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I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following :








Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Turning Down the Temperature

It's all fun and games until folks start posting about burning down houses over labor negotiations not going the way they want them to......

Over the holiday weekend I received the above screenshot from someone who saw it posted on an online chat site.  It was surprising to me that someone would openly call for someone to have their house burned down.  It was even more surprising to me that the so-called moderator of that site not only allowed that comment to stand--but actually proactively hit the "like" button.  I was glad to know this sort of a frenzy was going on, if for nothing else than to be extra vigilant.  But it is troubling to see former employees stirring up such a ruckus with inaccurate and false claims--to a point where someone would actually say "let his house burn" (in reference to my family house)..   So this whole incident obviously was not a good thing, and it led to my posting some factual information on my blog yesterday that I ultimately removed.

We have got to turn down the temperature on this stuff.

We can agree to disagree.  Heck, we can even (although we shouldn't) call each other names if we must.

But any sort of a call for a violent act, even a dog whistle type like the one above, should never be tolerated, ever.

We're a local government doing the sausage-making of local government; labor contracts with labor unions, taxes, maintenance, planning, engineering, permitting, parks etc.  We're not fighting a war like our military is doing overseas---not one of our employees works in an environment even close to being as dangerous as the Marines and Soldiers work in--kicking in doors in urban combat in the middle east and being shot at, or riding behind a 50 Caliber machine gun on a Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicle like my brother did in Iraq during the war.  So why so much animosity and why the personalization of this anger to a point that it boils over with folks making threats? Most of this anger and venom is about paychecks and benefits----and most of the ones complaining the loudest make way more than the E-1s and E-2's in the Army and Marines doing MUCH MORE dangerous work in combat getting shot at by people that want to kill them.

So yes----It's ridiculous and I won't partake in it.  Yes, I posted actual facts yesterday in response to the garbage screenshot above.  Yet, I pulled down that post later in the day.  I was asked to do so by several callers who expressed a "significant" concern about the physical safety of a person connected to the post.  

So, while every bit of what I posted is and was true--It needed to come down.  I don't want anyone to be injured physically for something that is written online--even if it is all true.  

Others should do likewise and "turn down the temperature."

I'm not holding my breath on that, sadly, particularly when the moderator "likes" posts that are threatening or condone, cultivate and incite violent acts.

96 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you can’t see the conjecture in that statement, well then you may be a little to sensitive for public office.

Anonymous said...

They’ve not only said fireman need to let your house burn, someone else suggested going after the board with torches and pitchforks. Today a man referred to the board as demons. The hate is coming from some real messed up people. Someone is going to end up getting hurt eventually if it continues, arrests are going to occur, and lawsuits filled because of their harassment. The moderator and a handful of followers on Escambia County Citizens Watch are intentionally cultivating hatred. It’s a hate group now.

Anonymous said...

Looks like she is saying that you don't care about the fire department because your house is not on fire. She said " let his house burn" not "let's burn his house." Its more of an IF statement.

Not that she is going to go burn your house. But that if your house was to catch on fire you would probably expect the fire department to show up. She's saying the only reason you don't care about public safety it because you haven't needed the services offered yet.

Unfortunately there typically isn't anyone at station 2 which covers your house. :(

Mel Pino said...

Part 1

Commissioner Bergosh, although it really pains me that, for the first time yesterday, I really felt like people were understanding what the real, horrendous problems have been in the EMS department, I still have to agree that the prudent thing was to remove the post from public view. Obviously it is still public record, so I hope that anyone PRRing it acts responsibly. In the end, the people concerned have got to understand that it was their own choices coming back to haunt them. But the hysteria on ECW has reached a fevered pitch, and as I always say, it only takes one whack job. Sadly, we don't have any shortage of them in this community right now. I hope concerned citizens are also beginning to understand that when I was putting out the alert about some of these people's stalker ways, that wasn't a false alert, either. I can't understand why, after all this time, people think I raise false alarms. Perhaps it's because I'm so emotional about the EMS situation. It's hard not to be. Just because I am angry--outraged--over it, that doesn't mean that what I've been saying was a lie.

I did copy some of the comments and post them to my Facebook page. There were no individuals named, so I left it intact. There was other content that in the comments section I need to get public. I was trying to say it was all part of the following big picture:

(1) Edler came to the County on a vendetta and from the get-go was trying to engender suits against the EMS department (and finally brought hers);

(2) She started targeting a number of individuals who pushed back against her incompetent program and acerbic and divisive nature, with a goal of clearing room for the training company she was trying to get a sole source procurement for (with the County Attorney coming to Doug's assistance on the crap "emergent" legal argument around the bad procurement);

(3) With Edler herself conducting workplace liaisons with subordinates, including a sexting relationship with a medic who was then catapulted to interim Chief, and an interim Chief that is, in my opinion, a serial sexual predator, a culture of rampant fraternization took seed that had terrible consequences on good staff's morale, and disrupted the chain of command.

(4) Many of the people who were targeted were trying their best to rein in the worst of the chaos.

(5) A person at the center of a lot of this fraternization also lied in multiple investigation interviews, was the cause of the medical billing fiasco—which was raised in a complaint that got hidden--and was one of Edler's intimates in the department who helped set up the charges on the EMS arrested.

(6) County leadership--Administration, HR, and Attorney--were ALL aware this was going on, and aided and abetted it by conducting a massive cover-up operation that included hiding complaints, breaking due process, meetings with the SAO before FDLE hit the ground, cherry picking evidence to point FDLE to, failure to investigate solid evidence I turned in, using "investigations" as a way to close loopholes, and even feeding Edler material to use against me in the lawsuit, while I was trying to use the horrible opportunity of getting sued to expose what was really going on.

