After the 30-minute special extolling the virtues of local television and of satellite dishes, in the interest of equal time, The Turner Report will present the advantages of cable over satellite:
-Cable services can be bundled with high-speed internet services at a discount.
-No extra charge for local channels
-Reception that is not affected by bad weather like satellite
-Additional outlets free of charge
-Strong local technical support located in your community.
Those are not actually my selling points for cable. They do not come from Cable One, nor do they come from Cox Communications.
Those reasons why cable is preferable to satellite come from Atlantic Broadband, the 16th biggest cable company in the United States. Atlantic Broadband is a relatively new entrant into cable television, but has quickly established itself. It was started by a Boston private equity firm ABRY Partners...the same ABRY Partners that owns controlling interest in Nexstar Broadcasting.
During the half-hour Nexstar infomercial COO Duane Lammers lambasted Cable One, because it is owned by corporate giant The Washington Post, which also owns Newsweek Magazine and other properties.
He made it sound as if the big, bad Washington Post was bringing all of its power down on tiny, courageous Nexstar. What Duane Lammers failed to mention was the large media portfolio owned by his bosses from ABRY Partners.
Among the other companies owned by ABRY are:
-Consolidated Theatres- a regional megaplex movie theater circuit
-Charleston Newspapers- publishers of both the Charleston Gazette and Charleston Daily Mail in West Virginia.
-Muzak- a subscription music service
-Country Road Communications- a rural wireline telecom provider
-Network Communications- a leading North American publisher
-Citadel Communications- Owner and operator of leading radio station clusters in mid-sized markets.
-Sullivan Broadcasting Company- a leading operator of Fox-affiliated broadcast television stations in mid-sized cities.
-Hispanic Yellow Pages Network- Targets Hispanic areas across the U. S.
-Monitronics- A leading provider of security monitoring devices for residential and business customers.
-Connoisseur Communications- owner and operator of leading radio station clusters in small and mid-sized cities.
-Dolan Media Company- provides business information services to law, credit, finance, construction and commercial real estate industries.
At the same time that one ABRY company is telling customers in the Joplin area, plus customers in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, that cable companies are out to milk the public, cheat broadcast stations, and are inferior to satellite, another ABRY company is telling customers in the upper Midwest, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the Miami, Fla., areas that cable is far superior to satellite.
Atlantic Broadband is not the only cable company owned by ABRY. According to the ABRY website, the investment firm also owns WideOpenWest, or WOW, which is even larger than Atlantic Broadband, ranking as the number 13 cable operator in the U. S., providing services in the suburbs of Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, and southeast Michigan.
Lammers did not tell the audience about Atlantic Broadband or WideOpenWest, and he certainly did not mention anything about either of those companies actually paying that penny per day price to local broadcasters for retransmission of their signals.
One last bit of irony...It wasn't long ago that the newscasts on the Nexstar stations in Joplin covered a staged protest by the local Echostar/DISH Network provider, targeting Cable One.
ABRY's website carries the following news release, issued Dec. 3, 2004, with a Johnstown, Pa., deadline: "Atlantic Broadband, the digital video and internet provider that began operating here in March, has issued a protest to Echostar, the $5.7 billion distributor of DISH Network satellite programming, saying it is misleading Pennsylvania consumers in a negative ad campaign aimed at cable TV operators."
For those who have forgotten, or who did not get the opportunity to see Nexstar's 30-minute infomercial, its title was "TV Cable Fable."
Aesop couldn't have told it better.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Stay tuned "if you want to be educated," about the truth about the battle between Nexstar Broadcasting and Cable One.
No, that wasn't an ad promoting the 30-minute Nexstar infomercial that ran earlier tonight on KODE and KSNF. That was KODE news anchor Jimmy Siedlecki shilling for his bosses...during the 6 p.m. newscast.
The newscasts of the two Nexstar stations have suffered the most during this battle royal and it continued tonight. I did not see how or if KSNF promoted the infomercial during its newscast, but since it is the station with actually has Nexstar's name attached to it, I find it hard to believe that it might have gone unmentioned.
The total eradication of the barrier between news and advertising continued at the beginning of "TV Cable Fable," the catchy title given to the infomercial, when it was opened by KSN-KODE News Director Larry Young, who primarily served to introduce Nexstar COO Duane Lammers, who then went into his half-hour spiel.
"Let me apologize for any inconvenience our disagreement has caused you and your family," Lammers said. He briefly reviewed the history of cable television, then noted that the local stations have "created a legacy of serving our communities with pride and distinction." Lammers continued to dispute the cable companies claim that they should not have to pay for free television, by noting that the companies have been packaging the local stations with other stations that people do not want. He compared the practice to getting a drink of water at a fountain, which costs nothing, but if it is packaged as bottled water, you have to pay for it.
During the half hour telecast, Lammers:
-Indicated Nexstar would continue fighting the battle with other cable companies as its retransmission contracts come up.
-Urged people to sign up with Dish Network and said that Direct TV will soon have the capability to broadcast the local stations in the Joplin area.
-Said that Saga, owner of KOAM-TV, is supporting Nexstar's position and that it, too, would be fighting to be paid for its broadcasts when its contracts are up.
A particularly amusing segment had Lammers answering e-mail from KODE and KSNF viewers. Apparently, no one responded to the call for e-mail messages with anything important to say since one of the e-mail writers simply told Nexstar he agreed with its stance and another asked what appeared to be a planted question.
The writer asked if the situation between Nexstar and the cable companies could cause KODE and KSNF employees to lose their jobs. Lammers said there would be "absolutely no layoffs or any job losses as the result of this conflict." He did not mention if his company might find another excuse to lay off employees.
Any readers from other areas besides Joplin in which these Nexstar infomercials have aired, I would appreciate if you could get in touch with me and give me details about those programs.
I would also love to hear from anyone from Saga, owner of KOAM. What Lammers said is clearly at odds with interviews KOAM General Manager Danny Thomas gave the Pittsburg Morning Sun recently, in which he said KOAM would not take any such stance and, in fact, criticized the coverage being given to the rival stations, noting that KOAM has more viewers anyway.
***
Michelle Nickolaisen, in her blog "Seceding from Society" at www.secedingfromsociety.blogspot.com notes that the Diamond R-4 Board of Education is meeting tonight to discuss extending Superintendent Mark Mayo's contract another year beyond the next school year.
"Wow - our school board amazes me," she wrote. "They're required to have notification of board meetings up, right? Well, they posted one sometime between six A.M. and now. Guess when the meeting is? Tonight. At like, 6:30 or 6:45. Supposedly they're going to renew Mayo's contract. "
Actually, Michelle, I happened to check the site during my planning period today (about 11 a.m.) and it hadn't been posted at that juncture. The Missouri Sunshine Law requires notices of meetings to be posted at least 24 hours in advance. However, I am sure the letter of the law is being followed, if not the spirit. I would guess the agenda was posted in a window or on a door at the high school...where the only people who would see it are students who are not likely to attend anyway.
Of course, if the board does agree to extend Mayo's contract to the end of the 2006-2007 school year, maybe he will be close to actually earning the doctor title he has been using in front of his name. (My understanding is that his "doctor" title comes from his law degree, and that he is just starting on his educational doctorate.)
It should be pointed out that Michelle's information about the proposed extension to Mayo's contract did not come up from the agenda, which features no such information. The closed session involves personnel and other some reasons, but no mention is made of the superintendent's contract. Only a list of people who are going to make presentations and their general areas of discussion are mentioned for the open session.
***
No Child Left Behind requirements are going to increase the number of MAP tests that Missouri schools have to give. Considering that many Missouri schools dropped a number of MAP tests due to cuts in state funding, how is the state planning on funding the increase or will the testing increase stretch the budgets of already underfunded school districts?
NCLB requires students to be tested in math and reading each year between third and eighth grade. Currently, tests are given in the following fashion:
Third grade- Communication Arts
Fourth grade- math
Fifth grade- no tests
Sixth grade- no tests
Seventh grade- communication arts
Eighth grade- math
Ninth grade- No tests
Tenth grade- math
Eleventh grade- communication arts
Twelfth grade- no tests.
Beginning next year, the tests will be given to the following:
Third grade- Communication arts, math
Fourth grade- communication arts, math
Fifth grade- Communication arts, math
Sixth grade- Communication arts, math
Seventh grade- Communication arts, math
Eighth grade- Communication arts, math
Ninth grade- No tests
Tenth grade- math
Eleventh grade- Communication arts
It will be interesting to see if the state legislature comes up with a way to cover the costs of eight extra tests, as well as improve the foundation formula through which public schools are funded.
No, that wasn't an ad promoting the 30-minute Nexstar infomercial that ran earlier tonight on KODE and KSNF. That was KODE news anchor Jimmy Siedlecki shilling for his bosses...during the 6 p.m. newscast.
The newscasts of the two Nexstar stations have suffered the most during this battle royal and it continued tonight. I did not see how or if KSNF promoted the infomercial during its newscast, but since it is the station with actually has Nexstar's name attached to it, I find it hard to believe that it might have gone unmentioned.
The total eradication of the barrier between news and advertising continued at the beginning of "TV Cable Fable," the catchy title given to the infomercial, when it was opened by KSN-KODE News Director Larry Young, who primarily served to introduce Nexstar COO Duane Lammers, who then went into his half-hour spiel.
"Let me apologize for any inconvenience our disagreement has caused you and your family," Lammers said. He briefly reviewed the history of cable television, then noted that the local stations have "created a legacy of serving our communities with pride and distinction." Lammers continued to dispute the cable companies claim that they should not have to pay for free television, by noting that the companies have been packaging the local stations with other stations that people do not want. He compared the practice to getting a drink of water at a fountain, which costs nothing, but if it is packaged as bottled water, you have to pay for it.
During the half hour telecast, Lammers:
-Indicated Nexstar would continue fighting the battle with other cable companies as its retransmission contracts come up.
-Urged people to sign up with Dish Network and said that Direct TV will soon have the capability to broadcast the local stations in the Joplin area.
-Said that Saga, owner of KOAM-TV, is supporting Nexstar's position and that it, too, would be fighting to be paid for its broadcasts when its contracts are up.
A particularly amusing segment had Lammers answering e-mail from KODE and KSNF viewers. Apparently, no one responded to the call for e-mail messages with anything important to say since one of the e-mail writers simply told Nexstar he agreed with its stance and another asked what appeared to be a planted question.
The writer asked if the situation between Nexstar and the cable companies could cause KODE and KSNF employees to lose their jobs. Lammers said there would be "absolutely no layoffs or any job losses as the result of this conflict." He did not mention if his company might find another excuse to lay off employees.
Any readers from other areas besides Joplin in which these Nexstar infomercials have aired, I would appreciate if you could get in touch with me and give me details about those programs.
