Sunday, October 25, 2009

A capsule summary of the new book, Newspaper Days


I have always been amused at Bill and Hillary Clinton's complaints about being the victims of a "vast right-wing conspiracy."

As far as I can tell, they made it through the White House days just fine, even surviving the Monica Lewinsky scandal. I, on the other hand, actually did lose my job because of a vast right-wing conspiracy of sorts, which I outline in several chapters of my new book, Newspaper Days, which is on sale at Amazon.com and which will be available at other internet sites and at Joplin-area retail outlets in the next few weeks.

Following is a review of each of the 26 chapters in the 232-page book:

"Newspaper Days" takes me from my first journalism job in 1977 with the Newton County News in Granby until I stepped into the little trailer outside of Diamond High School to begin my teaching career in the fall of 1999.

The following is a breakdown of the chapters in the book

1. Goodbye Carthage Press- The book begins with Ralph Bush firing me on May 17, 1999.

2. A Little Background- My first job at the Newton County News, how I landed it, ran a stopsign and was involved in an auto accident the same day, the murder of Barbara McNeely, being fired, landing a job as Lamar Democrat sports editor, losing that job due to budget comebacks, taking the job as editor of the Lockwood Luminary-Golden City Herald and the closing of that newspaper. (It's a long chapter, but it's broken up into smaller parts.)

3. Returning to the Newton County News- I return to the Newton County News, working for Emery Styron, get another chance as editor and deal with some fascinating people, including City Marshal Duane Beaver, Mayor Bob Snyder, and my cartoonist Scott White, my first interview for a teaching job, my showdown with some drug dealers who wanted to do me bodily harm, getting fired through the U. S. Mail, and then being rehired at the Lamar Democrat.

4. Lamar Democrat Revisited- How Tommy Wilson and Dave Farnham ruined the Democrat as a daily and turned it into a weekly newspaper and how Doug Davis saved the Democrat from going out of business, the return of the Democrat to local ownership, the younger reporters I worked with, Murder at the 71 Motel and leaving the Democrat to go to The Carthage Press.

5. The Early Days in Carthage- How I almost left a couple of months into the job to return to the Democrat because I didn't have anything to do, the Webb City Police Department investigation, the Nancy Cruzan case, my battles with the late Bill Denney, when he was sports editor,

6. The Transition from Reporter to Editor- How I found out about my promotion weeks before Jim Farley or Neil Campbell finally told me, teen drinking, the Joplin Globe reporter who accused me of making things up with the Webb City police investigation (and how she had to eat crow when everything I wrote about was testified to under oath in a civil suit), eavesdropping on closed sessions of the Jasper City Council and Lockwood Board of Education, the rise of Bubs Hohulin, the state senate race between Marvin Singleton and James Spradling, Bill Webster and Roy Blunt battle for the GOP nomination for governor, and finally becoming managing editor.

7. Taking Charge of the Newsroom- Starting with Amy Lamb, Randee Kaiser, Ron Graber, and Jack Harshaw as my staff, the Doug Ringler murder, how Amy Lamb energized the Press staff with brilliant coverage of Terry Cupp's preliminary hearing and with other strong features,

8. Nothing Succeeds LIke Excess- Early stories during my time as managing editor including Amy Lamb's coverage of the execution of the man who murdered Harold and Melba Wampler of Jasper, Ron Graber becomes a hero in his hometown of Freeman, South Dakota, following the arrest of Lamar con artist Pat Graham, Randee Kaiser leaves vacation to cover Carthage developments in the Oklahoma City bombing case, my Sports Talk columns on former Lamar volleyball coach Armando DeLaRosa, who murdered his wife and then killed himself, and on Seneca football coach Alvin Elbert and his friendship with eight-year-old drunk driving victim Abby Phipps

9. The Lamar Press- This chapter details our 49-week adventure in printing the best weekly newspaper this area has ever seen, including columnists Nancy Hughes, Kim Stahl, Katie Gilkey, Doug Oakes, Susan Davis-Mabe, and Marvin VanGilder, Cathy Bland's trip to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington to visit her father, Lamar war hero Howard Layne Jr., who was killed in Vietnam, the Leigh Hughes story from first kiss to lasting love, and how we closed the newspaper in style with Cait Purinton's investigation into the Lamar Guest House.

