Columnist: Blunt popularity not likely to increase

Matt Blunt's popularity stands at 36 percent, the fifth lowest of any governor in the nation and it is not likely to go up soon, according to a St. Louis Business Journal columnist. Read what he has to say at:
Blunt blues

Strong columns essential for daily newspaper

The Joplin Globe's recent experiment of having Rachel Kubicek write a sports column is symbolic of one of the biggest hurdles the newspaper has faced in recent years...It simply has not developed any columnist, other than Editor Ed Simpson's Sunday column that you look forward to reading.
The problem is not just the Globe's. The most recent issue of Columbia Journalism Review talked about the lack of columnists who are strongly associated with their communities, people of the stature of the late Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune, the late Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle, or Mike Barnicle, the plagiarist who used to occupy a regular spot on the Boston Globe.
Strong sports columnists are not quite as difficult to find. Missouri has some of the best, including Joe Posnanski and Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, and Bernie Miklasz and Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Since the death of Gary Garton, that lack of signature columnists has become more evident in the Globe. The newspaper does not have a sports columnist who can attract readers to the page. I read Jim Fryar's column when he writes about something in which I have interest; otherwise, I skip it.
The experiment of having Mike Pound write a daily column runs into the same problem as far as I am concerned. Pound provides a workmanlike effort, but his writing is not going to make me read what he has to say every day. Again, I am looking at the subject of his column, and if it is not something which I am familiar, I am headed elsewhere.
The Globe has had better luck with niche columnists, including the one who writes about genealogy (I'm sorry, her name escapes me at the moment) and the people who write movie reviews and items for the Friday entertainment section, but in the two sections in which a daily newspaper needs a strong columnist, the A section and sports, the Globe comes up woefully short.
With The Globe, the importance of finding local columnists is paramount, simply because there is a perceived disconnect with the community. With the exception of Simpson's columns concerning Joplin issues and the decision-making process within the Globe, there is a perception that the Globe is not in touch with its readers.
One quick example of that would be the stories the newspaper has featured in recent months about area fairs and events. Covering those events including the Newton, Jasper and Barton County fairs, Apple Days in Lamar, Barnyard Days, etc., is a great idea, but the resulting stories have read more like they were written by reporters who had no interest in doing the story, but that was their assignment so they were going to do it as fast as they could and hold their noses in the process.
Many of those stories appeared to be condescending toward the people who were involved in the events. That is not the way to build a local identity for a newspaper which definitely needs one.
I, of course, notice the coverage of education. When the Globe is covering a negative development, it is all over the story, and many times it should be; but when it comes to positive stories on education, it tends to rely on a cutesy approach that trivializes the good news.
Over the past several years, the Globe has made one effort after another to connect with the community, some have been successful, most have not. I was amused a few years back, when the newspaper started its own competing weekly, reviving the old Joplin News-Herald, to provide local Joplin coverage. It took Globe editors several months to remember one salient fact...they already had a newspaper to cover Joplin's local stories, the Joplin Globe.
The newspaper needs to find columnists who can provide a strong local connection. Find somebody who can write authoritatively about Joplin sports, whether it be a man or a woman. Find somebody who can write everyday or at least two or three times a week, about stories that concern the Joplin area. Signature columnists build a strong local identity for a newspaper and build readership.
If the Globe considers Mike Pound and Rachel Kubicek to be columnists in that mold; it's time to go back to the old drawing board.

Diamond R-4 officials block Wildcat Central

I have been told by parents and teachers in the Diamond R-4 School District that my old website, Wildcat Central, has been blocked by school officials so that it cannot be accessed on district computers.
While I am not surprised that they think it is offensive, it remains an educationally valid website with a links page designed for student research. The only item I have placed on the website over the past year has been a mention of the publication of "Small Town News."
Of course, some people have continued to use the comments section of my poll (which also has not been updated) to address school issues, and many of those comments are critical of Superintendent Mark Mayo's administration.
I am curious as to whether my other websites have also been blocked. These include, of course, this site, my Room 210 website, and Room 210 Discussion, a site which allows teens to read (something which should definitely be encouraged) articles from national and regional sources about issues that concern them; and of course, the Small Town News website.
If someone knows, please leave a message on the comments or send me an e-mail.