(con.)

Mel Pino said...

Part 2.

Again, although I believe that the State's Attorney's Office should have recognized what was going on, I put the fault squarely on County leadership. I only hope that the SAO isn't too embarrassed by what happened to do the right thing. They shouldn't be; these people are masters of manipulation. It's breathtaking and terrifying what they got accomplished.

Let me remind everyone: Matt Selover was targeted for putting in a complaint against a subordinate for inculcating this kind of culture. This person ended up being raised to a leadership position by the method of Rusty Nail scratching out Matt's superior exam and trial scores and handwriting in lower ones. Then to add insult to injury, Edler composed a QA board of Maddrey (who had so many liaisons with coworkers and subordinates I can't even keep track of them all), Bill Hopkins (who later stormed out of the Public Safety building on the false information that Edler was getting fired and tried to strangle himself in the parking lot), and Shawn Hoopaugh, whom Matt had put the complaint in on.

To Mr. Hoopaugh's credit, when Edler asked him and Hopkins to falsify the timeline on Matt's QA retroactively, he told Matt he wanted to come clean to HR and Administration (Hopkins did as Edler asked). Unbelievably, the HR department refused to hear the evidence, stating the bogus reason that Matt couldn't have a second appeal--when he had never had a first appeal! Why would he have appealed the initial HR and County Attorney decision (Ed Spainhower and Charlie Peppler) that Edler was indeed harassing Matt Selover, and acting against state statute in disciplining him. I believe that Kia Johnson also wrote a second opinion backing Charlie. Enter Janice Gilley and Jana Still, and after they blocked Matt's request for months on their findings--finally releasing it to him the evening before my second hearing with Edler--they then got to work upending the previous HR and legal opinions, with Jana Still, who shouldn't even be in HR at all, let alone being a division lead, castigating Ed Spainhower's opinion on it. Alison Rogers went along for the ride.

At this point, somebody at the County needs to take lead and start communicating with the SAO about what *really* happened. Because some of those cases are based on nothing more than false witness, and those people who lied under oath are going to have to take the stand in a court of law. And don’t think that every one of those people’s own certification records won’t also stand trial, including the two that Doug set up for saving with his bogus “clemency” period that he announced after the fact. I know who they are, and so do plenty of other people.

In addition, if these cases come to trial, regardless of a jury's ultimate conclusions, it is going to be a major embarrassment for the County, another setback in a Public Safety department that is finally righting itself under Eric Gilmore and David Torsell's leadership, and expose a whole lot of malignancy and malfeasance on the part of County leadership, past and present.

Mel Pino said...

Part 3

Please keep in mind: Administration, legal, and HR were aware of such liaisons and focused on covering it up. Why do you think that report never made it to your desk, Commissioner Bergosh? Or that the result was a resignation rather than a termination? It was a CYA on a CYA on a CYA on a CYA, ad infinitum going straight back to when Jack Brown violated SERA law in hiring Edler to begin with. It's right on the audio--they *talked* about the fact that they were violating it.

Something that a lot of people don't know is that one of the people arrested who sat that committee turned in a SERA complaint, but was told he couldn't because he wasn't the offended party. I have no idea if O'Hargin realized they violated his rights that way, as he was on active duty as a reserve at that time. I also have reason to believe that the same person then put in a complaint on someone in administration for misappropriated EMS funds, some sort of radio equipment that went to another agency?, which went nowhere--I'm not clear on that exact situation.

See what they did there? They set up the real whistle blower, who hadn't even been working at the County for some time. In addition, another person who got arrested was trying to figure out the Narcan situation at the Fire Department, where Fire had secretly put in an application to obtain free narcan, but was still coming to EMS for their allotment. That person was arrested before ever getting to the bottom of the situation. Later on, I had a fireman tell me that when I was asking my list of burning Public Safety questions, I should have asked why there wasn't any Narcan on the fire trucks. I have zero idea if there's any truth to that, but there is plenty of smoke around Fire narcan.

At one point, there was a stack of QAs a mile tall that were going unprocessed once they hit Edler's desk. They eliminated the position of the person who stepped in to do them, since the previous person had been arrested and the County had never fulfilled the role. Got rid of her with no notice on a Fire Me Friday. See what they did there?

And there's so much more. :( These are just the bare bones of what I have desperate for the community to understand. Yes, I know I looked like a crazy person, because this whole thing seems so implausible. I assure you--that is EXACTLY what was going on. All the while with our poor first responders out in the field with lifted protocols from another agency and ZERO training, because once Edler didn't get her sole source on the Orlando company, she never did anything about training again. One of the people fired and one of the people arrested were *trying* against all odds to keep adequate training going, with Edler fighting them tooth and nail at every turn. Maybe that had something to do with the LCC for "emergent" training she set up with a medic she was dating, that they pitched to another agency at the County? Who knows. Thank God a lot of their best laid plans fell apart. Setting those EMS up to get arrested didn't, though. It's time the County came clean to the SAO about what really happened. The carnage has gone on long enough.

--Melissa Pino

Anonymous said...

Mr. Bergosh,

Sean Bullington and Alex Arduini posted last week that you bought a beach lease recently. It seems like they were trying to figure out where you live. I saved the screenshot because I thought it was a strange thing for them to say.

Sean Bullington, Jacqueline Rogers, Alex Arduini, Joel Cotton, and Bryan Caro seem full of hate and vengeance. I fear for anyone they go after. I don’t think they’re all there mentally.

Anonymous said...

