Papers need online exclusivity protection, prof says
9/2/10
Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
Eric Clemons and Nehal Madhani
Newspapers should get special copyright protection that would stop aggregators from reposting their content for 24 hours, contends a Wharton School professor.

University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Prof. Eric Clemons and attorney Nehal Madhani, a Wharton graduate, proposed that current copyright law be rewritten to protect newspapers from having their content re-used on aggregation sites such as Google and Yahoo.

"A first suggestion would be to provide newspaper and other journalistic content special protection, so that no part of any story from any daily periodical could be reposted in an online aggregator, or used online for any purpose other than commentary on the article, for 24 hours," the two wrote on businessinsider.com, adding that similar protections should be given weekly publications, giving them a week's exclusivity before other sites could use their content.

The two also suggested that another restriction, called the "hot news doctrine," should be put into place to prevent others not only from using a newspaper's content word for word, but for protection "of its essence" as well.

It's unclear, the two said, whether such a doctrine is "truly applicable" or if the courts would permit such a doctrine to be applied to copyright law.

"Google, Bing, and Yahoo would find their revenues unaltered by these restrictions," the said. "With luck, traditional media would survive as well. Society would also benefit, since the incentives in remaining copyright protections would make it possible to earn money from creative work."

Waccamaw Economic Opportunity Council
firing challenged
9/2/10
The Sun News
By Steve Jones
The attorney for fired Waccamaw Economic Opportunity Council executive director Beth Fryar said Wednesday that EOC board members are liable to cover any damages from a lawsuit out of their own pockets.

"It's so unfortunate that a nonprofit corporation that's supposed to provide for the needs of people blatantly disregards the law," Henrietta Golding of the McNair Law Firm in Myrtle Beach said.

The S.C. Supreme Court has recognized Golding as an expert in employment and labor law, according to the S.C. Bar Association.

Golding said that it is illegal to terminate or alter the terms of employment of anyone who is on leave under the Family Medical Leave Act. Fryar has been out of her office at the agency for two weeks on family medical leave.

Six of the agency's at-the-time seven board members voted to terminate Fryar during the board's meeting Tuesday night in Hemingway. Abdullah Mustafa, the lone member to vote against the firing, was removed from the board when the other members voted - after he left - to accept his defeat in a reassessment election last week at Huckabee Heights.

The vote to accept the results of the special election means that a newelection will be held to decide who will succeed him on the board.

Mustafa's removal from the agency's board is a step toward satisfying a number of board and board member deficiencies a state oversight office found in a March audit. The audit determined that Mustafa was originally elected to the board in a vote that did not follow the board's bylaws.

The state office further determined that Mustafa interfered in the day-to-day operations of the agency, which is forbidden. He admitted that he did so and said he would not stop.

Other findings of the audit must still be addressed by Friday, said Louise Cooper, director of the S.C. Office of Economic Opportunity that oversees the EOC. If they are not, she intends to begin a termination process to close the agency.

Golding's belief that board members are individually responsible to pay damages that might result from a lawsuit over Fryar's firing means that the court could take their personal bank accounts and assets to pay any award Fryar might receive.

Boards typically carry liability insurance to protect members against damages resulting from lawsuits. Some board members may purchase additional bond insurance for damages. But some if not all insurance companies refuse to pay for damages that stem from illegal actions.

It could not be determined Wednesday if the Waccamaw EOC board has such insurance or the extent of coverage.

Fryar's termination by the board Tuesday night was the second time in recent months that the board has tried to fire her. The first one, in April, was rescinded after the state ruled it was illegal because the board failed to follow the procedure to do so in its bylaws.

No board members or EOC staff would comment. Staff members said that only board chairman Zach Grate or new acting agency executive director Wilhelmena Whitfield could speak for the agency or the board. Neither could be reached Wednesday.

Golding said Wednesday afternoon neither she nor Fryar had any official notification of Fryar's firing. Cooper said she also had no direct communication from the board or agency on what happened at the meeting. She said she learned of the vote to accept the special election results after a staff member listened to audio tapes made at the meeting.

Isabelle McKnight, a Waccamaw EOC board member and a teacher at Andrews High School, said she didn't know the vote tally on accepting the results of Mustafa's reassessment election. McKnight, the board's secretary, said she was too busy voting to record the tally.

McKnight said she also didn't know if a letter Golding wrote to Ralph Wilson, the EOC board's attorney, was read during a closed session the board held prior to voting to fire Fryar. She also didn't know what it said.

"Employers subject to the FMLA cannot dismiss employees who are taking leave under the Act," said the letter dated Aug. 24. "In fact, the FMLA mandates employers cannot take adverse actions against the employee while the employee is on medical leave."

McKnight said she couldn't say if Fryar's termination was discussed during the closed session that board members held for nearly an hour prior to convening the regular meeting, which one expert says was an illegal meeting.

The state's open meetings law requires that boards must convene in open session and vote to go into closed session before it is legal for them to do so, said Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association.

"Anything they do in an unannounced meeting can successfully be challenged in court as illegal," Rogers said.

Proving it, though, could be difficult. Cooper said she's never seen any minutes from closed sessions the Waccamaw EOC board has held.

Grate announced that the vote to fire Fryar was done by secret ballot and did not reveal who voted which way until challenged to do so from the audience. Rogers said courts have ruled secret ballots are legal unless one member of the board objects to it being secret.

AbitibiBowater Gets Good News in
Ottawa and Wilmington
8/30/10
Editor & Publisher
U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware has approved AbitibBowater's $1.35 billion financing plan, which the Montreal-based newsprint manufacturing giant expects will enable it to exit bankruptcy in mid-October, about a year-and-a-half after it petitioned for a Chapter 13 reorganization.

Reuters reported that Judge Kevn Carey also approved the company's request to file under seal the fees it will pay to borrow money, in order to protect negotiation of terms for that borrowing — needed to help pay secured, prebankruptcy debt.

Earlier this week, the Canadian government reached agreement to pay AbitibiBowater, upon its restructuring, C$130 million (Canadian) for provincial expropriation of its assets in Newfoundland and Labrador. The government called the sum the fair market value of the assets. AbitibiBowater irrevocably withdrew its claim.

That claim originally had been for C$500 million under a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA's Chapter 11 allows foreign companies to seek compensation from countries where they can demonstrate unfair and discriminatory action by a government. National governments are responsible for state or provincial government action.

Although headquartered in Canada, the forest-products company is incorporated in Delaware, and, since its merger with Bowater, has a substantial presence in the United States.

Newfoundland took over AbitibiBowater's timber and water rights and its hydroelectric assets in the province in 2008 in response to a company mill closure that left 800 workers unemployed.

Swansea wants $10K to fulfill resident's FOIA request
8/30/10
WIS
By Jody Barr
SWANSEA, SC (WIS) - A Swansea businesswoman is being told to pony up $10,000 if she wants to see public records she's asked for in a Freedom of Information Act request.

"My request was not unreasonable, their charge was unreasonable," said Alberta Wasden, an accountant.

Wasden sent Swansea a written request to find out how the town was nearly a half-million dollars in debt.

"They're saying that's 40,000 pages," said Wasden.

She asked the town for copies of business licenses for the past 2 years, all town ordinances, financial records, council minutes, and six years of grant records. In return, she got a letter asking for $10,000.

"I laughed," said Wasden. "I was so surprised that a town of 600 people wanted almost $10,000 and a $4,900 deposit in order to comply with my request."

The town figured it would take 225 hours to research the documents at $21 an hour. It would cost another 10 cents per page for copies.

Wasden says she believes a lot of these documents should be easily accessible on the computer, but has her own theory on why the town has a high asking price for the documents.

"I think they did this to discourage me from getting any information from them at all, that I would back off once I saw what it would actually cost," said Wasden.

Swansea Mayor Ray Spires says Wasden's request was way too broad.

"You're asking for a lot of information, if it was not clear, I could read it one way and Mrs. Wasden could read it another way, but we read it as a very time consuming process, something out of the ordinary that most people would ask for."

Spires says the town could have asked for more. "You're dealing with 8, 10, 12 boxes per year, and so you've got a lot of paper to go through," he said.

Wasden says she won't stop until she finds her answers.

"Where did the money go? Is the council aware of the mayor's expenditures? Who approves them? Someone has to have oversight of the town," said Wasden.

GoGamecocks.com moving to membership model
8/27/10
The State
By Henry B. Haitz III
In anticipation of college football season, we have rewritten the playbook for GoGamecocks.com.

In the coming days, we will begin charging a modest membership fee to access a new and improved GoGamecocks.com website. Memberships will be available for $50 per year (less than 14 cents per day) or $10 per month.

Sign up for the annual membership and enjoy your first week for free so you can experience everything the site has to offer. If you’re not completely satisfied, you can opt out within that first week and your annual membership fee will be refunded.

Those who subscribe at any frequency to The State’s printed newspaper will receive free access to the new GoGamecocks website.

Why the change?

Giving you a “best-in-class,” information-packed experience at GoGamecocks.com takes additional resources that require us to charge a modest membership fee.

Over the past four years, GoGamecocks.com has become the most popular sports site for University of South Carolina fans and the last word on USC sports. No other South Carolina media outlet has more experience or resources devoted to USC sports. We also know that Gamecocks fans are the most passionate in the country, and we know you’re eager for more.

We conducted research that provided a clear view on content enhancements you’d most like. We are making those improvements in response to your interest and enthusiasm. Since our research also showed you wanted the forums to remain free, they will.

GoGamecocks.com will provide more USC sports coverage than ever. That includes more reporting, photography and videos from The State’s award-winning journalists – the same professionals who brought you unmatched coverage of USC’s baseball national championship in Omaha and victory celebration in Columbia.

GoGamecocks.com is kicking off USC’s football season with:

• Expanded coverage of recruiting and top prospects, including interviews, profiles and performance reports on players who have committed or who are on USC coaches’ radar.
• Contests to win game-day tickets, parking and more.
• More breaking news and alerts delivered to the media device of your choice.
• More recruiting coverage from respected authority Phil Kornblut.
• More website features and an easier-to-use design.
• More updates and scouting reports on opponents and rivals in the SEC.
• Daily breakdowns of stats and numbers.
• A daily “look back” featuring historic moments in Gamecocks’ sports history.
• Stories and photos from The State’s archive.
• More photography, videos and interviews with the players from team practices.

The new college football season is fast approaching. Become a GoGamecocks.com member so you can get the most authoritative coverage and rule the roost.

Go Cocks!

Special prosecutor to investigate Holly Springs
fire department
8/26/10
Herald-Journal
By Jason Spencer
Seventh Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy has appointed attorney John M. Rollins Jr. special prosecutor in a case involving alleged Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) violations by the Holly Springs Fire and Rescue District board of commissioners.

That means Rollins, who is representing reporter Jay King with Hometown News Inc., a media group that publishes nine weekly newspapers in the Upstate, will prosecute the case on behalf of the state of South Carolina.

King filed charges earlier this month against commission Chairman Ryan Phillips, commissioners Kelly Waters and Roscoe Kyle and ex-commissioner Clarence Gibbs, claiming that the four illegally kept him from a public meeting in June. The case marks the first criminal prosecution of a FOIA violation in the state of South Carolina.

Richland County Magistrate W.H. Womble Jr. signed the summons to appear in court.

“Self-signed warrants,” as they are sometimes called, are rare in Spartanburg County, and the appointment of a special prosecutor will allow the case to proceed as any other criminal matter, Gowdy said.

Rollins said anyone that has had a relationship with the commission “and the furtherance of their violation of the Freedom of Information Act” could be a potential witness. That includes legislators and law enforcement officers.