I would also love to hear from anyone from Saga, owner of KOAM. What Lammers said is clearly at odds with interviews KOAM General Manager Danny Thomas gave the Pittsburg Morning Sun recently, in which he said KOAM would not take any such stance and, in fact, criticized the coverage being given to the rival stations, noting that KOAM has more viewers anyway.
***
Michelle Nickolaisen, in her blog "Seceding from Society" at www.secedingfromsociety.blogspot.com notes that the Diamond R-4 Board of Education is meeting tonight to discuss extending Superintendent Mark Mayo's contract another year beyond the next school year.
"Wow - our school board amazes me," she wrote. "They're required to have notification of board meetings up, right? Well, they posted one sometime between six A.M. and now. Guess when the meeting is? Tonight. At like, 6:30 or 6:45. Supposedly they're going to renew Mayo's contract. "
Actually, Michelle, I happened to check the site during my planning period today (about 11 a.m.) and it hadn't been posted at that juncture. The Missouri Sunshine Law requires notices of meetings to be posted at least 24 hours in advance. However, I am sure the letter of the law is being followed, if not the spirit. I would guess the agenda was posted in a window or on a door at the high school...where the only people who would see it are students who are not likely to attend anyway.
Of course, if the board does agree to extend Mayo's contract to the end of the 2006-2007 school year, maybe he will be close to actually earning the doctor title he has been using in front of his name. (My understanding is that his "doctor" title comes from his law degree, and that he is just starting on his educational doctorate.)
It should be pointed out that Michelle's information about the proposed extension to Mayo's contract did not come up from the agenda, which features no such information. The closed session involves personnel and other some reasons, but no mention is made of the superintendent's contract. Only a list of people who are going to make presentations and their general areas of discussion are mentioned for the open session.
***
No Child Left Behind requirements are going to increase the number of MAP tests that Missouri schools have to give. Considering that many Missouri schools dropped a number of MAP tests due to cuts in state funding, how is the state planning on funding the increase or will the testing increase stretch the budgets of already underfunded school districts?
NCLB requires students to be tested in math and reading each year between third and eighth grade. Currently, tests are given in the following fashion:
Third grade- Communication Arts
Fourth grade- math
Fifth grade- no tests
Sixth grade- no tests
Seventh grade- communication arts
Eighth grade- math
Ninth grade- No tests
Tenth grade- math
Eleventh grade- communication arts
Twelfth grade- no tests.
Beginning next year, the tests will be given to the following:
Third grade- Communication arts, math
Fourth grade- communication arts, math
Fifth grade- Communication arts, math
Sixth grade- Communication arts, math
Seventh grade- Communication arts, math
Eighth grade- Communication arts, math
Ninth grade- No tests
Tenth grade- math
Eleventh grade- Communication arts
It will be interesting to see if the state legislature comes up with a way to cover the costs of eight extra tests, as well as improve the foundation formula through which public schools are funded.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
One of the things that kept Barton County perking during the 1980s and early 1990s was its diversified economy. The city had a strong manufacturing base, thanks to O'Sullivan Industries and Thorco, a strong retail base, and a strong agricultural base.
The recent shenanigans involving the operation of O'Sullivan Industries and its million-dollar CEO Bob Parker have Barton County residents hoping that this pillar of the manufacturing segment is going to continue to be the area's chief employer.
President Bush's announces that farm subsidies will be severely cut as part of his budget request to Congress could severely damage the agricultural base.
U. S. Department of Agriculture statistics indicate that during the years between 1995 and 2003, Barton County farmers received $59,316,861 in farm subsidies, including $5,384,975 in 2003. The largest amount, thanks to disaster subsidies, was $12,179,007 in 2001. And this is despite the fact that none of the top 749 recipients in the state in 2003 come from Barton County. The top Barton County recipient that year with $75,748 was John Gardner Farms, Inc., which received $869,285 between 1995 and 2003.
The only other Barton County farming concern in the top 1,000 in 2003 was Crabtree Brothers in Liberal at $65,811.
Other area counties were not affected as much as Barton County, but still received large amounts of money, according to USDA statistics. Jasper County received $33,494,146 between 1995 and 2003, with $2,991,312 in 2003, Newton County farmers received $12,399.53 in the nine-year period, including $1,241,555 in 2003. McDonald County received $2,337,921 between 1995 and 2003, including $353,897 in 2003.
***
In an effort to bring customer service and accountability to the Department of Revenue's contract license offices, Governor Matt Blunt named new operators for each of them today, including former State Representative Bubs Hohulin in Lamar, and John Putnam in Carthage.
According to a news release from the governor, Blunt required prospective agents to "submit a business plan demonstrating their commitment to meeting the needs of Missouri citizens." These plans included details on financial responsibilities and office operations, the news release said.
Agents will be required to keep the offices open on Saturdays.
Agents for other contract offices will be announced at a later date, according to the news release.
***
Nexstar COO Duane Lammers was in Joplin Tuesday and his 30-minute infomercial about the alleged abuses of cable TV and the wonders of satellite will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on KSNF AND KODE.
Nexstar CEO Perry Sook told Radio & Television Business Report in its February issue that his stations may never return to the Cox and Cable One systems it has cut off. He terms the loss of ad revenue by the Nexstar stations as "fairly inconsequential," saying it has only been about a third of what had been expected. "There have been some cancellations, but in a company that does a quarter billion dollars in ad revenues, it has been merely a six-figure number," Sook told the magazine. "When you compare that to what is at stake, which would be getting paid from every wired home in our universe, obviously the fight is worth fighting."
Sook told the magazine the cable systems have been hurt far more than the Nexstar stations. He said if his company were to receive 25 to 30 cents per subscriber per month for its signal that it would make more than $20 million extra per year.
Sook is scheduled to be profiled in the March issue of the magazine.
***
La-Z-Boy's quarterly report showed sales up, operating margin down, and another ode to the joys of outsourcing.
Though the company's press release, as expected, touted the $26 million increase in net sales, operating margin was down from 5.3 percent last year to 3.9 percent during the most recent quarter.
No mention of outsourcing was made in the news release, but it was there in black and white in the company's filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. "During the first quarter of fiscal 2004, we announced the closing of three of our casegoods group manufacturing facilities," the SEC filing said. "This action was the result of underutilization of certain manufacturing facilities as we transitioned to more foreign-sourced products in order to be competitive with imported furniture."
The filing noted that 480 jobs were lost as a result of that move, though it said 75 other jobs had been created. La-Z-Boy CEO Kurt Darrow has said in published interviews, including one in the Aug. 11 Toledo Ohio Blade that the company would continue to send as much of its production as possible overseas to increase profit margins.
One area of La-Z-Boy that is safe for the time being is the upholstery area, including the plant at Neosho because Chinese facilities are not ready to take on that kind of work. Darrow indicated he would keep an eye on the Chinese plants to determine when they would be ready.
The recent shenanigans involving the operation of O'Sullivan Industries and its million-dollar CEO Bob Parker have Barton County residents hoping that this pillar of the manufacturing segment is going to continue to be the area's chief employer.
President Bush's announces that farm subsidies will be severely cut as part of his budget request to Congress could severely damage the agricultural base.
U. S. Department of Agriculture statistics indicate that during the years between 1995 and 2003, Barton County farmers received $59,316,861 in farm subsidies, including $5,384,975 in 2003. The largest amount, thanks to disaster subsidies, was $12,179,007 in 2001. And this is despite the fact that none of the top 749 recipients in the state in 2003 come from Barton County. The top Barton County recipient that year with $75,748 was John Gardner Farms, Inc., which received $869,285 between 1995 and 2003.
The only other Barton County farming concern in the top 1,000 in 2003 was Crabtree Brothers in Liberal at $65,811.
Other area counties were not affected as much as Barton County, but still received large amounts of money, according to USDA statistics. Jasper County received $33,494,146 between 1995 and 2003, with $2,991,312 in 2003, Newton County farmers received $12,399.53 in the nine-year period, including $1,241,555 in 2003. McDonald County received $2,337,921 between 1995 and 2003, including $353,897 in 2003.
***
In an effort to bring customer service and accountability to the Department of Revenue's contract license offices, Governor Matt Blunt named new operators for each of them today, including former State Representative Bubs Hohulin in Lamar, and John Putnam in Carthage.
According to a news release from the governor, Blunt required prospective agents to "submit a business plan demonstrating their commitment to meeting the needs of Missouri citizens." These plans included details on financial responsibilities and office operations, the news release said.
Agents will be required to keep the offices open on Saturdays.
Agents for other contract offices will be announced at a later date, according to the news release.
***
Nexstar COO Duane Lammers was in Joplin Tuesday and his 30-minute infomercial about the alleged abuses of cable TV and the wonders of satellite will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on KSNF AND KODE.
Nexstar CEO Perry Sook told Radio & Television Business Report in its February issue that his stations may never return to the Cox and Cable One systems it has cut off. He terms the loss of ad revenue by the Nexstar stations as "fairly inconsequential," saying it has only been about a third of what had been expected. "There have been some cancellations, but in a company that does a quarter billion dollars in ad revenues, it has been merely a six-figure number," Sook told the magazine. "When you compare that to what is at stake, which would be getting paid from every wired home in our universe, obviously the fight is worth fighting."
Sook told the magazine the cable systems have been hurt far more than the Nexstar stations. He said if his company were to receive 25 to 30 cents per subscriber per month for its signal that it would make more than $20 million extra per year.
Sook is scheduled to be profiled in the March issue of the magazine.
***
La-Z-Boy's quarterly report showed sales up, operating margin down, and another ode to the joys of outsourcing.
Though the company's press release, as expected, touted the $26 million increase in net sales, operating margin was down from 5.3 percent last year to 3.9 percent during the most recent quarter.
No mention of outsourcing was made in the news release, but it was there in black and white in the company's filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. "During the first quarter of fiscal 2004, we announced the closing of three of our casegoods group manufacturing facilities," the SEC filing said. "This action was the result of underutilization of certain manufacturing facilities as we transitioned to more foreign-sourced products in order to be competitive with imported furniture."
The filing noted that 480 jobs were lost as a result of that move, though it said 75 other jobs had been created. La-Z-Boy CEO Kurt Darrow has said in published interviews, including one in the Aug. 11 Toledo Ohio Blade that the company would continue to send as much of its production as possible overseas to increase profit margins.
One area of La-Z-Boy that is safe for the time being is the upholstery area, including the plant at Neosho because Chinese facilities are not ready to take on that kind of work. Darrow indicated he would keep an eye on the Chinese plants to determine when they would be ready.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
A McDonald County jail inmate's lawsuit against former Sheriff Robert Evenson and deputy Michelle Amos, among others was dismissed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
According to court documents, William Shane Poole did not correct technical problems in his petition, even after being given an extension from Jan. 12 to Feb. 4 to do so.
