Journalism is Not What it Seems

This is too funny not to mention:

In today's Newburyport Daily News, there is an editorial praising Salem State College becoming a university.

It is a misnomer to assume a Newburyport editor wrote it as the time stamp is 3:20 a.m.

The Salem News, owned by the same parent publishing house, ran the same editorial three hours earlier.

Moreover, people can comment on one editorial or the other, but because of different sources the comments are not seen by all. I ask the editors: why?

On guns

I am not surprised that the Daily News of Newburyport is subjecting itself to the centuries-old debate over the merits of the 2nd Amendment: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

What does surprise me is in the wake of three opinions that the Daily News published over the past two months, is nobody is connecting a common element that everyone is talking about but only insular to their own arguments.

First, though, it's important to trace the history:

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The series, if I may, began on March 25, 2008 in an op-ed written by Amesbury resident Robert McGlew.

Titled "Guns, gumption and government," McGlew argues that an armed professor at Virginia Tech would have, or at the least, could have, prevented many more deaths by shooting the shooter.

The best defense against a gun is a gun! One armed professor at Virginia Tech would have saved many lives. Sounds radical but we are in a crisis because of loose laws on gun ownership, and the easy availability of all kinds of guns and ammunition.

To me, it doesn't sound radical at all. Rather, it is reminiscent of the Hammurabi Code of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Surely, McGlew isn't suggesting society regress to Babylonian law?

He goes on and says evil is a reality and we are feeding the evil among us with music, movies, TV and the ever-expanding world of pornography. Without the stabilizing influence of faith in the one true God, people are spinning out of control.

I saw this one coming, as the op-ed's byline indicates McGlew is a semi-retired minister, so God forbid, of course mass media and porn are to blame for gun-crazy individuals.

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Next up in the series is Amesbury resident Andrew Shirshac who wrote this letter to the editor on May 7, 2008 with the title, "Guns are not the answer."

Shirshac directly responds to the former minister and says, Evil is certainly a fair description of certain acts, but they are committed by people, just people. People shaped by experience, other people, and sometimes mental illness. Massacre-scale violence is often committed by very sick people. Shooting them would end the specific situation, but is that the best general prescription?

This reads like a lot of fluff without any substance. People beget people and people's experience beget other experiences. I get it. Why doesn't Shirshac respond to the notion of faith in the one true God as McGlew suggested? No response necessary.

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The latest letter to the editor is published today, May 21, 2008, by Newburyport resident William Emmith, titled "Armed citizens best way to stop crime," cites studies by criminologists Gary Kleck and John R. Lott and suggests an armed citizen is the solution to crime.

In recent years the right to carry a firearm has been made law in over 38 states. The blood path feared by such as Mr. Shirshac did not occur. Indeed, the opposite was the result: Crime declined. The fact is you are 1,000 times more likely to be killed by your doctor than by an accident with a firearm. Do the research.

I'll give you research.

Between July 1995 and April 1997, gun homicides in Boston dropped 70 percent for males under 27 and 50 percent for males 25 and over, according to the April 4, 1997 issue of The CQ Researcher.

The reason for the homicidal decrease is because Boston police teamed up with federal law enforcers and targeted urban gangs; in one instance, a gang member with 15 prior convictions was sentenced to 20 years in a federal prison for carrying a single bullet in his pocket.

If you want to carry a gun, Bill, I have no problem with that. But should any person, at any age or any mental capacity, be able to similarly possess a firearm? Should the ability to fire a gun be no more limiting than the ability to tie one's shoelaces? That's how your letter reads.

And why do you mention the death-by-doctor angle? Are you implying if doctors are eliminated there would be less medical deaths? More people die every year from motor vehicle accidents than gun shootings; so do we ban cars?

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The common element that everyone mentions but doesn't relate to each other is that society must cleanse itself. McGlew and Shirshac come closest to agreeing on this by talking about the evil in society.

For clarification, I point you to an April 2007 article in the Anchorage Daily News by staff writer Craig Medred.

