FACTS & CENSORSHIP            Yesterday afternoon, a long-time, well liked and extremely civic-minded “Talkbacker” posted a link to my website and Ron Harper’s website and simply said, "another take” on the story.  The entire post was deleted in less than an hour with no explanation.        Proudly, I believe it was the link to my site that caused this inexplicable and inexcusable censorship.  (Please see "A Dangerous Reporter" below on this site.)  Ron Harper’s website is linked to in at least three other posts that have not been deleted.        One of them is under the article, “Journalism ethics profs question paper’s actions,” (click here).  The posters asks, “Got facts???” and then links to Harper’s site.        The problem with Harper’s piece is that he doesn’t have any facts.  He does not attribute any of his statements to anyone.  It is obvious that the parts dealing with former Intell reporter Justin Quinn were provided by Quinn, although even that is not stated.         I spoke with Quinn yesterday by phone and he confirmed that Harper did interview him.        Harper says this in his story:       Quinn, an old-school reporter with a reputation for ethical journalism, had no idea Lovelace was using the story to leverage information from the coroner.       I don’t know what “old-school” means and if you recall, Quinn was fired for anonymously posting very questionable items on the Talkback forum.       Harper also say this:     Quinn later admitted to the indiscretion, but pointed out that at no time had a policy been in effect at the newspaper that prohibited anonymous postings from reporters. Quinn believed he was simply exercising his first amendment rights and was careful to submit the posts on his own time.      I do not believe that for a moment.  It is common knowledge and has been verified by at least one poster who was previously employed at the Lancaster Newspapers, that this is strictly, strictly forbidden by all of the staff of the papers under any circumstances.       And Harper’s piece is littered with items such as this:      Undaunted by her lack of success, Holzman decided she would write the story anyway. She’d put it right in the faces of those law enforcement officials who had slighted her. They could read in the paper how clever she was at running down the lead.       This is pure conjecture on his part and this is reprehensible “reporting.”  He does this the whole way through his story.   He provides no basis for his “facts” other than what is publicly known from the grand jury report.       I don’t believe any “old-school” or “new-school” journalists would take his piece seriously for one minute.       All of this has taken me off the original subject of the despicable and unethical actions of five Intell reporters, News Editor Jon Ferguson and Editor Ray Shaw.  For today, I am simply going to post an excellent piece by a Talkbacker under the same article linked to above.  There will be more tomorrow on the coroner, Lovelace, the censorship of the Talkback forum and also please see below this for today’s other “UPDATES” item.   ***********         This is it? A little headline saying the Intell's actions are "questioned."        Gee, haven't we been told the New Era is totally independent of the Intell and the owners? Hasn't the New Era told us what crusaders they are?        First it sounded like the Journalism prof was pretty clear that the Intell was not justified and was unethical.        So how about a big headline, above the fold with pictures of the reporters and their editor saying:        "EXPERTS SAY REPORTERS AND EDITOR UNETHICAL"        But even calling them unethical is a whitewash. The grand jury report, last page, clearly stated that the reporters committed two felonies, not misdemeanors, not summaries, but felonies.        Compare this piddly story to the story on the Commissioners when the grand jury report alleged no crimes, much less any felonies, and they took non-criminal citations:        Five giant headlines, each one above the fold, each one with photos:        GRAND JURY:COMMISSIONERS BETRAYED PUBLIC'S TRUST        REPORT DETAILS 'VEIL OF SECRECY' IN COUNTY        SECRECY, DECEIT CRIPPLED PROBE        STEP DOWN NOW        CITIZENS: GET OUT        And all the while the newspapers knew their own reporters and Editors, unlike the Commissioners, had both taken the 5th and had been found by the State grand jury to have committed serious crimes. Here's a few suggestions:        GRAND JURY: INTELL REPORTERS AND EDITOR COMMITTED FELONIES        GRAND JURY: REPORTERS 'NOT CREDIBLE"        INTELL EDITORS AND JACK BUCKWALTER; RESIGN NOW        CITIZENS: LET'S GET A REAL NEWSPAPER        Well that won't happen. I guess opposing the newspapers 44% stake in the convention center is a really bad idea and working the newspapers is a good idea. UPDATES (Before today’s lead article I wanted to provide one update and one new item.  