U. S. District Judge Gary Fenner dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning Poole can file it again.
In the lawsuit, which was filed Dec. 21, Poole asked for an audit of the prison commissary, claiming that money is missing from inmate accounts.
He said prison officials did not allow him to receive much-needed medication, causing him to have seizures and forcing his hospitalization. Poole says 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 he 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, "Peroids 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. "(She) smiled at me as she tore up another sheet of paper that had dates and times on it. I did keep one sheet and that is the information that I am sending you to keep secure," Poole wrote.
***
The attorney for former Newton County inmate Oscar Alvarez is asking for a jury trial in his lawsuit against former Sheriff Ron Doerge. In documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Steven J. Blair, Alvarez' attorney, asked for the jury trial in their case against Doerge, who they claim was in charge of two jailers who allegedly permitted him to be beaten.
In the lawsuit, filed Nov. 22 in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missori, Alvarez claimed that on Feb. 22, 2004, jailers Adam Brandon Babbitt and Shane Steven Smith, arranged for his brutal beating at the hands of another prisoner. He says that since the two men were working for Doerge, that Doerge is ultimately responsible for their actions.
In the response to the complaint, 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 two deputies because of their involvement in the incident.
The two former deputies were charged with misdemeanor third degree assault, then later the charges were amended to felonies.
As revealed earlier this week in The Turner Report, Doerge may have ignored evidence that could have cleared the two jailers and saved himself from this most recent lawsuit.
This evidence included an affidavit signed by another Cell Block A inmate saying Alvarez and another inmate had concocted a plan to have Alvarez beaten to prevent him from being deported. At the time, Alvarez was facing a felony charge of non-support which, if he had been convicted, would have been enough to have forced him to leave the United States.
It appears that the sheriff only accepted the word of four inmates, including Alvarez and the man who beat him that the cameras were turned off, although there was no other evidence that that was what had happened.
More information on the latest developments in the Doerge-Alvarez case was featured earlier this week in The Turner Report.
According to court documents, William Shane Poole did not correct technical problems in his petition, even after being given an extension from Jan. 12 to Feb. 4 to do so.
U. S. District Judge Gary Fenner dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning Poole can file it again.
In the lawsuit, which was filed Dec. 21, Poole asked for an audit of the prison commissary, claiming that money is missing from inmate accounts.
He said prison officials did not allow him to receive much-needed medication, causing him to have seizures and forcing his hospitalization. Poole says 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 he 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, "Peroids 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. "(She) smiled at me as she tore up another sheet of paper that had dates and times on it. I did keep one sheet and that is the information that I am sending you to keep secure," Poole wrote.
***
The attorney for former Newton County inmate Oscar Alvarez is asking for a jury trial in his lawsuit against former Sheriff Ron Doerge. In documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Steven J. Blair, Alvarez' attorney, asked for the jury trial in their case against Doerge, who they claim was in charge of two jailers who allegedly permitted him to be beaten.
In the lawsuit, filed Nov. 22 in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missori, Alvarez claimed that on Feb. 22, 2004, jailers Adam Brandon Babbitt and Shane Steven Smith, arranged for his brutal beating at the hands of another prisoner. He says that since the two men were working for Doerge, that Doerge is ultimately responsible for their actions.
In the response to the complaint, 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 two deputies because of their involvement in the incident.
The two former deputies were charged with misdemeanor third degree assault, then later the charges were amended to felonies.
As revealed earlier this week in The Turner Report, Doerge may have ignored evidence that could have cleared the two jailers and saved himself from this most recent lawsuit.
This evidence included an affidavit signed by another Cell Block A inmate saying Alvarez and another inmate had concocted a plan to have Alvarez beaten to prevent him from being deported. At the time, Alvarez was facing a felony charge of non-support which, if he had been convicted, would have been enough to have forced him to leave the United States.
It appears that the sheriff only accepted the word of four inmates, including Alvarez and the man who beat him that the cameras were turned off, although there was no other evidence that that was what had happened.
More information on the latest developments in the Doerge-Alvarez case was featured earlier this week in The Turner Report.
Monday, February 07, 2005
A bill by State Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho which would allow the courts to impound the vehicles driven by a person convicted of driving while intoxicated or excessive blood alcohol content was reintroduced today.
The bill is co-sponsored by Marilyn Ruestman R-Joplin, and Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City.
***
This should come as no big shock but State Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, says he has been totally won over by new Governor Matt Blunt after initial concerns about his youth and inexperience.
In an interview aired today on Missouri Southern State University's Newsmakers program, Nodler said, "All of the concerns about his youth have been replaced with excitement."
Nodler said the three biggest concerns facing the General Assembly this year are tort reform, workmen's compensation reform and fixing the foundation formula through which Missouri public schools are funded.
Nodler said he expects opposition but no major problems in dealing with the first two issues, but the foundation formula repairs will be much more difficult. Nodler serves as chairman of the Senate's Education Committee.
***
Viewers who have enjoyed the family-friendly programming of PAX-TV might prepare themselves. Its demise appears imminent. Reporter Marc Berman of Mediaweek wrote today that PAX laid off 50 workers "signaling the potential end of the struggling seventh broadcast network."
Among those laid off, according to the article, were the network's president, East Coast vice president, senior vice president of programming, senior vice president of promotion and advertising, vice president of national promotions, and vice president of station operations.
***
Nexstar Broadcasting, owner of KSNF-TV and de facto owner of KODE will report its fourth quarter earnings and year-end financial results during a 10 a.m. conference call and webcast Friday, March 4, according to a company news release.
To access the call, people may dial 1-800-310-1961. A replay will be offered through March 11 by dialing 1-888-203-1112, the news release said.
***
Former ice skater and tabloid darling Tonya Harding was in Miami, Okla., over the weekend with two boxers she represents, according to the Miami News-Record.
***
Nexstar Broadcasting CEO Perry Sook will be profiled in the March issue of Radio & Television Business Report. A major topic will be the company's ongoing battle with cable companies such as Cable One and Cox Communications over retransmission of its signals.
Radio & Television Business Report editors have indicated they believe this issue may be ready to break out on a national scale next year when many group owners have indicated they will also demand payment for retransmitting their signals.
***
The Neosho Daily News is back to placing the byline "From Staff Reports" on articles that its staff had nothing to do with. The Feb. 4 edition's lead story was a news release from the Missouri House of Representatives on Rep. Kevin Wilson's appointment to the Special Joint Committee on Education Funding. It appeared that the only work Daily staffers did on the story was typing it up and adding the phrase "From Staff Reports" to it. Why they simply can't tell that it is a news release is something I cannot understand. Readers deserve to know where their information comes from.
The Jan. 31 issue was even worse with three of the four page one articles labeled as "From Staff Reports." These articles included a report on unemployment rates, from which staffers did choose statistics from local counties to emphasize, "YMCA director tenders resignation' which appeared to be a news release and "Council to consider water loss proposal, printing the city council agenda. The Monday edition of daily newspapers is always a little thin, but let's label these stories as what they are. They are not staff reports.
***
A reader asked if something had happened with the charges against Gary Reed Blankenship, the former O'Sullivan Industries official who was arrested after an Internet sting by Diamond police officer Jim Murray.
Blankenship's name, for some reason, does not show up when it is entered on the all courts section in the case.net system under which Missouri court records are filed, but it does show up when the search is limited to Newton/McDonald County. There has been no change in the status of the case since Blankenship's arraignment last week.
The bill is co-sponsored by Marilyn Ruestman R-Joplin, and Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City.
***
This should come as no big shock but State Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, says he has been totally won over by new Governor Matt Blunt after initial concerns about his youth and inexperience.
In an interview aired today on Missouri Southern State University's Newsmakers program, Nodler said, "All of the concerns about his youth have been replaced with excitement."
Nodler said the three biggest concerns facing the General Assembly this year are tort reform, workmen's compensation reform and fixing the foundation formula through which Missouri public schools are funded.
Nodler said he expects opposition but no major problems in dealing with the first two issues, but the foundation formula repairs will be much more difficult. Nodler serves as chairman of the Senate's Education Committee.
***
Viewers who have enjoyed the family-friendly programming of PAX-TV might prepare themselves. Its demise appears imminent. Reporter Marc Berman of Mediaweek wrote today that PAX laid off 50 workers "signaling the potential end of the struggling seventh broadcast network."
Among those laid off, according to the article, were the network's president, East Coast vice president, senior vice president of programming, senior vice president of promotion and advertising, vice president of national promotions, and vice president of station operations.
***
Nexstar Broadcasting, owner of KSNF-TV and de facto owner of KODE will report its fourth quarter earnings and year-end financial results during a 10 a.m. conference call and webcast Friday, March 4, according to a company news release.
To access the call, people may dial 1-800-310-1961. A replay will be offered through March 11 by dialing 1-888-203-1112, the news release said.
***
Former ice skater and tabloid darling Tonya Harding was in Miami, Okla., over the weekend with two boxers she represents, according to the Miami News-Record.
***
Nexstar Broadcasting CEO Perry Sook will be profiled in the March issue of Radio & Television Business Report. A major topic will be the company's ongoing battle with cable companies such as Cable One and Cox Communications over retransmission of its signals.
Radio & Television Business Report editors have indicated they believe this issue may be ready to break out on a national scale next year when many group owners have indicated they will also demand payment for retransmitting their signals.
***
The Neosho Daily News is back to placing the byline "From Staff Reports" on articles that its staff had nothing to do with. The Feb. 4 edition's lead story was a news release from the Missouri House of Representatives on Rep. Kevin Wilson's appointment to the Special Joint Committee on Education Funding. It appeared that the only work Daily staffers did on the story was typing it up and adding the phrase "From Staff Reports" to it. Why they simply can't tell that it is a news release is something I cannot understand. Readers deserve to know where their information comes from.
The Jan. 31 issue was even worse with three of the four page one articles labeled as "From Staff Reports." These articles included a report on unemployment rates, from which staffers did choose statistics from local counties to emphasize, "YMCA director tenders resignation' which appeared to be a news release and "Council to consider water loss proposal, printing the city council agenda. The Monday edition of daily newspapers is always a little thin, but let's label these stories as what they are. They are not staff reports.
***
A reader asked if something had happened with the charges against Gary Reed Blankenship, the former O'Sullivan Industries official who was arrested after an Internet sting by Diamond police officer Jim Murray.
Blankenship's name, for some reason, does not show up when it is entered on the all courts section in the case.net system under which Missouri court records are filed, but it does show up when the search is limited to Newton/McDonald County. There has been no change in the status of the case since Blankenship's arraignment last week.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Former Newton County Sheriff Ron Doerge may have ignored evidence that could have cleared two jailers who were fired, then later convicted of misdemeanor assault in connection with the beating of an inmate who is now suing Doerge and the Newton County Sheriff's Department.