No expenditures listed for Andrew Blunt

The man who may be the most powerful lobbyist in the state of Missouri hasn't spent a cent trying to woo state legislators this year, according to the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Last week, the Ethics Commission posted lobbyist statements for the month of August. For the eighth straight month, Blunt reported no expenditures. Of course, when your brother is the governor and your father is the majority leader, formerly majority whip, of the U. S. House of Representatives, people are still probably going to return your calls and more than likely give you what you want, even if you don't buy anything for them.
Blunt's clients include: Ameren, Miller Brewing Company, Missouri Automobile Dealers Association, Missouri Hospital Association, Phillip Morris, SBC, and United Parcel Service.

Roy Blunt's rise to power explored

Southwest Missouri's most powerful newspapers, the Springfield News-Leader and the Joplin Globe both feature examinations of Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt's rise to power. Blunt is also the subject of Kansas City Star political columnist Steve Kraske's Sunday column.
Blunt's rise to power was also the subject of an extensive profile in Saturday's Washington Post.
Springfield News-Leader
Joplin Globe
Globe investigation
Kansas City Star column
Washington Post article

Moark controversy explored in Post-Dispatch

The surprising problems Moark has run into in its effort to expand its egg-laying operation in Neosho is examined in today's edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. You can find the article at:
Post-Dispatch article

Globe sics McCoy on Blunt

Joplin Globe investigative reporter Max McCoy (pictured) explores new House Majority Leader Roy Blunt's connections with indicted former Majority Leader Tom DeLay in the lead story in the newspaper's Sunday edition.
The article also takes a careful examination of Blunt's Rely on Your Beliefs Fund. This is the first time the Globe has really taken an in-depth look at the Seventh District Congressman who has been making quite a name for himself the past few years as a tool for special interests and someone who has no qualms whatsoever about doing whatever his best for himself, his family, and his political donors before he does his job, which if you have forgotten, is to represent the people of the Seventh District.
About the only thing that McCoy's article doesn't explore (and there may be sidebars that do once the print edition comes out tomorrow morning) is the money Blunt poured into DeLay's defense fund. That was covered in the July 21 Turner Report, which said:

"Ethically-challenged House Republican Leader Tom DeLay of Texas has raised more than $1 million for his defense and $20,000 of that has come from Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt, according to documents filed with House's Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
"Blunt's total was far and away the most donated to DeLay by any of his colleagues, the reports indicated. The money provided by Blunt was all given last year, the reports said. Only two congressmen provided money to DeLay during 2005.
Other four-state officials who donated to the Texas congressman, all of them Republican U. S. representatives were: Tom Cole, Oklahoma, $1,000; Todd Tiahrt, Kansas, $10,000, Todd Akin, Missouri, $1,000; JoAnn Emerson, Missouri, $1,000; and Frank Lucas, Oklahoma, $1,000.
"The documents also indicate that one of the biggest corporate contributors to DeLay was Carthage-based Fortune 500 company Leggett & Platt, which gave him $5,000.
No Missouri individual, other than the aforementioned members of Congress, gave DeLay more than $500.
"The House Ethics Committee admonished DeLay for three violations in 2004, and many of his close associates are apparent targets in a grand jury investigation involving corporate money laundering."

That grand jury investigation, as we discovered last week, has led to DeLay's indictment.

O'Sullivan Industries may file for bankruptcy

O'Sullivan Industries officials may be just delaying the inevitable with their short-term extensions as they try to negotiate with their creditors.
In documents filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kelly Terry, senior vice president for operations, said, "Although we would prefer to reach a consensual restructuring of our debt, our creditors may not consent, and a consensual restructuring may not be possible. In either case, we may be required to file for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code to restructure our debt."
The statement was made as part of a filing in which Terry told the SEC that O'Sullivan will not be able to release its annual (10K) or quarterly (10Q) reports on time.
"On July 15, 2005, we entered into an available grace period on the semi-annual $5.3 million interest payment due on our senior secured notes due 2008 and announced that we were entering into discussions regarding a financial restructuring of OÂ’Sullivan," Terry wrote. "On August 15, 2005, we announced the execution of a forbearance agreement with holders of approximately 83 percent of our senior secured notes. The forbearance period has been extended to October 15, 2005."
These efforts to reorganize have kept company officials so busy they have not had time to prepare their reports, Terry indicated.
"We are still reviewing certain accounting issues relating to the fiscal 2005 financial statements which would affect our balance sheet at June 30, 2005, and our results of operations for fiscal 2005," Terry said.
"Because we are still reviewing our financial statements, the audit of our financial statements is not complete. Our Independent Registered Public Accountants have, however, informed us that they anticipate modifying their opinion to include an explanatory paragraph about O'Sullivan's ability to continue as a going concern."
Because things have been changing so rapidly, Terry said, "management has not been able to prepare a report that would be accurate as of the required filing deadline."

