ECSO Finally Being Held Accountable…Maybe

This morning, the first email I say in my Inbox was a letter that I had been waiting for…..the letter to the ECSO from the ACLU. I went to the ACLU last year when I received a public records request from ECSO (amazingly) with a list of all the “blocked & banned” people the ECSO had compiled, a list of people unable to comment on their Facebook page. I am on the banned list and I wondered how many people were. There were only a few who were banned like I was but the list of blocked profiles was extensive.

Banned List

So this was the lead story on the Channel 3 News tonight.

More to come as it transpires…….

National FBI Embarrassment Paralleled in Local Corruption

I’m not a rocket scientist nor am I a legal scholar, but I am educated; I can read plain English and comprehend the meaning of texts, with a good grasp on the concepts of law due to my own self education via legal professionals and criminologists. It does not take a person with a law degree to recognize the inequities of justice in a corrupt system.
Basic comparison of situations that are essentially the same and the extremely contradictory outcomes depending on status of the person affected within the community.

For almost 2 years, the politics at a national level have escalated (or sank, may be more apt) to a level never seen before. At the core of the issues is the FBI. The FBI is an agency that has been historically touted as the most elite law enforcement agency in the world. The work that agency has done is impressive and professional at times. The FBI set the standards for law enforcement agencies, as well as improving how law enforcement functions should be best achieved. Recently, that image was tarnished. A few bad apples spoiled the bunch.

The law enforcement failures (FBI) seen at the federal level should cause all of us to take pause. FBI, among other federal entities has oversight from Congress, the media and others, with a voice that resonates in the public–not just nationally, but globally. Still, the system failed, and bad people were able to do unprecedentedly bad things that the public has never been able to see before. Individuals that swore an oath to avoid personal bias while applying the law to and for the citizens who placed trust in their morality, and overall stewardship of the greater good and who are trusted to make decisions beyond the scope of their duty. These trusted, elite few made a personal choice on what was best for everyone and who should answer for law violations. These trusted, elite few are responsible for enforcing the law, based on an obligation to the public to decide on what they perceived should occur in the best interest of everyone.

This agency, the FBI, is not representative of law enforcement at all anymore. They take advantage of the access they have to the “big stick”, being abuse of their trusted power to ruin people by bearing false witness, misrepresentation of the facts and obfuscating the facts. No one would ever want to be on the wrong side of such a corrupt organization, nor would we wish it on our worst enemy.  It is unfair and impossible to combat unless there is unlimited flow of cash or political power to fight to fight such a thing. This is precisely what is taking place in Escambia County right now!

There have been stories/reports about Sir David and his misuse of money that was not his to spend, that only benefited him personally and politically. Sir David, knowing he is above the reach of Bill Eddins, ignored state laws and spent what he wanted. Sir David acted with reckless brazen thumbing his defiance because of his elected position or maybe because he was an employee for Eddins before their elevation to elected office. Regardless, he clearly acted as if he had no reason to worry about violating the law. His administration routinely conducts investigations that are questionable that target citizens and ECSO employees. Many situations should petrify people who could be in the crosshairs of political vendetta to wonder why Sir David is allowed be a criminal. He is aware that to be held accountable someone in the States Attorney’s Office would have be willing to be accountable AND willing to hold him accountable.

Time and again, Eddins has not even pretended he would fight any sort of political corruption. He routinely takes the side of an official, often without looking at evidence against such an official or having facts to support his position. It is impossible to trust Eddins when his conduct has been so questionable. Individuals have suffered long arduous trials that take thousands of dollars to present and even more to defend. An average citizen could never keep up with what can be spent by Eddins. Yet, this is where a citizen in this county is expected to turn when reporting an issue with an official. It could be argued that the message is, “as long as you don’t rock the boat, we won’t destroy you.”

State Attorney:Judge throws out case against Wild Greg’s owner

by Ly’Nita Carter

Aug, 16, 2018

The owner of Wild Greg’s Saloon in downtown Pensacola is acquitted Thursday, according to the State Attorney’s Office.

Greg Urban was arrested and charged in May with resisting an officer without violence, a report states.

The charges stem from an incident in February. Pensacola Police were conducting an investigation at the saloon.

