Fort Wayne Observed

Souder to Discuss Meth

From Monday's Indiana Daily Insight:

As part of a series of meetings that he has held within Indiana and around the nation, U.S. Rep. Mark Souder (R), chair of the House drug policy subcommittee, will meet with local officials at the Kendallville Chamber of Commerce today. Rep. Souder will discuss meth with invited representatives from Noble, DeKalb, Steuben, LaGrange, Kosciusko, Elkhart, Whitley, and Allen Counties.

More on the Flu

From Indiana Parley:

All week I've looked askance at the Fort Wayne-Allen County Board of Health's recommendation that flu shots be restricted to high-priority persons as defined by the Centers for Disease Control. Here's the link to the original post on Tuesday where I raised concern that the policy was going in the opposite direction of Monday's recommendations by the CDC, the Health and Human Services Department, and the Lung Association. My concern was that the anomalous Fort Wayne-Allen County policy would have the effect of discouraging people from getting flu shot when it is important for the general population to be building herd immunity.

NOW COMES WORD THAT THE BOARD HAS REVERSED ITS POLICY. THE JOURNAL-GAZETTE CARRIED THE ANNOUNCEMENT THIS MORNING.

I know that WANE-TV monitors this blog. I was pleased to seen on Wednesday that WANE-TV News had gone back to the Board of Health to ask about the restrictions. The Director told WANE-TV that the Board of Health was sticking with the CDC recommendations. HOWEVER, THE CLEAR WORDING OF THE CDC RECOMMENDATION WAS THAT FLU SHOTS BE MADE AVAILABLE STARTING MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2005.

From the Journal Gazette report of the Health's Department's announcement:

With flu season approaching, local health officials lifted a recommendation Friday that flu vaccine providers give shots to only high-risk groups such as children aged 6 to 23 months and adults 65 years and older.

Locally, the supply picture has changed little since Monday, when the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health extended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s initial recommendation. It cited an informal survey of local health care providers finding that many who ordered from Chiron had yet to receive their orders.

But with no immediate information coming from flu shot provider Chiron Corp., and anecdotal reports that there were already a couple of local flu cases, officials felt it prudent to move forward with more general vaccinations.

PREVIOUSLY: Recap: Flu Shot Shortage?

More on Granite Broadcasting

Indiana Parley notes a Duluth News-Tribune story about Granite Broadcasting, which owns NBC33 and operates 21Alive.  From the article:

It's a telling development when a firm named Harbert Distressed Investment Master Fund starts buying up a corporation's stock.

Lately, Harbert has taken an increasingly active role in the affairs of Granite Broadcasting Corp., owner of KBJR-TV, Duluth's NBC affiliate.

Granite repeatedly failed to make dividend payments to Harbert and other holders of its preferred stock, and this week, those investors flexed their collective muscle.

Harbert joined forces with the John Hancock High Yield Fund and Somerset Capital Advisers to form a block of shareholders controlling a majority share of preferred stock in Granite. Together, they asserted their right Tuesday to appoint two members to Granite's board of directors.

"We are very concerned about the direction of Granite," Philip A. Falcone, Harbert's senior portfolio manager, said in a prepared statement.

[...]On Wednesday, Granite publicly acknowledged the legitimacy of Davis' and Aubry's appointment to the board of directors, which now will have 12 members.

In statement issued by Granite CEO W. Don Cornwell, he said:

"We welcome (Messrs) Davis and Aubry to the company and look forward to them joining the board. We continue to see improvements in our operating performance as we execute on our strategic business plan and look forward to updating you on our progress when we report third quarter results on Nov. 10."

Through a spokeswoman, Cornwell declined comment to the News Tribune on Thursday.

But Granite does appear to be straightening house. In late September, the company brought in a consultant, Kevin O'Brien, to help strategize for the future.

Speaking of O'Brien, here's what the Nashville Scene reported when he was hired by Granite:

Kevin O’Brien, the widely despised former head of broadcasting at Meredith Corp., who was fired last year after the company accused him of discrimination and sexual harassment, has landed a consulting gig with Granite Broadcasting Corp., which includes WB stations. The AP recently reported that a company memo O’Brien wrote for Meredith urged against hiring blacks and disparaged Jews and an Indian colleague.

WB programming intentionally targets racial and ethnic viewers, so O’Brien, whose tyrannical reign hit Channel 4 hard in the way of morale and staff defections, is an odd choice. “It’s the last place you’d want a racist running things,” says one local TV source.

The Des Moines Register has more on O'Brien's firing, and the subsequent legal battle:

Meredith fired O'Brien on Oct. 29, saying he had violated the company's equal opportunity employment policy.

