Wilmington police step up post-bar patrols downtown

Wilmington Star-News: Police step up post-bar patrols

All I can say, is why has there been such tolerance until now? It's been out of hand for years. I hope this will help de-scent downtown from the aroma of beer, both pre- and post-consumption, and get rid of the more dangerous elements - including those imported from elsewhere and locals who prey upon outsiders, both.

11-year-old hunter bags 'monster pig' in Alabama / 'Monster Pig' was really farm-raised 'Fred'

I'm not sure what I can add to these two news stories. With the parts I have boldfaced as commentary, they are pretty self-explanatory.

Although I would like to add the dictionary definition of "feral," from Merriam-Webster Online:

a not domesticated or cultivated : WILD
b:having escaped from domestication and become wild

Poor Fred definitely doesn't meet either of those definitions, and for the wildlife officials to say otherwise is just wrong.

And to expand on the commentary indicated by the boldface, how can anyone call shooting any animal with a handgun hunting, especially the part about finishing it off point-blank? It would seem to me that if you can get close enough to shoot a pig with a handgun, he's clearly not wild. But it seems that there is a new sport of handgun hunting I haven't heard about. If you scroll to the end of this item, you will see that it's even more fun than that, another preteen boy killed one with a knife .... I'm sorry, but this is the end of civilization as I knew it.

While some may debate the morality of meat-eating, as long as we're doing it, there's nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned hog-killing on a farm to understand where meat really comes from. But to make a sport of it out in the swamps and glorify the manliness and excitement of stabbing an animal to death just disgusts me.

UPDATE: I feel even less sorry for the "hunter" and his family - apparently in an effort to profit from their unsportsmanlike slaughter of handfed Fred, they faked the photos on the website they quickly put up - the photos which then were used by the media across the country.

From the Wilmington Star News:

Montgomery, Ala. | An 11-year-old Alabama boy used a pistol to kill a wild hog his father says weighed a staggering 1,051 pounds and measured 9-feet-4 from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail.
.....
Regardless of the comparison, Jamison is reveling in the attention over his pig, which has a Web site put up by his father - www.monsterpig.com - that is generating Internet buzz.
"It feels really good," Jamison, of Pickensville, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It's a good accomplishment. I probably won't ever kill anything else that big."
.....
He said he shot the huge animal eight times with a .50-caliber revolver and chased it for three hours through hilly woods before finishing it off with a point-blank shot. Through it all there was the fear that the animal would turn and charge them, as wild boars have a reputation of doing.

"I was a little bit scared, a little bit excited," said Jamison, who just finished the sixth grade on the honor roll at Christian Heritage Academy, a small, private school.

This story really grossed me out to begin with, but it got worse in the next news cycle.

From ESPN:
'Monster Pig' was really farm-raised 'Fred'
Not-so-wild pig sold to Lost Creek Plantation four days before it was hunted down
FRUITHURST, Ala. — The huge hog that became known as "Monster Pig'' after being hunted and killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred.

The not-so-wild pig had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area, the animal's former owner said.

Phil Blissitt told The Anniston Star in a story Friday that he bought the 6-week-old pig in December 2004 as a Christmas gift for his wife, Rhonda, and that they sold it after deciding to get rid of all the pigs at their farm.

"I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig,'' Rhonda Blissitt said.

Mike Stone said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he had been under the impression that the hog was wild, not farm-raised.

Stone said state wildlife officials told him that it is not unusual for hunting preserves to buy farm-raised hogs and that the hogs are considered feral once they are released.

Stone said he and his son met Blissitt on Friday morning to get more details about the hog. Blissitt said that he had about 15 hogs and decided to sell them for slaughter, but that no one would buy that particular animal because it was too big for slaughter or breeding, Stone said.

Blissitt said that the pig had become a nuisance and that visitors were often frightened by it, Stone said. "He was nice enough to tell my son that the pig was too big and needed killing,'' Stone said. "He shook Jamison's hand and said he did not kill the family pet.'' The Blissitts said they didn't know the hog that was hunted was Fred until they were contacted by a game warden for the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. The agency determined that no laws were violated in the hunt.

