SOUND OFF
| Saturday, Jul 25 2009 08:46 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Jul 25 2009 08:46 PM
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Editor Mike Jenner and The Californian staff welcome your comments and suggestions. To offer your input by phone, please call 395-7649 and leave your comments in a voice-mail message or write to soundoff@bakersfield.com. Please be sure to include your phone number so we can call you if we need more information.
Reader: I'm not sure if this is a legal matter or just an ethical one, but for as long as I can remember it has been the policy of your newspaper to omit the names of minors involved in crimes. That's why I was surprised and disappointed to see the picture and name of the 15-year-old girl arrested for alleged homicide.
I can't help but wonder if you would have done the same if the suspect was a white male. This young woman obviously has her troubles, but what benefit is it to the public to publish her name and face?
I have grown increasingly dismayed at The Californian at your attempts at sensational journalism -- publishing and promoting shock and awe type information which may or may not be true just for revenue. Headlines such as "Lerdo will close," and "Father on PCP" only serve to promote false information and fear.
The fact of the matter in both those cases were never verified and followed up on -- you just headlined it to sell papers. Please consider the position you are in as the only major paper news source for Kern County and polish up on your journalistic ethics.
Thank you,
-- Corina Anderson
Jenner: Your question is an excellent one.
There are no laws prohibiting us from publishing the name of a minor suspected in a crime. There are some crimes for which the police by law can't release the name of a minor suspect. They also don't issue news releases on every crime.
But in the case of serious crimes, they generally do. In this case, the crime was a shooting into a crowd at a family reunion that left one person dead and four wounded.
With less serious crimes, we generally choose to not publish the name, or even a story.
But when it comes to murder or other serious crimes, we do publish names and photos -- and we've done so regardless of the race or ethnicity.
As for our news judgment, we do give more prominent display to stories we think will be of greatest interest to our readers. Sometimes those stories are shocking or outrageous.
Those stories receive larger headlines. The larger headlines are more challenging to write because we must summarize the story in fewer characters.
But the most important aspect of a headline is whether it accurately describes the story for which it's written. We still hold to that standard.
Finally, to set the record straight, we did not publish the headlines you accuse us of printing -- and we've written multiple follow-up stories on the two issues you cited, and we'll continue to do so.
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Reader: I KNOW that Mr. James Burger was given enough information regarding this story to have REALLY put the meat on the bones of the story he wrote about how Kern County is raising lease rates for property near the airport. I was very disappointed in the results.
Where does it mention HOW the county came up with the $11,000 that they COULD charge based on the appraisal that was performed by an out-of-town company?
Why did he not mention the names of the towns/airports that Meadows Field (old Meadows Field) was compared to?
What about the fact that it took the county 17 months to come up with an offer of $11,000 per month as compared to the $1,032 that was being paid in the interim? There's no argument the original lease was way below market value; $710 a month was good for the prior owner.
The current owner has enjoyed this price for the past seven years. In addition, he's made numerous improvements.
What is fair about the new proposed rate of $3,000 per month with the rate going up to $6,000? What about the regular pilots who are using the hangars? Is Mr. Stewart supposed to pass the huge rate on his tenants? Where are they supposed to go?
What are the chances that the airport, Mr. Gotcher in particular, has something up his sleeve besides his arm?
-- A. Kline
Jenner: When I first heard about the increased rent the Stewarts were facing, I thought the county was being capricious and unfair -- then I read James Burger's story and better understood their side.
I thought his story was accurate and fair. Like all stories, he could have filled hard drives with more reporting -- but that might have not improved the reader's perception of the Stewarts' position.
You focus on the $11,000 appraisal done by the county. James tells me he didn't spend a lot of time dwelling on that in the story for these reasons:
1. The $11,000 assessment is irrelevant. The county acknowledged that the price was high and has adjusted its requested lease payment down by $8,000 a month starting and $5,000 ultimately (considering the current $1,000 lease of the property, the county split the difference between the two sides on the highest lease rate.)
2. The county said it offered to let Mr. Stewart do his own assessment and he didn't take them up on that.
3. Mr. Stewart complains that the county used only airports in "high rent" districts like Santa Barbara to build the assessment. The county said it also included airports like Bakersfield Municipal in the assessment.
