OLNEY—While campaigning at a public meeting isn’t exactly against any laws or ordinances, it probably will be pretty soon, and all because of Olney’s resident pest, Brian James O’Neill II.
O’Neill, whose only fitness program involves exercises in futility every two years and amount to wasting ballot space running for public office, this year is in the Primary as a Democrat sheriff candidate, guaranteeing that incumbent Republican sheriff Andy Hires will be facing Dem contender Robert Krueger in the November General Election.
Prompted (unnecessary) changes
O’Neill has prompted changes in the way both the City of Olney and the Richland County Board conduct their meetings when the general public is allowed to speak in the ‘citizen’s comments’ portions of the meetings.
Of late, O’Neill has been spewing gibberish about his run for sheriff for a number of months at both meetings, and the Olney City Council early-February meeting (Feb. 10) was no exception.
That meeting began with O’Neill, once again telling about how he is running for sheriff of Richland County and stating that he “called the police on druggies and people getting beaten.” He also told about how mayor Ray Vaughn violated the 14thAmendment when Vaughn didn’t do anything about the Boy Scouts who came and sat in on a recent meeting, and were being “loud.” O’Neill has been sanctioned at these city council meetings and in one recent memorable one, was walked out by police for being ‘disruptive,’ the ‘disruption’ being his odiferous body stench, which if overpowering at times because O’Neill deliberately doesn’t take baths or showers for weeks on end, as he had bragged for years until someone told him that some of his psychotropic medication can cause malodor, and that a person needs to bathe more frequently when on such meds; now, he uses that as an excuse for the gag-inducing stench, although it’s no different than it was 12 years ago when Disclosure first began covering Richland County/Olney meetings.
In a dive into the realm of civil rights violation of his own, O’Neill announced that he is very proud of his “new technology” and is stating how he is going to be getting Google Glasses so he can see everyone’s movements and record them with the glasses, ostensibly “in the line of duty” as new sheriff, and apparently oblivious to the handful of Constitutional violations this would entail if actually conducted by a county sheriff. But, for the most part, it seems to be a personal vendetta at the time, as he is claiming the police are calling him names, but did not say what “names,” only that the police have no business calling anyone “those kinds of names.”
O’Neill takes offense at being called what he is: smelly, obnoxious, vulgar, lewd, a pest, and a city menace. He remains under charges that he spoke inappropriately to two very young girls in the yard of his house on Main Street in October 2012; that case has been continued, the trial supposed to have already gone off in February.
In real city council news
Back in the real world, the Olney City Council actually took care of business that Monday night, hearing from Johnny Trupiano, who is a young man seeking a Class A liquor license in order to set up a video gaming terminal at the 200 block of Main Street right across from the movie theater. He told the council that it would take eight to 10 months for his business to “get up and running.” Councilwoman Barb Thomas has concerns about giving out another video gaming license due to the fact that the last gaming license the city handed out a year ago the “guy didn’t have anything done, he said he was going to open a sports bar in a warehouse, but hasn’t started anything on it.” She ended with saying she just feels hesitant, but didn’t mean any disrespect towards Trupiano.
Vaughn piped up, offering two questions to the council, asking if they should have a limit on the number of liquor licenses and if they should have a limit on the places where the terminals are set up.
“Perhaps, something to fall back on as we receive these applications,” he said, for the requests of the Class A liquor license.
Councilman Brad Brown suggested that if they have 15 people apply and 10 make it then that is essentially up to the citizens to decide. None of the council members, except John McLaughlin (who was absent), had a problem with how many applicants there were or where the location is set up for the terminals. Vaughn did suggest however, that the new location be in placed in the newspaper and brought to citizens’ attention in case any of the citizens did not like the idea of putting video gaming on Main Street. The council members decided to table the subject to the Feb. 24 council meeting and have the location listed in the local newspaper, which whole ones of people read, in a paid ad; if it had been determined at the Feb. 10 meeting, Disclosure would have brought it to the public for free, as it is of greater public interest than just the funds of an ad would bring.
Other business includes fire matters, recycling
Fire chief Rusty Holmes discussed in brief about getting 21 and 23 year old tools replaced and tires put on the recently purchased snorkel. The council approved the tires.
Fred Honaker, from Baby Huey’s Recycling, has been picking up recyclables on Saturdays at the city parking lot located at the coroner of Butler and Boone streets, collecting “electronics and anything that can be plugged into a wall or made of metal.” Honaker said he even does pickups of electronics in Harrisburg and Carrier Mills, which is a 19-hour day for him.
Honaker arrived at the meeting requesting that his services get “first dibs” in curbside recycling for $50, instead of Wilson Metals out of Noble who was offering to do the curbside pickup for $25. Approximately 900 citizens of Olney participate in the curbside recycling program. The council decided to view a graph that would show the benefits of both recycling companies and then base their decision on those statistics.
Even though McLaughlin was absent from the meeting he left a proposal for city manager Larry Taylor to bring up: to establish a Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. The board would be involved in the master planning for Musgrove, Rotary, City and Bower Parks. The park board was approved by the council.
Don’t miss the next Olney city council meeting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24, which will be covered in the March 19 issue of Disclosure.