Dear Beaver Countians:
What I am about to say I have said before, but I will say it again, and again, and again: This all must end before people get hurt.
Last night, the “News Alerts Of Beaver County” Facebook group, under its founding administrator Deanna Romigh, was yet again causing needless concern in the community. Romigh shared a post from an individual claiming there was someone on the loose performing pit maneuvers on random vehicles causing them to crash. The post went on to urge people to stay off a local highway for their own safety.
Romigh asserted strenuously that the individual’s claims were true and argued with police when they issued a statement dubbing it “a hoax.” As is usual for her, she took one grain of truth — that there was recently an accident on Route 51 — and used her defective reasoning to twist it into “proof” of a wildly different story.
This is how modern urban legends are born.
I have spoken to multiple law enforcement officials from three separate police departments and can confirm there is no headless highway horseman attacking vehicles in Beaver County.
Friday night, the “News Alerts Of Beaver County” and its administrator Deanna Romigh spread false information about a possible case of coronavirus in the county. Among the symptoms the man professed was that he was bleeding out of his eyes, and had developed an insatiable hunger with a strange urge to eat people.
When some group members attempted to point out the man in question was describing symptoms not of cornavirus, but rather a zombie apocalypse, Romigh began banning en masse. She accused these people of “blaming a victim.” He was her friend, she said, and his claims true.
Others suggested that perhaps the virus had mutated, causing devastating new symptoms. “Prayers, prayers,” Romigh repeated, “prayers, prayers.”
Those reading this may wonder to themselves, who on earth could believe such nonsense? I can not comment as to everyone around the world, but I can say here in Beaver County the answer is one hell of a lot of people.
As our nation battles the coronavirus, a pandemic of stupidity is ravaging Beaver County and Deanna Romigh is its Typhoid Mary.
Over the past month she has personally posted information about how to turn a paper towel into a face mask — fold it like a fan and staple rubber bands to each side to put around your ears. People actually thanked her for the information; officials I have spoken with say the craft project will actually increase, not decrease, your risk of infection.
She has also approved a post urging people to take high doses of daily vitamins to ward off coronavirus infection; officials tell me this will not protect you from the virus but may cause you to suffer kidney damage.
Romigh claims this misinformation is not her fault. But the group is curated, posts do not appear without her first approving them. While I would normally just ignore such a woman, Facebook’s algorithms have gifted her an audience of 40,000 people. Fake news is extremely viral and virulent, making the fears she stokes both far reaching and impactful.
This is not amusing, this is not cute, this is simply dangerous. This is total and complete insanity in a time of real emergency as declared by the President of the United States and leaders around the world.
Those who provide correction or express thoughtful dissent or criticism are often silenced by Romigh, creating an illusion she is omniscient and universally revered.
She can not, however, silence me. So, she instead resorts to other measures.
Romigh may once again claim I am “bullying her” with these words, although any rational person who reads her group over the course of a week should realize she is Beaver County’s biggest bully. Innocent person, after innocent person, after innocent person, falls victim to false accusations. That is not OK.
She may retreat behind her disability again — another of her familiar tactics when challenged. I will say very clearly my statements have nothing to do with the deafness of her ears, but everything to do with what is apparently lacking between them.
Romigh’s claims I am losing subscribers to her are false (our numbers are growing), her claims that I am jealous of her are absurd (gurl as if), and so are her assertions that NBC News is working on a story about how awesome she is.
NBC is working on an article, that’s the grain of truth, but it is in fact a story about how dangerous her group has become and how irresponsible Facebook is for doing nothing to stop it. Beaver County’s 911 Director was interviewed by NBC, as was a local police chief and news outlets — all expressed concern about the damage being done by her group. But the article’s publication has repeatedly been delayed due to shifting news priorities at NBC in this time of national emergency.
Romigh has exploited this vacuum and used the fact she was interviewed by a national news outlet to leverage sponsorship money and validate herself with the public. This small number of local businesses, which include the Beaver Supermarket and the Bridgewater Your CBD Store, appear ignorant or indifferent to the harm she is causing in the community.
I am writing this missive for one very important reason. I have said it before, and I will say it again, and again, and again: This all must end before people get hurt.
Sincerely,
– John Paul
Slayer of Zombies and Headless Highway Horsemen
Investigative Reporter / Publisher BeaverCountian.com
See: Beaver County 911 Director Issues Warning About Rumors From “The News Alerts” Facebook Group
– Chippewa Twp Police Chief Says Local Facebook Group Administrator Is “Putting Our Community At Risk”
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See Also:
– County Commissioners Issue Warning As Dangerous Misinformation Spreads On Local Facebook Groups
– Chippewa Twp Police Issue Statement Denying Facebook Rumor Of A Murderer Loose In The Community
– Monaca Police Chief Says False News From Facebook Group Causing Unnecessary Alarm About A Kidnapping
Do we really need to have these kindergarten fights? Can’t we all just play nice? You have your readers & she has hers. They are both different audiences. Let it go.
