To: David Cox, Managing Editor.
Re:
The Southwest Missourian NEWS.
I think there is a problem in your Thayer office. In Jan Sisk Lawrence's 3/30/06 front-page, below-the-fold article, Ordinance gets tough on underage drinking, she begins with "An ordinance was introduced at the March 12 Thayer City Council meeting . . ."
March 12 was a Sunday. The meeting was March 21. I was willing to write that off as a typo, a simple mistake, until I reached the next paragraph.
Thayer Electrical Superintendent Gary Barton told council members the minimum
rate an electrical customer in the city is paying presently is $4.25. He
said rates need to be increase [sic] to a minimum of $4.63 in order to keep up
with the 6 percent to 10 percent electrical rate increase suppliers will be
charging the city.
He said one of the reasons for the increase is
low lake levels.
There's one big problem with that. I was at that meeting. Gary Barton was not there. He and the mayor chose not to grace us with their presence that night. Either Jan Sisk Lawrence made that up out of thin air herself, or she relied on an unreliable source who fabricated it. Either way, she didn't factcheck it, and apparently needs someone to do the factchecking for her.
And the entire article leaves the impression that Jan Sisk Lawrence was at the meeting, reporting what she saw. I suppose I could have missed her, but I certainly didn't see her there. And if she WAS there, wouldn't she have known that neither Gary Barton nor Mayor Allen Deckard chose to attend the meeting, and wouldn't she have reported THAT?
These accuracy issues, coupled with the "accidental" act of not faxing over a candidate's (who, "coincidentally", is on the mayor and Gary Barton's bad side) candidacy anouncement to the Salem office in time for it to appear before the election, lead any reasonable person to believe you have serious problems in your Thayer office.
You ask me, a reprint of the entire circulation of this week's edition, including the missing candidacy announcement and fixing the factual errors in the article, is in order.
John Hutchison
Thayer Taxpayers' Association Blog[Blogger's Note: When I receive a copy of the candidacy announcement the paper didn't print, I will post it here on this blog, not as an endorsement, but for it's news value. This blog is not in the business of endorsing candidates; our readers can be trusted to make up their own minds about who to vote for.][Update:] User mailbox exceeds allowed size: news@areawidenews.com.[Update 2:] Same result. Faxed a copy to their Salem office. Appears to have gone through OK.
# posted by The Last American @ 8:56 AM