Medred talks about the Virginia Tech tragedy and concludes that regardless if an armed citizen duked it out with the killer or if gun control laws were tougher, the controversy is moot.

Both arguments are as valid as they are invalid, writes Medred.

Medred insists the problem is not gun control or lack of gun control, but there is a national epidemic of rage.

He goes on and says that guns are part of the problem that also include knives and baseball bats. Do we arm, as McGlew suggests for guns, every citizen with knives and bats too? Neither Kleck nor Lott, based on my cursory research, talk about knives and bats, let alone rage. Response, Emmith?

Guns aren't bad things or good things, Medred writes. They're things, inanimate objects, chunks of metal with no will of their own. They're really not the problem. We are.

Amen.

Should fire trucks be in parades?

In the wake of a recent City Council vote to approve a $500,000 bond order to purchase a new fire engine, and considering the skyrocketing costs of fuel, should fire engines continue to be used in parades?

This is a question asked by a Frederick County commissioner in Maryland.

Frederick County uses $1.1 million gallons of fuel a year. It includes gasoline for dumptrucks, cruisers, fire trucks and snow plows. Fifty-six percent of the fuel is diesel, ran The Frederick News-Post in this story yesterday.

Every morning I receive an email digest from the International City/County Management Association with snippets from domestic news outlets about municipal issues. The Frederick story was in today's digest.

The story goes on and mentions a county-wide "fuel conservation policy" is in the works for every county department, not just fire and rescue. Once the policy is complete, the county will ask each department to develop conservation strategies and send them back for review and adoption.

Granted, Newburyport's costs are miniscule compared to an entire county but the point remains valid: Should fire trucks (or any other city vehicles that drain financial resources) be used in parades or other extraneous circumstances? If so, who pays for the gas and depreciation?

Do you recycle your newspaper?

The MBTA, in partnership with The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, metro, The Phoenix, and Stuff@Night, recently launched a paper recycling campaign.

Located at every train and subway station in Boston and the immediate vicinity are trashcans that are specifically marked for disposal of newspapers, magazines, and other papers.

At Boston's North Station, for instance, the receptacles are on each commuter train platform and also downstairs in the subway terminal.

The participating newspapers and magazines are also printing full-color advertisements like the one here I photographed in the latest issue of Stuff@Night:


(You can click the photo to see it blown-up.)

Imagine if the Daily News, Newburyport Current, Port Planet, The Town Common, Merrimack Valley Magazine, and the like came together for a similar paper recycling campaign. Work it with the MBTA and the MVRTA, and the communities' recycling pickup routes, and we can easily mimic what's happening in big city Boston.

Daily News slacking on bicycle stories

At Monday night's City Council meeting, the mayor and council president read a proclamation celebrating national bike week. I thank them for this.

However, I haven't seen the paper of record, the Daily News, follow-up with a story. Maybe one is planned.

Earlier this month, the Daily News reported on the rising cost of gas, then at $3.60, and how businesses such as Port Taxi, Volpone Towing Service, and Pizza Factory II are feeling the pinch.

One sentence in the article stands alone:

Be it car pooling, riding a bicycle, walking or taking another form of transportation, many drivers are conserving.

Despite being the second sentence in the article, this notion of a consumer's choice to not drive a car but ride a bike, walk, or use public transit is not elaborated.

What's the point of the sentence?

Last October, the Daily News published this article about the initial erection of three bike racks downtown in an effort to cut down on the number of cars in the downtown district and increase the number of bicycles.

I don't recall subsequent stories on whether more people are riding their bikes downtown. Granted, the weather is only getting warm so maybe a story is planned.

Officials hope the racks will encourage people to ride bikes to the city rather than drive their vehicles, wrote reporter Stephen Tait in the above article. There are many benefits, they say, including helping to decrease emissions of greenhouse gases and helping to fix the parking and traffic congestion problems downtown.

I've seen subsequent stories on parking and traffic congestion, but not anything on whether more people are riding their bikes to the city. I know of many people who ride their bikes from their homes to downtown locations and would be more than willing to talk about it.

