Leggett certainly recognized most of the cemetery advocates, as some have sat in on negotiations between Macedonia Baptist Church and Leggett's office earlier this year. And they were holding signs referring to the cemetery. The County Executive took many questions on other topics, then abruptly departed the room.
Among those waiting to ask Leggett about the cemetery was Harvey Matthews, who was a resident of the lost black community along River Road until 1959, when his family was swindled out of their land - which now is home to a Whole Foods Market. The episode was indeed odd - advocates for a black cemetery, who have the stated support of the local NAACP chapter in their quest to save the graveyard from a plan to build a parking garage atop the graves, being pointedly snubbed by Leggett, the first African-American to serve as a County Councilmember and Executive in Montgomery County.
Robert, how was Harvey Mathews family swindled out of the land in 1959? Do you know what happened?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/May-June-2017/Uncovering-the-Lost-Colony-in-Bethesda/
ReplyDeleteA good article in Bethesda Magazine highlights the River Road Black Community and how they lost their land.
It was the 50s/60s...I'm not surprised they were swindled out of their land. It was a different time. I'm sure they were preyed upon.
ReplyDeleteJust one photo? And why no photos of the "seven community members"? Was it mostly rich old white people who came to disrupt the NAACP meeting, as others had predicted here?
ReplyDeleteWhite dude who supports the Confederacy telling our County's first black County Executive what he should say at an NAACP meeting. Too funny.
ReplyDeleteHow sweet! Robert just invited me to join his MOCO blog.
ReplyDelete"Fractally wrong" posted over there. Dyer was waiting for "Anna" to appear.
I'm just biding my time for a big gathering to walk up to Dyer and introduce myself.
See, he can't rattle me because I'm not faking anything. I'm me and what I post is real life.
Ooops. East MoCo :)
ReplyDelete@5:48am That article is good, but states no details about how Harvey was "swindled" out of his land.
ReplyDeleteIf he was indeed swindled, why doesn't he file a lawsuit instead of showing up at NAACP meetings? The County Exec has no authority on land transactions like this -- that's the jurisdiction of the courts.
Or could it be there was no swindling involved, and that's why he hasn't taken it to court?
6:53 AM Everyone should read EastMoco. Great news site for the news deserts of Silver Spring, Wheaton, Aspen Hill, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe Network Effect!
7:09 AM I read EastMoco and Bethesda with coffee every morning.
ReplyDelete7:03: He said several tactics were used to get a signature on legal documents. Residents didn't understand what those documents said, or had been given liquor and didn't know what they were doing. He said that in his case, a man suddenly appeared one day, said his boss now owned their property, and told them to get out.
ReplyDeleteAs far as court, you have to remember this was before the civil rights era - 1959. By now, statute of limitations has expired, I would assume.
6:25: It was slave-holding Montgomery County and Maryland who supported the Confederacy in large numbers, which is why whitewashers like you want to hide statues and facts to pretend your past wasn't racist. This is America, we're not supposed to emulate the Taliban here.
6:50: Caught red-handed trolling on East MoCo. I thought you lived in Bethesda and weren't just filled with hate against Robert Dyer? It's integrity that's most important!! You might say hating people because they have different opinions is "fractally wrong."
What was Leggett discussing when he "ignored the cemetery protesters? What else was discussed, that was actually on the agenda of last night's meeting of the MoCo NAACP? Isn't any of that newsworthy?
ReplyDelete"Caught red-handed trolling on East MoCo."
ReplyDeleteSays Robert Dyer, just 2 minutes after posting as "Roald".
7:44am I'm not Mr. Dyer
DeleteI'm not Roald
Delete@7:29 If those tactics were used and the land sale was invalid (contracts signed under duress are), then at the very least the title insurer will cover this. Has no one gone to them?
ReplyDeleteAlso, how do land sales occur over a bottle of liquor or some guy showing up at the house.. as opposed to in the office of a settlement attorney?
Wow. Trolling? Nah. I got sent a link that you'd mentioned me on another one of your little blogs. So I introduced myself over there. It's the well-mannered thing to do.
ReplyDeleteYou were more than happy to talk about me behind my back & infer I was a liar on a website I don't frequent.
Why would you do that? And then mention integrity?
Never said I hated you. Here's EXACTLY what I said:
"I don't dislike him, I just don't like him. Which is quite different."
7:56AM - That's what I've been asking this whole time.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't there a title company on the hook for this?
Mr. Dyer, here is an article about a construction project in London that required the removal of a 500-year-old cemetery.
ReplyDeletehttps://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/magazine/160115-ngm-under-london
@8:06 On top of that, land sales are clearly recorded in county records. Robert, what are the addresses of these supposedly swindled properties? The count clerk records are online and searchable.
ReplyDelete8:07: My bet is that those plots were never platted by the County - in fact, the Macedonia Baptist Church itself isn't platted, as the previous pastor discovered when he approached the Planning Department in recent years. These plots were purchased originally by freed slaves from the adjacent plantation. I doubt there are many records on file.
ReplyDelete8:06: Interesting, but remember, that's a different situation. With the Bethesda cemetery, you have two contemporary parties: the church, and descendants of those buried there. So you can't just "move the bodies" in this case.
"Residents didn't understand what those documents said, or had been given liquor and didn't know what they were doing."
