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Follow Up on the
News
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Up
& Running Once More
Jay Ungar and Molly Mason’s fiddle and dance camp reopened
the site in recent weeks, and Ungar now has a plan for preserving
the campus.
While the Circle of Life Camp for children with diabetes,
which tried to purchase the property last winter, has withdrawn
its offer, Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS) of the State University
of New Paltz (SUNY-New Paltz) is in negotiations with another
organization connected to Ungar, whose goal is preservation
of the land and continuation of the long-standing educational
programs at Ashokan. Since the 1960s, SUNY has maintained
AFC as a site for optional student programs, but because it
is located 40 miles from New Paltz, said Steve Deutsch, CAS
director, “It’s difficult to get our campus to
use it. Ninety-five percent of the revenues generated there
are from outside programs. We feel that the money we can get
from selling it will better help our students.” There
is already discussion of using the profits for student housing
or other campus initiatives.
“But we have a lot invested in it,” added Deutsch.
“We’re very concerned about where it goes, and
we don’t want to see the programs go by the wayside.
We don’t want to sell to a developer, and we want to
make sure the land is protected.”
CAS is currently involved in negotiations with DEP, which
was scheduled to withdraw from the campus at the end of its
six-month contract but now would like to maintain the right
to use the property. Deutsch said the city agency is considering
an outright purchase but at present is trying to work out
“some sort of utility easement that would allow them
to use the property for their purposes. They have a definite
need to release water, and that needs to be dealt with, no
matter who owns the property. We are trying to accommodate
their needs in perpetuity.”
Deutsch said DEP negotiations have first priority, but discussions
have also begun with Ungar, who said he is not yet at liberty
to disclose the details of his efforts. “We have a long-term
interest in Ashokan’s future,” stated Ungar, who
is one of the region’s premier bluegrass musicians,
performing locally and across the country with Mason, his
wife. Their fiddle and dance camps are consistently well-attended,
with up to 170 people per week at the three annual summer
camps, plus a winter camp.
“We’ve offered our programs at Ashokan for 27
years,” he said. “Children who used to attend
with their parents are teaching here now. And then there are
many people who’ve just discovered us. We have a side-by-side
history with the even longer-running outdoor education program.
We’ve begun to explore ways of combining music, dance
and environmental education, and in the future, that may be
more important. We and the full-time Ashokan staff are seeing
a real common interest in ways we never thought of before.
Many people are working toward preservation of this place
and good work that’s going on here. We have a shared
vision that will include environmental education, cultural
programming, and land preservation.”
AFC director Tim Neu said the campus had been off-limits to
the public for the first half of this year because of the
potential water release to accommodate increased water flow
through the New York City reservoir system as the city lowered
water levels in the Schoharie Reservoir for dam repairs. The
campus was bisected by a berm—a barrier of steel, wood,
and concrete—that was originally supposed to come down
in June, until the DEP decided it might need the berm in the
future. Steps, like an old-fashioned stile, were built to
allow staff and students to cross the berm. Neu credited Ira
Stern, the DEP’s local director of community planning,
with getting the campus back in shape for Ungar and Mason’s
camp. “The construction fences came out and the stile
was built the day before we opened,” he said.
A full summer of programs is scheduled, including a week-long
songwriting workshop, three weeks of fiddle and dance, and
another three weeks of Wayfinder Experience, the teen adventure
theater camp. In the fall, the outdoor education program resumes,
with local schools sending groups to the campus for day classes
with AFC staff, who teach colonial crafts, forest and pond
ecology, orienteering, Native American lore, cooperative games,
living history, and more. School groups from as far away as
Long Island visit for three to five days at a time. The staff
positions provide jobs for outdoors-oriented young people
just out of college and older.
Programs for teachers occur several times a year, with weekends
focused on curriculum and skills for teaching outdoor education,
and such community offerings as a Harvest Festival and a Winter
Weekend have been popular in recent years.
Down
To Two Choices
On June 27, Nicholas Savin answered questions and
spoke to a dozen or so community members at the middle school/high
school on his experiences as superintendent at the Cherry
Valley-Springfield School district. Throughout his busy
day of meeting with other school and town officials, he
said he found three areas of major concern in the Onteora
district. They are building projects, declining enrollment
and special education.
Parents asked if Savin had experience in divisive issues
and felt ready to be a part of town riffs that can sometimes
affect the budget. He replied that he has been fortunate
that the school board and public at Cherry Valley tend “to
put kids first.” He added that he does not have experience
with divisive issues where one community will clash with
the other, and was not aware of the Large Parcel Legislature
or how it affects the district.
