3/3 Author's Note: This post was tweaked last night and this morning for clarity. It was written after a long day.
Regular readers will remember my post last September skewering the Courier Tribune for not fessing-up to (and doing something about) one of its reporters selling himself out to the Asheboro City Council to the detriment of a local story (about lax oversight of the Asheboro Farmer's Market) that deserves much better coverage than its gotten.
Of course, Asheboro being Asheboro, there's been no explanation and no apology. Chip Womick still writes for the Courier. But, of course, the Courier had ZERO credibility in my book long before I listened to those City Council members caught unawares on tape.
Suffice it to say, when it comes to the Courier Tribune's piss-poor, uber-biased coverage of local stories (or just downright burying them), Pat and Mike Bradshaw, owners of Peachtree Street Grocery, have a lot in common with Dr. Mary Johnson.
And "award-winning" (I cringe as I write it) Courier reporter, J.D. Walker, figures prominently in both those stories. She either puts down her pen altogether - or couldn't put a fair & objective story together despite having it spoon-fed to her from a silver platter.
Now, a few months later, the management of the Greensboro Farmer's Market is under the microscope. The gist of the story is that local non-profits (which, as I've blogged and blogged and blogged . . . to the deaf, disinterested ears of GSO's more progressive bloggers . . . suffer next-to-ZERO oversight by the state of North Carolina) are behaving badly again.
The Rhino is having a field day.
Even GSO Blogger-King, Edward Cone-of-the-Cones is putting in his two cents. The thing about our Edward is that he comes off to me as one of those yuppie brie & Volvo types who would pull up to a food stand . . . any stand with "Organic" emblazoned on the sign . . . buy rotten produce, take it home and cook it, simply because it was dirty and looked "natural".
He wouldn't know a re-seller from a genuine grower if his trust-fund depended on it.
In stark contrast, yours truly has benefited mightily from both the counsel and observation of my sainted-Mother (raised on an Eastern N.C. farm). On more than one occasion, I've followed her back to the car empty-handed as she grumbled-under-her-breath about how stupid a particular vendor must think she is to try and pass week-old-produce-trucked-in-from-God-knows-where off as "fresh" or even "home-grown".
I digress. One of the entities in the running to run Greensboro's venture is called, "Majestic Mountain Maintenance". Bells rang and whistles blew. I did a little digging. And bless-my-organic-tie-dye-socks if I did not find the Courier's own "award-winning reporter" (cringing again), J.D. Walker, listed as one of the "team members"!
Theoretically, J.D. Walker should be fairly knowledgeable of (and sympathetic to) the issues that have vexed the Bradshaws . . . issues that moved them to file a lawsuit against the City of Asheboro . . . issues that might shortly put our city Fathers right back in Court. But it most certainly did not show in the story she did last fall (I'd link it, but it's behind the paywall).
So I'm wondering if J.D.'s crappy treatment of Pat and Mike's predicament (as private business owners trying to keep the City of Asheboro honest in terms with its public support/funding of private enterprise) . . . and not-so-subtly (not-to-mention falsely) shading them as farmer-haters (they shouldn't have to deny it) . . . has anything to do with her promoting/$horing-up her own interest$?
It's no surprise then, that she would cover for the Chipper'$.
Of course, haven't I learned the hard way that conflicted interests pose no impediment to the way "the right people" do business in Asheboro? Don't ya know I've seen it all . . . from executives who have no problem swearing a false Oath to God in a Court proceeding in order to save some money (AFTER they forced me to choose between my job and a baby's life - and destroyed/absorbed my practice - and sued me for "libel" for telling the truth - which made for a nice headline in the Courier Tribune) . . . to the interchangeable, well-networked members of assorted boards-of-directors charged-with-over-sight who merely wink and nod at every ugly, morally-despicable, illegal thing . . . to law enforcement that would not/could not ever say, Boo!, to Bob Morrison's goose-in-need-of-cooking . . . to politicians-publicly-pontificating-on-ethics-and-accountability who put no oomph whatsoever behind their words because they "have to live in this town" . . . to "journalists" (I use the term very loosely) who'd rather scarf down the fancy finger foods and star in the hospital's ads than do their jobs . . . to state & federal governments so bogged down in bureaucracy that they could not manage their way out of a wet paper bag . . . to a local bar/legal system where Lady Justice's blindfold goes off and skirt goes up for the highest bidder . . . to churches that would publicly embrace a doctor-who-aborted-his-own-child and drape him in forgiveness/cheap grace, whilst ignoring the plight of one-of-their-long-time-members who has endured every manner of insult for SAVING a baby's life . . . it's been a real education in what small towns value . . .
. . . before they die.
Ethics do not matter. Connections do. It will soon be Asheboro's marketing theme. Ooo-rah.
The irony is, of course, that maybe Asheboro wouldn't be in the fix it's in if our leaders paid more attention to actually living those small town values.
As I continue to do myself no favors with this blog, it's something to pray about until Easter no doubt.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hey, the Bradshaw's have "organic" produce, it comes from real plants, grown in real dirt. I've bought 'em.
Organic....just another term the brie and Volvo crowd all rushed out to embrace.
You know, come to think of it, my grandmother down in Montgomery County was way ahead of 'em, and was organic before it was organic. You see, she used horse manure for plant starter. I bet she didn't even know it was organic.....
As I told Mike Bradshaw last night, Buzz, it's always nice to be able to bring a local story right back to Housecalls' on-going/recurring themes of local/state corruption, non-existent oversight, and crappy/biased MSM journalism.
My (very cool) tie-dye socks come from Maggie's Farm in Oregon;)
Post a Comment