About the Joplin Globe's Lincoln Ladies coverage

I will be the first to say that not much news came out of the Lincoln Ladies Ice Cream Social Monday night...but there was considerably more than you can find in the Joplin Globe article on the event.

The article includes this quote from former Jasper County Clerk Marjorie Bull: “It’s a great chance to get to learn more about the candidates, especially those from other parts of the state."


The 400 people who were there last night had the chance. Not so much those who were not able to make it and had to get their information from the Globe.


The Globe article lists the candidates who made speeches, but says nothing about the content of any of those speeches.


That kind of reporting could have revealed that Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn brought his long-standing battle with the County Commission into the social and could have noted the ways in which Dunn's challengers, Larry Newman and Randee Kaiser differentiated themselves from the incumbent.


There is a mention in the article that Seventh District Congressman Billy Long was not at the event because he had to be in Washington (moderator Jenny Mansfield mentioned it), but no mention of the no-shows by U. S. Senate candidate John Brunner or Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder among others. Why were they not at the event?


Or how about the accusations leveled by one of Billy Long's challengers, Tom Stilson, about Long's trip to Beverly Hills, an excursion that was included in Long's last financial disclosure report and was first noted in the Turner Report?


 It was also an opportunity for the Globe to turn the spotlight on Jasper County races that have not received much attention, such as coroner and treasurer. not glamorous jobs by any means, but vitally important to making sure the county functions effectively.


Most of the Globe coverage of the event dealt with superficial items, including the lead to the story, which supposedly was designed to make readers want to keep reading:

About 400 area residents on Monday night enjoyed free ice cream and a moderately cool Carthage Memorial Hall while listening to more than 20 Republican candidates outline their election goals in advance of the Aug. 7 primary vote.
The forum was the traditional Lincoln Ladies’ ice cream social, and there were some worries, for a time, that there wouldn’t be enough ice cream to serve the lines of people snaked around the room.
“I can’t remember the last time we had a crowd this big,” said Jeannie Wells, Jasper County treasurer and one of the club members making sure that tables with ice cream, cookies and soft drinks stayed stocked.

Of course, this is from the Globe's online coverage. Perhaps when I pick up my copy of the print edition later today, I will have to make an apology for failing to note the Globe's extensive, thorough coverage of the Lincoln Ladies Social.


I am sure that is exactly what will happen.