AU student responds to WSJ article

By Jennifer J. Foster

If you read my post last week about the ridiculous Wall Street Journal article about football and dating, you will be interested in this letter to the editor, which appeared in the print edition of the Opelika-Auburn News today.

Auburn University freshman Peyton Alsobrook was an interview subject for Ms. Hannah Karp. In her letter today, Peyton does a terrific job of responding—with class—to the charges Karp made in the article and the misconceptions she included therein.

War Eagle, Peyton.

In search of $800K

By Jennifer J. Foster

Kim Chandler of The Birmingham News may have just uncovered Alabama’s next big government corruption story:

Two nonprofit corporations cre­ated by three legislators in 2006 have received hun­dreds of thousands in tax­payer dollars but have yet to undergo a required state au­dit.

The two groups created in 2006 have so far received $800,000 in state coal sever­ance money, according to the Alabama Department of Finance.

Basically, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill in 2006 that diverted part of the state’s coal severance tax revenue to various organiza­tions.

Let’s stop right there. The bill diverted state taxes to “various organizations.“ They must be well established if they are getting tax dollars, right?

Wrong.

The two groups that received the money—$100,000 each per year—didn’t even exist when the law was passed that diverted funding to them.

Who’s responsible for this mess?

State Sen. Roger Bedford, D­-Russellville, State Rep. Mike Millican, D-Hamilton and State Rep. William Thigpen, D-Fayette. They popped up to create the two nonprofits five months later. Both groups were incorporated as non­profits, but neither has received federal tax-exempt status, according to the Internal Revenue Service, Chandler reports.

Neither Bedford nor Millican returned calls for this story.

Big surprise.

Well, the purpose of the groups is to “strengthen their respective counties and the surrounding area through ‘economic and community development projects,‘“ so the money’s going to worthy projects, right?

Fayette County Probate Judge William Oswalt, who formed one of the groups with Bedford and Thigpen, referred questions to them about how his group has spent the money it has received.

“I think we’ve given some (money) to schools, to vol­unteer fire departments, for some road work, but you need to talk to the other two,“ Bedford and Thigpen.

Thigpen said the group had sent money to schools, volunteer fire departments and “other things.“ He re­ferred questions to Oswalt, who he said serves as trea­surer of the group. Thigpen said decisions about who or what got money form the nonprofit were usually made over the telephone.

“It takes a vote of two of the three of us to approve any spending, and we usu­ally do that over the phone,“ Thigpen said.

Well, at the least, there are annual reports about how the money has been spent, right?

Wrong.

The 2006 law sending the money to the organizations requires that the Examiners of Public Accounts “audit these foundations and asso­ciations and submit copies of the audit reports to the Legislature annually.“

However, a check with the examiners office turned up no record of an audit ever being done. The exam­iners office says it was un­aware of the existence of two nonprofit groups and the requirement to audit them.

Hmm. No one notified the examiners office? I’m sure that was just an oversight.

Bedford said previously that other legislators from Alabama coal country were using the coal tax revenue to benefit their districts.

But MOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!! EVERYBODY’S DOIN’ IT!!!!

Thigpen says the group would “welcome an audit if somebody wanted to do it.“

Oh, I’m sure they will.

Sparks on White Hall

By Jennifer J. Foster

From the Ron Sparks camp today:

Statement by Ron Sparks on Supreme Court Ruling

“The Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday indicates the urgency of the platform I’ve put forward.  This ruling puts at jeopardy an industry that brings hundreds of millions of dollars to both state and local governments in Alabama.

Currently, the people of this state are financing the services of governments in surrounding states.  The Supreme Court ruling does nothing but continue to play politics with one of the most urgent issues facing our state.  As governor, I will push for statewide regulation, local referendum to determine if gaming will be allowed, and taxation of gaming to provide funding for both education and Medicaid.”

Refer to news story:

http://www.whnt.com/news/sns-ap-al—court-bingo,0,4721976.story

Sparks is referring here to the Alabama Supreme Court decision Friday to strike down a preliminary injunction that kept the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling from conducting another raid of White Hall Resort and Entertainment Center. The decision is a blow to electronic bingo games, which some local officials and Attorney General Troy King have argued are allowable under Alabama law.

See also:

“Video bingo has Alabamians yelling everything but,“ from The New York Times. This article explores the patchwork nature of Alabama’s gambling laws and the way that patchwork opens the door for vague interpretations and helter-skelter enforcement of local ordinances.

Ignorance run amok

By Jennifer J. Foster

If you are a member of the Auburn Family, or if you are a fan of any football team in the Southeastern Conference, you need to read “Southern Football’s Dating Game” in The Wall Street Journal.

