MARK SCHUMANN

Note:  In posting the following commentary Saturday, I might have chosen to include the fact that in his weekly musings on local radio last week, the bemusing Charlie Wilson also predicted that in 2014 I will be declared insane.  It was a childish statement, made by Vero Beach’s most childish public figure. 

I was grateful today to hear from local radio host Rhett Palmer, who was kind enough to call me as soon as he received a slanderous email from Wilson in which Wilson claimed that I was suggesting Rhett is also a “moron of the airwaves.”  Any reasonable reading of my commentary reveals that I simply suggested the term “more aptly describes” Charlie Wilson.  This is simply another example of how Wilson seems to have severed all ties with the truth.

Rather than letting Wilson’s false accusation fester and cause resentment, Palmer showed the wisdom to speak with me directly, and I appreciate that he did that.  As for Wilson, there seems to be no hope.  Heaven only knows what he will have to say tomorrow.  I can’t help but think the management of WTTB welcomes the controversy Wilson brings to their programming. They must be desperate for listeners.

Occasionally, I have heard a local radio personality referred to as the “moron of the airwaves,” but that nickname may more aptly describes utility activist and former city-councilman-for-a-month, Charlie Wilson.

A few weeks ago, I decided to stop listening to Wilson’s weekly 12 minutes of mean spirited, delusional rantings on the Bob Soos Morning “Misinformation” Magazine Radio Show, but then someone suggested I would really get a kick out of Charlie’s predictions for 2014. Sure enough, and true to form, the local gadfly was blathering away in his nonsensical fashion, and as usual, was misinforming WTTB’s listeners. I was particularly humored by Wilson’s prediction that Inside Vero will cease publication sometime during 2014.

The truth is that Inside Vero’s circulation has expanded and the local community newspaper is now published weekly. Once a month, Inside Vero is direct mailed to all 12,000 residential addresses on the barrier island, and is circulated to an additional 10,000 homes on the mainland.  In the remaining weeks of each month, Inside Vero Extra is home delivered to the 2,000 residential addresses in the central beach and to 10,000 homes on the mainland.  Wilson is either loosing touch with reality, or he is oblivious to the growing advertiser support, readership and circulation of Inside Vero, now available in print weekly and online.