Saturday, May 23, 2015

Blogger: Randy Turner's a parasite; people are tired of his attacks on C. J. Huff

I have been hearing for the past several weeks that some of Joplin's leading citizens are planning to throw their support behind a blogger who can combat the horrible, insidious things I have been doing on the Turner Report.

Whether that blog is former KSN reporter Keith Mackey's Joplin Confidential I do not know, but if it is, he certainly wrote something that would appeal to that constituency Friday during a post on the fourth anniversary of the Joplin Tornado.

Mackey's blog has not been updated recently because it is going through some changes, so his posts have been on the Joplin Confidential Facebook page.


Ponder if you will the plight of the Joplin School System. If you just consider the facilities, there was no Joplin School System. But if you consider the people, then the Joplin School System was a mighty force, led by Superintendent Dr. C.J. Huff, faced with the gargantuan (and seemingly impossible) task of having classes ready for kids in August. They did it. Sometimes we’re not sure how they did it, but by hard work and force of will they did. Class space was found, and learning continued.

Thousands of people from all over poured in to help, and their help was desperately needed and appreciated. College Heights Christian Church, out by the University, was undamaged so its halls became a center point of relief and supplies. Minister Randy Gariss led the way that had everything organized to the nth degree. It wasn’t just College Heights, of course. All faiths linked arms and fueled by faith, love and prayer worked harder than they would imagine to help the victims.

But then the carpetbaggers showed up. Like sharks to a shipwreck, like locusts to the crops, like leeches to the body these parasites arrived wanting to see what they could gain from our tragedy. There were the usual carpetbaggers; looters and fake construction frauds but they were dealt with quickly. There were more insidious carpetbaggers come. For instance, the ones who came in business suits, promising to rebuild a mighty city yet while they were sucking the life force from the city they stuffed their own pockets and not a single shovel was turned. They fled in the middle of the night. Some carpetbaggers were already within our midst, like a failed teacher, fired apparently for cause and who looks to have begun seeking his vengeance and has worked hard using social media to incite a mob mentality (using inflammatory language and being freewheeling with the facts) to disrupt the job the schools are doing, even at this critical juncture. A lot of folks are growing weary of it.


Mr. Mackey, you are the one who is being "freewheeling with the facts." You obviously have not done the slightest bit of checking to see if what I have been writing is true. I have not just levied criticism at the C. J. Huff Administration, I have backed it up with documents, e-mails, court records, and multiple sources. And time after time, I have printed the entirety of C. J. Huff's responses and explanations.

The business about being a "failed' teacher is also off the mark. The only people who say that are C. J. Huff and Anson Burlingame. Talk to my fellow teachers, parents, and my students. You will not hear that from any of them.

This is not the first time you have used this business of a "failed teacher" bringing down everything that C. J. Huff has worked for. I am having a hard time understanding this- the Joplin Globe has been firmly behind C. J., the television stations have run one glowing story after another. He has a staff of people whose job is to promote the image of the Joplin school district. With all of that at his disposal, you are saying that one person writing a blog has brought about C. J. Huff's ruin.

I do not appreciate the characterization of the people who think it is time that the district and C. J. Huff part ways as being a "mob." This is a "mob" that has used the ballot box to eliminate two sitting board presidents in the past two years, and who purposely voted in someone they knew would not be able to serve, just so they could remove one of C. J. Huff's biggest supporters.

This is not a mob, Mr. Mackey. These people are working through the system. They are supporting their candidates, electing them, and are waiting to see results. I realize it is much easier for you and C. J. Huff to believe that I am some evil puppeteer with all of these people doing my bidding. I don't operate that way and these people do their own thinking.

Where was your sense of moral outrage when C. J. Huff was attacking Jennifer Martucci and Debbie Fort? I suppose you referring to me as a "failed" teacher is similar to Huff attacking Debbie Fort as a "failed principal" or attacking Martucci as someone who doesn't love kids.

On your blog, you pride yourself on sticking completely to the facts. Apparently, you have a fluid idea of what facts are.