Oscar 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. Doerge told Joplin Globe reporter Dena Sloan in March 2004 that his investigation had determined that the cameras trained on Alvarez' cell had been turned off for a few minutes so the cell door could be opened and two prisoners let in, one to stand watch and the other to beat up Alvarez. Another prisoner also received a less serious beating in the incident.
In his response to Alvarez' lawsuit, Doerge claims to be "without adequate knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the factual allegations."
This response appears to be more than just a typical attorney's reply to an allegation made in a lawsuit. The felony charges against Smith and Babbitt in connection with the case were amended to misdemeanors in exchange for their Alford plea. In an Alford plea, the defendant does not actually plead guilty, but admits there was enough evidence to convict if the case had gone to trial.
Smith and Babbitt were never told that the Sheriff's Department had evidence that could have either cleared them or at the least created reasonable doubt. This evidence included an affidavit signed by another Cell Block A inmate saying Alvarez and another inmate had concocted a plan to have Alvarez beaten to prevent him from being deported. At the time, Alvarez was facing a felony charge of non-support which, if he had been convicted, would have been enough to have forced him to leave the United States. One day before Doerge gave the interview to Ms. Sloan of the Globe, the charge against Alvarez was amended to a misdemeanor, enabling him to stay in this country.
The sheriff also apparently only accepted the word of four inmates, including Alvarez and the man who beat him that the cameras were turned off, although there was no other evidence that that was what had happened and each of the men had something to gain by telling the story.
The man who admitted to beating Alvarez and the other inmate had already been convicted, but was waiting in line for a trip to the Department of Corrections, where he would have considerably more freedom than he had at the Newton County Jail.
Alvarez' hearing, the one which would have almost directly led to his deportation, was scheduled for later that week. His cellmate, who also claimed he was beaten, was looking for special favors from the sheriff, ones which had been denied right up until the time of the alleged beating, but then were suddenly granted.
No evidence ever existed, other than the inmates' story that anyone ever actually entered their cell. The videotape system used in the Newton County Jail had numerous incidents of the picture fading in and out... incidents which happened on a regular basis anyway because of the use of the same videocassettes over and over again. The time stamp on the machine never showed that it had been shut off at any point.
After Smith and Babbitt were fired, another inmate in the cellblock signed an affidavit saying he had heard Alvarez and his cellmate come up with the plan. When they entered their Alford pleas, the two jailers had no idea the affidavit existed.
Both men, indicating they felt they had been railroaded by the sheriff, later filed lawsuits against him in Newton County Circuit Court. Both cases were later dismissed.
***
A new governor with family ties to all sorts of lobbyists has many people in Missouri concerned. Those concerns were expressed in an article by political writer Steve Krause in this morning's Kansas City Star.
The article noted that Blunt's younger brother, Andy, a lobbyist, has picked up several new clients since the inauguration, although he has removed his name from the list of those registered to lobby the governor.
Andy Blunt's list of clients includes Miller Brewing, SBC Communications, UPS, Phillip Morris, and the Missouri Hospital Association.
Blunt's younger sister, Amy, the article said, has just been hired to work in the government affairs office of prominent Kansas City law firm Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin. She has not yet registered as a lobbyist, but says she may in the future.
The governor's father, Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt, is married to the chief lobbyist for Altria, the parent company of Phillip Morris.
The Blunts are saying all the right things about how they are conducting their business and they should be given the benefit of the doubt, but Matt Blunt has already shown favortism toward big business interests by the makeup of the screening committees he used to find people to appoint to his administration.
State newspapers have reported that the head of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations was chosen by a committee consisting entirely of big business connections, with no one representing the labor side of the equation.
When it came time to choose people to oversee the insurance industry in Missouri, Governor Blunt chose a group from the insurance industry to decide who would do that. That should give us plenty of confidence in the results.
Blunt's State of the State message, in which he decried large jury awards in civil suits and abuse in the workers' compensation program, saying in both situations that insurance premiums were going skyhigh...without even exploring the possibility that part of the problem might be with the insurance industry, also shows what direction the governor is coming from.
Earlier this week, the governor, whose brother and stepmother are tobacco industry lobbyists dared to criticize a jury verdict against a different tobacco company, Brown and Williamson.
It appears that Calvin Coolidge was right as far as Missouri is concerned, the business of government is business and Matt Blunt apparently intends to make sure those interests are his top priority.
***
Two former KSNF employees and Nexstar Broadcasting COO Duane Lammers were featured prominently in a racially-charged wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in 2002.
Christina Clark, a former morning news anchor on Nexstar Broadcasting station KBTV in Beaumont, Texas, sued the station after its general manager, Paul Wise, formerly the general manager of KSNF, fired her in late 2001. Ms. Clark claimed that both Wise and her co-anchor, former KSNF weekend weatherman Brad McMullan, had made racially insensitive remarks. In her lawsuit, Ms. Clark said she went to Lammers for help with the situation, told she would get some, then was fired the same day.
Nexstar settled the lawsuit with Ms. Clark on May 20, 2003, with no details being given in the court record.
Ms. Clark, an African-American, began working for Nexstar on Dec. 19, 2000, co-anchoring the 6 a.m. news program with a second African-American female Candice Jones, and McMullan.
"Several months after (Ms. Clark) began employment, the janitor, Paris Armstrong, made many sexually inappropriate comments to her," the lawsuit petition said. ""This occurred for over one month. (Ms. Clark) complained to her supervisor, Karen Blum. Ms. Blum told (her) that Mr. Armstrong has a history of this behavior and referred (Ms. Clark) to Paul Wise, general manager. Mr. Wise told (Ms. Clark) that he did not want to discipline Mr. Armstrong for personal reasons." Ms. Clark says Wise did not keep her complaint confidential, a violation of company policy.
Ms. Clark alleges that in July 2001, McMullan "made a racially inappropriate comment concerning the Elian Gonzales story. Once they were off the air, (Ms. Clark) informed him that his comment was offensive to many and that they should refrain from making those kinds of racist comments."
Ms. Clark indicates that McMullan went to Wise, who had also been his boss at KSNF and complained about her. Shortly afterward, she was called into the office by "Paul Wise, the general manager of the station and a friend of Mr. McMullan. Mr. Wise informed (Ms. Clark) that while she was co-anchor with Mr. McMullan, she 'needed to be on the same page as Brad." Mr. Wise also told (her) that other African-Americans have caused trouble, and she was lucky to have the job because blacks usually are not co-anchors, and (Ms. Clark's) skin was light enough for the job."
After that, she said, Wise began to criticize her. "Specifically, Mr. Wise criticized Ms. Clark for her hair and wardrobe, although he had never done this in the past. Furthermore, Mr. Wise told (her) that he had received an e-mail saying that she was 'crazy', but he refused to produce a copy for (her) review. Mr. Wise also told (Ms. Clark) that he had faced racial discrimination charges in the past, and that he had beaten those charges."
Ms Clark says the "retaliation from Ms. Wise" escalated. On Sept,. 17, 2001, she faxed a letter to Nexstar's corporate office, the procedure outlined in the company handbook.
"In this correspondence, (Ms. Clark) informed the corporate office of Mr. Wise's comments concerning previous charges of racial discrimination which he had 'beaten." Ms. Clark said she talked with Susana Schuler, Nexstar's corporate news director, and told her of Wise's retaliation and said she was afraid she would be fired. Ms. Schuler told her she wouldn't be fired, according to the lawsuit.
Four days later, Wise told Ms. Clark she was being fired. Later that day, she called Duane Lammers, who was Nexstar vice president at the time. "Mr. Lammers was under the impression that (Ms. Clark) was still employed at Channel 4, and he stated that he had specifically instructed Mr. Wise not to take any action concerning (her) employment with Channel 4. Later that day, however, Mr. Wise phoned (Ms. Clark) to reiterate that she had been fired."
In their answer to Ms. Clark's complaint, Lammers denied ever talking with Ms. Clark and the Nexstar officials claimed they didn't even know Ms. Clark was African-American. They conceded she had sent a fax to Ms. Schuler.
Ms. Clark initially asked for $300,000 in actual damages, attorney's fees, and expenses.
Oscar 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. Doerge told Joplin Globe reporter Dena Sloan in March 2004 that his investigation had determined that the cameras trained on Alvarez' cell had been turned off for a few minutes so the cell door could be opened and two prisoners let in, one to stand watch and the other to beat up Alvarez. Another prisoner also received a less serious beating in the incident.
In his response to Alvarez' lawsuit, Doerge claims to be "without adequate knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the factual allegations."
This response appears to be more than just a typical attorney's reply to an allegation made in a lawsuit. The felony charges against Smith and Babbitt in connection with the case were amended to misdemeanors in exchange for their Alford plea. In an Alford plea, the defendant does not actually plead guilty, but admits there was enough evidence to convict if the case had gone to trial.
Smith and Babbitt were never told that the Sheriff's Department had evidence that could have either cleared them or at the least created reasonable doubt. This evidence included an affidavit signed by another Cell Block A inmate saying Alvarez and another inmate had concocted a plan to have Alvarez beaten to prevent him from being deported. At the time, Alvarez was facing a felony charge of non-support which, if he had been convicted, would have been enough to have forced him to leave the United States. One day before Doerge gave the interview to Ms. Sloan of the Globe, the charge against Alvarez was amended to a misdemeanor, enabling him to stay in this country.
The sheriff also apparently only accepted the word of four inmates, including Alvarez and the man who beat him that the cameras were turned off, although there was no other evidence that that was what had happened and each of the men had something to gain by telling the story.
The man who admitted to beating Alvarez and the other inmate had already been convicted, but was waiting in line for a trip to the Department of Corrections, where he would have considerably more freedom than he had at the Newton County Jail.
Alvarez' hearing, the one which would have almost directly led to his deportation, was scheduled for later that week. His cellmate, who also claimed he was beaten, was looking for special favors from the sheriff, ones which had been denied right up until the time of the alleged beating, but then were suddenly granted.
No evidence ever existed, other than the inmates' story that anyone ever actually entered their cell. The videotape system used in the Newton County Jail had numerous incidents of the picture fading in and out... incidents which happened on a regular basis anyway because of the use of the same videocassettes over and over again. The time stamp on the machine never showed that it had been shut off at any point.
After Smith and Babbitt were fired, another inmate in the cellblock signed an affidavit saying he had heard Alvarez and his cellmate come up with the plan. When they entered their Alford pleas, the two jailers had no idea the affidavit existed.
Both men, indicating they felt they had been railroaded by the sheriff, later filed lawsuits against him in Newton County Circuit Court. Both cases were later dismissed.
