Thursday, April 29, 2004

Hearts & Minds in Columbia-Brazoria ISD


Even tiny tykes get the treatment in way wacky politics, says Mom


A reader who noticed our story on the sheriff's race politickin' in a D.A.R.E. classroom was flabbergasted the other day when her 3-year-old son came home totin' campaign literature related to the big Columbia-Brazoria school board race.

This could, we suppose, be excused as a real world civics lesson, but we're talking about a THREE YEAR OLD.

The real aim, of course, is to lobby the boy's parents, just like the D.A.R.E. officer who was touting sheriff's candidate Charlie Wagne was hoping the kids would go home and tell Ma & Pa who to vote for.

There are bigger issues in the world to keep you awake at night, fershur. Iraq comes to mind. Israel-Palestine. Education. HEY! Education!! If my kid's attending a D.A.R.E. class, I want the time spent constructively brainwashing him (or her) to stay off dope and alcohol, not being brainwashed about Brazoria County politics. Same with the mama whose child came home with school board literature. Teach that kid his ABCs and how to stay in the lines when coloring. He really doesn't care about the West Columbia-Brazoria power struggle, and if his mama does, she can figure it out on her own.

Here's part of what the 3-year-old's mom wrote. She asked that we keep her name confidential for fear of repercussions, and we said, OK:

"I read your April 17 blog regarding the D.A.R.E. officer 'campaigning' for Wagner at an elementary school.

It gets worse.

With the Brazoria/West Columbia new-school-site-thing dividing residents and prompting mud-slinging between officials and school board members from both cities, CBISD school board hopefuls are targeting younger and younger children in an effort win much needed support from Brazoria voters.

Twice this month, upon picking up my 3 year old child from a Brazoria preschool, I have found among his daily papers campaign literature for a CBISD school board candidate. It was the exact same piece of paper, as if I didn't get the message the first time. I am actually anticipating several more before the May election day.

Don't get me wrong, I really like Brazoria. I like the friendly people and the schools are great. I also think the board's decision to purchase contaminated, muddy wetlands in West Columbia is questionable to say the least. You have to admit that Brazoria Mayor Ken Corley has a huge set of (rhymes with walls and starts with a B) for making over-the-top statements, infuriating people with little regard for his next mayoral campaign, and allowing a statement he made about Brazoria leaving CBISD to join Sweeny or Brazosport ISD to be printed. I cant help but admire his candor. I also admire him for not wearing cowboy hats. But I digress.....

Lets get back to the point.

My three year old son is very bright, and has even expressed to me his desire to have a democratic president this year. (He says that there are enough Georges, including the one on the dollar bill, that George Bush has ugly hair, and he likes the name Kerry)

My question is, where do you draw the line? When is it ok to sell yourself in the 'cubby' of a 3 year old at preschool? Am I being unreasonable, or are times a-changin' ? "





Thursday, April 22, 2004

More on Ron Paul's Stoner Intern, from The Washington Post




A Different Kind of Joint Session
• Last week the Capitol Police busted a young intern working for Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) for toting a baggie of pot and a bong into the Cannon House Office Building, but they'll have to look the other way when stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld brings his stash onto their territory today. For more than 20 years, the federal government has supplied Rosenfeld with marijuana cigarettes, which he smokes under doctor's orders to ease symptoms of a rare bone disorder.

Before arriving from Florida to lobby in Congress for medical use of marijuana with the pro-pot group NORML, Rosenfeld made sure to inform authorities of his dispensation to smoke 12 joints a day -- he's one of seven people who get Uncle Sam-grown reefer under a program that began in the Carter era. (It was shut down in 1992, but some patients were grandfathered in.)

We couldn't reach Rosenfeld, but NORML supplied a letter from his Miami physician saying the pot helps with pain and works as a muscle relaxant and an anti-inflammatory agent, adding: "Mr. Rosenfeld is not impaired by this medicine."

William Emory, associate general counsel for the Capitol Police, assured us that Rosenfeld could light up on the Hill (in designated smoking areas) but said, "He can't share it with anybody else. The exemption is for him and him alone."

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

New Times on the Block?