Holly Springs has been the source of a summer-long controversy that has split the community into factions supporting either the commissioners or former Chief Lee Jeffcoat, who was fired in late July.

The origins of the divide can be traced back to at least a few years. Referendums to increase taxes on behalf of the fire department failed in 2007 and 2008.

“It's not the fact that they fired somebody. It's how they went about it,” Rollins said. “The law requires them to do all the people's business in the open, and they didn't do that. They are charged with not doing that.”

The four commissioners are scheduled to appear in court at 1 p.m. Sept. 29.

Gowdy said his office has prosecutors for magistrate court for DUIs, criminal domestic violence cases and others as requested by law enforcement. Since no law enforcement was involved in filing these charges, he said he needed to appoint someone with prosecutorial power on behalf of the state.

Gowdy said he also has made a prosecutor in his office available to Rollins if needed. Rollins will not receive any compensation from the state for handling this case. Rollins, whose practice is in Greer, served as a magistrate in Landrum for nine years. In January, four senators led by Sen. Lee Bright appointed Tina McMillan to replace Rollins.

Smith to leave Walterboro;
Honeycutt named publisher
8/25/10
The Press and Standard
For the first time in nearly 18 years, the management at The Press and Standard will change when veteran newspaper publisher Jamey Honeycutt of Cameron, Mo., takes the helm.

Taylor M. Smith III, publisher of Colleton County’s newspaper since Dec. 1, 1992, has accepted a corporate position with The Press and Standard’s parent company, Smith Newspapers Inc.

Smith was president of the South Carolina Press Association from 2009-2010 and was a vital member of the organization, serving on various committees and helping the Association move into its new headquarters in Jan. 2010.

“I am thrilled to be moving to such a wonderful community like Walterboro,” Honeycutt said. “I have visited Colleton County on two occasions before and know it to be one of the finest places to live in the country.”

Honeycutt has been leading the staff of the Cameron Citizen-Observer and Shopper since 2001. Before, Honeycutt published the Stuttgart Daily Leader in Stuttgart, Ark., for five years. Honeycutt is originally from Hope, Ark.

Honeycutt is married to the former Sherry Downs of Magazine, Ark. They have two children, Andrew, 11, and Noah, 2.

“My wife and I are extremely happy to be returning to the South. We cherished our time in the Midwest but look forward to giving our children the same experience of growing up in the South that we enjoyed,” Honeycutt said.

As a group manager, Smith will work to improve the editorial operations of the company’s nine newspapers. Headquartered in Fort Payne, Ala., SNI owns newspapers in six states, including three properties in South Carolina.

 “It was an extremely tough decision to leave the place I’ve called home for almost two decades,” Smith said. “Colleton County is where I raised my three children and developed friendships I hope will last the rest of my life. Professionally, it’s a wonderful environment to run a newspaper. “I will miss this great community and the people who live here.”

Smith has known Honeycutt for 14 years while working with SNI. Honeycutt joined the newspaper group in 1996 as advertising director for The Advance in Monticello, Ark.
“Jamey is a great person who will do an outstanding job in Walterboro,” Smith said.

New USC beat reporters hired
8/25/10
The State
Josh Kendall, who has covered the SEC for almost a decade, has been named the new USC football beat writer for The State.

Kendall will replace Joseph Person, who is joining another McClatchy newspaper, The Charlotte Observer. Person will cover the Carolina Panthers, and you will be able to read his coverage in The State.

Joining Kendall as part of the new USC coverage team for The State and GoGamecocks.com will be Josh Hoke. Hoke is covering Gamecocks recruiting.

Kendall most recently covered the SEC for FoxSports.com and FoxSportsSouth.com.

He also founded OurVarsity.com, a high school sports website that is used by 19 newspapers throughout the country. Before that, he covered University of Georgia sports for the Macon Telegraph and the Athens Banner-Herald for eight years.

Kendall broke the story of Larry Munson’s retirement as the longtime voice of the Bulldogs, and he earned a Freedom of Information award for his reporting on the firing of former Georgia basketball coach Jim Harrick.

Hoke is a former kicker for Coastal Carolina and was a part of several Big South championship teams. After graduating, he covered Coastal for the Myrtle Beach Sun News. He’ll bring his first-hand experience in college football to his beat.

See you later, friends
8/24/10
The Item
By Chip Chase
Where have the years gone?

It's been a wild ride at Osteen Publishing and The Item in the past 20 years. During that period, your newspaper and its parent company have probably gone through more changes than any time in its history.

First, the paper went from the days of cut and paste to what is now called pagination. In the old days, great people such as Pat Marsh, Billy Johnson, Mickey Culhane, Shirley Johnson and Charlie Jones (we called them the Composing Department) would take strips of printed paper, put hot wax on it and put it together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Then came along Quark Xpress, and all the rules changed. Longtime editors such as Robbie Evans, Rhonda Barrick and Traci Quinn would take the elements and draw boxes on a computer screen and lo and behold, poof, like magic, a page would pop out of a machine. For the record, The Item was the first fully paginated paper in South Carolina.

There was the advent of the Internet and The Item website in the late 1990s. The issue was "We're a newspaper; we've been around for more than 100 years. This thing that Al Gore invented is just a passing fad."

But we were on the cutting edge of technology, so we jumped on the idea and commissioned a couple of fine college students to develop it. And they really did a good job with it.

And here we are 12 or so years later working on the next "generation" of the site. (Expect to see something a little different when you log on to theitem.com in the next few months).

There was the conversion from an afternoon paper during the week to a morning publication in 2002. To some that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it changed our production process. In the old days, the newsroom was full most of the day. Now, seldom is everyone here at the same time. And from the readers, I still occasionally hear "I leave my paper in the box until after I get home from work."

Just before that, in 2001-2002, there was the renovation of the building on North Magnolia Street. The people who worked here remember that time fondly (now you can say you've seen a lie in The Item). It was a case of musical departments around here then. The employees from one department would move back to what used to be our warehouse area to keep doing business while their area was being renovated. It's a good thing we all liked each other (well, most of us) because there was a lot of bumping elbows in those tight quarters.

There was the purchase of the Clarendon office building in 2001 and the development of the first Clarendon section and most recently The Clarendon Sun. Gail Mathis is the face of the company down there and generally is in the middle of everything that happens.

We've also got LakeSide, covering the Santee Cooper lakes. That's actually one of the most enjoyable publications for me to put together. We've had several writers working on it, but Randy Burns, who is neither a hunter nor a fisherman, has been doing it (and doing it well) for a couple of years.

He also has been the face of The Item in Lee county for about seven years. Today is Randy's last day at The Item because he has decided to retire (for the second time). All I can say to him is, "You did a great job, bud. We are going to miss you."

And for the past 141/2 years (this time), I've had the distinct honor of having a front row seat for all of it. Never a dull moment and what I've told people is the neat thing about the job is that no two days are ever the same.

And they never will be.

But they will be that way without me because today, Aug. 24, 2010, is also my last day at The Item. (If you are going to bombard me with well wishes, you better get me before 11:30 a.m. I have a lunch date and another one after that).

I am moving on from one of the great companies in the area's history (116 years old) to one that is both deeply rooted in its history and the future, FTC, which is nearly 60 years old.

I am looking forward to the challenge of being the public relations director for the organization we grew up calling Farmers Telephone (much like we still call our medical center Tuomey Hospital and Shaw Air Force Base for many will always be Shaw Field).

FTC, much like Osteen Publishing, is a local company with people you know - people you went to school and church with and shop with -every day. Just as a side note, FTC does much more than telephones; it also does wireless, broadband, digital TV and security systems (and yes, that was absolutely self-serving).

Like I said, I am looking forward to the challenge, but of course I'm going to miss the friends I've built relationships with over the years. The Osteens - Hubert D. Osteen Jr. (Hubert), Hubert Graham Osteen II (Graham), Kyle Brown Osteen (Kyle) and John Duvall Osteen (Jack) - have been great bosses, colleagues and friends over the years (and no, it didn't take me the whole 141/2 years to be able to quote all of their full names).

My friends who have followed similar paths said I'll miss the news business from time to time, but I'm looking forward to another area of the communications business. Like I said, it's been a wild ride, but one that I'll cherish and remember. I learned more than I can say at The Item and I hope to use that knowledge every day at FTC.
To all of my friends at Osteen Publishing: Thanks for the memories.

And to the readers: Ditto. Without you, there would have been no reason for me to go to work for the last 14+ years. Keep reading. Words and photos only begin to tell the story of what a good, solid newspaper means to a community.

One final note: I am trading one Brunson, Dennis, in for his wife, Alicia, and if you read this newspaper and have seen Sports Editor Dennis' column photo, you know that part of the decision was a no-brainer.

Oct. 1 is deadline to file postal statement
8/24/10
The deadline to file your annual USPS Statement of Ownership with your postmaster
is Oct. 1. The current form can be found at www.usps.com.

All paid distribution SCPA member papers should file it with their local postmaster and publish a reproduction in an issue of the paper during October.

Also, members must mail a copy to SCPA Offices at PO Box 11429, Columbia, SC
29211 or e-mail it to jbarclay@scpress.org.

Free football photos available this fall
8/24/10
Photos from all Carolina and Clemson home football games will be available for
SCPA members to use this football season on the www.SCNewsShare.com content
sharing website.

Photos will be available for free download each Sunday after the game on the site.

If you have photos or stories that are of statewide interest, please share them with your fellow newspaper members. E-mail jbarclay@scpress.org for posting
instructions.

SCPA to celebrate Natl. Newspaper Week Oct. 3-9
8/24/10
National Newspaper Week – sponsored annually by Newspaper Association Managers – will be Oct. 3-9.

SCPA will be providing an appropriate editorial cartoon and an Op-Ed piece. If
you have an editorial you want to share for the week, please e-mail it to us. SCPA’s
promotional materials will be available on www.scpress.org in mid-September.

Beginning Sept. 13, newspapers can also download material from the Newspaper
Week website to promote newspapers. Material will include editorials, columns, logos and cartoons. Newspapers can download the items at no charge.

The Newspaper Week website is: www.nationalnewspaperweek.com/nnw.

Plan now for your newspaper’s promotion of National Newspaper Week in
October. If we don’t promote our industry, no one will.

Publisher Rod Shealy dies at 56
8/18/10
Influential South Carolina political consultant and newspaper owner Rod Shealy died
Wednesday at the Medical University of South Carolina. He was 56.

Shealy owned and published four Midlands weekly newspapers: The Northeast News, Irmo News, Cayce-West Columbia News and the Lake Murray News.

Shealy was the son of Elsie Porth Shealy and the late Sen. Ryan C. Shealy of Lexington. He attended Lexington High School and USC.

Shealy ran numerous political campaigns in South Carolina and elsewhere throughout the last four decades, often pulling off wins considered impossible by pundits.

He founded a consulting company and a printing business.

Shealy’s sister said he died of bleeding on the brain, possibly related to brain
cancer diagnosed in 2008.

Shealy was easily identified by his trademark Hawaiian shirts as well as by his
guitar playing and sense of humor.

SCPA Foundation intern tries out newspapering
at Aiken Standard
8/24/10
As the summer wraps up, so does the SCPA Foundation’s summer internship
program.

Clemson student Teddy Kulmala,USC student Josh Dawsey and Winthrop student Anna Douglas gained invaluable hands-on experience at S.C. newspapers
over the past few months.

Kumala spent his summer at the Aiken Standard, where he wrote on a series of
articles after trying out diff erent jobs in the community. “Teddy’s Tryouts” columns
were a hit with readers in Aiken, said Tim O’Briant, news editor of the Aiken Standard.