At a time when Fox News is spewing their high volume viewership-same goes here people love to see tragedy-fake stories-hype-and they believe it lockstep-they need it-they feed off it and each other-the crazier the, more riled up they get-and they believe anything-‘they’ believe a workvan must be a kidnapper-a electric outage is a conspiracy to spy through your camera phone-a census worker that is definitely a serial rapist-vans checking gas meters for replacements for a cult of devil worshipers-a bullying incident between two young girls and then two young guys for a complete fabricated fairy tale where a lot of money was exchanged-a killer from Chicago on the loose in a suburban Chippewa neighborhood-I sit back and watch and wonder who these people are in my community-am I shopping at their businesses-socializing at sporting events-even standing next to them in line at a store-There’s a lot of wackos out there-and ‘The News Alerts of Beaver County’ is the ringleader.
You forgot CNN and MSNBC as well.
Must be worried about her to even bother posting about her. If 1/10 of hers is true or of value, it’s still better than paying for this garbage.
If you want a sandwich, do you pay for it? Or do you dumpster dive ten times hoping you’ll find something nice in one of them?
You had lost me a while back and I do view her site. What you are discounting is the intelligence of the Beaver County community. Think we can’t see BS when we read it? Doesn’t mean I’m going to stop reading her page or others. Not your business to tell me what to interpret and why.
He wasn’t telling you what to interpret-if the truth isn’t what you wanna hear -or if your appalled someone brought sense into it-then there is no hope for you bro
I dunno, bud. It seems you can’t see this is an editorial: literally an opinion piece. And yes — its part of his business.
Actually, the pit maneuver was not Deanna’s. It was mine. I’ll own it because it was true. The crescent twp police spent much time with me verifying my “claims” and ultimately removed their post that they had made calling it a hoax. I did edit the post on my end thanking then for doing so. Please don’t blame Deanna for a post that she did not make. Thank you.
It was never the issue that this happened to you, it was the post that it was happening often and in real time. For residents to stay off of 51 immediately that a car was hiding and coming out of nowhere attempting pit maneuvers, not one but multiple times and it was happening because there are no police on that stretch. This several nights after your accident. THAT is when and WHAT the police deemed a hoax. Not your accident.
I naively joined the Beaver County News Alert thinking it would offer valuable information. Unfortunately, it was absurd and not of any value. Additionally, someone with a CB radio always posting local alerts that didn’t offer any value and only lead to more fake news and false reporting. Thank you for your article to deter the fake news that is so prevalent on that Facebook page that is moderated by Deanna Romigh. Whether she is deaf or not does not have any circumstance in the unintelligible comments and posts. I highly disagree with the fellow comment that there are different audiences. Most everyone wants factual information reported.
Really Purplepeanut ? , you are defending Chicken Little (aka Deanna Romigh)
A person who’s agenda is nothing more than to calculate to cause alarm,
Beaver Countians stories are vetted, multiple source interviewed , relating facts,
this Deanna Romigh gossip is nothing more than lies to cause hysteria , to give herself a few chuckles of her handy work , this women needs to be physiologically evaluated..
Facebook should shut her group down for false news reports. She creates stories just for likes. I wonder if her group members are aware of her solicitation of herself in another site.
Dude you are literally a f#$king idiot , wont you worry about whats important in the community, and not your personal beef with a facebook group. Is ridiculous, like whats next with your little tit for tat bull crap. grow a pair of balls and move on jesus christ tired of hearing it , your news is just as credible as the rest of these wanna be news groups , you got a fancy lil website with very little subscriber’s and stoop to the low level with them , so yea your a f#$king idiot give us some real news or find a new job!!!!
As a reporter I am taking note of what public officials are telling me is important during this state of emergency:
Beaver County 911 Director Issues Warning About Rumors From “The News Alerts” Facebook Group
https://beavercountian.com/content/special-coverage/beaver-county-911-director-issues-warning-about-rumors-from-the-news-alerts-facebook-group
What you are saying is you want Facebook groups ACROSS THE COUNTRY and the goofball public to be able to very quickly spread B.S.—-you know that’s weird right dude.
Apparently she has a fancy lil website with very little subscribers too! 🤣
I completely agree! That group is going to get someone killed someday. Those posts often become modern day witch hunts. In addition, she becomes belligerent and irrational if you dare to question or disagree with ANYTHING.
Also…I cannot stand that it’s supposed to be for people to keep up with BC news, yet she posts the STUPIDEST news articles from around the globe.
Deanna whatsherface is a menace. She runs that page like the red queen and thinks waaaaay too much of her own limited intellect. Then, when called out she cries about how much time it takes to run the page and her deafness. Then her dad actually gets involved by yelling at people for questioning his daughter. I stayed too long… I liked getting the local traffic reports, etc but it became less and less helpful, more and more batshit insane. I removed myself a few months ago and an quite happy with my decision.
I love the graphic that accompanies this article!
She’s bat 💩 crazy!