New Times, the publisher of 11 "alternative" weekly newspapers from San Francisco to Miami, including The Houston Press, has terminated the employment of 38 workers across the country, leading to further speculation about the financial health of the Phoenix-based chain.

The rumor in alternative newspaper circles is the chain may be for sale and that a venture capitalist would very much like some of his money back.

Who'd buy it?

Supposedly Clear Channel, Knight Ridder and The Village Voice
are sniffing around. That's just rumor.

Clear Channel, the San Antonio-based radio/concert promoting behemoth that is the bane of the political Left, would be a stunningly weird suitor. It's hard to imagine CC would continue with the sex industry advertising, a vital source of revenue for the New Times chain.

What might this mean for The Houston Press? No idea. They already whacked veteran political reporter Tim Fleck, a termination that puzzled media observers who found his reportage top-notch, even if it did sometimes deal a bit much with inside-baseball-type intrigue.

The New Times is heavily populated with alumni of the dead Houston Post: Rick Barrs was made a bigwig in Phoenix after New Times bailed out of the LA market, John Mecklin runs the show in San Francisco and Margaret Downing took over in Houston after Jim Simmon's editor epaulets were stripped from his broad shoulders by the NT brain trust in Phoenix. All four of the ex-Posties had the foresight to leave The Post before Dean Singleton sold the paper's assets to the Houston Chronicle, which now enjoys a monopoly on the H-town daily newspaper market.

Silly us, we thought Libertarians were pro-marijuana


An intern to U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, Republican (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) of Surfside, resigned after arrest at the Cannon House Office Building for pot (and bong) possession, according to Roll Call.

Monday, April 19, 2004

Chron to Staff: Knock off the `Wussy' smack


Newspaper employees reminded not to harass each other


Angleton Newspaper War?


Editor Boddy says plans going full bore; What will Toth do?


Merkel's efficiency


Wagner's signs still everywhere, but the election's OVER!



HOUSTON -- It could just be a coincidence that the Houston Chronicle decided to haul in its employees for a refresher course on sexual harassment right after the newsroom was all atwitter & buzzing over an allegation of female on male sexual misbehavin'.

But it's not being viewed as a coincidence by those in the know.

The sexual harassment allegations concern a female scribe who apparently is having a problem or obsession with one of the swashbuckling young men on the staff who evidently complained to management that her overtures were getting to be a pain in the ass.

Hence, the sexual harassment seminars.

The Chron is notorious for staff in-breeding.

This could be viewed as a problem at some Big City newspapers, but the sexual tension that hums constantly in the newsroom is said to be a wellspring of creative, award-winning ideas such as launching the paper's witty fast-food restaurant review, posting a Blog on Chron.com and publishing the largest comics section in the Western Hemisphere.

Among the words Chron staffers have been forbidden to utter are "wuss," according to one seminar participant.

The lecture, conducted by an attorney, also covered ethic slurs. On the no-no ethnic slur list are: coonass (except in certain parishes of Louisiana), camel jockey (or even its acronym "C.J."), wop and raghead, said our Chron source.

Observer v. Bulletin



Meanwhile, here in Brazoria County, renegade Texas journalist Micheal Boddy reports that efforts to launch a brand new newspaper in the county seat of Angleton are being heartily welcomed by the citizenry of that burgh.

"Almost everyone from Angleton we approach to sell a subscription buys one, and advertisers are beginning to come to us," Boddy reported in an email bursting with enthusiasm.

"We've already sold enough retail ads to get a small edition off the ground, and it looks like we'll be able to get enough during the next two weeks to put out two 12 page broadsheet sections with process color front and back on each of the sections.

"It seems the good citizens of Angleton can't get enough of the dream. They're determined to have their own newspaper to help them avoid drifting into the anonymity of being just one of many disconnected bedroom communities outside the city limits of Houston. Towns where no one knows who's doing what because there's no common thread to bind them together."

It is not yet know whether Boddy has signed up to join the Angleton Chamber of Commerce. We think he'd be a good addition to the Newcomer Welcoming Committee.

If Boddy's dream comes to fruition, it raises the obvious question: what will The Bulletin do to meet the challenge?

