All the News Not Fit to Print

Rumorcheck.org

If you're in the least aware of the explosive growth of the so-called blogosphere, you're aware that there's never been more truth to the old adage that "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on."

After the jump, what one Richardson resident is doing about it.

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Richardson resident William J. 'Bill' McCalpin has launched a Web site, Rumorcheck.org, with the intent "to review, confirm, or debunk rumors in the local political arena." The site is designed to be expanded nationwide, but as of today, only the Richardson page is populated. Here are the rumors Rumorcheck.org has investigated:

• The Sherrill Park Golf Pro Ronny Glanton is paid $900,000 a year salary by the City of Richardson
  
• One third of the City of Richardson's expenses goes to debt service
  
• Councilman John Murphy broke State law to be President of the NCTCOG
  
• [The City Council has] eliminat[ed] the ability of citizens to address matters of public business in public forums
  
• The City Council violates the Texas Open Meetings Act by discussing the City Manager's compensation package in executive session
  
• The high-rise office building at 100 North Central, the tallest building on Main Street, is in foreclosure
  
• The City of Richardson attempted to establish a 70 acre sexually-oriented business zone in the heart of the city

Rumorcheck.org appears to be a one-man operation covering the Richardson City Council only, but the Web site's organization and stated mission is sufficiently generic that it has potential for being useful in thousands of cities and towns across the nation. Whether McCalpin can scale his little operation is a different matter. In any case, Richardson can benefit from having a second party digging into the various rumors, conspiracy theories, charges and counter-charges that are more and more being flung wildly in the local political scene. Here's hoping that Rumorcheck.org can be one such resource. Who knows, maybe the site will even investigate the rumor that the Richardson Coalition PAC has a secret plan to put William J. 'Bill' McCalpin himself on the Richardson City Council when current council member John Murphy has to step down in 2021 due to term limits.