Unfortunately, friends, I’ve seen my share of poor excuses for journalism. But this one is right up there with the worst I’ve ever seen. I don’t know whether the editors in charge of assigning and reading this article were out to lunch (or out of the country), but I surely hope this is an anomaly for the Journal.

Go ahead and read the story. I’ll wait.

***

Most of the time, when I read bad articles, I just shake my head and let them go.

Not this time.

My e-mail to Hannah Karp, the reporter, follows below.

Dear Ms. Karp,

I read, then re-read in stunned confusion, your article called “Southern Football’s Dating Game.“ Fraternity football seating? As a professional journalist, I must say, it is difficult to conceive of a less relevant topic for The Wall Street Journal to cover, even in Life & Style.

As a Southerner and a graduate of Auburn University, it is difficult to conceive how you could have written a more obnoxious story if you had made a concerted effort.

I do hope that you are just the latest in a long line of know-it-all, big-city reporters from the North who parachute into our area and try to impart your knowledge and culture to us poor, hapless Southerners. If not—if you actually live or have lived here and have any frame of reference for that of which you write—then your research and observation skills are among the poorest I’ve ever had the misfortune of encountering.

The tradition of Southern men and women dressing up for football games is neither new nor unique to Auburn University. Hence, the word “tradition.” I’m not sure why you chose to focus your story on Auburn, but I am confident that if you would have spent any time researching your subject, you would have found—from sources from visiting schools, no less—that Auburn is one of the classiest places in the country, let alone the South, to attend a football game. It is unfortunate that you chose to highlight one letter to the editor from one disaffected student upon which to hang your entire story.

I did a simple Google search and found the following here in about 60 seconds (emphasis mine):

“And I wonder why people from the South seem to have such a bad taste for these papers. Had they done their research they would know the Auburn honors college has block seats, AFROTC, and several other non fraternity groups. And furthermore no group is handed the seats, fraternities must compete with spirit points to get them. And if you have ever been competing for spirit points it is not easy nor fun. It is tons of community service and going to AU tennis, volleyball and soccer matches to get them. So they help out the school and community a lot.”

What? You mean, the entire premise of this article – that frat guys are handed seats as an entitlement, and they are taking girls to games to try to keep them – is dead wrong?

Researching stories properly is a time-consuming, meticulous process. And what you find out can get in the way of the story you’ve already got planned. Perhaps that’s why you didn’t bother doing it.

It is also unfortunate that you lump Auburn into the same category with the ongoing controversy at The University of Mississippi. There is nothing here that echoes what you mentioned there. Your comparison is completely baseless.

To read your story, one would think that there are no fraternity men who take sorority women to football games up North, and no college students ever get rowdy at football games up there. I hope you wouldn’t intentionally insinuate something so ridiculous.

From a broader perspective, I am personally extremely disappointed in the Journal. Your story, as is plainly seen in the comments you have drawn, has only contributed to the cultural divide in this country; worse, it has done so needlessly and on the basis of poorly reported and completely misunderstood notions that you treat as “facts.“ This story is a disgrace to anyone who calls herself a professional journalist, and carrying it is a disgrace for any media outlet that purports to be a legitimate source of news.

Because of this story and your newspaper’s reckless decision to publish it, The Wall Street Journal has suffered a significant—and potentially irreparable—hit to its credibility throughout a large portion of the country. I know it has among the hundreds of thousands of Southern football fans who don’t care for your attitude as you sit in judgment of their values.

In the future, if you happen to cover anything in the South, I implore you to make a better effort to educate yourself and limit your ignorance. Otherwise, at the very least, please make at least a minimal effort to conceal your contempt for things you do not, and choose not to, understand. We would appreciate it, and it will help you to not come off as such a self-important, condescending snob.

Thank you,

Jennifer Foster

P.S. I am copying this note to your editor in hopes that he or she can sit down with you and explain to you the difference between “maybe” and “may be” (e.g., “no matter where in the world they maybe” from your sidebar, “A Sampling of SEC Traditions”). If not, contact us in the South. We may love our football, but we know the difference, and we’ll be glad to talk you through it.

If you would like to send Ms. Karp an e-mail of your own, her address is hannah(dot)karp(at)dowjones.com.

War Eagle!!! We know why we say it, even if they don’t.

This week’s column

By Jennifer J. Foster

In case you missed it in Saturday’s Opelika-Auburn News, or if you live outside the print delivery area, my most recent column is now available online. Check it out:

Exactly what are they afraid of?

You might also be interested in this News editorial, which reflects on the need for tax reform—through constitutional reform—in Alabama.

Folks, if you haven’t already, please join us in support of a constitutional convention to right the wrongs of the Alabama Constitution of 1901.

We need you—and so does your state.