***
A new governor with family ties to all sorts of lobbyists has many people in Missouri concerned. Those concerns were expressed in an article by political writer Steve Krause in this morning's Kansas City Star.
The article noted that Blunt's younger brother, Andy, a lobbyist, has picked up several new clients since the inauguration, although he has removed his name from the list of those registered to lobby the governor.
Andy Blunt's list of clients includes Miller Brewing, SBC Communications, UPS, Phillip Morris, and the Missouri Hospital Association.
Blunt's younger sister, Amy, the article said, has just been hired to work in the government affairs office of prominent Kansas City law firm Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin. She has not yet registered as a lobbyist, but says she may in the future.
The governor's father, Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt, is married to the chief lobbyist for Altria, the parent company of Phillip Morris.
The Blunts are saying all the right things about how they are conducting their business and they should be given the benefit of the doubt, but Matt Blunt has already shown favortism toward big business interests by the makeup of the screening committees he used to find people to appoint to his administration.
State newspapers have reported that the head of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations was chosen by a committee consisting entirely of big business connections, with no one representing the labor side of the equation.
When it came time to choose people to oversee the insurance industry in Missouri, Governor Blunt chose a group from the insurance industry to decide who would do that. That should give us plenty of confidence in the results.
Blunt's State of the State message, in which he decried large jury awards in civil suits and abuse in the workers' compensation program, saying in both situations that insurance premiums were going skyhigh...without even exploring the possibility that part of the problem might be with the insurance industry, also shows what direction the governor is coming from.
Earlier this week, the governor, whose brother and stepmother are tobacco industry lobbyists dared to criticize a jury verdict against a different tobacco company, Brown and Williamson.
It appears that Calvin Coolidge was right as far as Missouri is concerned, the business of government is business and Matt Blunt apparently intends to make sure those interests are his top priority.
***
Two former KSNF employees and Nexstar Broadcasting COO Duane Lammers were featured prominently in a racially-charged wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in 2002.
Christina Clark, a former morning news anchor on Nexstar Broadcasting station KBTV in Beaumont, Texas, sued the station after its general manager, Paul Wise, formerly the general manager of KSNF, fired her in late 2001. Ms. Clark claimed that both Wise and her co-anchor, former KSNF weekend weatherman Brad McMullan, had made racially insensitive remarks. In her lawsuit, Ms. Clark said she went to Lammers for help with the situation, told she would get some, then was fired the same day.
Nexstar settled the lawsuit with Ms. Clark on May 20, 2003, with no details being given in the court record.
Ms. Clark, an African-American, began working for Nexstar on Dec. 19, 2000, co-anchoring the 6 a.m. news program with a second African-American female Candice Jones, and McMullan.
"Several months after (Ms. Clark) began employment, the janitor, Paris Armstrong, made many sexually inappropriate comments to her," the lawsuit petition said. ""This occurred for over one month. (Ms. Clark) complained to her supervisor, Karen Blum. Ms. Blum told (her) that Mr. Armstrong has a history of this behavior and referred (Ms. Clark) to Paul Wise, general manager. Mr. Wise told (Ms. Clark) that he did not want to discipline Mr. Armstrong for personal reasons." Ms. Clark says Wise did not keep her complaint confidential, a violation of company policy.
Ms. Clark alleges that in July 2001, McMullan "made a racially inappropriate comment concerning the Elian Gonzales story. Once they were off the air, (Ms. Clark) informed him that his comment was offensive to many and that they should refrain from making those kinds of racist comments."
Ms. Clark indicates that McMullan went to Wise, who had also been his boss at KSNF and complained about her. Shortly afterward, she was called into the office by "Paul Wise, the general manager of the station and a friend of Mr. McMullan. Mr. Wise informed (Ms. Clark) that while she was co-anchor with Mr. McMullan, she 'needed to be on the same page as Brad." Mr. Wise also told (her) that other African-Americans have caused trouble, and she was lucky to have the job because blacks usually are not co-anchors, and (Ms. Clark's) skin was light enough for the job."
After that, she said, Wise began to criticize her. "Specifically, Mr. Wise criticized Ms. Clark for her hair and wardrobe, although he had never done this in the past. Furthermore, Mr. Wise told (her) that he had received an e-mail saying that she was 'crazy', but he refused to produce a copy for (her) review. Mr. Wise also told (Ms. Clark) that he had faced racial discrimination charges in the past, and that he had beaten those charges."
Ms Clark says the "retaliation from Ms. Wise" escalated. On Sept,. 17, 2001, she faxed a letter to Nexstar's corporate office, the procedure outlined in the company handbook.
"In this correspondence, (Ms. Clark) informed the corporate office of Mr. Wise's comments concerning previous charges of racial discrimination which he had 'beaten." Ms. Clark said she talked with Susana Schuler, Nexstar's corporate news director, and told her of Wise's retaliation and said she was afraid she would be fired. Ms. Schuler told her she wouldn't be fired, according to the lawsuit.
Four days later, Wise told Ms. Clark she was being fired. Later that day, she called Duane Lammers, who was Nexstar vice president at the time. "Mr. Lammers was under the impression that (Ms. Clark) was still employed at Channel 4, and he stated that he had specifically instructed Mr. Wise not to take any action concerning (her) employment with Channel 4. Later that day, however, Mr. Wise phoned (Ms. Clark) to reiterate that she had been fired."
In their answer to Ms. Clark's complaint, Lammers denied ever talking with Ms. Clark and the Nexstar officials claimed they didn't even know Ms. Clark was African-American. They conceded she had sent a fax to Ms. Schuler.
Ms. Clark initially asked for $300,000 in actual damages, attorney's fees, and expenses.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
The latest public relations offensive by Nexstar Broadcasting, including a half-hour diatribe against the cable industry on its Texas stations and one to be shown later this week on KODE and KSNF is an indication that the company is not getting what it had hoped for from its strongarm stance against the cable companies.
An article in Broadcasting Today indicates that the company has already cut off more than 120,000 cable customers. And while many of those people are still seeing the Nexstar stations by using antennas or by switching to satellite dishes, many others are simply doing without the stations and living quite nicely.
That makes it imperative for Nexstar to push the Dish Network and other satellite providers with stunts such as the 30-minute infomercials here and in Texas. Of course, it might have made more sense for Nexstar COO Duane Lammers to have put on these half-hour programs while he still had the people watching his stations.
But the company can still rake in a few bucks by convincing those who still have cable and are using antennas to make a complete switch to satellite since the dish companies, unlike cable, do pay the local stations for their signals.
Nexstar's plan of offering bonus spots to advertisers to compensate for the loss of potential customers has not been successful, the Broadcasting & Cable article said. In Abilene, Texas, Gary Grubb, advertising buyer for Lawrence Hall Chevrolet, told the magazine he has shifted about half of his advertising to other stations.
Lammers told the magazine the loss of cable has been no big deal, but his half-hour specials indicate otherwise. ""Our losses so far are below what we thought," he told the magazine, indicating that plenty of homes in the markets affected did not have cable anyway and other homes are serviced by other cable companies. "In Joplin, Mo., it affects just one out of eight homes," he said.
The magazine confirmed other published reports and Lammers' own story that he waved a penny in the air during the first meeting with Cox Communications officials last week. He told the officials he wanted them to acknowledge that the Nexstar stations were worth at least a penny to them. "If you agree to the concept, we'll give you the stations back right away. We know we'll get somewhere between one cent and 30 cents." He kept his penny, the article indicated.
Lammers is characterizing Nexstar as a freedom-fighting hero in this television war. "We have to do this," he told Broadcasting & Cable. "This is about the survival of local television."
For Nexstar, this battle may be more than just fighting for a principle. The company is highly leveraged, according to SEC documents, and could desperately use another source of income..the kind of income the cable companies could provide if they give in to Nexstar's blackmail.
***
Springfield attorney Dee Wampler, who recently hired on as the attorney for accused pervert Gary Reed Blankenship, 55, of Neosho, has another high-profile case, according to today's Kansas City Star.
Wampler was hired by Blankenship after the former O'Sullivan Industries official was arrested after arranging a meeting over the internet with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl and running smack into waiting police officers when he arrived. Blankenship is free on $100,000 bond.
The Star article said Wampler is representing Shannon Braden, a Reed's Spring High School student who is charged with one count of attempted forcible rape and one count of accepted forcible sodomy in connection with an incident involving a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly assaulted in a boys restroom at the high school.
***
It appears 103.5 has delayed its switch from an oldies format to country until Feb. 15. It initially had been scheduled for Feb. 1. Hopefully, we'll have a few hundred more delays. The last thing this area needs is another country station.
***
Nice work by the Neosho Daily News's John Ford following up on the item featured earlier this week in The Turner Report about arbitrator James Newberry being selected to see if lawsuits against former Newton County Sheriff Ron Doerge and the mayor and city council of Southwest City can be worked out before they go to trial.
Ford's articles added some information and background to the report on this blog.
***
A few more people have been introduced to The Turner Report thanks to an article by John Boyd of the San Angelo, Texas, Standard-Times, which was also printed in the Abilene Reporter News today.
Boyd wrote, "Turner's web log or 'blog' has become an important source for information on the dispute (between Nexstar Broadcasting and cable companies), averaging 160 visitors per day - relatively low number by Internet standards, but high when put in the context of who's logging on.
"Journalists, cable industry executives and members of local and state governments all regularly visit The Turner Report," Boyd's article said.
One of those people, the article said, is Tom Basinger, vice president of Cable One, who is quoted as saying, "He often seems to know a lot and knows it pretty soon. And when he writes about it, it's not just a sort of, 'here are the facts.' He takes stands and expresses opinions.' "
Boyd wrote about how I began my blog, quoting the message I gave my students last year. "I told them that by writing every day, I wasn't asking them to do anything that I wasn't doing."
The article continued, "Turner said he combs through an average of 200 e-mails per day and every news site he can find to keep his blog up to date and informative. The result is a unique and authoritative voice in the cable industry dispute, Basinger says.
''With the Turner Report,'' Basinger said, ''you never know what's going to be on it the next time you look.''
I thank Mr. Basinger for the kind words and Mr. Boyd for a well-written article.
***
One of my favorite people in the world is my former student Michelle Nickolaisen, who is never afraid to say what she thinks, no matter how many people hold different views from hers. Michelle was one of the students who I encouraged to try blogging during my final year of teaching in the Diamond school system.
She is now a sophomore at Diamond High School and her blog, "Seceding From Society" at www.secedingfromsociety.blogspot.com is one that I check every day, though she doesn't update it anywhere near as often as I would like.
On Friday, she talked about something that happened in her American Government class.