According to a report, authorities claimed Urban resisted arrest or interfered with an officer performing his course of duties.

On Thursday, an Escambia County Judge ruled there was not enough evidence to move forward.

A recent case involving a local business owner is probably one of the best examples of what is being described. Greg Urban was arrested for resisting arrest without violence. The officer testifying stated that Urban had lied during an investigation that did not involve Urban as a suspect. The officer espoused the quote he claimed Urban said that prompted the arrest. Since there was a video of the dialogue, it was presented a video to the judge in court following the officer’s account account under oath. The video revealed Urban did not make the quote as stated by the officer. The defense attorney pointed this out and the officer continued to misquote what Urban had stated. Fortunately, the judge was paying attention and the case ended with a Judge Ordered Acquittal. This should be a gross embarrassment to the States Attorney Office and the Pensacola Police Department. They conspired to take a case to a jury trial that they should have known had no basis for even probable cause. Yet there will never be in public acknowledgement of such a gross mistake. These folks forced Urban to court and forced him to spend money for counsel and lose wages during the process. See the “big stick” mentality at work?

Citizens must force change for this behavior to end. Get these stories out into the public and support those already courageous enough to have their story out. This kind of irresponsible, corrupted behavior can only be stopped through exposing the corruption and put this improper behavior in the spotlight. No one can take these officials at their word. Question the issues that seem wrong. Make the officials in the office paid for by taxpayers be held accountable. Do not allow them to treat anyone as if they are irrelevant. Turning a blind eye to even one person being treated like Urban increases the odds that anyone could be the next target.

Don’t forget, taxpayers are the reason they have a job!

    

What’s Wrong with Pensacola’s Sinclair Station?

Mr. Marks,

I bring you yet another communication, ON BEHALF OF CITIZENS OF PENSACOLA, to ask WHAT IS WRONG WITH WEAR 3?

Your mission statement:

Our goal is simple: We alert, protect and empower
our audience on all platforms.

We produce compelling, engaging, informative newscasts.

Our stations hold public officials accountable, 
asking the tough questions that our viewers would ask.

Our newscasts have stories that make a difference.

The key to our success is content choices.

As expected, there is still no mention of the State Attorney’s Investigation of the Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan and his misuse of funds. This “insignificant” investigation questions how the HONORABLE Sheriff Morgan wrongly allocated funds to non-profits for quid pro quo donations from their members to his campaign fund. This should have been overseen by 5 county commissioners and the budget director of the county. We are talking about $1M misappropriation, which I believe is a felony in any other profession. During the last several weeks, there are 6 elected officials and one higher ranking county official that are being investigated  The investigation is still on-going (which gives the accusation much more credence) even as the good Sheriff doles out more money and brags about it on Facebook pompously throwing it in everyone’s face.

This story which potentially affects the entirety of your broadcasting area, but WEAR is mum.

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Yet a falsely reported violation of the Florida Sunshine Law (which would have been a misdemeanor punishable with a fine) of one county commissioner was covered by Channel 3 at the behest of another county commissioner.  Commissioner Doug Underhill ran to the State Attorney’s Office and reported Commissioner Grover Robinson for talking about about county business outside the county commission meeting.

http://weartv.com/news/local/sunshine-law-violation-filed-against-grover-robinson

Then within approximately 24 hours this story ran:

http://weartv.com/news/local/no-violation-of-sunshine-law-committed-by-grover-robinson

Fact: Grover Robinson was investigated for less than a day of a misdemeanor & Channel 3 ran the story.

Fact: The Sheriff of Escambia County and all 5 County Commissioners along with other county personnel are the target of a lengthy investigation for felony misappropriation of county funds and conspiracy  & Channel 3 has yet to cover the story.

If the entire county government infrastructure facing possible impeachment, removal and/or indictment is not newsworthy, then there is no story that needs to be aired.

The trust of community rests on the accuracy of news reporting. Mr. Lowe’s integrity is incontestably deficient if not, non-existent.  I reiterate,the validity of this broadcasting station as a news entity is continually enfeebled by political partisanship. In fact, the impulsive jump to run the story regarding Mr. Robinson could be seen as possibly malicious defamation. It was prematurely reported, particularly given the quick dismissal by the State Attorney’s office. Had Mr. Lowe put the same “consideration” in airing Mr. Robinson’s investigation as he has in not airing the story on the Sheriff, it would not have been news at all.