When Southern Newspapers announced it was closing The Angleton Times, Bulletin co-publisher John Toth was quick to pen a front-page warning to any would-be newspaper tycoon tempted to fill the Times' void.

Toth's message essentially is the same warning he issues every year or so from the ad-filled front page of his tabloid.

The boilelrplate Toth warning ruefully warns that publishing a newspaper is really hard work, you have to know what you're doing to be successful, meeting all those deadlines is very very hard work, you'll lose your shirt and any savings you might have if you choose to ignore this neighborly advice and you quite likely could become homeless.

This, obviously, has not dissuaded the gung-ho Boddy, a former correspondent for the Chron's This Week in Brazoria Co. section, and the principal owner of the yet-to-be published Angleton Observer, Eric Riley.

So, assuming The Angleton Observer does get off the ground, will this mean that Toth will feel compelled to cover the nuts and bolts of Angleton public affairs, which of course will mean attending some City Council and school board meetings, and perhaps the occassional Brazoria County Commissioners meeting (which are always a laugh fest, we're here to tell ya!). Will be bring back the weekly rant about the county's spiraling cell phone bills (when county employees squandered hundreds of dollars by not using pay phones?)

There's no telling at this point, so Stay Tuned!

We have been meaning to congratulate Toth, a former Chron staffer, for pulling the cigarette ads from his free weekly paper, after we chastized him from breaking with his long tradition of accepting no tobacco or liquor advertising.

We're not saying our editorializing had a direct result in Toth pulling the Bucee's ciggie ads, but we noticed that shortly after we scolded him for the tobaccy ads, he pulled The Brazosport News' link from his Web page. We didn't mean to hurt your feelings, John. We just wanted you to stay true to your journalistically ethical ideals.

Now, let the Great Angleton Newspaper War begin!

Merkel -- Wagner


You've got to hand it to Mike Merkel.
The guy's efficient, even when it hurts.

No more than a few days had passed after he narrowly lost the Brazoria County Sheriff's race to Charlie Wagner before all his signs had been removed from yard and fences in the B'port area (at the parts that we traverse.)

This we like to see.

We can't tell you how annoying it is for political candidates to keep all their signage up for weeks and weeks after a political race has concluded. It just ain't right. Plus, it's rude. And unsightly.

So far, we're still seeing quite a few of Wagner's green and white signs urging us to vote in a race that's now been over for a week, while Merkel's blue and white signage is long gone.

In the big picture, though, Wagner already is scoring points with us.

The cowboy be-hatted lawman told Clute-based reporter Michael Wright that he is planning on a change that we think could spare all of us from the unproductive finger-pointing that goes on about the county jail's problems.

Wagner plans to hire a jail administrator. This should have been done, oh, about a decade ago.

If nothing else, maybe a jail administrator will stand up and say, "OK, it's all my fault," the next time the jail is found to be in noncompliance with state or federal jail standards. That sure would be better than all the buck-passing the public hears when things go haywire at the county lockup. Way to go, Charlie. Now tell us you'll appoint a public information officer.



Monday, April 12, 2004

Journalism Debate Rages, Disappears, Confusing Everyone


Plagiarism claim hits bearded columnist


First it was Cohen v. Mickey; Is Cohen v. Casey next ? Cohen Mum, Campbell Silent; Fox News Pundits Unable To Make Sense of Wacky Decision-Making; Former Colleague Defends The Mick...Chron's April Surprise: They Go To The BLOG Card!


PLUS:Easter egg hunt goes down after Saul Alinsky-style pressure ... LJ downtown business scene changing ... Oysters on the Half-Shell @ Top China Buffet ... Good guy pharmacist M.I.A. ... Merkel Endorsement By B'port News Has ZERO Effect


HOUSTON CHRONICLE "EDITOR" JEFF COHEN is getting some international coverage for his public spanking of noted sports columnist Mickey Herskowitz.

We assume that was the goal. What else could it be?

Cohen docked Mickey a month's pay for not using "new" material in a column he penned on UCLA basketball coaching legend John Wooden. The "old" column material that Mickey used was ONLY 14 years old (probably yellowing around the edges by now) and had appeared in the dead daily newspaper that the Chronicle bought out, ie. The Houston Post ( you know, the one that kept changing its "look" until owner Dean Singleton said "Forget it, I'll take the money and run, Yippeee!")

