Cox Communications will file a complaint to the FCC against Nexstar Broadcasting Wednesday, according to Multichannel News.
Cox, which operates cable franchises in Carthage and Lamar, claims Nexstar has not been negotiating in good faith and has refused to even meet with Cox officials. Cox is scheduled to lose Nexstar's stations, KSNF and KODE, on Jan. 30. "Hopefully, the FCC will succeed where we've failed," Cox spokesman David Grabert told Multichannel News.
Nexstar COO Duane Lammers indicated he was not concerned and that Cox is the company that has not negotiated in good faith.
As mentioned earlier in The Turner Report, Lammers will be featured in an interview in the Wednesday edition of TV Business Review.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
One of the biggest problems facing Liberty Group Publishing since its formation in 1998 has been its high rate of indebtedness.
The company, which owns The Neosho Daily News, The Carthage Press, The Neosho Post, and The Big Nickel, as well as more than 300 other publications in the United States, has made an arrangement that will put it further in debt...by approximately $330 million.
A confidential letter sent earlier this month from Wells Fargo Bank officials to Ken Serota, Liberty CEO, confirmed a deal through which Wells Fargo will make available $330 million to Liberty to "refinance existing indebtedness of (Liberty Group Operating) and Liberty Group Publishing, Inc."
Not only was the money needed to refinance the debt, according to the letter, but also to retire preferred stock, make fee and expense payments, and "provide for its ongoing working capital and letter of credit needs."
The letter says Well Fargo proposed to give a $50 million senior secured revolving credit facility and a $280 million senior secured term loan. The banking institution will try to come up with a syndicate of lenders for the $280 million, the letter said.
The funding will be pulled if the company takes a downturn, the letter said. The deal will go down as of Feb. 28, if all conditions are met.
One condition is that Liberty officials will be the beck and call of Wells Fargo, ready to drop everything to make presentations to potential lenders or to participate in conference calls, the letter said.
A large amount of money has gone into paying off Liberty's debt each year in the seven years since the company was formed out of the smaller newspapers in Hollinger International. Documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission indicate Liberty paid $40.7 million in interest expense in 2001 and $35.5 million in 2002. During those two years, Liberty was in the red more than $22 million, the SEC documents said. The company has been highly leveraged since its formation and appears to be destined to continue along that path.
***
Things haven't been any easier for Hollinger International, former owners of The Daily and The Press.
A company SEC filing indicated indicated that former CEO Conrad Black's alleged looting of the company cost it more than $57 million in legal fees
***
A March 2006 jury trial is expected in the lawsuit filed by former Southwest City Police Chief Ron Beaudry against that city's mayor and city council. According to documents filed today with the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the two sides met Jan. 6 and arranged a tentative schedule for proceedings.
All discovery should be completed by Aug. 26 with the deadline for filing of discovery motions set for Aug. 12.
A three-day trial is expected, according to the court documents.
Beaudry claims that current chief Toi Canada was convicted of a "driving-related alcohol offense" on July 21, 1994, in Webb City, and on July 13, 2001, in Callaway County.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the city of Southwest City, Mayor Al Dixon, and council members Farley Martin and Mildred Weaver. Beaudry noted in his petition that Ms. Canada is Martin's stepdaughter. Beaudry was hired as police chief in June 2003, according to the petition. Ms. Canada was hired on a part-time basis last November.She was promoted to full-time status after a closed council meeting in March 2004, the petition says. At that point, Beaudry conducted a background check and uncovered the alcohol-related offenses, he said. "On March 12, 2004," the petition says, "(Beaudry) received a fax from Angela Heckart, a representative with Beimdiek Insurance Agency, regarding the insurability of Ms. Canada." Ms. Heckart said Ms. Canada could not be insured because she had an alcohol-related driving offense in the three years before she was hired.On March 30, the city received a fax saying that Ms. Canada was prohibited from using any city vehicle. At that point, Beaudry fired her. "On or about April 13, 2004," the petition said, "the city council refused to fire Canada, rehired her, and allowed her to operate her own vehicle to conduct police business."
On May 14, the council suspended Beaudry after he went public about his concerns about Ms. Canada, the petition said. On June 2, he was fired.
In the petition, Beaudry claims his First Amendment free speech rights were violated by the city officials. He is asking to be reinstated as police chief, to have all references to his suspension and firing removed from city files, and for damages and punitive damages.
***
The door has officially closed on former Webb City High School student Brad Mathewson's civil rights lawsuit against the R-7 School District and Principal Stephen Gollhofer. Judge Ortrie D. Smith issued the dismissal order today. The case was dismissed without prejudice leaving the door slightly open for refiling at a later date.
***
Former Springfield News-Leader investigative reporter Ron Davis' blog site, Chatter at http://homepage.mac.com/rondavis/iblog/index.html features a scathing critique of the first day of the newly-minted KSFX-TV, formerly KDEB, the Fox station in Springfield. Davis points out that the station's owner, Nexstar, which also owns KSNF and is the de facto owner of KODE, has promoted a young woman named Rachel Aram with little previous experience to its lead anchor position. "Aram has been on the air for three months total and she has NEVER anchored a newscast," One of Davis' readers wrote, "This was also upsetting to certain other female employees at KOLR (Mission Broadcasting's tag-team partner with Nexstar in Springfield) who have much more experience and tried for the job."
***
Speaking of Nexstar, an article scheduled to run tomorrow morning in the Television Business Review E-Paper, will feature more inflammatory quotes from the company's COO Duane Lammers.
Lammers, who has certainly earned a reputation for speaking his mind during Nexstar's battles with Cox and Cable One, told the magazine he never expected to win any popularity contests with the public by taking the stance that his stations will not be on the cable systems unless they pay Nexstar.
The company, which owns The Neosho Daily News, The Carthage Press, The Neosho Post, and The Big Nickel, as well as more than 300 other publications in the United States, has made an arrangement that will put it further in debt...by approximately $330 million.
A confidential letter sent earlier this month from Wells Fargo Bank officials to Ken Serota, Liberty CEO, confirmed a deal through which Wells Fargo will make available $330 million to Liberty to "refinance existing indebtedness of (Liberty Group Operating) and Liberty Group Publishing, Inc."
Not only was the money needed to refinance the debt, according to the letter, but also to retire preferred stock, make fee and expense payments, and "provide for its ongoing working capital and letter of credit needs."
The letter says Well Fargo proposed to give a $50 million senior secured revolving credit facility and a $280 million senior secured term loan. The banking institution will try to come up with a syndicate of lenders for the $280 million, the letter said.
The funding will be pulled if the company takes a downturn, the letter said. The deal will go down as of Feb. 28, if all conditions are met.
One condition is that Liberty officials will be the beck and call of Wells Fargo, ready to drop everything to make presentations to potential lenders or to participate in conference calls, the letter said.
A large amount of money has gone into paying off Liberty's debt each year in the seven years since the company was formed out of the smaller newspapers in Hollinger International. Documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission indicate Liberty paid $40.7 million in interest expense in 2001 and $35.5 million in 2002. During those two years, Liberty was in the red more than $22 million, the SEC documents said. The company has been highly leveraged since its formation and appears to be destined to continue along that path.
***
Things haven't been any easier for Hollinger International, former owners of The Daily and The Press.
A company SEC filing indicated indicated that former CEO Conrad Black's alleged looting of the company cost it more than $57 million in legal fees
***
A March 2006 jury trial is expected in the lawsuit filed by former Southwest City Police Chief Ron Beaudry against that city's mayor and city council. According to documents filed today with the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the two sides met Jan. 6 and arranged a tentative schedule for proceedings.
All discovery should be completed by Aug. 26 with the deadline for filing of discovery motions set for Aug. 12.
A three-day trial is expected, according to the court documents.
Beaudry claims that current chief Toi Canada was convicted of a "driving-related alcohol offense" on July 21, 1994, in Webb City, and on July 13, 2001, in Callaway County.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the city of Southwest City, Mayor Al Dixon, and council members Farley Martin and Mildred Weaver. Beaudry noted in his petition that Ms. Canada is Martin's stepdaughter. Beaudry was hired as police chief in June 2003, according to the petition. Ms. Canada was hired on a part-time basis last November.She was promoted to full-time status after a closed council meeting in March 2004, the petition says. At that point, Beaudry conducted a background check and uncovered the alcohol-related offenses, he said. "On March 12, 2004," the petition says, "(Beaudry) received a fax from Angela Heckart, a representative with Beimdiek Insurance Agency, regarding the insurability of Ms. Canada." Ms. Heckart said Ms. Canada could not be insured because she had an alcohol-related driving offense in the three years before she was hired.On March 30, the city received a fax saying that Ms. Canada was prohibited from using any city vehicle. At that point, Beaudry fired her. "On or about April 13, 2004," the petition said, "the city council refused to fire Canada, rehired her, and allowed her to operate her own vehicle to conduct police business."
On May 14, the council suspended Beaudry after he went public about his concerns about Ms. Canada, the petition said. On June 2, he was fired.
In the petition, Beaudry claims his First Amendment free speech rights were violated by the city officials. He is asking to be reinstated as police chief, to have all references to his suspension and firing removed from city files, and for damages and punitive damages.
***
The door has officially closed on former Webb City High School student Brad Mathewson's civil rights lawsuit against the R-7 School District and Principal Stephen Gollhofer. Judge Ortrie D. Smith issued the dismissal order today. The case was dismissed without prejudice leaving the door slightly open for refiling at a later date.
***
Former Springfield News-Leader investigative reporter Ron Davis' blog site, Chatter at http://homepage.mac.com/rondavis/iblog/index.html features a scathing critique of the first day of the newly-minted KSFX-TV, formerly KDEB, the Fox station in Springfield. Davis points out that the station's owner, Nexstar, which also owns KSNF and is the de facto owner of KODE, has promoted a young woman named Rachel Aram with little previous experience to its lead anchor position. "Aram has been on the air for three months total and she has NEVER anchored a newscast," One of Davis' readers wrote, "This was also upsetting to certain other female employees at KOLR (Mission Broadcasting's tag-team partner with Nexstar in Springfield) who have much more experience and tried for the job."
***
Speaking of Nexstar, an article scheduled to run tomorrow morning in the Television Business Review E-Paper, will feature more inflammatory quotes from the company's COO Duane Lammers.
Lammers, who has certainly earned a reputation for speaking his mind during Nexstar's battles with Cox and Cable One, told the magazine he never expected to win any popularity contests with the public by taking the stance that his stations will not be on the cable systems unless they pay Nexstar.
When Oscar Alvarez was arrested by the Newton County Sheriff's Department in December 2003 on a misdemeanor child support charge, he never expected to receive the kind of treatment reserved for murderers and child molesters in bad B movies.
