Observations from Newark Ohio by Bruce Humphrey

In defense of the city law director

2009-07-07T10:01:00.001-05:00

In an earlier comment to “Rhonda4thWard’s page” blog entry entitled “When a lie breaks the law,” I suggested that the Advocate should be interested in “the rationale of the city law director in defining this (letter of resignation by Judith Carr) as outside the realm of public records.”

Law Director Doug Sassen responded to that comment to me directly by e-mail but, because of the word limit on Advocate comments, I have to make this a separate blog entry. This is what he said regarding that matter:

“...I should clarify for you that I have never defined Ms. Carr’s resignation letter as being “outside the realm of public records.” If, in fact, the letter was written and if, in fact, the Mayor received the letter, at that point the letter became a public record. As such, it should not be destroyed unless such destruction was in conformity with an approved RC-3 Retention Schedule.

“I have never seen such a letter. I do not know if the Mayor ever received such a letter. Nor do I know if the letter still exists. Knowing these facts is critical to determining what, if any, violations may have occurred.

“If the Mayor has made conflicting statements to people about the resignation or anything else, that is for him to justify. Rest assured, however, I will not “spin” the facts in any direction. At the same time, I will not jump to conclusions until the facts are known. And simply stating something to be a fact does not, in and of itself, make it so.

“I tell you this only because I think we have developed an understanding on such issues and I respect your opinion and would not want any mis-information to influence that understanding.”

Law Director Sassen also mentioned to me that he released to Council and to the Advocate the final paragraph of the Crites Report to Council on the city Building Code Department (reported by the Advocate on 6/19/09). This is what it says:

“For the reasons set forth above in the Law and Application section, the conflict of interest allegations involving Greg Keeler should be referred to the Ohio Ethics Commission for their review and consideration.”

The reason Mr. Sassen held it back was “...until such time as the Administration decided upon a response to the report both internally and pursuant to paragraph six, I felt it was inappropriate to release this paragraph pursuant to the on-going investigation exemption to public records disclosure.”

2009-07-06T05:41:00.002-05:00

What? Newark Schools superintendent makes
more than I do?

I quit!

WCLT - Now, for the rest of the story

2009-07-05T07:57:00.003-05:00

When I wrote about WCLT news reporting effort by Bill Clifford and his 2.5-person staff, I tacked on a riff about local owners. I mentioned the Spencer family but omitted Bob Pricer, who owns 51 percent of the corporation and has been the WCLT kingpin for longer than I’ve lived in Newark.

On reconsideration of how my essay might have been improved regarding WCLT’s who’s who, I asked Bill Clifford a few questions and he wrote such a great response - and threw in many extras - that I’m letting him tell the story in his own words, almost verbatim ...

“I didn’t know any of the Spencer’s had any shares. But your info proves they are minority stock holders. Bob’s wife, Dottie is not a Spencer. Tom Rogers was the first President of WCLT, he was married to Marian Spencer. Tom died in about 1976 or so, and he was the majority stock owner from 1947 to his death. Marian gave Bob her proxy so he controlled (and still does) the stock ownership. With that proxy, he paid Marian off over a number of years. As far as I know, Bill Rogers is still alive...and living in Virginia or Maryland. (Tom Rogers was Woody Hayes football coach at Denison) (Tom was also Gerald R. Ford’s commander in WWII). Tom died while Jerry was President.

“Bob Pricer was here on day one - August 2, 1947. Have you ever heard of anyone staying at the same place for 62 years?

“We’re not planning anything big for WCLT FM at age 62, but I will be writing a little tribute to Bob and WCLT FM. Bob has been a second father to me for about 50 years. I started after graduating in 1968, by rewriting news headlines in the afternoon. Ray Luther was news director back then. Ray died a few years ago. I have worked for WCLT five different times for about a total of 18 years.

“... Bob has done every job there is at WCLT in 62 years. His commitment to improving education within the Newark School System has been unwavering. He served as President of the Newark School Board back in the 60’s and 70’s.

“Bob is now 86. His mind is sharp. He still drives, and is at the station, along with Dottie, at least a couple of times a week. He keeps up with everything that’s going on.

“The one thing I like to tell people is this: WCLT FM, with 50,000 watts of power remains independently owned and operated by Newark people on the fringe of the 16th largest metro area in the USA. WCLT AM is part of this operation too as a talk-radio and news station. AM is 500 watts and the signal covers the Newark-Heath and Granville areas.

