the only one that has survived. I swear I am going to get one of those contraptions to save my files.

Lee