That is exactly what he claims took place.
In a lawsuit filed Nov. 22 in Newton County Circuit Court, Alvarez claims that on Feb. 22, 2004, jailers Adam Brandon Babbitt and Shane Steven Smith, arranged for his brutal beating at the hands of another prisoner.
The complaint and the response to it were filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. In the response, Kristen Baird Roubal, attorney for former Newton County Sheriff Ron Doerge and the Sheriff's Department, claimed it did not happen and, if it did, it was against Sheriff Doerge's policy.
The claim that it did not happen comes despite Doerge's firing of the the two deputies because of their involvement in the incident. According to an article written by former Joplin Globe reporter Dena Sloan in that newspaper's March 19, 2004, edition, Doerge said he called Babbitt and Smith into his office at 4:30 p.m. March 18 and fired them. The article reads, "He said the Sheriff's Department investigation had linked the men with a Feb. 22 incident in which two male inmates allegedly were attacked by two other inmates."
The two former deputies were charged with misdemeanor third degree assault, then later the charges were amended to felonies. Though Alvarez was not named by Doerge, the sheriff said the victim of the beating had a black eye and bruises, according to the Globe article.
Though Doerge and his attorney dispute the allegation that the cameras were turned off saying they are "without adequate knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the factual allegations," Doerge's own investigation into the beating showed that the cameras had been deliberately turned off, he told The Globe. The article reads, "After reviewing jail security tapes and interviewing inmates, investigators determined that the security camera pointed at the alleged victims' cell had been turned off for a few minutes during the time of the attack, Doerge said. Investigators also believe that the cell door was unlocked when it should have been secured.
In a direct quote in the Globe article, Doerge said, "One of the officers talked to the inmates about what he wanted to occur, and the second turned off the tape and opened the door."
In the official response to the lawsuit, Doerge claimed that he was "without adequate knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the factual allegations" in regard to that, as well.
The claim that Doerge did not have adequate knowledge comes despite the fact that both Babbitt and Smith entered Alford pleas, which are not guilty pleas, but act in the same fashion. Alford pleas are not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment that there is enough evidence to convict if the case went to trial.
Whereas most prisoner lawsuits are filed pro se, or by the prisoners themselves, the Alvarez case, despite the fact that he was sentenced to jail time served due to lack of funds, is being handled by Steven J. Blair of the high-powered Springfield litigation firm of Hall, Ansley, Rodgers & Condry, P. C.
In the petition, Blair claims that Babbitt and Smith unlocked Alvarez' cell door, turned off the video surveillance cameras monitoring his cell or arranged for them to be turned off, then "unlocked the cell doors of two other inmates or arranged for their cell doors to be unlocked: and allowed one of the inmates to stand watch while another inmate entered Mr. Alvarez's cell and attacked (him) causing him serious bodily injury."
Blair claims that the jailers were acting in their capacity as Sheriff's Department employees, making the sheriff "vicariously liable for their actions."
As a result of the attack, the petition said, Alvarez received injuries to his head and face "and has suffered and will continue to suffer from severe headaches, back injuries and brain damage."
Blair also claims that Alvarez has suffered "emotional distress, inasmuch as he was caused to fear for his life following the attack."
The attack constituted cruel and unusual punishment, Blair said.
Alvarez did not file a grievance through the sheriff's department, the complaint says, "for the reason that the grievance form would be received by the same people allowing Mr. Alvarez to be assaulted, and that Mr. Alvarez feared for his life," the petition said.
In the second count of the complaint, Blair says Doerge and the other top officials at the Sheriff's Department should have known "of the dangerous proclivities of Mr. Babbitt and/or Mr. Smith," yet nothing was done.
On both counts, Alvarez is asking for "fair and reasonable" damages, and interest "at the highest legal rate permitted by law." He is asking for a jury trial.
Doerge's lawyer, Ms. Roubal, says that the lawsuit against the former sheriff is barred because of his official immunity, qualified immunity, and sovereign immunity and that even if the allegations about Babbitt and Smith are accurate "then such conduct would not be consistent with the policies of the county and the sheriff."
She also claims that the Sheriff's Department cannot be sued because it is not a separate entity and that it is part of Newton County.
Otherwise, Doerge denied every item alleged in the Alvarez complaint.
That is exactly what he claims took place.
In a lawsuit filed Nov. 22 in Newton County Circuit Court, Alvarez claims that on Feb. 22, 2004, jailers Adam Brandon Babbitt and Shane Steven Smith, arranged for his brutal beating at the hands of another prisoner.
The complaint and the response to it were filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. In the response, Kristen Baird Roubal, attorney for former Newton County Sheriff Ron Doerge and the Sheriff's Department, claimed it did not happen and, if it did, it was against Sheriff Doerge's policy.
The claim that it did not happen comes despite Doerge's firing of the the two deputies because of their involvement in the incident. According to an article written by former Joplin Globe reporter Dena Sloan in that newspaper's March 19, 2004, edition, Doerge said he called Babbitt and Smith into his office at 4:30 p.m. March 18 and fired them. The article reads, "He said the Sheriff's Department investigation had linked the men with a Feb. 22 incident in which two male inmates allegedly were attacked by two other inmates."
The two former deputies were charged with misdemeanor third degree assault, then later the charges were amended to felonies. Though Alvarez was not named by Doerge, the sheriff said the victim of the beating had a black eye and bruises, according to the Globe article.
Though Doerge and his attorney dispute the allegation that the cameras were turned off saying they are "without adequate knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the factual allegations," Doerge's own investigation into the beating showed that the cameras had been deliberately turned off, he told The Globe. The article reads, "After reviewing jail security tapes and interviewing inmates, investigators determined that the security camera pointed at the alleged victims' cell had been turned off for a few minutes during the time of the attack, Doerge said. Investigators also believe that the cell door was unlocked when it should have been secured.
In a direct quote in the Globe article, Doerge said, "One of the officers talked to the inmates about what he wanted to occur, and the second turned off the tape and opened the door."
In the official response to the lawsuit, Doerge claimed that he was "without adequate knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the factual allegations" in regard to that, as well.
The claim that Doerge did not have adequate knowledge comes despite the fact that both Babbitt and Smith entered Alford pleas, which are not guilty pleas, but act in the same fashion. Alford pleas are not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment that there is enough evidence to convict if the case went to trial.
Whereas most prisoner lawsuits are filed pro se, or by the prisoners themselves, the Alvarez case, despite the fact that he was sentenced to jail time served due to lack of funds, is being handled by Steven J. Blair of the high-powered Springfield litigation firm of Hall, Ansley, Rodgers & Condry, P. C.
In the petition, Blair claims that Babbitt and Smith unlocked Alvarez' cell door, turned off the video surveillance cameras monitoring his cell or arranged for them to be turned off, then "unlocked the cell doors of two other inmates or arranged for their cell doors to be unlocked: and allowed one of the inmates to stand watch while another inmate entered Mr. Alvarez's cell and attacked (him) causing him serious bodily injury."
Blair claims that the jailers were acting in their capacity as Sheriff's Department employees, making the sheriff "vicariously liable for their actions."
As a result of the attack, the petition said, Alvarez received injuries to his head and face "and has suffered and will continue to suffer from severe headaches, back injuries and brain damage."
Blair also claims that Alvarez has suffered "emotional distress, inasmuch as he was caused to fear for his life following the attack."
The attack constituted cruel and unusual punishment, Blair said.
Alvarez did not file a grievance through the sheriff's department, the complaint says, "for the reason that the grievance form would be received by the same people allowing Mr. Alvarez to be assaulted, and that Mr. Alvarez feared for his life," the petition said.
In the second count of the complaint, Blair says Doerge and the other top officials at the Sheriff's Department should have known "of the dangerous proclivities of Mr. Babbitt and/or Mr. Smith," yet nothing was done.
On both counts, Alvarez is asking for "fair and reasonable" damages, and interest "at the highest legal rate permitted by law." He is asking for a jury trial.
Doerge's lawyer, Ms. Roubal, says that the lawsuit against the former sheriff is barred because of his official immunity, qualified immunity, and sovereign immunity and that even if the allegations about Babbitt and Smith are accurate "then such conduct would not be consistent with the policies of the county and the sheriff."
She also claims that the Sheriff's Department cannot be sued because it is not a separate entity and that it is part of Newton County.
Otherwise, Doerge denied every item alleged in the Alvarez complaint.
Local broadcast stations are sticking together in the feud between Nexstar Broadcasting and cable companies Cox Communications and Cable One.
Ed Christian, CEO of Saga Communications, owner of KOAM-TV told TV Business Report, a national publication, "We are supporting KSNF/KODE and their endeavors." Christian said KOAM is not going after the Nexstar stations' advertisers, but will accept advertising if their clients need to reach customers who do not have antennas or dish systems.
Danny Thomas, KOAM general manager, told the publication there has not been much change as far as advertising, for his station, though national and regional advertisers are showing concern. Thomas is quoted as saying, "From the local side, we're hearing a lot of talk, but we're not seeing much in the way of any movement."
Both Thomas and Christian noted that a victory by Nexstar would be a victory for all broadcast stations since it will set a precedent for cable companies having to pay local stations to show their content.
The Joplin area, as well as areas in Texas where Nexstar has pulled its programming off local cable, has become a center of interest for the entire television industry.
***
Newspaper industry reports are that no movement has been made in the auction for Liberty Group Publishing, owner of the Neosho Daily News, Carthage Press, Neosho Post, and The Big Nickel, as well as more than 300 other publications.
The last report on the proposed sale indicated that newspaper companies are out of the running and the remaining potential suitors are investment firms, similar to the Leonard Green company that now owns Liberty.
The first bids in the auction were collected by Oct. 25. The expected sale price is $500 million.
***
A New Jersey man has been named to a major, newly-created position with La-Z-Boy Inc., according to the Business Journal in Raleigh, N. C.
Roger Miller has been named vice president of process improvement. He will report directly to CEO Kurt Darrow. His job will be to improve efficiency and make sure the company is using the best production practices, the article said. Before coming to La-Z-Boy, which is the major employer in Neosho, Miller was a partner in the management consulting firm Kepner-Tregoe, Inc., in Skillman, N. J. Previously, he was an engineer for Ford Motor Company and he later worked for Allied Signal, Inc.
***
Business Wire reports that Fortune 500 company Leggett & Platt will announce its fourth quarter results 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1.
***
The Neosho R-5 Board of Education meeting will be the center of attention tonight as the board discusses whether to allow a donated test for the Bible to be used as part of the district's Accelerated Reader program. The case brings up a number of First Amendment questions.
