'Herkimer' welcomes you to Hermann Hearsay, a place where you can discuss news, rumors and hearsay of local interest with other Hermannites. Your comments are always welcome, and will be published in their entirety. We ask that you refrain from using profane language, that you respect the opinions and viewpoints of others and that you report plausible hearsay only. Hermann Hearsay ... FREE, FUNNY, FLIPPANT and FARCICAL.
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. www.HermannHearsay.blogspot.com
I will be out of town for three days of R&R this weekend. Don't worry though. I'm putting Lois Lame in charge while I'm gone. If she does real well (as I'm sure she will), we may pomote her to Assistant Editor. We'll allow her to retain all of her current responsibilities and give her a meager pay increase. Don't worry about this either. We won't increase her pay so much that it will force us to raise our subscription rates. Nope! We are always looking out for your best interests! Hermann Hearsay pledges to remain the low-cost publisher in the local news market!
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Published by Dick Schaefer, Contributing Writer and Part-Time Amateur Investigative Reporter
In my first big reporting assignment with Hermann Hearsay, I had the great misfortune of having to cover this morning's County Commissioners' Meeting. What a bummer! Jimmy, couldn't you have assigned me to the sports beat or the restaurant review beat or maybe the massage parlor review beat?!
The last time I attended one of the County Commissioners' meetings was way back in September of 2009. I was reminded this morning why I stopped attending. Can you say ...... B-O-R-I-N-G?!!!
If you really want to know the excrutiatingly dull details about how the meeting began at 8:30 am with the 'Pledge of Allegiance', immediately followed by the reading of the minutes from the June 3rd meeting in Owensville, followed by Southern District Commissioner Jerry Lairmore's motion (seconded by Northern District Commissioner Matt Penning) that the county pay its bills (Of course, we should pay our damned bills!), followed by Presiding Commissoner Ron Jost's monotone summary of the Road Department Meeting in Drake, etc. etc. etc., then you can go to one of the other online local news sites for that report.
I just don't have the patience nor the discipline for news reporting ...... at least not for reporting on Gasconade County Commissioners' Meetings. I have no interest in reporting to you the kind of mindless trivia that gets discussed at these open and public meetings. Other reporters can regurgitate all that relatively insignificant "stuff" to you if they choose to do so. But not me! Besides, if I were to report all the details, I would have to tell you how woefully ill-prepared the Presiding Commissioner is when it comes to leading the meeting. He reads correspondence during the meeting rather than doing his homework by reading that stuff prior to the meeting. He doesn't move the meeting along efficiently. There are many pregnant pauses during the meetings while he fumbles with his papers. He has never properly and officially adjourned a commissioners' meeting. He never calls for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Rather he just slams the gavel and adjourns it. Larry Miskel can't take over too soon!
Oh, I can tell you that I tried real hard. I even took Hermann Hearsay's new digital voice recorder to the meeting. I intended to report every little detail of the meeting. But I just can't bring myself to doing so. Nope, I will not allow myself to be used by these politicians for the purpose of reporting to the public only those few trivial subjects which they choose to dicuss in their public meeting!
Instead of the stuff that was discussed in this morning's meeting, let me tell you some of the subjects that were NOT discussed by our three county commissioners. I feel it is much more important and instructive to tell you what was NOT discussed. This is where the "real story" lies and perhaps that's why Presiding Commissioner Ron Jost doesn't put these subjects on the agenda! Afterall it's easier to talk about which county road needs gravel or rock, the status of Lesa Lietzow's office refrigerator, the need to provide custodian Dennis Kattelman some help cutting the brush on the south hillside in front of the courthouse, etc. But my friends, I have a pretty good 'Bull Shit Meter'. I know when I'm being B.S.'d, and I know when politicians are covering up the real stories!
Some of the more important subjects which were NOT discussed and which are rarely discussed:
the status of the courthouse preservation and restoration project and Presiding Commissioner Jost's work with the GCCS (By the way Ron, don't forget to attend the 6/21 meeting of the GCCS! I'm sure you have received an invitation as you did for the May meeting, a meeting you ignored!),
the status of the project to fund and construct the much needed courthouse emergency access road (We really should get this project done before someone dies or a fire destroys a major portion of the courthouse because we can't get the fire trucks up the hill!),
the current county budget status at mid-year (Guess what Commissioners! Your 2010 budget is already in trouble! You'll probably figure that out in October, Ron!)
the status of projects to address glaring outages found during the 2002 and 2006 state audits (Oh hell, Ron, why do anything about all that pesky stuff right now?! We'll soon have the results and recommendations from our 2010 state audit, an audit which you can also ignore!), and
Oh, fiddle faddle! I could go on and on, but I don't believe in "piling on"!
Jimmy, please!!! You gotta get me off this County Commission news beat! After just one meeting, I am already tearing my hair out! And I really don't have that much left!
