News flash: Don't believe everything on Facebook

A couple of years ago, Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame announcer Marty Brennaman was more than a bit perturbed over someone who had established a Facebook webpage in his name.

As I recall, several media accounts of Mr. Brennaman's rightful indignation were published in early 2011. (I'm sure one can look up the sordid details.)

For a very brief few months, someone had activated – with my consent – a Facebook page in my name. My short-lived Facebook page has gone the way of the last two cell phones I possessed more than a decade ago: To that vast technological communications wasteland. In other words, I do not own a cell phone nor do I have a Facebook page.

Life is better, in my opinion.

When I first heard of this Marty Brennaman Facebook story, I thought that the individual responsible must be a low-down, contemptible soul with way too much time on his hands.

I feel the exact same way about the individual or individuals today who are (or most certainly were) posing on Facebook as representatives of the Highland County Historical Society.

The Facebook link appears (or did earlier today) at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Highland-County-Historical-Society/27379….

This morning's lead post (anonymously, of course) by someone purportedly representing the Historical Society, reads: "Sorry but the museum is closed until further notice. Two people have succeeded in shutting down the society by spreading misinformation and creating problems where none exist. A legal ruling may be necessary to stop these actions and reopen the museum. More details to come."

(All grammatical errors are courtesy of the anonymous poster.)

What then follows are several online comments expressing various forms of outrage, including a bit of swearing from someone who identifies herself with a local public academic institution. Nice.

The Facebook page is named for the Highland County Historical Society and includes the East Main Street address for the Highland House Museum.

In essence, someone's gone to the trouble of establishing a Facebook page, supposedly for the good of the Society, but which is being used contrary to the Society's membership's wishes at a special meeting of the members on July 15.

Screen snapshots of the alleged Historical Society Facebook page taken this afternoon show the 151 E. Main St., Hillsboro address and an email of visithighlandcounty@yahoo.com

Screen snapshots of the Highland County Convention Visitor's Bureau (sic) Facebook page taken today also show an email address of visithighlandcounty@yahoo.com.

After having an alert reader of The Highland County Press send these postings to me, I contacted Historical Society Presiding Officer Bob Hodson. For brief background, Mr. Hodson is a founding member of the Society and served as its first president. Until July 15, 2013, he hasn't been actively involved with the Society administration for many years.

Mr. Hodson was not aware of the Society's Facebook page or the criticisms included thereon.

(Frankly, it is more than a bit preposterous to believe the Society would establish or condone a Facebook page with such a purpose as to discredit and cast aspersions upon the Society.)

Let's remember, too, that at the July 15 special meeting of the Society membership, a motion was made to appoint Jean Wallis as general manager of the museum and to terminate the current board and the museum's director.

By a ballot vote, tabulated by Dr. Larry Dukes, Dr. Paul Terrell and Dr. Jeff Beery, the motion carried, 47-16. That's an overwhelming majority by my arithmetic.

I happen to know that the last time Jean and I spoke (a couple of months ago), she did not have an email account nor was she overly familiar with Facebook.

Moreover, Mr. Hodson ordered at the July 15 meeting: "Everything stops."

So, who is posting this information under the guise of the Society, if not the Society?

Good question.

After speaking at length with Mr. Hodson, I contacted Kathryn Hapner, who serves as the fiscal officer of the Highland County CVB, a taxpayer-funded public entity, despite what you may have heard to the contrary.

Like Mr. Hodson, Ms. Hapner was not aware of the Historical Society Facebook page or the identical email address which appears on both the Society's Facebook page and the CVB Facebook page.

She did confirm that the CVB webpage domain is www.highlandcounty.com. That website, at the time of our conversation today, was inactive. (We were both attempting to access the site, to no avail.) So, too, was www.visithighlandcounty.com.

At the time of this writing (7:35 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26), the www.highlandcounty.com site was back online. So was www.visithighlandcounty.com.

Both sites are maintained by a Denver, Colo. Internet service provider. Ms. Hapner said she had no idea why the CVB site was down, as the invoice had been paid. She also said she was emailing CVB board members to inquire if they knew why the site was down and why the Historical Society's email address was the same as the CVB's on the respective Facebook pages.

For those who have asked The Highland County Press about these Facebook similarities, I can only add to what Mr. Hodson and Ms. Hapner have already said, and to quote Hall of Famer Marty Brennaman: "I doesn't (sic) know."

But I do know that somebody's got some explaining to do.

What a sad and desperate act for anyone to use the Highland County Historical Society Facebook page against the Society itself.

The CVB board and the Society deserve an honest explanation. And soon. (Note: Following the publication of this column, the Facebook page in question was taken offline by someone. That does not diminish the accuracy of the previous point.)

Rory Ryan is publisher of The Highland County Press.