Kulmala said the weekly column allowed him to grow as a writer by having to write
fi rst-person and relay his experiences on to readers.

Kulmala also worked on several general assignment stories and took photos
for the newspapers, as well as serving as production assistant and cameraman for
Aiken’s local TV station during his 10-week internship.

“This internship could not have been better,” Kulmala said. “I got so much more
out of it and did so much more than I originally thought. It was great.”

Kulmala is from Williston and is majoring in Communication Studies and minoring in
political science at Clemson.

He has been part of The Tiger campus newspaper staff since fall 2009, and will
serve as news editor this academic year.

He also writes for The Tiger Town Observer, Clemson’s conservative journal of news
and opinion.

Kulmala is in his fourth year of playing bass drum for the Clemson University Tiger
Band, and has also performed with the concert band, steel band and symphony
orchestra.

“This has been one of the best experiences,” Kulmala said. “I’ve gotten so much from
this internship and I’m incredibly humbled to have been offered such an opportunity.”

Internships are provided from contributions from S.C. newspapers and interested
individuals. If you would like to make a gift to the Foundation, contact Jen at (803)
750-9561 or jbarclay@scpress.org.

Next month: We’ll introduce you to Winthrop student Anna Douglas, who interned at the Greenville Journal.

Editorial: FOI violations will be addressed
8/24/10
By Ernie Lambert
Hometown News, Inc.
A small but potentially significant moment in history occurred on Aug. 9 in Spartanburg County when State Magistrate Judge William Womble, Jr. issued summons to four members of the Holly Springs Fire and Rescue District’s Board of Commissioners.

Commission chairman Ryan Phillips, vice chairman Roscoe Kyle and commissioners Clarence Gibbs and Kelly Waters were ordered to appear before the court on September 29 to face charges under the criminal provisions of the state’s open meetings law.

And no, this was not an instance of local history and certainly not just media history
being made. The potential impact of this judicial action extends across South Carolina and into every town hall, city council chamber or any other place where publicly elected or appointed officials are discussing the public’s business.

The origin of this action took place on June 16 when Jay King, a reporter for Hometown News, acted on a tip and attended an unpublicized, illegal meeting
of the Holly Springs board. This meeting was being conducted in violation of
several provisions of the state’s Freedom of Information Act, in that the commissioners failed to give proper notice, the meeting was not open to the public, the minutes of the meeting were not recorded, and that during the meeting the commissioners took a secret vote. Then, when King tried to explain the requirements of the Freedom of Information law to the members, he was ejected from the meeting.

The week after this meeting, King and Hometown News filed a FOIA request to obtain the minutes of the group’s previous meetings and were told that no such minutes were available.

In the past the media’s only recourse to address a public body’s violation of the
Freedom of Information law was a civil action in which the media outlet could
sue the parties involved, but this required a significant amount of money and time
spent to obtain an uncertain result. But King and Hometown News took a new
path towards justice, making use of the criminal provisions of the Freedom of
Information law, an action that had never been taken in our state’s history.

Yet when King and attorney John Rollins, who helped prepare the affidavit, brought the matter to the attention of local and state law enforcement agencies, he was repeatedly turned away.

The 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office told King that since the criminal act was a misdemeanor, that office would not get involved.

That office was correct in this decision. They then suggested that King take the matter to the Spartanburg County Sheriff ’s Office.

That agency declined to address thecomplaint because of a “conflict of interest,” as they worked closely with area fire departments.

They passed King’s information along to the State Law Enforcement Division
(SLED). After waiting several weeks for SLED to respond – and after repeated
telephone calls and emails directed to Columbia – King never received any response
from our state’s primary law enforcement agency.

Finally, King and Rollins took the affidavit to the Spartanburg County Magistrate’s
Offi ce on July 30, but they, too, declined to get involved because the local magistrates
had a conflict because they are appointed by the same legislators who appoint the
fire commissioners.

The matter was finally placed in the hands of Womble, a Richland County magistrate,
who was appointed by SC Court administration so that an impartial judge from outside the area could address the issue.

It would seem that each of the agencies that refused to hear the charges were simply
passing the politically charged buck on down the line. As Rollins asked, what level
of corruption would public officials have to reach before a law enforcement agency
would act?

Thanks to the persistence and courage of a weekly newspaper reporter named Jay
King, the light of the law will finally shine on the arrogant, repetitive and egregious
actions of the Holly Springs commissioners.

That light may well serve as the dawning of a new way in which citizens and the
media can address violations committed by those public bodies which are conducting the public’s business in South Carolina.

Search through Clyburn center records difficult
8/19/10
The Post and Courier
By Diane Knich
ORANGEBURG — Getting details on how millions of state and federal program dollars for the James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center have been spent over the past 12 years will be tough.

A preliminary review by The (Charleston) Post and Courier of some of South Carolina State University’s records on the center reveals a convoluted system of record keeping, with no central control and records on the same subject located in different offices or buildings.

The newspaper’s findings are echoed in a recently completed consultant’s report obtained by The Post and Courier. The report by the financial consulting firm Elliott Davis found that the scattered approach to grant management not only makes it more difficult to learn how grant money has been spent but also makes it more likely the school will fail to comply with grant requirements.

S.C. State has responded to a request from the newspaper under the state’s Freedom of Information law for access to financial records for transportation center programs from its launch in 1998 to the present. But it remains unclear how long it will take to sort through the financial information, and how much detail the school ultimately will be able to provide.

That’s because getting to the bottom of how money was spent presents somewhat of a scavenger hunt, with pieces of the financial puzzle in different campus locations.
“Details are available on the campus, but not all in this office,” John Smalls, senior vice president for finance and facilities, said of the Office of Grants and Contracts.

In that office, financial documents on grants are available in thick folders. There are numerous folders for each grant that make up the $31.7 million for transportation programs that has flowed to the center since the program was launched 12 years ago.

For instance, the center has received $5.8 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. But the office has dozens of folders of financial documents on that money, school officials said.

And those folders don’t contain much detail on specifically where the money went.

For example, in one folder, The Post and Courier found a list of 11 “contractual services” in a particular year, and corresponding amounts that ranged from $2,500 to $38,402. But the folder contained no detail on what the money was used for, to whom it was paid, or what was accomplished with it.

Smalls said details on expenditures might be found in the Grants and Contracts office, the Office of Sponsored Programs, or the archives in Bradham Hall. And program details are maintained by the principal investigator on each grant, he said.
Smalls asked the newspaper to provide a list of questions from each financial folder to the university. School officials will find out more details about the expenditures and provide them to the newspaper, Smalls said. University officials understand the newspaper’s urgency about getting the information, he said, and will respond as soon as possible. How long it takes to respond, however, will depend on the specificity and detail of the request, he said.

USC J-School to hold career fair
8/24/10
USC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications will be holding its fall
career fair on Oct. 29 at the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Columbia. Students and
professionals will be available to interview for fall and spring internships and jobs
from 1-4 p.m. More than 200 students majoring in print, broadcast, public relations,
advertising and visual communications will attend this interview fair. The deadline
to register is Sept. 1, and the cost is $25 per recruiter.
To register, visit: www.jour.sc.edu/ opps/jobs/careerfair/recruiters.html.

Sossamon honored by University of South Carolina
8/13/10


Pictured L-R are SCPA Executive Director Bill Rogers, SCPA Attorney Jay Bender,The Honorable Louis C. Sossamon, President Harris Pastides and Publisher Cody Sossamon of The Gaffney Ledger.

The Honorable Louis C. Sossamon, retired publisher of The Gaffney Ledger, was honored by family, friends and fans at a reception hosted by University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides and his wife, Patricia Moore-Pastides, on Aug. 12 at the President’s House. Lou was honored for his vast contributions to the University of South Carolina.

Before entering the newspaper business, Lou attended the University of South Carolina.

He was captain of the football team and a center and linebacker who played for Coach Rex Enright, 1940-42. Lou was the first Gamecock player to be named to an All America squad. He was first team All Southern Conference in 1941 and 1942 and played in the 1942 Blue Gray all-star game.

While at Carolina, he was student body president. He also met his wife, Kat, who was a Carolina cheerleader. They were married shortly after they both graduated in 1943.

He joined the Navy in 1943 and played for the undefeated Bainbridge, Maryland team that many consider the most talented military football team of all time.

When he returned home from the Navy, he signed with the New York Yankees football team. When future Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra went home to St. Louis after the baseball season, Lou and Kat rented the Berra apartment in New York and Sossamon and Berra became good friends.

After an esteemed football career, Lou returned to Gaffney in 1950 to serve as advertising manager of his family-owned newspaper, The Gaffney Ledger.

Lou's grandfather, Ed H. DeCamp, founded the Ledger in 1894. Sossamon's father followed as publisher until 1969, when he sold the newspaper to Lou. Lou remained publisher until 1999, when his son, Cody, took over all publishing duties. Cody currently serves as the paper’s publisher and is the fourth generation of the family to run Gaffney’s weekly newspaper.

Lou served as president of the S.C. Press Association in 1968. He also was the first recipient of SCPA’s Reid Montgomery Freedom of Information Award in 1962. This award is the most prestigious honor SCPA bestows, and it has been presented to The Gaffney Ledger three more times since then.

Lou also served three terms on the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees and was chairman of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee when the University became a member of the Southeastern Conference in 1992.

Sossamon was elected to the University of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 1968 and is also a member of the State of South Carolina Hall of Fame.

National Newspaper Week approaching
8/13/10
National Newspaper Week – sponsored annually by Newspaper Association Managers – will be Oct. 3-9.

SCPA will be providing an appropriate editorial cartoon and an op-ed piece.  If you have an editorial you want to share for the week, please e-mail it to us. SCPA's promotional materials will be available on www.scpress.org in mid-September.

Beginning Sept. 13, newspapers can also download material from the Newspaper Week website to promote newspapers. Material will include editorials, columns, logos and cartoons. Newspapers can download the items at no charge. The Newspaper Week website is: http://www.nationalnewspaperweek.com/nnw/.

Plan now for your newspaper's promotion of National Newspaper Week in October.  If we don’t promote our industry, no one will.

The State honors Ardis, O'Connor
8/13/10
The State
By Bertram Rantin
The State honored two journalists with its top awards Thursday.

Designer Susan Ardis received the newspaper’s Hampton Award, and state government reporter John O’Connor received the Gonzales Award. The awards are named after key figures in the newspaper’s history.

Ardis and O’Connor each received $1,000 and a plaque as the pair were honored by colleagues.

“Newspapering is a business, but it is a special business,” said Mark Lett, executive editor of The State. “The individuals we honor with these awards are outstanding examples of newsroom professionals who make the work special through their integrity, skill, creativity and passion for journalism.”

The Gonzales Award, which recognizes outstanding reporting and writing, has been in place at the newspaper since 1968. The Hampton Award, presented for outstanding design, deskwork or photography, has been awarded since 1980.

Ardis joined The State’s advertising staff in 1988 as a creative services designer and illustrator, moving into the newsroom in 1993 as a features page designer. She is a native of Columbia and was on The State’s team that created marketing material for the opening of Columbiana Centre.

"I am thankful and humbled to be recognized for my work, especially by the folks that I work with on a daily basis," she said.

O’Connor arrived at The State in 2003 to cover Lexington County. After two years, he moved to the state government team to cover the state budget and taxes, eventually adding politics and the governor’s office to his duties. A native of Ellicott City, Md., he previously had covered the Maryland legislature and governor’s office.

He credited his successes largely to contributions of his co-workers.