Anyway, the media roundtable discussion that appears on the Fox News Channel chewed on the Cohen-Herskowitz journalism ethics question for awhile last weekend.

Despite the media's willingness to eat its own, it appeared no one could make heads or tails of the situation. None of the nattering nabobs came down solidly on either side of the issue, which is sort of newsworthy in itself.

Former New York mag media maven Michael Wolfe suggested Herskowitz's contract calls for him to provide "new" material.

As opposed to getting paid for "old" material, this sounds reasonable.

Even so, the point we were all het up about when we first broke the story in a worldwide exclusive (as far as we know, allegedly) is that Cohen should have just called Herskowitz into his office and talked to him about it. Problem fixed!

BUT NO!

Cohen ordered a story published on Page 2 of the Sunday edition.

Herskowitz deserves better treatment. The guy's a legend. He's been the best sportwriter in Houston for the last 40 years.

Is it all about Cohen burnishing his ethical credentials in the post-Jason Blair media whirl? Someone tell us, please!

If this style of editorship is designed to make Cohen the brightest star in the Hearst Newspaper Editor galaxy, that's impossible. IMPOSSIBLE!

Unless, of course, Cohen:
1. Marries a hot, though aging, movie star.
2. Suffers serious injury when movie star wife treats him to an up close visit with an exotic zoo animal.
3. Earns some serious hard news credentials.

(Explanation: we're referencing San Francisco Chron Editor Philip Bronstein, once but no longer married to Sharon Stone, who was attacked by some kinda weird lizard creature at the zoo after Sharon stupidly pulled some strings to arrange an inside-the-cage tet-a-tet. Bronstein was a foreign correspondent before his ascent to editor status and was even nominated for a Pulitzer, something the Chron has never snagged.)

For that matter, San Antonio Editor Rob Rivard has Cohen beat handsdown as far as hard-core newsman experience, after his years at the Dallas Times Herald (pre-Dean Singleton), which, of course, no longer exists after the MediaNews years, and a tour with a national news mag ( Newsweek, if memory serves.)

But back to Cohen v. Herskowitz ...

Chronicle "Reader Representative" James T. Campbell hasn't published anything explaining that a reader in Bumduck, TX wrote in to complain about being exposed to recycled observations about John Wooden in Mickey's column.

So who complained? Who's mad (besides Cohen)?

How did this journalistic transgression come to light? Howsabout a little transparency about the journalism policing process, or is it all about a public display of the "new, tough editor" whipping the Chron troops into place with his riding crop?

NOW COMES Houston blogger Kevin Whited, who has weighed in with a plagiarism case against Cohen's hand-picked Metro columnist Rick Casey.

Whited, whose blog won the coveted "best blog" award from The Houston Press, says Herskowitz is not guilty of plagiarism, but Casey is!

He says he has forwarded his complaint to Chron Reader Representative Campbell (who wears a bowtie sometimes) and is awaiting a reply. We hope Kevin's still not sitting by the phone because the callback could be a long time coming.

Here's what Whited has to say.

We don't buy it. But if you're fascinated with the whole is-it-or-is-it-not plagiarism thing, enjoy. We blog, you decide.

"Borrowing," material from other sources without attribution is par for the course in the news biz, especially TV. It's just a given fact of life. Reporters are under tremendous time pressure that range from getting home in time for The Simpsons to beating the Happy Hour cutoff at Hector's Bar & Taqueria. Borrowing from your old moldy columns certainly has never raised the public's hackles, though it's probably best to change the syntax and toss in a few fresh adverbs.

Nevertheless, this latest development is semi-amusing, since Cohen has told staffers that one of his strongest management traits is his great insight into the column-writing genre. Cohen knows Casey from his days at The San Antonio Light, the now-dead Hearst-owned daily paper that Hearst shut down in order to take over the Number 1 paper in the Alamo City, the Express-News, once owned by Rupert Murdoch, the founder of Fox News Channel.