In an effort to give the DN an idea of the type of story I'd like to see, take a look at this article in today's issue of The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, about the benefits of bicycle commuters.

I'll soon join the bandwagon, as I filled my tank yesterday at $3.67 for regular unleaded gas. My bike is in the shop for a tune-up; and I anticipate 2-wheeling around the area more than 4-wheeling.

On Newburyport churches

With faith congregations of the Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational, Christian, Church of Christ, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, Baptist, Methodist, Jehovah Witness, and Assemblies of God dotting the Newburyport landscape, it's a wonder there is no Church of Jediism.

I wish I was joking.

The "under construction" website of the Jedi Order of America does lead to disbelief seeing George Lucas is called a "Profit" and not a "Prophet," but I'm still not joking.

It all makes sense when you consider this very real story from the Associated Press about a man dressed up as Darth Vader who was given a lighter sentence when his victim, the founder of a Jedi Church, opted not to press charges.

Thanks to Coyote Blog for this hilarious inspiration.

Wait. There isn't a Jedi Church in Newburyport, is there? This post would be even funnier if there was one.

Clam shack makes Page 1

The Boston Globe today profiles an interview with Newburyport's remaining clam shack wannabe owner Mark Roland and others in a Page 1 story.

This comes on the heels of months of Zoning Board of Appeals meetings and numerous local press stories, not to mention recent posts by Gillian Swart and Tom Salemi. In two posts last year, both here and here, Mary Eaton chronicled the history of clam shacks along the section of Simmons Beach and about Councilor Larry McCavitt's restorative quest.

I don't know enough of the history to form an opinion but for what is obvious a historic building, I'd rather see it preserved than not. As Mr. Roland appears at the surface to be the only person who is doing something to preserve the structure, how is that a bad thing?

Newburyport opposites?

Check out this video from Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, and let me know your thoughts on who would be the best pairings from Newburyport to similarly speak about climate change or any other universal issue.

Looking to Rock Port

In 30 minutes, the City Council's planning and development committee will jointly meet with the Planning Board's wind energy subcommittee.

I have other plans tonight but I'll be following up on the takeaway points.

I raise this issue in the wake of this week's news that the community of Rock Port, Missouri is poised to become the first city in the country to be powered 100% from wind generation.

In a story at renewableenergyworld.com, a facility located on city-owned parkland "will produce up to 16 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually, which exceeds the 13 million kWh Rock Port uses each year."

Granted, Rock Port in the extreme northwest of Missouri occupies 2.9 square miles and had 1,395 residents in the 2000 census, but the concept of a city powered solely from the wind is no small feat.

Considering the Newburyport Sewer Department, for instance, consumed 2,525,476 kWh of electricity across 17 locations in fiscal 2007, there is an argument to reduce that number to something more efficient without sacrificing the power of anaerobic digesters and diffusers.

A wind turbine, or a farm of them, will not singularly help decrease Newburyport's energy footprint. Like the solar panels atop the Tannery mill buildings and the geothermal technology that the Parker River refuge headquarters installed, we need a little bit of everything to offset nuclear and fossil fuels.

If Mark Richey Woodworking had not proposed the installation of a turbine, would the Planning Board have gotten involved as soon as they had? I don't know the answer to that. But I thank the committee and other concerned citizens for looking into wind power.

I don't suggest Newburyport follows Rock Port's example, but I do believe that Rock Port should be studied as a small-scale version of Newburyport and to give perspective to what's possible with renewable energy.

Daily News Promotes Smoking

I don't like the subject of this post but there's no denying the facts.

In Tuesday's edition of the Daily News, I read this article that is part of a special supplement focusing on businesses north of Boston.

Newburyport staff reporter Stephen Tait profiled Maytag Appliance in Salisbury, for instance, whereas Charles Frost profiled Two Guys Smoke Shop, a New Hampshire chain with locations in Seabrook and Salem. (I recognize Frost is not based in Newburyport but he's part of the corporate reporting staff out of Andover or Haverhill or such.)