“In December of last year (2008) I sent an e-mail to Doug, reminding him, January 21, 2009 would be the 50th anniversary of the Great Ohio Flood 1959. He asked me to write some stories which I did. Doug asked me to be a stringer for WCLT. Which took me about 10-sec to say yes.

“One thing led to another. The afternoon news editor moved on to a job in county government. That job was open, at around Christmas time 2008 and I told Doug I was interested. He and news director Eric Brown were set on hiring me. I went to Doug again, and to be upfront with him, I advised him I was a diabetic, and spent about $1,000 on medicine out of my own pocket every month, and becoming part of their employee health care plan would cause a steep rise in their health care costs, and employee costs.

“So Doug said to me, how about if you run the news department. His plan was to pay me as a consultant, and I would pay the Social Security and Medicare taxes at the end of the year. There was still one little bump in the road. Since 1986 I have been a stringer with the Dispatch. Neither Doug nor the Dispatch had any problems with it, in fact both ends thought that’s a winning combination. So I started - February 2 - Ground Hog Day.

“I do my story writing from home. I am at the station 4-5 times a week. I am not on the air regularly because with diabetes I cannot talk as well with a dry mouth at times, and a very light stroke or heart attack in 1997. I recorded all of our April Fools stories for this year. And, record a couple of stories a week.

“Eric Brown is news director and Glenn Forbes is news editor. They both work for me. And as you have noticed things are changing. I hear about our improved news operation several times a week. I have also been working to establish a link with stringers and tipsters.”

Relief for oppressed cart pushers

2009-07-04T17:17:00.003-05:00

I could hardly wait for Walmart to open its first store in Newark. Other big grocers were driving me nuts.

Grocery marketing zealots shoved merchandise into pathways of customers under the misguided assumption, I suppose, that we’d be more likely to buy if we had to wrestle cans and boxes to get past them. Many aisles were so narrow that two carts could scarcely pass and the odds were lessened several hundred percent by unattended stock carts strewn about many, if not most, aisles.

Mine was a sincere effort to help alleviate such nuisance-shopping when I called one of the store managers about it. Apparently he assumed that I didn’t know my asparagus from a hole in the swiss: He offered no excuses and nothing changed.

When Walmart opened it offered more roomy cartways - for a while. It didn’t take long, however, for this grocer to start shoving everything in my face as was the local custom, and it no longer mattered which equally bad store I chose; all were perverse in their ability to inconvenience customers.

Then, lo, the Age of Reason struck 21st Street Walmart. Hooray. This store manager at last listened to customers. You want room to push a cart past someone else pushing a cart? You want a well-organized, comfortable, well-lit, newly painted, spectacular retail environment? You’ve lived long enough to see it, Bunky.

Grand opening is July 8th - this Wednesday - according to my most recent Walmart cashier. If you haven’t already seen it, you’ll be amazed at what transpires when a big retailer listens to oppressed cart pushers.

WCLT prospers under family ownership

2009-07-03T08:21:00.004-05:00

A few decades ago the competition for news between the Advocate and the radio stations was pretty hot, at least as viewed from behind the walls of the newspaper. Fur was bound to fly on rare occasions when Advocate reporters got scooped.

All that faded, at least as far as has been evident to newspaper readers. The Advocate apparently gave up on being timely when the deadlines and press times shifted. WCLT wasn’t offering much news anyway, judging by its on-line news summary.

The return of Bill Clifford, WCLT reporter from the old days, may turn up the heat on the big boys at the Advocate. Bill is now the station’s News Operations Manager and since his return I’ve noticed a change in the number of local stories being broken on radio rather than print.

Bill’s many years of news experience and community involvement also place the station at an advantage in recognizing trends and the historical backgrounding of current events.

Though Bill heads a 2.5-person news department, it is very aggressive, he says. “I love competing in the news business. As long as I am at WCLT, my friends at The Advocate should look over their shoulder now and then ... we’ll be there.”

I like that.

I also like the fact that Spencer family members are among owners of WCLT. Brothers Frank and John Spencer who owned the Advocate when I worked there, started WCLT in 1947. Frank died and John sold the Advocate to Thomson Newspapers, which sold it to Gannett.

But the family held onto WCLT, though they’ve had numerous offers to sell to big corporations, which would likely cut staff and expenses to the bones. This is the link to an FCC report that lists WCLT owners.

WCLT FM is number-one position in listeners in Licking, Muskingum, and Knox counties, according to Clifford. WCLT sales are about $3 million according to Manta.com.