Scholarship contest teaches self-confidence

Star News

This is an exceptionally amateurish story. It builds expectation for some kind of revelation about our semi-Iranian neighbor, which never comes.

And why, pray tell, is the spotlight of a story about a scholarship contest on a non-winning competitor? I didn't call her a loser, because I am indeed impressed with her effort and do not wish to denigrate her accomplishment. But just because she's a cute blonde (actually, I'm not sure the photo accompanying the story online is her: the caption says "An aerial view looking North along Wrightsville Beach in 2005. " !!!) and apparently the writer thought her story was the most interesting doesn't mean she deserves the focus of the story. That should have been squarely on the WINNING competitors. Do a feature on her some other time, if you wish, but the story about the contest should be about the contest, I believe, and not give such short shrift to the actual winners.

Personally, I think the winning speech, while it may have been entertaining, sounds awfully fluffy to win a soberly named "Oratorical Contest." If they used an applause meter to pick the winners, that might make sense. It makes me wonder whether there is some back story to the judging process, like who is related to whom, and whether the "mission" orientation of the boy winner's speech contributed to his victory, that bears reporting on.

Finally, please get this reporter a dictionary and take away her thesaurus. The "patron" of an endeavor, when it means sponsor, remains the patron regardless of gender. Mrs. Williamson is NOT the "matron" of the event. If the writer, or editor, can't handle that conflict, then use sponsor or benefactor or supporter or namesake or donor. Matron is simply wrong. And while it was very big of you to actually mention who won, "discreetly ecstatic smile flitted" is about the stupidest description of a facial expression I've ever read outside of cheap romance fiction. It goes way beyond feature writing into the realm of treacle - use the dictionary on that one, too, while you're at it.

Personality features are nice, but fraught with the danger of showing inappropriate personal preferences on the part of the writer. This story succumbed to that danger.

A Reprieve for the Paddlewheel in Wilmington

Star News Forums

RE: A reprieve for the paddlewheel - editorial

See my post on the related news article here.

I'm disappointed that this editorial merely adds to the hot air about this issue. The museum "may want to use the paddlewheel in a fundraising campaign" is the best you can come up with?

Why don't you suggest that Mr. Merritt pull out his checkbook and keep the promise he made to throw in a big chunk of money to keep the boat here? You seem to be congratulating him for pulling personal political strings in pursuit of something personally important to him - isn't that the same as earmarks and pork and all the other political sins so often decried in these pages? Now that he got his way, there is no suggestion that he indeed bears responsibility for the expense.

To suggest as you do that the museum rethink all of its financial priorities and base a facility expansion on this boat is a real slap in the face to the people who run it. Are you laboring under the assumption that they have no strategic plans, that they have never considered what among their missions is important, and how much they could afford to achieve which of them?

I have no affiliation with the museum, in fact have barely set foot in it, but I've never heard anything to indicate that they are either clueless or profligate - rather that they do the best they can with very limited funding.

Americans often misuse the word "romantic" when what is being discussed is actually maudlin sentimentality. You have done precisely that here - if the romance with this boat were genuine, you and Mr. Merritt would have more to offer in terms of actual, financial support instead of this phony gushy love, like a baby-daddy who thinks he's doing his job when he brings a rose on Mother's Day but never sent a single support check.

Historic boat's future uncertain

Star News Forums

This May 8 article said:

The decision comes just hours before officials were to begin dismantling the engine and just days after downtown developer Gene Merritt has said he'd be willing to move and store the steam-powered paddle wheel at his own expense to keep it from leaving the Port City.

But today Mr. Merritt says:

"It's not leaving town, and as far as I'm concerned my mission is accomplished on that level," he said.

Now that the museum has pointed out that it would take a huge fundraising effort to get the boat restored and on display, Mr. Merritt is finished. It seems to me that if he were truly sincere, he would put a dollar figure on the table that he's willing to pay - based on the earlier grandstanding - so the fundraising can get started in a big way, right away. Otherwise, it appears to me to be a lot of self-serving hot air.

Gas station passing out credit card info on back of receipts

Star News Forums
RE:
I'm a big fan of the concept of the three R's - reduce, reuse, recycle, but this one takes the cake.

