TAKE ACTION: BOYCOTT THE DECATUR CELEBRATION
There's been very little word on the ongoing US Department of Justice investigation of Ken Smithmier, Tim Stone, and Decatur Memorial Hospital and Stark Anti-Trust Law violations, Medicare Fraud, and Medicaid Fraud. None of my contacts within DMH have said much. Likewise from my friends at St. Mary's. Throughout this entire investigation, postings have said over and over, "What can I do?" "I don't know what to do."
Now there is something that EVERYONE CAN DO...and, it doesn't matter if you're a DMH employee or not.
This morning's headlines from the DMH Herald & Review say that "DMH agrees to sponsor Celebration." Translation: They're going to use it to purposefully exclude St. Mary's and any other competition, and turn what was once a large opportunity for fun for the whole family into a large commercial for DMH. They even returned the sponsorship check from St. Mary's Hospital.
Mr. Puglia, what were you thinking? St. Mary's could easily do the same thing that DMH did, but they didn't. Why is that? They don't have a fascist megalomaniacal idiocy in their administration. They operate by the "golden rule," not the dollar bill. Mr. Puglia, unless this changes, this year's celebration will be the poorest attended to date. For many reasons. Until the sponsorshiop is changed.....
let me be the first to say it. I'll shout it from up her in Forsyth to the southern parts of Macon County:
BOYCOTT THE DMH DECATUR CELEBRATION
Now there is something that EVERYONE CAN DO...and, it doesn't matter if you're a DMH employee or not.
This morning's headlines from the DMH Herald & Review say that "DMH agrees to sponsor Celebration." Translation: They're going to use it to purposefully exclude St. Mary's and any other competition, and turn what was once a large opportunity for fun for the whole family into a large commercial for DMH. They even returned the sponsorship check from St. Mary's Hospital.
Mr. Puglia, what were you thinking? St. Mary's could easily do the same thing that DMH did, but they didn't. Why is that? They don't have a fascist megalomaniacal idiocy in their administration. They operate by the "golden rule," not the dollar bill. Mr. Puglia, unless this changes, this year's celebration will be the poorest attended to date. For many reasons. Until the sponsorshiop is changed.....
let me be the first to say it. I'll shout it from up her in Forsyth to the southern parts of Macon County:
BOYCOTT THE DMH DECATUR CELEBRATION
posted by Watcher2300 at 4/25/2008 10:18:00 AM
20 Comments:
What on earth were the people on the celebration board thinking? This makes the celebration a giant commercial for DMH at a relatively bargain price. To exclude St. Mary's seems so petty. Like a school yard fight and Smithmier is the school bully.
My family and friends will not be at the celebration this year or any other year it is the Decatur Memorial Hospital Decatur Celebration.
St. Mary's employees should boycott this too.
Pretty soon the slogan of Decatur just might be changed from "Pride of the Prairie" to "Ken Smithmier's fiefdom".
Outrageous decision by the celebration board! You blew it guys!
I will have nothing to do with this years celebration. This is a sad day for entire city of decatur.
What in the world is going on now? I didn't know that the Decatur Celebration, I mean,... the new DMH Decatur Celebration is now saying who is participating and who is not! This is just another example of how low DMH is! I can not believe Decatur allowed this to happen. I agree with above.. what a sad day we live in.
Why don't we just rename this town to the new Decatur Memorial Hosptial City home of the new Decatur Memorial Hosptial Decatur Celebration that is owned and operated by Decatur Memorial Hospital.
My entire family and I will not be attending your business expo celebration!
OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!!!
Seems Smithmier has finally achieved his goal of being president, pope, ayatollah and final ruler of Decatur.
The Decatur Celebration was something our extended family looked forward to every year. Family came from California Utah Florida Missouri Tennessee and all parts of Illinois and other states every year to enjoy the celebration and have a reunion.
Never again will we spend our hard earned dollars at the celebration as long as it too is owned by DMH.
This year during the celebration not a dime of our money will be spent in Decatur - not even at gas stations or grocery stores.
We will go to Chicago St. Louis or Indianapolis and spend our money.
Great job Smithmier. With this single move you have managed to
p--- off many people here who really didn't know that much about the DMH scandals.
There are so many residents here who really like St. Mary's. Why not give St. Mary's the chance to give back to the community? How selfish and arrogant of you Smithmier.
Smithmier and DMH you just might have shot yourselves in the foot with this move.
Say goodby to the Decatur Celebration as we knew and loved it. Smithmier you have managed to destroy a great Decatur tradition.
I predict the days of the Decatur Celebration are numbered thanks to Smithmier and the celebration board.
Our family will never attend the celebration again as long as Smithmier and DMH own it. Other cities will now host our family reunions and enjoy the benefits of the significant amount of money that used to be spent in Decatur that weekend.
Great job DMH and Celebration Board. You screwed up big time with this move.