Let me say this louder for those in the back.

Although some people might think Facebook groups that have a long history of allowing and encouraging hate to fester for elected officials, private citizens, posts about violence, allowing conspiracy theories to proliferate, can’t result in some users eventually acting on real-life violence, you’re wrong. If you think words are free of consequences, you’d also be wrong. The toxic legacy of a Facebook Group can result in serious issues.

Groups that radicalize users via incessant hate isn’t anything new. Facebook groups have been tied to a number of harmful incidents and movements that include January’s violence.

Here’s just one case that provides some guidance to organisations as to their potential liability. Watts v Times Newspapers Ltd, confirmed that liability for defamatory material extends to any person who participates in or authorises its publication. Of course, this will include persons such as authors and editors, but it may also apply to those who were involved in disseminating it, despite it not coming from them originally. Therefore, there is a potential risk that a group admin could become liable for the content posted by a member.

Before posting anything that encourages hate or violence, ask yourself if potential defamatory claims or adverse publicity, is worth it to you. Think of your moral obligation as well.

Escambia County doesn’t want nor need more hate.

A few members of Escambia Citizens Watch have gone too far already with their harassment. One of them also took also pictures of texts on someone’s phone at the bocc meeting then foolishly posted the screenshot on Facebook. Arrests and lawsuits are eminent if their flagrant harassment continues.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:16
I disagree. You don’t understand what certain people in that group have done behind the scenes to harass people.

Anonymous said...

Good lord. I said yesterday that everytime there’s drama Jacqueline Rogers name pops up. She’s the town pot stirrer. Lady you need a new hobby and a life.

Anonymous said...

You think that comment is bad? You should see what they did to Matt Selover on ECW. Not once did any of those horrible people take into consideration that he has a family they were harming with their false information against him. Jacqueline Rogers you should be so ashamed for your role in trying to ruin his life. You’re a sick woman and I hope you end up in court.

Anonymous said...

Their lives are failures. They spend all day and night online and it’s made them lose touch with reality. They’re losers and they know it so they’re angry with their own life and they take it out on everyone else. Those are facts.

Love A Good Book said...

Wow! Just wow! I love a good book. Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Dale Brown are just a few of my favorite authors. I must say you're moving up that list. Such creativity. Can't wait to read your first publication. Should be a page turner.

Anonymous said...

The people whose positions were supposedly eliminated and firemen fired for having sex at station 6 were probably railroaded, as well as employees abusing the social media policy. The acts need to be documented and the employees warned not fired. They get the dumb award for sending pictures of their genitals over public network but they still may have some good qualities.

It would be good if Facebook would remove ECW. Did you report it?

Why is the 4th amended discovery on the paramedics still covered up by the clerk of county?

Glad to see the county voting on new unbiased medical direction.

Maybe you can rehire some of these people.

Anonymous said...

Rogers is weird. It may take awhile to see her flaws.

Melissa is also weird. Melissa Pelosi. Twister of facts.

Maybe they both could use somebody to give them special attention.

Melissa Pino said...

In the meantime, YEAH!!!!!!!! Fantastic news! Jim Little reports on EMS raises:
----------------------
"The new agreement creates a new pay scale for EMTs and paramedics. The new pay scale effectively raises the base pay for EMTs from $13.75 an hour to $15.04 an hour and for paramedics from $17.96 an hour to $19.19 an hour.

All existing employees will be moved into the new pay scale, and they will all receive a 2% raise. New EMS employees will start at the new base pay."
----------------------

**Please note this also gives lie to ECW trying to get it going that the raises were only 50 cents an hour. Like I said, there is no low they won't stoop to.

(In other good news, I finally got my browser to let me post my name in the proper field. Progress! haha)

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2021/07/07/escambia-county-paramedics-emts-could-see-pay-raise/7873437002/

Anonymous said...

Could u please shut up pino--how many people live in this county and only 4/5 comments

Anonymous said...

Could you please shut up Nancy Dimwit — how many people live in this county and only know you for being stupid

LR said...

Sorry jealous haters but if it wasn’t for Melissa Pino we wouldn’t know about the corruption going on in the county departments.

Anonymous said...

Nancy Demlow is weird to.

Anonymous said...

lawd. somebody passed out fake CE cards

Anonymous said...

A man is talking about demons on ECW and attacking the board with torches and pitchforks. Meds and straight jackets are needed STAT.

Anonymous said...

Nancy Demlow. I think you could use some meds.

Melissa Pino said...

Anon 1:10, I'm not leaving these detailed logs in the comments section here for people with short attention spans. Commissioner Bergosh's blog is getting a lot of traffic these days, and I finally have enough things demonstrated that if I put the whole scenario down in one place, perhaps the people on the below email chain will finally be able to put together the pieces of what actually happened to result in the criminal arrests and the slipshod probable cause findings.
-------------------
Escambia EMS

Melissa Pino Wed, Jul 7, 2021 at 10:26 AM
To: Robert Bender , District 5 Steven Barry , Lumon May , Jeff Bergosh , Alison Rogers , Charlie Peppler , Kia Johnson , Wes Moreno , Ed Spainhower , Jana Still , Eric Gilmore , David Torsell , gmadden@osa1.org, Thomas Williams SAO , Chip Simmons
Cc: Jim Little , Rick Outzen , William Reynolds , Randy Wood , Lisa Nellessen-Lara PNJ , Andrew McKay , Andy Marlette , Blair@thepulsepensacola.com, Ryan Stoner Talbott Law , Kim Anthony Skievaski Attorney , Jacqueline Rogers , Melissa Pino
cc: press, Ryan Stoner, Kim Skievaski, Jacqueline Rogers

Dear BOCC, County Attorneys, Administration, HR, Public Safety, EMS, State's Attorney's Office, and Sheriff's Department,

Yesterday, Commissioner Bergosh posted a blog that put the kabosh once for all on any notion that what I've been saying about the rampant fraternization in our Public Safety was fabricated. This scenario has had serious, dangerous, and to my mind, tragic, consequences. Beyond the evidence I already had, I am now in receipt of some of the public record evidence on an official investigation into one particular instance of this, not to blow it up publicly, but because I wanted to see whether there was anything in the record that might assist the former EMS under charges.