Please check back later today for even more censorship at LNP and Ron Harper’s latest.) “STREAKER” LAWSUIT     I published previously that the “Streaker” lawsuit against the Millersville Police was scheduled to go to trial in the Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia this Tuesday, February 6, 2007.     That did not happen.  The case was continued as they are working on a settlement which will ultimately have to be approved by the Judge.      No one involved in the case is at liberty to speak currently – but I will review documents filed in the case and keep you up to date on the status and publish any public information that is available.      The full lawsuit is here. WITH DIGNITY     It appears that WGAL is doing what the New Era and the other Lancaster Newspapers could not and have not done - provide an eloquent, dignified and poignant update on the Amish Shooting story (click here).   Hopefully the rest of the series will be as good.    CENSORSHIP AT LNP! Please check back later today…   ~ Brett Lovelace ~ A DANGEROUS REPORTER       I didn’t know if I would see Brett on Monday.  I honestly wasn’t sure.  I thought this lie would be too big for him to get away with.     It wasn’t.  He was at Micah Stewart’s trial on Monday morning, dapper and as always, dressed in a suit.   We talked in the hall during the morning break.      I said something to the effect of – “I’m sorry about my Saturday piece, but you can’t lie, Brett.  The investigators didn’t say that.”      Brett was unfazed.  “I don’t think you see the larger picture here,” he said.  “The prosecution is alleging…”     I cut him off.  I saw the larger picture.  It was a murder trial after all and a case I had been covering for almost two years.     “I know what the prosecution is alleging,” I told him.  “But you can’t lie.”      I haven’t told this story before because I liked Brett.  We sat together on hard benches for eight hours each day the week before and we chatted.  He was very nice and even seemed to enjoy having another reporter to talk to.      But reporters can’t lie.  And he lied.  A big, ugly lie.  And I think Micah Stewart could request a new trial on this lie alone.  It is reportedly the screwdriver that convinced the jury to return with a verdict of first degree, instead of third degree, murder.     Yes, the judge told the jury not to discuss the case or read the newspapers or watch TV.  But they weren’t sequestered and we saw how well the jury listened to the judge in Stewart’s previous mistrial in a different case.     The article was the lead story in the Saturday, December 9 Intell and it was his lead sentence.  It would be hard to miss.     I always walked into the courthouse with a newspaper in my hands and on one morning, a member of the jury got into the elevator with me and I hid the paper under my coat.  Another time, after I began wearing my “press pass,” I passed a juror and she was intently trying to read my pass to find out who I was.  After all, I was at the trial every day, in the front row and taking notes.  Brett and the New Era reporter (who left at 10:15 a.m. each day) were the only other members of the gallery taking notes.  Her curiosity was natural.     The jurors also left the courthouse some days for lunch and there are newspaper boxes on every corner and of course people reading the papers in restaurants.     I have since learned from a Stewart family member that they believe the screwdriver was in his car because he had just purchased the car and used it to put on his license plate.  It was found in the trunk of the car along with numerous other items, such as sneakers, baseball caps, towels and a bottle of vodka.     There are a number of articles about Brett on this site and other lies he has told and I will come back to them tomorrow.  You read his lie below and see if Brett should have been in the courthouse as a reporter on that Monday morning.    [The article is archived here along will all my coverage of the Stewart murder trial (over half-way down}.  Below this I have also posted my initial story about Brett when the story about the State Attorney General’s investigation into Coroner Kirchner first broke on 5thestate.com.  The story is permanently archived under a button to the left titled “LOVELACE.”]   ************* ~ Saturday ~ DISGRACEFUL        Cortney Fry was punched in the face several times, strangled and then killed when a flathead screwdriver penetrated her skull, forensic investigators said Friday. Brett Lovelace, “Expert describes vicious attack on Fry,” today’s Intell (click here).     