I can’t locate the official Aribtron ratings for WCLT as compared to five years ago, but the Advocate’s circulation went from about 22,000 copies a day five years ago to 15,585 as of 3/31/09, according to Clifford and the Audit Bureau of Circulations. It was more than 25,000 in the early 60’s, when I first worked there.

I’m glad Bill came back. Not only can he find the news, he gives us information we don’t get elsewhere.

Citizen journalists, please step forward

2009-07-01T06:28:00.001-05:00

This morning’s E&P report that Gannett is set to lay off another 1,000 employees could bode badly for Advocate readers. Local managers likely won’t/can’t announce who’s to get axed, if anyone, and what that will mean to its already-bare-bones but ever-more-costly printed product.

I sympathize with middle managers and staffers, and I get no pleasure from writing about how the Gannett machine has strangled a once-fat, family-owned, rock-solid community newspaper. Maybe the Spencer family couldn’t have dealt today’s economy either, but their money would have stayed here, not gone to feed demanding stockholders and expensive corporate machinery.

Will the Gannett/Advocate survive? Or will we see a replay of local shops cranking up small presses and peddling them on Main Street? Whatever the outcome, I believe the urge to report and read printed local information will never diminish.

Meantime, there has never been a better opening for citizen reporters with on-line journals. I am reminded of that by bloggers who already write informative - albeit biased - reports on public meetings. The information provided is often the only report available and almost invariably adds dimension, whether you like that particular dimension or not.

Though it may not be likely, it’s not impossible for a cadre of civic-minded writers to arise and fill the cracks where professional reporters can’t go. County Commissioners’ meetings, court proceedings, township trustees’ meetings, school board meetings, city council committee meetings, Heath council and its committee meetings, public hearings of all categories, and the list extends to the boundaries of public affairs.

Such a movement could be facilitated by adult-education-level courses designed to help would-be citizen journalists learn to sift fact from opinion while building confidence.

Does Newark Council have to stay in public view?

2009-06-29T08:03:00.002-05:00

That’s the question behind the balloon sent up in today’s Advocate from Newark Ways and Means Committee. “Without additional funding, the future of televised Newark City Council meetings is uncertain,” the balloon said.

What city council is asking is: Do we have to remain in public view, or will citizens allow us to return to the shadows?

While council could easily provide television coverage of its meetings for very little investment, it continues to make it sound like a big challenge because it still searches for an out.

I wrote about the need for televised meetings many times before it happened. June 21, 2007 I wrote “Council ignores chance for opening government to citizens.” If you go there, you’ll also find links from 5/14/07 and 4/19/07 that give more background.

You’ll also find an off-putting statement by Councilman Uible about the prospect of Council’s coming into the sunshine, along with a statement from then-Council President Marc Guthrie urging Council to step out of the shadows with televised meetings.

Rules are only for those who like them

2009-06-25T07:07:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I labored through no fewer than 906 words of an Advocate “report” regarding a family complaining about Cedar Hill Cemetery rules. Then I read most of the on-line comments because I wanted to learn why this family believed that decades-old rules shouldn’t apply to them. I wanted to find out why the newspaper would blow this much space on a story that was captured in its entirety by the headline: “Family wishes conflict with Cedar Hill Cemetery rules.”

Later that day, a school-aged pedestrian crossed the street in front of me, against the traffic light. I had to stop to let him by. His convenience conflicted with the rules of the road and therefore did not apply.

Same principle.

Advocate closes gate on masturbators

2009-06-21T16:08:00.002-05:00

My own comment to my own essay entitled “Advocate rubs our noses in homosex” published at the Advocate site was strangely offensive to the moralistic editors who routinely publish lush homo-promos as family fare.

I had responded to the comment of NerkBuckeye when he suggested that the Advocate should publish “sexual preference announcements. Then anyone could contact the Advocate and they can announce whether they are gay or straight - or if they are ‘switching teams.’”

My response took that idea to a new level when I suggested that such announcements should also include masturbators - who is and who isn’t. Further, I opined, that if we happened on a Newark City Schools board president who masturbated openly as a means to “new freedom” (in the manner of the former NCS board president who came out of the closet on Page One) then the Advocate could likewise feature the masturbating school official in another Page One story.

Does anyone find it telling that this comment was trashed by Advocate gatekeepers?