“This was a team effort, and no one person could have done it by themselves,” he said.

The judge for this year’s awards was Susan Burzynski-Bullard, associate professor at University of Nebraska School of Journalism and former managing editor of The Detroit News.

Editorial: Renewed enforcement of the FOIA Law
8/13/10
Herald-Journal
Most public bodies in the Upstate have never embraced the Freedom of Information Act. They prefer secrecy. They usually try to find a way to circumvent the requirements of the law. Sometimes, they flagrantly violate it.

There has been little in the way of consequences for violating the law. News media outlets, such as this newspaper, have sued public bodies for violating the act when those outlets have determined the matter is worth the effort and the expense of bringing and pursuing a lawsuit. But that’s an expensive proposition, and fewer media outlets and individuals are able to bring these lawsuits.

But Hometown News, a group of weekly newspapers in the Upstate, may have hit upon a new method of enforcing the Freedom of Information Act that will be available to anyone without the resources to fund a litigation effort that can stretch over years.

Hometown News reporter Jay King attended a meeting of the Holly Springs Fire and Rescue District’s Board of Commissioners on June 16. The meeting was held in violation of the Freedom of Information Act because commissioners had not given the public 24 hours notice of the meeting. Commissioners violated the law again when they ejected King from the meeting.

Instead of considering a civil lawsuit, Hometown News decided to pursue the seldom-noticed criminal provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. King approached the 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, the Spartanburg County Magistrate’s Court and the State Law Enforcement Division. All these authorities took no action to enforce the law.

King and his attorney had to go to a magistrate from Richland County, who signed the summons forcing commissioners to appear in court next month to defend their actions. If they are found guilty, they could be sentenced to a $100 fine or 30 days in jail.

It is unfortunate that local law enforcement agencies, presented with a clear violation of the law, refused to enforce the law. At best, these officials simply shied away from an unusual criminal enforcement of a law that is usually considered a civil matter. At worst, they were more concerned with covering for fellow officials than protecting the rights of the people.

If King and his company are successful in prosecuting this offense, they will have established a method for citizens to enforce the law and protect their own rights to public information without assuming a huge financial burden.

A $100 fine isn’t much, but it increases for second and third offenses. Repeat criminal convictions should make local officials think twice before violating state law just to keep the public’s business hidden from the public.

The Post and Courier names classified ad manager
8/13/10
Michael P. Chauvin has joined The Post and Courier as classified advertising manager for print and digital sales.

Previously, he was with the Asheville Citizen Times in North Carolina where he most recently managed digital and retail sales. He has worked in a variety of management roles at the newspaper, including online advertising manager, automotive and real estate sales manager, classified inside sales manager and operations sales manager. He has a bachelor's degree from Montreat College and an associate's degree in applied science for information systems and networking technology from Southwestern Community College.

Chauvin replaces Parks Rogers, who took a job as Retail Advertising and Marketing Manager at Rocky Mount Telegram in North Carolina.

Holly Springs confronts FOIA after reporter banned
8/11/10
Herald-Journal
Staff Reports
Three Holly Springs Fire and Rescue District commissioners — and one former commissioner — will appear in court next month to answer a formal complaint that they intentionally violated the state Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

The four — Chairman Ryan Phillips, commissioners Kelly Waters and Roscoe Kyle and ex-commissioner Clarence Gibbs — were served with a courtesy summons this week following a complaint from Hometown News reporter Jay King. A Richland County judge signed the summonses so local magistrates could avoid any perceived conflict of interest.

King said the newspaper group has been considering filing charges for several weeks. The company — which publishes nine weekly newspapers in the Upstate — wanted to see whether the State Law Enforcement Division would issue charges or investigate.

“I was at the commissioners’ meeting on June 16, and they were surprised to see me there,” King said. “They basically tried to throw me out of the meeting, and when I advised them of the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, I was ignored.”

Phillips, Waters, Kyle and Gibbs are scheduled to appear in Spartanburg County Magistrate Court at 1 p.m. Sept. 21.

Violating the FOIA is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a $100 fine or up to 30 days in jail for the first offense. The punishment doubles for the second offense
and triples for third and subsequent offenses, according to the S.C. Code of Laws.

Attorney John M. Rollins Jr., representing the Hometown News, said the courtesy summonses mean the Holly Springs fire commissioners will not be arrested, but they do face charges.

“It is an actual criminal case,” Rollins said. “This is the first time a group has faced criminal charges for violating the Freedom of Information Act. If authorities had done their job, this wouldn’t be happening.”

Rollins said the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office should have arrested the commissioners and let the courts decide the case. He said he doesn’t have a problem with the commissioners’ recent firing of former Chief Lee Jeffcoat, but said it should have been done legally.

“I have been looking at this story in the papers and wondered why authorities didn’t say anything to the fire commissioners,” Rollins said. “This is blatant and obvious. It is in everybody’s face. These are serious issues and no accountability. At some point in time, someone has to put their foot down and chastise” the commissioners.

Chairman: Board didn’t know law

Phillips said King warned the board he would take legal action against them at the June meeting.


“We knew this was coming,” he said.

Phillips admitted the board did not follow FOIA law during the meeting in question, but said the commissioners were not aware of what the law required at the time. He said the board’s actions in violating FOIA were not intentional, and said the meeting in question was the first ever called by the board, as it was previously something done by Jeffcoat, the former fire chief.

“We didn’t know at the time, but we know now,” Phillips said. “I think we have (followed FOIA law) ever since then. We tried getting our attorney to guide us. We got all the information we could to follow the letter of the law. I understand there’s a lot we don’t know about it, and things that keep coming up as we keep having new issues.”
Holly Springs has been a hotbed of controversy all summer.

The community has been polarized into two warring factions — one supporting Jeffcoat; the other, the commissioners. The division can be traced back at least a few years, to two failed referendums to raise taxes to support the fire department.

King said the decision to file charges wasn’t made lightly.

“Our concern is the pattern of behavior and cavalier attitude,” King said. “We hope people of Spartanburg and the citizens of South Carolina take this as a possible example of how to have state laws enforced.”

Spartanburg Sheriff Chuck Wright said he asked SLED to look into the complaint to avoid a conflict of interest since his officers work with all fire departments. Wright said the summons that his officers served set a precedent in the state, but he hoped the commissioners were unaware of the state’s open-meeting laws.

Wright said Gov. Mark Sanford would decide whether to remove the
commissioners if they are found guilty of violating the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

According to state law, the governor can remove political appointees for malfeasance, misconduct, incompetence or a number of other reasons.

The Spartanburg County Legislative Delegation, which put the four commissioners in question in power, was handed a petition Monday night that they were asked to sign and give Sanford. The petition calls on Sanford to remove the entire Holly Springs commission and start over with a clean slate.

Sanford spokesman Ben Fox would not comment on the matter.

Rep. Rita Allison and Sen. Shane Martin are crafting legislation that would require training in areas such as budgeting, parliamentary procedure and the Freedom of Information Act for new political appointees.

FOI - score one for the good guys
8/11/10
By Doug Fisher
Common Sense Journalism
Situation: Fire commission holds closed meeting to fire chief. Tosses out reporter. Apparently continues to violate S.C. Freedom of Information Act in other ways.

Action: Newspaper tries to get prosecutor, sheriff's department and State Law Enforcement Division to follow-up on possible criminal penalties (which are allowed under the law). Get nowhere. Prosecutor, for instance, says it's a misdemeanor so not interested. Sheriff's department says arson investigators have to work with fire departments. SLED - well, it's just missing in action, apparently.

Action 2: Newspaper and its lawyer swear out their own warrant, and magistrate signs it! Apparently first time in state criminal charges sought.

Hooray! And great - but interesting - that it's one of the smaller papers in the state, not one of our big-time dailies.

Outcome: Hearing set for Sept. 21. My prediction - the fire commission folds like a cheap suit, issues mea culpas and gets slap on the wrist so we never really get to the heart of the matter. We can only hope the little Hometown News gives some of the larger papers in the state the kahunas to do the same thing. It's the only way the point will be driven home that this is the law.

(Here's the AP story on it.)

(I've often said that if I ever win the lottery, one of the first things I will do is set up an FOI legal foundation to relentlessly pursue S.C. officials who seem to think the law is there to be ignored.)

SC officials charged with open meeting violation
8/10/10
By Susanne M. Schafer
Associated Press
Four fire commissioners have been charged with violating the state's open meetings law, the first time a criminal case has has been brought against South Carolina public officials over the 1974 statute, officials said Tuesday.

"There have been civil suits, but not criminal charges," said South Carolina Press Association executive

The case was brought by Jay King, a reporter for the Hometown News weekly newspaper group. King was barred from an unpublicized Holly Springs fire board of commissioners meeting on June 16 during which a chief was fired, said his attorney, John M. Rollins.

Spartanburg County Judge William Womble on Monday found probable cause of the violations. He issued courtesy summonses to four members of the commission and set a hearing for Sept. 21.

Rollins said King attempted to explain to the commissioners that they were violating several provisions of the law by taking a secret vote, by not holding a public meeting, by failing to give proper notice of their meeting and failing to take proper minutes of their meeting.

"There have been several violations," said Rollins.

Rollins said Womble, a Richland County magistrate, was appointed to the case by South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal so that an impartial judge from outside the region could handle the matter.

Rollins said King had taken his complaints about the commission to county and state officials, but none had taken action.

Rogers, who has followed such issues for 23 years, said "the judge correctly noted a clear pattern of behavior in this case."

"This law is designed to give the public oversight of government and the unannounced meetings in Holly Springs keep the public in the dark about how the publicly supported fire department was being operated," said Rogers.

The law calls for fines of up to $100 or up to 30 days in jail for a first offense, Rogers said.

The case involves commission chairman Ryan Phillips, vice chairman Roscoe Kyle, commissioners Clarence Gibbs and Kelly Waters, Rollins said.

Calls to the commissioners for comment on the case were not immediately returned.

Criminal charges filed in Upstate FOI case;
1st S.C. prosecution
8/10/10
Hometown News
By Jay King


For the first time in South Carolina history, public officials are facing charges under the criminal provisions of the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

Judge William H. Womble Jr. found probable cause for violations of the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act at a secret meeting June 16 during which Holly Springs fire commissioners  voted behind closed doors to terminate Fire Chief Lee Jeffcoat.

Womble signed courtesy summons against Holly Springs Fire commission chairman Ryan Phillips, vice-chairman Roscoe Kyle, and commissioners Clarence Gibbs and Kelly Waters requiring them to appear before the court Sept. 21 to face charges they willfully violated the state’s open meetings law.

Hometown News reporter Jay King presented the court with an affidavit of probable cause for violations at the June 16 meeting. Attorney John M. Rollins Jr. helped prepare the document and explained to the judge the circumstances behind the charges.

Rollins told the judge that King was the only media representative at the secret meeting and attempted to explain the requirements of FOI to the commissioners but was ejected from the meeting.

The affidavit asserts that the commissioners “willfully” committed a crime against King as a media representative and the citizens of Spartanburg County by violating several provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, specifically that the commission took a secret vote, that the meeting was not open to the public, that the commission failed to give proper notice, and that the commission failed to take proper minutes of the meeting.

King then told the judge that on June 18 he met with principal deputy solicitor Barry Barnette with the Seventh Circuit Solicitor’s Office about the violations. He explained that Barnette agreed there appeared to be violations but that because such violations were classified as misdemeanors, the solicitor’s office would not be involved and advised King to take the information to either the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office or the State Law Enforcement Division.