In addition, I want to make sure that the County continues to communicate such evidence to the State's Attorney as it arises. As the BOCC apparently had no idea of this particular scenario, one wonders whether anything is still being sent to Mr. Williams on the nexus of EMS circumstances that led to the former EMS employees' arrests. The State's Attorney's office deserves and requires *all* of the evidence to be handed over by the County. Not just the cherry-picked amount selected to target pre-determined individuals, which the County directed FDLE to obtain.

Commissioner Bergosh made a decision to remove the post from view, as reports started going around that public knowledge could end in an act of violence. He then posted this morning, urging ECW to take its temperature down on the threatening speech that is a daily occurence now on that site. Those of us familiar with the situation agree it was the right course of action to remove the blog. Most also doubt that anything will change with ECW--it's too far off the rails at this point. But miracles do happen.

As the comments section was of course removed with the post, I put together what I consider the most important information surrounding the arrests and the state of the EMS department at that time, and posted it as comments to the new blog. I am copying and pasting it for your convenience below my signature.

Sincerely,

Melissa Pino

Anonymous said...

It’s pretty bad when you’ve let your hatred and misery consume your entire life that you start condoning violence.

Anonymous said...

Rogers also used a grieving mother of an accident victim from a couple years ago in her pursuit to harass a paramedic that didn’t have anything to do with that case. The regulars that actively participate in the harassment of others need to take a hard look in the mirror and figure out what’s really wrong with them. They’re vicious angry people taking out their misery on others.

Anonymous said...

I’m not trying to add to the negativity or hate but ECW has turned into a cesspool of pure nastiness because of a few regular posters. It carried over to the town hall meeting Steven Barry had. Sean Bullington was hateful and belligerent. It’s not funny and it’s not cool to treat people the way they do. You can get your point across in more productive ways that don’t involve the vitriol. It makes all of you look certifiably crazy. I’ve personally seen a group text where a couple of them were literally planning a harassment strategy. I think the above commenter is right about lawsuits getting filled. Victims of repeat slander and harassment dont have to put up with that from the bullies. File suits that cripple them financially.

Anonymous said...

This is base pay raises.... think of all the employees who have been there for years making crap pay... and they get 2% raise and now day 1 employees are making close to or the same as what they are making after years of hard work.

Anonymous said...

I hope the hateful people don’t have children. Generational hate is real. Kids see and imitate everything parents do. As much as there is to do in our picturesque little city I’m surprised anyone has time to spread hate. Get out and enjoy nature and the things our community offers. Find happiness and let your hate go.

Anonymous said...

Except Pino has exposed so much corruption. If it wasn’t for her the bad actors would have completely steam rolled over some really good people without any accountability.

Anonymous said...

The only problem is her book would be non-fiction. You may not like Pino but everything she has brought to light is backed up by facts not verbal diarrhea of the mouth like you see on ECW. It’s a tragedy that in light of so much evidence of wrong doing by Edler, Janice Gilley, Jack Brown and others that people want to attack Pino. Think about the corruption she has uncovered? Not fake made up evidence like Edler and her cronies but real public record. You shouldn’t doubt what she says. It’s all true.

Anonymous said...

As some insiders know what’s been happening in the county some of us are relieved to see some of it out in the open.

Jacqueline Rogers gave Commisioner Underhill a safe haven to push hidden agendas for too long. I think that’s coming to an abrupt end.

Commisioner Bergosh, look on Jacqueline’s ECW page and count how many times she said a fire engine was down or calls were being held and then backtrack with those units to verify the accuracy. You might find it very interesting.

Anonymous said...

We wish to see the other paramedics' cases dropped. Rehire them.

Anonymous said...

Melissa Pelosi has a few good traits.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 1:10, I use to think she was an annoying busy body like JAR but i have to admit I’m listening now. Pino isn’t what I thought. Everything she’s been saying is being proven to be the truth.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully with the new Administration, employees can move on Beach Access 4 (that the board bought and approved for the public) without fear that Underhill would make the admin fire them. I think Moreno knows where the power is and it is not on Facebook.
I see that is on the agenda tomorrow. I think some good changes will come from a productive meeting July 8, 2021.

Anonymous said...

Melissa, that was a lot to digest but thanks for the cliff notes. It’s become clear Doug Underhill’s nasty mouth pieces on ECW tried to railroad you and several others. Happy you hung in there. I wish you luck in the election. You might end up being just what the county needs.

Anonymous said...

Why on earth would SAO put such harsh claims on these veteran paramedics and let murders run the streets. It makes no sense at all.

Love A Good Book said...

Now that's some funny stuff. The one thing Pino fails to provide are facts to back her statements. I've never seen her back anything up. She talks a good game but nothing. Get back to me with factual proof of all these allegations.

Melissa Pino said...

Anonymous 4:53, thank you so much for your post. This thing is so unbelievable, I can honestly understand why people have thought I was a crazy person spewing wild fantasies. The people who were on the outside looking in had every justification in thinking that, and I don't blame them. Who would think this could happen?