Advocate rubs our noses in homosex

2009-06-21T06:24:00.004-05:00

In commemoration of the Advocate’s recent 28 column inches about a former Newark City Schools board president finding new freedom by announcing to the community that yes, indeedy, he really is a homosexual; in commemoration of the Advocate’s 20 column-inch very-biased report about homosexuals getting too few tax-supported benefits from President Obama; in commemoration of the Advocate’s 56 column inches of poorly written garbage promoting a homosexual parade in Columbus - and in honor of this once-long-ago family newspaper that has gone belly-up homo-wise, I give you a view from the other side, reprinted from Observations 7/8/08:

Pride Parade: Flaunting raunchy junk
The Columbus, Ohio "gay pride" parade has been accurately defined as a "burlesque show" which lacks "consideration of the general public" and "emulate(s) mostly false values about the gay community."

That was written by a homosexual as a letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch, published 7/5/08.

The letter of John A. Rovenolt demonstrates that not all homosexuals believe it necessary to shove into society's collective face the implications of what homosexuals do with their sexual organs. Folks like me who are puke sick of reading about people flaunting their sexual preferences and who object to having this raunchy junk showcased where children can see it, will find a lot to agree with in what Rovenolt says.

Consenting adults can do as they will in private, and I certainly don't care what it is, but homosexuality as such is neither news nor is it important nor is it to be celebrated in public, and it's past time when the Dispatch and other mass media understand that.

Robo-cop ticketing demands citizen scrutiny and oversight

2009-06-17T09:18:00.005-05:00

At issue in the Heath robo-cop traffic-ticket caper is far more than who’s going to get caught running red lights and how. No. At issue is who is making government’s decisions about guilt or innocence and about whether those decisions could be based on profitability.

At the center is Redflex, a company headquartered in Australia, a company with revenue of $88.2 million and a net profit in 2007 of $15.3 million. How it operates has been best described in a USA Today article of 7/5/06. The article should have inspired more media attention and citizen concern. Now, three years later, Redflex has its own little money factory right here in Heath Ohio and local citizens will begin making contributions to the corporate net worth and the Heath treasury will take a percentage as reward for being the facilitator.

Yesterday (6/16/09) I published an essay in Observations from Newark Ohio based on an Advocate blog post of 6/13/09 by RonnieMicheal - “Questions for the Heath Mayor and City Council,” the recent Heath City Council meeting, and the resulting Advocate report, which elicited many reader comments.

The questions raised by Ronnie will affect more than just the Heath community because if citizens of, and visitors to, that city give permission for a company headquartered in Australia to oversee or even participate in local traffic enforcement, then all of Licking County won’t be far behind. Heath is where that battle will be played out.

This is about accountable, open government - and justice guaranteed to be just. It is about the principle of criminal justice for the sake of corporate profit, foreign corporate profit at that.

The issues are not easily understood and my essay yesterday didn’t help much. Today, I attempt to boil it down a bit by paraphrasing Ronnie’s original questions and explaining why they are important. They are:

1, 14, 15 - How was the study made and by whom?

(How the study was made and by whom and for what reasons is directly connected to the validity of these studies. Also, since the studies were made on an Ohio state highway, it seems that ODOT should have been a participant and should verify any such studies and also give its approval for installation of cameras, being as they must be, placed on a public highway right-of-way. Maybe ODOT was a part of it, maybe not.)

5 - Was the contract for the red light/speed cameras put up for competitive bid?

(State laws in many/most cases require competitive biding for purchases over a certain amount. Are those laws applicable to this agreement, and if so, were the followed?)

6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 18, 24, 60 - Content of the Redflex contract.

(This contract should be published on the Internet.)

17, 33, 35, 38 - Will the amount collected in fines become public record? Who maintains authority over timing of lights and how and by whom is that timing determined?

(How much, if any, oversight to this program will citizens be allowed? How much control will be maintained by local officials over Redflex?)

19, 27, 28 - Will citations be issued from Heath or Arizona?

(According to USA Today, “Redflex checks images for quality and turns them over to the city's traffic law enforcement agency, which reviews it for a violation and mails a ticket to the vehicle owner.” This implies the possibility of loopholes by which the tickets could be passed along to drivers without a thorough or meaningful review by police. So how are we guaranteed this will not happen? Must we simply accept the word of the Heath mayor and police chief both of whom will eventually be replaced by their successors? How are limitations on personal information gathered by Redflex guaranteed, if at all?)

This is the last trench, a final battleground where the power of the electorate will be heard - or not. Those who care must offer input and demand answers.

