The area media has apparently decided it is not a story no matter what thousands of my readers (and yes, people the Turner Report does have thousands of readers) may think. It has not been mentioned in the Joplin Globe and unless I missed it, it was also considered unworthy of mentioning on Joplin radio and television sites.
What do the following things have in common?
-Questionable ethics at the beginning of the school board race
-Two bankruptcies and an SEC investigation of Joplin's master developer
-C. J. Huff knowing about a former R-8 employee having pornographic photos of Joplin High School students on his laptop and never telling parents or board members
-A government report says East Middle School only suffered "minor damage" in the May 22, 2011, tornado, yet is was demolished, and students and staff were forced to spend two and half years in a warehouse.
-Six months after R-8 voters passed the biggest bond issue in district history, school officials were already telling the federal government they planned to ask R-8 voters for a tax levy increase.
-The arguments Death row inmate Chris Collings is making in an effort to spare his life after he murdered and raped nine-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella.
-Actual coverage of Common Core Standards and other educational issues that is not taken verbatim from state education officials or area superintendents
-The background of former Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck
The Turner Report is the only place where you read about those things.
While I do not expect my readers to agree with everything I write or with the way I write it, at the moment this is the only place where the stories do not reflect the views and opinions of Joplin's upper crust and its big business leaders.
It is the only media source that believes its readers can handle the truth.
There was a time when the Joplin Globe was willing to tackle some of the major problems in this city. Edgar Simpson is long since gone and I have been told that some of the veteran reporters at the Globe are irritated that these stories not only never show up in the Globe, but that there is no inclination to pursue them.
It is all features and puff pieces about those who are in charge at the city and in the Joplin R-8 School District.
If you get the opportunity, ask Globe Publisher Michael Beatty and Editor Carol Stark when, if ever, they plan to at least make a pretense of pursuing these stories and others like them that are out there.
The stories will still get covered. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
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4 comments:
I remember the issue of what damage East has sustained and the thought process that went into the decision to demolish and rebuild. No one was claiming the entire structure was destroyed in the tornado. I don't remember the exact details but it was something akin to if you get in a wreck in a brand new car and you have the choice of totaling it out or fixing it most people with insurance will choose to total it out. Patching up east would have ended up costing JOPLIN around the same amount as demolishing it and rebuilding. I think FEMA money would only have been available if we rebuilt. I don't remember the specifics and I would think you would be able to do the research and report what we were told back then. But you seem to insinuate that we were mislead into believing the building was more damaged than it actually was and that isn't the truth. I know I am remembering correctly because my kid was going to attend east in 8/11 and I cared about this subject. Oh the respect I would have for you of you could dig up that info and put it in your blog.
Your recollection of the facts appears to be as selective as you claim Mr. Turner's is. Insurance would have paid the total cost to repair the facilities at East and put them back the way they were before. That building was a two-year-old state-of-the-art building that was designed to hold more students than the number attending East at that time. The building would have been ready for school by August 2011 and would have been completely repaired a long time ago. Instead, our children have been at the far edge of the district, have had to hold all of their events at other schools, have been in a warehouse, next door to a dogfood smell, and all of this when the best thing that could have been done for the students and the teachers was to have them in familiar surroundings. Those teachers and students were sacrificed for what, in retrospect, seems like either a cold, callous business decision at best, or an effort to build a monument to school officials at worst.
Amen, 8:33! Turner published some documents that prove this. The new building was a scam so Bess could have a junior league dream school in addition to her high school. Yet now she runs off before what she's done catches up to her. Hope the law finds her anyway.
KEEP UP THE GREAT COVERAGE RANDY! SOMEONE HAS TO DO INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING AND CRITICAL THINKING. NO OTHER "NEWS" OUTLET DOES.
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