10. The Sale of The Carthage Press- American Publishing Company buys the newspaper from Thomson and we come under the regional management of the Cope family of Neosho, bookkeeper Carolyn Baker embezzles $42,000 and costs Jim Farley his job (and then sues us for vacation pay) How American Publishing became Liberty Group Publishing, using a process that later put the company CEO in prison, and then how Liberty became GateHouse Media

11. Red Oak II- Artist Lowell Davis recreates his hometown Red Oak three miles outside of Carthage, then in a weak moment, burns his studio. Eventually, former Carthage resident Terry Reed reaches an agreement to buy Red Oak II, and attempts to attract investors through an event called the American Heritage Festival, The speakers' lineup for the festival is a who's who of conspiracy theories in the U. S.

12. A Storm Brewing in Carthage- As Jasper County officials become concerned about the American Heritage Festival, Terry Reed takes his case to the people through the Mornin' Mail

13. The American Heritage Festival- With The Press at its lowest point, Amy Lamb, Tricia Gould and Brian Webster had left, Ron Graber and I team with three interns, Jana Blankenship, Brooke Pyle, and Marla Hinkle, to cover Janet Kavandi's space shuttle flight, the KOM League Reunion, and eventually the festival.

14. And Those Nuts...- The Kansas City Star makes it look as though Carthage is a hotbed of racism, and I write the column that marked the beginning of the end of my newspaper career, Lowell Davis decides not to sell to Terry Reed, I hear Reed tell a radio talk show host that he is suing me for libel, the Globe and the Mornin' Mail beat me on the story.

15. Monday Morning Coming Down- The details of the lawsuit, how we handled it in the pages of The Press

16. Our Response to the Libel Suit- Ralph Bush pens an answer to the Reed lawsuit, I dig up new information about Reed's past lawsuits and the background of some of those who spoke at the American Heritage Festival

17. Moving Forward- I am allowed to add Jo Ellis, John Hacker, and Rick Rogers to the Press staff, coverage of the death of Congressman Gene Taylor and Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hobson of Lamar, who died when the U. S. embassy at Kenya was bombed, Rick Rogers and Ron Graber redesign The Press, The American Heritage Festival receives national coverage in a far right wing magazine. Liberty Group Publishing does not contact a lawyer, the Kansas City Star's attorney launches a full-frontal assault on Terry Reed,

18. All the Way to the White House- Terry Reed says the American Heritage Festival lawsuit will take him all the way to the White House, uncovering a conspiracy against him and others involved in the festival, Ralph Bush tells me to make a move that eventually costs me my job.

19. Number Five in the State- This chapter details how The Press was the number five newspaper in the state in the Missouri Press Association Gold Cup contest in 1998, thanks to the hard work of Stacy Rector, a high school senior whose work on our Teen Tuesday section won the press the Community Service Award, Work by Ron Graber, Cait Purinton, and Brian Webster was also rewarded, I find out that the judge almost ruled against us in the Terry Reed lawsuit

20. Abandoned- The Press runs a weeklong series on drunk driving that receives much acclaim, I receive a bill for nearly $8,000 for attorney fees in the Reed lawsuit,

21. The Beginning of the End- Ralph Bush puts me on probation for, among other things, having too much local news on page one, Ralph decides to fire John Hacker, Rick Rogers decides to leave The Press for a job at Missouri Southern, Jennifer Martin celebrates 30 years at The Press, though her departure would come only a few months after mine

22. The New Regime- Rick Rogers and Ron Graber replace me as managing editors of The Press, Ralph Bush fights to keep me from getting unemployment, I become paranoid about Rick Rogers' possible role in my departure, this old war horse is put out to pasture

23. Third in the State and Nobody Knew It- The Press was beaten only by the Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the 1999 MPA contest, but no one at the Press realized it. THe newspaper wins first place awards for community service, the drunk driving series, investigaative reporting (the drunk driving series) and best feature story (written by teenager Stacy Rector), but plays up its wins for sports coverage and design, the American Journalism Review looks into my firing, Terry Reed drops the lawsuit against me, and later against The Press, I discover the real reason why I was fired

24. Looking to the Future- The Joplin Globe tries to take advantage of my firing,

25. Newspaper Job Possibilities- I talk to Jim Farley, the Siloam Springs newspaper, the Springfield News-Leader and Neosho Post about jobs. The Nevada Daily Mail hires me to sit around and wait until the managing editor is fired and I can take over, I interview for teaching jobs at Webb City, Diamond, and East Newton, but get passed over, I have to choose between taking the managing editor job at Miami, Oklahoma, or being a substitute teacher for a year. Another teaching job opens up and I have to make a final decision on whether to stick with journalism or teaching.