Issues with robo-cop tickets have not been laid to rest

2009-06-16T09:26:00.002-05:00

Potential problems and injustices connected with installation of red light cameras by the City of Heath have not been laid to rest, notwithstanding an Advocate report that would seem to make it so.

As background to a Heath council meeting last night, there has been a continuing show of dissatisfaction in blogs and comments to news items about robocop traffic tickets ever since the idea was announced.

Two blog entries in particular should have drawn followup by the media. The first was a reproduction of an article that appeared in thenewspaper.com “A journal of the politics of driving.”

The article, entitled “Red Light Camera Studies Roundup” was reproduced by Advocate blogger “nekekami’s page,” 6/2/09. It listed nine legitimate and important studies that cast doubt on the value and trustworthiness of robocop traffic enforcement.

Full reports by University of South Florida, the Virginia DOT, the Washington Post, and others of that stature are available for download. Findings, in part, were: "Comprehensive studies conclude cameras actually increase crashes and injuries, providing a safety argument not to install them;” “The cameras were associated with an increase in total crashes;” “No change in angle accidents and large increases in rear-end crashes and many other types of crashes relative to other intersections;” and “The cameras are correlated with an increase in total crashes of 8% to 17%.”

That much pertains only to the studies on one page. There are many other noteworthy articles at that web site regarding worrisome topics such as improper enforcement by governments seeking maximum revenue from these cameras.

The second blogger who should have earned some respectful attention from media is “RonnieMichael's page,” when on 6/13/09 he presented a list of 61 questions that concerned him about Heath’s robo-cop cameras - for instance: how the contract was negotiated, what the contract with Redflex says, and what opportunities, if any, will the public have for oversight.

Though his blog entry “Questions for the Heath Mayor and City Council” contains questions - such as the timing of the yellow light signals - already spelled out in Ohio law, there are many that are legitimate concerns not just of motorists, but of citizens interested in good government. Making Ronnie’s case considerably weaker is the fact that he failed to provide links to factual information which inspired his questions.

The Advocate article said the Heath Mayor answered many of Ronnie’s questions, and maybe Ronnie is satisfied with that; if not, likely we’ll hear about it in another blog entry. But whatever went on between the Heath Mayor and Ronnie, the fact remains that many of Ronnie’s important questions have not been publicly answered, at least not in the reports I’ve read.

For instance, Question 1: “What safety studies were used to justify installing the cameras? Who conducted the traffic study completed March 9, 2009? Was Redflex involved in any way with this study?”

Also, Questions 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19* (see below), 24, 27, 33, 35, 38, 60.

Question 19: If citations are issued from issued from Arizona, then also germane are questions 21, 22, 26, 30, and 50.

The dialog needs to continue.

NCS is getting another grade of F

2009-06-12T08:40:00.002-05:00

People involved in selection of this city’s school superintendent see it as a job for themselves and not for citizens. This is evident in today’s reports about the status of the search through the eyes of the Ohio School Boards Association.

In the Advocate’s report and the WCLT report, there was never a mention about any avenue for public input to the selection process.

Apparently it will all be decided by our “experts.” Even the tenor of the WCLT report hints of that. Check it: “OSBA search consultant Kathy LaSota talks about what she’s looking for. ‘Most importantly for Newark, ...’”

What I want to know is: Where was the NCS school board when Judge Hoover was publishing on-line the resumes of the school board candidates? Where were they when the Judge required these candidates to get up in front of the folks they wanted to serve and tell why they would do it well? Where were these folks when the Judge invited public comments which became part of his selection criteria?

What were they thinking - and where was Ms. LaSota - when the school board issued its “transparency” promises?

“Transparency” to them apparently is defined as a single and very late news release from the offices of OSBA.

NCS school board is about to get another in a long series of failing grades by a weary constituency.

Questions on gasoline prices for Obama

2009-06-12T07:02:00.003-05:00

What determines the price of gasoline is a question that for years I've been asking media representatives, public agencies, and government officials, including the Bush administration. I have yet to receive an answer or a show of interest.

I hope President Obama's policies of government transparency don't stop where the interests of energy profits begin.

If they don't, I will receive answers to the questions I asked of him today:

What and who determines oil prices?

How does lack of anti-trust-law enforcement affect those prices?

Who is in charge of setting prices at the pump?

What influences traders in the futures markets and who is guarding against price manipulation at that level?