Savin also said that he does not have experience with large-scale
capital bond projects, redistricting or the closing of a
school, as occurred at Onteora with West Hurley in recent
years. But he noted changes over the years in Cherry Valley
district were dictated through declining enrollment, similar
to Onteora.
Cherry Valley-Springfield school district is located near
Cooperstown in Otsego County. Savin has been superintendent
since 2003 and is married with three grown daughters, two
living in the Albany area. He is interested in this area
because it is closer to his daughters and centrally located
to family in Long Island and Pennsylvania. Currently Savin
runs one building housing kindergarten-through-twelve with
a total of 650 students. He manages a budget of over ten
million dollars, compared to Onteora’s 2100 students
and a $44 million plus budget.
Savin did say that his current district has experienced
staff lay-offs this year and is beginning to use BOCES more
for cost effectiveness. Although not aware of the Indy program
he said he supports alternative programs that work.
“If that is the best way to meet the needs of students,”
he said, “it ought to continue and if we discover
a different way or working with BOCES or working even in
house we feel that is something we can do we ought to take
a look at our options if there are concerns.”
Many parents at the session voiced concerns that Onteora’s
technology is not on the same standards of other schools
and would like to see change. Savin said he believes that
technology is important and every student should have on-line
access. He noted that Cherry Valley’s technology is
contracted through BOCES.
Savin explained that their district had a very high level
of students in need of special education services, “around
17 to 18 percent.” Currently they have pared it down
to the State average of “around 13 or 14 percent”
of students needing special education services. He said
new and diverse programming has helped bring the numbers
down, looking at early intervention in reading, more time
on task and supplemental intervention.
The district had one civil rights case filed against them
based on a special needs student. A parent requested a one-to-one
aide so the child could attend a Parent Teacher Organization
skating party. He said the investigation ruled in the favor
of the district where they were not required to supply an
aide for non-school activities.
Savin earned his BA at SUNY Oswego with majors in education
and industrial arts. He earned a Masters of Arts in administration
and supervision at Fairfield University in Connecticut.
Between 1981 and 1992 he worked as a technology teacher
and then worked as a principal, assistant superintendent
and superintendent in New York and Connecticut schools.
On Thursday, June 29, Jordan introduced Daniel Teplesky,
the second and last candidate for Onteora superintendent.
Since 2004, Teplesky has been superintendent in the Granville
school district in Washington County. Married with two grown
children he said he wore his American flag tie to honor
his son, a first Lieutenant in the Army presently serving
in Iraq, and noted that his wife wanted to move to the Onteora
area to be closer to the annual Westminster Dog Shows, since
she breeds and shows purebred canines. They have a daughter
living in Buffalo.
If hired by Onteora, the candidate said, he plans to stay
five-to-seven years and then retire, although for now he
said he is ready to work “24-7.”
Teplesky said he believed the district is looking for a
leader and recommends a five-year plan on the school’s
success. His vision for great education would depend on
public input and an entry plan where he would interview
board members, teachers the public and press. He said Granville
has a child centered learning environment and welcomes the
public and parents into the school as part of the community.
He said in order to address a policy on Military recruiting,
he would make it part of his entry plan. “…to
get some questions and details and find out what the issues
and problems are,” he said.
“In Granville — and I would do the same at Onteora
— we allow the military to come into the lunchroom,
we allow colleges to come in to work out of the guidance
area, but we have only had a small number of students who
are interested,” Teplesky said. “It (the military)
is an alternative to maybe students who don’t have
the money to go to college and will serve the military.”
Teplensky also mentioned that the Granville district has
cameras on busses to monitor students and “we do bring
dogs into the school, we do partnership with the police,
they do some searches.” Initially silent on a question
regarding Intelligent Design and noting he was in front
of a tough audience said, “It is not my decision to
make, but the board of education’s decision to make.”
Responding to a question regarding Onteora’s diverse
and often contentious communities, Teplensky said, “the
board sets policy that’s my job to go back and give
them the tools to be successful, not to have people come
to meetings and take an hour because people want to talk
because they are unhappy with what the school board did.”
. Teplesky would like to see what was studied and proposed
regarding declining enrollment in the Onteora community
before he could make a decision on district changes. “I
would like to have quarterly meetings with town supervisors,
chambers of commerce, to foster a healthy relationship as
to how we could grow instead of shrink, how do we work with
realtors to get people to move to this area.” He also
noted that by putting a “positive spin” on the
school district, making parents feel welcome, focusing on
accomplishments could raise enrollment.
In other matters, Teplesky explained that he was against
private fundraising for educational purposes in specific
communities and asked for equality between schools. “What
happens in one fifth grade classroom, should happen in all
the fifth grade classrooms,” Teplesky said.
