Objection Sustained

We object to the delusional posts about our town made by Kenneth L. Unfortunately, there are some people who believe his conjecture. This all began when he moved here from New Jersey a few short years ago. Kenneth L. was a prosecuting attorney in his younger years. Now, he pushes his prosecutorial personality against anything and everything that is good in our town and disguises it as social responsibility. His personal attacks on our town, and many residents within our town, have been relentless filled drama - not honest critique. It begs the question… ”Why?” What is his personal agenda? Why is he so hell-bent on disparaging town officials, candidates and neighbors?  CLICK HERE to see the Cease and Desist sent to him by one neighbor.

Nextdoor post

This most recent post made by Kenneth L. was made on an invite-only section of Nextdoor called, Melbourne Beach Forum on Local Government. Some of the members within that online community spread lies and misinformation to unknowing neighbors in our town. For example, Kenneth L. makes ridiculous claims, without any proof, about our neighbors on Riverside Drive here in Melbourne Beach. His dishonest and uninformed statements about campaign signs costing over $15 each, stop signs and speed bumps being installed by certain commissioners without proper approval, and short-term rentals being built in the town—are 100% false.  It is crystal clear that Kenneth L. is personally driven to use his past experience on spinning the truth to discredit Truth and Accuracy Matter, our members and our positions.

Truth and Accuracy Matter would like to correct and clarify Kenneth L.’s inaccuracies.

Campaign Sign Cost: The signs actually cost exactly $4.52 each, including free shipping, NOT over $15 as Kenneth L. falsely claims. (CLICK HERE to see attached bill). 

Stop Signs and Speed Bumps: Kenneth L. claims, “[Sherri Quarrie] allowed all the stop signs on Riverside Dr. as well as speed bumps on Ocean Ave. without the proper traffic engineer approval.” He goes on to say, “Why? Because THEY (meaning, the residents on Riverside) wanted them.” This is an absolute fabrication! Why does he think the residents on Riverside Dr. wanted the stop signs? And why does he think the commissioners “allowed” it? He is spinning the story to keep the residents of our town whipped up into believing our commissioners were playing favorites. The truth is, the commissioners found out about the stop signs the same way everyone else did… they ran through them the first time because they didn’t know they were there! They had no idea they were going in! Does that make the commissioners wrong for supporting the decision of the Town Manager and the former Police Chief? NO, not at all. It was a safety issue. Admittedly not a popular decision, but in any case, proper procedure was followed in the original placement of the signs.

Short-Term Rentals: Kenneth L. continuously talks about vacation rentals in our town. In this example, Kenneth L. claims, “[Terry Cronin’s] major supporter and next door neighbor (on Riverside Dr.) … stated that she owns four short-term rentals and plans to build six more”. What Kenneth L. intentionally failed to disclose is, the person he is referring to in his post, openly stated at that December 2024 town meeting that, NONE of her vacation rentals are located within the Town of Melbourne Beach, nor will the new construction be located here in our town. She was merely commenting on the inappropriate reference to a known real estate  broker/agent in our town that was presented by our Mayor as an expert, when she is not.

Wasteful Spending: Kenneth L.’s favorite spin revolves around MONEY. He creates divide in our community by posting, “Most of us can’t afford to allow their wasteful spending to continue, it is only a drop in the bucket to most of them”. He goes on to say, “We need commissioners to continue to uncover and STOP the misdeeds and wasteful spending…”  Kenneth L., we can assure you that NONE of us can afford, nor do we WANT, wasteful spending. Truth and Accuracy Matter worked in conjunction with State Rep. Monique Miller, at her request, and we are looking forward to the findings of the upcoming JLAC audit that she ordered. We are confident that despite Kenneth L.’s claims, this report will reveal how well our town’s budget is being managed. Until then Kenneth, please stop creating unwarranted drama and division!

Not surprising, there is another very vocal town naysayer who states, “I noticed that they refused to answer any of my legitimate questions about the MBFD…” This person also makes bold and unsubstantiated accusations about Truth and Accuracy Matter on Nextdoor. You may recognize the name… it’s Kenneth L.’s commiserate, Gretchen S.

Nextdoor post

Dear Gretchen,

Did you miss the direct mail piece that Truth and Accuracy Matter paid for and sent out to every household with a detailed explanation of the fire department cost comparison? Did you attend the Ice Cream Social that Truth and Accuracy Matter hosted in Ryckman Park when Fire Chief Brown spoke to the public? You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Additionally Gretchen, when we DO answer questions on Nextdoor, directly with FACTS, they get removed. Unfortunately, the “open discourse” that you allegedly desire is blocked by biased moderators, like Kristi Larson, whose husband Bruce Larson is running for Town Commission. THAT is a “vested interest” if we ever saw one!

Many residents in town share their Nextdoor screenshots with Truth and Accuracy Matter because they are frustrated when their comments get removed. THIS nonsense is precisely why the Truth and Accuracy Matter PAC was started in June. We saw the need for the residents of our town to know the TRUTH by giving them an option for transparency, not just opinionated spin. Our website has reached over 3,800 visitors who have read our informative articles over 15,000 times. Hopefully, the clique on Nextdoor realizes that Truth and Accuracy Matter IS here for ALL of our town residents.

At Truth and Accuracy Matter, we object to the spin, the lies and the underhanded manipulation that the Nextdoor clique uses to divide our town by trying to affect the vote in our Town’s elections. We trust that the residents will sustain the objection.

We stand in truth and accuracy with documentation. There will always be differences of opinion along the way. Responsible people face those differences with clarity and openness. 

For News and Updates from Truth and Accuracy Matter, CLICK HERE.