NCS transparency begins with executive sessions

2009-06-10T08:44:00.001-05:00

Last evening - the evening of my post “Untransparent search for the NCS superintendent,” the NCS board met, and in regard to the search for the superintendent it was announced, according to the Advocate, “the board will meet in executive session June 24 to review the applications.” That was just before the board adjourned last evening to executive session for a discussion of the public’s business.

Untransparent search for the NCS superintendent

2009-06-09T07:37:00.003-05:00

The search for a new superintendent for Newark City Schools began May 13, 2009, in cooperation with Ohio School Boards Association and its consultant, Kathy LaSota.

The search, according to an Advocate report, would be “transparent.” LaSota said “community members should have input and see the process as it happens ... We want this whole process to be as open and transparent as possible,” she said.

Mark Christenberry, NCS board vp, concurred. The Advocate quoted him as saying: “We’re really trying hard to make this an open process ... There will be no transparency issues.”

Really?

With the deadline for applications 10 days from today, and the decision scheduled for less than one month from today, to my knowledge there has yet to be the first shred of an update on the search and the candidates, and the first word yet to be published at the NCS web site about any of this.

So how is NCS defining “transparency?” So far, this just one more ham-handed disappointment delivered by NCS to an already disillusioned and disbelieving constituency. This, even though a perfect example of what is meant by “transparency” was demonstrated to the NCS administration in Judge Hoover’s selection process for a new board member.

NCS still marches to the beat of its own drum.

Untransparently.

Who owns public information?

2009-06-06T08:55:00.004-05:00

Journalists love to thump their stumps with self-righteous proclamations about “the public’s right to know.” They consider themselves the fourth arm of government (legislative, administrative, judicial and - journalism) - because, supposedly, they use their journalistic power on behalf of citizen-taxpayers. They hammer home at every opportunity that their freedom to pry facts from government equates to citizens’ right to know what government is doing and that better government is the result.

A few decades ago this was true; today it is not.

A few decades ago, for instance, the Advocate maintained, as best it could, an extensive file of clippings. A long and impressive row of filing cabinets occupied an entire back wall of the newsroom and it was the job of the clerical section to keep news articles clipped, mounted to cardboards, and indexed. Along another wall were large cabinets for the storage of microfilm.

These were tools of journalists, a prehistoric forerunner of the computer search engine. Additionally, all this information was available to the public. Anybody could enter the newsroom and, with the assistance of an employee if needed, use these files for research. We considered it their right to use it and our duty to facilitate it.

But then along came corporate “journalism” and today access to the Advocate’s morgue bears a price tag. An obscenely high price tag, as advertised on its web site:

The Advocate Archives Pricing Options
To allow for greater flexibility and ease of use, we now offer article packs, in addition to the single-article purchase option. You will be offered payment options only after you select to download the full-text of any article.

Single-article purchase - $2.95
Future purchases will require a separate charge to your credit card.
24-hour pass, 10 articles - $9.95 (65% discount)
3-article pack - $6.95 (20% discount)
Good for one week from purchase.
10-article pack - $21.95 (25% discount)
Good for one month from purchase.
25-article pack - $49.95 (30% discount)
Good for one month from purchase.
40-article pack - $79.95
Good for one month from purchase.
Doing long-term research?
500-article pack - $995 (33% discount)
Good for one year from purchase.
1,000-article pack - $1,995 (33% discount)
Good for one year from purchase.

.....

The archives contain most, but not all, of the articles published by your newspaper, and cover only the more recent years of publication. These archives are a self-service system. Currently, our staff does not provide a service to help locate articles. If you need to find an article which you believe was published but is not in the database, your newspaper may provide additional search service at an hourly rate. Please contact your newspaper for details.

Gannett, while it calls itself “your newspaper” and while it may espouse “freedom of the press,” and “the public’s right to know,” and while it seems to expect readers to come to its aid in these causes, assumes ownership of this information and tries to turn an obscene profit for access to it. The public’s right to know is now predicated on the public’s willingness to pay Gannett stockholders for the right to use it.

Nothing is farther from the spirit of the public’s right to know, nothing is farther from the spirt of the Internet, nor is anything farther from service to the community Gannett claims to serve.

Only in government: Paying unneeded employees

2009-06-05T07:43:00.003-05:00

There are only three things wrong with the proposal to cut jobs in the city building code department - it didn’t happen when it should have, it hasn’t happened yet, it may not happen until November.

