🚀 go-pugleaf

TEXT:

   When  the  Baltimore  Convention  Center  dismissed  Douglas  Kukucka
as
director  of building services last year, the 35-year-old engineer did
what
any  city  employee who feels wronged might do: he wrote letters and
called
elected officials, including the mayor.

   But  dissatisfied with the lack of response from city officials,
Kukucka
turned  to  the  weapon of the '90s, the Internet. He and his friends
trash
Baltimore through their Web site.

   "Baltimore City's murder rate is rising again!" blares one line.

   "The syphilis capitol in the U.S.," says another.

   "What  goes  on  behind  the  scenes  in  Charm City will surprise
you!"
screams a third.

   The  site  has garnered the attention of Baltimore officials -- which
is
what Kukucka wanted.

   Kukucka, who declined to identify his associates, contends that he
was a
victim  of  discrimination,  sexual harassment and an unreasonable
workload
from  convention  officials  and  that  he  was wrongly blamed for
problems
caused  by  a  drunken employee, illiterate workers, and failures in
health
and safety policies.

   "To this day, I'm upset about it," Kukucka said.

   Kukucka  and  friends  are  part of a growing number of people using
the
Internet  to  attack  anyone  from  employers  to  teachers. And courts
are
supporting the online critics, saying the Internet is protected by the
same
free speech rights given to books, newspapers and pamphlets.

   In  April,  a  northeast Ohio school district agreed to settle a
federal
lawsuit  by  paying  $30,000  to a high school student it had suspended
for
creating  a Web site describing his band teacher as a chubby man with a
bad
haircut who played favorites.

   A  federal  judge in Seattle ruled earlier this year that a consumer
had
the  right  to  post  slurs  and personal information about executives
of a
credit  card  company  after  the  man  became involved in a dispute
over a
credit report. The Web site organizer called the executives "scumbags,
jack
asses and jerks" and posted their home addresses, phone numbers and maps
to
their homes.

   `More people more quickly'
   "You  have  the  right  to  create a Web site just as much as you
have a
right  to  make up a pamphlet and pass it out," said Solange Bitol, a
First
Amendment  attorney  with the American Civil Liberties Union in
Washington.
"What  makes  people  nervous  is that your criticism can reach more
people
more quickly."

   Baltimore Convention Center officials are trying to design their own
Web
site to counter the online critics, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said.

   "It  hasn't  hurt  us  in  terms  of  actual bookings, but we do have
to
respond," the mayor said Wednesday. "Because so much commerce is being
done
on the Internet now, it's something that we can't ignore."

   That's  just  what  the  creators  of  the  Web  site  --
www.geocities.
com/allStreet/Floor/6065/ -- intended.

   None  of  their names appears on the site's entries, but there is a
link
to  a  letter  addressed  to  Schmoke from "the former director of
building
services  for  the Baltimore Convention Center." The letter details why
the
author believes that he was wrongly fired and the dates he worked.

   Kukucka  acknowledged  being  the  author. Although he didn't create
the
site,  Kukucka  contributes  to it. He said a group of five or six
Web-wise
people upset with city government helped to design and operate it.
   `Decide for yourself!!!'

   Kukucka  hopes  to  undermine  Baltimore  Convention  Center business
by
highlighting  the  city's  faults,  such as widespread drug-use and
violent
crime.  One  line  mentions  that  Baltimore hopes to host the 2012
Olympic
games, followed by an entry titled: "What's Wrong With Baltimore decide
for
yourself!!!"

   "I'd  love  to  go  down to City Hall and picket and pass out
leaflets,"
Kukucka  said.  "But it gets a little old standing out there in the heat
or
cold. The Internet now can be used by someone who is wronged."

   Convention  officials  wouldn't discuss Kukucka's situation, saying
only
that  he  was  dismissed  during  his probationary period in April 1997,
11
weeks  after  he  was hired. But they acknowledge that there is little
they
can do about his Web site.

   The  site  has  about  20  visitors daily. Many of the visits, which
are
recorded  by  the  site,  come  from city officials and downtown
businesses
trying to determine what the group is saying about Baltimore, Kukucka
said.

   `He's very clever'

   "There  are some people who have asked questions about it, and he's
very
clever in how he uses it," said Schmoke, whose mayoral portrait is the
only
picture  on  the  site  and  appears above the phrase "Welcome To
Baltimore
Hon!"

   Statistics  that appear on the site showing the city in a bad light
were
generated  by  the  government and reported by the news media. But the
city
disputes  Kukucka's  Convention  Center  employment  claims,  calling 
them
exaggerations.

   "It  just  reminds  you  of the downside of the Internet," Schmoke
said.
"It's something we'll all have to address."

   The  matter  is  being  addressed  across the nation by legislatures
and
courts,  but  not  fast enough to keep up with the online evolution. On
the
federal   level,   Congress   is   debating  measures  concerning 
Internet
pornography and gambling.

   "Five years ago, you would not have dreamed about creating a Web site
to
make  disparaging  remarks  about  your  employer,"  said  Bitol,  the
ACLU
attorney.

   The  mayor  and  other  city  leaders accept that online critics such
as
Kukucka and his associates are here to stay. But Schmoke said he is
willing
to discuss their concerns in the hopes of having the site removed.
   `Personnel matter run amok'

   "It's really a personnel matter run amok," Schmoke said. "I'm sorry
that
he  feels  so intensely, but any legitimate concerns he has we will look
in
to and address."

   Kukucka  said  that  the  Web  site's  popularity  is  growing  and
that
dismantling  it  might  not be an option. But with the city's reputation
as
his  hostage,  Kukucka is willing to talk, he said. "It will stay up for
an
eternity  until  the  mayor agrees to straighten out my problems," he
said.
"And maybe some other problems."

   Pub Date: 8/07/98

                Copyright The Baltimore Sun 1998

--------------------------------------------------------

We now know the five or six web-wise folks were non other than his older brother, Mark A. Kukucka. 
Markee was an "expert" at ranting and raving on the internet and the Usenet after getting fired 
himself from Shimadzu of Columbia, Md. Mark also can claim experience at standing in front of 
buildings and ranting about Ryland homes.

OOPS!

Did I say too much?

Mark and Ryland homes coming soon to a newsgroup near you!