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On the fifth day of my walking survey (Tuesday, 6/8), I found the following street and sidewalk conditions in Hermann:
4th Street heading west from Gutenberg Street to Schiller Street - Sidewalk uneven and potential trip hazard at 214 Fourth Street. Sidewalk busted up from 207 Fourth Street to 223 Fourth Street. Asphaltic street surface is patched, cracked and alligatored. Concrete curb and gutter is busted up in many spots.
4th Street heading west from Schiller Street to Market Street - North sidewalk is new and in excellent condition along the German School Museum property, however the sidewalk is cracked and uneven just east of the Shelter Insurance office. The sidewalk on the south side of the street is in fair condition with a few cracks noted. Asphaltic street surface is patched, cracked and alligatored.
4th Street walking west from Market Street to Mozart Street - Sidewalks on both the north side and south side of the street are in relatively good condition. The concrete street surface is in relatively good condition. No major cracks, uneven slabs nor potholses were noted.
4th Street walking west from Mozart Street to Washington Street - Sidewalks on both sides of the street are old, but they are in fair to good condition with the exception of a section of sidewalk at 231 Fourth Street which is uneven and represents a trip hazard. The asphaltic street surface is patched, cracked and alligatored. A few small, unfilled potholes were noted.
More street and sidewalk survey results to follow.
On the fourth day of my walking survey (Monday, 6/7), I found the following street and sidewalk conditions:
3rd Street heading west from Gutenberg Street to Schiller Street - Sidewalks non-existent for first 1/3 of street. Sidewalks on both sides of street are cracked and broken in several spots. Asphaltic street surface is currently in terrible condition. Center of the street has been dug up for the better part of the block (presumably to repair a water line or a sewer line). It has been backfilled with white rock, but the surface has not been sealed with asphalt. Other portions of the street have been patched and alligatoring is evident up and down the street.
3rd Street heading west from Schiller Street to Market Street - Sidewalk is in fair condition on the south side, but there are several uneven spots (trip hazards) on the north side. Asphaltic street surface is patched, cracked and alligatored.
3rd Street walking west from Market Street to Mozart Street - Sidewalk on the north side of street is very uneven, dirty, broken and cracked in several spots. There are some extreme trip hazards existing on the north side. The sidewalk on the south side of the street is in better condition, but it also has some bad spots. Asphaltic street surface is patched, cracked and alligatored. There are some small potholes currently and the concrete curbs and gutters are cracked very badly.
3rd Street walking west from Mozart Street to Washington Street - Sidewalks on both sides of the street are old but they are in fair condition. The asphaltic street surface is patched and alligatored.
More street and sidewalk survey results to follow.
Published by Lois Lame, Subscriber Services, Advertising, Lifestyles Reporting, Cool YouTube Music Videos and Daily Quotes, Jokes and Cool Photos
"CNN found that Hillary Clinton is the most admired woman in America. Women admire her because she's strong and successful. Men admire her because she allows her husband to cheat and get away with it." ~ Jay Leno
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Published by Lois Lame, Subscriber Services, Advertising, Lifestyles Reporting, Cool YouTube Music Videos and Daily Quotes, Jokes and Cool Photos
In a taped interview for NBC's "Today" show with Matt Lauer, the President of the United States of America said this about his meetings with independent scientists and Gulf Coast fishermen to discuss the Gulf oil spill:
"I talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers -- so I know whose ass to kick." ~ President Barack Hussein Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Monday he's been talking closely to Gulf Coast fishermen and various experts on BP's catastrophic oil spill not for lofty academic reasons but "so I know whose ass to kick."
The salty words, part of Obama's recent efforts to telegraph to Americans his engagement with the crisis, came in an interview in Michigan with NBC's "Today" show.
He strongly defended his role in dealing with the crisis that began with the April 20 explosion on a BP-leased oil rig in the Gulf, killing 11 workers and starting the nation's largest-ever oil spill.
"I was down there a month ago before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf," Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer. "I was meeting with fishermen in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be."
WATCH:
Some have criticized the president for not engaging passionately enough on the spill, even though he's been to the Gulf coast three times since the disaster, his most recent visit on Friday.
Obama said he has talked to a variety of "experts" on the oil spill in addition to the fishermen.
"I talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers -- so I know whose ass to kick," the president said.
Obama was in Kalamazoo, Mich., to speak to graduating high school students. NBC aired a portion of the interview on Monday evening in advance of Tuesday's "Today" program.
Obama also launched a salvo at Tony Hayward, BP's CEO, over some of his past comments, including saying at one point that "I want my life back" and that the Gulf was "a big ocean" and that "the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest."
"He wouldn't be working for me after any of those statements," Obama said, according to excerpts released by NBC.
Earlier, Obama sought to reassure the nation that the Gulf Coast would "bounce back" from the worst oil spill in the nation's history, but not without time, effort and reimbursement from BP.
Surrounded by Cabinet members, Obama said that not only is he confident that the crisis will pass but also that the affected area "comes back even stronger than ever."
The president and top federal officials were briefed on the government's battle against the spill by Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is overseeing the government's efforts in dealing with the tragedy.