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Reader: Monday's article by Courtenay Edelhart starts out by saying "it never fails that when I'm in a hurry at a store I get stuck in a line behind a little old lady to write a paper check."
I take exception to that. I'm 82 years old. I write checks and what I do is I write them at home, estimate what I'm going to spend so I don't hold up the line. I never hold up the line.
The ones who hold up the line are the younger people who try to swipe these credit cards, one after the other, trying to get one that will accept the groceries. I just wanted to get that off my chest and like I said, that was the first thing I read Monday morning and it kinda ticked me off.
They've got to lay off little old ladies. What would we do without them?
Thank you for listening.
-- Eleanor Tull
Reader: This is for reporter Courtenay Edelhart whose column appeared in Monday's paper.
My comment is that I'm sure that many of my peers were offended, as I was, when she characterized us as little old ladies who take forever to write a paper check. She asked, "Who writes paper checks anymore?" The answer is most of us who write checks instead of carrying a lot of money because of the snatchers who prey on the elderly and disabled.
It is impossible to replace money, but it only takes a phone call to the bank to close the account when our checkbook is lost or stolen. When I shop, I try to be considerate of impatient people like her. I have my check completed except for the amount before I get into the checkout line.
Maybe someday you will be lucky and find yourself behind this sweet little old checkbook-carrying elder at the market. Have a nice day.
-- Norma Kerker
Jenner: I'll look forward to that. And, speaking for The Californian (and Courtenay), let me say we value the readership of every little old lady in our market, and I'm truly sorry we offended you.
And I believe Courtenay secretly aspires to be a little old lady herself someday.
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Reader: I'm a subscriber to The Californian. I would love to see you publish the phone numbers and addresses of our politicians in Sacramento or Washington, D.C., so we can voice our opinions on some of the messes that they are making.
Thank you very much.
-- P.J. Clemo
Jenner: We like to encourage public participation in government, and we do periodically publish these numbers, but we haven't in a while. Here they are.
Dean Florez
16th Senate District
Party: Democrat
Home: Shafter
District office: 1800 30th St., Suite 350, Bakersfield, CA 93301
Phone: 395-2620
Fax: 395-2622
Sacramento office: State Capitol, Room 313, Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-651-4016
Fax: 916-327-5989
www.sen.ca.gov/florez
Roy Ashburn
18th Senate District
Party: Republican
Home: Bakersfield
District office: 5001 California Ave., Room 105, Bakersfield, CA 93309
Phone: 323-0443
Fax: 323-0446
Sacramento: State Capitol, Room 3060, Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-651-4018
Fax: 916-322-3304
www.sen.ca.gov/ashburn
Danny Gilmore
30th Assembly District
Party: Republican
Home: Hanford
Capitol office: State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-319-2030
Fax: 916-319-2130
Hanford office: 1489 W. Lacey Blvd., Suite 103 Hanford, CA 93230
Phone: 559-585-7170
Fax: 559-585-7175
www.assembly.ca.gov/gilmore
Jean Fuller
32nd Assembly District
Party: Republican
Home: Bakersfield
Bakersfield office: 4900 California Ave., Suite 100-B, Bakersfield, CA 93309
Phone: 395-2995
Fax: 395-3883
Capitol Office: State Capitol, Room 3098, Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-319-2032
Fax: 916-319-2132
www.assembly.ca.gov/fuller
Congress
Jim Costa, 20th District
Party: Democrat
Home: Fresno
District office: 2700 M St., Suite 225, Bakersfield, CA 93301. Phone: 869-1620
Washington office: 1314 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-3341
costa.house.gov
Kevin McCarthy
22nd District
Party: Republican
Home: Bakersfield
District office: 4100 Empire Drive, Suite 150, Bakersfield, CA 93309. Phone: 327-3611
Washington office: 1523 Longworth Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-2915
kevinmccarthy.house.gov
Barbara Boxer
Party: Democrat
Fresno office: 2500 Tulare St., Suite 5290, Fresno, CA 93721. Phone: 559-497-5109
Washington, D.C., office: 112 Hart Senate Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3553
boxer.senate.gov
Dianne Feinstein
Party: Democrat
Fresno office: 2500 Tulare St., Suite 4290, Fresno, CA 93721. Phone: 559-485-7430
Washington, D.C., office: 331 Hart Senate Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3841
feinstein.senate.gov