To be fair, which is the journalistically ethical way to be at all times, we'll be the first to say Casey is a columnist who stirs the pot with a lot more vigor than the guy he replaced, Thom Marshall, who slid back over to writing warm fuzzies for the browbeaten, wimpering City Desk staff, some of whom have resorted to sleeping pills to get decent night's REM sleep during the reign of Cohen.

So what if golden boy Casey borrowed liberally from a copyrighted Washington Post story? Placing that one acknowledgment to the WP, at the back of a sentence several grafs into the column, gets him off the hook in the eyes of 99 percent of this great land's Journalism professors, who dutifully train waves after waves of of J students. of which 50 percent will be desperately seeking PR jobs before their hair turns gray or starts falling out upon their PC keyboards.

So, our prediction is, Whited's claim against Casey will not be acknowledged or written about by the Chronicle's overseers. It's unfortunate they didn't handle Herskowitz the same way. It just made them look silly and mean-spirited.
The Chron has, however, decided to embrace the Weblog Fad rather than cowering in fear from it, which heretofore has been their official stance. They started a "blog" on their Web site, but were sure to ethically explain to all readers that its contents did not, in any way whatsoever, reflect the opinion of the newspaper, which is a VERY, VERY big relief to EVERYONE. There is no implied endorsement by the Chron of the blogger's thoughts, opinions or inferences; nor is the paper standing behind the reporting of ANY oveheard conversations. Got it? Good.
(Ed. Note: Casey published a clarification on 4-14-04 and apologized to anyone who was confused by his near-breach of plagiarism standards. He has not been docked any pay, so far as we can determine. He remains bearded.)

EMAIL About Cohen v. Herskowitz


(Ed. Note: A former co-worker of Herskowitz, both at The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle, sent a reaction email, which we quote, in part, and carefully edit due to off-color language.)
"JEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!
Where do I start?
I can't believe that Mickey H. didn't tell Jeff Cohen to ... hoist him
self on his hooked hands. Mickey is a class guy and a phenom writer. The
Chron is lucky to have him grace their grey, uninteresting rag.
I'm embarassed for Mickey if he has fallen so low that he is forced to take
this kind of (Ed. Note --rhymyes w/ hit, starts with the letter s) ...
Sounds like Jeff attended the Dave Bergin (sic) workshop on how to act like a total
(Ed. Note---rhymes with manhole but begins with the letter a) while believing you are god's gift to journalism.

Do people like Cohen ever get fragged?"


(Name Withheld Cause We Forgot To Ask Permission)

Easter egg hunt, updated


The 11-year-old neighbor who was rebuffed in his request for another Easter egg hunt got one anyway on Sunday. We caved, but with good reason.

It went down like this.
He and his two younger siblings staged a picket in the front yard of The B'port News.
We kid you not.
They fashioned homemade signs, taped to tennis rackets and a street hockey stick, that said "We want an Easter egg hunt" and other catchy phrases.

It was funny.

It turns out Scooter, the executive assistant to Editor-in-Chief Banjo Jones, was taking the garbage out to the curb when the older, teen-age brother of the 3 kids mentioned they were "pissed" about the decision not to do the egg ritual.

Scooter told him, "When I was a kid and my parents wouldn't buy me roller skates, I made a sign and picketed in the front yard." (This was back when civil rights marches and antiwar demonstrations were on the TV all the time)

This info was passed to Jake and his younger brother and sister.

They took action and staged the demonstration. There was no violence. These kids have bright futures.

We admit we were wrong to try to weasel out of the Easter egg hunt.

Scooter, however, didn't get her skates, despite a day-long picket. Maybe she'll get some for Mother's Day.

Business news briefs


The "new look" of downtown Lake Jackson ain't bad.
"The Local," a market, bakery, deli business, is on the verge of opening its doors.
The building, which took forever to finish, looks like something you'd see in Montrose or in Austin. Trendy, fresh, lots of earth tones and big clock in the tower.
What's next? A Starbucks? A Hooter's?
Unfortunately, The Local's nice look only emphasizes how old-timey all the other downtown LJ look to anyone who does any traveling, which is defined around here as driving to Pearland.
----

The Dining Scene


The eatery in the Lake Theater, The Brazos Street Grill, is open, allegedly. Haven't tried it yet. Top China Buffet is getting good reviews. On our first visit, they had oysters on the half-shell.
---