This opening sentence is a lie.  It is very simply a horrendous lie.  Neither expert ever said a flathead screwdriver was used.  Never.  They said the hole in her skull could not be a bullet wound.  They speculated on the type of object that might make such a hole.  But let me repeat this – neither expert ever, ever said it was a “flathead screwdriver.”      Lovelace even says this further below in the article:     “It’s a definite that an object was used to penetrate the skull,” Ross said. “I believe it was a long, fixed object with a long, fixed end.”     “An object.”  How does Lovelace go from that to stating it was a flathead screwdriver?  This is disgraceful.  Do you have a screwdriver in your car?  Do you have any black trash bags in your car or trunk?      I had both at one time and still have large plastic trash bags in my trunk.  I at one time had a screwdriver in my glove compartment and I can’t honestly remember why I put it there but it was there for several months.  Does this mean I killed someone?     The Lancaster Newspaper’s coverage of this trial and their headlines are an outrage and do not reflect what is actually happening in the courtroom. BRETT, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING? Who at the Intell was allegedly illegally accessing the county’s website?  My guess is reporter Brett Lovelace. [Question - if a reporter at the Intell was illegally accessing all of this sensitive material on the county’s website, why didn’t they have better stories?]        The State Attorney General’s investigation into Lancaster County Coroner G. Gary Kirchner is turning into a downright hoot.    This is every reporter’s dream!  A bunch of arrogant “public servants” making a mountain out of a molehill and wasting taxpayer’s time and money on a grand scale.  It rarely gets better than this.          And the really big question is why are they focusing on the coroner and not the Intell?  Lancaster District Attorney Donald Totaro is alleging that somehow an Intell reporter got the coroner’s password and then repeatedly went onto a restricted portion of the county website despite warnings on the site that read, “Unauthorized access or use of this computer system will subject violators to criminal, civil, and/or administrative action.”  So why haven’t the state agents seized the Intell computer?  Why isn’t the Intell the subject of investigation?  WOMAN FOUND DEAD     Whoever was allegedly accessing the website at the Intell certainly didn’t try very hard to hide it.  The opening sentence in yesterday’s New Era article, “Inside Pa. probe of coroner” (click here) is this, “It started with a short story in the morning paper last August concerning the death of a woman found by her landlord inside a city apartment.”  In the archives it is indeed a very, very short article published on August 22 and titled, “Woman found dead in city apartment.”  There is no reporter’s byline.  Twice in the article it states the information came from the Lancaster County Communications website (www.lcwc.co.lancaster.pa.us).  What may have caught someone’s attention is the story says “the owner found the woman naked,” which may not have been “publicly” known.  The New Era article goes on to quote Totaro saying that someone went onto the restricted site “on numerous occasions” from a computer that was traced back to Lancaster Newspapers.  So why isn’t the Intell being investigated? CORTNEY FRY     Why do I think it was Brett Lovelace?  Because he covered the Cortney Fry murder case.  It has long been rumored that Totaro was very upset that information about the condition of her remains, such as her body having been burned, were made public.      I will have more on this aspect of the story soon and I will also look at a recent Lovelace article where he states Fry’s body was burned using gasoline.  Where did he get that information? SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET     In a related story, Ron Harper of www.5thestate.com has new information about the coroner on his website today.  I find two of the items to be frivolous.  The installation of a “cell phone tower” on his house may or may not be worthy of investigation.  It seems to me the producer of the Maury Povich show (see her letter on his site) is the one who is twisted and as to the gift shop, if the LA coroner can do it, why not Kirchner?  PLEASE DON’T SEND ME TO JAIL!     In another related and incredibly ironic story, please click here to go to the State Attorney General’s “media room” on his website.  It states, “This area is for Press and Media only,” and requires a user name and password!  