The company sued him Nov. 12, asking a federal judge in Des Moines to affirm its decision to fire O'Brien. In a court document, Meredith accused O'Brien of racial discrimination and sexual harassment.

The document said an independent investigation found that O'Brien made racist statements, including "We can't right all the wrongs of the Civil War; we've got to quit hiring all these black people."

He was also accused of threatening to terminate workers if they reported complaints to Meredith of- ficials.

After the comments became public, the National Association of Black Journalists called on Meredith to make amends to journalists whose careers were affected by O'Brien's conduct.

O'Brien had challenged the accusations and claimed the company fired him without cause.

BACKFILL: In March, Richard Prince wrote a column for the Maynard Institute detailing O'Brien's behavior.

UPDATE: The O'Brien info appeared previously on Indiana Parley

Soccer Changes

The IHSAA announces changes to its boys soccer sectional format:

When the first round of next year's high school boys soccer tournament ends, the list of sectional champions will grow by 32 schools.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association is restructuring the boys soccer tournament, doubling the number of sectionals to 64. The new format will include four or five teams in each sectional, with games played Thursday and Saturday. Currently, 10 of the 32 boys sectional sites include nine teams, with games being played over five days.

"With nine teams, that tournament has to play every night in order to complete the sectional," IHSAA assistant commissioner Theresia Wynns said. "We felt that was a hardship as it relates to the students, the tournament directors, and the facilities. We wanted to alleviate that hardship."

[...]The 32-sectional girls tournament will remain the same. There are 228 girls teams compared to 264 boys teams.

"The girls sectional will not change because we have fewer schools that are playing women's soccer," Wynns said. "Consequently, the girls sectional numbers were not at the level that the boys were."

While the girls tournament does not have any nine-team sites, there are 11 sectionals with eight teams.

Indianapolis Star: Boys tournament to grow in '06

Reflections

The Journal Gazette editorial board remembers Dr. Bernard Stuart and Judge Jesse Eschbach.

Recap: Flu Shot Shortage?

On Wednesday evening's newscast, NewsChannel 15 ran a story that the Allen County-Fort Wayne Department of Health was still urging only high-risk individuals to get a flu shot, despite the fact that others had pointed out that health officials everywhere else were urging everyone to get one.

What WANE neglected to mention was that the person who pointed out the discrepancy was Mitch Harper, a -- gasp -- blogger!  This Indiana Parley post prompted their story, which was quite newsworthy considering many people could needlessly get the flu if the Health Department was mistakenly telling them not to get a flu shot unless they qualified as "at-risk."

A few days later, it looks like the Health Department's concern was legitimate, as a Google news search reveals some patches of flu shot shortages due to one company (Chiron) failing to fill all its orders, though many of the stories that come up are about communities that don't have a shortage, which is good news for those areas.

And, as Harper noted, many local health care providers have plenty of flu shots available:

Earlier today, I was at the office of a health care provider. I overheard the receptionist take a telephone call from a patient. Although I only heard one side of the call it was clear that the patient was asking whether vaccine was being restricted. The receptionist urged the patient to come to the office; that there were plenty of doses. This was confirmed when I talked to one of the medical professionals in the office.

It appears you have two choices: call your doctor, or wait and let those most at-risk get their flu shot first, hoping that Chiron gets its act together before the flu season hits.

If they don't, I suggest spending the winter someplace warm, where you don't have to worry about getting the flu...

News Blotter

From Friday's Indiana Daily Insight:

Gains for the Indiana Air National Guard base at the Fort Wayne International Airport that were recommended by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission and accepted by the President Bush have been confirmed in a vote on the House floor. H.J.Res. 65, a privileged resolution offered by the congressman representing Springfield, Illinois (which was home to the base slated for transfer to Allen County), that would have rejected the BRAC Commission's recommendations, failed in the House by a bipartisan majority of 85-324.

Also in today's edition:

WISH-TV's I-Team 8 investigates "a curious relationship" between "state politicians" and Ivy Tech Community College in its "politicians on the Payroll" report.

No word on whether the station is also investigating the curious relationship between WISH-TV sports reporter Nicole Manske (who reports on the Indy Racing League) and IRL champion Dan Wheldon.

NOTE: Former WANE anchor Karen Hensel is a member of I-Team 8.  WANE and WISH are both owned by LIN Broadcasting.

And from yesterday's Insight:

The Partnership for Drug-Free America awards U.S. Rep. Mark Souder (R) the 2005 Guardian Award. The Guardian Award is bestowed given in recognition and appreciation of leadership on issues related to substance abuse.