I don't deny that when I write, I have an attitude. I have a passion for what I do and I do it well. The truth is important to me. If I make a mistake, I correct it and I do it publicly.

With C. J. Huff and the mess that is going on in the Joplin R-8 School District, I have not had to make many corrections.

I have talked with people who support C. J. Huff, I would suggest, Mr. Mackey, that you talk to some of the people who want to see change.

Unless, of course, you are afraid of taking a walk on the wild side.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once again, a self appointed spokesperson for what "the people really think" accepts the idea of failed teachers and principals as an inevitable fact. This is despite the longevity and proven track record of what often spans a lifetime of service. Yet the possibility of a failed Superintendent, as evidenced by a short and well documented trail of ineptitude and truculent disposition, appears relegated to the realm of the absurd and unthinkable. The reality remains that the failed BOE that propogated and perpetuated this "unthinkable" situation has been recognized; and "the mob" has thus moved to rectify this abomination.

Anonymous said...

I'll say this Randy; Your blog has been a community staple for the better part of a decade, a underground information source for folks wanting the real story without a slant or bias from folks who might withhold advertising dollars or bring political pressure to bear on traditional media sources.

These folks whom have been publicly humiliated when their Ponzi scheme involving CART, Joplin Public Schools and the City Government of Joplin are now trying to assassinate your character. Many of us see it for what it is, your on to the truth when the folks that hold the power, wealth and in our small corner of the world, the right family name, would rather spoon feed news "clearer than the truth" to the uninformed masses.

You've done fantastic work and are a credit to journalism in Southwest Missouri, you should be commended.

That being said, you've crossed some lines in pursuit of CJ Huff, slimy price of crap he may be, you've at times showed a almost obsessive desire to see him run out of Joplin. I might ease up on the frequency of Joplin Public Schools coverage.

Anonymous said...

A minor note, but this columnist is also rather loose with his language. Wikipedia has a good definition of carpetbagger:

In United States history, a carpetbagger was a Northerner who moved to the South after the American Civil War, especially during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877), in order to profit from the instability and power vacuum that existed at this time.

The term carpetbagger was a pejorative term referring to the carpet bags (a fashionable form of luggage at the time) which many of these newcomers carried. The term came to be associated with opportunism and exploitation by outsiders. The term is still used today to refer to an outsider perceived as using manipulation or fraud to obtain an objective....


And our host, as a native of Newton County and back then working for the school district, obviously doesn't fit the definition, unlike, for example, Misters Wallace and Bajalli from Texas. Someone who gets so basic an insult wrong is frequently not worth listening to.

Anonymous said...

[Our host has] at times showed a almost obsessive desire to see him run out of Joplin. I might ease up on the frequency of Joplin Public Schools coverage.

I disagree, because I see the Huff regime as the single greatest threat to the future well being of Joplin, as well as causing incalculable damage to the students in their care. A public school system that does a poor job of educating and disciplining students will over time produce a body of people you really don't want to live around. Look at any one of a number of cities that have been all but destroyed in part because their school districts became little more than spoils systems for those working in them.

By comparison of other deserving targets, a college president like Speck served under much greater oversight and opposed intrinsically more powerful professors, and wasn't able to ruin MSSU. Rohr, Wallace, Bajalli, and various other bad actors certain wasted money and opportunities after the tornado, but that sort of thing will eventually pass. Not so a partial generation of ill educated and behaved people.

Anonymous said...

I always ask myself what someone of this sort has to gain by writing and posting a piece such as this. His information, as pointed out, is not accurate. He has completely ignored the data that he could have gotten from the DESE website depicting the lack of progress for R8, and he has ignored the flight of teachers and the economic crisis the district is facing. You can't blame that on mistakes in construction, which is the usual fallback. Not when you have added job after job that have done nothing to advance academic success.

So, back to the topic, what is this man getting in exchange for his drivel? Inquiring minds want to know.

Anonymous said...

"Joplin Confidential" is about as sophisticated as "National Enquirer" and "The Star." What a rag, hosted by the predictably pompous self-labeled intellectual. I thought Burlingame had that corner to himself, but apparently there's room for more than one to claim community gas bag status.

