21 MAR 05: I'M HEARING YOU
With no federal court cases to cover, we had time over the weekend to take a close look at your e-mail. Let's start with someone who was inspired by our current Big Blog Question:
....If this is about Columbus State University, it is time to free-associate.
All I can say about Columbus State University is:
President Frank Brown thinks House Bill 340, is a good thing. Hidden Benefactor 340 allows for non disclosure of donors to universities. It passed the House and is in committee in the Senate. Sen. Seth Harp, committee chair, is harping its merits. He says President Frank Brown is with him on this. By the way, a hint for Sen. Seth Harp: informed voters and ballot box.
Great, now Spanky Franky can just go ahead and sell the university to whomever he pleases. No, Voters, you do not get a "say" in this.
Spanky Franky, what about this, The Wahabi School of Theology or is that The Wahabi Law Center, or maybe The Suicide Bomber School of Peace?
Or maybe the PETA Nutrition Center or is that the PETA School of Laboratory Ethics (hey if we are talking terrorists let us not forget the eco=terrorists, and the FBI watch list).
Spanky Franky what about The Ward Churchill School of Diplomacy or maybe The George Soros Student Center?
Not finished yet, let's look at what Morris Dees might have to say about this, (it is fun to look at things through the eyes of many perspectives, isn't it)? The KKK Think Tank. Think about it.
Spanky Franky, your name "FRANK" did not affect your personality did it?
Spanky Franky, You got some splainin' to do.
Deborah Owens
First of all - "Spanky Franky?" What does the C.S.U. teacher training program tell students to do?
Even with this "non-disclosure bill," Deborah, don't your examples show you'll still be able to spot some university donors? They're already the ones who have schools and chairs named after them. Maybe to be fair, some drunks should have stools named after them at bars.
I'm not sure I see the harm in not revealing the names of donors to state universities. Unless, of course, you think state-run universities are filled with liberalism -- and you want to put all the left-wing donors on Rush Limbaugh's e-mail list.
If Frank Brown really was trying to "sell the university," wouldn't parts of it be sold by now? After all, Georgia Tech sold its basketball court name to McDonald's several years ago....
Do you really think People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has the money to put its name on university buildings or department? PETA doesn't even draw big crowds in Columbus when people in chicken costumes protest outside KFC.
As for the people Deborah named, I'll make it a homework assignment for blog readers to track down who those people are. But I was more concerned about one name in the NCAA basketball tournament. Did you see Cincinnati has a player named Jihad Mohammed? [True] How many security checks did he face on road trips?
I misspelled the name "Spanky Franky" when I mentioned this item was coming soon - and my error led Deborah to write a second time:
"Spanky Frankie" is really "Spanky Franky" but
Since "Spanky Franky" has oft' times been misspelled, and for instance, since you, Blog-Blogger, spelled "Franky" "Frankie, and others have misspelled it "Frankee" & "Frankey." I think it is high time President Frank Brown had a new nickname, and frankly, while changing his nick name, with all the hanky panky, and his refusal to acknowledge the "Sunshine Laws," in his support of HB 340, or Hidden Benefactor 340 I think he should be called:
"Franky Panky."
Franky Panky had such a good Deal
He danced to their Drum
Became their best Chum
But his Prof Friends called him a Heel
He planned a new building
With Ad Infinitum Ceilings
But his Prof Friends called him a Heel
"This Sunshine must go,
Or they won't bestow."
But his Prof friends called him a Heel
"First Amendment be dashed,
We need the cash"
But his Prof Friends called him a Heel
Old College Grads said,
"Wow what a cad
He's Blocking the sun
He's Selling for fun."
Who is the highest bidder?
It could be Wahabi
Or Bin Ladin's Lobby
But His Prof friends called him a heel
OK, I think I see what sparked this. Deborah's upset that you can't watch C.S.U. baseball games from Gentian Boulevard anymore, thanks to the new John Cunningham Center for Leadership Development.
(If his "Prof friends" really call Frank Brown a "heel," they should send his curriculum vitae to the University of North Carolina. It's the "Tar Heel State," after all.)
Let's move now to television - and a reporter who apparently is watched closely:
richard,
have you ever heard of the tv show "the daily buzz"? it's a nationally syndicated morning show (out of orlando, florida) that airs on wb stations. imagine my surprise to watch the show Friday morning to see none other than wrbl's blaine stewart on the show. i only caught the last few seconds, at the end of the show, but he was talking about channel 3... and then the hosts welcomed him to orlando. has he left columbus? i thought i saw him on the air here here this week. i swear it wasn't a dream (i think i was awake enough to see what i think i saw). know anything about this?
keep on bloggin',
j.b.
Yes, J.B., I have heard of "The Daily Buzz." The first time I heard that name, I thought it was what people bought in the morning at Jumpin' Java.
I saw Blaine Stewart on WRBL last week, too. In fact, I saw him in person Thursday afternoon - testifying for the defense in that pregnancy discrimination case [18 Mar]. I never imagined what Stewart said would require him to flee the state....
