News and Tribune bombshell: "Fake Facebook accounts linked to State Rep's wife."

Say what?

Whoa.

Not exactly the Friday evening I'd envisioned, and it isn't clear which of these revelations is the most staggering:

• That Rep. Ed Clere's wife might be linked to Fakebook accounts
• That the News and Tribune actually does investigative reporting
• That a banner ad for a wine tasting event 35 days ago remains displayed at the N and T site (see above)

Jeebus.

When I published this blog nod to intrepid N and T columnist Amanda Beam on Wednesday ...

Those "phantoms of Facebook" have quite the pedigree -- right, Amy?

Beam makes reference to "Amy Adams," who first rose to prominence as a contributor to the newspaper's on-line comments section prior to it moving to Facebook in the run-up to the Hanson Paywall.

"Amy Adams" didn't think much of me back then, but as the columnist shows, "Amy Adams" was/is a phantom. It brings to mind the immortal words of Gomer Pyle: "Surprise, surprise, surprise."

... I meant the fictitious "Amy Adams," not Mrs. Clere. Here's the bombshell scoop by Daniel Suddeath, with an assist to Jerod Clapp.

Apparent fake Facebook accounts examined

NEW ALBANY — Following an column that appeared in the News and Tribune this week describing an interaction between the columnist and apparent fake Facebook accounts, the social media pages mentioned in the article were deleted or disabled.

But searches of cached versions of those accounts coupled with evidence presented by sources indicate that Amy Clere, wife of State Rep. Ed Clere, operated those deleted profiles.

When contacted by the News and Tribune Thursday and Friday, she vehemently denied any knowledge of fake profiles.

“Anybody who says anything about me being involved in fake accounts of any kind is lying, period,” she said, as Clere added the allegation is “completely false.”

Ed Clere also denied knowledge of the accounts.

As they say across the pond, I'm gobsmacked. Granted, there was a time when this story would not have surprised me at all, but I'd long since filed it away with all the other dead letters.

Fair's fair: A tip of the hat to the News and Tribune. Now, let's see how this unfolds.

Those "phantoms of Facebook" have quite the pedigree -- right, Amy?

Amanda Beam proves to be quite the proficient ghostbuster, but first, let's refer to the style guide.

When a word or phrase is not used functionally but is referred to as the word or term itself, it should be italicized or enclosed in quotation marks. (What is meant by neurobotics? The term "critical mass" is more often used metaphorically than literally.)

Okay, great.

Beam makes reference to "Amy Adams," who first rose to prominence as a contributor to the newspaper's on-line comments section prior to it moving to Facebook in the run-up to the Hanson Paywall.

"Amy Adams" didn't think much of me back then, but as the columnist shows, "Amy Adams" was/is a phantom. It brings to mind the immortal words of Gomer Pyle: "Surprise, surprise, surprise."

Amusingly, the fictitious "Amy Adams" also was vociferously defended in the comments section attached to the immortal 2011 Kitchen Fable Tissues post recalled here.

Ah yes; I remember it well.

I know Amy Adams. The only reason she's ever gotten on the Tribune website (she doesn't get on the blogs) is that she noticed one day that all Baylor and a certain bunch of them ever do is get on every time Ed Clere does anything, and then go after him. She thought, sportingly enough, that something good should be on the comments. She said to me, "That guy's doing nothing but good. Yet, if you read the paper online, you'll think that the stuff he's doing is slimy. That's far from the truth."

Seems the gallant defender dude forgot the quotation marks.

Probably because he was she.

The phantoms of Facebook, by Amanda Beam (N and T)

Phantoms exist in our peaceful little town, yet not where you may think. Roaming old haunting grounds like abandoned mansions and creepy graveyards has become so passé for ghouls. Getting with the times, these hipster ghosts have embraced technology in order to communicate with the living ...

 ... All was fine and dandy with dear, sweet Nan until she decided to reply to a post I had written a few days back about an upcoming school board race. The lovely lady disagreed with my opinion, which wasn’t a big deal. But when I asked her about being a teacher and if she had children, her answers didn’t match up with her profile identity. A quick search online revealed that, for all intents and purposes, Ms. Brown didn’t exist ...

... A couple of these accounts posted in other mediums too. Amy Adams enjoyed commenting on the News and Tribune’s website frequently these past few years on all sorts of political topics. Another young gal even said no good columnists wrote for the paper anymore. (Insert evil laugh here).