Technology is important for education noted Teplesky, and
teachers should be rewarded when they learn new skills in
order to teach students. He said he would like to see “smart
boards” in every classroom. He said he supports alternative
education programs and would support the Indy program, providing
it remains successful. He said he was not aware of the Large
Parcel legislation that causes division between communities.
Granville school district has a Kindergarten-through-two
school, a three-through-six school and a seven-through-twelve
school. He said they try to separate grades seven and eight
as a middle school, but it is part of the high school. The
district has 1,456 students with a $20.7 million budget.
Before coming to Granville district, Teplesky worked as
Junior High School principal, Assistant Principal and co-owner
of a chicken distribution company. He earned a Bachelors
of Music from the University of Wisconsin, a Masters of
Science in Education at Niagara University, and a Post Doctorate
from Niagara University in Educational Administration.
Now that the school district and community have interviewed
the two superintendent candidates, what happens next? On
July 5, the school board was to go into executive session
and, if all went according to plan, choose between Nicholas
Savin and Daniel Teplesky. Board President Dave Patterson
said that information on the candidate chosen will not be
immediately released. Instead, he said that once everyone,
including the candidate, can, “mutually agree on a
contract, then we can release it to the public.”
The board also intends to have more background checks and
a school site visit of the candidate’s current employment.
Writing
Well
Just
as I was feeling warm and fuzzy over the goodness
of humanity, two weeks later and five houses away
the “patio bandits” stuck again in Shokan.
This time they brazenly drove a truck or van down
a driveway, climbed onto the deck, and loaded teak
picnic table, eight chairs, tan umbrella, stand,
and planters filled with flowers. Batten down the
hatches, neighbors! Someone, somewhere, might be
having a very well-furnished patio party for the
Holiday weekend. Perhaps the “patio bandits”
aren’t aware that such summer furniture is
for sale at Target!
When I picked up the mail on Saturday, I walked
up the hill sorting through it. What stood out was
a postcard from Jan Wullum in Sweden. Prominant
was not the panoramic scenery but the hand written
message from Jan. Handwriting is becoming obsolete,
relegated to shopping lists and scrawled phone messages.
When was the last time you seriously took pen to
paper and formed a complete sentence?
We are in constant and instant connection with each
other nowadays. Yet, none of it is in our personal
handwriting. Middle school girls exchanging notes
in class and senior citizens who haven’t yet
entered the computer age may be the only ones actually
expressing themselves in handwriting. How sad! E-mail,
text messaging, IM-ing, and phoning are so temporary
and so second-hand. I wonder if the next generation
will have, as I have, a fifty-year old stack of
yellowing letters tied in a red ribbon from grandfather
to a teenage granddaughter.
I guess face-to- face communication is the best
kind. If you are ever lonely, try shopping on a
Sunday morning at the Boiceville Super Market. Allow
a half hour for purchases and another hour for neighborly
pleasantries. I was delighted to see Leilani and
Erica, former students, at the cash registers, and
Andy Occhi, who always sports shorts, sneakers and
whistle in the OCS gym, wearing the supermarket
logo shirt and helping out. Souveig Normann have
me a hug as we talked about families. Colleen Scanlon
and I discussed “endings and new beginnings.”
You can always count on seeing Bev and Joe Stein
picking up their coffee. The weekenders stand out
because they are pushing carts and silently picking
up items. They are in a hurry to enjoy what we have
all week long. We full-time residents saunter and
survey the aisles for people we know. Many were
at the hamburger and hot-dog bun counter getting
prepared for the Fourth of July picnics and cookouts.
Thank goodness the rain took a break to let people
cut lawns and do gardening. Michael Fox said they
hadn’t yet started to hay the farm in Olivebridge.
Not enough days to dry the hay. Our neighbor Jerry
Stihl said he measured June’s rainfall as
fourteen plus inches on his digital rain gauge,
almost ten of which fell during the five-day deluge
last week. The Esopus Creek looks like YooHoo, and
the Ashokan Spillway is raging like I have never
seen it before.
The Committee for Olive Day met to decide on this
year’s theme for the annual September 9th
celebration at Davis Park. “Putting on the
Dog!” is the theme with yard-sale proceeds
donated to the purpose of “spiffing up”
the Olive kennels. Profits are “going to the
dogs!” Anyone interested in participating
in the day’s events can contact Jeanne Bachor
at 657-8674 or Linda Burkhardt at 657-6543. So how
did I go from “handwriting” to dog kennels?
Easy! PENMANSHIP!