Two Guys Smoke Shop offers strictly cigars, specifically premium, hand-rolled cigars, said [owner Roy] Kirby, who adamantly said that he does not sell cigarettes.

This is my first beef. Why does Kirby insist he doesn't sell cigarettes, and why is that an issue to Frost to keep in the article?

Aren't both men aware of the cigar smoking facts distributed by the National Cancer Institute? It doesn't matter whether one is smoking a cigar or a cigarette; inhalation may be less with a cigar but tobacco and nicotine levels are higher than in a cigarette.

Kirby said a lot of his business comes from word of mouth as well as television and newspaper advertising. He noted that a large contingent of his customers come from Massachusetts where residents realize that they can go to New Hampshire and avoid paying tax.

I'm all for the press to publicize businesses, but aren't we going too far to advocate cigar smoking residents of Newburyport need to cross state lines to avoid paying taxes?

"I have a lot of regular customers that come in on a regular basis who hang around in the store and smoke cigars," Kirby said. "I've seen a lot of newer customers. With warmer weather, there is a whole new emergence of people."

Great, now younger wannabe smokers will want to experience the so-called pleasures of cigar smoking. What kind of role model is the Daily News setting for Newburyport youth, whom the BEACON Coalition is trying to ween off smoking?

Not seen online, but in the print version, there is a quarter-page advertisement by the smoke shop that appears several pages before Frost's story. So, not only is the paper promoting (underage) smoking but it's accepting ad revenue too.

Lack of respect

In today's Daily News, Julia Kirst wrote a letter to the editor criticizing the Newburyport High School administration for not respecting the students regarding their planned April Fools prank.

Kirst is no stranger to youth-adult relationships, as she points out in her letter. The selling point for me was respect: If we don't give it, we don't get it.

Kirst argues the adults did not respect the students, which to my recollection is one of the takeaway points from a recent report by the BEACON Coalition.

I wait for a counter letter to the editor on this matter.

Gothic Google

I love it. Click over to google.com and be dazzled by the Earth Hour motivation.

Between this, and the 800,000+ Facebook users who joined an Earth Hour fan club, momentum is building in the final hours.

Will it matter? I hope so.

Earth citizens emit 27 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year.

That is a lot, and according to a TIME Magazine story in yesterday's online blotter, will it matter if the entire world, time zone by time zone, turns off their lights? Will such an electric reduction really matter?

It's a good question, TIME admits in the course of its interview with World Wildlife Fund President & CEO Carter Roberts, regarding tomorrow night's Earth Hour momentum that has built up globally since last year's Sydney, Australia experiment.

Last week, I briefly discussed Earth Hour and cross-posted one of the official videos, challenging local residents and business owners to turn off lights and shut down appliances.

In a quest to build local momentum, I wrote a letter to the editor that ran this week in the Daily News and the Current.

In the aforementioned article, TIME argues that the concept of Earth Hour is all and well, but climate change will not be cured in 60 minutes, even if the whole world participates.

It is our charge, as Earth citizens, to allocate funding and research for newer and greener technologies that should lead us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, replenish the ozone layer, and slowly make the world a better place.

Roberts, the WWF head, told TIME, "Unlike most of the issues that we grapple with, climate change is global. The pressure is on us to do the right thing."

I don't expect every Newburyport resident and business owner to meet my challenge. Clearly, there's no way to test it. I've heard from residents who, like me, use energy efficient light bulbs in their daily lives.

We turn on lights when entering a room and turn them off when leaving a room. If the sunlight is strong, then daylighting takes priority over artificial lighting. I received an email from one local man who unplugs every appliance every hour of every day when not in use.

Perhaps a few households is enough to start to make a difference.

Healthy cattle come here

Maybe it's because the Newburyport School Department cafeterias are privatized operations, or maybe for some other reason, but I'm glad to see in the wake of yesterday's announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that listed 226 pages of School Food Authorities that received 143 million pounds of tainted beef from a California slaughterhouse that Newburyport is not included.

