When the mayor of Bluff City couldn't afford to pay a $10,000 bill to a supplier, the supplier sued him to collect. There was no fraud. There was a bad economy and business projections fell. The mayor, who is also a businessman, is having financial problems like everyone else in this bad economy. But because he's the mayor, a simple civil issue has become front page news. Simply by putting this story of a legitimate business having legitimate problems in the paper, what was a civil case between businesses has become a very public embarassment. One reader responded to reporter Mac McLean's story. Mac, as you will recall, is the reporter who delighted in filming the breasts of local businesswomen in Danville and showing them around the newsroom. The reader wrote:
Mac Mclean has gone to far with this one. Why has Mclean and the Bristol Herald Courier picked Malone to exploit? Small business owners across the United States are really suffering with the bad economy. Articles like this should be viewed from a personal standpoint and not be made headline news. Mclean, what are you trying to prove picking on individuals that have good character that bad economic times
dealt a bad hand. Perhaps the Bristol Herald Courier will sell far less newspapers bringing a bad situation financially and then we can read about it in the Kingsport Times or the Johnson City Press. THe Herald Courier
needs to be more selective about what it prints pertaining to civil matters. This is no big deal considering the economy, the big deal is the 10.5 trillion the Fed has already given out in bailouts and should be called handouts. Mclean grabs for anything he can make a story from and the Bristol Herald Courier prints anything that can
help fill the pages of their skimpy newspaper.
Who is really served when a hometown newspaper starts making front page news of news that is already in the bankruptcies listings? If you fall behind, file bankruptcy, lose your job - is that really newsworthy? Apparently Media General thinks so. I'm not sure exactly how that benefits citizens or does anything more than generate fear mongering and sell newspapers. How sad a local paper does more to tear down businesses rather than help them find solutions.
Showing posts with label bristol herald courier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bristol herald courier. Show all posts
Friday, December 5, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Carrier guilty or innocent?
Hmmmm....letters to the editor in the Herald Courier claim Melvin Carrier is a foul-mouthed loser.
Seems like most of the folks there in Bluff City, if you read the newspaper anyway, don't care too much for him. I don't know and can't take sides. I just find it odd that the paper is so opposed to the behavior and mouth of a politician who reacted to a reporter who - at least when he was working in Danville, had a foul mouth and a foul attitude himself. Pot, meet kettle.
Seems like most of the folks there in Bluff City, if you read the newspaper anyway, don't care too much for him. I don't know and can't take sides. I just find it odd that the paper is so opposed to the behavior and mouth of a politician who reacted to a reporter who - at least when he was working in Danville, had a foul mouth and a foul attitude himself. Pot, meet kettle.
Carrier denies saying "Piss in your gut"...Mac lied?
Melvin Carrier's 93-year-old mother cried when she read Mac McLean's story about her son and Bluff City Alderman.
"I don't take the paper and she doesn't either," Carrier said in a telephone interview Monday night.
"Someone called and told her about it," he said. "And she cried. Then she got on my hind end," he explained.
Bluff City is a small town in East Tennessee, population about 1,500. It's a small enough town that neighbors know neighbors and remember each other's school history as well as the names of their neighbor's children and dogs. It's a town where something like a new parking lot light at the ramp to the put-in at the lake is a big deal. A town where things like a new recycling bin and junk cars are front-page news.
Carrier, now a politician in the town where he played high school football in the 50's, is proud of all he's helped accomplish there, and sorry that the cars he loved so much have caused so much of a ruckus.
"In 93 when I was on the board I helped get recycling bins down by the lake," he said, recounting a list of improvements he helped get in the city over the past two decades." But the good he has done was recently overshadowed by the rusting cars in his yard.
"I don't know," he said. "I just love old cars. I always have." But over time the townsfolk and one neighbor objected to them. Where Carrier saw his first car - the one he bought as a teen-ager for $50; his neighbors saw a junk heap. Where he saw his first wheels and the car he used to take he and his high school friends on a road trip to Gatlinburg and then over to Cherokee, NC his neighbors saw a broken hulk.
Where Carrier saw memories, the city saw an eyesore. Being in public office and having an eyesore in his yard and neighbors complaining about it meant Carrier was fair game for the local newspaper - The Bristol Herald Courier. (A Media General newspaper)
A Courier photographer and newspaper reporter Mac McLean took a photo of Carrier’s yard and the cars and ran the photo in the newspaper, along with some information Carrier said wasn't true.
"I never had words with my neighbor," Carrier said. "And he's been gone a month, sold his house and moved out. I waved at him a few times, but we never had words.”
Carrier admits his neighbor wrote City Hall about several of the vehicles that appeared to be abandoned or were sitting in his yard. The Bluff City Mayor Tom Anderson brought it up at a meeting, Carrier said.