Missing
The Deluge
And yet good seems to be coming out of the deluge
in the form of a new sense of commitment to its
reservoirs’ flood prevention possibilities
on the part of New York City, whose watershed dominates
the rain-drenched Catskills.
Olive declared a state of emergency for several
days, with road closures on Maple and Upper Boiceville
and some severe water along the Peek-amoose Road…
not to mention a lot of flooded basements.
In Shandaken, 18-year old Leon Patras had to be
pulled from rushing water near his family’s
home on Old Plank Road in Phoenicia on June 28,
according to the Shandaken Police Department. Patras
was trying to cross a driveway that had been flooded
by a stream it crosses, fell into a hole about 5
feet deep, was swept through a 30-to-36-inch culvert
pipe and traveled about 100 feet downstream until
he was able to grab onto some debris for support,
police said.
The Esopus Creek didn’t flood nearly as badly
as in April 2005 - when some 300 homes along its
banks from Shandaken to Saugerties were damaged
or destroyed - and the flood-prone Roundout Creek
and Wallkill River generally stayed in their banks.
Ulster County Emergency Management Director Arthur
Snyder said, “It’s a lot worse ... on
the west side of the Catskills.”
Locally, a number of homes in flood-prone areas
of Saugerties, Ulster and Marbletown, along the
Esopus, had to be evacuated. Worse hit in the area
was the Mountaintop area of Greene County, where
seven inches of rain falling on Tannersville ended
up causing all the recent repair work along Route
23A to get washed away, leading to that roadway’s
closure for most of the remainder of the summer.
As the waters rose all last week, one of the prime
concerns was whether the high water releases by
New York City’s Department of Environmental
Protection coming down the Esopus would cause added
problems. Even though they didn’t, such matters
were addressed by DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd in
a press release following the floods that seem to
have augured a new era of responsibility on the
city’s part.
“During my brief time as DEP Commissioner,
the communities in and near the West of Hudson Watershed
have been hit by three record or near-record storms,”
noted Lloyd. “The storms have caused tremendous
suffering and damage. Rainfall of up to 10 inches
has occurred near the Ashokan Reservoir, and three
of the City’s reservoirs have seen record
high water levels… Watershed reservoirs were
designed to ensure a safe and reliable water supply
for New York City, but they also provide a secondary
benefit of reducing flooding downstream. Even when
full, they slow the rate at which water cascades
downstream, reducing the inundation area. Recently,
frequent storms have raised the question of whether
the reservoirs can do more to help in flood mitigation.
DEP is actively seeking to assist the counties in
this effort. Over the past three years, New York
City has sought and received approval for two innovative
proposals to create additional storm water capacity.”
Continuing, Lloyd noted that, “With more frequent
storms and droughts predicted by climate scientists,
DEP hopes to work with West of Hudson watershed
counties and with state and federal agencies to
develop long-term strategies to address flooding
while continuing to provide safe and reliable drinking
water to almost one-half the residents of New York
State.”
DEP road crews also worked with local highway departments
to clear local roads throughout the Ashokan and
Schoharie basins, including Olive.
Lloyd added that the DEP would implement flood mitigation
programs at the Schoharie Reservoir once new release
works are installed as part of the 2008 overall
reconstruction of the Gilboa Dam and start working
toward similar measures around the Ashokan Reservoir.
According to the DEP press release, “The City’s
water system was not designed to contain floods,
but as large controlled basins with constricted
outlets the reservoirs do perform a substantial
amount of flood mitigation by retaining water and
decreasing the peak flows of floods. During this
week’s flood, the Ashokan Reservoir decreased
peak flows on the Lower Esopus by around 60 percent…”
In Olive, Brodhead and McMillan in West Shokan were
closed during the heaviest rains but later reopened.
According to town supervisor Berndt Leifeld, his
town was hit hard by “the mountain creeks
rising higher than I’ve ever seen them rise”
but not as bad a situation from the Esopus Creek
as expected.
“With help from the City, Jimmy’s been
busy ripping trees out from under bridges,”
Leifeld added, referring to the town’s highway
superintendent, James Fugel. “Things have
been bad, with a lot of wet basements, but not as
bad as they could have been or may be elsewhere.”
Cliff Faintych of Denning describedl trying to drive
home through the heaviest flooding on Monday night,
June 28: “Then there was the inevitable blackness
of the swollen Peekamoose Lake. In my mind the road
will disappear at the low spot before the dam at
the bottom end of the lake. Sure enough, this vision
materializes and both cars are stopped No time for
all that, just lay off the clutch and punch it.”
Suffice it to say that he made it.
