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23 SEP 04: I'D RATHER NOT
Hello, I'm Dan Rather. Well, I might as well be. I've fouled up enough things in the last few days that someone's probably asking the Drudge Report to demand my resignation.
You may have noticed a couple of corrected items in this blog this week, and that's bad enough. But the biggest blow yet came Wednesday, when I discovered I'd spread incorrect information at my regular job. At least it wasn't that chain letter
spam about Microsoft awarding money for an e-mail test....
Here's what happened: someone called my office twice recently with important information to pass on. I took down the important information, passed it on - but it was really meant for people in another state! This is what happens when people
move around the country, but never change their cell phone area codes.
The caller with the important information was confused because several states in the South have the same county names. So many Sumters, so many Clays, so many Lees - which I think are preferred around here over Levi's....
I tried to make sure the caller's important information applied to our area, and she said it did. But I blew it, because I neglected to double-check other sources to make sure it's accurate. I suppose that's why many people listen to two or three conservative talk shows a day.
If I simply had gone online to check the caller's important information, I should have discovered it did not apply to our area. But I believed the caller was accurate. After all, isn't the customer always right -- unless you're the former Cat
Stevens, and you're trying to fly to the U.S.?
With the CBS News debacle about Alabama National Guard records fresh in my mind, I decided during the day Wednesday I'd offer to resign from my job. Since so many co-workers want Dan Rather to quit, I might as well join him at the unemployment office.
(During the lunch hour Wednesday, I was even talking like that woman in the Office Depot commercial shopping for supplies. Several times I said to myself, "I am SO suspended....")
To make sure false rumors didn't spread about what I was doing, I offered my resignation as publicly as I could - well, short of doing it on the business phone intercom....
I offered to resign at an afternoon meeting on the job - but a surprising thing happened. Everyone around me said it wasn't necessary! Why is it that so many people who talk a hard line actually display a soft heart?
One supervisor explained I was different from Dan Rather's case at CBS News because no one was harmed, and I had not tried to defame anyone. Imagine if the caller had given me a hot tip about Bobby Peters....
I'm grateful that the bosses decided NOT to accept my resignation. But I still feel like Dan Rather, because I ran with information without double-checking it first. Now I know how the Fort Benning generals felt when they banned that closed
restaurant.
This is why I haven't joined the online and conservative crowd, pointing fingers at Dan Rather over those National Guard documents. I've spread incorrect information at times myself, usually without meaning to do it. Take the times I've
answered October 31st greetings with "Happy Halloween," even though I can't stand it.
But before you point a finger at ME as well, listen to Bill Cosby's advice for a moment and "turn the mirror around." If you've ever spread incorrect information or rumors about anything, aren't YOU also a Dan Rather? And if you were fan of the old game show "To Tell the Truth"....
E-MAIL UPDATE: As if I wasn't feeling forlorn enough about all this, look at what the Wednesday e-mail brought me:
I NEVER stated or suggested that Chief Dozier has not been able to improve the police force. All I stated was that Chief Dozier was an excellent leader who had to deal with the obstacles of a manpower shortage and poor compensation which led to moral issues brought on by city leaders. I think it is important, if your goal with your website is to inform people, that you give them correct information.
Thanks,
Randy Robertson
President,
Fraternal Order of Police
Karl F. Eidam Lodge #9
Memo to self: don't drive over the speed limit for awhile - ANYWHERE in Columbus....
Thank you, Mr. Robertson, for clearing up any misunderstanding of what you said. This puts you ahead of Police Chief Willie Dozier - who still won't talk on tape at all.
(At least Randy Robertson didn't challenge one small part of what we wrote Tuesday. He IS a blog reader....)
Yet this clarification raises a question - wouldn't a fully-staffed, well-paid Columbus Police Department BE an improvement? At least the morale on the force would be better. And imagine how the unemployment rate would go down -- because officers would open up those second jobs for former mill workers with none.
Related to that: has Chief Willie Dozier been able to meet the concerns of law enforcement organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police? You could blame Columbus Council for tying his hands. But look at what happened what Marshal Ken Suddeth asked for donations for new weapons
Oh yes, about the "goal of our website." That should be in the top-right corner of the blog when it comes on your screen. Sometimes what we write may inform you. Many times we try to amuse you. And hopefully we don't make you so upset that you break your keyboard in two across your knee.
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: Daily blogging may diminish in the next few days, as we prepare for a fall vacation....)
To offer a story tip, make a donation or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post a reply.
If you quote from this in public somewhere, please be polite enough to let me know.
© 2003-04 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.