And A Meme is Born

Until about noon this morning, I had never heard of Kirby Delauter.

Nor would I have reason to. He’s a member of the Frederick County, Maryland, county council, and matters to me here in Idaho not a whit.

But apparently Kirby Delauter has had a tiff with a local news reporter and is threatening her and her paper with legal action if she/they dare use his name, Kirby Delauter, member of the Frederick County, Maryland, county council, without permission in their paper.

And never mind what else this man has forgotten. He’s forgotten the First Commandment of Dealing with Local Newspapers: Thou Shalt Not Piss Off People Who Buy Ink by the Barrel. Seriously. You know how much those itty-bitty ink cartridges cost for your printer, right? Well, the folks at the Frederick News-Post buy it in 55-gallon drums. They’ve got a right to be pissed.

The Frederick News-Post has published a righteously juvenile editorial, calling councilman Kirby Delauter out for his shenanigans, which have not gone unnoticed by others in the newspaper arena.

The Kirby Delauter debacle flared over this article (typical of small-town newspapers inordinately fascinated with petty minutae in local government, as are local government officials). Because seriously, who needs a 1,088-word article about parking and parking-related shenanigans at the county office? This reminds me of the many boring stories I wrote on municipal government during ten years as a newspaper reporter. Trust me, there is NOTHING more boring than municipal government, especially as done by inexpert, small-town journalists such as myself.

But I recognize the signs: Elected officials having their petty squabbles, including with the local newspaper, and letting those squabbles bleed over into the ink.

But there’s apparently a “hit piece” out there somewhere that Kirby Delauter likes even less than the brief mention he receives in this article, which first fanned his flames of hatred against the reporter in question and the newspaper.

I have not yet hit the level of Kirby Delauter fascination that would require me to search out this hit piece article. But ten years’ worth of working in newspapers tells me there’s probably a whisper of hit piece in the hit piece that’s been blown up by typical local government member stooginess and local newspaper busybodiness and prelediction for dull articles. 

Kirby Delauter had better not go to Google Earth. Because the world is a nightmare.