Ed Christian, CEO of Saga Communications, owner of KOAM-TV told TV Business Report, a national publication, "We are supporting KSNF/KODE and their endeavors." Christian said KOAM is not going after the Nexstar stations' advertisers, but will accept advertising if their clients need to reach customers who do not have antennas or dish systems.
Danny Thomas, KOAM general manager, told the publication there has not been much change as far as advertising, for his station, though national and regional advertisers are showing concern. Thomas is quoted as saying, "From the local side, we're hearing a lot of talk, but we're not seeing much in the way of any movement."
Both Thomas and Christian noted that a victory by Nexstar would be a victory for all broadcast stations since it will set a precedent for cable companies having to pay local stations to show their content.
The Joplin area, as well as areas in Texas where Nexstar has pulled its programming off local cable, has become a center of interest for the entire television industry.
***
Newspaper industry reports are that no movement has been made in the auction for Liberty Group Publishing, owner of the Neosho Daily News, Carthage Press, Neosho Post, and The Big Nickel, as well as more than 300 other publications.
The last report on the proposed sale indicated that newspaper companies are out of the running and the remaining potential suitors are investment firms, similar to the Leonard Green company that now owns Liberty.
The first bids in the auction were collected by Oct. 25. The expected sale price is $500 million.
***
A New Jersey man has been named to a major, newly-created position with La-Z-Boy Inc., according to the Business Journal in Raleigh, N. C.
Roger Miller has been named vice president of process improvement. He will report directly to CEO Kurt Darrow. His job will be to improve efficiency and make sure the company is using the best production practices, the article said. Before coming to La-Z-Boy, which is the major employer in Neosho, Miller was a partner in the management consulting firm Kepner-Tregoe, Inc., in Skillman, N. J. Previously, he was an engineer for Ford Motor Company and he later worked for Allied Signal, Inc.
***
Business Wire reports that Fortune 500 company Leggett & Platt will announce its fourth quarter results 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1.
***
The Neosho R-5 Board of Education meeting will be the center of attention tonight as the board discusses whether to allow a donated test for the Bible to be used as part of the district's Accelerated Reader program. The case brings up a number of First Amendment questions.
Monday, January 17, 2005
The Nexstar TV stations, KSNF and KODE, were quick to jump on a news story that happened in Joplin a few weeks ago.
Many of you will remember the coverage of a band of hardy protesters who picketed against evil Cable One for taking a chance on losing its beloved local stations.
From the coverage, it appeared that the protest was a grass roots effort to support the local stations...something which, even though it would be a tad self-serving, would be a legitimate news story.
The only thing that was left somewhat obscured in the coverage was the source of the protest, and that source appears to be EchoStar, owner of Dish Network and a competitor of Cable One's in the race to land local television customers. Also left unmentioned was the fact that every customer who leaves Cable One and goes to Dish Network puts more money into the pockets of Nexstar Broadcasting.
Echostar has targeted rival cable companies across the United States in what is called "guerilla marketing."
One such protest was held Jan. 13 in Seattle, Wash., according to the Jan. 14 edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The article began, "Yesterday, a small group of people paraded in front of Comcast and City Hall, protesting Comcast's recent 7.1 percent rate increase. The only thing is, they weren't customers. They were competitors---DISH Network employees and some of its vendors, to be precise."
Kelley Baca, a DISH Network spokeswoman, told the Post-Intelligencer, "The reason why we demonstrate is to bring awareness that customers can count on a cable rate increase every year."
The Post-Intelligencer didn't let that answer go unchallenged, noting that DISH Network is increasing its own prices as of Feb. 1. Ms. Baca admitted that was the case but termed it a "one-time thing based on a one-time cost."
Good reporters don't let self-serving answers like that go unchallenged. The Post-Intelligencer finally got Ms. Baca to confirm that DISH Network has increased its prices five times in the past five years
DISH Network also staged a protest across from Time-Warner Cable in Raleigh, N. C. recently, to protest that company's rate increases, according to the Raleigh newspaper. The protesters at that rally were employees of DISH Network and one of its local retailers.
Another protest was held in Oklahoma City. I would guess there have been others that did not receive the publicity DISH Network had hoped for.
An article in Satellite Industry Daily News said, "Using its DISH Network service and brand, EchoStar has launched a nationwide advertising campaign that prompts consumers to ask why digital cable TV prices have gone up while prices for many other digital electronic goods, like digital watches, cameras or digital video recorders, continue to fall."
As part of the campaign, the article said, DISH Network retailers and sometimes customers are asked to join together to protest high cable prices.
This is not a knock at the satellite dish industry or at Echostar. The company has the right to fight for a larger share of the market and there is nothing illegal about these tactics. The problem surfaced when one of these staged protests was treated like legitimate news by two TV stations with a vested financial interest in the outcome.
Even that can be forgiven...if the newscast features a statement detailing that financial interest and lets the viewers make their own judgment about the validity of the news.
Many of you will remember the coverage of a band of hardy protesters who picketed against evil Cable One for taking a chance on losing its beloved local stations.
From the coverage, it appeared that the protest was a grass roots effort to support the local stations...something which, even though it would be a tad self-serving, would be a legitimate news story.
The only thing that was left somewhat obscured in the coverage was the source of the protest, and that source appears to be EchoStar, owner of Dish Network and a competitor of Cable One's in the race to land local television customers. Also left unmentioned was the fact that every customer who leaves Cable One and goes to Dish Network puts more money into the pockets of Nexstar Broadcasting.
Echostar has targeted rival cable companies across the United States in what is called "guerilla marketing."
One such protest was held Jan. 13 in Seattle, Wash., according to the Jan. 14 edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The article began, "Yesterday, a small group of people paraded in front of Comcast and City Hall, protesting Comcast's recent 7.1 percent rate increase. The only thing is, they weren't customers. They were competitors---DISH Network employees and some of its vendors, to be precise."
Kelley Baca, a DISH Network spokeswoman, told the Post-Intelligencer, "The reason why we demonstrate is to bring awareness that customers can count on a cable rate increase every year."
The Post-Intelligencer didn't let that answer go unchallenged, noting that DISH Network is increasing its own prices as of Feb. 1. Ms. Baca admitted that was the case but termed it a "one-time thing based on a one-time cost."
Good reporters don't let self-serving answers like that go unchallenged. The Post-Intelligencer finally got Ms. Baca to confirm that DISH Network has increased its prices five times in the past five years
DISH Network also staged a protest across from Time-Warner Cable in Raleigh, N. C. recently, to protest that company's rate increases, according to the Raleigh newspaper. The protesters at that rally were employees of DISH Network and one of its local retailers.
Another protest was held in Oklahoma City. I would guess there have been others that did not receive the publicity DISH Network had hoped for.
An article in Satellite Industry Daily News said, "Using its DISH Network service and brand, EchoStar has launched a nationwide advertising campaign that prompts consumers to ask why digital cable TV prices have gone up while prices for many other digital electronic goods, like digital watches, cameras or digital video recorders, continue to fall."
As part of the campaign, the article said, DISH Network retailers and sometimes customers are asked to join together to protest high cable prices.
This is not a knock at the satellite dish industry or at Echostar. The company has the right to fight for a larger share of the market and there is nothing illegal about these tactics. The problem surfaced when one of these staged protests was treated like legitimate news by two TV stations with a vested financial interest in the outcome.
Even that can be forgiven...if the newscast features a statement detailing that financial interest and lets the viewers make their own judgment about the validity of the news.
The Friends of the Library in Carthage hold a used book sale 8 a.m. to 12 noon each Saturday. I picked up many a book at those sales and occasionally an album or even a 45. On one particular Saturday I picked up a videocassette that purported to have a couple of old Audie Murphy westerns on it.
For those unfamiliar with Audie Murphy, he was the most decorated veteran of World War II and starred in numerous movies during the 1950s and 1960s, including "To Hell and Back" the story of his World War II heroism and director John Huston's "The Red Badge of Courage" which Turner Classic Movies ran last Saturday night as one of its "Essentials" series.
As I put the videocassette in my machine, it was quickly obvious it was of poor quality, but since it had been more than 20 years since the last time I saw the movies, I kept watching. It had obviously been taped nearly 20 years ago, from KODE-TV, during the days when Tracy Stark was one of the anchors and Bob Phillips was still producing his segments on area history. The movies were complete with commercial after commercial, most of them promotions of the station's newscast.
Anyone who doubts that today's newscasts are superior to those days should watch that video. (I would loan it to you, but I donated it back to the Friends of the Library.) News coverage is better, graphics are better, and it is much easier to do live reports than it was in those days.
But at least we had three local stations competing with each other for news stories. The consolidation of the operations of KODE and KSNF does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. If Nexstar, the owner of KSNF and de facto owner of KODE, were to take the money it saves by combining news and sales teams and put that back into its local broadcasts, you could make a good argument in favor of it.
If Nexstar were to put it in writing that it would pour even half of the $1.3 million is asking from Cable One back into its local news programming, it would put itself back in the driver's seat as far as public opinion is concerned.
Tell us that salaries will be increased, efforts will be made to retain good news personnel instead of letting them drift off to other stations. Tell us reporters will be sent to seminars to help them learn their craft and pick up other useful skills, such as investigative reporting.
And for that matter, do some investigative reporting. Hire enough reporters that they have time to really dig into a story and provide the public with the information it needs to know.
If you have stations all over the country, then why not set up a small office in Washington. D. C. and have a reporter cover stories that are of particular interest to your affiliates?
Those things would be great, but they are never going to happen. If Cable One were to cave all of a sudden and give Nexstar everything it wants, it would be unlikely you would see anything different in the programming.
That, in a nutshell, is the danger of reducing the number of news voices in a community.
***
A quick examination of the websites for KSNF and KODE also gives an idea where Nexstar's priorities lie. When I checked this morning, the top two "news" stories on KODE's site, were Nexstar's open letter to its readers (again with no effort made to provide a balanced news report) and the story of the scam being pulled by people claiming to be selling satellite systems. KSNF' site leads its news area with the letter, then has another story, then uses the satellite scam as its third story.
Nexstar does not seem to recognize the value of an uncorrupted news department. When it uses its news department to shill for the business side it gives its credibility a black mark which will take a long time to be erased, if ever.
The viewer suffers, but so do the hard-working news people at KODE and KSNF, who do not deserve this shabby treatment.
Nexstar is banking on Cable One and Cox backing down and paying to carry the stations. In the meantime, advertisers are starting to pull away and are beginning to shift their affections to KOAM. It has already been guaranteed that the Nexstar stations will lose viewers since Cable One has made it clear they will not be returned to its cable systems in Independence, Kan., and Vinita, Okla. If FCC rules allowed, we would already be seeing alternate NBC and ABC stations on Joplin's Cable One, too.
