When does morality matter as a fan?

The economy might be in a recession but Robert Wagner, a real estate agent with Prudential Preferred Realty in Hidden Valley, PA, says the Nutting family is spending money “at warp speed.”

They are currently in the midst of:

.. the single most aggressive package of new and enhanced amenities in the 75-year history of the Seven Springs Mountain Resort..

.. reviving and reopening Laurel Mountain, the 63-acre state-owned ski area in Westmoreland County after closing on the purachse of all assets (the ski area and Village) from Somerset Trust Bank at the end of November.  Gov. Rendell also announced a $6.5M grant for infrastructure improvements to help Nutting get the door open.  In order for Laurel Mountain to open, Nutting will have to spend millions on improvements and it is rumored Nutting intends to have the resort open some time in 2009.  That’s a heap of spending.

Then today I read that the bank Ogden Nutting sits on the board of and owns 654,656 shares in - United Bankshares – “will accept a capital infusion of up to $197 million from the Treasury Department.”  The article goes on to quote the bank’s president as saying the additional capital will create long-term value for the shareholders.  Shares of United Bankshares (NASDAQ: UBSI) closed Tuesday at $30.10. – BizJournals.com

Nutting’s shares were valued at $19,705,145.60 as of Tuesday.

Yesterday we recalled that the Pirates ownership group, which included Ogden Nutting, walked away from having to pay a $61M debt owed to the City of Pittsburgh, yet taxpayer services are being cut all over the city because of recessionary times.

Now isn’t it nice that every taxpaper in America will insure Ogden Nutting doesn’t take a personal financial hit on any bad loans the bank made he was ultimately responsible for as a Director? 

Or that the PA taxpayers will hand over $6.5M to Bob Nutting for infrastructure repairs so he can open another resort to make even more money? 

Or that the Nutting’s are gracious enough to us Pirates’ fans to give us all the opportunity to see – firsthand - if javelin throwers can become baseball players?

Pirates’ fans aren’t the only ones fed up with the Nuttings.  West Virgina Blue is a larger blog featuring political analysis coverage in the state, and they have called for a boycott of Nutting’s newspapers.  If you read the articles and comments on the site, and the many others linking to it, you’ll notice a familiar ring to some of my comments over the years about mainstream media in Pittsburgh — biased reporting. 

And North County Public Radio’s blog in Canton, NY, recently issued a scathing report on how a couple of Nutting’s newspapers ran controvesial editorials endorsing John McCain in local hometown newspapers in the area where they said:

“[W]e urge residents of our area to cast their ballots for John McCain, the leader Americans need.”

But the editorials were written in Nutting’s West Virgina office, NCPR said.

If you are a Pirates fan, you have to be at least a little embarrased by all the pompous greed oozing from every Nutting pore as majority owners of the club.  This proud franchise and its fans, the city,  local businesses, the elderly and children of the region surely to be affected by the RAD and URA cuts, all deserve better.   And I don’t mean four javelin throwers instead of two.

Is there a point we all need to turn our backs on the Nuttings because of moral reasons?