With all we hear all the time about identity theft, this bozo (I'm referring only to the owner here) thinks it's OK to pass out complete credit card numbers with expiration dates, etc., as a free prize on the back of people's receipts - and since no one complained but this one troublemaker, well what's the problem?

Thank goodness for Kay Gordon, a woman after my own heart who didn't mind causing a ruckus with a bunch of complacent nitwits. At least the BBB and the sheriff's department didn't brush her off, too, which could certainly happen in some places or perhaps a few years ago in many places.

And now for something completely different

There's no media criticism in Wilmington, so I was in the mood to do some.

Star News Forums

I'm a little tired of the news itself, and wondering who and when will ever make a comment about the newest news team in town.

Grinny Ginny and her partner Ron Burgundy have been on Channel 3 for a couple of months now and while I did my best to give them a fair chance, I am just flabbergasted that anyone thought this was an improvement over Ann McAdams and Jon Evans.

Where do you start? Kaci Christian is probably the worst excuse for a main news anchor I've ever seen anywhere. She appears to have both the personality and intellect of a houseplant, but a carnivorous one that has been trained to bare its teeth when the lights come on, and to enunciate clearly. I have never seen anyone worse at camera changes, happy talk between segments, or applying the appropriate facial and vocal emotion to what she is reading. She will grin manically, batting the lashes on her caricature-sized eyes, as she lists the dead from a mass murder. I would joke that an AM radio station somewhere must be missing its traffic girl - except that it's true. How anyone bought her as a serious journalist, or even a good news reader, is simply beyond belief. I think it's testimony to the power of self-promotion. It's certainly not humility.

Steve Rondinaro probably isn't as bad as he seems to be as a result of debuting with her as a team. At least he's been to North Carolina before. He certainly has a nice voice and a particularly strong ability to use it to sell his stories. I don't know whether he's writing the promotional copy he reads - both during the news, as teases before commercials, and freestanding promos during other shows - but some of them are hilarious in their resemblance to 80's news parodies. He truly seems to have stepped out of a time machine from about 1981 - and pairing him with her only reinforces the worst aspects of his presentation.

Other things seem to have changed around there too. What the heck was this Dancing with WWAY garbage? Wasn't there any news for a whole month or whatever? The thing they did on Good Morning America was pretty stupid but at least they have a bigger budget to waste than these guys down here in Podunkville-size market.

Most of the reporters on Channel 3 seem to try hard to do a good job, but it's almost impossible for me to watch a whole show with those two on it. I end up laughing at the incredible stupidity of the blonde one and then giggling at the apparent eyelid paralysis of the other one, and the next thing you know it's the weather. But not the sports - apparently those two were so expensive to get that they don't have a sports department anymore. Gene Motley wasn't the best sports guy who ever lived, but people around here were definitely used to him, he still cared about his job after about 80 years doing it, and you could say he was an institution. The only thing I can imagine worse than being fired and replaced with a younger version is to be fired and replaced with Grinny-Ginny-and-Ron-Burgundy-do-SPORTS-too!!

Finally, while I was poking around the web, I found something that may explain a lot of this stuff. Perhaps this has something to do with the level of news judgment being exercised over there. The auteur of the behavioral music video - yes, that's what he calls it in this item on their website - Baghdad My Love - yes indeedy, that's the guy to figure out what's news right here in River City. If you're not familiar with high level information operations products, which he brags about as his background, you might want to do a little research and then get a little afraid every time you turn on Channel 3.

UNC TV is indeed for NC, imagine that

Wilmington Star News Forums
RE: Letter to the Editor

EDITOR: (On May 2) I settled into my easy chair to watch Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built.
It wasn't on. There was something about dogs. The program was on across the rest of the U.S. … We have a censored, University of North Carolina-controlled PBS.
Just look at the May 5 programs: N.C. Now, Our State, Exploring N.C., N.C. Folkways, then, at 10 p.m., Live from Lincoln Center. Do you think the rest of the U.S. is watching Exploring N.C.?
I was told the original program last night had "objectionable language." Who determined that?
Our cable subscription pays for PBS. We are not getting PBS. We are getting a censored version, abridged version of PBS.
I think it must be illegal. It's certainly archaic and suppressive.