King said he next went to the sheriff’s office and met with Maj. Dan Johnson, head of the department’s investigations division. He said Johnson also agreed that there were evident violations but cautioned that the sheriff’s office might have a conflict because the department’s arson investigators work closely with area fire departments.

King told the judge that Johnson subsequently called and informed him that the county attorney had confirmed that there would be a conflict and advised King that he had forwarded the information to Lt. Robbie Hendrix with the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED.)

Since SLED was given the information King said no action has been taken, which prompted bringing the matter directly before a judge. King and Rollins had presented the affidavit at Spartanburg County Magistrate’s Court July 30 but was informed the magistrates had a conflict as they were appointed by the same legislators who appointed the fire commissioners.

Womble said it looked like King had pursued every avenue available to try to bring the commission into compliance with the FOIA.

“It is abundantly clear that there is probable cause,” Womble said.

Womble is a magistrate in Richland County and has served on the bench for more than 20 years. When asked about the perceived conflict for the sheriff’s office, the judge said the department should enforce the law and leave any suspected conflicts to be addressed by the court when the matter comes before a judge.

Bill Rogers, the executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, was on hand to witness the historic event and said after the signing of the summons that this action would set a tremendous precedent throughout the state.

“This is a historic occasion and will send a strong message across South Carolina,” Rogers said.

Rollins also said afterward that the state’s Freedom of Information Act was designed to ensure the people’s business was conducted out in the open where the people could see how their representatives make decisions. He said the Holly Springs Fire commission – all but commissioner Hugh Jackson who alone protested the conduct of meetings like the one on June 16 – has acted in violation of the state open meetings law so egregiously that they had to be held to account.

“These board members have operated with impunity for so long and the authorities have ignored it,” Rollins said. “I look forward to their day in court.”

Rollins also questioned what level the corruption of public officials would have to reach before a law enforcement agency would act.

Rollins and King both described to Judge Womble the evident pattern of behavior of the commission since the June 16 meeting and enumerated further violations of FOIA, including the commission discussing budget matters behind closed doors at its August 3 meeting and the illegal meeting of Phillips, Kyle and Waters sometime on August 4 while searching for financial records at the fire station.

Phillips called the sheriff’s office August 5 to report the theft of the records, and the sheriff’s office incident report lists Phillips, Kyle and Waters looking for but failing to find the documents. The three cannot be in the same place together as it constitutes a quorum of the commission and the state Freedom of Information Act prohibits chance meetings.

As the plaintiff in the action against the commissioners, King and Hometown News will act in the place of a law enforcement agency as the prosecutors at the Sept. 21 hearing. Rollins said he would continue to assist in helping to bring the commissioners to account.

Rollins added that this action has set a precedent in another way by showing other media organizations and public citizens a way to have the state’s laws enforced in cases where law enforcement agencies can’t or won’t take action.

Internship opens up a world of possibilities
8/9/10
Aiken Standard
By Teddy Kulmala
Editor's note: Aiken Standard summer intern Teddy Kulmala wrote a series of Teddy's Tryouts after he tried out different jobs in the community.

The tryouts have been completed, the articles have been written and my time at the Aiken Standard has come to an end. So, what do I have to show for it?

I got down and dirty running the printing press and saw an unseen side of the newspaper business.

I put together a gift basket that would make Martha Stewart jealous and pulled off the famous "Flo bow."

I discovered my inner Casey Kasem while co-hosting an oldies radio show.

I had a whale of a time creating and decorating sweet treats at a bakery.

I learned satisfaction can come from hard work and clean, pressed laundry.

I realized just how dangerous some jobs can be and the courage it takes to perform them with the local law enforcement.

I learned passion is essential for any job while bringing the past to the present at a museum.

I got in touch with my wild side and rekindled my aspiration of being a vet.

I got down on the farm and witnessed the hours of hard work that go into producing a simple grocery item.

I was a fly - or rather, a bee - on the wall of the honey making business and realized bees are good for much more than making their sweet, sticky treat.

Most importantly, I got to walk in the shoes of real-life business owners and employees and witness multiple aspects of the nation's workforce right here in Aiken County. Not only did I get a taste of their work but I also developed a deep appreciation for it and admiration for them. You really can't sum up any one job by the final product; that's only the tip of the iceberg.

I've had an amazing time venturing into these businesses and reporting on my experiences for readers, but the fact that readers have enjoyed my adventures so much and offered such kind feedback is truly humbling and has doubled the rewards of this internship. I could not have asked for a better conclusion.

As I close this chapter of my life and begin another, I want to thank the South Carolina Press Association and the Aiken Standard for the opportunity to do this internship. I'd also like to thank every business owner and employee who allowed me into their place of work and showed me the ropes of their daily doings. You've helped me grow not only as a writer and reporter but also as a human being, and for that I'm grateful.

Thank you. God bless. And go Tigers!

Editorial: Watching what in the woods?
8/9/10
The Post and Courier
Why does the U.S. Forest Service have surveillance cameras in the Francis Marion National Forest?

That's what we'd like to know.

Still.

The agency has rejected nearly all of this newspaper's requests, under the federal Freedom of Information Act, for documents describing the purpose and operation of the cameras. As Wednesday's Post and Courier reported, Forest Service associate chief Hank Kashdan responded to that detailed request with a mere two pages from an agency handbook about investigative procedures.

The FOIA request stemmed from a local man's discovery, early this year, of a motion-activated camera -- with no markings -- in the forest north of Moncks Corner and near the Palmetto Trail. For his well-meaning attempt to find the camera's owner, the man got a stern phone call from a Forest Service agent who demanded that he give it to the agency, which he did.

But the man also called the matter to this newspaper's attention -- and expressed concerns about the camera's inherent privacy intrusion.

Though a Forest Service spokeswoman subsequently told our reporter that such cameras have been used for "numerous years" to protect the public and the forest, she declined to give specifics. So The Post and Courier, as part of its Watchdog series, sought pertinent information about the purposes, expenses and effective ness of the cameras -- and details about how the agency handles the images it records.

The agency's handbook did say court orders are required "where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists," such as "private offices of employees, restricted access areas, and the interior of private homes" -- but not in the forest.

You also evidently have no reasonable expectation that the Obama administration will live up to the president's repeated vows to provide more open government. As our Wednesday story pointed out:

"The Forest Service's denials of Watchdog's requests for information come in the wake of President Obama's directive to agency heads to be more forthcoming in their FOIA responses. 'The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears,' the president's order said."

But fears about being watched by Big Brother in the deep woods aren't merely speculative or abstract. They're actual -- and they're justified.

NNA to postal regulators: dropping Saturday delivery will hurt rural America and its newspapers
8/6/10
Editor & Publisher
Witnesses for the National Newspaper Association (NNA) told the Postal Regulatory Commission Thursday that the Postal Service’s proposal to stop Saturday mail delivery will hurt rural America and the newspapers that serve it.

NNA’s postal expert, Max Heath, told the commission that losing Saturday mail will deeply affect many newspapers that count on the USPS for delivery over the weekend.

A particular loss, he said, would be reporting on high school sports.

“The loss of Saturday mail will deeply affect many newspapers that count on USPS for delivery over the weekend, Heath testified. A particular loss will be reporting on high school sports.

"Publishers are rightly concerned about the reporting of local sports,” Heath said. “That may seem like a parochial fret to someone in Washington, D.C., but anyone who has roots in a small town can attest that the high school football and basketball teams form the nucleus of community gatherings. If the Postal Service's mission is still to bind the nation together, it must use the bindings that the community chooses, not ones selected by Washington. High school sports help bind small towns together -- even more than small post offices, in my humble opinion."

Rural Americans depend on print newspapers, argued Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky.

"The latest data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, gathered in December 2009, show that while the percentage of rural Americans using the Internet has come close to the overall percentage, they are likely to get less from it, because they lack high-speed broadband and make less use of interactive features," Cross told the commission.

While broadband service penetration was 61% of households in urban American, it was just 47% in rural areas, he added.

Dropping Saturday mail will also breed more competition for the Postal Service, NNA’s Heath warned. Publishers will create or turn to private delivery service – reversing one of the few growth areas for USPS delivery, within county newspapers.

 "Within County newspaper mail is the only product in market dominant mail that has seen growth in the past few years, having grown 12.8% in pieces in fiscal year 2008, then 3.4% fiscal year 2009,” Heath said. “So far in 2010, pieces have grown 2.6% for the first six months, with the second quarter showing acceleration to 3.6%.”

Reducing service in this economy “is a recipe for business failure” for the Postal Service, said NNA President Cheryl Kaechele, publisher of the Allegan County (Mich.) News.

Cross told the commission, which sets postal rates, that reducing postal delivery “will reduce the quality of life in rural America, making it a less attractive place to live. The resulting out-migration, and suppression of in-migration, will contribute to population loss and stagnation in rural counties and add to suburban sprawl that drains other public resources.”

Contrary to national statistics, S.C. papers hiring
8/6/10
An AEJMC report finds that the 2009 journalism and mass communication graduates entered a "very bad job market," but in South Carolina, newspapers are hiring. More than 25 job listings are available on the South Carolina Press Association’s website.

The study showed that graduates of the nation's journalism and mass communication programs in the spring of 2009 confronted a job market unlike any that graduates have encountered in the nearly 25 years for which comparable data are available. All indicators of the health of the market in 2009 and early 2010 showed declines from a year earlier, which already had produced record low levels of employment.

Salaries remained unchanged for the fourth consecutive year, meaning that graduates actually were receiving less money because of the effects of inflation.
Benefit packages also continued to get skimpier.

These are the key findings from the Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates, conducted each year in the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research at the University of Georgia.

The Cox Center is the international outreach unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Comments from the graduates to the 2009 Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates reflected a real sense of frustration and desperation.
One student said that nothing he had done at the university prepared him "to deal with this horrible economy." His advice to 2010 students not yet graduated was direct: "Stay in school forever. It all goes down hill from here."

The graduate survey produced one bit of good news, according to Dr. Lee B. Becker, director of the survey. Graduates reporting on their job searches in the late spring of 2010 were much more likely to have found a full-time job than were graduates reporting at the end of 2009.

The full report, written by Becker and fellow researchers Dr. Tudor Vlad, Paris Desnoes and Devora Olin, was released today at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Denver.

The copyrighted text of the 2009 Graduate Report with black and white charts is available here.

The copyrighted text of the 2009 Graduate Report with color charts is available here.

Cooper says S.C. State can account for transportation money
8/6/10
The State
By Wayne Washington
South Carolina State University president George Cooper told the state’s higher education commission Thursday that his school can account for federal transportation money that is the subject of a state audit.

“We can document the transportation funds,” Cooper told members of the S.C. State Commission on Higher Education. “Of the $26 million that was incrementally given to the university, $4.8 million has been spent (as of) today.”

Cooper did not say how the money has been spent.

South Carolina State has received federal money to build its James E. Clyburn Transportation Center, named in honor of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., perhaps the school’s most powerful and well-known graduate. After years of planning and delays, the center just now is being built. Meanwhile, the S.C. Legislative Audit Council, acting at the behest of state legislators, voted recently to conduct an audit to determine how much of the money for the center already has been spent and on what.

Cooper, giving a state-of-the-school presentation along with the presidents of the state’s other public colleges and universities, told commission members that S.C. State has drawn down federal money for the transportation center as needed to begin construction. He repeated his pledge to work with the Audit Council as well as with another review that S.C. State’s trustees previously voted to have undertaken.

“I believe in transparency and accountability,” Cooper said.

Like his peers, Cooper noted the difficulty of running a university in the face of state budget cuts. Those cuts, combined with an unexpected drop in enrollment last fall, contributed to S.C. State’s decision to furlough faculty and staff.

