Mr. Rutt has recieved the email and will not publish. Claims to not know the truth of these matters and refuses to investigate. “Altadenas news source” Indeed

Steve, the response is directly above you. “Claims not to know the truth of these matters” is right — I don’t, and I’m not printing dicey stuff I don’t know about firsthand just because someone says it’s true. (When in doubt, leave it out).

“Refuses to investigate?” Steve, we CAN’T investigate. Maybe you have us confused with an operation with actual resources that does investigative journalism. We don’t, can’t, and have never claimed otherwise. You make potentially-actionable claims in your response letter, then put the burden on me to seek proof. That doesn’t work for me. Anything published Altadenablog has to fit in my comfort zone, and your letter does not. It also helps, frankly, if I don’t have to be put to a lot of work before something is published. You have a right to respond to your critics — but if you want to do it on Altadenablog, help me out — just write me a letter I can print.

If your response as written is that important to you, and you’re not willing to fit into my totally idiosyncratic comfort zone, then put your letter on your own blog. You can say anything you want to at any length you desire. It’s a free country and no one is denying you the right to express yourself nor answer your critics. We will happily link to it and so that your views can be accessible from Altadenablog. This is not hard.

(removed for personal attack)

Actually, my view was that this blog as a alleged Altadena News source could and had a obligation to, know and find the truth, and as I pointed out to Mr. Rutt he could do so with a single telephone call to channel 7 news and get the tape, if he felt my recussitation was too dicey for him.

He declined and has pretended to take some high road. Very humorous, almost as humourous as the numerous name callers on this site who while hurling insults refuse to use their real names.HAHAHAHA

This is the second encounter i have had with Mr. Rutt. The last was at the last Town COuncil meeting where I first introduced myself to him. While he has posted content about me in the past, he has never called to verify any of it, on this “news source”

The subject of just how long I was going to be on teh Town Council came up. I expressed that I was weary of public life (gee cant imagine why) and had no plans to ever do anything except maybe run for the Library Board because it was a peaceful place where you could do some good.

Mr. Rutt claimed i was a “Typical politician seeking my next office” When I chuckled and began to attempt to explain that I had once served on the CTLA board, the ACC Board, the ATC and the Library Board all at the same time, Mr. Altadena’s news source, turned his back and walked away, facts and nuance being of absolutely no interest to himself or his readers.

I think 19 years of this kind of treatment from the so called respectable members of the Altadena Community would make anybody, even me, nuts.

(removed for personal attack)

Steve, not to put too fine a point on it, you’re lying.

One, you’ve had several encounters with me. I’ve introduced myself to you several times before it stuck, but that’s OK, happens to me all the time. Probably the same thing about you wanting me to link to your blog. You may have forgotten but I still have your email. The information about you is just that — about you. Things you’ve said in public meetings, things you’ve published, THINGS THAT ARE VERIFIABLE.

And where have I ever claimed that you were a “typical politician seeking my next office?” Whom are you quoting? Certainly not me — that’s not even how I speak. This bit about you giving your resume and me walking away from you exists only in your imagination. I seem to recall that you may have talked about that after a town council meeting, but then the conversation ended as conversations do and we both moved on to catch up with other people. I had no idea I needed to be dismissed or I was expected to follow you like a lap dog.

Henceforth, after the past few days, I am instituting some new policies:

1. As of July 4, Steve Lamb is banned from commenting on Altadenablog at least until Advent (a season of forgiveness). Not so much for what he’s saying here as for the series of increasingly fevered offline emails to us. I offered to do him a favor that I have never done for a town councilman before, and he responded with demands, personal attacks, and veiled threats. If he can’t work and play well with others, he has no place here.

(We say this knowing full well he will add this to his martyr’s flag, the one that says Altadenablog is out to get him because we won’t publish his letter, even tho’ we’ve never done anything like that before. We still offer to link to it if it appears in any other venue.)

2. Personal attacks, including those against Mr. Lamb, are verboten here and I will be working over the next few days to remove them. This is supposed to be a serious forum of Altadena news, and there’s no place for such things here.

Thanks Tim for your timely and balanced coverage of our local issues.