News-Record.com

I think this is called letting the air out of the ball. It's the same tactic everyone else in town is employing: witness the city council members who haven't read the report or won't return telephone calls. It seems that an epidemic of uninterest is sweeping the city.

And it's not clear that there was much air in the ball in the first place: the report repeats CW except to blame the police as the most responsible party, adds in a dose of self-congratulatory preening, then suggests a few techniques for engineering a worker's paradise.

Yawn.

The question is: how much longer will the N&R continue to run front page stories like today's that would be more accurately entitled "No News Today on the T&R Front"? While the process was driving the process, you had meetings, testimony, and the release of the report to justify newsworthiness, and now those things are gone (although soon to be replenished, I suspect, by the T&R folks--at least if they're smart). But you can only run so many articles with nothing substantive to hang the article on. Right?

You don't think the first comments from the commissioners -- other than what they said at the release ceremony -- have any interest to the public? Do you think it's not relevant what they think of the mayor pushing aside one of their recommendations? That's fair. I know that news judgment is in the eye of the beholder. But, obviously, we think it is newsworthy.

And you think the Rhino is ignoring it hoping that it will go away? That doesn't seem to fit with my reading of the tabloid, but it's as good an explanation as any, I suppose.

John, maybe it's just that Hammer isn't interested in announcing that an organiziation is claiming that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy 43 years ago because we already knew that.

Yep. It's just that it's never really stopped him before. Or at least in picking up an opportunity to pile on us! :)

No, I don't have a real problem with today's article, although I would have less patience with the commissioners' second, third, and fourth round of comments being given the same play. But I think we're quickly reaching--if not already at--the point of journalistic shark jumping. After all, it's not like the president's messing around with an intern! The worst thing the mayor (whose views I share) could do would be to feed the cycle by adding something new to the "Dog Bites Man" scenario Samuel Spagnola observes.

On the other point, I wouldn't worry too much that Hammer won't weigh in. Which eleven counties is it that you supposedly cover anyway?

Oh, I'm not worrying. You got me on that 11- county tag. That's his deal, not ours.

Naw John, maybe they learned what us country boys learned a long time ago and that is just to walk around the pile in the path. Guess the Rhino figures you guys will continue to poke at the pile and stir up the stink for as long as the pile is there. Perhaps the Rhino learned that if you keep messing and pokin in the pile eventually the stink is going to splash up on you and they didn't want a part of that mess.

Maybe too they are going to allow the pile to just dry up as it should have done a quarter of a century ago.
Meanwhile perhaps they will watch the "dung bettles" continue to crawl in the pile of stink. With any luck,eventually the vultures will finish off the "dung bettles" and that will be end of story.

I presume you're NOT calling me a dung beetle, mrp.

All I've said is that it's odd. The report mentions the Rhino, after all. In some cases, ignoring something or someone will make it go away, but not in all.

Well, John, speaking of not commenting or responding, I guess you and the N&R aren't up to the task of doing an unbiased investigation into this (my comments in the post referenced below)?

http://blog.news-record.com/staff/jrblog/archives/2006/05/just_in_case_an.html#comments

Did I miss something, Ginger? You leave a message less than a week ago about some racist comments. If you're upset that we haven't written a story yet, I'm sorry. We don't work that fast. And if there isn't more official evidence than some racist comments written on rocks and now painted over, I'm not sure a story will be written.

I've deleted, by the way, the other three messages you've left on three other posts saying the same thing and referring readers here. No need to distract all the other discussions.

John,

How incredibly dishonest of you. Quit hedging. I wrote about far more than "some racist comments" that are now painted over.

Also, addresing your bias, ethics. You never delete Mary Johnson's comments when she complains repeatedly in threads with a "no need to distract other discussions" comment. You do the same with others also.

But not with me. By deleting my comments, it's apparant you want to control the news procees and content and this story.

Just what you say, in the thread you deleted several of my comments from, you wish to open.

The link above that refers to "this story" was, by some unknown computer (?) glich, convoluted from this URL

http://blog.news-record.com/staff/jrblog/archives/2006/05/just_in_case_an.html

which linked to it, to this

http://blog.newsrecord.com/staff/jrblog/archives/2006/05/just_in_case_an.html#comments

which takes you to an unrelated site. Anyone who clicked on it would be taken to the unrelated site.

Who, or what, caused this? I simply cut and pasted the link from the browser.

The real link, again, is here

OK, if that's what you want, Ginger. You've given us less than a week to investigate your claims. We have other things to do, too. If that's not quick enough for you, there are plenty of other media outlets to appeal to.

On the deletions, Dr. Johnson doesn't go to every post and write the same thing that I can recall. Why did you feel the need to do so? Is there another reason except to draw attention to it and, in effect, also draw it away from my original post?

Ginger, guess it could be that Dr. Johnson has a story thatis credible while yours Ginger is not even certifiable. Well , yea maybe certifiable but not in that manner of speaking. It is nothing more than rumor , heresay, speculation with no facts to back up the accuracy of the story other than just "your word". By the way Ginger are you for real or just another troll. Your so called story sounds as if perhaps it could be a vendetta.Is it? Did you show this bit of information to the Rhino? If you did and they turned it down you can just bet it ain't fer real. If it were real the Rhino would report on it no matter who it ticked off, in fact the more the better.

No JR you and the N&R are part of the group that like the little kids in my story just want to continue to go poking in the pile in the middle of the path for no reason other than to make a stink.One of these days you folks will learn that my granddaddy was right.

Produce, you think the Rhino is going to check out that information about racism in Rockingham County? You're dreaming, pal.

We're a daily newspaper. Ignoring news like the TRC report because we think it may cause a stink isn't what we do. I appreciate that you're saying that is what the Rhino does. I don't think that's it, myself.