Afroman countersues; Moreno blasts Fauci

By Rory Ryan
The Highland County Press 

What's next for the Adams County Sheriff's Office?

First, they go after Winchester resident Joseph Foreman, also known as the rapper Afroman. In 2022, Adams County sheriff's deputies raided the rapper's home on a drug and kidnapping warrant. No charges were filed.

Afroman used his own security video footage to make music videos mocking the deputies.

Seven deputies then filed a defamation lawsuit, seeking nearly $4 million in damages.

That's right. Officers of the law actually sued Afroman over his First Amendment-protected rights. Predictably, the deputies lost. Afroman was expertly represented by West Union attorney David “DJ” Osborne Jr. in one of the more humorous and interesting trials I've ever watched.

After winning the defamation lawsuit last year, Afroman is now suing one of the deputies who sued him.

He posted to his Facebook page, saying, "Happy official birthday to me. And for my birthday present, I'm suing the officer who stole my $400, then had the audacity to sue me for 1,500,000 dollars."

He's now seeking damages under four claims: malicious prosecution, abuse of process, intentional infliction of emotional distress and tortious interference with contract.

In April of this year, a rumor was spreading around Adams County that an inmate had been locked in a "holding cell" for four or five days without anyone checking on him.

On April 23, Clermont County Sheriff Chris Stratton received a request from Adams County Sheriff Kenny Dick, through the Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association, to conduct an independent investigation into allegations that four Adams County corrections officers failed to comply with the rules and regulations governing the operation of the Adams County Jail. (Full disclosure, I voted for Kenny for sheriff.)

This week, criminal charges were filed through the Adams County Municipal Court on four Adams County corrections officers for dereliction of duty, and a fifth officer has been charged with one count of falsification after investigators determined she allegedly falsified jail log entries. 

According to the Clermont County Sheriff's Office, on April 15 the inmate was transported to Adams County Regional Medical Center after jail staff observed a change in his behavior. Following his evaluation, the inmate was returned to the Adams County Jail and placed back into the same holding cell, where he remained until April 20. At approximately 6:45 a.m. on April 20, jail supervisors found the inmate unresponsive inside the holding cell. Emergency Medical Services responded to the jail and transported the inmate to Adams County Regional Medical Center. He was later transferred to Mercy Hospital Anderson for further medical treatment.

The indefatigable independent reporter Chris Hicks has been all over this case.

And while the five officers are only facing misdemeanor charges, the matter will undoubtedly lead to a civil lawsuit.

* * *

So, a sitting U.S. senator dropped an F bomb during a hearing this week. The usual suspects immediately took offense. Baloney.

In case you missed it, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, blasted Anthony Fauci for refusing to answer for the damage inflicted on millions of Americans by his failed pandemic leadership and vanity that denied children proper schooling, shuttered small businesses, and kept families apart.

At one point in the heated exchange, Sen. Moreno asked Fauci, "Who the F do you think you are?"

“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” Fauci said. This was one of 111 times on July 29 that Fauci pleaded the Fifth, in spite of previously stating that he would welcome addressing Congress about COVID-19 and also in spite of receiving a presidential pardon while not being under any investigation.

And now Ohio voters are actually considering a Fauci acolyte in Amy Acton as a possible governor. 

Just as Fauci was wrong for director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and wrong for the president's adviser on COVID-19, Acton is clearly wrong for Ohio. Her record as Ohio Department of Health director is about as dismal as Fauci's record on COVID. It practically mirrors Fauci's record.

Both doctors championed do-nothing practices like mask-wearing, social distancing, closing schools and businesses, postponing the March 2020 primary election, and suspect shots passed off as legitimate vaccinations, including some COVID shots that were pulled due to safety risks involving blood clots.

Speaking of COVID and U.S. senators, did anyone fake outrage in 2020 when petulant U.S. Sen. Tom Carper was caught on a hot mic dropping a series of expletives during a Senate hearing with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy? Struggling with video-conferencing technology, he was heard shouting "F, F, F," while trying to unmute his line. 

No outrage then? Of course not. Carper is a Democrat.

Meanwhile, a quick search of Moreno's questioning of Fauci provides screen after screen with anti-Moreno headlines. Spare me the outrage. Unless it is aimed at Fauci and his acolytes.

Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, Highland County's only locally owned and operated newspaper.