What in the world could be on there?  Why can’t the general public view the page?  Yes, of course, I sent my request for “media access.”  I haven’t heard back yet and I will keep you informed!  Do you think if I give my user name and password to a friend that I could be investigated by a state investigating grand jury and be charged with a crime and be found guilty and be sent to jail?  What if I had it on a “post-it-note” stuck to my computer and my friend “stole” it without my knowledge?  What if I tell you what’s in the “media room?”   I think I’ll call the State Attorney General’s Office and ask.  Yikes!  Stay tuned...   PLEASE CHECK BACK TOMORROW.  IT RARELY GETS BETTER THAN THIS!                                                    “Pssst.  Scandal at the Intell!  Scandal at the Intell! Brett, have you been a bad, bad boy?” A DANGEROUS REPORTER     Coming tomorrow – Brett Lovelace is a very dangerous reporter.  Who is watching him at the Intell?  Somebody better start! From Bananas & Brett (click here).   Please check back later today… ~ Nothing But Lies! ~ NOT FIT TO PRINT        Who could believe that the editor of a newspaper would print a front page editorial that is nothing but lies?  Almost every sentence is a lie and every person who reads it knows it.  What an absolute disgrace to journalism, the first amendment and their readers.  From the editorial (click here):     But, after a probe lasting more than 18 months and consisting of repeated subpoenas for computer hardware and software used by Intell staff members and repeated subpoenas to compel testimony by staff members of the Intell, no criminal charges were lodged against the newspaper or any of its staff.     This can only be taken as a clear indication that no criminal activity was engaged in by the staff members. That's an important fact to keep in mind.     They weren’t charged because they were given immunity.  Can you read?  And it needs to be investigated why five, yes, five reporters were all given immunity.  While this was being investigated your paper was covering citizens being arrested and charged with illegally accessing the website.  But Editor Jon Ferguson and the five reporters didn’t think they were doing anything wrong?         This is the final sentence of the Grand Jury report (click here):     Kirchner and the reporters, working in concert, bypassed LCWC’s 9-1-1 website security and committed the offenses of Criminal Conspiracy to commit Unlawful Use of Computers, 18 Pa. C.S. & 903 and Unlawful Use of Computers, 18 PA. C.S. & 7811 (a)(1)(2).     Also from the Grand Jury report:     The Grand Jury heard evidence that the District Attorney of Lancaster County investigated and arrested two civilian individuals for improperly accessing the password protected 9-1-1 website during the course of the Grand Jury investigation.”     Other direct quotes from the Grand Jury report:     This included proof of the use by Lovelace of an alternative computer he denied using under oath.     It should be available to the press anyway.  After all, it’s public dollars that built it and maintain it.  (Lovelace in an email to Kirchner.)     Lovelace told Quinn that he had given the user name and password for the website to Holzman in early August 2005, and directed her not to attribute anything to it, not to use it in a story and not comment about it to anyone.     Lovelace also admitted to Quinn that in March 2005 “warning pages” appeared on the website but he ignored them.”     I don’t get why you won’t call Zimmerman and explain that your password and user name don’t work.  I thought after Justin (Quinn) made all those concessions on a lawsuit article that you would return the favor. (Lovelace in an email to Kirchner.)     Quinn also related he had been working on an article about a “six figure” lawsuit in which Kirchner was the plaintiff and that, just prior to publishing it, Kirchner asked him to hold the story so it would not jeopardize the potential settlement which ultimately resulted from the lawsuit.  Quinn convinced his editors to withhold publication.      You can not trust one word these papers write. From the Intell editorial:     The Intell staff members believed Kirchner, as the elected coroner — a high-ranking county law enforcement official — had the authority to allow the newspaper to enter this Web site and, as such, reporters were authorized users.     This is a disgraceful lie.  The reporter’s testimony clearly indicates they knew they were not “authorized users.”  Can your reporters read?  There are numerous warnings on the website and read Lovelace’s testimony above.     The Intell used the Web site as a routine reportorial tool to obtain information Kirchner ordinarily provided, if he was available, in phone calls and other contacts.     