Allen earlier Monday told reporters that a cap on the damaged oil well is now keeping up to 462,000 gallons of oil a day from leaking into the Gulf. That's up from about 441,000 gallons on Saturday and about 250,000 on Friday.
BP in a statement put the amount being captured at 466,200 gallons. Allen said the government was using its own flow-rate calculations and not relying on those from BP. He put the amount being captured at 11,000 42-gallon barrels, or 462,000 gallons.
"This will be contained," Obama asserted. "It may take some time, and it's going to take a whole lot of effort. There is going to be damage done to the Gulf Coast, and there is going to be economic damages that we've got to make sure BP is responsible for and compensates people for."
Obama said that government scientists and other experts confirmed that the capping device "is beginning to capture some of the oil. We are still trying to make a better determination as to how much it is capturing."
But, Obama added, "even if we are successful in containing some or much of the oil" the problem wouldn't be solved until relief wells reach the area of the damaged well in several months.
"What is clear is that the economic impact of this disaster is going to be substantial and it is going to be ongoing," Obama said.
"We also know that there's already a lot of oil that's been released, and that there's going to be more oil released no matter how successful this containment effort is," he added.
The president has been speaking out on the disaster almost daily and has visited the Louisiana coast three times since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed the oil gusher.
He reiterated an appeal he made on Friday in the region that BP not "nickel and dime" Gulf coast residents and businesses that have filed claims against the London-based oil giant.
"We are going to insist that money flow quickly and in a timely basis," Obama said.
Allen acknowledged at Monday's White House briefing that the company has struggled with handling claims.
He said we'd "like them to get better" at processing the claims and that a system for paying them should be "routinized" as soon as possible.
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I am regularly appalled to observe the extent to which so-called "journalists" and "publishers" will go in order to get a headline or pump up their readership numbers. In times past, it was called "yellow journalism". I call what I am witnessing all too often these days "pump, puff and spin" journalism.
You can see it every night on the cable "news" shows. You can see it on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News. More and more you see it in the op-ed pages of respected national newspapers such as 'The New York Times'. It is obvious in some of the widely read blogs like 'The Huffington Post'.
"Pump, puff and spin" journalism has become all too common. And because it so widely prevalent, it has become an accepted and almost expected journalism practice. Hell, for all I know, the journalism schools in Anerica may be teaching such methods! I am sad to observe that the Walter Cronkites, Roger Mudds and Jim Lehrers of journalism are being replaced by the loose-with-the-facts, controversy-stirring, highly-partisan Arianna Huffingtons, Chris Mathews, Ed Schultzes, Sean Hannitys and Keith Olbermanns.
And now, with the advent of daily online "news reporting" here in Hermann, we see it cropping up within some corners of our local news media community. We see it prominently displayed, on at least one of our local online "news" sites. And it disgusts me! I am especially disgusted by some of the voyeuristic reporting I have seen recently.
I object to sensationalism over substance. I object to reporters playing loose-with-the-facts. I object to one-sided, biased, political agenda-driven reporting. I object to self-promotion and self-aggrandizement. I object to ambulance, police car and fire truck chasing. I object to intrusions into the private lives of grieving families. Give me hard-hitting, fair and balanced interviews of public officials concerning matters of public interest rather than inappropriate voyeuristic interviews of grieving family members! I object to the publication of photos of homes on fire, mangled, over-turned vehicles, caskets being born down the steps of churches and funeral homes. What will be next? Photos of badly mangled, bleeding bodies? Photos of corpses in caskets at funeral homes? Interviews of sick and dieing people in their hospital beds? Videos of grieving family members as they ride in the funeral procession to the grave site for the bural service of a loved one? Where does this all end? Do the so-called "journalists" who engage in this type of sick sensationalism even know where the boundary line of common decency is? Judging from the types of stories I've already seen "reported" by one particular "news" website in the local area, I have to say that I doubt that they have the foggiest idea where the boundary line of common decency lies.
I urge that this kind of "pump, puff and spin" journalism be soundly rejected in Hermann. I urge anyone who has a paid annual subscription to any online "news" website which employs "yellow journalism" tactics and methods to cancel their subscription and demand a pro-rata refund of subscriber fees already paid. I urge all consumers of local news to demand the highest journalistic standards from those who seek to provide news reports in exchange for subscription fees and as a vehicle for charging advertisers for ad space.
But that's just my opinion! What's yours?
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Published by Lois Lame, Subscriber Services, Advertising, Lifestyles Reporting, Cool YouTube Music Videos and Daily Quotes, Jokes and Cool Photos
Left to right: Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker), Carroll O'Connor (Archie Bunker), Sally Struthers (Gloria Bunker-Stivic) and Rob Reiner (Michael 'Meathead' Stivic)
Archie Bunker: Go ahead, ask your mother; she believes in capital punishment. Gloria Stivic: Do you Ma? Edith Bunker: Well, sure. Gloria Stivic: MA? Edith Bunker: Well, as long as it ain't too severe.
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