Flap Over “Competing Ribbon-Cuttings” for OB Entryway All a Big Misunderstanding

A member of Councilman Ed Harris’ office has egg on his face, is eating crow – (throw in your own fave idiomatic phrase) – and is a tad embarrassed these days.

It seems that our favorite member of Harris’ staff, Chet Barfield, mistook a two-year old press release about a ribbon-cutting for the OB Entryway Project for an event scheduled for this mid-December, after his boss leaves office.

There was a red flag in the press release: it stated that the event would be on “Tuesday the 14th,” but this year, that day is on a Sunday.

So, the flap over the seeming competing ribbon-cuttings for OB’s new entryway – which we help spread with our post from last week – is all a big mistake.

It’s actually funny, given the history of the politicization of public events that ought to  have a non-partisan tinge to them – events we outlined in our post. They include the Tony Hawk Day deployment of Lori Zapf at the OB Skateboard Park, where Harris – the councilman for the district – was not even invited.  Plus there was the trotting out of Zapf by her Republican friends at the dedication of OB’s newish lifeguard statute. Again, why – if not for partisan PR advantage?

So, we apologize for believing the statement of the councilman’s rep at a public meeting.  Hey, Chet – we forgive  you and hopefully our readers will forgive us.