Nobody wants to see more people loose jobs, but for too long city taxpayers have been paying wages for what are essentially unemployed employees. The job cuts should have been made when individuals’ services were no longer used. This is what would have happened in the real world where where justification for paychecks is required; only in government could it be otherwise.

This is a good time to review a bit of the history of keeping unemployed city workers employed, as I wrote about it 1/9/09 Bend over Bunky, here comes Mayor Diebold again.

Well, here it is, almost exactly six months later, and a few guardians of the public’s city purse appear at last to be admitting the folly of paying the unemployed for being unemployed.

But wait. Even if the shucking off of unneeded employees is approved by Council, apparently it will not happen until November, which is the present plan, according to the Advocate report.

Obama - World statesman

2009-06-04T07:57:00.001-05:00

President Obama mesmerized me with his speech this morning in Cairo. His brilliant eloquence was matched only by his depth, decency, fairness and honesty. He wasn’t throwing punches or politically charged air balls. I am proud of him and for the fact that he demonstrated that - for the first time in decades - America has picked a man worthy of world leadership.

No sooner did he finish and the first news reports hit the Internet than the crazies began hitting on him, twisting his words and belittling the level of statesmanship exhibited this morning - world statesmanship that no other U.S. President in my adult lifetime has ever aspired to.

Likely, Christian zealots will also take aim at the man who would dare to recognize the rights and validity of other religions.

I agree with the person (Roger-356271) who commented on the MSNBC report:

“Just as our own (citizens) will now distort what was said, other Countries will experience the same ... (but) we do not have to look at other Countries to find ignorance. Both those that are paid to distort, and whose job depends on division, will find a fault in wording or party politics ...”

Those who agree with our President should take a moment to let him know. Write to him at this link.

They are still dying for you and me

2009-06-03T06:04:00.002-05:00

The movie, "Taking Chance," is a gripping statement about a single war hero. It's among the best, most significant movies I've ever seen.

Grant grabbing by bureaucrats and special interests

2009-06-02T08:35:00.003-05:00

The article in ThisWeek (Dispatch) 5/30/09 entitled “Newark eyes federal funds for ice arena, treatment plant” demonstrates the irresponsibility with which bureaucrats and special interest groups are willing to gobble tax money.

Two such forces are grabbing for Community Development Block Grant funds, neither of which would, as HUD declares are the purposes of such grants, “develop viable communities by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment and opportunities to expand economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons.”

Promoters of the local ice arena have their hands out for $226,355 for upgrades to allow non-hockey events.

Newark’s treatment plant is Jonesing for $293,000 to convert methane gas and reuse it as a natural-gas substitute. This, plus another $293,000 in matching funds from already over-burdened taxpayers.

But what about those low- and moderate-income folks who will never care about either project, but would just like to see Newark’s neighborhoods repaired and sanitized and their utility bills and taxes reduced?

Council members Shirley Stare and Irene Kennedy raised objections during the service committee meeting where preliminary deliberations were made. But, according to ThisWeek, “Newark Mayor Bob Diebold expects his request to skate right through city council Monday, when he'll ask to spend hundreds of thousands in proposed grant money on the ice arena and wastewater-plant upgrades.”

He’s probably right. There are, you see, no forces, save a few bloggers, who give a crap about low- and moderate-income folks or their neighborhoods or their utility bills and taxes.

NCS Connects?

2009-06-02T07:19:00.001-05:00

In a comment to another essay here, Amythirdward raised the issue of quality of, and purpose for, the recently published NCS newsletter “NCS Connects.”

“... If that is the best the Ms PR person can do, it is pretty ametuerish. I am amazed that after passing the levy the admin felt like that piece of paper would be bridge the communication divide between them and us!”

Your assessment on the quality of the NCS newsletter is on target, Amy. You’d think the work of an expensive PR expert - hired over objections by taxpayers - would reflect more professionalism. I could stand shallow performance if it hadn’t cost taxpayers $3,600 to produce.

Making this project doubly hard to swallow is the Advocate’s proclamation 5/30/09 that NCS “wisely waited until after the recent school levy election to restart its newsletter mailed to local residents ... We feared the district would misstep by sending a newsletter before Election Day.” Get what this deceitful editorialist is saying? Don’t spend $3,600 before the levy vote lest the taxpayers object to the waste. Now that the levy has passed, it doesn’t matter what taxpayers think of the waste.

This is right in line with the Advocate’s evermore-obvious insolence toward people who are paying for that inferior, $3,600-tax-paid propaganda sheet.

