I Shared this wrong the first time - it missed the important message from the original. Re-posted!! Hat tip Kai Hagen From Boyce Rensberger... Frederick News-Post bans me from writing about politics There will be no more columns by me in the Frederick News-Post. They told me not to write about politics again. Its not a matter of great import, but I am getting so many questions about the candy-throwing incident and why I didnt use it in my News-Post column that I thought I should describe the situation. As some of you know, I gave Blaine Young a thumb-down as he walked past me in a Memorial Day parade, and he threw candy at me, three times, hard. The incident--a petty matter that speaks only to Youngs character--is more fully described in the article linked below, which I submitted to the paper for use in my scheduled July 5 column. The FNP withheld the column, saying that I was raising a criminal allegation and that if their checking confirmed my account, it should be a news story. I gave them the names and numbers of three witnesses plus a woman down the street who also gave him a thumb-down and also was pelted. The FNP asked reporter Courtney Mabeus to check out my facts. Here is how Cliff Cumber, editor of the editorial page, described the results of Mabeuss inquiries: “[N]one of the people you suggested we talk to panned out. … As to your witnesses: One person didn’t want to talk to us. One called your claims, quote, “ridiculous.” The third didn’t see anything. The fourth initially talked to our reporter, made some questionable assertions based on pure speculation, then called back a short time later and requested anonymity. Im sorry to say that Cumbers account is, in several respects, false. None of the witnesses panned out? One of them was a woman sitting right next to me, my wife, who definitely told Mabeus exactly what happened. I heard her end of the conversation. Another spoke with Mabeus, although I dont know what she said. Mabeus called the third witness and left a message, which was returned without reaching Mabeus. Mabeus never spoke with that witness. And the woman at whom Blaine Young also threw candy confirmed her experience but did not want her last name used. So, at most, only one of the four could have said she saw nothing newsworthy. Looks to me as if the newspaper is scared of something. As it happens I was having coffee with Chuck Jenkins yesterday and told him about the incident. I told him that the paper had thought I was alleging a criminal offense. Jenkins shook his head and said, That would be a stretch. Thats one of the few things on which Jenkins and I agreed. Given the destruction of trust between me and the Frederick News-Post I felt I could no longer continue as a columnist and told them so. Thats when I submitted the piece to Kai Hagen [at Envision Frederick County]. Its here: envisionfrederickcounty.org/blaine-young-parade/
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 15:56:43 +0000
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