Bravo, Yankee, Bravo, Yankee -- Bye-Bye


Eckerds pharmacist John Erskine apparently has moved on. They took his picture off the wall but his nameplate remains. When we inquired, a new employee said she heard he was "transferred." John was one of the most empathetic, friendly, hard-working pharmacists we've ever had the pleasure of getting to know. He ranks right up there with Joe Garrett at the Medical Center Pharmacy. Wherever you are, John, thanks for your service. CVS will be running the Lake Jackson Eckerds following the big sell-off of the drugstore chain. We hope that corporate wheeling-dealing didn't force John to split.
---

Brazoria Co. Sheriff Runoff Thingy


Finally, today is runoff election day. Though it's now kinda late in the day to be saying this, we urge you to vote for Mike Merkel. We know him and he's a good man. This isn't to say his opponent, Charlie Wagner, is a bad man, even though his assertion that media-sherriff relations are good was laughably disingenuos (that means "giving a false appearance of simple frankness." Source: Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.)

But we think Merkel will bring about some fresh new changes down at the Sheriff's Department. Far as we know, we're the only news outlet to make such an endorsement in the Greater Brazosport media market. That's too bad. We like it when newspapers are willing to say who they're for, unafraid of hurting someone's feelings, especially advertisers or unendorsed candidates. It's really all about not displeasing advertisers, whether the publication is a daily paper that costs 2 quarters or a giveaway weekly that has no real "news." We guess that's why the Clute-based daily and other "newspapers" or "magazines" always keep their head down during election time, at least on the editorial page. Weenies.

(Ed. Note: Merkel lost by 214 votes in a close runoff, providing further evidence that Southern Brazoria voters take local politics more seriously than those on the North End. Those Silver Lake voters have lawns to manicure, BMWs to buff & bikini waxes to fit into their busy Election Day schedules. Congratulations to Charlie, who has fulfilled a lifelong dream (which pays pretty darn good at $81K + $6K car allowance.) When he takes over Jan. 1, we hope he'll fix the problems at the jail, hire a techie to make sure all relevant personnel can operate the county's new-fangled computer system (so no one's liberty is unnecessarily taken away) and designate a public information officer so that the taxpayers (and media) know what their public safety servants are doing.



Saturday, April 10, 2004

Keeping Your Eye on the Ball?


Break out your favorite over-the-counter analgesic.
The Brazoria County Detention Center has another problem.
As usual, it's someone else's fault.

In the latest example, the feds are pulling their prisoners out. Something about the county not meeting the standards.

Sheriff's Candidate Charles Wagner says outgoing Sheriff Joe King was handling the problem while he was out campaigning. King says, in effect, it's not our fault.

Sheriff's Candidate Mike Merkel isn't saying anything. You can almost hear him reminding himself, every 5 minutes, "Gotta stay on message. A POSITIVE message. Not a NEGATIVE message. Wonder if I should start wearing a cowboy hat?"

The man has campaign discipline! But it's no good for campaign copy, we're here to tell ya!

Before the problem with the fed prisoners, the county jail intercom system didn't work.
Been a problem a long time. State says fix it. Not our fault, says the county. Contractor's fault. Intercoms still a problem.

It all reminds of us of the time when the county managed to get itself portrayed in the worldwide media as that place in Texas where they made the prisoners crawl around naked on the floor and the German shepherd was bitin' the heck outta that skinny dude's ankle.

Whoa, not our fault, said the county. Prisoners smokin' dope. Gotta take control. Dang Missouri convicts. Dog bite not that bad. BUT VIDEOTAPE REAL, REAL BAD!

Back then we called Chief Deputy Charles Wagner, who's always the guy at the S.O. you call when the caca hits the fan, and we asked him (paraphrasing here), "So, Charlie, the officers were making a training tape?"

He said (paraphrasing here) in a refreshing moment of candor, " If they were, it was a training tape on WHAT NOT TO DO."

Word.

And still, things at the jail keep going wrong.

Does Wags have his eye on the ball? Does the county? Does the sheriff's department? Tell us, please. We try to remember, and take to hear, that uur little neighbor boy advised that his DARE officer told his classroom that Wags is the right man for the job cause he keeps his "eye on the ball."