According to the story in the Bristol Herald Courier, Anderson said city officials had little they could enforce because the city's current ordinance dealing with overgrown and dirty lots does not apply to owner-occupied property, like a yard at someone’s private residence. A proposed ordinance would change that and it would also make Carrier the first person in town to be cited.
Under the new law people could file a complaint with the board who could then determine whether it was necessary to take action. Carrier’s property was at the top of the list, so Carrier said, he moved the cars, but the neighbors have been gone a month and they did finally sell their home.
"They couldn't sell their house cause things are bad all over," he said. "It wasn't all the cars. It was the housing market."
What bothers Carrier the most about the whole affair is that Carrier said the paper reported he said he would "Piss on his gut," to Mac McLean. "I never said that," Carrier insisted.
"I confronted him about it (the story)," Carrier said when asked if he did indeed “bump” Mac. The two men were standing, Carrier said, in a meeting near the city recorder where Mac was talking to the city recorder.
"I don't got no craw-fish in me. I don't back up to nobody. I said are you the dude that put a picture in the paper about my property and my house. He said yes, and I said I don't appreciate it. It upset my family a whole bunch. I've been over the rocks enough it didn't bother me too much but it upset them and I'd appreciate it if you didn't do it no more. That's all I said to him," Carrier said.
"It said in the paper that I said I would piss on his guts. I told that to the city recorder and she said “That's a lie, that's a big lie. I was there and I heard what you said.”
Carrier denies saying it as well.
"I never said such a thing," he said. Carrier also said no one ever talked to him about the incident and that Editor Todd Foster, the editor of the paper never even got his side of the story. The article in the Courier said Foster attempted to contact Carrier, but couldn't reach him. Oh well - might as well go ahead and threaten the man. Good thing it was only a threat of using his name in a newspaper Carrier doesn't read.
"He don't have my cell phone number and I never talked to him. I wasn't here to answer the phone if he did call," Carrier said.
Carrier sighed and was quiet for a minute. “I just hope it settles down."
It may not. After all, Carrier’s name is now in the Bristol Herald Courier 14 times. In a small town like Bluff City, them's fighting words I suppose. And for the reporter who was so intimidated by being bumped...maybe he ought to go back to filming and humiliating women. Sad isn't it? All the men will defend each other, but don't seem to care so much about the abuse of women. Such is Media General. But before I accused a man of saying he was going to piss in my guts...I'd make sure the only witness to the incident at least confirmed it....at least before using his name 14 times in an editorial.
Media General staff may not respond to emails from me because they may - at some future time, but in court with me since I have filed an EEOC complaint - so this reporter was unable to contact them for comment. However, other bloggers may feel free to do so.
"I don't take the paper and she doesn't either," Carrier said in a telephone interview Monday night.
"Someone called and told her about it," he said. "And she cried. Then she got on my hind end," he explained.
Bluff City is a small town in East Tennessee, population about 1,500. It's a small enough town that neighbors know neighbors and remember each other's school history as well as the names of their neighbor's children and dogs. It's a town where something like a new parking lot light at the ramp to the put-in at the lake is a big deal. A town where things like a new recycling bin and junk cars are front-page news.
Carrier, now a politician in the town where he played high school football in the 50's, is proud of all he's helped accomplish there, and sorry that the cars he loved so much have caused so much of a ruckus.
"In 93 when I was on the board I helped get recycling bins down by the lake," he said, recounting a list of improvements he helped get in the city over the past two decades." But the good he has done was recently overshadowed by the rusting cars in his yard.
"I don't know," he said. "I just love old cars. I always have." But over time the townsfolk and one neighbor objected to them. Where Carrier saw his first car - the one he bought as a teen-ager for $50; his neighbors saw a junk heap. Where he saw his first wheels and the car he used to take he and his high school friends on a road trip to Gatlinburg and then over to Cherokee, NC his neighbors saw a broken hulk.
Where Carrier saw memories, the city saw an eyesore. Being in public office and having an eyesore in his yard and neighbors complaining about it meant Carrier was fair game for the local newspaper - The Bristol Herald Courier. (A Media General newspaper)
A Courier photographer and newspaper reporter Mac McLean took a photo of Carrier’s yard and the cars and ran the photo in the newspaper, along with some information Carrier said wasn't true.
"I never had words with my neighbor," Carrier said. "And he's been gone a month, sold his house and moved out. I waved at him a few times, but we never had words.”
Carrier admits his neighbor wrote City Hall about several of the vehicles that appeared to be abandoned or were sitting in his yard. The Bluff City Mayor Tom Anderson brought it up at a meeting, Carrier said.
According to the story in the Bristol Herald Courier, Anderson said city officials had little they could enforce because the city's current ordinance dealing with overgrown and dirty lots does not apply to owner-occupied property, like a yard at someone’s private residence. A proposed ordinance would change that and it would also make Carrier the first person in town to be cited.