This doesn't necessarily mean Newburyport doesn't receive bad beef, but at least we're not in this recall.

Fight club, anyone?

Earlier this month, a birthday party held at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Natick was the setting of a fistfight between two mothers when their sons argued over who can play a video game, reported The MetroWest Daily News.

But that fight only involved two women.

Switch to Somerville, when about 200 people broke into a fight with bats and knives during an Easter Sunday party at the Good Time Emporium. I love this part of the Somerville News article:

In the midst of the brawl, Regina Hunter, 17, of Randolph, allegedly threatened another female with a knife and fought violently with police trying to detain her. She was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, possession of a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct. Police allegedly found a six-inch black pocket knife on Hunter.

When will Newburyport share in the fun?

Scratch that. Maybe it shouldn't.

Green water

A judge at the Newburyport High School science fair on February 28, I spent some time with students Bria Boschetto and Sadie Cathcart who led me through their hypothesis and experiments in an exhibit called, “The Cosmetics of Water.”

Bria and Sadie compared the chlorine and pH levels of tap water, Brita-filtered tap water, refrigerator-filtered tap water, and bottled water, and asked which water was cleaner and cost effective.

The bottled water was most expensive, regardless of brand. And the chlorine and pH levels in bottled water is not much different than tap water. The tap water was cleanest, but because piping systems are typically old, the result is dirtier water. But, a Brita filter, performing more efficient than a refrigerator filter, removed all the "dirt" while maintaining proper levels.

Thus, the students reasoned, a glass of Newburyport tap water, via a Brita filter, is the cleanest and cheapest.

I graded the girls an "A."

In today's Boston Globe, this story talks about 80 Boston restaurants which no longer offer bottled water to their patrons. Restaurant owners cite empty bottles produce waste, not to mention the costs in manufacturing, shipping, and purchasing the bottles in the first place.

At a Harvard Square restaurant, for instance, the menu includes a note that bottled water is "[n]ot sold here because plastic bottles are BAD BAD BAD for the environment and that water is really no better than tap water."

Bria and Sadie were on to something, and I'd like to see them pitch their findings to the community at-large.

Goat Week

In a story in today's paper, the Rowley Board of Selectmen voted to put a dog to death after the Rottweiler allegedly killed a neighboring goat.

First of all, it's a Rottweiler, not a pit bull which is known to attack other animals and people.

Second of all, both the dog and goat owners should be thankful as there was another story today, albeit in Clarkesville, Tennessee, about a 76-year-old preacher who was killed by a goat.

Nothing beats the incident from August 2007 when a 60-year-old Australian woman was killed by her pet camel after the animal tried to have sex with her.

Yay Geordie

About six weeks ago, I emailed all city hall employees with a link to American City and County Magazine's website, indicating that the publishers were interested in publishing weekly photos of urban life on their website. In the email, I encouraged employees to submit their works of art.

Geordie Vining, senior project manager in the planning department, stepped up and the magazine published his choice on their website earlier this month.

Click here to see his photo of city hall.

Distorted News

In a story in today's Daily News on a cellular tower to be built off Storey Avenue is the following paragraph:

The company, 5G Investment Trust, filed a lawsuit in federal court in late October or early November last year over the denial of a cell tower at 74 Storey Ave., land located behind Dunkin' Donuts that is not zoned for that use, said Nancy Colbert, the city's planning director.

Let me get this traight. Reporter Stephen Tait spoke to the planning director and paraphrased her words. But someone failed to specify the date of the lawsuit.

Late October or early November? Which was it? And how can the Daily News be the so-called paper of record if stories are distorted?

Current Events

If the Cambridge Chronicle can write a funny albeit sad story about a Cantabrigian turkey that was hit by a car and relocated to Dedham, then surely similar animal stories could be featured in the Newburyport Current if for no other reason than between the Parker River wildlife refuge and the Mass Audubon center there must be human-animal stories.

Alas, Gillian Swart is no longer employed by the Current, which begs the question what sort of news and events the paper will include this week.