Southeastern NC's Political & Economic Opinion Arena
The Star News lies again!
I wrote a letter to the editor of the Star News nearly two weeks ago that finally got published in the printed "letters to the editor" (Does anyone even subscribe to the Star News any more?) on May 28th titled, "Brian Berger unfairly targeted". Although that was not the title I gave it. I guess "Berger upsetting the apple cart" was too controversial for them. Chairman Barfield has been bashing Berger for seemly being late for all their meetings. I have missed the last several because of family illnesses. But my instincts were that they have been upset with Brian because he isn't going along with the show. He has been upsetting their apple cart. So, this was the best way they could divert from their own incompetence and go after Berger for taking a stand.
So, I decided to do some checking. I went on the Commissions web page and pulled up all the minutes recorded this year which was from Jan. 3 thru May 3 (Evidently they had not posted any later date meetings than that). I discovered that despite what Barfield says, Brian was late four times this year. They were Feb. 21, April 4, April 14, and April 18. On April 28, Brian's name was not even mentioned whether present, absent or tardy. So, logic sets in and says that meeting cannot even be counted because someone failed to put the info in. I wrote in the letter every date and meeting type as proof of my claim against Barfield.
But, what did the Red Star do? They deleted that part, with no dates at all and inserted he was late 5 times and then had an "editors note" disclaimer at the bottom which stated that Brian was late 7 times from Dec. 16 . So, I went back to their minutes to double check just in case I made an error. And as I thought, the Star News lied again. Brian was late one time last year which would make the total 5 times, not 7. And if we eliminate the April meetings, Brians record is almost spotless. I dont know what happened in April for him to be late that many times, but did Barfield or the Red Star ask him? I doubt it. They might have found he had a very good reason. I don't know, but it was an unusual set of tardies. before that, he was a few minutes late in Feb. and then a few minutes in December. And that was it.... period!
Today, i wrote a second letter to the editor asking for a retraction. Any takers on what their answer will be? That is, if my second letter even gets published.
Views: 1
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by LDacar on
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Earl,
I read your well written letter, and I thank you for defending Brian.
I have had the same issue with the Star News, having letters I have written, completely distorted.
My family no longer purchases this liberal , NY Times owned, communist rag, but I do miss the crossword puzzle.
LDacar
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Permalink Reply by Ben McCoy on -
Ms. Dacar - please take action on contacting officials regarding investigations into county operations, and the relasing of Berger's records, possibly illegally. Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Ben McCoy on
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wow Earl - I missed this. Good job on fact-checking, something our local media knows nothing about. And thanks for rolling up your sleeves and caring enough to hold your leaders responsible. We need more like you - and I really mean that.
Stay on this and persist - there are others fighting the same battles as well. Check this out to, we need to pressure the DA to conduct an investigation: http://wilmingtonrants.com/forum/topics/exclusive-possible
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Permalink Reply by Earl G. Grover III on -
Thanks Ben and LDacar,
Yea Ben I had read that post earlier. I do plan on called Mr. David first thing Monday morning. I am waiting to see if there is a retraction. By the end of the week, if there is none, i plan on calling the Star News. I wanted to give them ample time seeings how it took two weeks for my first letter to be published. I seriously doubt though they will give a retraction, but we'll see
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Permalink Reply by Ben McCoy on
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Yes - when the Star News quoted me in their story about Berger's unemployment, they somehow decided to have me speaking for ABLE as a group - even though my comments were never attributed to anyone but myself and myself alone. ABLE never even came up in conversations with Kevin Maurer, I simply responded to the story. When they printed the story, they had me speaking for ABLE, and even went as far as to say that ABLE is calling for an investigation - which was patently untrue. Then they said that I was "accusing" county employees of breaking the law - which was also patently untrue. I did get a retraction after much debate and effort, but it was not the easiest thing to do.
These people need their stories to fit within their own template of what they want to be the case. If it's not, then they fill in the blanks any way they want. WWAY is the worst. Real journalism in this town would probably be too much for people to handle.
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