26. School Days- I become the shortest teacher in the Diamond Middle School Language Arts Department (I'm slightly under five-nine, the women were both six feet tall) I found myself surrounded at Diamond by many familiar faces. My teaching career begins.

That is just a capsule summary of what is included in the book. I would guess that anyone who lived through those times will see some things they had totally forgotten about, or find out information they had never heard before.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guess I don't need to read the book now.

Anonymous said...

I hope the paper in the book is the new, cushiony comfort Kleenex Cottonelle Ultra 2-ply paper for that luxurious feel. Then your book will have some salvageable value. But...t, I repeat myself.

Anonymous said...

and why would people want to read this ???????

Anonymous said...

I like Randy's writting . . . it helps my insomnia.

Anonymous said...

My Gosh!!! What gall...revewing your own book....what a sleazy thing to do. So glad to learn there really is a right-wing conspiracy...and, of course, it attacked Randy...sounds like people who say they were picked up by aliens from outer space...
I don't think Randy has a monopoly on doing good work on high profile stories....right in little ole Neosho there have been plenty of big stories from tornadoes to ice storms, to the killings in a local church, to the death of the little girl in Stella and on and on and on....come on Randy...wake up to reality

Randy said...

That last comment sure sounds like someone in the upper hierarchy at the Neosho Daily News. And I have consistently complimented the staff at the Neosho Daily for its ability to handle the big stories. I question the commitment of GateHouse Media and the Daily management to digging up the type of investigative stories that will best serve the community.

Anonymous said...

What right have you to question the commitment of anyone? Who made you king?

I suspect most people at every small newspaper works as hard as they can. I would guess they get satisfaction for their work when they cover a big story or a little one for that matter. And I doubt if most of them do it for the same of having their names on a story...some people leave their egos at home when they go to work.

Finally Randy, why do you only address comments such as this and not the ones from comments such as 3:17 p.m or 5:26 p.m. or 6:16 p.m.?

Ignoring things won't make them go away. And hooray for 8:04 p.m.

Gabby L. said...

4:57, I was wondering one thing when I was reading your comment... Who made YOU king?
Oh, and I would figure he didn't reply to the first 4 comments because they were juvenile at best, and they don't deserve his acknowledgement.

And to 8:04, he didn't review his book, he gave a summary of it. Hopefully you would have known the difference if you weren't out to attack him in the first place.

I personally think that the book sounds very interesting. I'm looking forward to checking it out!

Anonymous said...

Reserve 1 copy for Gabby. Wait, is there only (1) copy?

Anonymous said...

Gabby, you're not going to BUY this masterpiece...you're going to check it out...whoooah...that's really showing your support of the author...unless you didn't make yourself clear and "check it out" means you will buy a copy to read...You may have to wait until Randy gets a copy from his on-line vanity press

Less Than Amused, pt1 said...

I look at the synopsis of Turner's latest self-serving memoir and it is typical of that written by incompetents and losers throughout History explaining how everything that they screwed up is somebody elses' fault.

Of course Turner's main fault -- a sort of malicious love of lying for its own sake and twisting the truth to get at his right-wing enemies -- is the same fault of the media in general, which is why the Main-Steam Media, MSM, especially the liepapers, are now on the ropes. The liepapers got the mature sudience to simply cancel their subscriptions once the Internet came along because why should anyone pay to be lied to while being treated with a disdainful sort of off-hand contempt? The younger generation never even bothered to subscribe. Yes these feebs really 'thought' that we would put up with it forever, as opposed to holding grudges, and didn't see the reaction coming their way to where they would no longer be read by fools, and now these former 'reporters' and 'editors' of lies have only a little 'news' to publish on their dwindling audience of free blogs.

It is extremely difficult to sue lie-papers for libel, especially if the lawyers for these liars claim that because of the lies they told you are now a public figure. You have to prove that the lies are not simply typical lies which all these media tell, but that there was malice involved. With Randy Turner, maliciousness was always quite apparent, and so the Carthage Press decided to simply make peace with Turner's victims by forcing out Turner.

Yet Turner claims that a judge nearly ruled against Turner's liepaper. Perhaps quite a few of Turner's victims were lined up to testify as to Turner's vicious malice out to destroy the social order as it was here in SW Missouri.