If Nexstar's policies cost it advertising and viewers, it won't be long before more cuts are made at the local stations. I can guarantee you it won't be Nexstar Chairman Perry Sook giving up his $4.5 million bonus or COO Duane Lammers sacrificing any of his half million a year paycheck.
***
Of course, having television stations with distinctive news operations does not guarantee you will get different angles on local stories. Take the night of Jan. 29, 1988, for example. I was managing editor of The Lamar Democrat at the time and was sitting through an interminably long Lamar Chamber of Commerce annual dinner.
I was there long enough to see Tom O'Sullivan receive a plaque as Man of the Year and see veteran attorney Gordon Boyer receive a lifetime achievement award, but the event just dragged on and on, until suddenly a Lamar fireman burst through the doors of the Horton Building and said Liberal Elementary School was on fire.
I quickly jumped up and left, feeling slightly guilty that I was pleased to have a reason to leave the banquet. I followed the fire trucks to Liberal, arriving at the elementary school just before reporters from KOAM and KODE arrived.
I got my interviews with school officials and took my photos while the TV photographers were getting their footage. It was interesting to see how the reporter/photographers from KODE and KOAM worked. It was as if they were joined at the hip. Neither took a shot that the other didn't take, too.
Finally, the KOAM reporter asked me which one was the superintendent. I pointed out Dr. Garold Barney to him. I was amused by the reporter's question since he lived in Liberal, graduated from school there, and didn't even know who the superintendent was. As the reporters continued their Siamese twin act, I walked around the building where I found my story.
This was how I started my article in the Feb. 4, 1988 Democrat:
A cool breeze brushed across Karen Evans' face as she stood by the Liberal Elementary School building. A tear fell silently down her face as she stared at the kindergarten classroom where she had taught every weekday for the past six years. Her eyes were glued to the walls.
"The kids are going to be sick. They worked so hard to make those valentines."
Now there is no guarantee that either television reporter would have ever gone around to the back side of the building if they hadn't stayed so close to each other, but what a visual that would have been: two kindergarten teachers staring at their students' melted work.
I stayed at the scene for a little over an hour, then drove to Casey's General Store to grab a Doctor Pepper. As I was paying, a reporter from KSN pulled into the parking lot and ran into the store and breathlessly said, "Can you tell me where the elementary school is?"
***
I have written so many times about frivolous lawsuits filed by inmates that I failed to look at stories other than waste of taxpayers' money that might be presented by these lawsuits. A case in point is Martin Eck's $10 million lawsuit against Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn and the Sheriffs' Department for not providing him with proper dental care. While I took the easy route and wrote one of my typical sarcastic articles, KOAM did a solid story on the real problem faced by officials due to the large number of prisoners who come to jail with dental problems caused by use of methamphetamine. I can't remember having seen any stories on this problem in the electronic or print media, so once again, KOAM was ahead of the curve.
***
Speaking of Chamber of Commerce banquets, the annual Carthage Chamber of Commerce Banquet is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at Memorial Hall. The agenda will include honoring the recipient of the annual Richard M. Webster Memorial Citizen of the Year award, and the presentation of Golden Apple awards to top Carthage teachers.
***
Parents in the Diamond R-4 School District who want to find out more about how drug testing for students would work will have an opportunity to listen to presentations by representatives of drug testing companies during a public comment hearing 7:30 p.m. Thursday according to Superintendent Mark Mayo's weekly newsletter.
For those unfamiliar with Audie Murphy, he was the most decorated veteran of World War II and starred in numerous movies during the 1950s and 1960s, including "To Hell and Back" the story of his World War II heroism and director John Huston's "The Red Badge of Courage" which Turner Classic Movies ran last Saturday night as one of its "Essentials" series.
As I put the videocassette in my machine, it was quickly obvious it was of poor quality, but since it had been more than 20 years since the last time I saw the movies, I kept watching. It had obviously been taped nearly 20 years ago, from KODE-TV, during the days when Tracy Stark was one of the anchors and Bob Phillips was still producing his segments on area history. The movies were complete with commercial after commercial, most of them promotions of the station's newscast.
Anyone who doubts that today's newscasts are superior to those days should watch that video. (I would loan it to you, but I donated it back to the Friends of the Library.) News coverage is better, graphics are better, and it is much easier to do live reports than it was in those days.
But at least we had three local stations competing with each other for news stories. The consolidation of the operations of KODE and KSNF does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. If Nexstar, the owner of KSNF and de facto owner of KODE, were to take the money it saves by combining news and sales teams and put that back into its local broadcasts, you could make a good argument in favor of it.
If Nexstar were to put it in writing that it would pour even half of the $1.3 million is asking from Cable One back into its local news programming, it would put itself back in the driver's seat as far as public opinion is concerned.
Tell us that salaries will be increased, efforts will be made to retain good news personnel instead of letting them drift off to other stations. Tell us reporters will be sent to seminars to help them learn their craft and pick up other useful skills, such as investigative reporting.
And for that matter, do some investigative reporting. Hire enough reporters that they have time to really dig into a story and provide the public with the information it needs to know.
If you have stations all over the country, then why not set up a small office in Washington. D. C. and have a reporter cover stories that are of particular interest to your affiliates?
Those things would be great, but they are never going to happen. If Cable One were to cave all of a sudden and give Nexstar everything it wants, it would be unlikely you would see anything different in the programming.
That, in a nutshell, is the danger of reducing the number of news voices in a community.
***
A quick examination of the websites for KSNF and KODE also gives an idea where Nexstar's priorities lie. When I checked this morning, the top two "news" stories on KODE's site, were Nexstar's open letter to its readers (again with no effort made to provide a balanced news report) and the story of the scam being pulled by people claiming to be selling satellite systems. KSNF' site leads its news area with the letter, then has another story, then uses the satellite scam as its third story.
Nexstar does not seem to recognize the value of an uncorrupted news department. When it uses its news department to shill for the business side it gives its credibility a black mark which will take a long time to be erased, if ever.
The viewer suffers, but so do the hard-working news people at KODE and KSNF, who do not deserve this shabby treatment.
Nexstar is banking on Cable One and Cox backing down and paying to carry the stations. In the meantime, advertisers are starting to pull away and are beginning to shift their affections to KOAM. It has already been guaranteed that the Nexstar stations will lose viewers since Cable One has made it clear they will not be returned to its cable systems in Independence, Kan., and Vinita, Okla. If FCC rules allowed, we would already be seeing alternate NBC and ABC stations on Joplin's Cable One, too.
If Nexstar's policies cost it advertising and viewers, it won't be long before more cuts are made at the local stations. I can guarantee you it won't be Nexstar Chairman Perry Sook giving up his $4.5 million bonus or COO Duane Lammers sacrificing any of his half million a year paycheck.
***
Of course, having television stations with distinctive news operations does not guarantee you will get different angles on local stories. Take the night of Jan. 29, 1988, for example. I was managing editor of The Lamar Democrat at the time and was sitting through an interminably long Lamar Chamber of Commerce annual dinner.
I was there long enough to see Tom O'Sullivan receive a plaque as Man of the Year and see veteran attorney Gordon Boyer receive a lifetime achievement award, but the event just dragged on and on, until suddenly a Lamar fireman burst through the doors of the Horton Building and said Liberal Elementary School was on fire.
I quickly jumped up and left, feeling slightly guilty that I was pleased to have a reason to leave the banquet. I followed the fire trucks to Liberal, arriving at the elementary school just before reporters from KOAM and KODE arrived.
I got my interviews with school officials and took my photos while the TV photographers were getting their footage. It was interesting to see how the reporter/photographers from KODE and KOAM worked. It was as if they were joined at the hip. Neither took a shot that the other didn't take, too.
Finally, the KOAM reporter asked me which one was the superintendent. I pointed out Dr. Garold Barney to him. I was amused by the reporter's question since he lived in Liberal, graduated from school there, and didn't even know who the superintendent was. As the reporters continued their Siamese twin act, I walked around the building where I found my story.
This was how I started my article in the Feb. 4, 1988 Democrat:
A cool breeze brushed across Karen Evans' face as she stood by the Liberal Elementary School building. A tear fell silently down her face as she stared at the kindergarten classroom where she had taught every weekday for the past six years. Her eyes were glued to the walls.
"The kids are going to be sick. They worked so hard to make those valentines."
Now there is no guarantee that either television reporter would have ever gone around to the back side of the building if they hadn't stayed so close to each other, but what a visual that would have been: two kindergarten teachers staring at their students' melted work.
I stayed at the scene for a little over an hour, then drove to Casey's General Store to grab a Doctor Pepper. As I was paying, a reporter from KSN pulled into the parking lot and ran into the store and breathlessly said, "Can you tell me where the elementary school is?"
***
I have written so many times about frivolous lawsuits filed by inmates that I failed to look at stories other than waste of taxpayers' money that might be presented by these lawsuits. A case in point is Martin Eck's $10 million lawsuit against Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn and the Sheriffs' Department for not providing him with proper dental care. While I took the easy route and wrote one of my typical sarcastic articles, KOAM did a solid story on the real problem faced by officials due to the large number of prisoners who come to jail with dental problems caused by use of methamphetamine. I can't remember having seen any stories on this problem in the electronic or print media, so once again, KOAM was ahead of the curve.
***
Speaking of Chamber of Commerce banquets, the annual Carthage Chamber of Commerce Banquet is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, at Memorial Hall. The agenda will include honoring the recipient of the annual Richard M. Webster Memorial Citizen of the Year award, and the presentation of Golden Apple awards to top Carthage teachers.
***
Parents in the Diamond R-4 School District who want to find out more about how drug testing for students would work will have an opportunity to listen to presentations by representatives of drug testing companies during a public comment hearing 7:30 p.m. Thursday according to Superintendent Mark Mayo's weekly newsletter.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
It appears that former State Representative Roy Cagle is being investigated by the Missouri Attorney General's office.
According to the results of its Jan. 6 meeting posted on its website, the Missouri Ethics Commission passed along information about Cagle to the attorney general for further investigation. As usual, the Ethics Commission website provided no information of the nature of the complaint against Cagle, who now serves as a lobbyist for the Missouri Finance Association and in the past has been the Missouri lobbyist for Enron.
Cagle's last attempt at elected office came in 1996 when he lost a bid to unseat incumbent State Senator Marvin Singleton, despite endorsements from area state representatives Gary Burton, Mark Elliott, and Chuck Surface, and the powerful Missouri Right to Life organization.
The Ethics Commission passes along complaints to the attorney general's office when serious violations are alleged to have occurred.
***
A First Amendment controversy will continue at the Neosho R-5 Board of Education meeting Monday when a final decision is expected on whether to include a test for the Bible in the district's Accelerated Reader program.
The first thing the board should probably do is pray (sorry about that) that Superintendent Mark Mitchell will keep his mouth shut and not create any more problems.