How do these two news items align with your mission statement?

– Does it hold politicians accountable, asking the tough questions your audience would ask?

-Does it alert, protect or empower the community?

A response would be greatly appreciated in this matter because I am holding you accountable on behalf of the Pensacola community.

 

ethics journalism sign at DuckDuckGo.clipular

Letter to Sinclair Broadcasting

The Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to bare the secrets of government and inform the people.–Hugo Black

News Operations - Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc..clipular

The following was sent to JC Lowe and Steve Marks on July 1st, 2016:

We are coming upon the anniversary of this nation’s independence. It is the time to rejoice in the freedoms we have in the US that other countries do not have. As a part of that, the freedom of the press is imperative. It is the mechanism to maintain the republic. If government is transparent to the press, democracy breathes. The less transparent government becomes, the more democracy loses its ground. Power of the press keeps government on their toes. This is one of the most important components in American society.  In order to preserve the integrity of that, no person should control the truth.

SBGI’s mission statement reflects that necessity:

We produce compelling, engaging, informative newscasts. Our stations hold public officials accountable, asking the tough questions that our viewers would ask. Our newscasts have stories that make a difference. The key to our success is content choices. Our goal is simple: We alert, protect and empower our audience on all platforms.

Pensacola News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News - WEAR.clipular

WEAR Channel 3, Pensacola, a Sinclair Broadcasting station, under the oversight of JC Lowe,  has been strong armed or entered into a conspiracy with local corruption. The Escambia County Sheriff is currently under investigation by the State Attorney’s Office for misappropriation of LET funds. Sheriff Morgan has quashed the news coverage of this issue. There are no news stories of any of the Sheriff’s questionable activities on WEAR including the bullying of a local little league coach over a campaign sign. That was not covered. Mr. Lowe being “buddies” with Sheriff Morgan has become more important than the mission of Sinclair Broadcasting.

The following are links to articles that are of significance within the community that Sheriff Morgan has strong armed out of the news through WEAR.

http://pulsegulfcoast.com/2016/06/escambia-sheriff-under-fire-over-controversial-donations

http://cjsstreetreport.blogspot.com/2016/06/morgan-misused-letf-funds-for-billboards.html

http://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/escambia-county/2016/06/21/state-attorneys-office-reviewing-ecso-charity-efforts/86173366/

http://www.panhandlepolitico.com/escambia-news/put-it-back-county-overrules-sheriffs-removal-of-rival-campaign-sign/

These are just a few of the articles on these 2 particular events. There are more and yet WEAR has declined to air any story that might show Morgan in a bad light in campaign season. This is a perversion of journalistic integrity. The people of Escambia County are being willfully misled by the misinformation on this candidate’s handling of their money. That really should be considered an attempt to rig the election.

There is a demographic in Pensacola that openly advocates on social media to boycott anything to do with your station. The ripples of this will be felt for years to come and local information is less likely to be the news choice for the local people. If they cannot trust what is being shown as news, not just stories about someone’s cat, why are they taking up space in the area? Locals are going to the look outside the Pensacola market.

Seems this station has either outlived its effectiveness as a point of info for the region. Can this faux pas be corrected? Unfortunately, I believe it is the former. Maybe this is Mr. Lowe’s intent–to make the station irrelevant in order to close it. That would be a hardship within this community, because people want to be able to see Sue Straughn and Bob Solarkski every night, because these people have established trust over the years, but Mr. Lowe is taking their integrity within the community down with it.

Perhaps the mission statement should be re-written to say one of the goals is to undermine WEAR’s importance as a news outlet that desecrates the legacy of the anchors within the community? I no longer live in the community but as it is my hometown, I watch the news and keep up with things online and via social media. Mr. Lowe has made Channel 3 irrelevant.  Just something to think about.

When the public’s right to know is threatened, and when the rights of free speech and free press are at risk, all of the other liberties we hold dear are endangered.

— Christopher Dodd

Sincerely,

Jimmie Staley

Crusader, Blogger, Activist