Partnership chair Ray Bostock says that “Throughout his years in public office, Congressman Mark Souder has worked hard to help young people make the right decisions about drugs. When it comes to understanding what drug abuse does to young people and their families – and, more importantly, what families can do to contain this problem – Congressman Souder gets it, like few others do. As Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, Congressman Souder has taken on the issues of legalization, medical marijuana, the spread of methamphetamine and Ecstasy, as well as issues surrounding drug trafficking here in the United States and around the globe. We are extremely grateful for his leadership on this critical issue,” Bostock continues.

Evil Eyes

Yesterday, after the USA Today admitted to doctoring a photo of Condolezza Rice, giving her a pair of "evil eyes," Leo Morris said on his blog that he didn't mind the sinister-looking version of the Secretary of State.

Besides, I like the demon-eyes Condi. Just imagine arrogant, insufferable foreign leaders being subjected to that steely gaze from President Rice.

Those comments begged the question: would Morris feel similarly if someone gave him a set of evil eyes?

You ask, I answer:

NOTE: The photograph is his News-Sentinel staff photo

You know, I like the demon-eyes Leo. Just imagine arrogant, insufferable non-News-Sentinel subscribers being subjected to that steely gaze from editorial page editor Morris.

MORE: The photos of Rice

Edwards to Return from Suspension

21Alive news anchor Keith Edwards is scheduled to return from a two-week suspension on Thursday. According to several sources inside the newsroom, that suspension was for comments he made to Linda Jackson and Janette Luu.

There is disagreement among those sources, however, on whether Edwards' comments were worthy of garnering him a suspension.

What's not in dispute is that in both cases, Edwards joined newsroom conversations already in progress that were characterized as the kind of discussion that often occurs in the newsroom. "Keith jumped into the conversation," said one source. "He did not initiate it."

In one instance, employees were discussing a pair of black boots Luu was wearing. Edwards added a comment about the boots. "It was of a sexual nature," said a source.

On another occasion, Edwards joined a discussion with Linda Jackson and others, making a joke directed at her that was also of a sexual nature. Jackson did not file a complaint about the remarks. It appears, however, that someone else did.

That led to an internal investigation. Employees who heard Edwards' remarks were called in individually to recount what happened. Edwards was also asked to tell his side of the story, according to a source.

After concluding the investigation, WPTA management informed Edwards that he had been suspended. "He was stunned," said one employee. "Absolutely stunned."

While acknowledging that Edwards doesn't always put things delicately, "I think there are people [here] out to get him," said the source.

"Let me just say this," said another employee, "if he were to lose his job, a lot of people wouldn't be upset."

All sources asked not to be identified, implying that revealing that information could put their jobs at risk.

Repeated calls to Jerry Giesler, Granite Broadcasting's executive vice president of Fort Wayne operations, were not returned.

"I answer to God and my family," said Edwards, when reached for comment.  "No one else."

Reporter's Notebook: Behind the Story

On October 14th, I received an email from a Fort Wayne Observed reader informing me that Keith Edwards had been suspended. Because Edwards is a prominent member of the community and in the public eye, I made a determination that this was newsworthy.

Three days later, after confirming that he was indeed serving a suspension, I reported that information.

The next step was to find out why he was suspended. Due to the nature of the story, WPTA management did not want any employees talking about this to the press, so all my sources would only speak to me on the condition of anonymity.

Quoting anonymous sources is a double-edged sword: sometimes it results in netting key information otherwise unobtainable, but it also allows people to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.

That's why I spoke to as many sources as I could, and, wherever possible, attempted to confirm what I was being told. I also made repeated calls to Jerry Giesler (he was always "unavailable") and also left an unreturned message with Dolores Perez, Granite Broadcasting's Director of Human Resources.

I also spoke with other journalists I respect on how to proceed with this story. In every case, they provided me with wise counsel and cautioned me to proceed with care.

When I started to hear conflicting reports from various sources, I doubled my efforts to make sense of the discrepancy. What I discovered were two factions within the newsroom with differing opinions about whether Edwards deserved to be suspended for his comments.

The facts of the story -- what he said and whom he said it to -- were confirmed by sources on both sides. But I was unable to confirm the exact context surrounding those remarks, only finding a consensus on their characterization, which is what I reported.

There's another aspect to this situation that affected how I treated this story: I'm a former 21Alive employee. When I was 16, I was hired to work in the station's production department, and during the five months I spent there, I met many of the people involved in this story.

Though reporters sometimes get caught up in the excitement of a story and forget that real people are affected, that was never the case with me on this story.