An article which will be published Sunday morning in The Globe quotes the superintendent as saying, "We don't discourage kids from reading the Bible. We use it everywhere we can." That makes it appear as if school officials are doing their best to find ways to work the Bible into the curriculum. Mitchell already created a stir recently when he issued a statement to the Globe and to the Neosho Daily News saying that every kid should read the Bible. That's a nice sentiment and I don't have any problem with it. If Mark Mitchell had made the statement as a private citizen exercising his First Amendment rights, then there would be no problem. Unfortunately, the statement was clearly made in his capacity as superintendent of a public school system...a public school system that is smack in the middle of a budding dispute over the Bible and the First Amendment.
All school officials had to do to prevent this nonsense was to review the testing materials for the Bible, see if they had the same degree of difficulty as the normal Accelerated Reader tests. If not, then they should have revised them so they would work and avoid making Neosho the center of the latest freedom of religion controversy.
There has never been any doubt that the Bible has a place in public school systems. In this case, it was not a question of whether the Bible would remain in the library, but whether it could be included in a reading program. If Mitchell and the school officials had not panicked, this would not be dividing the community. Hopefully, when the R-5 Board of Education finishes its selection process for a superintendent to replace Mitchell, who is retiring at the end of the current school year, it will find someone who can do a better job of communicating with both the public and the media.
***
A reader pointed out that KOAM was first to report that former Webb City High School student Brad Mathewson dropped his lawsuit against the R-7 School District and High School Principal Stephen Gollhofer. KOAM ran the first story on its 5 p.m. newscast, while KODE and KSNF ran the item for the first time on their 6 p.m. newscast after the story had hit the wires.
***
While the Brad Mathewson lawsuit posed some interesting First Amendment issues, the more important issue to most R-7 patrons has been the availability of money for the schools. No one does a better job of reporting on school district operations than the Webb City Sentinel and its editor and education reporter Bob Foos.
In the Friday Sentinel, Foos's coverage of the Jan. 11 R-7 Board of Education meeting noted that the financial situation for the school is far better than it was one year ago. Interviews for open teaching positions are being held, something that was not done last year when district officials were unsure how much money they would have. Superintendent Ron Lankford said his goals included a reasonable pay increase for staff members and adding five positions, an elementary counselor, an elementary librarian, a junior high reading specialist, and teachers for second and fourth grades.
Lankford had his contract extended through the 2007-2008 school year during that meeting.
According to the results of its Jan. 6 meeting posted on its website, the Missouri Ethics Commission passed along information about Cagle to the attorney general for further investigation. As usual, the Ethics Commission website provided no information of the nature of the complaint against Cagle, who now serves as a lobbyist for the Missouri Finance Association and in the past has been the Missouri lobbyist for Enron.
Cagle's last attempt at elected office came in 1996 when he lost a bid to unseat incumbent State Senator Marvin Singleton, despite endorsements from area state representatives Gary Burton, Mark Elliott, and Chuck Surface, and the powerful Missouri Right to Life organization.
The Ethics Commission passes along complaints to the attorney general's office when serious violations are alleged to have occurred.
***
A First Amendment controversy will continue at the Neosho R-5 Board of Education meeting Monday when a final decision is expected on whether to include a test for the Bible in the district's Accelerated Reader program.
The first thing the board should probably do is pray (sorry about that) that Superintendent Mark Mitchell will keep his mouth shut and not create any more problems.
An article which will be published Sunday morning in The Globe quotes the superintendent as saying, "We don't discourage kids from reading the Bible. We use it everywhere we can." That makes it appear as if school officials are doing their best to find ways to work the Bible into the curriculum. Mitchell already created a stir recently when he issued a statement to the Globe and to the Neosho Daily News saying that every kid should read the Bible. That's a nice sentiment and I don't have any problem with it. If Mark Mitchell had made the statement as a private citizen exercising his First Amendment rights, then there would be no problem. Unfortunately, the statement was clearly made in his capacity as superintendent of a public school system...a public school system that is smack in the middle of a budding dispute over the Bible and the First Amendment.
All school officials had to do to prevent this nonsense was to review the testing materials for the Bible, see if they had the same degree of difficulty as the normal Accelerated Reader tests. If not, then they should have revised them so they would work and avoid making Neosho the center of the latest freedom of religion controversy.
There has never been any doubt that the Bible has a place in public school systems. In this case, it was not a question of whether the Bible would remain in the library, but whether it could be included in a reading program. If Mitchell and the school officials had not panicked, this would not be dividing the community. Hopefully, when the R-5 Board of Education finishes its selection process for a superintendent to replace Mitchell, who is retiring at the end of the current school year, it will find someone who can do a better job of communicating with both the public and the media.
***
A reader pointed out that KOAM was first to report that former Webb City High School student Brad Mathewson dropped his lawsuit against the R-7 School District and High School Principal Stephen Gollhofer. KOAM ran the first story on its 5 p.m. newscast, while KODE and KSNF ran the item for the first time on their 6 p.m. newscast after the story had hit the wires.
***
While the Brad Mathewson lawsuit posed some interesting First Amendment issues, the more important issue to most R-7 patrons has been the availability of money for the schools. No one does a better job of reporting on school district operations than the Webb City Sentinel and its editor and education reporter Bob Foos.
In the Friday Sentinel, Foos's coverage of the Jan. 11 R-7 Board of Education meeting noted that the financial situation for the school is far better than it was one year ago. Interviews for open teaching positions are being held, something that was not done last year when district officials were unsure how much money they would have. Superintendent Ron Lankford said his goals included a reasonable pay increase for staff members and adding five positions, an elementary counselor, an elementary librarian, a junior high reading specialist, and teachers for second and fourth grades.
Lankford had his contract extended through the 2007-2008 school year during that meeting.
Friday, January 14, 2005
The biggest obstacle in the American Civil Liberties Union's efforts to make Brad Mathewson into a First Amendment martyr turned out to be the former Webb City High School student himself.
According to documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Mathewson's lawyers tried unsuccessfully for more than a month to contact him to see how he wanted to proceed.
"Since December 9, 2004, Plaintiff's counsel have made repeated efforts to communicate with (him) regarding how to proceed in this matter, all to no avail," a court filing by Mathewson's attorneys said. " When they weren't able to get hold of Mathewson, the lawyers asked for an extension to the Jan. 6 deadline to file a response to the school district's motion to dismiss the case.
When the attorneys missed a deadline because one had an illness in his family, the order to show cause why the case should not be dismissed was filed Jan. 7 with a Jan. 19 deadline scheduled for a response. It didn't take that long.
After the lawyers received the show cause order, lawyer Terrence J. Sexton, of the Kansas City firm of Shook, Hardy and Bacon took steps to have the case dismissed, according to the filing.
When he was finally able to talk to Mathewson earlier today, the 17-year-old agreed to drop his case. Sexton said that Mathewson's decision to drop out of Webb City High School left his request for an injunction to allow him to wear gay pride t-shirts to school a moot point. "Not surprisingly," Sexton wrote, "this factual change has transformed the nature of the case."
Mathewson filed the lawsuit against the school district and High School Principal Stephen Gollhofer after he was required to either change his gay pride t-shirts or go home.
Sexton asked that the case be dismissed voluntarily without prejudice, meaning that it could be refiled if circumstances change.
***
The Mathewson motion led the 10 p.m. news on KOAM, but was the second item on the twin towers of local broadcasting, KODE and KSNF. The lead story was a scam being perpetrated on local consumers by fake satellite dish salesmen. Who can blame the stations for leading with that news item since every actual dish sale is a few more cents in the pocket for Nexstar Broadcasting, the company that owns KSNF and operates KODE. Another example of Nexstar's willingness to sacrifice the integrity of its local newscasts to further its business interests.
The longest item on the satellite dish fraud ran on KSNF. During the time, Channel 16 was through with its elongated tribute to those hard-working legitimate dish companies, KOAM had already run an in-depth report on Mathewson's decision, and a report on earlier than expected completion times for the Rangeline Bypass and for construction on Highway 71 to the Arkansas line.
The only thing I can think of that would be more ludicrous would be to devote the first couple of minutes of a newscast to an editorial ripping into Cable One...oh, wait a minute, they already did that.
***
Cable One has permanently removed KODE and KSNF from two of its franchises.
"In Vinita, Okla., and Independence, Kan., the Nexstar stations will never come back," Tom Basinger, vice president of Cable One's central division, told Multichannel News. The stations will be replaced by WB and UPN stations, according to the article.
Those two franchises are considered to be in the Tulsa market, so Cable One was already carrying NBC and ABC programming from Tulsa stations.
Cable One doesn't have that option in Joplin due to FCC regulations.
***
Nexstar will change the call letters of another station it owns in Springfield. Beginning Monday, KDEB, Fox 27, the Springfield Fox affiliate, will become KSFX, Ozark Fox, according to a news release from the station.
KDEB was carried on the Cox Communications Cable franchises in Carthage and Lamar before the Joplin Fox station went on the air. Surprisingly, Nexstar actually handles operations for KOLR, the CBS affiliate, which is allegedly owned by Mission Broadcasting, the same company that allegedly owns KODE.
***
As usual, H. J. Johnson, the famed Just Jake of Carthage's Mornin' Mail brought a little perspective to everything, noting "The first TV I had used a coat hanger for an antenna." The Mornin' Mail link is featured on this page.
***
Kansas City Business Journal reports that Joplin-based Empire District Electric Company has shown interest in joining with Kansas City Power & Light to buy an 800 to 900 megawatt regulated coal-fired plant near Iatan, Mo, 38 miles from Kansas City. The KC company would own about 500 megawatts with Empire owning the rest, the article said.
***
Lamar High School graduate Nicole Lehman missed her first collegiate double-double by one rebound during a Southwest Missouri State University Lady Bears win. Lehman, a former two-time all-state player for Coach Richard Marti's Tigers, had 18 points and nine rebounds.
***
Another Lamar High School graduate has been doing rather well for herself. Jennifer Lenz, daughter of Andre and Vicki Lenz, has picked up a bachelor's degree, a master's degree...and it seems like there was something else.
Oh, yes, she was crowned Miss Arizona USA in 2002, winning the interview, evening gown, and swimsuit competition, and competed in the Miss USA Pageant. She now lives in Dallas, Texas, where she works in banking and has begun a thriving consulting business designed to help young women who want to compete in pageants. You can check out Jennifer's website at http://www.jennlenz.com/index.html
Jennifer is also active in charity work to combat breast cancer.
***
Associated Press reports that Hollinger Inc., the company that used to own The Neosho Daily News and The Carthage Press, will place the money from its sale of The London Telegraph into escrow while it is being investigated by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
The federal agency is investigating accusations that Hollinger's former CEO, Lord Conrad Black and his chief deputy, David Radler, defrauded the company of millions of dollars.