Anonymous said...

I think Mr. Mackey has friends who do not want negative things said about the schools, even when they're true. These people that he represents truly believe that things would be better if folks like Mr. Turner didn't just keep saying "negative" things.
I am disappointed with Mr. Mackey. I thought he was a better reporter than that. I am disappointed with these people who really think that the problem is with people telling the truth.

mackster999 said...

I am Keith's wife and I'm not afraid to use my name. I don't go by anonymous...these people don't have the guts to use their name, maybe it is just Randy tooting his own horn. Keith has been doing a lot of research about the Joplin Schools, he knows a lot of people that are on the inside of the system. He hasn't been fired from that system so he is not an axe grinder. No school system is perfect and that is true across this country. Putting this school system back together after one of the biggest natural disasters in our country was no easy task. Carpetbagger is someone who takes advantage of people who are down and out and unfortunately that happens. I know my husband to be of high integrity as a journalist. Joplin will be seeing a lot of him in the future so hang on, he's not going away!! Carolyn Mackey

Anonymous said...

Way to get your mommy to take up for you Mac Daddy!

Signed Anonymous.

We need more diverse tards said...

I'd like to welcome the Mackey-tards to do battle with the Turner-tards now that the Antsson-tards have gone all seniler.

You Mackey-tards are entirely correct that Turner and the Turner-tards are whiney gliberal bottom-feeders who are still butt-hurt over CJ Huff's and the Hufftards' Reign of [T]Error of which the most enjoyable was in sending Randy Turner packing like Turner was out of the journalism profession. Nobody much appreciated Turner's efforts except for a few femnishevik tardettes, but having the rest of the potential turner-tard wannabees having to squeak softly and not show theys' asses for fear of turner-tard termination by the Big Bad Huff was enjoyable. Neither Turner nor the turner-tards can appreciate the Hufftard Reign of [T]Error, but most of us onlookers found it thoroughly enjoyable.

That said, the voters want to get back to the status quo ante tornado and now that the dollars have been stolen with nothing much to show for it, then it is time to go back to living and teaching on the cheap, or whatever the now skeptical taxpayers wish to provide. It wasn't kicking Turner while Turner was down which was and is objectionable as most of us enjoyed seeing it and hearing Turner howl, but like Bruce Speck, outrunning our ability to pay for all this Hufftardation.

I'm hoping that the Mackay-tards can figure out a program to bash Turner and Turner-tards on the cheap.

Anonymous said...

Have to agree with him on this one! Great job Mr. Mackey!

Anonymous said...

Again, people who post anonymously do so because they will suffer dire consequences if they use their names.
The Mackeys are very nice, Christian people with good values. Unfortunately, they have also been misinformed.
Mr. Turner was a very good teacher. The book that got him fired didn't need the gratuitous sex that he included. Other parts of the book were almost too real. I could see the faces and the places because, unfortunately, I was there.
It is time to move on and truly clean up and rebuild. That isn't going to happen with Huff and his minions and the mess that they have made will take a long time to clean up.

Anonymous said...

The dribblings of Keith Mackey bring to mind a favorite Emerson quote.

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

To prevent Mr Mackey from misunderstand the point, let me be clear that the foolish consistency refers to Superintendent Huff and those who support his status quo.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your use of tards. You probably don't understand sarcasm without the use of it. Your use of that term is a disgrace to all and I urge you to use a thesaurus. Seriously...

kitty chiwawa said...

Hoping that someday the commenter that uses the "-tards" so frequently would kindly stop. The term "Retarded" is a very out-dated and politically incorrect term and fairly insensitive when it's used like this to denigrate a person or group of people. Says noting about the people said commenter is attempting to slam, and everything about said commenter "himself". Just sayin;...

Anonymous said...

Let me guess 2:53, you figure by throwing "tard" around as much as humanly possible it makes you more superior and intelligent? Fail. Your comment is sophomoric and irrelevant. Thanks for nothing!