On Thursday, however, Cooper reported the university will finish this fiscal year with a budget surplus, allowing bonuses totaling $140,000 to be paid to faculty and staff members earning less than $100,000 a year.

Cooper’s financial management of the university has drawn criticism from S.C. State’s faculty Senate, which rebuked him in a resolution in May.

About a month later, S.C. State’s board, which had given the president a negative performance review, voted not to renew Cooper’s contract. Two weeks later – after a pair of board members were replaced – the board reversed itself, voting to renew Cooper’s contract.

In the wake of that decision, one board member has quit. Another has announced his intention of following suit. A third board member wants the state’s attorney general to issue a ruling on the board’s actions.

The chairwoman of S.C. State’s faculty Senate, Evelyn Fields, also has filed suit against Cooper and the university, alleging she was removed as a department chairwoman because of her support for the resolution that was critical of Cooper’s administration.

Sources at the university also say that Leonard McIntyre , a former interim president who helped the school get its largest-ever federal grant, was demoted because he was willing to serve as interim president after the board’s initial decision not to renew Cooper’s contract.

Through its attorney, S.C. State has denied Fields’ allegations and refused to discuss McIntyre’s job status.

The school’s litany of troubles stood as an unrecognized elephant in the room Thursday as Cooper made his presentation. He did not address any of those issues, nor was he asked about them by commission members, who were holding to a schedule that limited presidents to presentations of no longer than an hour.

Commission chairman Ken Wingate alluded to the issues surrounding Cooper and S.C. State when he told fellow commission members there would not be time for extensive questioning.

“The discussion could go on quite long,” Wingate said.

Lawmakers: Close SEC's open records loophole
8/5/10
Associated Press
By Daniel Wagner
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation designed to make regulation of financial companies more transparent - and to close a major loophole in the sweeping financial overhaul enacted last month.

The bill would reverse language in the overhaul law that allows the Securities and Exchange Commission to reject many open records requests. The SEC would not have to disclose any records related to its policing of companies such as hedge funds and computer trading platforms.

The federal Freedom of Information Act requires that government records be released to anyone who asks, unless they fall under one of nine exceptions to the law. The overhaul law broadened the SEC's ability to invoke these exemptions.

The SEC has been criticized for failing to catch a number of high-profile frauds before the crisis, including a multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme operated by Bernard Madoff.

Critics fear the open records loophole would help the agency withhold information about other failures.

Lawmakers from both parties and both chambers are concerned about exempting the SEC from oversight just as it tests out new powers it gained under the overhaul.

The Senate legislation was introduced Thursday by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Ted Kaufman, D-Del. and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. A similar measure was introduced in the House this week by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

The legislation mostly reverts to the old disclosure rules. But it lets the SEC protect some information by treating all the companies it regulates as if they were banks. Information produced as part of bank supervision is already exempt from the open records law.

The SEC says it needs the exemption to keep the companies' investment practices secret. It says investment funds and others will refuse to turn over data that they think will be shared publicly.

If passed, this would be the first law designed to close a loophole in the 2,300-page overhaul, which includes sweeping new powers for regulators and creates a new consumer financial protection bureau.

Column: S.C. State — Show us the money
8/4/10
The Post and Courier
By Brian Hicks
For those of you keeping score at home, South Carolina State still hasn't shown us the money.

Despite the Freedom of Information request from The Post and Courier, the calls from the state's top elected officials and a pending Legislative Audit Council investigation, the university still has not provided any information about what happened to around $25 million in federal funds earmarked for a transportation center.

In fact, some college officials act very much like all these pesky questions will just disappear if they refuse to answer -- you know, the Nikki Haley defense.

Last week, the chairman of S.C. State's board told The State newspaper that the few board members questioning recent actions at the school should resign, and they'll get on with building the transportation center.

"This train is going to move forward down the tracks," Jonathan Pinson said.
Wrong. This train already has derailed -- but apparently the conductor hasn't figured that out yet.

Nowhere to hide

On Tuesday, state Sen. Robert Ford -- long a supporter of the university -- asked the state attorney general, House Speaker Bobby Harrell and Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell to look at various problems at S.C. State. Ford is talking about special legislative sessions, which is in keeping with his earlier predictions that the Legislature might need to step in and take over -- you know, like the state did in Allendale way back when.

That would be embarrassing, perhaps unprecedented, but he's right that something has to be done. He said the school is in turmoil.

"Several controversies are eminent that distract and affect the ability to educate students with the existence of internal rhetoric," Ford said.

While Pinson has asked for whistle-blowing board members to resign, those folks in turn have suggested that perhaps the entire board should step down and bring in new folks -- which is the best idea out of S.C. State in some time.

Word is some folks at the university who have spoken up about internal problems have been punished, and board members who dare to ask serious questions are pressured to quit.

That doesn't sound like a forward-moving institution.

It sounds like a place with a lot to hide.

Still shoveling

Also on Tuesday, Congressman Jim Clyburn -- namesake of S.C. State's transportation center -- voiced his support for the university going forward with its announced plans to start building the transportation center.

You see, they know where the construction funds are -- it's all that other cash they are fuzzy on.

But Clyburn told Post and Courier reporter Schuyler Kropf that they should go forward with the construction, and tried to blame all the problems on the state government.

Yeah, that's exactly what school officials need to do: build a transportation center when they have no idea where they put some of the money set aside for it.

If South Carolina State thinks it's a good idea to have a ground-breaking ceremony in this climate, they are going to have to rustle up some stronger shovels for the photo-op.

The ones they are using now are wearing out.

Holly Springs fire board holds closed-door session
8/ 4/10
Herald-Journal
By Lee G. Healy
Holly Springs fire commissioners voted to accept the terms of a severance package for former chief Lee Jeffcoat on Tuesday night, but declined to make specifics public.

Board Chairman Ryan Phillips said after the meeting that the agreement will be made public after it has been signed by Jeffcoat, who, friends reported, was recovering after an emergency appendectomy Tuesday.

Jeffcoat's attorney Ryan Langley was at the meeting and went into executive session with the four-member board to discuss the severance.

The board also discussed the “chief, bookkeeper, budget and personnel” during the hour-and-a-half executive session, according to the agenda.

When questioned by the media after the meeting about the legality of the executive session, which under the Freedom of Information Act should not include budget or vague personnel discussions, Phillips replied, “OK, I don't know.”

When asked about the budget item specifically, he said, “We don't ever have the opportunity to talk and see what we all need. It was just to see, ‘OK, what do you think about this budget?' ”

Commissioner Hugh Jackson said after the meeting he questioned whether the executive session was legal once the board was behind closed doors, and he was told by other members it was.

“I've got serious problems with what's gone on in the last few months,” said Jackson, who recently walked out of a meeting because he didn't think the agenda was made public with the proper 24-hour notice.

After coming out of executive session, the board delayed a vote on the budget until more information could be gathered.

The board terminated Jeffcoat, who earned about $50,000 annually, in July because of an expected $70,000 shortfall in the budget.

Jackson said Tuesday he's still not sure the budget estimates are accurate and volunteered to investigate the matter further before the next meeting.

In other action, the board voted to hire an interim bookkeeper in Kenneth Everham at a rate of $21.50 per hour. Phillips said Everham will work for 90 days to clean up the fire district's books. He said the work will take about 20 hours per month, or about $1,300 total.

The board also voted to hire Assistant Chief Brent Blackwell as interim fire chief. Phillips said Blackwell earns about $6,800 annually, and the board did not approve a change in salary with the new, interim position.

The crowd dwindled after the long executive session, but tempers still flared when residents were given a chance to speak to the board.

Susan Thomas asked for the resignation of commissioners Phillips, Roscoe Kyle and Kelly Waters because, among other accusations, “you have lost the trust and respect of the people of the community of Holly Springs.”

Kyle and Waters didn't respond to the request, but Phillips said he will not resign.

Opinion: Open meetings should be accessible
7/30/10
The State
We’re not going to claim that it was fascinating to watch, but it was an important step for public access last month when ETV streamed the Budget and Control Board’s monthly meeting live on its website.

The board is a one-of-a-kind five-member body designed to make sure that the governor is not allowed to oversee the central administrative functions of the government, as his counterparts in the other 49 states do. This was the meeting where the two legislators who are so offensively part of this allegedly executive board joined with their handpicked state treasurer to (appropriately) tell Gov. Mark Sanford that it would be up to him to find that $25 billion that he insisted the agency by the same name would have no problem replacing after he vetoed its operating budget.

The webcast was the brainchild of Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom — who along with Mr. Sanford has been coming up on the losing end of 3-2 votes on the board throughout the Sanford administration, with the brief exception of the time before we knew that then-Treasurer Thomas Ravenel was a coke-head — and we appreciate his initiative. Whatever the outcome of this fall’s elections, this practice should continue for as long as this constitutionally odious board remains in existence.

We also appreciate Treasurer Converse Chellis’ attempt to one-up Mr. Eckstrom the following week. Not his proposal to take the Budget and Control Board meetings on the road to allow more people to “directly witness their government up close and personal,” which strikes us as strangely populist rhetoric coming from a guy who doesn’t face any opposition in November since he lost his election bid in June.

What we liked was his proposal that the roadshows be held “in public buildings with enough room to accommodate a large group of citizens and media.” As he noted in a news release, this powerful board holds its meetings in a room so small that the government finance officers whose job it is to attend have to stand in the hallway, hoping to hear a bit of what’s going on inside. As long as larger rooms are available nearby — and they are, in adjacent buildings — there’s no justification for such disdain for public access.

Of course, there’s no reason to stop at the Budget and Control Board. Even worse than its non-public public meetings are the ones the Legislature likes to hold.

The most offensive offender is the House Ways and Means Committee. Its meetings are nearly always standing-room-only, with a large overflow in the hallways; since state agency lobbyists are paid by taxpayers to attend, and don’t have to worry about getting away from work to grab a seat, Joe Citizen has no hope of getting inside while the panel decides how tax dollars will be collected and allocated. (The committee does meet in the House’s large meeting room once a year — for its annual budget briefing for members of the House. That’s not to accommodate citizens, who have to stand outside waiting to scramble for any seats available after all the members of the House are seated.) And its subcommittees often meet in cozy little rooms that have no more than a half-dozen seats available for anyone who isn’t a member.

We expect overflow crowds for some public meetings, because it’s not always possible to guess how many people will show up. But when the public routinely has to stand outside, that’s not an accident. It’s an attempt to obey the letter of the law while disregarding the intent. We deserve better.

Star Power
7/29/10
Lexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch News
By Jerry Bellune
Do you labor in relative obscurity at work that is taken for granted?

Like house work... never noticed unless not done well?

Thousands of people go to work at it every day, unsung and unappreciated.

They do jobs that are unglamorous, poorly paid and for which one rarely hears thanks. Respect? Grudgingly given.

We’ve all worked in a few of those jobs and know the value of appreciation.

My first real job in journalism was one of those jobs. But being fresh out of the Army and in need of money, I was too excited to realize the job’s limitations.

Carl Wymer hired me, not for my good looks or exceptional intellect... but because he needed a copy editor and they were in short supply.

He found in me the needed qualifications: English major. Had a pulse. Could fog a mirror. The job was mine.

My job was to straighten out the reporters’ syntax, make sense of their writing to our readers and write the headlines that would lure readers to actually read the reporters’ purple prose.

The reporters were the stars.

Their names appeared at the top of the stories and they spent most of their time out of the office covering crime and fires and other exciting news.

My colleagues and I were chained to the copy desk where we labored deep into the night in complete obscurity.