The people on the inside who knew I was on to them did everything in their power to discredit me.

Why people in positions of power spend more time to solidify their power and CYA their mistakes than they do simply to run process and operations, and correct the bad mistakes and actions that came before, I will honestly never get. It's just unfathomable to me that so many good people have been served up on a platter for so many people who have been committing reprehensible acts. It's a slippery slope. I guess you just start out embarrassed by one wrong thing you did, and don't want it to come out, and then you do a lie, you compromise yourself in a small way to cover for your error in judgement, and it snowballs. That's the best I can make out. That, and a lot of these people don't seem to have a conscience. Or a soul.

I've got a meeting with the prosecutor on the criminal cases, Tom Williams, next Thursday. I wasn't too keen on meeting with him when he sent FDLE to my door in an unnecessary show of force the first time--he might have just asked. But I am hopeful and confident that, now that all of this is unravelling at the County, he and the rest of the SAO will realize they got snookered. It happens.

What better show of getting this area moved forward than the Count and the SAO on the same page with righting this wrong? It's a win win for everybody. Mistakes HAPPEN. I've never been able to understand why it's so hard for some people to admit it. This community needs to heal from this.

Would there be a single citizen of Escambia--apart from the political hounds on ECW--that would not welcome with open arms the idea that, really, our EMS was not really bad as all that? That these were good people doing the best they could under horrible leadership? And got arrested for it?

DOH was gutted under Rick Scott and don't have many brains and hands to scramble together. I exclude Marie Mott as the local head, as she had nothing to do with this travesty.

FDLE was misled by County leadership. SAO was mislead by County leadership.

Can we just fricking call a spade a spade, and drop this absolute nonsense the SAO got visited with? EVERYBODY in County Public Safety knows this was a set-up. Those of you who perpetrated, you better hope that you escape my interview with Tom Williams next Thursday. You know who you are.

Anonymous said...

Did they though? Last I read the evidence wasn’t so strong after all. Or could it be that after months and months behind Edlers closed doors with the evidence that some things just went missing?

Joel Cotton said...

Anon 9:49 if you want to include my name in your comments you just may want to fully read my comments first. I'm not about sit around and pretend all is well when members of our current board fail to recognize their failures. Further more if Mel Pino insist upon using screenshots of my statements and using them 100% out of context I'll call her out. I would much rather do so on her personal wall but she would much rather block me and hide. If she can't handle it now she'll never survive in office.

Anonymous said...

You’re a stalker

Anonymous said...

Explaining anything to these 2 is useless. Paramedic Selover deserves to have his fees paid. He deserves his job back. He deserves retribution for being slandered on ECW by vicious carpetbaggers.

“Joel Cotton after an investigation, the Department of Health found probable cause! This is not based on anyone here in Escambia's opinion.
He is no longer an employee. (He quit.) WHY are the taxpayers paying for this?” - Jacqueline Rogers

Anonymous said...

We do know it was a setup. We also know certain individuals who weren’t qualified got comfortable office jobs in return for lying flat out to investigators and then eventually had to be quietly moved up north when friends started, wait for it, maybe getting handed cards? I guess that’s okay if you are in the Edler camp. Thank you for what you have done. Maybe just maybe we can get the EMS we had in early 2018 back.

Anonymous said...

Quote from Alex arduini….“Bergosh says “It shouldn’t happen to anyone” the way Selover was treated. I can name a handful of people who were railroaded by Comm. Bergosh and lost their jobs. Political Double Speak at its finest.” - Alex arduini on ECW

Name them. Show us proof to back up your strong libelous allegation. If you’re talking about Bryan Caro and his special friend you’re dumb.

Anonymous said...

Make a Move to Remove the X Trespass @ Perdido beach..

Anonymous said...

From a legal standpoint I’m curious to know where the proof is as well. Although in the context of defamation actions (libel and slander) as well as invasion of privacy, an elected official cannot succeed in a lawsuit on incorrect harmful statements unless there is proof that the writer and publisher acted with actual malice by knowing the falsity or by reckless disregard for the truth. An ongoing campaign to discredit certain Commisioners has been occurring on a chat group page for sometime now. Private group texts amongst a few group members have been said to exist that show intentional malice and disregard for truth.

Be very cautious when publishing accusatory statements without proof of validity. Unless you enjoy losing enormous amounts of money to defend your allegations.

Anonymous said...

Joel Cotton. That’s hilarious. Go look at your posts on ECW and count how many times you’ve said Melissa Pino’s name and how many times you’ve posted a screenshot of her posts that didn’t have a thing to do with you. Count them. It you do you might come to realize you have a problem.

Mel Pino said...

Joel Cotton, my wall was totally opened to your comments, and I welcomed them, as you are typically so ignorant of anything that is actually going on at the County, instead relying for the most part on the disinformation traffickers on ECW to spoon feed you, it provided a good contrast for the plugged-in people who post there. I never had an issue with you posting. Typically, you would put down some incorrect statement, I would correct it, and you would put your tail between your legs and go off for awhile, until the next time you couldn't bear not putting down an emphatic incorrect statement. Rinse and repeat.

I blocked you and the rest of the gang over on ECW when people started reporting my posts, which did not violate any community standards, in what was clearly an orchestrated reporting tree working Facebook algorithms. It's unfortunate that Facebook chooses not to invest enough money in actual humans to review these things, as horrible a job as that is. It used to be that you could protest a decision and state why. When that was the process, I never had a post that wasn't put back up by someone who had reviewed it.