ReplyDeleteHis great-grandaddy sold his patrimony for a bottle of Ripple? That's quite a nasty ethnic stereotype there, Mr. Dyer. Right up there with "stinky-drunk Injun."
What did Mr. Berliner sell his soul for? So a developer can put in a parking garage for a Subway sandwich shop? Sick!
Delete12:21 - Sounds like you're OK with leaving the existing parking lot on top of the cemetery?
Delete5:17pm no, I want the cemetery preserved, a park and a museum. Call it reparations if you want.
DeleteAll residents are getting are some chain retailers/restaurants. Think Subway. No thanks.
How can you "preserve" a cemetery that was decimated and paved over 50 years ago?
Delete@12:21 There's a Subway sandwich shop with underground parking? Where? All the ones I go to have bad parking options.
ReplyDeleteOf course you deleted my defense after you inferred I'm a fake and liar on your East MoCo site. You brought my name up out of thin air. I don't post over there.
ReplyDeleteYou went out of your way to trash me on a site I don't read. What the heck is your problem? Am i now supposed to go trash you in some media outlet you don't read? what kind of game are you playing? You just escalated this. Fine. i'm okay with that because I'm.Not.Lying.
I'm open and honest and not afraid of you. That scares you.
4:34: "YOU JUST ESCALATED THIS!!!" The real question is, "What the heck is YOUR problem?" You sound unhinged. Facts: You came over to East MoCo and attacked me anonymously, but in a Freudian slip, you used a phrase you've overused over here. Again, the question is, why are you engaged in a round-the-clock campaign of harassment and defamation? There are only two answers - you are being paid to do this, or are simply unhinged.
ReplyDeleteThat's a complete and total LIE. I don't know why you are doing this to me or what you hope to gain out of this.
ReplyDeleteAre you getting this through your head?
You went to a website that I do not frequent to assail me.
That's is nuts!
I'm just a commenter on your little blog.
You falsely accuse me of being who I am not.
It was kind of funny yesterday, until my husband remarked that he found it disturbing that you went to a website I don't read to lie about me.
8:05: You came to *my* site and anonymously posted an attack using a phrase you've used here, "fractally wrong." The proof is in the fact that you would have had no idea I had mentioned the name "Anna," unless you were indeed on that article on East MoCo.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't the one who said fractally wrong. I only posted a definition after someone else posted it.
ReplyDeleteI was told you'd referenced my name on EastMoCo. I mentioned that when I introduced myself.
You are making things up, making assumptions, or flat out lying by repeatedly and falsely accusing me.
Your behavior is disturbing and unsettling.
8:40 your stalking of Robert Dyer is creepy, disturbing and unsettling.
Delete@ 9:37 AM - You know what's really "is creepy, disturbing and unsettling"?
DeleteYour habit of licking the windows with your underpants on your head when you're riding the Short Bus.
Hey Dyer - I'm the one who first used the phrase "fractally wrong" here and on your Wheaton blog. And I'M NOT ANNA!
ReplyDeleteWhy did you delete my previous post where I made this clear?
AnonymousNovember 29, 2017 at 12:10 AM
ReplyDelete"5:33 PM - But Robert Dyer called the proposal to put a WalMart at the Vitro site a "poison pill", which seems to indicate that WalMart is extremely unpopular with the residents of Aspen Hill."
Robert DyerNovember 29, 2017 at 1:17 AM
"12:10: If it wasn't at the start, the Council made sure it was by the time it counted. When you realize the environmental impact of a car dealership is far higher than a Walmart, you realize you've just been played by the tools on the County Council (even though the last thing in the world the Council wanted was a car dealership - God help me, I do love it so [pumps fist]).
AnonymousNovember 28, 2017 at 12:58 PM
"But Dyer... If you say that a proposal to build a Walmart at that site was being used as a "poison pill", that would necessarily mean that the residents do not want a Walmart.
"Which contradicts your earlier claim that County residents were denied their God-given right to shop at Walmart."
AnonymousNovember 28, 2017 at 2:08 PM
"@ 12:58 AM - Dyer always tries to have his cake and eat it too. He can't type more than a few words before his arguments become wildly self-contradictory.
"#FractallyWrong"
I love the time stamps on that blog. Not only showing the correct time zone, but the date as well.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't we Bethesdians have nice things?
Dyer's stalker/troll is deeply disturbing.
ReplyDeleteDyer's stalking, trolling and sockpuppetting is deeply disturbing.
ReplyDeletereeeeeeeeeeetaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!!!!!!
ReplyDelete8:40 is Dyers retarded side kick, the mentally handicapped Batman and Robman
ReplyDelete8:40: Do you really think that is a believable story - that there's someone reading East MoCo who knows you, and would know that "Anna" referred to you? Please. My best advice is to stop trolling, and stop posting defamatory statements. You obviously don't like the website, yet you spend hours per day here anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhat's scary is the depths you will go to to assail me.
ReplyDeleteYou're content to lie and assault a woman who has done nothing but challenge your opinion. I'm not your nemesis, never have been.
I tell the truth, if you don't care to believe it, that's just you looking dumb.
Not everyone is a liar.
You went to a website that I do not frequent to assail me.
I have the truth on my side, you have opinions.
Step back and find a way to deal with your paranoia before you snap.
There are two ways to be ignorant: One is to believe what isn't so; the other is
to refuse to believe what is so