No bylines. Few words of praise.

An occasional complaint if a headline oversold the news in a story.

To address these inequities, I made a smart alecky proposal some years ago in a national trade magazine.

Its premise was that the best and brightest ought to work on copy desks.

They protect the newspaper from libel suits. They are the readers’ best friends.

They should be treated like stars.

My proposal was called “Caesar’s Copy Desk” on which copy editors would be wined and dined nightly as they practiced their art and craft like surgeons.

They would have status in the office, be given raises tomorrow and recognized for the exacting work they did.

They would even be given credit like the reporters with their own byline.

The reporters liked this idea because it shifted blame from them if something was inaccurate in their article.

They also wanted the copy editors to be given credit for headlines so their sources would quit complaining to them.

“But I don’t write the headlines,” they would tell their sources.

Mark Twain may have had it right.

Twain labored as a newspaper reporter before he became a bestselling author.

He famously said, “I am not the editor of a newspaper and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make me one.”

Despite Mark Twain, it’s a great job.

Cartoonist Robert Ariail joins Herald-Journal
7/28/10
The Herald-Journal
By Luke Connell
Ariail's cartoons on global, national and state issues are featured in more than 600 publications across the country, and his first cartoon drawn specifically for the Herald-Journal Opinion page.

Ariail worked as The State newspaper's editorial cartoonist from 1984 until March 2009, when he was laid off during a round of personnel cuts. He was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize — in 1995 and again in 2000 — and has won numerous other awards for his work, including five Green Eyeshade Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, a National Headliner Award in 1990, and the Overseas Press Club's Thomas Nast Award in 1997. In 2009, he became the first American to win the United Nations Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon Award.

After leaving The State, Ariail kept drawing, distributing his syndicated cartoons through United Media. Still, he wanted to work with a newspaper.

“Of course, South Carolina is a gold mine for cartooning,” Ariail said. “It's one of the reasons I didn't want to leave the state, and a reason I'm so excited about working with the Herald-Journal.”

The recession and a changing job market for journalists haven't yielded many job openings for cartoonists in recent years, and many newspapers have eliminated the positions entirely.

“I think the Herald-Journal is showing a lot of faith in the future of newspapers and of editorial cartooning,” Ariail said.

Herald-Journal Executive Editor Mike Smith said the newspaper had a unique opportunity to provide more for its readers.

“Robert Ariail will be doing unique local content our readers have not had in the past,” Smith said. “Most of our readers are familiar with his award-winning work on national issues, but adding his graphic perspective on Spartanburg issues will bring a new level of commentary to our pages and generate additional interest in the Herald-Journal and GoUpstate.com. We're enthusiastic about this partnership.”

Ariail said Herald-Journal readers should expect local cartoons soon.

“I just have to learn about the people and what's going on here in Spartanburg before I can do that, but I'm sure I can do that fairly quickly,” the University of South Carolina graduate said.

Ariail recently made headlines after penning a cartoon of Republican gubernatorial Nikki Haley wearing a bathing suit on one panel and a burqa in the adjacent panel. The cartoon, Ariail said, contrasted Haley's campaign promises of open government and her lack of transparency in some recent actions. Some, however, took issue with the Muslim garb, perceiving it as a slam against Haley's Sikh heritage.

Ariail lives in Camden with his wife, Fair, and their 15-year-old daughter, Virginia Elizabeth.

S.C. State blocks access to transport center records
7/28/10
The Post and Courier
By Diane Knich
South Carolina State University officials are refusing The Post and Courier access to public financial documents that could explain how about $25 million for transportation programs has been spent since the James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center was launched 12 years ago.

University officials said late Monday that the newspaper would have to file a formal request under the state's Freedom of Information law to obtain the information that by law should be made available to the public.

That would allow them to wait 15 working days to say whether they intend to grant or deny the request. A denial could spark an extended and costly legal debate.

"That response gives you an Arctic chill," Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said.

McConnell, R-Charleston, is one of nine legislators who supported a request for an investigation into the transportation center by the Legislative Audit Council, the state's watchdog group. The council's Governing Board last week agreed to quickly begin the investigation.

"They ought to give you what you want without a formal request," McConnell said. "The best thing S.C. State could do for itself right now is to open up. That will either end speculation (about how the money was spent) or start movement for change."

As the state's watchdog agency is gearing up to launch an investigation into how S.C. State spent the transportation center money, it remains unclear how much of a paper trail exists.

University officials have given several different and incomplete explanations on which records the university has kept and where they are stored since The Post and Courier began investigating what happened to the transportation center money, and what the center has accomplished.

The newspaper's report, which ran June 14, prompted legislators to request the audit council investigation. The report revealed that 12 years after the center was launched, no transportation research was under way and university leaders were unable to explain how transportation center grant money was spent.

S.C. State President George Cooper and Dale Wesson, interim director of the James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center, have said they have been in their positions a short time and can't explain how money from federal grants for transportation programs over the past 12 years was spent.

John Smalls, senior vice president for finance and facilities, has said the university put in place a new financial system a few years ago, and it's difficult to access records from the old system.

He then said late last month that the university has back-up paper records, which were stored in a warehouse in Columbia.

The director of the state archives in Columbia, however, said S.C. State doesn't have any financial records stored there.

Smalls then said that the records were stored in a facility in Orangeburg, but he would not say where.

Clyburn spokeswoman Hope Derrick said the congressman supports the Legislative Audit Council's investigation.

And, she added, Cooper has called for an audit of transportation center grants by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The university's Board of Trustees had voted for an external audit of the transportation center before the audit council had approved its investigation. It's not clear whether the board will move forward with that audit, which a school official estimated would cost $100,000.

Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, said financial records are clearly open to the public under the state's Freedom of Information Act. "The public ought to know how money is being spent. These are tax dollars we're talking about."

Rogers also said the records should be made available to the newspaper at "no more than the actual cost." If newspaper staff members are willing to review the records at the university or wherever they are being stored, "I would think the cost should be minimal," he said.

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said, "I'm disappointed to hear the university is not fully cooperating with a request for documents that are public information."

Cobb-Hunter said she supports "the transportation center concept." But, she said, it's been 12 years since the center was launched. It might be a good time to review the center's original goals to determine if any changes are necessary in the current economic climate.

It's important to know if it's meeting today's transportation needs, she said.

State Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, the legislator who initially called for the audit council investigation of the transportation center, said the university shouldn't make the newspaper or the public "jump through hoops for something so simple."

"My advice to President George Cooper and the university's legal staff is to let the public have the information through the media," Ford said.

By delaying the release of information, "it's making it look like S.C. State has something to hide," he said.

Column: Where did all that money go?
7/28/10
The Post and Courier
By Brian Hicks
Back in 2006, the Department of Transportation cut off funding to S.C. State's planned James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center project.

That was about the time federal auditors said the school's financial records were so screwed up they couldn't tell how millions of dollars given for the project had been spent. At the time, the feds had already given the school $50 million, more than half of which just disappeared.

Last month, S.C. State President George Cooper (who'd been on the job two years) told The Post and Courier's Diane Knich that he didn't know where that money went. Sorry. There was no "We'll research that," "We'll get back to you" or "I know I had it here somewhere."

Just sorry.

Here's the question: What other state institution could get away with misplacing 25 million taxpayer dollars and then expect a shrug of the shoulders to be explanation enough? If The Citadel pulled such a stunt, they'd probably chain Lesesne Gate.

All this dodging and maneuvering just makes it look more and more like something fishy's going on here.

Maybe the dog ate it
S.C. State officials have repeatedly explained that their records from that time period are on an old computer system, making them difficult to access. Sometimes they say the records are in warehouses: Columbia, maybe Orangeburg -- you know, the greater South Carolina area. Next thing you know, we'll hear that all S.C. State's records are "hiking the Appalachian Trail."

On Tuesday, the school told the newspaper to file a Freedom of Information request to get the records, which gives them another three weeks to stall, uh, comply.

Questions first came up about this missing money nearly two months ago. Shouldn't they have already dug those records out, if for no other reason than to clear the air?

S.C. State is an important institution in this state and there are many good people there doing good things. The board and the administration should be worried about making those folks work at an institution that is UNDER INVESTIGATION.

Pricey storage building
State lawmakers have done all they can for the moment, ordering the Legislative Audit Council to investigate (although that might be tough if there are no records).

Congressman Clyburn, through a spokesperson, said he supports the audit. But the real question is: Why isn't he out raising hell about this every day?

It's his alma mater, his name is on the project. He got the money for it.

There are serious questions here and Clyburn, of all people, should know how picky folks are about their taxes these days. It is escaping no one's attention that this center is what folks in other states (and some here) would call pork.

But, of course, the school will tell you it's not pork, it is a complex for students to learn cutting-edge transportation research and study. Or it was. As it's envisioned now, the center will house only a garage for buses and an archive for Congressman Clyburn's papers.

Let's hope they can keep up with his papers better than their own.

Nominations sought for rural journalism award
7/28/10
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues recognizes exemplary rural journalists, providing examples for others to follow.

As part of that effort, the Institute presents an award in honor of Tom and Pat Gish who published The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., for more than 51 years.  Tom died in 2008; Pat has health issues but remains publisher, and their son Ben is editor. The Gishes have withstood advertiser boycotts, declining population, personal attacks and even the burning of their office to provide the citizens of Letcher County the kind of journalism often lacking in rural areas. They exemplify the courage, tenacity and integrity that is often  necessary to render public service in journalism, especially in rural communities. That’s why the award is named for them and they were the first recipients of it, in 2005.

Nominators for the Tom and Pat Gish Award should send detailed letters to Director Al Cross at the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, explaining how their nominees show the kind of exemplary courage, tenacity and integrity that the Gishes demonstrated in their rigorous pursuit of rural journalism. Documentation does not have to accompany the nomination, but is helpful in choosing finalists, and additional documentation may be requested or required.

ABC Publisher’s Statement will count
‘Branded Editions’ and nonpaid ‘Verified’ circulations
7/28/10
Editor & Publisher
By Mark Fitzgerald
The Audit Bureau of Circulations' board approved sweeping changes in the way newspapers report circulation.

Among the changes: Newspapers that publish so-called “branded editions” -- products a paper publishes under a different  name such as commuter dailies or Spanish-language newspapers – can now include them in their total average circulation. And papers that publish in many forms -- print, mobile, e-readers, etc. -- may be able to count one subscriber multiple times.

At its meeting over the weekend, the ABC board finalized its approval of the recommendations made by the Newspaper Association of America/ABC “Vision Committee” unveiled in March.

ABC released a new prototype Publisher’s Statement that will be effective beginning Oct. 1.

The first page of the new report allows newspapers to present a summary that highlights their total average paid and verified circulation, Audience-FAX readership data and publishing plans for a variety of products.

Other pages in the report detail circulation for the core print newspaper, related digital editions such as e-reader and mobile editions, and a variety of other “branded editions,” such as “audience-focused” newspapers, “alternate-language” newspapers or community newspapers.

New U.S. FAS-FAX prototypes will include additional columns with information on digital replica and non-replica editions as well as top-line circulation data for branded editions.

ABC’s board also approved new reporting and qualifying standards for so-called hybrid and bundled subscriptions.

In its announcement, ABC used an example that parallels the “hybrid” model of Detroit’s daily newspapers:

“An example of a hybrid subscription is when a subscriber receives three days of the newspaper in a print format and four days in a digital format. The newspaper only counts one copy per day.”

In its example of a bundled subscription, ABC says a newspaper can count multiple copies per day from a subscriber who gets a print newspaper, but also access to a digital edition, mobile app or e-reader edition.