The AP article said the company could use the money for limited purposes, including interest and dividend payments.
According to documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Mathewson's lawyers tried unsuccessfully for more than a month to contact him to see how he wanted to proceed.
"Since December 9, 2004, Plaintiff's counsel have made repeated efforts to communicate with (him) regarding how to proceed in this matter, all to no avail," a court filing by Mathewson's attorneys said. " When they weren't able to get hold of Mathewson, the lawyers asked for an extension to the Jan. 6 deadline to file a response to the school district's motion to dismiss the case.
When the attorneys missed a deadline because one had an illness in his family, the order to show cause why the case should not be dismissed was filed Jan. 7 with a Jan. 19 deadline scheduled for a response. It didn't take that long.
After the lawyers received the show cause order, lawyer Terrence J. Sexton, of the Kansas City firm of Shook, Hardy and Bacon took steps to have the case dismissed, according to the filing.
When he was finally able to talk to Mathewson earlier today, the 17-year-old agreed to drop his case. Sexton said that Mathewson's decision to drop out of Webb City High School left his request for an injunction to allow him to wear gay pride t-shirts to school a moot point. "Not surprisingly," Sexton wrote, "this factual change has transformed the nature of the case."
Mathewson filed the lawsuit against the school district and High School Principal Stephen Gollhofer after he was required to either change his gay pride t-shirts or go home.
Sexton asked that the case be dismissed voluntarily without prejudice, meaning that it could be refiled if circumstances change.
***
The Mathewson motion led the 10 p.m. news on KOAM, but was the second item on the twin towers of local broadcasting, KODE and KSNF. The lead story was a scam being perpetrated on local consumers by fake satellite dish salesmen. Who can blame the stations for leading with that news item since every actual dish sale is a few more cents in the pocket for Nexstar Broadcasting, the company that owns KSNF and operates KODE. Another example of Nexstar's willingness to sacrifice the integrity of its local newscasts to further its business interests.
The longest item on the satellite dish fraud ran on KSNF. During the time, Channel 16 was through with its elongated tribute to those hard-working legitimate dish companies, KOAM had already run an in-depth report on Mathewson's decision, and a report on earlier than expected completion times for the Rangeline Bypass and for construction on Highway 71 to the Arkansas line.
The only thing I can think of that would be more ludicrous would be to devote the first couple of minutes of a newscast to an editorial ripping into Cable One...oh, wait a minute, they already did that.
***
Cable One has permanently removed KODE and KSNF from two of its franchises.
"In Vinita, Okla., and Independence, Kan., the Nexstar stations will never come back," Tom Basinger, vice president of Cable One's central division, told Multichannel News. The stations will be replaced by WB and UPN stations, according to the article.
Those two franchises are considered to be in the Tulsa market, so Cable One was already carrying NBC and ABC programming from Tulsa stations.
Cable One doesn't have that option in Joplin due to FCC regulations.
***
Nexstar will change the call letters of another station it owns in Springfield. Beginning Monday, KDEB, Fox 27, the Springfield Fox affiliate, will become KSFX, Ozark Fox, according to a news release from the station.
KDEB was carried on the Cox Communications Cable franchises in Carthage and Lamar before the Joplin Fox station went on the air. Surprisingly, Nexstar actually handles operations for KOLR, the CBS affiliate, which is allegedly owned by Mission Broadcasting, the same company that allegedly owns KODE.
***
As usual, H. J. Johnson, the famed Just Jake of Carthage's Mornin' Mail brought a little perspective to everything, noting "The first TV I had used a coat hanger for an antenna." The Mornin' Mail link is featured on this page.
***
Kansas City Business Journal reports that Joplin-based Empire District Electric Company has shown interest in joining with Kansas City Power & Light to buy an 800 to 900 megawatt regulated coal-fired plant near Iatan, Mo, 38 miles from Kansas City. The KC company would own about 500 megawatts with Empire owning the rest, the article said.
***
Lamar High School graduate Nicole Lehman missed her first collegiate double-double by one rebound during a Southwest Missouri State University Lady Bears win. Lehman, a former two-time all-state player for Coach Richard Marti's Tigers, had 18 points and nine rebounds.
***
Another Lamar High School graduate has been doing rather well for herself. Jennifer Lenz, daughter of Andre and Vicki Lenz, has picked up a bachelor's degree, a master's degree...and it seems like there was something else.
Oh, yes, she was crowned Miss Arizona USA in 2002, winning the interview, evening gown, and swimsuit competition, and competed in the Miss USA Pageant. She now lives in Dallas, Texas, where she works in banking and has begun a thriving consulting business designed to help young women who want to compete in pageants. You can check out Jennifer's website at http://www.jennlenz.com/index.html
Jennifer is also active in charity work to combat breast cancer.
***
Associated Press reports that Hollinger Inc., the company that used to own The Neosho Daily News and The Carthage Press, will place the money from its sale of The London Telegraph into escrow while it is being investigated by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
The federal agency is investigating accusations that Hollinger's former CEO, Lord Conrad Black and his chief deputy, David Radler, defrauded the company of millions of dollars.
The AP article said the company could use the money for limited purposes, including interest and dividend payments.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Everybody's doing it.
The Belleville, Ill. News-Democrat reports that tax increment financing is being considered for a prime business area in Fairview Heights, Ill. to entice CBL and Associates Properties of Chattanooga, Tenn., to build a 9.96 acre shopping center.
CBL and Associates recently made its entry into the Joplin area as the new owner of Northpark Mall.
According to the News-Democrat article, the Fairview Heights City Council reduced its normal 15-percent application fee for such a project. The fee, which normally would have been $750,000 was reduced to $7,500.
One difference between the way Joplin set up its recent TIF district and the way it is being done in Fairview Heights is the time factor. CBL is months away from getting final approval, the article said.
Illinois law requires a review by all taxing districts in the area, including schools, and a public hearing.
The article said the shopping center has the kind of upscale trendy shops that cities which employ these TIF districts seem to cherish. "It is expected to employ 226 full-time equivalent jobs and generate about $2.2 million a year in anticipated sales tax revenue." Of course. those figures come from CBL officials.
As always, the city officials said they offered the tax incentives so they would not lose CBL's business.
When will city council members realize that they do not have to give away the store in order to attract business?
***
The former McDonald County sheriff candidate who is facing federal weapons charges has asked for a continuance of his Jan. 25 pretrial conference. According to a motion filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Randy Alan Hance has executed a waiver of his constitutional right to a speedy trial and is asking that the pretrial conference be moved to sometime after March.
***
A proposal for a Jasper County law enforcement sales tax could pose problems for the Joplin R-8 School District's tax levy proposal. Tonight's Carthage Press featured a solid story from editor Ron Graber examining the sales tax, which has been requested by Sheriff Archie Dunn. Hitting taxpayers with too many proposals at one time could result in the defeat of all of them. County commissioners are considering putting the proposal on the ballot either in April or June.
Another factor to be considered is that law enforcement for municipalities such as Joplin, Webb City, Carl Junction, and Carthage, is handled by local police departments, which would not be receiving any 0f the money.
***
Though it wasn't listed anywhere on the preliminary agenda on the school's website, the Diamond R-4 Board of Education, during its meeting tonight, discussed requiring drug tests for students who participate in extracurricular activities. A majority of district patrons seem to favor the move, which any regular reader of The Turner Report knows that I do not favor drug testing for students. Does the Diamond R-4 School District have a drug problem? Certainly, all school districts have that problem these days, and some of those who are using drugs are athletes or band members, or students who participate in some other school activity, but the biggest problem is with students who are not involved in any activity and, by law, those students cannot be subjected to drug tests.
This is an unfair intrusion on student privacy. And since other schools are doing it, naturally there will be more and more, including Diamond, who jump on the bandwagon.
***
KOAM's report on the Diamond School Board meeting featured an interview with the school superintendent. I looked up to see who was being interviewed and from the way he appeared,I was expecting the man to break into a chorus of "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas!"
***
Speaking of Diamond, Diamond High School and MSSU graduate Kaylea Hutson continues to do strong work as lifestyles editor at The Carthage Press. Today's Press featured an informative look at the battle between Nexstar Broadcasting, owner of KSNF and owner in everything but name of KODE, and Cox Communications.
Nexstar has threatened to pull its stations from Cox's cable systems in Carthage and Lamar if it doesn't receive 30 cents per customer per month from Cox. The same ultimatum was rejected by Cable One in Joplin, which no longer carries the two Joplin stations.
***
Associated Press carried a story on Nexstar today. A media analyst said most confrontations, such as the ones going on between Nexstar and Cox, and Nexstar and Cable One end with the TV station backing down. "If they withhold their signal from cable, their ad revenue falls by 75 percent or so," Craig Moffett, a media analyst with Sanford Bernstein, told AP, noting that only viewers with satellite dishes or antennas can get the local stations
Advertisers have already been expressing their concerns to the Nexstar stations in Joplin and have been asking for deep discounts. Some have taken the lion's share of their business to KOAM, while others continue to put their ads on cable, where they are distributed to the local cable provider's time on all of its stations.
***
State Senator Gary Nodler's Education Committee hold its first meeting 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, in Senate Committee Room 1. It will be a while before the committee addresses the Foundation Formula, through which Missouri public schools are funded. The first meeting addresses issues facing higher education, including Nodler's bill to add two voting members to the Missouri Southern State University Board of Regents and a bill submitted by Rep. Norma Champion, R-Springfield, to rename Southwest Missouri State University to Missouri State University. The latter proposal has been strongly opposed by legislators in the Columbia area, who fear the name change would increase the Springfield university's prestige at the expense of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
***
The first Senate committee to deal with public elementary and secondary education will be the Appropriations Committee when it meets 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, in Senate Committee Room 2. Testimony will be given by officials from the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The committee will hold hearings for budget requests from the Department of Higher Education the following day.
The Belleville, Ill. News-Democrat reports that tax increment financing is being considered for a prime business area in Fairview Heights, Ill. to entice CBL and Associates Properties of Chattanooga, Tenn., to build a 9.96 acre shopping center.
CBL and Associates recently made its entry into the Joplin area as the new owner of Northpark Mall.
According to the News-Democrat article, the Fairview Heights City Council reduced its normal 15-percent application fee for such a project. The fee, which normally would have been $750,000 was reduced to $7,500.
One difference between the way Joplin set up its recent TIF district and the way it is being done in Fairview Heights is the time factor. CBL is months away from getting final approval, the article said.
Illinois law requires a review by all taxing districts in the area, including schools, and a public hearing.