Schlup trial set for Oct. 11.

Motions in the embezzlement trial of former Barton County Memorial Hospital Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Schlup will be held 1 p.m. Oct. 11 in Cedar County Circuit Court, followed by jury selection at 1:30 p.m., according to court records.
Judge Ted Scott will be unavailable Tuesday so opening statements will be made Oct. 13.
Ms. Schlup, 41, Deerfield, allegedly stole $77,735 from the hospital between March 15, 1999, and Oct. 7, 2003. An assistant Missouri attorney general will prosecute the case, assisted by Barton County Prosecuting Attorney Steven Kaderly. The trial is being held in Stockton on a change of venue from Barton County.

The path to 'Small Town News'

I would imagine some of you are tired of hearing about "Small Town News," but to be honest with you, it has been the center of my writing life for the past few weeks. Since this is my first novel that has been published, I have been trying my best to make sure it meets with some success. I have spent some time working on the Small Town News website, a link for which is located on the right-hand side of this page and trying to publicize it in a low-key way since it is only available from the publisher for the next few weeks.
I have been surprised by how fast the word has spread about the novel. Last night, I had people approach me at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on 15th, and at Hastings asking me about my book. Sadly, I didn't recognize the people who were asking me. I hope that is not a sign of advancing age.
I wrote my first book-length manuscript (calling it a novel would be charitable, when I was 14 years old, a freshman at East Newton High School. It was 289 pages long and was titled "A Song For Susan." I no longer have any copies of that work, only a cover page that somehow survived over the past 35 years. The only thing I remember about it is that it was terrible.
During my teen years, I wrote four more book-length manuscripts, none of which were memorable and had absolutely no success marketing them because they simply were not marketable. Since I was a terrible typist and did not have much patience or a good enough typewriter to work with, my friend Barbara McNeely did my typing for me, for very little pay.
Sadly, Barbara, a student at Missouri Southern State College at the time, was stabbed to death in September 1977 behind Northpark Mall after returning from an errand she ran for her employer, J. C. Penney. The man who killed her was found not guilty by reason of insanity, spent a few short years in a mental hospital and then was released into society without a word to anyone, thanks to the culpability of the Missouri State Health Department and the state attorney general at the time, Bill Webster.
Not having Barbara around took a lot of the joy out of everything for her friends for a long time, and since I have always been a person who takes an extra long time getting over anything, it was nearly a couple of years after her death before I started writing again.
The year was 1979 and by this time, I was the editor of the Lockwood Luminary-Golden City Herald and living in Lockwood. After covering night time events, I returned to the Luminary-Herald office on Main Street in Lockwood and sat in the front area, pounding out a novel, "Sudden Death" on an old Underwood manual typewriter. Some of the characters in "Small Town News" were originally created for "Sudden Death," which revolved around the murder of a high school team's star quarterback just before the state football playoffs. I had no luck marketing it, which is probably just as well. Though it was better than "A Song for Susan" and the other book-length manuscripts I wrote while I was in my teens, it still lacked something. A few days after I finished writing "Sudden Death," Boone Newspapers shut down the Lockwood Luminary-Golden City Herald.
After that, it was 23 years before I started writing again. I suppose I should qualify that. I have always been writing. I estimated that during my newspaper days, I wrote more than 20,000 articles, averaging more than 1,000 a year. But even though I had left fiction behind, it was always in the back of my mind.
I have spent a lot of years thinking that I let Barbara McNeely and the other people who had faith in me as a writer down, so yes, I will be writing quite a bit about the book on this blog, but I will try not to neglect the items that regular readers have grown used to.
Thank you for your patience.