Always anxious to get to the bottom of these things, your blog contacted The Daily Buzz - and this reply came our way Sunday:
It's true the Columbus News Anchor was on our show Friday, but he was in the studio audience. He's a fan of the show and was in Orlando, and emailed us and asked if he could sit in and watch while he was here.
That's it.
We are sure he is a fine news anchor, but we have no plans on hiring him.
It's nice to know Blaine Stewart is a "Daily Buzz" fan. But I think this will cost him any chance to pose for promotional photos with Harry Smith and Hannah Storm of "The Early Show."
Speaking of WRBL, we have a follow-up to the pregnancy discrimination suit Media General lost. It comes from an attorney for the plaintiff, who e-mailed us twice:
Dear Richard: I thought I should let you know that the cap on damages is not a result of tort reform. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act caps damages for the very largest employers at $300,000. This applies to both compensatory and punitive damages. In this case, the compensatory damages are intended to compensate Ms. Miller for her emotional distress; the punitive damages are intended to punish the company.
I was very glad that I got to meet you, finally. You're not nearly as scary in person as you are masterminding the blog-sort of like the wizard of Oz....
As you can tell, I became an avid reader of your blog this week. It's the first thing I look at immediately after checking my e-mail.
I thought you might be interested in a couple of legal points that the jury didn't get to hear.
First, it is actually illegal to discriminate against a pregnant woman because of her marital status. We had prepared a jury charge on that issue just in case it came up. We dangled it a few times to see if a defense witness would bite, but they were a little too savvy for that.
Second--and this is something we wanted to explain to the jury, but we ran out of time on closing argument--Dale Cox could not have been compelled to come to Columbus, Georgia from Arkansa. We can only compel witnesses who are within a 100 mile radius of the court. We can compel witnesses to attend their deposition anywhere in the country, but we have to go where they are. That's why we did the videotaped deposition of Cheryl Butler to use in court; she would not come here, so we had to go to her. In our minds that lent Butler's testimony much more credibility than Cox's. Butler was compelled by law to give deposition testimony. What reason could Cox have for voluntarily travelling here from Arkansas and waiting around all week to put his two cents in?
Finally (I know I said two points, but I am a lawyer, after all) I think the reason the punitive damages were so much (that was the two million dollar part) was because the company demonstrated significant bad faith in handling Melissa's claims of pregnancy discrimination. Punitive damages are designed not only to punish, but to send a message to this defendant and to other people in the same position that its behavior was wrong and won't be tolerated. We submitted Media General's SEC (and that doesn't stand for SouthEastern Conference--whatever that may be) filings to the jury, showing the jury that Media General is a very, very big company with a LOT of money. (SEC filings are available on-line.) The jury recognized that the only way to get the attention of a company that large would be to require them to pay a significant penalty. I thought the jury made exactly the right decision--but of course that's just my opinion!
Have a good weekend! I'm certainly enjoying mine!
Love & kisses, M
Thanks for clarifying the record, Ms. Hardy - but "love and kisses?!" I thought you told me you were married!
An award of $300,000 is much less than the federal jury recommended, and may not be the big blow Melissa Schultz Miller and her lawyers wanted. The way defense attorneys described Miller, I'm not sure $300,000 could buy her enough tissue boxes to cry about her success.
As for why Dale Cox "voluntarily traveled" to Columbus from Arkansas - well, he lived in Columbus for two years. Do you think he actually might have made some friends here?!
Did I read this right: "Southeastern Conference - whatever that may be"?!?! I'm tempted to borrow from Hardy's fellow defense attorney, and ask what planet SHE lives on....
But oh dear - am I a "scary mastermind" behind this blog? I really don't mean to be. Let's reassure some readers about that right now, with this declaration: I do not own a single tie-dyed shirt.
Now some quick points to wrap up the first official day of spring:
+ St. Thomas Episcopal Church hosted a candlelight vigil for peace in Iraq. About 25 people walked around a labyrinth on the grounds, holding candles. If they tried this at Auburn University's corn mazes in the fall, it could start a big brush fire.
(So about 25 people walked for peace, while at least several hundred attended Saturday's "Rally for the Troops." If terrorists attack the peace activists, I'm not sure who's going to come to their rescue.)
+ Franchise Missionary Baptist Church in Phenix City held a "Palm Sunday parade" on Broad Street. Hopefully no one had the wrong idea, and showed off their "Palm Pilots."
+ The new Columbus Black History Museum held its ribbon-cutting opening ceremony. The museum's founder told WRBL when it comes to history, "we're going to bring it to you right." So if one exhibit shows David Glisson in a prison cell, be sure to correct him.
+ The Auburn Atlanta Club answered phones during a Georgia Public Broadcasting TV pledge drive. Isn't something wrong with this picture? Is Alabama Public Television run by a bunch of folks from Tuscaloosa?
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