Volume 35, No. 2 March 2010 QUOTE OF THE MONTH “Half of the American people never read a news- paper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.” — Gore Vidal, an American author and political activist Visit the ISWNE’s Web site: www.iswne.org Published by the Institute of International Studies, Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, MO Program continues to expand for Ky. conference By Al Cross Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues First-class presenters and panelists are being added to the program for the annual conference of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors June 23-27. Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond will host the conference, with programming from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky. The conference centerpiece will be a workshop on Friday, June 25 about how weekly newspapers can benefit from the Internet and deal with the challenges it presents, including legal and ethical Jean Maneke Bill Reader Gary Sosniecki issues. Jean Maneke, veteran attorney for the Missouri Press Association, sell and present online advertising and promote their Web sites. will address the legal front, including one of the biggest questions “The biggest mistake a newspaper can make is to put up too weekly editors seem to have about the Internet: whether to allow much content,” Gary says, but the key is to post the right material story comments, and if so, how to monitor and manage them. and be “a weekly newspaper in print and a daily newspaper Bill Reader of Ohio University, a former community newspaper online.” editor who is now one of the leading researchers of community One reason to start or expand a Web site is to head off competi- journalism, will address the ethical principles and journalistic tion. We will also hear from some whom you may regard as the practicalities involved when you make your newspaper interac- enemy: Kentucky entrepreneurs who have started successful news tive. sites in competition with weekly newspapers. Bill believes that when properly managed, interactivity can pro- Friday’s Internet sessions will be opened to non-ISWNE members vide fresh insight into the community’s issues and values, and for a fee, and weekly newspaper folks from the region will also be cement the newspaper’s function of serving as a community invited to join us for dinner that evening at the historic and newly forum. remodeled Boone Tavern Hotel in the college town of Berea, near Gary Sosniecki, general manager of creative services for Richmond. The guest speaker will be Appalachian humorist Loyal TownNews.com and a former editor and publisher of highly Jones, author or co-author of six books, who is guaranteed to regarded weekly newspapers, will give us his expert advice for make you laugh. posting news and other content online and how weeklies should continued on page 3 The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors President’sresident’s By Jim Painter Reporteport Avondale, Ariz. County’s dysfunction linked to Butterfly Effect The Butterfly Effect — the theory that a to stop the supervisors from cutting his other Arizona county attorneys, tried to happening in one point in time or space budget. point out that Thomas has a conflict of can ripple outward or snowball to have a Together, they hit upon a scheme. The interest in trying to prosecute the very peo- serious impact on a seemingly unrelated county was about to break ground on a ple he is supposed to be providing legal happening in a distant place or time — much-needed new court tower in down- advice. How can a lawyer prosecute his was proven by two Arizona news stories town Phoenix. Instead of building the own clients? that recently broke on the same day. court tower, they reasoned, why couldn’t Those other county attorneys were imme- The two stories that broke Feb. 25 both the county use that money to keep the diately added to Thomas and Arpaio’s pertained to Maricopa County, Arizona’s Sheriff’s Office operating at its current ever-growing list of co-conspirators. largest county as far as population (home budget levels? But in an effort to appear reasonable to of Phoenix) and the county in which the When the board didn’t go along with that the public, Thomas agreed to send the West Valley View publishes. As I read the idea, Thomas and Arpaio launched crimi- Wilcox case to another county for prosecu- stories, it occurred to me that one couldn’t nal investigations into two of the supervi- tion to avoid any allegations of a conflict have existed without the other. sors, Mary Rose Wilcox, a Democrat who of interest. The first story was about how our county represents parts of the View’ s circulation Which brings us back to the Feb. 25 story. attorney, Andrew Thomas, had been area in the western part of the county, slapped down by a judge who disqualified and Don Stapley, a Republican who repre- A Pima County Superior Court judge dis- him from prosecuting one of the five sents a district in the eastern part of the qualified Thomas from prosecuting Wilcox members of the Maricopa County Board county. on charges of conflict of interest, saying of Supervisors on charges of conflict of Thomas had a conflict of interest of his Thomas publicly implied that the court own, that his pursuit of criminal charges interest. The other story was the tower project was mired in graft, mis- announcement that the 9th Circuit U.S. against Wilcox was politically motivated spending and corruption, and demanded and that he and Arpaio misused their Court of Appeals had thrown out the con- all records pertaining to the project (keep fession of one of two teenagers convicted authority to target members of the in mind that it was his office that provid- Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. in the 1991 massacre of nine people at a ed all of the legal counsel for the project Buddhist temple in our coverage area. through its planning stages and already So, what’s the connection? How could these two stories possibly be had most of the records in its own files). Now, you’re probably wondering what all connected? When county officials refused to comply of this has to do with a mass murder in Since December 2008, Thomas and his with his demands, Thomas filed racketeer- 1991. staunch ally, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe ing charges against them and the judges Here’s how that story unfolded: Arpaio, have been waging a legal war who blocked his subpoenas. Together, he Early on the morning of Aug. 10, 1991, a against the Board of Supervisors. The and Arpaio proclaimed that every county helper at the Wat Promkunaram Buddhist board controls the purse strings for all official who opposed them and every temple stumbled upon a horrifying scene: county agencies, including the County judge who ruled against them was part of Nine residents of the temple — including Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office. a vast criminal conspiracy. the head monk — were found brutally In an effort to balance the county budget The two men also filed multiple lawsuits massacred. in the recessionary economy, the board against the Board of Supervisors — law- The murder investigation was headed by ordered all county agencies to reduce their suits that are costing taxpayers millions of Tom Agnos, who was Maricopa County’s spending. Arpaio went ballistic and imme- dollars at a time when the county is in sheriff at the time. At first, there were no diately ran to his political soul mate, the financial straits. suspects. A month later, a shaky lead put county attorney, to see what they could do In the meantime, legal experts, including Sheriff’s Office investigators on the trail of continued on page 20 2 March 2010 The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors Conference program continues to expand from page 1 The annual ISWNE editorial critique ses- on the Eastern campus that night. its mining of mountaintops in Central sions will be held Saturday, with the annu- The tradition of ISWNE educational tours Appalachia. al awards banquet in Keen Johnson Hall during the first half of the four-day confer- We will visit a mountaintop-removal mine ence will be enhanced with the contribu- and discuss the topic with industry repre- tions of local journalists who will discuss sentatives, environmentalists and journal- the issues and coverage of Kentucky’s sig- ists, including rural reporter Bill Estep of nature industries: coal, horses and bour- the Lexington Herald-Leader and Editor bon whiskey. (Tobacco isn’t as important Ben Gish of The Mountain Eagle, who will as it once was, but we can talk about that, play host to us at the offices of his weekly too, if you like, as well as Toyota, which in Whitesburg. We will also visit has its largest plant here.) Appalshop, the arts-and-media coopera- Very early Wednesday afternoon, June 23, tive noted for its documentaries and other buses will take us to the Woodford Reserve media about the history and culture of bourbon distillery, make quick stops at the Appalachia. old and new state Capitol buildings in Conference attendees will stay in Burnham Frankfort, then take us to a cookout at one Hall, a recently remodeled dormitory near of the Bluegrass region’s great horse farms, the center of the Eastern campus in Officers of the International Society Airdrie Stud, owned by former Gov. Richmond. Each two-room suite has a of Weekly Newspaper Editors: Brereton Jones, a leading Thoroughbred bath, and wireless Internet access will be breeder.