Apparently, some students were telling highly inappropriate jokes about Jews, which her teacher, Mr. Withers, took offense to when he happened to hear one of them.
After Mr. Withers silenced the young man, the talking in the class continued until the students noticed Mr. Withers was sitting in front of the class with a picture of the Auschwitz gates. A student asked him if that was because of the joke.
No, Mr. Withers said, noting that "today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz."
The student said he felt bad about the joke.
I'll let Michelle tell the rest:
"Yeah," you should. SIX MILLION PEOPLE DIED! MAN, THAT'S HILARIOUS!"
By now the class is veeery silent. We spent a lot of the rest of the class talking about the Holocaust.
The whole incident made me very happy. That makes me sound kind of twisted, but the people around here truly sicken me with their apathy sometimes. And I have never seen a teacher yell at somebody for those jokes and it's about damn time. Last year when we were studying WWII and did a section on the Holocaust we actually had somebody say to the teacher, "Um, why are we going over this? I mean, no offense, but nobody really cares what happened to the Jews..." I think Mr. Withers actually managed to get it through some of their thick skulls that it wasn't just a teensy incident, that it was a horrible dark awful thing and if you try and make light of it, in any way, you are shaming all of the six million innocent people, men, women, and children, people just like you and me, who died for no good reason than hate. Many of whom never even got the most basic human right of a burial. They had no marker, no gravestone, no eulogy, nothing to remember them by but a name and a story that needs to be told.
And most important, if the dark stain of it fades, if we mock and make light, we are doing exactly what the horrible people who did this would have wanted.
If we forget, we might let it happen again.
***
Did I mention that Michelle is only a sophomore? Some of the other students' attitudes she describes scare me, but as long as our schools have students like Michelle Nickolaisen, I feel a lot more comfortable about our future.
An article in Broadcasting Today indicates that the company has already cut off more than 120,000 cable customers. And while many of those people are still seeing the Nexstar stations by using antennas or by switching to satellite dishes, many others are simply doing without the stations and living quite nicely.
That makes it imperative for Nexstar to push the Dish Network and other satellite providers with stunts such as the 30-minute infomercials here and in Texas. Of course, it might have made more sense for Nexstar COO Duane Lammers to have put on these half-hour programs while he still had the people watching his stations.
But the company can still rake in a few bucks by convincing those who still have cable and are using antennas to make a complete switch to satellite since the dish companies, unlike cable, do pay the local stations for their signals.
Nexstar's plan of offering bonus spots to advertisers to compensate for the loss of potential customers has not been successful, the Broadcasting & Cable article said. In Abilene, Texas, Gary Grubb, advertising buyer for Lawrence Hall Chevrolet, told the magazine he has shifted about half of his advertising to other stations.
Lammers told the magazine the loss of cable has been no big deal, but his half-hour specials indicate otherwise. ""Our losses so far are below what we thought," he told the magazine, indicating that plenty of homes in the markets affected did not have cable anyway and other homes are serviced by other cable companies. "In Joplin, Mo., it affects just one out of eight homes," he said.
The magazine confirmed other published reports and Lammers' own story that he waved a penny in the air during the first meeting with Cox Communications officials last week. He told the officials he wanted them to acknowledge that the Nexstar stations were worth at least a penny to them. "If you agree to the concept, we'll give you the stations back right away. We know we'll get somewhere between one cent and 30 cents." He kept his penny, the article indicated.
Lammers is characterizing Nexstar as a freedom-fighting hero in this television war. "We have to do this," he told Broadcasting & Cable. "This is about the survival of local television."
For Nexstar, this battle may be more than just fighting for a principle. The company is highly leveraged, according to SEC documents, and could desperately use another source of income..the kind of income the cable companies could provide if they give in to Nexstar's blackmail.
***
Springfield attorney Dee Wampler, who recently hired on as the attorney for accused pervert Gary Reed Blankenship, 55, of Neosho, has another high-profile case, according to today's Kansas City Star.
Wampler was hired by Blankenship after the former O'Sullivan Industries official was arrested after arranging a meeting over the internet with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl and running smack into waiting police officers when he arrived. Blankenship is free on $100,000 bond.
The Star article said Wampler is representing Shannon Braden, a Reed's Spring High School student who is charged with one count of attempted forcible rape and one count of accepted forcible sodomy in connection with an incident involving a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly assaulted in a boys restroom at the high school.
***
It appears 103.5 has delayed its switch from an oldies format to country until Feb. 15. It initially had been scheduled for Feb. 1. Hopefully, we'll have a few hundred more delays. The last thing this area needs is another country station.
***
Nice work by the Neosho Daily News's John Ford following up on the item featured earlier this week in The Turner Report about arbitrator James Newberry being selected to see if lawsuits against former Newton County Sheriff Ron Doerge and the mayor and city council of Southwest City can be worked out before they go to trial.
Ford's articles added some information and background to the report on this blog.
***
A few more people have been introduced to The Turner Report thanks to an article by John Boyd of the San Angelo, Texas, Standard-Times, which was also printed in the Abilene Reporter News today.
Boyd wrote, "Turner's web log or 'blog' has become an important source for information on the dispute (between Nexstar Broadcasting and cable companies), averaging 160 visitors per day - relatively low number by Internet standards, but high when put in the context of who's logging on.
"Journalists, cable industry executives and members of local and state governments all regularly visit The Turner Report," Boyd's article said.
One of those people, the article said, is Tom Basinger, vice president of Cable One, who is quoted as saying, "He often seems to know a lot and knows it pretty soon. And when he writes about it, it's not just a sort of, 'here are the facts.' He takes stands and expresses opinions.' "
Boyd wrote about how I began my blog, quoting the message I gave my students last year. "I told them that by writing every day, I wasn't asking them to do anything that I wasn't doing."
The article continued, "Turner said he combs through an average of 200 e-mails per day and every news site he can find to keep his blog up to date and informative. The result is a unique and authoritative voice in the cable industry dispute, Basinger says.
''With the Turner Report,'' Basinger said, ''you never know what's going to be on it the next time you look.''
I thank Mr. Basinger for the kind words and Mr. Boyd for a well-written article.
***
One of my favorite people in the world is my former student Michelle Nickolaisen, who is never afraid to say what she thinks, no matter how many people hold different views from hers. Michelle was one of the students who I encouraged to try blogging during my final year of teaching in the Diamond school system.
She is now a sophomore at Diamond High School and her blog, "Seceding From Society" at www.secedingfromsociety.blogspot.com is one that I check every day, though she doesn't update it anywhere near as often as I would like.
On Friday, she talked about something that happened in her American Government class.
Apparently, some students were telling highly inappropriate jokes about Jews, which her teacher, Mr. Withers, took offense to when he happened to hear one of them.
After Mr. Withers silenced the young man, the talking in the class continued until the students noticed Mr. Withers was sitting in front of the class with a picture of the Auschwitz gates. A student asked him if that was because of the joke.
No, Mr. Withers said, noting that "today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz."
The student said he felt bad about the joke.
I'll let Michelle tell the rest:
"Yeah," you should. SIX MILLION PEOPLE DIED! MAN, THAT'S HILARIOUS!"
By now the class is veeery silent. We spent a lot of the rest of the class talking about the Holocaust.
The whole incident made me very happy. That makes me sound kind of twisted, but the people around here truly sicken me with their apathy sometimes. And I have never seen a teacher yell at somebody for those jokes and it's about damn time. Last year when we were studying WWII and did a section on the Holocaust we actually had somebody say to the teacher, "Um, why are we going over this? I mean, no offense, but nobody really cares what happened to the Jews..." I think Mr. Withers actually managed to get it through some of their thick skulls that it wasn't just a teensy incident, that it was a horrible dark awful thing and if you try and make light of it, in any way, you are shaming all of the six million innocent people, men, women, and children, people just like you and me, who died for no good reason than hate. Many of whom never even got the most basic human right of a burial. They had no marker, no gravestone, no eulogy, nothing to remember them by but a name and a story that needs to be told.
And most important, if the dark stain of it fades, if we mock and make light, we are doing exactly what the horrible people who did this would have wanted.
If we forget, we might let it happen again.
***
Did I mention that Michelle is only a sophomore? Some of the other students' attitudes she describes scare me, but as long as our schools have students like Michelle Nickolaisen, I feel a lot more comfortable about our future.
Travis Wyrick, 18, Joplin, the man facing a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident, is free from jail after posting $25,000 bond Thursday.
The next hearing for Wyrick, who is charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of Joplin High School senior Jamison Alexander, had a hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 23 in Jasper County Circuit Court.
***
The latest novel by former Joplin Globe and Pittsburg Morning Sun investigative reporter Max McCoy is plugged in today's Pittsburg Morning Sun.
McCoy's book is about a reporter who is a native of Baxter Springs, Kan., who uncovers a right-wing conspiracy to steal a nuclear weapon and start armageddon. "Hinterland" is being published by Leisure Books.
McCoy will talk about his book and sign copies of it 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Pittsburg Public Library.
***
A few notes on the recently-announced acquisition of Pulitzer, parent company of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Lee Enterprises out of Iowa:
According to the St. Louis Business Journal, two Pulitzer shareholders have filed a class-action suit against Pulitzer, claiming $64 per share price paid by Lee for the company was nowhere near enough. One of the two men filed his suit Feb. 2, while a similar lawsuit was filed Jan. 31, according to the publication.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch featured a humorous take by star columnist Bill McClellan on the change of ownership. Earlier, when it appeared Pulitzer was going to be purchased by Gannett, owner of the Springfield News-Leader, McClellan wrote a hilarious column, in which he purposely kissed up to Gannett, singing the virtues of its flagship newspaper, USA Today.
In Friday's Post-Dispatch, McClellan wrote, "Actually, I never liked Gannett. More to the point, I like everything about Lee. Let me frank about that. I have never seen anything associated with any Lee that I didn't like. The chicken? It's the best. The jeans? Better than Levis. Robert E. Lee? The finest general in the Civil War.
"That's something to consider. I bet if Robert E. Lee were to name his favorite Union general, it would be my great-great-great-grandfather, George B. McClellan. General George refused to march south. He did not want to do battle with his good friend, Bobby Lee, and he was relieved of command because of his refusal. In other words, the Lees and the McClellans go way back."
***
A study released Friday by the Federal Communications Commission indicates that cable TV prices are increasing, but at a slower rate than they have been. The annual report says the overall monthly rate for cable service increased by 5.4 percent over the 12-month period ending Jan. 1, 2004 from $42.99 to $45.32. It had gone up 7.8 percent the previous year.
***
Readers on most computer screens are no longer able to see any local news on the screen when they click on KODE's website. Unless you have a giant computer screen, the only items visible on the top of the KODE homepage are the latest self-serving pronouncement by parent company Nexstar Broadcasting and the holdover letter to Cable One customers.