In this new Facebook day and age, there isn't even a field to enter why you are disputing the mute, and I doubt they are paying much attention to the disputes. What people who are actually working on it are too tied up with your whack job QAnon friends and their like to tag disinformation and conspiracy theory as fast as they can put it up.

Please understand that I am not saying that I know it was you reporting my posts. I have no way of knowing who all over there was doing it, so I had to block your whole tribe. Haven't had any problems since.

--Melissa Pino

Anonymous said...

Poor poor guy. It has to be hard to realize you have been on the wrong side of history. I would hate to wake up one day and I realize I was the bad guy. Let him work it out.

Anonymous said...

I don’t think the author of the post has a job to afford a defense. The ignorant are always the bravest grandstanders and peddlers of lies.

Anonymous said...

We are not your servants. If you want to be ignorant of the facts you have that right.

Anonymous said...

SERIOUS QUESTION— why are we paying Commisioner Doug Underhill over 80 grand a year when he can’t be bothered to show up half the time? He wasn’t at the meeting today, he was too busy posting on ECW dropping conspiracy theories about how bad the county is. HE DOESNT DESERVE OUR TAX DOLLARS!!!!!

Anonymous said...

LOL town pot stirrer. That’s funny. I feel sorry for her in a way because Facebook is her life. She said today she has family in town but she’s made over 40 posts just today on Facebook.

Anonymous said...

these comments and the blog post show that you are not trying to "turn down the temperature on this stuff".

Anonymous said...

https://jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/questions-asked-awaiting-answers-part.html

Things that make you go hmmmmm… said...

I googled something about ECW’s history and these two comments came up. They’re on one of Jeff Bergosh’s blog posts from 2018, authored by “Conjuring Justice..Jimmie Staley”. I think the comments are very interesting. ECW has a long tumultuous history for being a hate group, prosecuting others, pushing Commisioner Underhill’s agendas, and protecting him. Interesting indeed.


“HA ha ! Jacqueline sounds like everyone is starting to see the REAL face you reserve for your MEMBERS ONLY HATE GROUP. HA! Hypocrite is the only polite term for you. Life is a funny old dog. You play judge and now you are bring judged. LOL!!! Lest we forget the mud slinging Underhill did to a civilian about his wife. Now his family and specifically his rage issues in a domestic situation are off limits? FACT: the pertinent issue is his tendency to bully those he feels superior towards. This has historic credence due to that case. Ask yourself one question, if Underhill wasn't such a hateful person to those even questioning his views would that story from 20 years ago be relevant at all? No. So it is his current arrogant derision and vitriol that make his past protective order relevant now. I will tell you as I have been told be your hate group, the order speaks for itself, the fact he is "innocent" doesn't matter. Much like a statement you made regarding Pat Gonzalez. You didnt care if he was innocent. He was arrested. He must be guilty. Well Dougie got a protective order, he must have been a physical threat to his wife and child. Your logic works both ways.”



“Jacqueline,
As you well know, I am not a name behind a keyboard. I grew up in Escambia County and for a woman with a keyboard, I have impacted the community in ways you never will being on the ground. As for Doug, he makes you relevant. Your glorifying him is all that makes you identifiable or mentioned by anyone with name recognition.

I am going to make this as simple as I can. DOUG is a cancer. You are an enabler. Having a security clearance doesn't change that. People see you and him for what you are. If you want to attach your name to that, you will be history long before I am. Why do put energy into Patrick Gonzalez and the Billings murder? Because innocence means something. Yes there was a conspiracy to cover that murder up and it culminated in innocent people taking the fall for politicians. Funny thing is the people closest to Billings family agree, it didn't happen the way it was displayed and the people responsible are still alive and well in the community. But it is easier to have someone tell you what to think than to develop an independent idea based on facts.

As for your hate group, more people agree with my assessment than yours”

Anonymous said...

as far as CJ, ad PG..more of that has come to light also.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:59

Guess that puts a kabosh on all the conspiracy theories about Jana’s firing on ECW. Comments she keeps “liking”. LOL

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 11:11 He’s always making crazy claims but never shows proof. He’s all talk.

Anonymous said...

Regular citizen "You can't fight city hall"

Melissa Pelosi "Hold my beer"

Laughing out loud said...

These comments are cracking me up!!! The link to this blog was posted on another page and out of curiosity I clicked to read it and I’m rolling. I was kicked off ECW for disagreeing with Wendy Underhill when her dbag husband was up for reflection. ECW is a hangout for followers without facts. A real hate group run by a homely old woman that’s in love with gross Doug Underhill. LOL

Anonymous said...

Tonight’s BOCC meeting has been civilized with real adults in the room, discussing ideas and decisions like it should be.Not a circus where someone is running around invading the privacy of the public in the audience by taking pics of their texts. No fake coughing fits to interrupt other citizens right to speak. No lunatics yelling and acting like fools. You know why? Because Jacqueline Rogers, Alex Arduini, Sean Bullington and Bryan Caro stayed home. Thank God.

Anonymous said...

OMG last speaker public forum...

Anonymous said...

Regarding tonight’s meeting, I agree it was one of the most civilized meeting I’ve viewed in months. It was a productive meeting Without the crazy circus Jacqueline Rogers and her animals create. I’m sure the Commissioners appreciated the adults in the room tonight.

Mr. Frank Westmark, keep up the good fight.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is WOW! This blog is becoming nothing more than another hate filled internet hangout just like Escambia Watch. These people are absolutely no better. I think it's worse than ECW. A prime example of why this county is so divided.

PK res said...

