Some thoughts about my recovery and other topics

Thanks to those of you who have asked me how I am doing and have wished me well in my recovery from my heart surgery.

I am following doctor's orders, walking about an hour a day, doing other exercises as recommended by the Freeman Home Health therapist, but also making sure that I don't overdo it.

I have begun walking outdoors some and those who remember what I was like when I doing hall duty at East Middle School would certainly recognize my approach. As I did at East, I take my iPod with me and listen to my '50s and '60s rock with tunes mixed in from other eras.

Putting the iPod on shuffle Saturday enabled me to have a session that included the Temptations' "My Girl," the Beatles' "Please Please Me," Billy Joel's "The Longest Time," Rick Springfield's "Jesse's Girl," and the Four Tops' "Standing in the Shadows of Love."

Though the walk was somewhat tiring, you can' beat a quarter of an hour spent with music like that.

Today marked a milestone as the Freeman Home Health nurse removed the IV tubes that I have been using to take medicine daily to fight an infection that I picked up during the days before my operation as the doctors waited for the blood thinner to get out of my system. Though the tube did not really keep me from doing anything, it still feels good to get rid of it.

My first doctor's appointment since my release is scheduled for May 19 with my regular cardiologist, followed by a follow-up with the surgeon about a week later.

Hopefully, I will have good news after those visits. I am working toward that goal.

Too Much Crime Coverage for Neosho Daily News?

My parents have subscribed to the Neosho Daily News, Joplin Globe, and Newton County News ever since I can remember and I have looked forward to those publications coming in the mail every day, though sometimes it does not take long to read them.

I read the farewell column of former Daily News Editor Todd Nighswonger a few days ago and learned that the Daily has been under pressure from readers who are tired of the negative page one news.

There was also a letter to the editor to that effect.

I hope that Nighswonger's successor does not cave in to what appears to be another instance of alarmist Chamber of Commerce types who are afraid that bad news reflects poorly on the community.

That is simply not the case. The Daily News has never shortchanged its readers on positive news. The heightened coverage of crime news has bolstered the value of the newspaper to its readers. It is important for readers to know what is happening n their community. If a series of burglaries is taking place on the east side of Neosho and it receives no mention in the newspaper then how are people who live in that area going to know that they should be taking extra precautions?

It is a newspaper's responsibility to provide coverage of information that may not make everyone comfortable.

The letter-writer irritated me to no end when he or she (I can't remember who wrote the letter) accused the Daily of putting the news on the front page to sell newspapers.

In the first place, the days of people walking by newspaper boxes, dropping in a quarter, and pulling out a paper based on the stories on the top half of page one are long since gone. The boxes have been replaced in most establishment by flat racks that do not grab the shopper's attention and which do not allow the shopper's eye to be captured by an interesting story.

Is the Daily putting information on crime and courts to sell newspapers? Absolutely and the attitudes of people like that letter-writer and publishers and editors who have caved in to the demand for more "positive" news explain why newspaper circulation has dipped so much in recent years and why so many newspapers have either gone out of business or have sold out their credibility.

Speaking of the Joplin Globe, I plan to write something tomorrow about how that newspaper has forsaken its responsibility to its readers in order to continue pushing the myth of all of the wonderful things public officials and unelected leading citizens did to help the city to recover from the May 22, 2011, tornado.

Sadly, as the five-year anniversary nears, the newspaper that should be setting the story straight is instead following the advice of the Shinbone Star editor in the John Wayne-Jimmy Stewart 1962 movie, who said, "When the legend becomes fact- print the legend."

That is something the Joplin Globe has continued to do for years and its coverage, coupled with an unwillingness of the national media to do anything more than to rubber stamp the fiction the Globe has helped create, that has prevented the true story of the Joplin Tornado recovery to come to light.

More about that tomorrow.

Inside Joplin and Inside Joplin Obituaries

Thanks to all of you readers for continuing to show your support for the Turner Report, Inside Joplin, and Inside Joplin Obituaries.

It took several days after I was released from Freeman, but I have finally caught up with all of the obituaries that had been sent to me by the funeral homes and others from funeral homes I check regularly. I apologize for so many of them being printed after the services had been held. The most important thing was to make sure they were posted to continue to provide a free, searchable record of those who have passed on.

The readership of the blogs has risen dramatically. Inside Joplin, which a few months ago, was receiving between 1,500 and 2,000 unique visitors today, now brings in more than 5,000 most days, putting it in line with the regular amount of readers for the Turner Report. Of course, the Turner Report, depending on its posts often receives 8,000 to 10,000 readers and has picked up as many as 65,000 in a 24-hour period.

Inside Joplin Obituaries' readership is also up, often reaching more than 3,000 a day.

Thanks again for your support.