As for bridging the communication divide between NCS and parents/taxpayers, it’s going to take a lot more than more preaching from a school administration that has alienated itself from the community. Anyone who thinks otherwise ought to remember what I said on 5/7/09 ... “Anyone who considers the passage of the $5.9-million-per-year levy a sign that the community is poised to kiss and make up with the Newark City Schools should go read the outpouring of rage in comments to the Advocate on-line news report.”

If NCS administration thinks “NCS Connects” works as a kiss-up, they’d do well to reconsider.

Scoping Today’s News - Horn’s Hill, Recycler, Park National - 6/1/09

2009-06-01T06:33:00.002-05:00

HORN’S HILL DEVELOPMENT
Today’s Columbus Dispatch brings us up to date on the development of Horn’s Hill by sports enthusiasts. The new mountain-bike trails, a disc golf course, and two tracks for remote-controlled car racing is drawing lots of visitor-participants, some from other states for downhill racing.

BARCH WANTS NEW SITE PLAN FOR RECYCLER
Saturday’s Columbus Dispatch has a comprehensive report about the status of the fight between Freedom Recycling and its neighbors on the north end of Newark.

PARK NATIONAL TO SELL STOCK
WCLT’s web site carries a confusing report on the plan by Park National Bank to sell common stock and how this may relate to the repayment of TARP funds - or not. If you try to read this, you should first go find out for what purposes TARP funds are supposed to be used. Here’s a link for that.

Advocate editorialist is a mental and moral underachiever

2009-05-26T09:15:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, an Advocate editorial trumpeted the virtues of Keith Richards. It called him “a pretty good example of what's needed to get the job done,” “a wise and savvy leader, “an open and honest superintendent” who “understood the importance of accountability,” calling for “a fresh start from a leader of similar skills and focus.”

It’s painfully obvious to anyone who is still reading the Advocate that good help is pretty scarce, maybe because of layoffs or involuntary furloughs. The editorialist who wrote this is the one who deserves a permanent furlough. She is not merely lousy help, but worse, a mental and moral underachiever.

I gave Keith Richards enough grief before he decided to retire. I was willing to drop him off the list of write-worthy subjects.

I was willing to let the King Richards’ era die a peaceful death - forgetting all the things about his reign that angered taxpayers - so that Newark could get on with a new life with a new guy.

I was willing to forget that the superintendent told the Advocate ahead of the levy vote that the money would be spent, in part, on raises for employees. This in a system where the average salary for teachers is $53,179, and there’s one employee for every 8 NCS students. Raises for these people, but not a return to full busing, though local taxpayers spend more on the superintendent’s salary than the people of Alaska pay their governor.

I was willing to forget that under Keith’s guidance NCS mustered the third worst graduation rate in Ohio and that Keith blamed Newark citizens for this.

I was willing to forget that NCS failed to admit until after the levy vote that the estimate for increased government funding is $2 million and that it still hasn’t admitted more federal stimulus funding is expected.

I was willing to forget that the school board’s “transparent” search for a new superintendent began with an executive session to talk about it.

But yesterday when the Advocate trumpeted the virtues of Keith Richards, I just had to remember all this crap.

There is a good side: The Advocate editorialist has clearly demonstrated - in case anyone ever doubted - her lack of support for NCS pupils, parents and taxpayers, while shamelessly paying dues to the local establishment clique in partnership with Keith Richards & company.

Legislators, amputate this taxpayer tit

2009-05-23T16:58:00.002-05:00

Now that the editorial clout of newspapers is a thing of the past, maybe Ohio legislators will have the courage to cut off the taxpayer tit defined as “legal advertising.” It was always an overkill in costly verbiage; today it is foolish waste.

It has always been overkill because of the unnecessary requirement to reproduce the lawyer talk which - as anyone who’s ever tried to read this stuff can easily determine - is virtually incomprehensible and, except for the barest summary, is unnecessary. Take, for example, surveyor descriptions in foreclosure ads. Beefcake for newspaper publishers; available by reference to court records to anyone who needs it. That’s a decades-long rip-off by newspapers, paid for by taxes, courtesy of politicians.

These days it’s an abundantly apparent waste because it can and should - for easier access and comprehension - be published at no charge to taxpayers on the web.

USA Today published an article about the trend that will eventually amputate this taxpayer tit. Read it here.

Ohio legislators can now safely support it, because newspaper readers are jumping ship and the ship’s editorialists are passing gas to empty pews.