Text of Telegram Story on Farley

WORCESTER— Who is Charley Farley? The movers and shakers at City Hall don’t know, but many of them wish he’d just go away. Mr. Farley, if that’s his real name, and most assume it’s not, has been inundating city officials, media types, and others with e-mails advocating the shutdown of Worcester Regional Airport.

The e-mail recipients said they respect Mr. Farley’s right to opine about the struggling airport, but they quickly added that they get his point and they wish he would stop his incessant electronic letter-writing campaign, which has been clogging up computer mailboxes across the city. City officials said they’re particularly frustrated because, short of sending off a responding e-mail, they can’t “dialogue” with Mr. Farley because he chooses to remain anonymous.

Mr. Farley’s persistent attacks have even prodded Robert Z. Nemeth, the chairman of the city’s Airport Commission, to recently fire back an electronic broadside of his own. “Do you really think anybody cares about your drivel, you demented coward?” said Mr. Nemeth, in an e-mail sent to Mr. Farley’s web address, abusedtaxpayer@gmail.com “Why don’t you come out of the closet and reveal yourself?”

That communication triggered the following response from Mr. Farley: “Dr. Nemeth, I’m amazed that you can diagnose dementia by reading e-mail. Although at some point, I will probably develop Alzheimer’s, a form of dementia, my doctor assures me I am currently showing no symptoms.”

Thaddeus J. Jankowski, the assistant city manager for operations, said administration officials have received “a stack” of e-mails from Mr. Farley. Like messages sent by others with an interest in what’s happening in Worcester, Mr. Jankowski guessed that all of Mr. Farley’s e-mails have been read by the recipient administrators. “We try to read everything that comes in,” said Mr. Jankowski. Officials said they started receiving e-mails from Mr. Farley about two months ago, and noted that some of the messages were prompted by developments at the airport, such as a news report that an Allegiant Air jet was diverted to Providence because of fog in Worcester.

Mr. Nemeth said he’s angered by many of Mr. Farley’s e-mails because of misinformation contained within them. “We’re trying to make this airport fly, sort of speak, and he’s doing everything he can to tear it down,” said Mr. Nemeth, the former chief of the editorial pages at the Telegram & Gazette. Mr. Nemeth, who stills writes a column for the Sunday Telegram, said he considers Mr. Farley’s e-mails an invasion of privacy, and added that he’s asked his computer server to block them out. “I’m really frustrated with this guy, and I despise people who hide and don’t reveal themselves,” said Mr. Nemeth, inviting Mr. Farley to an Airport Commission meeting. “I have no problem with him coming forward and having a dialogue with us on the airport.” City officials said they have no idea who Mr. Farley is.

Councilor-at-Large Konstantina B. Lukes said she received some e-mails from Mr. Farley and subsequently e-mailed him back, asking him to appear on her cable television program, “Coffee with Konnie.” Mrs. Lukes said he called her, declining the invitation. “He didn’t seem irrational, and it sounded like he was in his mid-50s with a professional or academic background,” said Mrs. Lukes.

Though city officials don’t know who Mr. Farley is, they believe there might be clues in the use of his pseudonym. An examination of pop culture resource materials by the Telegram & Gazette shows that Charley Farley was a character in a long-running British sketch series in the 1970s. The series, “The Two Ronnies,” aired for 12 years and featured a serial with two comic detectives, Piggy Malone and Charley Farley.
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