Under the new law people could file a complaint with the board who could then determine whether it was necessary to take action. Carrier’s property was at the top of the list, so Carrier said, he moved the cars, but the neighbors have been gone a month and they did finally sell their home.
"They couldn't sell their house cause things are bad all over," he said. "It wasn't all the cars. It was the housing market."
What bothers Carrier the most about the whole affair is that Carrier said the paper reported he said he would "Piss on his gut," to Mac McLean. "I never said that," Carrier insisted.
"I confronted him about it (the story)," Carrier said when asked if he did indeed “bump” Mac. The two men were standing, Carrier said, in a meeting near the city recorder where Mac was talking to the city recorder.
"I don't got no craw-fish in me. I don't back up to nobody. I said are you the dude that put a picture in the paper about my property and my house. He said yes, and I said I don't appreciate it. It upset my family a whole bunch. I've been over the rocks enough it didn't bother me too much but it upset them and I'd appreciate it if you didn't do it no more. That's all I said to him," Carrier said.
"It said in the paper that I said I would piss on his guts. I told that to the city recorder and she said “That's a lie, that's a big lie. I was there and I heard what you said.”
Carrier denies saying it as well.
"I never said such a thing," he said. Carrier also said no one ever talked to him about the incident and that Editor Todd Foster, the editor of the paper never even got his side of the story. The article in the Courier said Foster attempted to contact Carrier, but couldn't reach him. Oh well - might as well go ahead and threaten the man. Good thing it was only a threat of using his name in a newspaper Carrier doesn't read.
"He don't have my cell phone number and I never talked to him. I wasn't here to answer the phone if he did call," Carrier said.
Carrier sighed and was quiet for a minute. “I just hope it settles down."
It may not. After all, Carrier’s name is now in the Bristol Herald Courier 14 times. In a small town like Bluff City, them's fighting words I suppose. And for the reporter who was so intimidated by being bumped...maybe he ought to go back to filming and humiliating women. Sad isn't it? All the men will defend each other, but don't seem to care so much about the abuse of women. Such is Media General. But before I accused a man of saying he was going to piss in my guts...I'd make sure the only witness to the incident at least confirmed it....at least before using his name 14 times in an editorial.
Media General staff may not respond to emails from me because they may - at some future time, but in court with me since I have filed an EEOC complaint - so this reporter was unable to contact them for comment. However, other bloggers may feel free to do so.
Piss in your gut....
Even though Editor Todd Foster is from the south he said he isn't familiar with the term "piss in your gut." Well, the phrase refers to entering a man's anal canal with one's penis so deeply that he can then "piss in your gut."
The movie Deliverance has a scene in which such humiliation is adequately conveyed the term "squeal like a pig."
Of course that's exactly the sort of phrase someone who hasn't yet served time for Felony-Writing-of-a-Name might not have experience with. I actually had to call a good ole boy I know for a definition...
So now I know nothing makes a man who threatens to "piss in your gut" quake in his boots more than being threatened with having his name in the newspaper!! Oh my Golly. In essence Mac was threatened with this.... WARNING GRAPHIC AND DISGUSTING
and Todd retaliated with this....
Stay tuned. I'm sure now that Todd who told the Alderman "Should another incident of this sort happen again, I can assure you your name will be all over the Opinion page of this newspaper, and a possible call made to local law enforcement," is feeling more manly, as is Mac. And - given the repercussions we can all assume that in keeping with Media General policy - if you anger their editors they will deliberately and with malice aforethought....slander your name. Unless you're a woman. Then they simply film you and talk about your breasts and make fun of you in the newsroom...
So now we know...The men at Media General get defended...the women don't.
But if all this isn't enough...then read the citizen comments....sounds like a real hot-bed of potential Pulitzer stuff there at the Bristol Herald all right:
The movie Deliverance has a scene in which such humiliation is adequately conveyed the term "squeal like a pig."
Of course that's exactly the sort of phrase someone who hasn't yet served time for Felony-Writing-of-a-Name might not have experience with. I actually had to call a good ole boy I know for a definition...
So now I know nothing makes a man who threatens to "piss in your gut" quake in his boots more than being threatened with having his name in the newspaper!! Oh my Golly. In essence Mac was threatened with this.... WARNING GRAPHIC AND DISGUSTING
and Todd retaliated with this....
Stay tuned. I'm sure now that Todd who told the Alderman "Should another incident of this sort happen again, I can assure you your name will be all over the Opinion page of this newspaper, and a possible call made to local law enforcement," is feeling more manly, as is Mac. And - given the repercussions we can all assume that in keeping with Media General policy - if you anger their editors they will deliberately and with malice aforethought....slander your name. Unless you're a woman. Then they simply film you and talk about your breasts and make fun of you in the newsroom...
So now we know...The men at Media General get defended...the women don't.
But if all this isn't enough...then read the citizen comments....sounds like a real hot-bed of potential Pulitzer stuff there at the Bristol Herald all right:
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