I watched the boc meeting tonight and Pino isn’t what the haters made her out to be. She has a lot of good points. She’s also well spoken.

Anonymous said...

Jacqueline Rogers I’ve read your notes on ECW about tonight’s county meeting. My observation is you literally hate everyone. You’re not happy about anything. Your jealousy and envy of other vocal advocates is real obvious. You’re not happy unless you’re criticizing someone. That’s unfortunate for you.

Anonymous said...

I am waiting for the video and looking forward to the part where Barry asks Doug to use his discretionary for #4 Lol. Again. Remember Doug doesn't want discretionary nor retirement.wink wink.

They know they are losing.


Anonymous said...

Commissioner Bergosh, I appreciate your compassion and fight for the paramedic. Allison Rogers as well. I think it’s the right thing to do. I believe Commissioner Underhill is upset because his legal fees were refused. He created his own lawsuit, but the paramedic’s problem appears to be a retaliatory issue from his own medical director. Thank you for your compassion and acknowledging your ethical responsibly.

Commissioner Underhill, getting up and leaving after not getting your way, like you so often do, is very unprofessional.

Anonymous said...

If one is fine with gifting Doug 300 ft of beach that belongs to taxpayers, supports JAR denying an older couple and their neighbor their property rights, support vindictive HR and them some, support paramedics facing unfair sentences imposed on them, then by all means keeping hanging around with the crew sniffing around Jacqueline's skirts on ECW. Doesn't pass the smell test. They are making fools of themselves.

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:13 LOL. She gets things done. If I ever have to battle the city I want her on my side.

Anonymous said...

Barry had the better poker face ;)

Unknown said...

I'll not apologize for sharing any rediculus statements she made. She's a public figure and candidate for county commissioner. She has decided to go full on assault on anyone that even thinks differently than her. Anonymous 6:42 you may want to really look at who is stalking. Pino spends her waking hours trolling all over the internet

Unknown said...

Mel you may want to rethink your tactic of trying to insult others that don't agree with you. I get that you think you're one of the smartest individuals in this county but you have made many critical errors that will haunt you at the polls. Like many others I will never even consider voting for you.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 10:43 people need to wake up and see him for what he really is. commissioner underhill is a smooth talking manipulating politician that says one thing to sound good but secretly does and wants the opposite.some county residents are easily conned.

Unknown too said...

Unknown 10:15 I don’t think she cares if she wins. In my eyes she’s already winning by helping the employees that were railroaded. You can judge her but the county employees needed a voice and she stepped in to give them one. I’m
Not in d2 so I can’t vote for her but I hope she keeps on going to the meetings to help right the wrongs.

I’m not drinking the Pino haterade said...

Melissa,

Please don’t change your tactics. Don’t worry about the polls or negative opinions. You ARE helping.

Oh please said...

Unknown, I’ll not apologize for sharing any RIDICULOUS statements stalkers have made. They’ve decided to go full assault on anyone that even thinks differently than them. Unknown 10:07 you might want to really look at yourself for stalking. You folks spend your every waking hour trolling and investigating all over the internet.

Anonymous said...

Linda you’re really not that “unknown”. I’ve read what you’ve said to Melissa Pino on Willie’s page and I don’t think you’re capable of seeing things from an unbiased position. You’re rallying for the wrong things instead of helping to better Escambia County.

Aunt Cleo the Psychic said...

I think Barry's discussion about consensus of the board, even though during the Beach access issue had deeper meaning. It was a valid question and we as a county had our answer when Underhill walked out of the room.

Hopefully a decent reporter, as in Rick will get the Pacer account and give a balanced report of this lawsuit. Edler is visiting upon us.

Freedom of the press is a wonderful thing, even if he leans left. But facts are facts. We know Underhill cons PNJ and the board will have to be careful going forward.

The facts are Edler is suing us. I for one hope the county prevails.

The simple fact she would file a lawsuit to shut up a citizen is one reason. We will go from there.

I predict she will not back down because she wants money and ego supply.

The case number is on the agenda. Unfortunately it looks like we are still paying her two salaries plus vacation.

Hurricane Rayme. Underhill seems to be in favor of continuing his own path of destruction.

Moreno, Gilmore and the remaining board are our rocks.

The other blabber is childish nonsense.

Anonymous said...

LCW is all pro first responder and sheriff and anti BCC. She is basically "mad as hell and ain't gonna take it anymore" runs a neighborhood watch. Doesn't delve into finer points of what is going on.

Anonymous said...

Linda went after Representative Salzman and Representative Andrade. I think she means well but she’s misinformed. her anger is misguided. She blamed the Representatives for county business they don’t have any control over. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Truth is out there but the close minded people that are on a war path going in the wrong direction won’t see it. So be it. The powers that be can’t make everyone happy and some people like to bitch just to bitch.

Joel Cotton said...

Oh Please do I need to slow down for you. Maybe I could spell it out. Oh I know... A map to point you in the right direction. I'm sorry you have been blinded. Bless your little heart.

Anonymous said...

Edler probably has something on Doug. He's conflicted. Maybe he will resign.

Anonymous said...

Joel hangs around Wendy's page and Jacqueline's page and will gladly go throw down a laugh emoticon for a pat on the head but told Jacqueline he gets Bender and Barry mixed up. What does that tell you?. Barry is in his third term ..as in a decade of meetings. Bender is in his first term. Cotton. Bless your heart.

Anonymous said...

Resign? Hahahaaaaa. He likes the paycheck too much to resign.

JCFO said...