In any case, people simply stopped buying the liepapers against other victims and when lied about simply said nothing, knowing that this sort of vicious scum enjoying its power to ruin lives wouldn't print a retraction. What could they do, except refuse to buy or listen any more? But certain people, like this Terry Reed, did people a service by engaging these liepapers in litigation and making them careful to stop engaging in malice while they were under the gun in court. Through lawyers and legal action they ground down the local liepapers that the extremely malicious Randy Turner wrote for and eventually forced these liepapers to simply make Turner move on to other venues, regrettably now the public schools where the children don't have as much experience in how to deal with the likes of Randy Turner as their parents did.

Less than Amused pt2 said...

I have no doubt that this self-serving memoir will have Turner simply reciting all the miniscule good deeds Turner thought he did while ignoring all the heartache Turner caused by indulging in his lies against the enemies that he made. Turner is argument #1 for why maybe it is a good thing that the remaining liepapers have been consolidated because they won't put up with a local reporter or editor's malicious lies simply because they have no axe to grind with the local community. Because their bottom line doesn't include maliciously settling old scores in the local arena, these national newspaper chains probably did indeed clean up the industry somewhat by making sure that a vicious malicious critter like Randy Turner couldn't do as much damage before being cut loose. Because they are into newspapers as profit machines, they have no incentive for maliciousness like ideologues like Turner do. And so, contrary to Turner's thesis, national, and thus business control over the media may well indeed be a better thing.

What destroyed the Main-Stream Media is it's penchant for social engineering and lying to accomplish same. But what also destroyed the MSM is also its penchant for speculative liquidity in which they took on much more debt than they could manage, especially given that the debt-bubble burst.

If Turner's butt-wipe sells locally, it will be because of Turner's local enemies wanting to get a little bit of their own fun at Turner's expense. After all, we are on equal footing -- we all have our own blogs and forums and access to same. And whether Turner censors this or not means nothing because after all, it will show that Turner is a coward and bully unable to take some of what he dished out. And I doubt that we will be as indulgent as Turner is in reviewing his little memoir. Hopefully it will cut into national business as well.

Turner does need to receive a bit of what he dished out to the poor, weak and downtrodden who stumbled over the years.

Anonymous said...

Soon to be a major motion picture starring:

* Wilfred Brimley as Ralph Bush
* Rosie O'Donnell as Marshall Duane Beavers
* Larry "Bud" Melman as Jim Farley
* Lindsay Lohan as Amy Campbell
* Harry Reid as Ron Graber
* Dan Blocker, Jr. as John Hacker
* Hal Holbrook as Lowell Davis
* Cotton Mather as Marvin Van Gilder
* Paris Hilton as Cait Purinton

and, as Randy Turner .....
JOHN TRAVOLTA

Anonymous said...

I say, if Nancy Grace, Barrack Obama, and Glenn Beck can promote their own books, why not Randy Turner???? Good for you!!!! If you don't toot your own horn, than no one will!

Anonymous said...

3:28 p.m. is right- no one else will promote it!

So go for it Randy, brag all you want and push your revenge all you can...

or, Randy, how about buying a nice big ad in the CARTHAGE PRESS to sell your book? They would love to take your money...you take their good name all the time...so let them take your money

Anonymous said...

..........."regrettably now the public schools where the children don't have as much experience in how to deal with the likes of Randy Turner as their parents did."

Do you mean to tell me that Randy Turner is in a classroom? With children? With no adult supervision.

Surely, any school district with any concern for what the students are being exposed to will have another adult in the classroom to monitor Mr. Turner and his attitude and aptitude (or lack there of).

And you, Gabby L., are truly like a spare tire with coffee breath.

Anonymous said...

That's the point 3:28. Nobody, and I mean nobody is tootin' Turner's horn......but Turner.

Gosh, this is fun on a rainy day.

Anonymous said...

For some reason this is the first of Randy's books that I somewhat want to read.

Anonymous said...

Randy,

I am somewhat perplexed by the amount of criticism this blog receives. If people don't like what you say- then why are they taking their time and energy and thought process to read and post comments? Really....

Anonymous said...

4:41---Obviously, you lack a definition of what a teacher does or what a teacher should be. I would love for my child to experience Randy Turner as a teacher. What an opportunity for any student, 8th grade or college, to have someone with life experiences, a real world view, and an ambition to reach others through teaching. I do not always agree with Randy politically but I love this blog.

Anonymous said...

"This blog features observations from Joplin East Middle School communication arts teacher Randy Turner, formerly an award-winning reporter/editor for various Missouri newspapers."

