I didn’t expect the strong reaction I have received since I posted Part One of Hook, Line, and Sinker, but I sincerely appreciate the comments and advice I’ve received during the last 24 hours.
I did, however, expect that Greg Aymond would respond, in his own way, on his blog, considering his publication of my initial correspondence with Ms. Underwood.
I:
So, once again, even at the risk of appearing petty or supercilious, let me address Mr. Aymond’s criticisms and concerns:
Perhaps it is due to Lamar’s youthful age and lack of real life experiences that he tends to “talk down to” his readers, as if he is some great writer and an intellectual.
This is something Greg has said about me more than once on his blog– that, in his estimation, I suffer from a “lack of real life experiences.”
Do you really want to go there, Greg?
Really?
If I am not sufficiently experienced in “real life,” then would you care to explain how, exactly, you are.
Because, to me, your observation about my “lack of real life experiences” is just a convenient, cowardly, and ignorant way of making yourself appear superior.
II:
In those posts, Lamar attacked just about anyone who did not agree with Mayor Roy’s plans for the downtown hotel. Lamar just doesn’t get it that there are people in Alexandria who do not agree with the mayor’s plans for those downtown hotels. Some even agree with me that the City has no business operating, with our tax dollars, a downtown hotel. Say what you will Lamar, but that is exactly what is happening.
Greg, obviously you’re the expert here with the most complete command of the facts and the proposals currently being considered. You claim to know the Mayor’s “plans for the downtown hotel.” I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you: What are his plans?
And who am I attacking?
Seriously, what are you talking about? I don’t think anyone supports the idea of the City operating a hotel; that’s the primary reason the City created the Downtown Hotels Initiative.
III:
First, Lamar attacked this blog for racism, even though there is no proof for that. (See: “THE LEFT-WING LIBERAL TACTICS OF MAYOR JACQUES ROY AND LAMAR WHITE“, “LAMAR WHITE REMOVES ME FROM HIS BLOGROLL“, and “THE EFFECT OF LAMAR’S REMOVAL“). This blog has written a lot of posts giving credit to Black people, but I will not stay away from condemning crooked or stupid Black politicians out of a sense of White guilt and liberal tendencies like Lamar. All crooks, regardless of race, deserve to be called out, as I have done on this blog.
Greg, I understand you believe there is “no proof” you have ever been racist on your blog.
However, as someone who reads your blog, there is no doubt in my mind that you are obsessed by race. Your posts about City politics, for example, are often more focused on race than on policy. You believe everyone should chill out about a post you published in which you labeled a group of African-Americans “the n**** street thugs,” primarily because you didn’t spell the n-word correctly. You published a photograph of the graduating class of Peabody High School, the vast majority of whom were African-American, and ran with the headline that implied these kids were members of the KKK, simply because they wore white gowns. I guess you thought you were being funny. I thought you were being hateful.
And Greg, considering that you were once a member of the KKK, it is impossible for me to read the stuff you publish about “n**** street thugs” and “white guilt” and somehow still believe you don’t have a racist bone in your body.
But that is just me.
And that is why I no longer link to you on my blogroll.
You can call me a liar and label me a radical liberal; I have enough “real life experience” to know that it really doesn’t matter what Greg Aymond says or believes about me.
CenLamar 
Lamar, I do not believe I am saying anything that isn’t factual if the statement is made that Mr. Greg Aymond has contributed to the mistrust, race-baiting, hate filled rhetoric sometimes found in Central LA. I cannot say Greg Aymond is a racist but can point to behavior. He painfully exhibits all the trademarks of a fear filled individual, unable to comprehend the vast changes that are sweeping across the world. I pity people filled with such fear, but, like other fear filled creatures, they tend to be the most dangerous in this state of mind.
Incidently, his comment about life experience was pretty amusing. Greg Aymond has scarcely gotten off the plantation himself. And this comment comes from someone who has lived in multiple locatations across the country around many, many other cultures. I certainly wouldn’t take anything Greg Aymond says with more than a grain of salt. His behavior has proven such.
Lamar, I wish your post had responded to the lie you told about the City of Alexandria blocking blogs, the lie you told about my Cleco questions not being answered because I wanted an interview with the mayor, your telling me that my questions regarding Cleco because I was not a member of the reporting media, Ken Juneau’s attack on Steve Coco of KSYL Radio over the Heath Public Records lawsuit and how Junea was totally wrong, your and Ken’s attempts to sway public opinion in favor of Mayor Roy, and your pesonal attacks upon Rhonda Reap-curiel and Gayle Underwood.
It is your blog and you are free to write anything you want. I just wish you would start telling the truth and arguing all of the points in a debate.
Lamar:
The subject matter which is the topic of the above discussion is important. However, I think all parties involved have gotten way off topic. From an unbiased view, I believe your efforts could have been more aimed at simply responding to the comments of the above posts, rather than focusing on discrediting the individuals who made the comments. I know that is probably much easier siad than done. However, I think you are smart enough to excersice a little more restraint in that capacity. Nevertheless, this is the first time I have read the page in years and I do find the discussion interesting. I hope I do not come off as critical.
a reader:
Don’t be a killjoy.
Am I the only one that thinks Greg Aymond looks like a washed-up Civil War reenactor (of the Confederate flavor)?
Just a thought.
I am compelled to leave one more comment and then move onto other issues: I responded to Ms. Underwood publicly after she elected to make the discussion public. It was not and has never been my intention to personally attack anyone, simply to clarify misinformation.
I understand these issues because I have worked on this initiative since it launched.
It seems there is an implication that people should be able to make public and misinformed accusations, but that for some reason, I don’t have the right to clarify these issues or even respond. I disagree.
I am also a taxpaying resident of Alexandria, and I also have a right to exercise my right to free speech. I am not speaking for anyone except for myself.
Underlying the personal debates on my blog and on Greg Aymond’s site, there really are some important issues that need to be discussed, and I hope to have the chance to discuss, debate, and accept input from anyone willing to be involved in the near future. Unfortunately, I think this current situation has been tainted on all sides by a bit too much personal bias and preconceived misconceptions.
Because I do want to discuss these issues and to have a respectful dialog with productive outcomes, I want to give this enough time to allow cooler heads to prevail and focus on things that have been on the blog back burner for a while.
Insofar as I provoked some of the name-calling, I regret it. It wasn’t my intention. It is almost impossible for a shouting match to serve as a productive and substantive discussion.
I hope we can return to these issues in a couple of weeks.
By the way, even though I’ve been critical, the editorial in today’s Town Talk was absolutely spot on.