Indeed.




Thursday, April 08, 2004

Elementary politics, updated



The boy who lives across the street who told us about his D.A.R.E. officer's classroom politickin' came back over today.

If you'll recall, Jake, who's 11, had come over to ask if we were going to have an Easter egg hunt this year. We gave a noncommital answer, hoping he'd forget to ask again.

He didn't forget. He asked again today.
He was told the Easter egg hunt, which we'd done for several years running, probably wasn't going to happen. This disappointed him.

Nevertheless, it presented an ideal opportunity to query him further about the news scooplet he innocently revealed the last time he knocked on the front door.

(Read the earlier blog entry if you're confused.)

Anyhoo, we asked Jake if his D.A.R.E. officer, who was extolling the virtues of sheriff's candidate Charles Wagner, had told the kids in his class to tell their parents to vote for Wags.

He said no.

But he said the D.A.R.E. officer brought up the big sheriff's race without any prompting from the classroom. In other words, some kid didn't solicit his views on the political contest; the D.A.R.E. officer brought it up on his own volition.

"He talked about it a lot," Jake advised.

"Why did he say Wagner was the best candidate?"

"He said he is a real good man and he keeps his ball on the eye."

"You mean his eye on the ball?"

"Yeah. Eye on the ball."

Jake, by the way, was wearing his D.A.R.E. t-shirt during this latest encounter.

If you're curious, Wagner's opponent, Alvin Police Chief Mike Merkel, didn't jump to the bait when we sent the previous blog to him. He didn't offer any opinions on the propriety of a D.A.R.E. officer, who's employed by the Brazoria County Sheriff's Department, campaigning in a classroom full of elementary school kids.

Merkel just said (paraphrasing here) the D.A.R.E. program does good work and that he hopes kids like Jake take its message to heart.

Presumably not the political message.

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Blog, blog, blog ...


The fascination with weblogging continues.

In this story from Editor & Publisher, blogging vet Mitch Ratcliffe opines.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

G.O.P. Candidate Pulls Fashion Faux Paus


But eschewing the standard dark suit, red tie can be a risky strategy



The Republican Party wants to widen its political base.

Good strategy.

Big tent politics.

Reach out to more non-white voters. More young folks.

The strategy is sound, but the plan seems to have gone awry in this case.

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Hunting for Votes Is Elementary


Brazoria Co. Sheriff's Politics D.A.R.E.S. to Lobby Pre-Teen Electorate



The kid across the street came over today to ask if we were going to have an Easter egg hunt this year.
"Aren't you getting kinda old for that?"
"No."
He was told "maybe. We'll see."

(Never underestimate stalling for time with kids. Their attention spans are short and sometimes they forget to follow up. Sadly, this usually does not work when chocolate candy is involved.)

The conversation moved on.
The kid, who's elementary school-age, pointed over to our "Merkel For Sheriff" sign in the front yard.
"What's that -- Merkel For Sheriff?" he said, scrunching up his face to display disapproval.
"He's a friend of ours."
"I'm for Wagner," he said, smiling.
"How come?"
"Wagner's better."
"Oh really? Who told you that?"
"My D.A.R.E. officer," he answered, saying his name.
"Oh. I see. Where's your D.A.R.E. officer work?"
"The Brazoria County Sheriff's Department."
"Hmm, well, Wagner's his boss."
The kid didn't answer, just smiled.
What's going on in that head of his? You never know.
"Well, it oughta be interesting," I said.

Then we started talking about sports, cause that's what I usually talk to him about, but it was tempting to pursue the Wagner vs. Merkel conversation thread.
"Tell me, does your D.A.R.E. officer talk a lot about the sheriff's race? Did he ask you to tell your parents to vote for Wagner cause he's better? Did the D.A.R.E. officer bring up the sheriff's race or did one of the kids ask him about it? How 'bout the presidential race? Who's the D.A.R.E. officer like, Kerry or Bush? What else, besides drugs, do you talk about in D.A.R.E. class?"

But by the time all these interesting questions came to mind, the kid was pedaling his bike up the street. If we catch up with him later in the week, we'll inquire further.