There had been a strong write-in candidacy by Olive
resident George Haug for the school board a few
weeks ago, I knew. But he had said he wasn’t
an Olive Matters candidate and had simply met with
them about his positions. And several people at
Olive Matters had told me that, despite Olive Supervisor
(and OM founder) Bert Leifeld having gone to a town
Democratic meeting to state the group’s backing
of Haug, they had in fact started to move away from
being seen as Leifeld’s group.
But Large Parcel was over with, I reckoned. My publisher
with the Olive Press and Phoenicia Times, my other
job beside Ulster Publishing said as much in a recent
editorial, opining that it appeared disingenuous
to say otherwise in light of the Onteora School
District’s need for real support, and not
just protest votes.
Consider my surprise, then, when I got a letter
for those publications in answer to that editorial…from
Olive Matters. A very angry letter, in fact, charging
me and my publisher with trying to undermine the
very town we said we were covering.
“Either intentionally or unwittingly, you
have misinformed your readers when you claimed that
the Large Parcel Law being enacted in the next several
years should not concern Olive residents. Your attack
on our integrity by stating that we falsely manipulated
our fellow Olive citizens is absolutely unwarranted
and malicious… The venom spewed from the pages
of this paper, usually directed against Olive, appears
specifically formulated to manipulate the minds
and actions of its readers,” read the piece,
which I placed at the front of our Letters column
as soon as it came in. “Is it your aim to
create turmoil within Olive? Is it your hope that
we will let down our guard so that the Large Parcel
can be implemented against us again?”
To quote a later paragraph in the letter, following
a listing of reasons why Olive should continue to
be vigilant regarding possible Onteora and county
implementation of Large Parcel, “The facts
clearly reveal that the LP issue is very much alive.
Those of us who called our neighbors to vote did
not do so to frighten them…Members of Olive
Matters will address any vital issue which matters
to Olive, and will vigorously fight for our town.”
And then the big questions: “Have you any
understanding of the financial damage the enactment
of the LP law had on Olive residents? How many of
Olive residents have you interviewed? How many personal
stories have you, the Olive Press, reported? How
many Olive Matters meetings have you ever asked
to attend? Is it any wonder that we are incensed?”
The letter suggested that we change the publication’s
name.
I replied, in a personal e-mail, that I’d
like to attend their next meeting, as suggested.
Little did I expect that I would BE the meeting.
I’ve been working as a journalist in these
parts for almost 20 years at this point, I told
the three dozen Olivites staring at me after I’d
taken my seat a little separated but in view of
everyone.
I had been allowed to make a statement before being
asked 17 questions, prepared League of Women Voters
style, with a minute for each answer.
I explained the different publications I’ve
written for or edited, from here to the Mountain
Eagle and Ulster Magazine, the Albany Times Union
and, on occasion, even the Christian Science Monitor.
I talked about what’s entailed in making a
living at this work, as in the number of stories
one needs to write each week to reach a half-way
decent living. I went step by step over what I do
to assign, edit, write for and lay out issues of
the Phoenicia and Olive papers every two weeks,
and what that means in terms of deadlines and coverage.
And then the questions started, read to me by OM
member Drew Boggess…
What is the primary purpose for publishing our newspaper
other than advertising dollars? Was I aware that
most Olive residents felt my articles reflected
negatively on their town? Why did I write headlines
like, “Despite Olive’s Protest Budget
Passes,” instead of “Olive Victory:
919 Write In Votes?” Why did I not put in
mentions of everything happening in town? Why were
there so many elements in the paper that were not
of, from or by Olive? Why didn’t I have more
regular stories, as in every issue, covering the
ongoing battle between Olive and New York City?
I answered everything as succinctly and honestly
as possible. Yes, I said, I had tried interviewing
people from the state Office of Real Property Services
about the valuation Olive recently gave the Ashokan
Reservoir as part of its reval. They couldn’t
answer because there was litigation. No, I didn’t
want to start doing business profiles like a local
daily because I felt such work wasn’t journalism
but a subtle means of paid advertising. But I would
look for another means of covering such elements
within the community.
Asked why I thought the school budget was voted
down I said it felt like a continuation of the previous
year’s protests. I said I didn’t realize
Olive Matters had supported the budget because no
one in the press had been given any position papers
by the group.
Basically I explained how I could only print that
which was brought to my attention. I like investigative
reporting as much as the next person but do not
have the resources to pursue such a course as much
as I’d liked. What they were getting in their
local papers, I told the members of Olive Matters,
was everything I could muster as best I could muster
it.
