Chase Holcombe, Jason Olive, & Prince

We’ve heard from Chase Holcombe, 18 year-old candidate for Florence City Council District 5. He feels that we unduly excluded him from being a viable candidate because of his age. Were we ageist? In a manner of speaking, yes.

Without even bringing experience into the discussion, there are some things that automatically come with individuals in Mr. Holcombe’s age group. Let’s say he wins the seat and introduces disruptive ideas and laudable projects for his district. He will then be up for re-election in four years, but where else will he be? Isn’t it just more than possible, considering our area’s economy, that Mr. Holcombe will be moving from this area to take a lucrative job elsewhere after his college graduation? Then what of his wonderful ideas and projects?

While no one can guarantee what will happen tomorrow, much less a decade down the road, we firmly believe anyone seeking public office in local government should ideally be committed to serve 12 years. That doesn’t mean they should be re-elected, just that they should have the commitment to the office to be willing to serve that long.

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We’ve also received another interesting communication; this one from Jason Dylan Olive, the man who terrorized a large Florence shopping district last Thursday when he ran from police. Here’s an edited version:

Stupid a** b**** has no clue who I am.or what she talking about. I no longer am just gonna let anybody run over me or my decisions. Some are bad Nd some are good. But I stand by my mistakes and decisions. What gives I u the right to judge me. So what I have a problem. I do use drug . Not because I like to. So glad I are the bigger person here. And thanks. I hope my family or children ain't looking at facebook to see everyone slandering me and my name. Thanks again maybe we can meet in person one day and I'll show u around

Slander, Mr. Olive? We believe you mean libel, but we aren’t seeing that either. We touched on your actions, all documented by Florence police. We mentioned your occupation and your advertising tattoo pajama parties on FB. That’s all there in black and white also. Perhaps it was the hepatitis remark that you found unjustified? Sorry, we didn’t know you carried an autoclave with you to these little soirees.

A word of warning for those considering home tattoos: While some viruses (AIDS being one of them) can be killed with chemicals as mild as Ivory soap, others (hepatitis) require long periods of disinfecting or autoclaving to be eradicated from needles, etc. If you want a tattoo, go to an established business with a health department inspection posted.

Now tell us again, Mr. Olive, just what makes you the bigger person? Yes, we see this mentality every day. Dare to mention the evil doers in the world and be damned by a certain element who are proud of their lifestyle. Six days of sin and one of church going? We’re sure that, as career criminal Shannon Johnson said of himself, Olive is just misunderstood.

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Now a word from Prince:

Hi, everybody, Prince here, your faithful Canine-American blogger. I’m here to take a chunk out of crime and Dave Smith’s leg. Ruff! Okay, just kidding about the crime part. All you District One folks out there have a decision to make on August 23rd. Dave Smith, Kaytrina Simmons, or Yolanda Falk?

* Dave Smith – Isn’t there enough hate in the world, not to mention cats? What kind of person doesn’t support the new animal shelter? Dave Smith, that’s who. Let him know what you and your dog think of him on the 23rd.

* Yolanda Falk – Nice lady, the district could do worse…a lot worse, see Dave Smith.

* Kaytrina Simmons – Another nice lady, one with love in her heart for all of us four-legged citizens, two-legged citizens, and just about everybody. She gets things done. Has a proven record and has been vetted. Ouch, probably the wrong word choice there.

So that’s it from me, I’ll let Shoalanda take it over from here. Oh, just one more thing, if I hear you voted for Dave Smith, I’ll biiiite you!

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We’re going to agree with Prince that one candidate is laughable at this point, as well as despicable. That leaves Ms. Falk and Ms. Simmons. Both candidates have an impressive resume’. We’re going with Kaytrina Simmons; she has the connections without the baggage. Ms. Simmons will be an asset to all of District One and the entire city of Florence.

Finally, apologies to all our Feline-American friends out there for some of Prince's remarks. Just do as we do and humor him.