Count my family out of the celebration this year. It is supposed to be a celebration of Decatur. Not an ad for Decatur Memorial Hospital.
I am sure the people of Decatur and Macon County would be happy to donate money 1$ at a time to keep this a celebration of Decatur NOT Decatur Memorial Hospital. Are ther no limits to the limits DMH will try to put St. Mary's out of business?
Our family's money will be spent anywhere but Decatur that weekend.
How can someone, assuming of higher education, own the town's celebration and use it for it's own marketing propaganda and exclude people who apparently work in another hospital to participate? Isn't that a sign of a very primitive and uneducated trait of a human being? Hospitals should be for the people. Not people for the hospital right?Imagine what Decatur would be if the 2 hospitals would collaborate and share resources? That would be awesome which could even reach national levels..But of course, it wont happen because of someone's envy, greed, lust for power. If you really think about, if the 2 hospitals are continually competing, snatching every opportunity off the other hospital, Guess who suffers? I think the people of Decatur..Do you really think, gaining an upper hand over another hospital would do any good in the future? It is a very simple logic. Remember what comes up, will go down. But you know, the devil really works in this kind of pathway, first he gives you all the money, pleasure, enjoyment, power....then he starts ruining your life slowly and gradually (somewhat like a slow but sure kill) and then time will come, where you cannot handle it anymore, because it does not gratify you which will lead to an aimless search for gratification, then if you reach this point, that is where you self-destruct. So, should I congratulate you or the devil inside you? But you know, there is always way to get OUT of this self-conflict..Pray alone to God!! Pray from the Heart, and Pray not to show off that you are.
For those that don't know what is going on. DMH bought out the Decatur Celebration, and returned St. Mary's donated check back to them. St. Mary's has always, for the past 15 years, donated and help volunteered during the celebration. Shame on you DMH! It will be a wonderful event this year if ALL companies and vendors pull out also. Let DMH have their low life celebration. Anyone who show’s up for the DMH celebration is no better than what DMH is and stands for.
I am not planning on going this year.
Count my family and friends out for the DMH Celebration. Enough is enough! DMH has bought and paid for so many doctors in this town and because of the contracts he forces them to sign many of them cannot see or treat patients at St. Mary's anymore. Now he wants to own the Decatur celebration too.
At one point the 2 hospitals did seem to try and cooperate to provide good medical care for the people of Decatur and Macon County. Anyone besides me remember the joint venture the 2 hospitals had when they built the MRI center in the 400 or 500 block of West Eldorado? Then someone (DMH) got greedy and the joint MRI center became a casualty of greed.
Fred Puglia and the entire board of the Decatur Celebration should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be added to the list of people and companies bought and paid for and maybe threatened or bribed by Smithmier.
I am sure St. Mary's would have agreed to donate a significant amount of money to the celebration if they had been given the chance.
Decatur is becoming a laughing stock to new doctors looking for a place to set up their practices. I peronally know a very talented surgeon, born and raised in Decatur, who would love to settle here to be closer to his family but he chose Springfield instead because he did not want to deal with the politics and coercion of Smithmier. A great loss for Decatur.
Anyone have any idea of the average age of doctors in Decatur these days? I'm betting many of them are getting close to retirement age and who will replace them?
I agree that other sponsors and ESPECIALLY THE VENDORS should refuse to participate in the celebration this year. I am sure that Smithmier and DMH will raise their fees anyway, so it will be less profitable for them to join in as they have in the past.
I have talked to many people about this in the past few days and they are unanymous in saying that they will not attend DMH's celebration. It is no longer a celebration for the people but just another ad for DMH.
My family and friends have already decided that we won't spend one red cent in Decatur that weekend. We have already made plans to spend that weekend in St. Louis and spend our money there. We won't even buy gas in Decatur. We'll buy it in Blue Mound on our way to St. Louis any enjoy the FREE zoo, the Science Center, Arch, Grants Farm (FREE), picnic in Forest Park (FREE with great playgrounds for the kids) and have a great time.
You really blew it this time DMH. The Decatur economy will suffer because people simply won't attend your "business expo" as a previous poster said. Did you geniuses really think the people wouldn't see through your blatant attempt to muscle your way into another part of Decatur?
Just waiting to see how much attendance figures for the celebration drop this year! Also waiting to see how long it takes for DMH pullout after this years celebration and take away their bribery money from what used to be a COMMUNITY event!
Shame on DMH, Puglia, and the celebration board for ruining what was once a great time for family and friends to get together and have fun in Decatur.
You gotta be kidding me! DMH Celebration? Why don't we just get the pain and misery over and rename Decatur Smithmierville?
DMH has so many ads on billboards and TV already they make me sick. I can hardly wait to see how many ads they pay for with hospital funds to advertise their celebration!
They won't work for me and my family.
