Don and I had a telephone conversation not long ago, concerning an article he'd submitted for publication in Weber County Forum. He wanted to set the record straight about the details of the acquisition of the Std-Ex's new headquarters at Ogden city's Business Depot Ogden, and I was happy to afford him the opportunity to do so. During this conversation we also talked shop a little bit, and he commented about some of the difficulties of running a small town newspaper in the modern age, in which many younger people don't read newspapers, but get their news from electronic media instead. He talked about new approaches to attracting readership, and the necessity of creativity in newspaper publication. I confess I have sympathy for the plight of the local print journalist in this modern age, when anyone on earth can regularly read the New York Times or the Washington Post for free, with only a few clicks of a mouse button.
I've been thinking about what Mr. Porter said, and I've finally gotten around to the conclusion that Don Porter and I are both quite similar in our approaches. What Don and I both do, gentle readers, is post the most controversial, edgy, and cranky stuff possible, with the object of provoking the strongest possible strong readership response. This is what keeps readers coming back. They crave red meat.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Don ran this Fasi Filiaga "guest editorial" last Thursday. This one goes beyond controversial. It goes beyond edgy. It even goes beyond cranky. This one is flat-out preposterous. If Don Porter's intention was to provoke a reader response, he certainly got his money's worth -- if my own Weber County Forum email inbox is any gauge of that. My inbox has been filling up with responses to this over the past couple of days. I can only imagine what's happening with Don Porter's.
In general, the responses have mainly centered on these points:
- There were thousands of Utahns who worked feverishly to drive a stake through the heart of eminent domain abuse; it wasn't just Dorothy Littrell,
- Participation in Ogden city politics isn't limited to lifetime residents,
- Wayne April didn't kill the recreation center project; 'twas bad economics, poor management and contamination killed the beast,
- Mr. Filiaga's ghost writer probably flunked logic 101.
- Mr. Filiaga is the poster boy for everything that's wrong with the current city council.
I will however post one particularly excellent reader response that I received. This one is particularly interesting, inasmuch as it's written by one of the three local citizens whom Mr. Filiaga assailed in his article. I'm also informed that it's one that actually reached Mr. Porter's email box, but was rejected for publication, for reasons that are somewhat unclear. Perhaps I don't understand Mr. Porter's methods as well as I thought, come to think of it. In Don Porter's defense, though, I'll also note that newsprint and ink ain't cheap, unlike web bandwidth.
So at any rate, I'll shamelessly exploit the fruits of Mr. Filiaga's highly provocative guest editorial, and post the reader response that Don Porter refused to print, for the enjoyment of our gentle readers:
DOROTHY E. LITTRELLI can't imagine why Don Porter wouldn't publish this letter. Having been attacked by Mr. Filiaga, surely Ms. Littrell deserved equal space for her retort. I confess I simply don't get it.
228 West 3275 North
Ogden, Utah 84414
801-7822-5906
d.littrell@comcast.net
September 15, 2005
GUEST COMMENTARY
I am the "outsider", that "woman from North Ogden", that Ogden City Councilman Filiaga and Police Chief Greiner give credit to for singlehandedly stopping the proposed Wal-mart RDA fiasco in Ogden.
First of all, my fight was against the use of eminent domain to seize private property from private citizens to give to another private entity which just happened to be the largest corporation in the world.
Second of all, Ogden City officials were going to borrow $2.1 million in order to bring in the wealthiest corporation in the world so private property could be seized with sales tax revenue being pledged for five years to pay off the bribe.
What Ogden City fathers didn't get then, and still don't understand, is that my fight was about citizens' personal rights under the Constitution. Ogden City fathers refuse to acknowledge that citizens have rights. Fortunately, the Utah Legislature understood the constitutional issues and passed Utah's eminent domain law which prohibits such violation of constitutional rights.
I am no outsider. I practiced as a CPA in Ogden for thirty years. I bought property in Ogden when I moved here in the 60's. What is more important is that I am a citizen of Weber County and that all of Ogden's RDA projects are taking away tax monies that Weber County needs badly.
Mr. Filiaga has been a councilman for eight years so I would say that he has helped create Ogden's financial problems by blindly siding with Mayor Godfrey on all the issues that have created the morass Ogden is in.
Why aren't Mr. Filiaga and other City Council members calling for City Attorney Ashton to look into the latest shenanigan of Mayor Godfrey's rehiring Stuart Reid's corporation after Mr. Reid either quit or was terminated and received a financial lump sum payout of retirement benefits? This is a shady deal if I have ever smelled one.
For those of you who don't follow Ogden's incredible financial deals, Mr. Reid masterminded the Ogden RDA for a few years as a "carpet-bagger" from Salt Lake. He created the 25th Street Condo plan which has bombed. He gets credit for the River Walk Project which would have seized more private homes under eminent domain . And I know you have heard of the climbing wall and Gold's Gym proposed for the old mall site.
It is good that Ogden's City election is in process. Please know your candidates and vote wisely because it will affect all of us in Weber County.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Littrell
Perhaps our gentle readers can help me out on this. Comments anyone?
