Friday, May 25, 2007

Crime blotter

Just in case you missed it: David Bronner, 63, of Royal Henley Court was arrested and charged with harassing and threatening city Public Works Commissioner Tom McTygue's younger brother. In what is truly a “what goes around comes around” moment, Bronner surrendered himself to Spa City police after they issued a warrant for his arrest.

Apparently, Bronner approached McTygue’s younger brother spitting his usually vitriol. Holding true to his reputation as the man that can dish out the quotes, Bronner apparently walked up to Peter McTygue on Broadway, waved a middle finger in his face and said “this is your I.Q” to him.

No, not our David Bronner, the cool-and-collected level-headed fun-loving fellow screaming obscenities at a McTygue brother during broad daylight on Saratoga’s main drag? Flat out impossible. It must be a different David Bronner.

That is, unless you’ve ever been to a school board or city council meeting, or if you’ve ever walked by the post office while the Saratoga Peace Alliance is protesting. In fact, anyone lacking a good vocabulary of expletives could learn a lot from Bronner, who seems to spit them loudly and wherever he goes.

It wasn’t too long ago when Bronner was on the outside of the jail cell looking in. His insults and vitriol were enough to prompt a DPW worker to head-butt him during a public hearing. Of course, when you slam someone’s skull during a meeting where hundreds of people are watching, it’s pretty hard to muster a defense. Tony Fisher was sentenced to pay a $250 fine and perform 20 hours of community service after a visiting judge from Glens Falls couldn’t find any plausible reason for someone to head-butt the man. Evidentially, the judge never met Bronner before.

Bronner, a staunchly conservative former U.S. Army colonel who served in an artillery unit in Vietnam, put himself on the military’s voluntary recall list when war broke out in Iraq. He also made it his ritual to stand next to any city peace protester and feverishly belittle them during the early years of the war.

Recently, Bronner has moved from heckling peaceniks to stalking DPW workers. During Hydraulic-gate, Bronner could be found snapping shots outside the DPW garagewith his digital camera. In 2005, he ran a write-in campaign against McTygue, and then fruitlessly contested the election after failing to get even a fraction of the vote. He's also formed a war-makes-strange-bedfellows alliance with Valerie Keehn, the city’s neoliberal mayor, who is irronically supported by the very people Bronner likes to curse with his morning coffe.

In truth, the charges against Bronner sound a bit trumped up. But with his big mouth and brash attitude toward anyone who disagrees with his ludicrously right-wing assertions, they ultimately seem fitting for such a blowhard like the good colonel.

Here’s an idea to resolve this case and make everyone happy. Contact the army and get Bronner a howitzer he can arbitrarily fire into the dessert somewhere in the Middle East. Then again, the city would probably become a pretty cold place without all of Bronner’s hot air.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's about time they got him for something -- Bronner's a total psycho. His obsession with the DPW is nothing new, either -- he's been known to sit in his car all day across the road from Tom McTygue's place, watching to see if any DPW trucks pull in there.

8:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This nut is truly a dangerous human being.

I've known quite a few of these ex-military officer types over the years and many of them are just like this clown in their retirement days. The've spent their whole life being taken care of (housing, food, income, health care) and don't have a clue on how the real world works.

Then, of course, there is the decades of political brainwashing they've been put through. Not to mention the authoritarian drill-sgt roles they played for the latter part of their careers--shouting and yelling at people.

After all that, should we be surprised what happens when they are tossed back into society 30 years later--with too much time on their hands. It's no different than letting a guy out of prison with no job lined up.

Maybe we need a mandatory two-year counseling and transition period before these guys are allowed off the base and back into our neighborhoods?

10:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

David Bronner is the one person who has stood up to all of the antics at DPW. His tactics may seem extreme, but consider his opponent.
The McTygue family(including girlfriends ie. Stephanie Voight) has been fooling many of the taxpayer for a long time. I am sure the voters will get an opening when the DPW changes hands in November.

5:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good to hear from you Mr/Mrs Roger Wyatt!

I'd be careful about the "libelous" aspect of your comment here, however....

Yes, your 'net IP address can be traced from your above submission -- right to your street name and number. One filing request to Google is all it takes. I know: I have done it before for a client attacked in a similar fashion.

So, a note to the McTygues: give me the word (right here via a comment), and I'll track down the above culprit on your behalf.

By the way Roger: what "films" have you allegedly made? Name them, please. Unless you're counting your "Our Family History of Grandma & Grandpa" business as film making?

9:02 AM  

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