One woman, Henny Wise, had dissembled a piece I’d
written covering a Spring Coalition of Watershed
Towns meeting, breaking up the amount of words I
gave supervisors from various towns, reflecting
the two sides of the Large Parcel issue. The numbers,
she said, showed a clear bias for implementation
of the controversial tax matter, and against Olive’s
position. Could I not see my bias?
I tried to explain that I was simply covering a
meeting where that had been the gist of the discussion.
Then why was the next CWT meeting they attended,
all against the Large Parcel, resulting in a vote
reflecting the same, reported differently?
Because I’d used a different reporter and
not been there myself, I said, and because from
my editorial perspective, culled from 13 years covering
the Coalition, the fact that their stance would
lead to a breaking of the consensus upon which the
CWT’s power had been based, was the story.
Didn’t that belief show my bias, I was asked
by others. Couldn’t I see that I was seeing
things a certain way, regarding larger trends, that
wasn’t in tune with what the community the
paper was for wanted?
What do you want me to do, I asked. Go through journalistic
therapy?
People laughed. But they dug in deeper.
John Tisch recalled an argument he had with me because
of my endorsements of candidates in the 2005 Onteora
board race. He made the point that my argument skirted
the LP issue, focusing on other educational matters.
Was that proper for an Olive paper? Furthermore,
he likened my position suggesting that voters pick
one of three Olive parents running as reeking of
“tokenism.”
Why did I insist on presenting news in a fashion
that the people of Olive, or at least Olive Matters,
didn’t want, others asked? Why had I not covered
the huge pain the community had felt when it’s
taxes doubled and tripled and quadrupled after implementation
of Large Parcel two years, then stayed high following
the recent reval? Talked to the people. Gotten a
sense of how businesses had been affected? Done
more to reflect what the community was feeling?
Briefly, I broke away from the larger questions
to apologize to Onteora board vice president Rita
Vanacore for a paragraph I’d added to reportage
by Lisa Childers, who writes for this paper, in
reprints I was running about the recent interim
superintendent resignation case in my own papers.
Why’d I insinuate a connection between the
board’s budget wrestlings with special ed
cuts and the resigned superintendent’s legal
troubles with special ed issues? Because editorially,
I said, I felt such possible connections needed
emphasis. But they was no connection, Vanacore said.
Hence my apology, I replied. Sometimes one brings
up issues on hunches, I tried explaining.
I later tried to explain how hard such a story as
large parcel is to cover; how it is that such pain
may be the hardest thing for any form of journalism
to get at. I suggested other ways in which I’d
been attempting to get at what Olive and Phoenicia
were, via columns and photos and kids columns and
a lively letters column.
Would they want a regular column and be able to
provide it to me as a newspaper needs, with regularity
and clear sizing and on time? Could they get me
more information on all the little events that mattered
most to them? Would they work with me as I tried
to make changes?
Suffice it to say the “meeting” took
over two hours. But by the end we were all shaking
hands. And I was following up with e-mails, trying
not to promise more than I could deliver, or make
myself sound more harried or mensch-like than my
survivalist responses actually meant, and were.
Driving home I remembered a conference I once attended
that featured a panel with Norman Mailer talking
about how there were some stories better handled
by fiction, or fictional formats, than straight
journalism. But how to do that in a paper?
Peers I talked about my experience with thought
I had been nuts to sit through such an exchange.
Newspapermen didn’t do such things. What was
I thinking?
My shrink said the whole kit-and-kaboodle represented
a larger problem I was facing as a classic Capricorn
at a Saturn-ruled time in my life. I was taking
responsibility for more than I needed to be responsible
for, setting myself up for failure.
But now I have to follow through as best I can,
I tried telling her before our clock ran out.
Maybe by next session I’ll be able to explain
what I meant via printed examples.
I’m waiting for pieces to come in that will
reflect the changes I’ve spoken about. Including
Op Ed essays I can replace our editorials with,
when possible. And historical essays. And a continuing
boxed column of facts about Large Parcel that Olive
Matters wants to remind our Olive Press readers
about each issue.
What about those people who disagree, who are not
Olive Matters, some peers asked. What will I do
when they start to ask for similar things? Or when
columns in the paper start bashing other elements
it shared space with, from articles to essays?
I’ll run them, too, I replied, trying not
to repeat our President’s “Bring It
On” mistake. The publication will just get
livelier, with less of an editorial voice and more
of the messiness of an actual community.
So what about my own plans to have made this “report”
an editorial, shot down by my lengthiness of explication
and remorse, promises and sanctimony?
I’ll do without any editorial this time, unless
one comes in, I figure. And just run such things
when they really matter, at least in Olive. At least
for now.