6:35....I don't know about 4:41 but it appears your favorite teacher spends a large amount of his time trying to make up for his past journalistic failures with The Turner Report. Is this part of his Career Ladder justification?

Are his students suffering from his lack of classroom effort.

I have yet to read blogs from students with glowing reviews of how Randy's dedication to teaching is inspiring them. Have you?

Mariah said...

"I have yet to read blogs from students with glowing reviews of how Randy's dedication to teaching is inspiring them. Have you?"

I just happened to stumble upon this. I find it rather distressing. I'm almost afraid to post this, because all these bold, anonymous people seem to be quick to jump on anyone who supports Randy Turner. But post I will.

Mr. Turner's class is the reason I aspire to be a journalist today. In the class, we were encouraged to have our own opinions and express them freely. I can say without doubt that the year I spent with Randy Turner is the year I decided where my passion could be found.

While this class was nearly 6 years ago, much of what I learned in that classroom still influence what I do today. Randy Turner is an amazing teacher. He is dedicated to his students in a way I never experienced in another educator. This dedication inspired me and my classmates alike. I know of countless stories of students who hated putting pen to paper, and found themselves writing with a fervor their parents couldn't pay them for.

I know none of what I said will change any of your minds. While I realize this post will most likely be torn apart by the anonymous mob that prowls on this blog, I stand by it. In all my years in compulsory education, I had the pleasure of meeting very few teachers like Randy Turner. His class was a gift for which I will always be grateful.

Thank you, Mr. Turner.

Gabby L. said...

Well, since I am the ONLY person on here who has had the guts to put their name on here other than Mr. Turner, I have come to find my name mentioned in a few comments, and I'd like to respond.

10:27-Yup, reserve a copy for me, and yes, I'll only require one. :)

1:08- You have it wrong. I didn't intend "check it out" to mean anything less than getting the book and reading it. Does that narrow down the meaning for you, or would you like to try to take another crack at me by questioning my support for the author?

And 4:41- Funny thing, I don't drink coffee. Try Dr. Pepper, I do drink that. :)

It's funny how I'm required to use times as names. It makes responses feel so impersonal even though their comments are intended to be taken personally. It's just hard to take it personally that way though. Oh well, I'm sure that's what they rely on to be able to be so hateful. :)

Less than Amused said...

My critique of Randy Turner simply involved how Randy Turner was one of the worst offenders promoting godless liberalism upon the unwilling readers in what is probably the most socially conservative area of the entire nation. A left-wing fanatic, Turner played fast and loose with the truth until he found someone that he slandered and libeled who filed a civil lawsuit and which obviously had the end result of removing Turner from the newspaper industry which largely agrees with Turner. The end result is that what happened to Turner -- a sort of social antibody reaction to a nasty bacillus -- has an analog in the larger society. Liberalism in the Main Stream Media (MSM) has largely failed. The end result is that you now have the Dumbya Channel of Fox News, the Obama Channel of M$NBC, and CNN taking up the middle. So today we have niche markets and the Internet wherein everyone can read what confirms his own prejudices.

Now the problem is that Randy Turner was driven out and he found a haven in the public school system to 'teach' his failures and to help create more liberal drones out of your children, having for whatever reason no children of his own to legitimately create in his own image. Just as the MSM, the failures of the public school system is increasingly made manifest as well, and they are by all standards a failure except in the areas of trying to indoctrinate political correctness, in separating children from their parents and God, and in giving lying liberal drones like Randy Turner a sort of welfare check for creating more worthless liberal drones like himself.

So as time wears on and there is less money in the system because people are losing their jobs, retirements, and homes due to in large part because of indoctrinating fools to accept thieves and parasites to rule over them and hold their money, likewise a sort of antibody reaction will more than likely remove liberal drones like Randy Turner and others from their jobs and positions. I must confess that I hope that like other real-life drones they starve to death in a cold world they have helped make, just like bees shove out their formerly pampered drones this time of year as (social) winter approaches.

Now I will grant Turner some points for allowing this criticism to appear on his blog, while also understanding that if Turner doesn't allow criticism, then he as a drone might as well just give it up and take a last flight into the wintertime. Turner is a particularly sanctimonious drone facing a harsh world in large part created by other liberal drone Baby Boomers just like himself. And thus, like stegosaurus with two walnut brains, one located in his anus, Turner will have to simply live with rabid possums and dire wolfosauruses chewing on his idiot butt while he thrashes his spiked tail in the air. You other witless stegosauruses can do nothing to help.

