He Said. . .She Said: The Lumberton Edition

Many of you read the "Recap of the June 5, 2012 Board Meeting" post where I made some disparing remarks about one of the persons that read (drives the truck) water meters. Somehow, everyone that had a loved one on the meter truck felt attacked. So, let me give you the break down of what happened and what I posted because it's obvious there is a real issue with reading and comprehension. I posted the following: ". . .for the most part, the Lumberton Public Works Department has an uneducated staff. . .The board need to stop their bickering and hire one meter reader to read the meters. . they should pay them somewhere between .50-.75/meter and make sure they can pass a 6th grade math test. . .City hall keeps losing money in the water department because they had to hire a reading rider because the clerks got tired of giving Roy turn by turn directions . ." That's part of what I said. .the rest is in the blog. . Now, this is the response from the wife of one of the workers. .Keep in mind, this was posted to her facebook wall the day after I called her and apologized and we said we would never go this route again. She ended the call by telling me to be kind and don't let people say nasty things about other people because I know you're better than that. . But here's how she really felt: "Yesterday Jonathan Griffith cruelly and visciously attacked me. Many of you know just how that feels. So I am sharing my reply on here in hopes that it may help someone else. This is Rachel Jefferson and this is my response to your recent attack on me. Please approve and post to your page. Yesterday, I became the Lumberton Informer's most recent target (NOT VICTIM!). Jon blogged about his assumed incompetence of the guys who read the water meters. They are my husband Richard Jefferson, Byron Lee, and Roy Easley. Jon went on about how these men are uneducated and how they must be the cause of our high water bills. Jon stated that they are uneducated and incapable of passing a 6th grade math test. To all of this, I had nothing to say, simply because it is all lies. My husband has served the City of Lumberton for six or so years without incident. There have been no complaints about him not reading water meters correctly. I feel like if Jon has a problem with Rich, he should bring it to Rich. I do not need to defend Rich. Now, we didn't have anything to say about the Blog because it didn't, in TRUTH, have anything to do with us. Someone else was offended - very very offended. And, as we see in the comments, she responded to Jon with an attack of her own. Not having left her name, Jon ASS-U-MEd it was me. It was not. What followed was a relentless attack on me via Facebook which lasted most of the day and night. Jon, basically accused me of throwing rocks and hiding my hands, as if I am a coward. I am not. He attacked my "OREO" marriage. He suggested that my husband and I are sponging off the government despiite both having full time jobs. It went on and on and on. (For the record. . no it didn't and Rachel posted under that status update and I told her the post was not about her but that's facebook for you. . you can say something about one person and 20 people get offended.) I got phone calls, and texts, and messages; all begging me to "tell him off". To all of this I only told Jon what I am saying now, that I have always treated him with respect and expected at least the same from him." In my post, I didn't call anyone out by name, other than Roy, but Rachel went on her page and called out their names, called/texted me talking about how Lacosta was the one saying those things on my blog (much like she did when she was at odds with Stephanie Mullings and Elsie Cowart) but it is what it is. But what bothered me most was the hypocritical message she was conveying. Just the day before, she was telling me that I shouldn't let other people say ugly things about another person, but she was eating it up when her supporters were saying that I'm an idiot, that I'm in love with the devil and offering to drive up to kick my racist ass. . now that was all okay because it was in defense of her. Typical. When all else fails, the white girl, despite being linked up with a black man, will go back to her roots and cry "foul" and shed a few tears just to get the support they want/need. Up until yesterday, I thought everything was chill between the two of us, but apparently I was wrong and to top it off, Rachel not only appreciated the vile comments, she said, and I quote, "Thank you everyone for your kindness, love, and support. I have learned that ignorance and hate can indeed be conquered by compassion, understanding, and hope." Really Rachel, what I read was another form of hate, but it's interesting that since it was in your defense, it was considered as compassionate, understanding and hopeful. Now, if that's not the Oreo calling the Little Debbie Cake a cookie. Don't get it twisted, just because someone is in an interracial relationship or have children with a person outside of their race does not mean they can't be racist. I'm just wondering why would a person leave me all their paperwork regarding a very sensitive matter if I'm so vile, why would you use my photo taken by me to promote your event, since I'm so vile. Personally, if I'm so offended by a person, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them and I definitely wouldn't use their work to promote anything I was trying to do. But that's me. In closing, Rachel did offer to sit with me and have a Coffee Summit so we can resolve our issues, but I think I'll pass. .I wouldn't want to offend her by asking for cream in my coffee.