“We would like to thank you for coming to
the Olive Matters meeting. Your sincerity and calmness
under fire was appreciated,” wrote Olive Matters’
Judith Boggess in an e-mail afterwards. It had been
she who had contacted me with the letter a few weeks
earlier. “The general consensus was that the
meeting was very productive for us to be able to
vent our frustration with the articles and editorials
in the Olive Press, and then to have you really
‘get’ the reason why. And it was equally
enlightening to listen to your side, and have a
clearer picture of how you see your responsibilities
to the community as an editor and journalist.”
She added that the group would be meeting to discuss
what to do next.
“Paul, I’m sure, by now, that you have
received thanks from a number of our members but
let me add myself to the list,” added Vanacore,
who apologized separately to Childers for taking
her on for my edit of her work. “Tour ‘olive
branch’ (pun intended) was a breath of fresh
air in a small town that has been fighting for its
survival for the last two years.”
I hope this works. Moreover, I hope those of you
reading this help as much as I need.
After all, isn’t that how these things are
to work?
CONGRESSMAN
WARNS OF MEDIA CRISIS
Indeed,
lively conversations in the hallways outside the
auditorium presaged the prevailing view of the event's
speakers that today's mainstream media has drifted
far from the role envisioned for the press in a
free democracy when the nation's Constitution was
framed 230 years before this holiday weekend. The
theme of the evening, Media Responsibility In Time
of War, as presented by U.S. Congressman Maurice
Hinchey and media experts Danny Schechter, Jeff
Cohen and Amy Goodman, brought most of the cheering
throng to their feet several times during the discussions.
Olive's gifted singer-songwriter Amy Fradon drew
thunderous applause herself by opening the proceedings
with a stirring rendition of her own composition,
"Here's My Flag," a song highlighting
freedoms represented by a banner for "right
and left and rich and poor." Fradon commented
that she was moved to write the song after experiencing
censoring cautions from club owners and concert
organizers not to refer to the war in Iraq on stage.
The evening's guest emcee, Alan Chartock, president
and CEO of WAMC radio and publisher of the legislative
Gazette, said in his opening remarks that it was
fitting that it was the Fourth of July weekend since
"So much of this centers on the very essence
of the government brilliantly crafted by out nation's
founders. They saw, clearly, that an informed populace
would be able to govern itself in an enlightened
way while ignorance opens the door to tyranny."
Chartock first introduced Danny Schechter (the "news
dissector"), a former Emmy Award-winning producer
of ABC's "20/20" news digest, author of
The More You Watch, the Less You Know</I>,
founder of Mediachannel.org- the largest online
network devoted to media interests- and producer
of "In Debt We Trust" a recently released
documentary from the Globalvision independent film
company he co-founded.
The announcement bringing Amy Goodman on stage drew
a lengthy standing ovation, much to the chagrin
of Chartock, who has long resisted carrying Goodman's
national (and now international) radio program Democracy
Now on his station. Goodman is co-author of the
best-seller "Exception To the Rulers: Exposing
Oily Politicians, War Profiteers and the Media That
Love Them"
Also warmly welcomed was founder of the media watchdog
group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (F.A.I.R),
Jeff Cohen, familiar to tv audiences as the former
co-host on CNN's <i>Crossfire</I> and
as a panelist on Fox News' <i>Newswatch</I>
program. Author of the forthcoming <i>Cable
News Confidential: My Misadventures In Corporate
Media</I>, Cohen was also a prominent pundit
on MSNBC prior to the Iraqi invasion. The introduction
of Rep. Hinchey sparked a standing ovation to rival
Goodman's and he earned further cheers with his
remark that it was "encouraging to know that
there are so many people concerned about this issue-
which, frankly, I think is the most important issue
that we confront in our society. Maybe that's always
been the case because it's part of the First Amendment
to the Constitution, so it must have been seen as
critical back in the 18th Century...but it's even
more critical now because we have a conspiratorial
government working to suppress information...."
Hinchey, who founded the FAM (Future of American
Media) Caucus in the House of Representatives, was
in the forefront of the fight against the FCC's
(Federal Communications Commission) efforts to "reform"
media ownership rules in 2003 and had his media
"p's and q's" honed to a point. That was
apt since each speaker was afforded only an initial
ten minutes to make their essential points.
"The broadcast spectrum is owned not by any
individual nor by any corporation but by the American
people," Hinchey said, drawing reference to
the original regulations governing spectrum use
in the 1920's and 1930's and the "Fairness
Doctrine" that was a key component of the rules
until eliminated under the Reagan administration.
Noting that the doctrine was applied partially in
response to the way the new medium was being employed
by fascist regimes in Europe, he added that "in
those days, in order to be licensed to broadcast
on the radio, you agreed that if you have a political
opinion to express, you may do so but, if someone
else has a different political opinion, they should
be given the right to express that as well."