Less Than Amused pt1 said...

First of all, Randy Turner has not abandoned the weapons that liberals in the media always use to preserve their power to try to frame the dialog, namely censorship. Randy Turner has deleted comments which hit close to home on his blog. And when liberals have made many enemies in their censorship attempts, they like to then whine about how their detractors have learned to be anonymous when making their derision public. In short, both Randy Turner and his defenders want to be like Chairman Mao in yapping about 'letting a thousand flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend' -- just before engaging in a Cultural Revolution purge of their political enemies.

Now for all the feminized students like Mariah above loving the force-fed liberalism that no doubt Randy Turner shovels out in class, doubtless there at least four or five boys and two or three girls who found Turner the most sanctimonious smarmy old poofter that ever bored the living crap out of them in class. When I went to junior high there was this homosexual math teacher who would give his little five minute lecture to his students about how one of his victims was retarded, or, in my case, mean, to the other grade-peer class of thirty or so. Then the victim would hear about it from the other students within a day or so after being treated badly by the indoctrinated students. This happened to me twice, and ended when my father deliberately went to class and confronted that two-faced faggot directly to his face about talking about his students in class and threatened a lawsuit if not allowed to humiliate that teacher like he did with me. After that, this 'teacher' behaved -- a bit.

This is why I think that there should be no compulsory education whatsoever. None. And if there is, then it should be limited to four years between the ages of eight and twelve wherein the students learn basic reading, writing and arithmetic. After that, let the parents and students simply save their time and money on deciding as a family what they wish to learn and let the free market decide, via Internet learning and in boarding school, how to get training in their own trades and how to make a living.

No more twelve-plus years of government-provided daycare or kiddie-jail or indoctrination or government jobs for a class of liberal drone parasites. A cutting of property and sales taxes by two-thirds. True freedom of speech and thought because there is no provision for regimeist political enforcement for those connected politically. Parents teaching their offspring to respect them and God. Separation of School and State.

Less Than Amused, pt2 said...

Now Mariah is another drone who wants to get into the Main Stream Media looking for a job which doesn't exist any more. There is not any more local papers which can afford to relentlessly print up lies about its citizens and expect to enjoy support from those citizens. All that will be left is a few national lie-papers and a weekly local with grocery advertisements being printed on dead trees. Best Buy no longer gives out an ad in the Joplin Globe. So I'm thinking of simply getting up to buy only the Wednesday paper any more and letting the rest of the week well enough alone.

So Mariah, you would be probably in journalism school today, piling on massive debt for a job which no longer exists. That is one of the good things of the MSM blowout, is having drones like yourself starve. I took a journalism class in college and was always fighting the estrogen deluge from leaking liberal douchebags. This in large part why I detest reading female and homosexual writers is because of their own inability to stop looking, not at their navels, but their own nether parts, and then writing it up like I just have to look at and smell the real world from their idiot viewpoint. I don't think so.

Randy Turner will doubtless write what he thinks is a glib and cunning book which will sell a few hundred copies. The people he libels are dead, like Duane Beaver, or simply living their own lives, and probably won't do anything but suffer and steam in silence. Some of us locals with our own blogs will buy our own copies and review Turner's book with open contempt. And thanks to print-to-publish, Turner will have a copy at Hastings or Barnes & Nobel in this area on sale, and sell some via the Internet at Amazon or Lulu.

Every political action creates a somewhat (un)equal and negative reaction. You liberals have been on top a long time. Now us reactionaries will soon have our day and hang or skin some liberal dogs who had theirs and were base in their actions when they did.

Anonymous said...

The Scoreboard of Students:
(with glowing reviews)

1. Mariah

Amy said...

Hi, Randy. I just ordered a copy of your book after reading an excerpt on google books. Your style is clear and engaging, and it makes me sad that there’s not more of this kind of direct, small-town reporting anymore. As to the cranks (or more likely, the one crank) leaving comments on your posts, good for you for ignoring them (him?). I’m happy you’re still delivering your news and commentary. Keep up the great work.

Amy said...

Follow-up comment: Any other books you’d recommend about Missouri politics, particularly in the 1990s and maybe the time period leading up to that? Thanks in advance.

Randy said...

Thank you for the kind words, Amy. Let me give some thought about the books on Missouri politics and I will try to get back and write down a few. Nothing is coming to mind now, but I am sure there are some good ones.