The message is headlined "Questions Answered Concerning KODE and Cable Carriage" and reads like this:
"As you know, the KODE signal is no longer available on certain cable systems within the station's viewing area. Cable One has removed the signal from the systems it controls, while Cox cable with its systems in Carthage and Lamar has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the station on those systems. Cox has conceded the value of the station to its systems by taking these steps to keep them in their lineup. Within the next few days, KODE will air a special program about the cable issues as they pertain to KODE. The Chief Operating Officer for Nexstar Broadcasting, Duane Lammers, will address the matter and answer questions concerning KODE and cable carriage. If you have questions you would like to ask, please e-mail them to cablequestions@kode12.tv."
The same message is at the top of KSNF's home page, with the only difference being the substitution of KSN for KODE. The slightly different layout of KSNF's homepage allows the viewer to be able to see a couple of news stories in addition to the new message and the letter to Cable One subscribers. It appears to me to be another slap in the face at the news departments at both local stations.
***
Speaking of Cable One, on its 6 p.m. news, KOAM carried a brief story on the company's $3,000 donation to the financially-troubled Boys and Girls Club of Joplin. The cameras from KODE and KSNF (both owned by Nexstar) were nowhere to be seen. You could make a legitimate argument that other stories are more worthwhile than another company making another donation to another cause, but there are two legitimate reasons why the Nexstar cameras should have been rolling for this news story.
First, KODE and KSNF have both been carrying stories about the court hearings of former Boys and Girls Club director Rob Clay, whose alleged embezzling is cited as the reason for the non-profit organization's financial problems. That gives the story a hard news peg. It's not just another fluff item.
Second, it would have been a smart public relations move for the Nexstar stations to cover news involving Cable One, even if it placed the company in a positive light. This photo opportunity gave Nexstar a chance to prove that its stations' news departments will fairly cover the news, even when it is positive news about an antagonist.
You can make a good case for not covering the check presentation...were it not for the extensive coverage of the Clay hearings, and it it were not for Nexstar officials' ongoing battles with Cable One and their shameless efforts to use their news departments as shills in that battle.
Coverage of Friday's Cable One-Boys and Girls Club story would have been a brilliant public relations maneuver and could have restored a bit of the reputations of the news departments of KODE and KSNF...reputations that Nexstar has done everything within its power to tarnish.
***
Despite the meddling of Nexstar officials, the beleaguered news departments at the Joplin stations have managed to put together some nice stories on a daily basis. One that was particularly well done was KODE's Alan Cavanna's piece on the closing of the Greyhound station in Carthage/
Cavanna did what good reporters should always do with feature stories of this nature. He got out of the way and let the subject of the story do the talking, in this case, Lorene Denney, who has run the Carthage Greyhound station for the past three decades.
***
And for those of you who were not aware, Sweeps Month began Thursday which means the local stations will have all kinds of special news reports during the next four weeks. The viewership of the stations during the three sweeps months (February, May, and November) determines how much the stations can charge for their advertising rates. Simply put, the more viewers you have, the more money you can charge.
The next hearing for Wyrick, who is charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of Joplin High School senior Jamison Alexander, had a hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 23 in Jasper County Circuit Court.
***
The latest novel by former Joplin Globe and Pittsburg Morning Sun investigative reporter Max McCoy is plugged in today's Pittsburg Morning Sun.
McCoy's book is about a reporter who is a native of Baxter Springs, Kan., who uncovers a right-wing conspiracy to steal a nuclear weapon and start armageddon. "Hinterland" is being published by Leisure Books.
McCoy will talk about his book and sign copies of it 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Pittsburg Public Library.
***
A few notes on the recently-announced acquisition of Pulitzer, parent company of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Lee Enterprises out of Iowa:
According to the St. Louis Business Journal, two Pulitzer shareholders have filed a class-action suit against Pulitzer, claiming $64 per share price paid by Lee for the company was nowhere near enough. One of the two men filed his suit Feb. 2, while a similar lawsuit was filed Jan. 31, according to the publication.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch featured a humorous take by star columnist Bill McClellan on the change of ownership. Earlier, when it appeared Pulitzer was going to be purchased by Gannett, owner of the Springfield News-Leader, McClellan wrote a hilarious column, in which he purposely kissed up to Gannett, singing the virtues of its flagship newspaper, USA Today.
In Friday's Post-Dispatch, McClellan wrote, "Actually, I never liked Gannett. More to the point, I like everything about Lee. Let me frank about that. I have never seen anything associated with any Lee that I didn't like. The chicken? It's the best. The jeans? Better than Levis. Robert E. Lee? The finest general in the Civil War.
"That's something to consider. I bet if Robert E. Lee were to name his favorite Union general, it would be my great-great-great-grandfather, George B. McClellan. General George refused to march south. He did not want to do battle with his good friend, Bobby Lee, and he was relieved of command because of his refusal. In other words, the Lees and the McClellans go way back."
***
A study released Friday by the Federal Communications Commission indicates that cable TV prices are increasing, but at a slower rate than they have been. The annual report says the overall monthly rate for cable service increased by 5.4 percent over the 12-month period ending Jan. 1, 2004 from $42.99 to $45.32. It had gone up 7.8 percent the previous year.
***
Readers on most computer screens are no longer able to see any local news on the screen when they click on KODE's website. Unless you have a giant computer screen, the only items visible on the top of the KODE homepage are the latest self-serving pronouncement by parent company Nexstar Broadcasting and the holdover letter to Cable One customers.
The message is headlined "Questions Answered Concerning KODE and Cable Carriage" and reads like this:
"As you know, the KODE signal is no longer available on certain cable systems within the station's viewing area. Cable One has removed the signal from the systems it controls, while Cox cable with its systems in Carthage and Lamar has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the station on those systems. Cox has conceded the value of the station to its systems by taking these steps to keep them in their lineup. Within the next few days, KODE will air a special program about the cable issues as they pertain to KODE. The Chief Operating Officer for Nexstar Broadcasting, Duane Lammers, will address the matter and answer questions concerning KODE and cable carriage. If you have questions you would like to ask, please e-mail them to cablequestions@kode12.tv."
The same message is at the top of KSNF's home page, with the only difference being the substitution of KSN for KODE. The slightly different layout of KSNF's homepage allows the viewer to be able to see a couple of news stories in addition to the new message and the letter to Cable One subscribers. It appears to me to be another slap in the face at the news departments at both local stations.
***
Speaking of Cable One, on its 6 p.m. news, KOAM carried a brief story on the company's $3,000 donation to the financially-troubled Boys and Girls Club of Joplin. The cameras from KODE and KSNF (both owned by Nexstar) were nowhere to be seen. You could make a legitimate argument that other stories are more worthwhile than another company making another donation to another cause, but there are two legitimate reasons why the Nexstar cameras should have been rolling for this news story.
First, KODE and KSNF have both been carrying stories about the court hearings of former Boys and Girls Club director Rob Clay, whose alleged embezzling is cited as the reason for the non-profit organization's financial problems. That gives the story a hard news peg. It's not just another fluff item.
Second, it would have been a smart public relations move for the Nexstar stations to cover news involving Cable One, even if it placed the company in a positive light. This photo opportunity gave Nexstar a chance to prove that its stations' news departments will fairly cover the news, even when it is positive news about an antagonist.
You can make a good case for not covering the check presentation...were it not for the extensive coverage of the Clay hearings, and it it were not for Nexstar officials' ongoing battles with Cable One and their shameless efforts to use their news departments as shills in that battle.
Coverage of Friday's Cable One-Boys and Girls Club story would have been a brilliant public relations maneuver and could have restored a bit of the reputations of the news departments of KODE and KSNF...reputations that Nexstar has done everything within its power to tarnish.
***
Despite the meddling of Nexstar officials, the beleaguered news departments at the Joplin stations have managed to put together some nice stories on a daily basis. One that was particularly well done was KODE's Alan Cavanna's piece on the closing of the Greyhound station in Carthage/
Cavanna did what good reporters should always do with feature stories of this nature. He got out of the way and let the subject of the story do the talking, in this case, Lorene Denney, who has run the Carthage Greyhound station for the past three decades.
***
And for those of you who were not aware, Sweeps Month began Thursday which means the local stations will have all kinds of special news reports during the next four weeks. The viewership of the stations during the three sweeps months (February, May, and November) determines how much the stations can charge for their advertising rates. Simply put, the more viewers you have, the more money you can charge.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
The Joint Committee on Education will have its initial discussion on the Foundation Formula, through which Missouri public schools are funded, during an 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8 meeting. State Senator Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, serves on the committee.
***
Finally, a member of this area's House of Representatives contingent will have a voice on education matters. On Thursday, Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, was appointed to a special committee on education funding.
***
Third quarter financial results for La-Z-Boy Inc will be reported after the closing of trading on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Feb. 8.
***
The Associated Press reports that Governor Matt Blunt criticized a $20 million judgment against tobacco company Brown & Williamson, citing it as an example of the need for reform in Missouri's court systems.
Unmentioned in the article is Blunt's conflict of interest in matters regarding the tobacco industry, which has been hit hard by lawsuits during the past several years. Blunt's brother and his stepmother are both lobbyists for the Phillip Morris company.
***
The Carthage Press reports that Nexstar Broadcasting COO Duane Lammers will be in Joplin Tuesday, Feb. 8, to film a 30-minute special in which he will talk about the history of cable television and talk about the situation currently going on in this area with the issue of rebroadcasting rights.
It would be nice if the program were taped by Nexstar's advertising department and did not involve any of KODE or KSNF's news personnel, since I am sure this program is not going to be providing a balanced view of the issue.
At least that's the way it will be if Nexstar follows the pattern it has already established. A similar program was shown in the San Angelo, Texas, area earlier this evening and not only served as a half-hour advertisement for Nexstar, but also for Echostar/Dish Network.
I am sure KODE and KSNF viewers in this area would prefer to be watching reruns of "Seinfeld" and "Friends" at that time.
Lammers told The Press the special "will urge people to drop cable in favor of the Dish Network." It will air at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, on both stations.
The Press article also indicated that Nexstar may go to court to settle its dispute with Cox Communications, which is continuing to air the two Joplin stations on its services in Carthage and Lamar through a legal maneuver that puts the stations in Cox's Kansas region, which has another year to go on its contract with Nexstar.
***
Arkansas Business reports that Beverly Enterprises of Fort Smith which owns a skilled nursing facility in Anderson, has filed a letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission rejecting a proposed takeover attempt by Formation Capital.
The letter follows a Jan. 27 letter in which Beverly President and CEO criticized Formation Capital CEO Arnold Whitman for "acting in bad faith" during the takeover attempt. Formation filed documents with the SEC last week indicating it had offered Beverly $11.50 per share for the company or $1.2 billion for its nursing homes. Formation already owns eight percent of Beverly.