The article said the shopping center has the kind of upscale trendy shops that cities which employ these TIF districts seem to cherish. "It is expected to employ 226 full-time equivalent jobs and generate about $2.2 million a year in anticipated sales tax revenue." Of course. those figures come from CBL officials.
As always, the city officials said they offered the tax incentives so they would not lose CBL's business.
When will city council members realize that they do not have to give away the store in order to attract business?
***
The former McDonald County sheriff candidate who is facing federal weapons charges has asked for a continuance of his Jan. 25 pretrial conference. According to a motion filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Randy Alan Hance has executed a waiver of his constitutional right to a speedy trial and is asking that the pretrial conference be moved to sometime after March.
***
A proposal for a Jasper County law enforcement sales tax could pose problems for the Joplin R-8 School District's tax levy proposal. Tonight's Carthage Press featured a solid story from editor Ron Graber examining the sales tax, which has been requested by Sheriff Archie Dunn. Hitting taxpayers with too many proposals at one time could result in the defeat of all of them. County commissioners are considering putting the proposal on the ballot either in April or June.
Another factor to be considered is that law enforcement for municipalities such as Joplin, Webb City, Carl Junction, and Carthage, is handled by local police departments, which would not be receiving any 0f the money.
***
Though it wasn't listed anywhere on the preliminary agenda on the school's website, the Diamond R-4 Board of Education, during its meeting tonight, discussed requiring drug tests for students who participate in extracurricular activities. A majority of district patrons seem to favor the move, which any regular reader of The Turner Report knows that I do not favor drug testing for students. Does the Diamond R-4 School District have a drug problem? Certainly, all school districts have that problem these days, and some of those who are using drugs are athletes or band members, or students who participate in some other school activity, but the biggest problem is with students who are not involved in any activity and, by law, those students cannot be subjected to drug tests.
This is an unfair intrusion on student privacy. And since other schools are doing it, naturally there will be more and more, including Diamond, who jump on the bandwagon.
***
KOAM's report on the Diamond School Board meeting featured an interview with the school superintendent. I looked up to see who was being interviewed and from the way he appeared,I was expecting the man to break into a chorus of "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas!"
***
Speaking of Diamond, Diamond High School and MSSU graduate Kaylea Hutson continues to do strong work as lifestyles editor at The Carthage Press. Today's Press featured an informative look at the battle between Nexstar Broadcasting, owner of KSNF and owner in everything but name of KODE, and Cox Communications.
Nexstar has threatened to pull its stations from Cox's cable systems in Carthage and Lamar if it doesn't receive 30 cents per customer per month from Cox. The same ultimatum was rejected by Cable One in Joplin, which no longer carries the two Joplin stations.
***
Associated Press carried a story on Nexstar today. A media analyst said most confrontations, such as the ones going on between Nexstar and Cox, and Nexstar and Cable One end with the TV station backing down. "If they withhold their signal from cable, their ad revenue falls by 75 percent or so," Craig Moffett, a media analyst with Sanford Bernstein, told AP, noting that only viewers with satellite dishes or antennas can get the local stations
Advertisers have already been expressing their concerns to the Nexstar stations in Joplin and have been asking for deep discounts. Some have taken the lion's share of their business to KOAM, while others continue to put their ads on cable, where they are distributed to the local cable provider's time on all of its stations.
***
State Senator Gary Nodler's Education Committee hold its first meeting 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, in Senate Committee Room 1. It will be a while before the committee addresses the Foundation Formula, through which Missouri public schools are funded. The first meeting addresses issues facing higher education, including Nodler's bill to add two voting members to the Missouri Southern State University Board of Regents and a bill submitted by Rep. Norma Champion, R-Springfield, to rename Southwest Missouri State University to Missouri State University. The latter proposal has been strongly opposed by legislators in the Columbia area, who fear the name change would increase the Springfield university's prestige at the expense of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
***
The first Senate committee to deal with public elementary and secondary education will be the Appropriations Committee when it meets 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, in Senate Committee Room 2. Testimony will be given by officials from the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The committee will hold hearings for budget requests from the Department of Higher Education the following day.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
A two million dollar lawsuit against former Newton County Sheriff Ron Doerge has been pushed back a week.
Documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri indicate the trial for former inmate Donald R. Allen's lawsuit against Doerge will begin June 27 and continue through July 5 at the U. S. District Courthouse, 222 N. John Q. Hammons Parkway, Springfield.
Each party will be required to have all exhibits, motions, and a list of all witnesses ready by May 16, according to the court document.
Though many lawsuits against Doerge based on conditions in the jail have been dismissed over the years, Donald Richard Allen's suit has been winding its way through the federal court system since June 2, 2000. Allen's complaint stems from the way Doerge, head jailer Bob Sullivan and others responded to his request for medical treatment, according to the lawsuit. Allen's stay in the Newton County Jail began on Jan. 19, 2000. "I stated that I had emphysema and I need medication for this condition," he said. "I had my wife provide them with my medication and they refused to allow me access to it or refused to give it to me during med calls."Allen said I was not given access to grievance forms to lodge his complaints.He said he wants to see "a policy change within the Newton County Jail to insure no one else is treated in this manner."
Allen is asking for $1 million in damages and an additional $1 million in punitive damages.
***
Diamond R-4 Board of Education members are scheduled to review the results of the 2003-2004 audit when they meet 7 p.m. today in the high school hospitality room. No mention was made on the agenda if any decision will be made on a proposal to require drug testing of student athletes, but that doesn't mean it won't be discussed. Diamond school officials make a habit of providing only a barebones agenda and only listing the people who will make presentations and not any of what they will be talking about. High School Principal Jim Cummins, who has been researching the topic, is listed on the agenda.
***
A McDonald County inmate has been given until Feb. 4 to return civil right complaint forms against the sheriff's department to U. S. District Court Judge Gary A. Fenner. William Shayne Poole is suing former McDonald County Sheriff Robert Evenson, who was defeated in his re-election attempt and one of his deputies who apparently has a penchant for correcting the grammar and spelling on prisoners' grievance forms.
In his lawsuit, Poole asks for an audit of the prison commissary, claiming money is missing from inmate accounts. He claims prison officials did not allow him to receive medication, causing him to have seizures and forcing his hospitalization.
As reported last month in The Turner Report, Poole said he filled out a postage request form to send a letter to the circuit clerk, but it was "brought back and torn up in front of me by Michelle Amos."Lt. Amos also ignored staff memos to provide Poole with his medication, he claimed.Poole also sent in grievance forms filled out by him and two other prisoners, all of which he indicates were corrected by Lt. Amos, though the deputy's signature on the forms is virtually illegible. In one dated Dec. 12, 2003, she denied a request by Poole to use the canteen and to see the sheriff, scolding him for not spelling using and sheriff correctly. Someone should have gone over her work since she wrote, "periods and commas need to correctly," then with a flourish, added, "Denied- ask your lawyer."Another Poole grievance, dated Dec. 4, was returned with an "F" grade and "-50" written on it. Poole was complaining about a deputy not giving him soap to shower with and being disrespectful toward him, even though Poole was told if he wouldn't play with the soap he could probably have some.On the same day, inmate Don Barkfelt also received an F, according to a copy of a grievance form entered into Poole's petition. Barkfelt wrote, "Was refused soap to take a shower and was very out of line with his language with us this morning." Lt. Amos replied, "Great story and introduction, but need and ending to this story.The third grievance filed over the soap situation, submitted by Joe Darryl Andrews, was also graded F. "English helps" and "sentence doesn't make sense" were written on the grievance form. "Please rewrite the request so it can be read and written correctly."Poole claims that when he filled out a form to file his lawsuit, it was torn to pieces in front of him by Lt. Amos.
***
Former Hollinger Inc. CEO Lord Conrad Black will be interviewed as part of an investigation into financial wrongdoing at the company, according to an Associated Press article. Hollinger at one time owned The Neosho Daily News and The Carthage Press.
The article said investigators will spend about four months reviewing files before interviewing Black. Company officials claimed in SEC filings that Black systematically looted his company of millions and millions of dollars, including requiring newspaper companies that bought the small newspapers he sold in the 1990s to sign non-compete clauses that were totally unnecessary.
A report filed by the company to the SEC indicates that the sale terms when The Daily News and The Press were sold in 1998, during the creation of Liberty Group Publishing, also required Liberty officials to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for non-compete clauses.
***
One of the best feature writers on any Missouri newspaper is Michelle Reagan who got her start when she attended Lockwood High School working for me at The Carthage Press. If you get a chance, check out the Features section on the Jefferson City News-Tribune website link, featured elsewhere on this page. Michelle wrote an excellent little profile of the family of former Missouri Governor Bob Holden as it prepared to leave the governor's mansion.
***
I received quite a few comments when I ran a few items on people who left the local television markets and have gone on to other venues. I still have as many people coming to this site to find out about Malorie Maddox as I do about the other three hot topics, Ron Doerge, O'Sullivan Industries and the Nexstar-Cable One feud.
Of course, the names that have been most prominent have been former KOAM reporter Brian Williams, who recently replaced Tom Brokaw as anchor of the NBC Nightly News, and former KODE weather reporter Marny Stanier who has filed an age discrimination lawsuit after being fired by The Weather Channel after 15 years.
Another former local who has gone on to bigger things is former KSN sports reporter John Boruk, who is now a sports anchor and reporter at WDIV-4, the NBC affiliate in Detroit. Boruk was in the Joplin area close to 10 years ago, then spent time at KOLR in Springfield and about five years at Nashville, winning three local Emmys and was nominated for eight others in the process.
***
The simultaneous editorials ran by Nexstar Broadcasting on KODE and KSNF at the beginning of the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts Tuesday night was just another example of the nonsense of claiming that the two stations have different owners.
The simple fact is all of Mission Broadcasting's stations, including KODE, are operated by Nexstar and the lunacy of calling Mission Broadcasting an actual business instead of a thinly-disguised method of getting around Federal Communications Commission rules was spelled out thoroughly in an article in the Jan. 11, 2004, edition of the Akron, Ohio, Beacon Journal.
Mission Broadcasting is run out of the home of Rev. David Smith, pastor of the St. Paul Lutheran Center in Akron, according to the article, which describes the home of Mission Broadcasting as "the tidy white house on a quiet street."
To quote from the article, "Mission Broadcasting, despite its biblical-sounding name, is not a religious broadcaster. It owns an assortment of CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox affiliates. Its stations run the normal fare of college football games, reality shows, Seinfeld reruns and local news.
"The Smiths' house is not a television nerve center like CNN's headquarters in Atlanta. And it doesn't have transmission towers in the back yard. From the sidewalk, it looks like an ordinary house."
That's because, as the article points out, it is an ordinary house. Mission doesn't run TV stations, it holds station licenses and enters into agreements with Nexstar to run those stations, including KODE in Joplin and KOLR in Springfield.