Joel Cotton I know I need to talk slow to you. Maybe I could spell it out but you still wouldn’t get it. Oh I know… A map to point you in the right direction. But I don’t think that’ll help you either. I’m sorry you have been blinded by hate. Bless your little heart. Go take some screenshots and rush them back over to your only Facebook friends so you can bash more people you don’t know.

Obsessed much? said...

Joel Cotton - “Jacqueline Aimee Rogers I know somebody else that's taking credit for helping.”

You’re talking about MP. Again. For the thousandth time. Crazed stalker. Do you dream about her every night too?

Melissa Pino said...

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everybody here and elsewhere that has spoken words of support. Because that means that more people are understanding what happened at EMS, and that's the most important thing of anything to me right now.

As I said over on my Facebook page today, I've been processing everything that has happened the last few years, particularly the last couple, and right on up through this Thursday's BOCC meeting. And I'm realizing today that my time as an advocate is coming to a close, except for one thing: the last leg is to continue to try to help the EMS that got railroaded by some very bad actors at the County. I promised I'd never give up on that situation, and I won't. I'm looking forward to this coming Thursday's meeting with the State's Attorney's office, and really hope I might be able to help Mr. Williams in relaying what was actually going on when he received insufficient and incomplete evidence due to the County spoon feeding FDLE a frame-up job. I will be posting documentation on my Facebook in advance of that meeting that I hope will continue to help inform the public and offset the horrible disinformation job that the Douggites and ECW did on the court of public opinion. It's the last, but my most treasured hope, from this crazy, difficult, and rewarding season of advocacy.

I'm not checking out, just changing course now that the bulk of the things that so many great people have been advocating for is achieved. There are still homeless to help, roads to build, waters to clean up, trees to save, shoreline access to regain, and monies to be spent wisely--and that's gonna take so many people to help achieve! And like I said, I'm with the EMS until there's finally a resolution.

But the wars are over, and a lot of the bad leadership gone. Nobody cares about Doug any more, and ECW is done being an influencer. I will still be working on things, just not in the same way. My next act is to clean my house and get the blue tarps off the roofs--my husband is awaiting it with much anticipation. 🙂

When that is finished, it'll be time to start thinking about a campaign. I decided to keep a very clear line between my advocacy and my candidacy, because I wanted it to be very clear to reasonable people that I was not collecting donations that were influencing the advocacy decisions I was making. (They're trying to get that going over on ECW. Good luck to them.) I'm glad I made that choice, and can walk away from this period of full-time advocacy with a clean conscience and happy heart.

Anonymous said...

It’s hilarious to watch the ignorant rats scurry around the marlette cartoon. They’re so clueless. Have they forgotten all of the Doug Underhill cartoons?

The county was under bad leadership for years but the tables are turning. The naysayers are too negative to see any good that came from the meeting.

They’ll call out to burn the board with torches and pitchforks and post 5000 comments but guess what while they sit on their butts letting life pass them by. Nothing they say changes anything. Because smear campaigns never work and the county is going in the right direction without their nasty feedback, tantrums, and ignorance.

I’m looking forward to seeing some lawsuits roll out. What a web a few have weaved because they set out to deceive….

F. Harris said...

Melissa Pino, you’re a strong advocate and a force to be reckoned with. Nobody can deny that. The people on the hate group don’t matter now. They didn’t accomplish anything they tried to do. Their hate and harass campaigns don’t work. You accomplished what you said you would and they can’t take that away from you. F*** Them.

JD said...

Melissa,

Your advocacy has come a long way over the years. You’re kicking butt now. You’re a beautiful woman with brains. That’s intimidating to a lot of women and men. My best advice to you is stay on track and ignore the jealousy. Also fix your roof before the next hurricane comes.

Anonymous said...

Haterade! Oy vey!

Melissa Pino said...

Thank you so much, F Harris and JD. It's funny, because it doesn't seem like I've been doing anything different than at any time. But it was apparent from the start that there were a whole lotta people who were going to think I was crazy. Not gonna lie, it did get to me at times, but my loved ones and I just tried to be patient and trust that, over time, that would resolve. That perhaps there would still be a portion of people who didn't like the way I went about it, but at least most sensible people would realize I wasn't a fabricator or a liar, simply making things up for political purposes. This really never was about politics for me. It was about injustice and very bad results for the community out of ECW and the D2 office, with some very powerful people okay with that program, as long as they personally got what they wanted out of it.

Anonymous 8:24, you're right, the keep talking trash and then not a single one showed up for the meeting on Thursday night. But my fear is that the hate and violent speech they are fomenting over there could result in one lone whack job. And it only takes one.

Yesterday morning, as Chance Johnmeyer and Doug and Wendy Underhill were flirting with insurrection language, Chance removed a very troubling comment he put up. I don't think anybody got it screen shot, but plenty of people saw it. He removed it as soon as someone emoticon'd it. Someone I trust conveyed to me as best as possible the content of the post. Here's the paraphrase:

"Since we the people own the building where the meetings are held, pay the power bills etc, can we hold our own meeting and force the Commissioners to attend."

People should take this seriously, not in an alarmist way but just in terms of awareness. They are recruiting for QAnon through some churches and online with the Recall Florida Facebook page, which now has over 3000 members, with representation in every County. While I do support some version of recall for non charter counties, their end goal is to sew chaos in local politics, and it may have some drivers up in the State house. Because of course their plans don't extend to state level representation, and the bar is pretty low compared with other recall measures. Some of the conversations happening on the Recall Florida--particularly the rhetoric--is getting disturbing. Again, that's not to raise an orange alert alarm, but just to ask that people stay mindful to what ECW has evolved into, and what the end goals are of some of the people running the show over there now.