WE WILL NOT ATTEND ANY DECATUR CELEBRATION ASSOCIATED IN SUCH A SELF SERVING MANNER THAT HAS DMH IN ITS NAME.
Might be like spitting in the ocean but my 7 immediate family members and I and lots of extended family members will not be at what used to be the Decatur celebration this year.
DMH Celebration? An insult to the hard working people of Decatur.
Contact them at havefun@decaturcelebration.com and tell them what a shameful thing they did! For some strange reason they've pulled all other contact information from their web-site. As each sponcer, if any, is added, we need to also contact them.
I am not blaming the Decatur Celebration Board or especially Mr.Puglia for this Decision,after all he is a paid Producer and without the Celebration he is without a Job.His expression of sheer adoration for Mr. Smithmeier during the Press Conference was about sickening. Here is my Disgust our elected Mayor, Paul Osborne stood alongside these Clowns and stated he was overcome with Joy by this and how proud he was of DMH. I always had the utmost respect for Mr. Osborne and really thought he was "Mr. Decatur", but I will remember this come next Election and hope my Fellow Voters will too
Hasn't the REAL Decatur Celebration always had large sponsors such as Caterpillar, ADM, Budweiser, etc?
What makes the money from DMH so special that they are allowed to exclude competitors from participating?
We won't be there this year if the name DMH is attached to the words Decatur Celebration. No other sponsors attached this as a condition to their donations.
Was the grand plan to make this the last Decatur Celebration (I heard Puglia was retiring after this year).
If so, your plan worked brilliantly. Attendance will be down dramatically and you will have the excuse you need to put an end to a weekend that many Decaturites looked forward to.
To the Celebration Board - Was the 30 pieces of silver you received from DMH worth the damage you did to the imaage and reputation of this community?
Anyone see th news on WAND last night? Couldn't believe they actually carried a story about the "controversy" surrounding DMH sponsorship of the celebration.
Seems bloggers here aren't the only ones upset about DMH buying another jewel for its crown. Seems WANDS email has been filled with emails wondering just what the heck is going on. I took the previous posters advice and emailed the celebration and also emailed the celebration.
I suggest others do so too. Might as well let the people who can do something about this know how we really feel about this.
Hmmm really shame on DMH for doing such a lowly thing. Converting an event which is to be shared by everyone with happiness into a power show event. I am still not a resident of Decatur ( will be moving in July), but feel saddened by this name game happening in decatur.
It's very sad that DMH has to stoop to such low levels in an attempt to flex their muscle again. Shame on the Celebration board for stooping so low for money. If DMH truly cared about the Decatur community and wanted to reach out to residents as Mr. Smithmier said in the initial press release, maybe they should've donated that money toward charity care or invested in something else directly healthcare related that the DMH Herald and Review could advertise for them. Our family will not be attending the celebration this year or any year that DMH's name is attached to the Celebration. I'll be praying for rain that weekend. I'd rather see the Celebration close than attend a weekend long commercial for DMH. Both DMH and the Celebration board have stepped way over the line this time.
I will not be at the Decatur Celebration this year or any other year if this whole thing really goes down this way. Furthermore I am and intend to continue talking to everyone I know and spreading the word that no one should go. It is my opinion that this deal with DMH will ruin the Celebration for years to come, I blame the Decatur Celebration Board for allowing such a thing to happen. I blame DMH for being so childish as to do such a thing. If we cannot all be a team, it is no wonder Decatur, IL is in such a mess. I hope someone is petitioning this situation, army tanks could not drag me on those ground during the Celebration. What a disappointment all the people involved have turned out to be. Here's to St. Mary's for their offer and there would be no way it would go back on the table without a public apology. Terri Weikle
High five to Terry! Preach it girl, preach it! I would love to see a public apoligy also to what they did to St. Mary's. I truely believe that Decatur and DMH didn't think St. Mary's would make a stink, since they've never said anything about issues in the past. Well THEY'RE NOT! WE ARE! I respect St. Mary's even more for not saying anyting (at least in the public's eye). There is such support all over Macon county in behalf of St. Mary's Hospital. All the employess's should be proud and hold their heads high. I've heard that this has really brought back a strong bond of brother/sisterhood to their team. Good for them!
DMH dropped the ball on this one. Spendt 80K and gets 99% bad publicity. Hard to believe someone that makes 800K a year didn't even think this through. Sorry that I will be missing the Celebration this year. I have always enjoyed it. With all the people not going this year, DMH will have to come up with $160K or $320K next year.
Yahoo! St. Mary's will be there with no strings attached by DMH or the Celebratin Board! I wonder if the news is going to show Smithmayor (or what ever his name is), licking his wounds in the public eye!
Was $80,000 worth a blow up in your face, and in return get bad publicity while creating high moral at St. Mary's?
When we see anyone from St. Mary's Hospital at the Decatur Celebration, I think we need to buy them a drink. They need it after what they just went through.
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