Donald DiGiulian
Leland

I don't know which state this writer recently moved here from, but public television is pretty much the same all over - and in fact, the way the programming is slotted is very similar to the commercial networks and their affiliates. PBS and other sources make programs available. The PBS programming feed is much more varied and the scheduling is much more flexible - local affiliates run many programs as they are fed, but some are run at other times and some don't air at all. There is absolutely no such thing as a required national PBS schedule, very much less so than the commercial networks. Programming decisions at the local affiliates are based on finances, local tastes and needs, and getting some different kinds of programming on the air - different from the commercial offerings and diverse within the schedule.

First, I watched that program. I won't swear it was that day, but it did indeed air on NC Public Television. My schedule - which I receive because I am a subscriber to public television, not cable - shows that it was on May 2, and I haven't seen many times that the printed schedule was ignored. There is no indication in the detailed listing of any problem with language, etc. So you may actually have had a problem with your calendar or your clock.

That likelihood is borne out by your second problem with the UNC-TV schedule. The list of May 5 programs provided above is actually for May 3. Regardless of the date, though, what on earth is wrong with the NORTH CAROLINA TAXPAYER-supported UNC Public TV running North Carolina-oriented programming? If your cable company told you you would receive a direct feed of programming straight from PBS, not the very highly acclaimed programming from the public broadcasting network in this state, then your problem is with the cable people.

To answer your question about what people in the rest of the country watch: on the New Jersey Network, they're watching State of the Arts: The life and unique history of Peters Valley Craft Education Center, New Jersey Network News, Caucus New Jersey, Ask the Governor, Here Comes the Weekend, and other NEW JERSEY-oriented programs. Tonight, they're also watching Tracks Ahead, about the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, and on May 13 they will finally get the chance to watch the Ahmet Ertegun program that got you so riled up.

I'd like to be clear - I don't now nor ever have had any connection to UNC-TV, beyond supporting it both as a North Carolina taxpayer and as a member. I don't think it's perfect and quite frankly I don't like a lot of the stuff they air, both locally produced and from PBS or other national sources. But that's when I watch another channel, and when I complain, I prefer to have at least the first freaking clue what I'm talking about!

Star News photo caption problems

Star News Forums

I won't go into a lot of detail as the last time I assessed the apparent professionalism of the online staff, they disappeared me for weeks.

This CQ business has been going on for months - it comes from whoever enters the information about the photograph into their computer archive, and CQ indicates the spelling has been verified. That makes this even funnier, as the person who wrote this added "I HAVE CALLED SGT. WILLIAMS AND THIS IS THE PROPER SPELLING OF HIS NAME" even though that is what CQ is supposed to stand for.

It is normally removed before publication, don't know why they don't bother to do it for the online edition, but then again I think we've already established that I don't understand a lot of how and what they do to the online edition ....

The "satalite" typo is separate but related, just more failure of whoever makes the online edition to do the most basic part of the job.

By the way, you missed the other typo in the same sentence, Pman - "Nesbit" Courts.

p.s. I also agree with you that this was a poor choice of photos to accompany the tax increase story. And the caption doesn't tie it into the story at all - maybe I missed it, but I don't see anything in the story about satellite offices or anything about morale or whatever the last sentence in the caption is referring to.

It's the print version, too, not just the website!

Star News Forums
The ineptitude ends up on paper as well. Either that or the Currents staff is speaking Welsh, Martian or Basque, or some combination thereof.

I was just looking at Thursday's Currents, and found a page head that says [I EVO [MER] and another one that says [TRI] M[RO]. They are complemented by subheads on the pages which say SNTOR, GI RGN HGOG, HDNGI, and my favorite by far: SI GTUYI SAYI DHRNNS.

Something is very strange over there....

Please just kill the polls

Star News Forums
As with the rest of the website, they are haphazard, halfhearted and less than fully literate. There is no "daily" poll - the questions seem to linger for weeks on end, and on the news page the poll has been known to be several months old. There is no reason for a different poll to appear there anyway, just more of the bad management of the site.