The article describes the operation of the Nexstar-operated stations in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., which are similar to the way the Joplin stations are run. "The two stations have separate news anchors and reporters, but they share camera operators, live-satellite trucks, editors and engineers, and sometimes producers and directors."
This system has enabled Nexstar to dominate smaller markets, where owners are only allowed one station according to FCC rules. Even though the FCC treats Nexstar and Mission as two companies, Nexstar makes no efforts in its federal Securities and Exchange Commission filings to hide the fact that it is actually one. Nexstar guarantees Mission's debt, has options to buy all Mission stations at below-market rates if FCC rules are ever relaxed and receives virtually "all of the available cash generated by Mission's stations."
In the SEC documents, as noted earlier in The Turner Report, Nexstar officials claim to have a "controlling financial interest" in Mission.
This arrangement has not gone unnoticed by consumer advocates. In the Beacon Journal article, Liz Rose, a former FCC spokesman during the Clinton administration, gave her assessment of the Nexstar-Mission arrangement. "It sounds like a big loophole that hits a community exactly where it hurts," she said. "Companies that consolidate local TV business, in the face of rules that clearly prohibit it, have developed these clever, and I think, highly suspect legal fig leaves to defeat the obvious intent of the law. The losers are the citizens in those towns. The companies, to save money, are cutting back on local news, weather, and sports...the things that people really care about."
The article quotes Nexstar CEO Perry Sook as saying that David Smith "and his people" make all of the programming decisions for Mission and that he and other Nexstar officials have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
SEC documents indicate that Smith makes $200,000 a year as CEO of Mission. His wife also receives a salary, but Smith told the Beacon Journal that he has "no day-to-day responsibilities" with Mission. He did not know how many employees Mission had and couldn't explain his own company's business plan.
The Turner Report has learned that KODE employees are told to stick with the company line that Mission is actually in control of the station, but the company line is hard to accept since one year ago Mission Broadcasting had 65 employees at 12 stations, an average of 5.4 employees per station. It is hard to run a TV station with 5.4 employees.
Documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri indicate the trial for former inmate Donald R. Allen's lawsuit against Doerge will begin June 27 and continue through July 5 at the U. S. District Courthouse, 222 N. John Q. Hammons Parkway, Springfield.
Each party will be required to have all exhibits, motions, and a list of all witnesses ready by May 16, according to the court document.
Though many lawsuits against Doerge based on conditions in the jail have been dismissed over the years, Donald Richard Allen's suit has been winding its way through the federal court system since June 2, 2000. Allen's complaint stems from the way Doerge, head jailer Bob Sullivan and others responded to his request for medical treatment, according to the lawsuit. Allen's stay in the Newton County Jail began on Jan. 19, 2000. "I stated that I had emphysema and I need medication for this condition," he said. "I had my wife provide them with my medication and they refused to allow me access to it or refused to give it to me during med calls."Allen said I was not given access to grievance forms to lodge his complaints.He said he wants to see "a policy change within the Newton County Jail to insure no one else is treated in this manner."
Allen is asking for $1 million in damages and an additional $1 million in punitive damages.
***
Diamond R-4 Board of Education members are scheduled to review the results of the 2003-2004 audit when they meet 7 p.m. today in the high school hospitality room. No mention was made on the agenda if any decision will be made on a proposal to require drug testing of student athletes, but that doesn't mean it won't be discussed. Diamond school officials make a habit of providing only a barebones agenda and only listing the people who will make presentations and not any of what they will be talking about. High School Principal Jim Cummins, who has been researching the topic, is listed on the agenda.
***
A McDonald County inmate has been given until Feb. 4 to return civil right complaint forms against the sheriff's department to U. S. District Court Judge Gary A. Fenner. William Shayne Poole is suing former McDonald County Sheriff Robert Evenson, who was defeated in his re-election attempt and one of his deputies who apparently has a penchant for correcting the grammar and spelling on prisoners' grievance forms.
In his lawsuit, Poole asks for an audit of the prison commissary, claiming money is missing from inmate accounts. He claims prison officials did not allow him to receive medication, causing him to have seizures and forcing his hospitalization.
As reported last month in The Turner Report, Poole said he filled out a postage request form to send a letter to the circuit clerk, but it was "brought back and torn up in front of me by Michelle Amos."Lt. Amos also ignored staff memos to provide Poole with his medication, he claimed.Poole also sent in grievance forms filled out by him and two other prisoners, all of which he indicates were corrected by Lt. Amos, though the deputy's signature on the forms is virtually illegible. In one dated Dec. 12, 2003, she denied a request by Poole to use the canteen and to see the sheriff, scolding him for not spelling using and sheriff correctly. Someone should have gone over her work since she wrote, "periods and commas need to correctly," then with a flourish, added, "Denied- ask your lawyer."Another Poole grievance, dated Dec. 4, was returned with an "F" grade and "-50" written on it. Poole was complaining about a deputy not giving him soap to shower with and being disrespectful toward him, even though Poole was told if he wouldn't play with the soap he could probably have some.On the same day, inmate Don Barkfelt also received an F, according to a copy of a grievance form entered into Poole's petition. Barkfelt wrote, "Was refused soap to take a shower and was very out of line with his language with us this morning." Lt. Amos replied, "Great story and introduction, but need and ending to this story.The third grievance filed over the soap situation, submitted by Joe Darryl Andrews, was also graded F. "English helps" and "sentence doesn't make sense" were written on the grievance form. "Please rewrite the request so it can be read and written correctly."Poole claims that when he filled out a form to file his lawsuit, it was torn to pieces in front of him by Lt. Amos.
***
Former Hollinger Inc. CEO Lord Conrad Black will be interviewed as part of an investigation into financial wrongdoing at the company, according to an Associated Press article. Hollinger at one time owned The Neosho Daily News and The Carthage Press.
The article said investigators will spend about four months reviewing files before interviewing Black. Company officials claimed in SEC filings that Black systematically looted his company of millions and millions of dollars, including requiring newspaper companies that bought the small newspapers he sold in the 1990s to sign non-compete clauses that were totally unnecessary.
A report filed by the company to the SEC indicates that the sale terms when The Daily News and The Press were sold in 1998, during the creation of Liberty Group Publishing, also required Liberty officials to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for non-compete clauses.
***
One of the best feature writers on any Missouri newspaper is Michelle Reagan who got her start when she attended Lockwood High School working for me at The Carthage Press. If you get a chance, check out the Features section on the Jefferson City News-Tribune website link, featured elsewhere on this page. Michelle wrote an excellent little profile of the family of former Missouri Governor Bob Holden as it prepared to leave the governor's mansion.
***
I received quite a few comments when I ran a few items on people who left the local television markets and have gone on to other venues. I still have as many people coming to this site to find out about Malorie Maddox as I do about the other three hot topics, Ron Doerge, O'Sullivan Industries and the Nexstar-Cable One feud.
Of course, the names that have been most prominent have been former KOAM reporter Brian Williams, who recently replaced Tom Brokaw as anchor of the NBC Nightly News, and former KODE weather reporter Marny Stanier who has filed an age discrimination lawsuit after being fired by The Weather Channel after 15 years.
Another former local who has gone on to bigger things is former KSN sports reporter John Boruk, who is now a sports anchor and reporter at WDIV-4, the NBC affiliate in Detroit. Boruk was in the Joplin area close to 10 years ago, then spent time at KOLR in Springfield and about five years at Nashville, winning three local Emmys and was nominated for eight others in the process.
***
The simultaneous editorials ran by Nexstar Broadcasting on KODE and KSNF at the beginning of the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts Tuesday night was just another example of the nonsense of claiming that the two stations have different owners.
The simple fact is all of Mission Broadcasting's stations, including KODE, are operated by Nexstar and the lunacy of calling Mission Broadcasting an actual business instead of a thinly-disguised method of getting around Federal Communications Commission rules was spelled out thoroughly in an article in the Jan. 11, 2004, edition of the Akron, Ohio, Beacon Journal.
Mission Broadcasting is run out of the home of Rev. David Smith, pastor of the St. Paul Lutheran Center in Akron, according to the article, which describes the home of Mission Broadcasting as "the tidy white house on a quiet street."
To quote from the article, "Mission Broadcasting, despite its biblical-sounding name, is not a religious broadcaster. It owns an assortment of CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox affiliates. Its stations run the normal fare of college football games, reality shows, Seinfeld reruns and local news.
"The Smiths' house is not a television nerve center like CNN's headquarters in Atlanta. And it doesn't have transmission towers in the back yard. From the sidewalk, it looks like an ordinary house."
That's because, as the article points out, it is an ordinary house. Mission doesn't run TV stations, it holds station licenses and enters into agreements with Nexstar to run those stations, including KODE in Joplin and KOLR in Springfield.
The article describes the operation of the Nexstar-operated stations in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., which are similar to the way the Joplin stations are run. "The two stations have separate news anchors and reporters, but they share camera operators, live-satellite trucks, editors and engineers, and sometimes producers and directors."
This system has enabled Nexstar to dominate smaller markets, where owners are only allowed one station according to FCC rules. Even though the FCC treats Nexstar and Mission as two companies, Nexstar makes no efforts in its federal Securities and Exchange Commission filings to hide the fact that it is actually one. Nexstar guarantees Mission's debt, has options to buy all Mission stations at below-market rates if FCC rules are ever relaxed and receives virtually "all of the available cash generated by Mission's stations."
In the SEC documents, as noted earlier in The Turner Report, Nexstar officials claim to have a "controlling financial interest" in Mission.
This arrangement has not gone unnoticed by consumer advocates. In the Beacon Journal article, Liz Rose, a former FCC spokesman during the Clinton administration, gave her assessment of the Nexstar-Mission arrangement. "It sounds like a big loophole that hits a community exactly where it hurts," she said. "Companies that consolidate local TV business, in the face of rules that clearly prohibit it, have developed these clever, and I think, highly suspect legal fig leaves to defeat the obvious intent of the law. The losers are the citizens in those towns. The companies, to save money, are cutting back on local news, weather, and sports...the things that people really care about."
The article quotes Nexstar CEO Perry Sook as saying that David Smith "and his people" make all of the programming decisions for Mission and that he and other Nexstar officials have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
SEC documents indicate that Smith makes $200,000 a year as CEO of Mission. His wife also receives a salary, but Smith told the Beacon Journal that he has "no day-to-day responsibilities" with Mission. He did not know how many employees Mission had and couldn't explain his own company's business plan.
The Turner Report has learned that KODE employees are told to stick with the company line that Mission is actually in control of the station, but the company line is hard to accept since one year ago Mission Broadcasting had 65 employees at 12 stations, an average of 5.4 employees per station. It is hard to run a TV station with 5.4 employees.
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