In response, Beverly adopted a shareholder rights plan to guard against the takeover.
***
The popularity of former KODE anchor Malorie Maddox continues. Over the past several weeks more than 50 people have reached The Turner Report by entering Ms. Maddox' name into a search engine, slightly more than double the next most widely used search term "Nexstar."
Other search terms that have been used more than 10 times include: Cox Communications, Cable One, O'Sullivan Industries, Robert Parker, Edward Meerwald, and Ron Doerge.
During the past few days, Joplin teen Travis Wyrick, who is charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident in connection with the hit-and-run death of Joplin High School senior Jamison Alexander, has been the subject of several searches.
The most popular search engine for people looking for the Turner Report has been Google, followed by Yahoo, MSN, Netscape, Alta Vista, Hotbot, and Webcrawler.
The most popular link to this blog has been from Lamarmo.com, followed by Wildcat Central and Neosho Forums.
***
Finally, a member of this area's House of Representatives contingent will have a voice on education matters. On Thursday, Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, was appointed to a special committee on education funding.
***
Third quarter financial results for La-Z-Boy Inc will be reported after the closing of trading on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Feb. 8.
***
The Associated Press reports that Governor Matt Blunt criticized a $20 million judgment against tobacco company Brown & Williamson, citing it as an example of the need for reform in Missouri's court systems.
Unmentioned in the article is Blunt's conflict of interest in matters regarding the tobacco industry, which has been hit hard by lawsuits during the past several years. Blunt's brother and his stepmother are both lobbyists for the Phillip Morris company.
***
The Carthage Press reports that Nexstar Broadcasting COO Duane Lammers will be in Joplin Tuesday, Feb. 8, to film a 30-minute special in which he will talk about the history of cable television and talk about the situation currently going on in this area with the issue of rebroadcasting rights.
It would be nice if the program were taped by Nexstar's advertising department and did not involve any of KODE or KSNF's news personnel, since I am sure this program is not going to be providing a balanced view of the issue.
At least that's the way it will be if Nexstar follows the pattern it has already established. A similar program was shown in the San Angelo, Texas, area earlier this evening and not only served as a half-hour advertisement for Nexstar, but also for Echostar/Dish Network.
I am sure KODE and KSNF viewers in this area would prefer to be watching reruns of "Seinfeld" and "Friends" at that time.
Lammers told The Press the special "will urge people to drop cable in favor of the Dish Network." It will air at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, on both stations.
The Press article also indicated that Nexstar may go to court to settle its dispute with Cox Communications, which is continuing to air the two Joplin stations on its services in Carthage and Lamar through a legal maneuver that puts the stations in Cox's Kansas region, which has another year to go on its contract with Nexstar.
***
Arkansas Business reports that Beverly Enterprises of Fort Smith which owns a skilled nursing facility in Anderson, has filed a letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission rejecting a proposed takeover attempt by Formation Capital.
The letter follows a Jan. 27 letter in which Beverly President and CEO criticized Formation Capital CEO Arnold Whitman for "acting in bad faith" during the takeover attempt. Formation filed documents with the SEC last week indicating it had offered Beverly $11.50 per share for the company or $1.2 billion for its nursing homes. Formation already owns eight percent of Beverly.
In response, Beverly adopted a shareholder rights plan to guard against the takeover.
***
The popularity of former KODE anchor Malorie Maddox continues. Over the past several weeks more than 50 people have reached The Turner Report by entering Ms. Maddox' name into a search engine, slightly more than double the next most widely used search term "Nexstar."
Other search terms that have been used more than 10 times include: Cox Communications, Cable One, O'Sullivan Industries, Robert Parker, Edward Meerwald, and Ron Doerge.
During the past few days, Joplin teen Travis Wyrick, who is charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident in connection with the hit-and-run death of Joplin High School senior Jamison Alexander, has been the subject of several searches.
The most popular search engine for people looking for the Turner Report has been Google, followed by Yahoo, MSN, Netscape, Alta Vista, Hotbot, and Webcrawler.
The most popular link to this blog has been from Lamarmo.com, followed by Wildcat Central and Neosho Forums.
The last-minute legal maneuvering by Cox Communications to keep KODE and KSNF on its systems in Lamar, Carthage, and other Missouri communities has the appearance of being nothing more than a legal shell game, or perhaps an illegal shell game. The courts will most likely end up deciding that, since Nexstar Broadcasting indicated in today's Joplin Globe that the situation is headed to court.
This appears to be the first victory Nexstar has won in the public relations game since Cox's move smacked of desperation, and as Nexstar COO Duane Lammers told the Globe, "I find it ironic that they don't value our stations enough to pay for them, but yet they'll spend any amount of time and energy to cheat to keep them."
Whether you agree with the company's stance or not, Cable One's decision not to pull any such shenanigans comes off as a much more principled stand than what Cox did Wednesday.
Of course, this could be just a delaying tactic by Cox so it can keep the status quo until the Federal Communications Commission decides on the Cox complaint against Nexstar.
***
Many Joplin-area homes are built over sites that are on old mining property and a group of South Middle School eighth graders are trying to do something about it.
I was one of four judges for the second annual Project Citizen at South. Eighth grade social studies teacher Rocky Biggers once again tackled the herculean task of having each of his six classes put together a project designed to make people aware of a problem, study different methods that have been used to handle similar problems in other places, then present a public policy and an action plan to get that policy put into effect.
Among the projects submitted by this year's classes: Proposals for a study hall to help students deal with ever-increasing amounts of homework, the addition of a character-teaching program currently being used in the Neosho School District to eliminate the teacher advisory program at South and allow more time for a study hall (two groups had the study hall idea), replacing a low-water bridge in a dangerous area, providing a bicycle path from 20th to 50th, and the mine subsidence project.
Monday afternoon after school, we judged the students' portfolios. Tuesday night, in the SMS auditorium, the students made their presentations, then responded to tough questioning from the judges.
The two winning projects will attend the state Project Citizen competition in Jefferson City, which I believe will be held later this month.
The winning projects were the mining subsidence project and a proposal to put a daycare center at Joplin High School to help cut down on the dropout rate.
***
This morning's Globe's article about students' lack of understanding of the First Amendment points out one of the dangers of the test-obsessed educational culture in which we live. No Child Left Behind and other such initiatives are well-meaning, but get us away from the original purpose of public schooling...to educate children to become good citizens and help them learn how to participate in or society.
I have found that if students are taught about the First Amendment by someone who knows what it is all about, they understand it. That is not always happening. Many times, the knowledge that would build greater participation in our society is being withheld so we can prepare students to make more money when they get into the work world.
We have allowed big business to turn schools into training factories. Instead of teaching students the basics of reading, writing, mathematics, science, civics, and critical thinking that helped build the core of our society in the past, we are spending more and more time moving them in the direction of whatever corporate America wants.
Eventually, what that does is to ensure that the people who have the money and who run big business will continue to be the people who run this country since these are the people who are being placed in private schools which are not operated under the principle of what is good for stockholders is good for our country.
These misplaced values have also required more and more students to attend colleges, simply because they have to have it in order to have a decent job. That has not been the case in the past, and should not be the case now. When the stock market rewards companies that cut workers and move jobs overseas or allows one merger after another to take place with each one costing hundreds of jobs you are forcing people to go into debt for more schooling or job training. Then when those jobs are eliminated or outsourced, overqualified people are forced to take low-paying jobs in order to survive.
If students are not taught their First Amendment rights by someone who has an understanding of what those rights are, society will continue to move so far in that direction that it will be impossible to turn back.
This appears to be the first victory Nexstar has won in the public relations game since Cox's move smacked of desperation, and as Nexstar COO Duane Lammers told the Globe, "I find it ironic that they don't value our stations enough to pay for them, but yet they'll spend any amount of time and energy to cheat to keep them."
Whether you agree with the company's stance or not, Cable One's decision not to pull any such shenanigans comes off as a much more principled stand than what Cox did Wednesday.
Of course, this could be just a delaying tactic by Cox so it can keep the status quo until the Federal Communications Commission decides on the Cox complaint against Nexstar.
***
Many Joplin-area homes are built over sites that are on old mining property and a group of South Middle School eighth graders are trying to do something about it.
I was one of four judges for the second annual Project Citizen at South. Eighth grade social studies teacher Rocky Biggers once again tackled the herculean task of having each of his six classes put together a project designed to make people aware of a problem, study different methods that have been used to handle similar problems in other places, then present a public policy and an action plan to get that policy put into effect.
Among the projects submitted by this year's classes: Proposals for a study hall to help students deal with ever-increasing amounts of homework, the addition of a character-teaching program currently being used in the Neosho School District to eliminate the teacher advisory program at South and allow more time for a study hall (two groups had the study hall idea), replacing a low-water bridge in a dangerous area, providing a bicycle path from 20th to 50th, and the mine subsidence project.
Monday afternoon after school, we judged the students' portfolios. Tuesday night, in the SMS auditorium, the students made their presentations, then responded to tough questioning from the judges.
The two winning projects will attend the state Project Citizen competition in Jefferson City, which I believe will be held later this month.
The winning projects were the mining subsidence project and a proposal to put a daycare center at Joplin High School to help cut down on the dropout rate.
***
This morning's Globe's article about students' lack of understanding of the First Amendment points out one of the dangers of the test-obsessed educational culture in which we live. No Child Left Behind and other such initiatives are well-meaning, but get us away from the original purpose of public schooling...to educate children to become good citizens and help them learn how to participate in or society.
I have found that if students are taught about the First Amendment by someone who knows what it is all about, they understand it. That is not always happening. Many times, the knowledge that would build greater participation in our society is being withheld so we can prepare students to make more money when they get into the work world.
We have allowed big business to turn schools into training factories. Instead of teaching students the basics of reading, writing, mathematics, science, civics, and critical thinking that helped build the core of our society in the past, we are spending more and more time moving them in the direction of whatever corporate America wants.
Eventually, what that does is to ensure that the people who have the money and who run big business will continue to be the people who run this country since these are the people who are being placed in private schools which are not operated under the principle of what is good for stockholders is good for our country.
These misplaced values have also required more and more students to attend colleges, simply because they have to have it in order to have a decent job. That has not been the case in the past, and should not be the case now. When the stock market rewards companies that cut workers and move jobs overseas or allows one merger after another to take place with each one costing hundreds of jobs you are forcing people to go into debt for more schooling or job training. Then when those jobs are eliminated or outsourced, overqualified people are forced to take low-paying jobs in order to survive.
If students are not taught their First Amendment rights by someone who has an understanding of what those rights are, society will continue to move so far in that direction that it will be impossible to turn back.
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