Saturday, April 03, 2004

Chronicle Captain Flogs Scribe



After Jayson Blair, journalists can't even crib from their own prose!




Phase 2 in the hunt for Journalism's Evil Doers has begun.

At The Houston Chronicle, the flagship paper in the Hearst Navy, Capt. Jeff Cohen has docked noted sports columnist Mickey Herskowitz a months pay.

The crime?

Herskowitz PLAGIARIZED HIS OWN STUFF!

Cohen has told staffers that using phrases already employed in the pages of the newspaper is a no-no in the Rule Book, which he keeps next to his bed of nails in his spartan captain's quarters.

The man runs a tight ship, maybe the tightest ship in the once-mighty Hearst Armada. Either that or the wackiest ship in the fleet.

Never mind that FOURTEEN YEARS elapsed between the two Herskowitz columns. Or that they appeared in DIFFERENT NEWSPAPERS. Or that nobody really gives a damn or even noticed until Cohen, in his Capt. Queeg persona, announced it to the world.

There could be a commendation in this for him. The Eddie Haskell Golden Halo Ribbon with Poynter Institute Oak Leaf Cluster?



Cohen issued an email memo explaining his Herskowitz ruling on Friday.

(Suggestion: while reading the executive decision, imagine it's an episode of M*A*S*H, with Cohen assuming the role of the obsequious Frank Burns.)

"From: Cohen, Jeff
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 5:47 PM
To: Editorial
Subject: Mickey Herskowitz

MEMORANDUM

DATE: April 2, 2004
TO: Staff
FROM: Jeff Cohen
RE: Mickey Herskowitz Suspension
The Editor's Note at the bottom of this memo will appear on Page A2 Sunday announcing that sports columnist Mickey Herskowitz has been suspended for reusing substantial parts of an old column without telling readers.

It shouldn't need to be said that passing off old work as new is unacceptable at the Chronicle or any other newspaper. If it's news, it's supposed to be new.

I'm sorry to have to write this memo but wanted each of you to hear it from me first.

Mickey was suspended without pay for one month.
---
(TO APPEAR NEXT TO CORRECTION'S BOX)
Editor's Note

A Mickey Herskowitz column published in the Sunday, March 21 Chronicle was virtually identical to one he wrote for the Houston Post in 1990. This is a clear violation of journalism standards and the writer has been suspended.
Herskowitz' column about legendary basketball coach John Wooden contained little new information and many duplicative phrases. A further examination also found other examples of short passages in Post columns that later appeared in the Chronicle.
While this is not plagiarism, it is bad form. The Chronicle believes that readers deserve original work. Columnists often draw from earlier writing, but anything previously reported or quoted should be labeled as such. What our writer did was wrong and we apologize.

A long-time Houston sportswriter, Herskowitz joined the Chronicle as a columnist in 1995 after more than 30 years at the Post.
"I can't tell you how idiotic and stupid I feel," Herskowitz said. "I have never lifted from anyone else. I apologize."

His column will return later this month."

The public's faith has been restored, we trust. Call off the plan to form a torch-carrying mob downtown to protest the column that sounded an awful lot like that other one FOURTEEN YEARS AGO.

But what about that meat loaf recipe last Thursday that sounded an awful lot like the one that ran back in '78? And, is it just us, or are those Jack 'N The Box reviews sounding awfully, uh, repetitious?

The Chronicle recently axed the sports columns of Fran Blinebury and Dale Robertson, whose prose finally was discovered to be an antidote to insomnia in laboratory studies. The decision caused barely a ripple as most of their one-time readers had long ago yawned and turned to the TV listings.

Herskowitz, though, is a wordsmith, with an institutional sports memory that predates the Eisenhower Administration. A ghost-writer for Howard Cossell, Bette Davis and other luminaries who needed a gifted hired hand to capture their thoughts, he has cut a wide swatch through Texas Journalism.

The Good Ship Chronicle should feel lucky to have him.

Instead of publicly flogging him with a cat 'o nine tails, perhaps Capt. Cohen, a former sportswriter himself, could have quietly invited Herskowitz into his quarters for a private reprimand and simply ordered him to shape up.