You have no idea what Kirchner would or would not have provided over the phone.  And you are admitting to repeatedly illegally accessing the website as if it were “okay.”  Why do you think those citizens were arrested?     The Intell's use of the Web site did not impede or damage any criminal investigation or prosecution, nor did the attorney general present any evidence to even suggest this.     You have no idea whether this statement is true or not or to whom the reporters might have told information.        I’m too upset to continue with their lies and their destruction of journalism and the first amendment.  I will come back to this tomorrow along with a huge lie by Lovelace (why wasn’t he fired?)  Lanco Yokel has “fun” with his excellent piece (click here). LIARS! “This can only be taken as a clear indication that no criminal activity was engaged in by the staff members.” (Editorial on the front page of today’s Intell, click here).     LIARS!!! PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER TODAY FOR A PERSONAL RECOLLECTION OF LOVELACE LYING AND MUCH MORE…LIARS!!!   THE FULL GRAND JURY REPORT IS HERE.   *** BREAKING NEWS ***       Prosecutors said five of the paper's reporters testified to the grand jury after being granted immunity from prosecution. “County coroner charged with giving reporters 911 center password,” AP in today’s New Era (click here).     Disgraceful.  These papers defile journalism every single day.  Please check back tomorrow…   ~ And Sex On Their Desks? ~ PAPER CHASE        Attempting to compare this case to the Pentagon Papers case is a stretch. Posted on the www.ColumbiaPaOnline.com forum about Ron Harper’s story on www.5thestate.com (you must register in order to read the forum).     Yes, a lawyer for the Columbia Boro sent Harper an email demanding three items (see his site).  I don’t know the legalities here.  Harper had every right to view the computer and verify the information on it.  It should have never gotten into public hands.  He has a right to follow-up on possible stories he saw while viewing the computer.  Does he have a right to retain the images?  I’m not at all sure about that one.  This should all prove to be most interesting.     Actually, I’m more curious about this sentence he wrote in his January 1, 2007 “Year End Round-Up”:     It’s a fact that Lancaster Newspapers can and does tolerate their employees having sex on their desks but they better not write a story that rocks the convention center boat!     You don’t write a sentence like that without more details!  Prove it!  Who is having sex on their desks?  Out with it!  I could take a couple of guesses…. ALL OVER AGAIN If the private sector promoters of the hotel/convention center proposal were willing to demonstrate their confidence in the proposal by shouldering a fair share of the risk with the County, I would be all for it. Under the present structure, I cannot support the County guaranty of the bonds. Even more dangerous than the financial risk to the County and City taxpayers, is the damage a white elephant sitting on Penn Square will cause the City and County. It has all the appearance of Lancaster Square all over again. Commissioner Molly Henderson on her website (click here).     It’s official and Molly is running again.  Yahoo!  And her co-chair is Lois Herr.  Do you know that in Chester and Berks Counties, Herr out voted Joe (he’s the pits!) Pitts?  It was only in Lancaster County that he pulled more votes than Herr.  Does the water change when you cross the boundary or is it the Lancaster Newspapers that gave Herr almost no coverage but ran story after story about Pitts?      Herr has started a new website to keep an eye on Pitts and issues that affect the 16th Congressional District (click here).     A big hand clap for both women! MAD-DOG MARV     Q. You never give the people opposing the convention center any credit.     A. Maybe it's because some in that crowd remind me of the UFO "experts" on the History Channel. No conspiracy is too implausible for them. Marv Adams in his column this week, “Coaxing a big smile,” (click here).     I am officially changing his name from Marvelous Marv to Mad-dog Marv.  His stupidity and arrogance are not even remotely funny any more.  Artie See posted this under the article:     Is this the kind of representation that Lancaster Newspapers deserves? This person has turned the Sunday News from a well-respected organization into a public laughingstock.     The newspapers can’t hire editors from outside the LNP.  No one would be willing to compromise their journalistic credentials let alone their conscious, to do what these papers are doing.