Hinchey said that the Fairness Doctrine was scrapped
by the design of people advancing a "particular
philosophy that did not want that equality to exist."
It was an early "overt example" of what
we call the neo-conservatives, or neo-cons, "trying
to control information that people have access to,"
he added.
There are only two ways to rule- by consent and
by fear, Hinchey declared, blaming an administration
whose fabrications are accelerating and a "rubber-stamp"
Congress for creating and advancing a "culture
of fear" in the country and abroad. He spoke
rapidly of pre-war speeches by Bush Administration
figures, an intimidated media, legal actions against
media for writing about illegal NSA domestic spying
programs, monitoring of banking records and internet
activities, disinformation and designed media leaks
to push an aggressive agenda, links between neocons
of the Reagan and Bush eras and, of course, the
besieged Bill of Rights.
"This is supposed to be a nation of law based
upon the fundamental founding principles in the
Constitution," Hinchey summed up. "We
all need to stand up against this administration
and the things that it is doing because those things
are illegal- because they impinge upon the rights
and freedoms and privileges and opportunities of
all Americans and they are doing it in a programmatic,
planned way. None of this is serendipitous or accidental.
It is all intentional and it has a clear, planned-out
objective to maintain and solidify political power
against the basic principles of our country. We
are facing, today, one of the most critical moments
in our nation's history and we need to win this
battle against these repressive, despotic people
who want to control this country on the basis of
fear."
Jeff Cohen opened his remarks by noting how good
it felt to be in a "reality-based community"
as opposed, he implied, to the world of network
news.
"There are half a dozen media conglomerates
sitting on the windpipe of the 1st Amendment and
I've taken a paycheck from three of them,"
Cohen confessed impishly before speaking of his
experiences as a pundit with the Phil Donahue prime
time show on MSNBC before it was terminated 3 weeks
before the invasion of Iraq by an owner (General
Electric) poised to "profit handsomely"
from the war.
Cohen said that in the "run-up to the war"
he witnessed how corporate media abides "rule
by the worse- a system in which those with the least
principle rise to the top and those who challenged
evidence that Iraq was a threat were spat out of
the corporate media system.
"Those who echoed the official deceptions have
largely seen their careers flourish," he continued.
"There's not a single tv executive that I'm
aware of- or an anchor or a pundit or a correspondent
or a so-called expert that lost their job over getting
the huge story of Iraq so totally wrong, as almost
every one of them did."
Cohen sketched a comparison between his own experience
of not being able to "discuss even the weather
without being balanced by at least one fire-breathing
right-winger" and the treatment of "military
advisors and so-called weapons experts who never
required any balance whatsoever" because "the
rule was ‘They're independent.' ‘They're
objective.' The head of CNN even boasted that he
went to the Pentagon to get approval of his military
analysts for on and off the air advice and, yet,
virtually everything these weapons experts said,
without balance throughout the media, turned out
to be wrong."
While itemizing the post-invasion excuses offered
by the experts, typified by "I certainly thought
the administration was telling the truth,"
Cohen commented that the tv audience had no way
of knowing that the retired general, used then and
now by MSNBC as chief military advisor, was on the
payroll of a military contractor making millions
for his work on a tank model deployed in the invasion.
Any time the Donahue show wanted to book a guest
with an anti-war perspective in the months prior
to the war, Cohen noted, MSNBC insisted that 2 pro-war
guests had to be included and that when film director
Michael Moore was suggested as a guest, management
said he had to be "balanced by THREE right-wingers!"
Cohen quipped that the show's producers knew better
than to mention a guest like social commentator
Noam Chomsky simply because the studio wasn't large
enough to accommodate the opposition he would require.
Toward the close of his statements, Cohen quoted
an internal MSNBC memo mentioning the need to dispense
with dissenting views and head into full-time "flag
waving" in support of the invasion as a reason
for ditching the show. He said that it was his observation
that when journalists were too busy "waving
the flag," they don't do their job to help
stabilize the checks and balances of a democratic
government.
"They don't ask the tough questions before
our young men and women are sent overseas to kill
and be killed," he said to loud applause. Cohen
closed his segment with a Good News observation
that "In the last few years, millions of people
have aggressively sought out alternatives to corporate
media. That's why independent media and bloggs and
community radio, Democracy Now, Common Dreams.org
are booming. "Media activism is going through
the roof," he said, urging audience attention
to savetheinternet.com and the closely looming threat
to that urgently vital resource of public information.
"Don't take the media lying down," he
said.
TO BE CONTINUED
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