“Beginning Oct. 1, newspapers that receive at least 5% of the price of the first or base subscription for each additional product made available in the offer can qualify all copies as paid circulation,” the ABC announcement said. “For example, if a newspaper offers subscribers a three-day print subscription for $100 for one year, it can additionally offer to serve the other four days in a digital format for an extra $5 per year.

“Additionally, a newspaper could offer subscribers a seven-day print subscription for $100 per year and then offer access to the newspaper’s digital edition for an extra $5, access to the newspaper’s mobile app for an extra $5 and access to the newspaper’s e-reader edition for an extra $5. If the subscriber wanted access to all formats of the newspaper, he would pay a total of $115 for the year.”

The circulations could still qualify as “verified circulation” if the newspaper does not receive an incremental amount for each additional edition if subscribers are required to register and activate the digital editions.

“To qualify as paid circulation, the rules go further to require that a subscriber’s digital edition must also be fulfilled, i.e., opened or accessed, if a newspaper wishes to claim that circulation paid on ABC reports,” ABC said.


The ABC board announced these standards for “fulfill requirements”:

“In a hybrid scenario, the print edition of the newspaper counts as paid circulation. For the digital component of the hybrid, the newspaper must demonstrate that the subscriber accessed the digital edition, based on the following schedule:
 
“Effective Oct. 1, 2010 for March and September 2011 Publisher’s Statements, the digital edition must be accessed at least once in the six-month Publisher’s Statement period to qualify the circulation as paid.
       
 “Effective Oct. 1, 2011 for March and September 2012 Publisher’s Statements, the digital edition must be accessed at least once per quarter to qualify the circulation as paid.
 
 “Effective Oct. 1, 2012 for all subsequent Publisher’s Statement periods, the digital edition must be accessed at least once per week to qualify as paid circulation.
 
“In a bundled promotion, the first or base subscription counts as paid circulation. For any subsequent digital editions, the newspaper must demonstrate that the subscriber accessed the digital edition at least once per week to qualify the circulation as paid.”

While these changes are technically “first passage” and are expected to be made final at ABC’s board meeting in November, the changes are effective Oct 1., the board said.

Numerous other changes to reporting rules are summarized on the ABC Website here.

Official: Yorktown must install sprinklers
7/28/10
The Post and Courier
By Allyson Bird
The State Fire Marshal's Office wants Patriots Point to install sprinklers where campers sleep aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown -- or else discontinue the enormously popular program at the cash-strapped attraction.

In a letter this year, Fire Marshal John Reich wrote to Patriots Point that "existing conditions create an imminent danger to both the occupants of the Yorktown and first responders."

The letter also said the military attraction has been "extremely fortunate in experiencing two decades of operating without an incident."

For May alone Patriots Point welcomed more than 2,500 campers, mostly Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, to stay overnight in the same bunks where servicemen once slept.
The letter instructed Patriots Point to stop using all sleeping areas without an emergency escape and rescue opening complying with code, and to install an approved sprinkler system throughout residential areas.

The letter said the fire marshal ordered Patriots Point to make those changes in 2008 and learned this year that the attraction never did.

Patriots Point officials suggested that a 1990 order allows the museum to continue its current operations, but the fire marshal argued that the decision is no longer valid because it was made by a panel that has been abolished.

The fire marshal's letter added that Patriots Point should "view sprinkler protection as an investment and not a liability."

The matter now rests in state Administrative Law Court, where Patriots Point appealed the fire marshal's most recent order. Officials with the fire marshal's office declined to comment on the case.

Patriots Point Executive Director Dick Trammell did not answer general questions about the Scouting arrangement -- including the number of campers, the revenue they generate and the frequency of inspections onboard the Yorktown -- citing pending litigation.

The Post and Courier filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking those answers.

Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association, said Patriots Point should comply with the request. "I think those things are all public record and have nothing to do with legal issues involved," Rogers said.

Legare Clement, Scout Executive for the Coastal Carolina Council of Boy Scouts of America, called the Yorktown the second-most-popular campsite in the country among Scouts, trailing only the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

Clement said Scouts from first grade until their 18th birthdays come from other states with their troops or their families to spend a weekend touring the Yorktown and other ships in the Patriots Point fleet. He did not know about the lawsuit.

In 1990 an appeals panel decided that installing sprinklers would cost millions of dollars, effectively killing the overnight camping program which, at the time, provided 10 percent of Patriots Point's budget.

In his recent appeal, Patriots Point attorney Bill Craver wrote that "it is the law of the case and has not been overruled."

Craver also argued that the fire code provisions apply only to new construction and not historic structures, unless they present "a distinct hazard." Classified as a National Historic Landmark, the Yorktown includes a comprehensive fire protection plan.

Craver also wrote that since 1990 Patriots Point has made significant changes, including implementing mandatory fire drills, installing a smoke-removal system and a modern fire alarm system and adding emergency lights and exit signs and fire-safe bathroom fixtures and trash cans.

Affordable mail alliance calls on USPS
to dismiss postal rate increase
7/26/10
National Newspaper Association today joined a nationwide alliance of nearly 700 companies and associations that use the U.S. mail to call for the Postal Regulatory Commission to promptly dismiss a request for a major postage rate increase.

The Affordable Mail Alliance, representing NNA members and many other mailers’ organizations, told the PRC today that the U.S. Postal Service must not be permitted to hike rates beyond inflation.

"Allowing the Postal Service to raise prices above the Consumer Price Index in this case would nullify the single most important safeguard for mailers and the public in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 ("PAEA"),” AMA argues in its motion.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, an author of the 2006 law, has already said the proposed increases do not qualify for an exception under the standards established by Congress.

The Alliance comprises NNA, the Magazine Publishers of America, the Direct Marketing Association, the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, several major printing companies and others. For a full list, see www.affordablemailalliance.org.

The Postal Service in July requested an “exigent” rate increase, beyond levels permitted by inflation-capped federal laws. It seeks rates to go in effect in January that can be as high as 10 percent for some newspaper mail, and that average around 5.6 percent. It told the PRC that it needed the extra money because of the effects of recession and the impact of the Internet upon the mail.

But the alliance argues that more is afoot than recession. It directs the PRC to consider “excess capacity” and “premium labor rates” that it believes have driven USPS costs beyond inflation.

NNA’s President Cheryl Kaechele, publisher of the Allegan County (MI) News, said that small business jobs are at stake.

“Postage is the major distribution expense for most community newspapers. USPS costs, including labor costs, continue to rise faster than inflation while the recession has squeezed local economies.

Newspaper publishers and their staffs are working with tight belts to make sure they hold onto their own jobs and help the community businesses reach their own customers through the advertising columns. We are doing more with less to get the news out. Newspapers simply cannot afford to support a labor force that is not held to fiscal discipline,” she said.

AMA argues that the Postal Service has not met the exceptional test required for a “exigent” increase.

“The result has been devastating,” the AMA motion argues. “In Fiscal Year 2009, when prices in the overall economy actually declined, the Postal Service costs per unit of output increased by more than 6 percent.

Had the Postal Service merely held its costs to the level of inflation in the general economy, the Postal Service would have made a profit in 2009.”
NNA Postal Committee Chairman Max Heath, consultant to Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc., said NNA had taken a tough position to oppose the exigency rates.

“We invested more than a decade in helping to craft legislation with a price cap, so we could operate with the assurance postal costs would remain in line with inflation. Now the price cap may be blown sky high, and be gone forever. The Postal Service will be allowed to continue to punish customers with an average rise of 10 times the rate of inflation,” Heath said.

NNA urges concerned newspaper executives to visit www.nnaweb.org for information on how to fight the rate increase.

Charleston teams up with BooCoo to offer online auction ads
7/26/10
The Post and Courier has partnered with Boocoo.com, an online auction and free classified ads website.

BooCoo is a Michigan-based company that launched in June.  Their emphasis is on local services.

“With sellers’ fees that work out to be about 25% below the current major e-commerce sites, this should be a strong motivator to try Boocoo.com because these sellers are extremely sensitive to their own profit margins,” said Kip Knight, a former Vice-President of Marketing for Ebay North America and current President of Knight Vision Marketing Inc. who is also providing consulting services to Boocoo Auctions
.  
Boocoo also offers local companies the opportunity to bid on jobs placed by consumers and businesses in the community.  The service providers, (painters, carpenters, landscapers, etc.) will be able to respond to proposals from local consumers and businesses that have placed a “request for quote” on Boocoo for the service they need.

Boocoo.com will be offering more local auction transactions through the use of its media partner’s websites where users can easily access the auction site. According to a study for the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper websites attract more than one third of all internet users.

“The reach of newspapers and television in their market combined with their respective website audiences will provide the most powerful promotional platform available,” said George Willard Sr., who as the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Ranger Data Technologies Inc. started the painstaking development of the Boocoo Auctions concept and business model five years ago.

Visit the site at Postandcourier.com/boocoo.

140 years old and still counting
7/26/10
By Jerry Bellune
Editor Emeritus
Lexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch News
People occasionally ask us how old our newspaper is.

We tell them it was founded in 1870.

They look at me as if wondering if I was around then.

I wasn't. But Josh Harmon was. He started it.

Josh was an entreprenuer and veteran of the War for Southern Independence.

Lexington had buried several other newspapers before the war.

A small town recovering from Sherman and Reconstruction needed a newspaper.
Josh's friends talked him into starting the Lexington Dispatch just as our friends talked us into starting the Chronicle.

That shows you what your friends can get you into . . . so be cautious. 

Over the years, the Lexington Dispatch became the Dispatch-News when it absorbed a competitor.

The newspaper lasted for 114 years under family ownership, the last families being the Bruners and the Ethridges.

Mark Ethridge sold the paper to us and a silent partner in 1984 when it was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Although we were family owners, we were the minority managing partners.

Minority ownership is worth, as Albin Barkley once described the vice presidency, less than a bucket of spit.

In 1991, our corporate partners forced us out. The Dispatch-News went through nine years of corporate ownership.

Corporate problems
The Dispatch-News had a succession of competent publishers and editors after we left. But in many ways their hands were tied by corporate bean counters.

Corporate publishers and editors are managers hanging on the end of a long corporate rope.

They can't act independently.

This is just another sign of the growing corporatization of America.

The big box stores are slowly draining the money out of our communities.

The same's true of TV and radio.

The broadcasters in our area are absentee owners whose sole mission is to increase their shareholders' wealth.

Community needs come second.

The value of local ownership
We are fortunate in our state.

We have independently-owned newspapers like this one in many communities.

Their owners live in the towns they serve, employ local people, support local charities, coach ball teams, teach Sunday school and provide leadership.

The profits they generate stay in the community to help the community.

We consider publishing the local newspaper a sacred trust.

We are fortunate to have younger people working with us who believe in this mission and can keep local ownership alive in Lexington County.

We plan to keep the Lexington County Chronicle & The Dispatch-News independently owned another 140 years.

Jenkins named News & Reporter editor
7/21/10
Travis Jenkins has been named editor of the News & Reporter in Chester.

Jenkins has been sports editor and a staff writer at the newspaper since 2003. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina-Spartanburg.

Publisher Buddy Aultman said Jenkins is well-suited for his new role.

“Travis is a talented writer who has always displayed a sense of fairness in his reporting. He has won more than 40 journalism awards at the newspaper and has received much local praise in his coverage of news. We are lucky to have him,” Aultman said.

Aultman added that Jenkins “loves Chester, loves the newspaper and loves the business.”

He will make an excellent editor,” Aultman said.

The News & Reporter is a semiweekly newspaper with a circulation of 5,010. It is owned by Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc.