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Page 2 - STAR- FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 2007
Newspaper
n Continued from 1
when the plant buses stopped
at Hale’s Drug Store at the corner
of Elk Avenue and
Sycamore Street when they
made their runs from the rayon
plants, I would be there
with my papers when the bus
stopped, and I sold quite a few
to those who got off the bus. I
really don’t know any specific
occasion that triggered my
wanting to be a newspaperman
except that I enjoy being
around the newspaper, and especially
enjoyed seeing it put
together. My brother, Herman,
who was also a newspaperman,
encouraged me.
The newspaper is a fascinating
business. For one thing,
I believe a newspaper publisher
— and this also applies to a
reporter — is the last person in
modern life who has to know
something about most things.
I like that and the challenge it
presents. Most newspaper
publishers are essentially businessmen,
and one of the nice
things about a small newspaper
is that even though you
have to attend to business —
or you don’t have a newspaper
— the fact of the matter is
you can do all kinds of things
and diversify. I tell my employees:
“It is your job to get
the paper out, and it is my job
to see that the bills are paid
and to take care of the payroll.”
There are also many difficult
decisions that have to be
made. Folks all the time are
asking that we leave something
out of the paper — a realty
transfer, a newsbeat item,
divorces and marriage licenses,
and DUIs. That is something
we do not do. If it’s a
matter of public record, we
print it. I have always told my
editorial staff, you leave something
out of the paper and that
is grounds for dismissal.
I guess one of the most difficult
decisions of any newspaper
is firing someone. When
you run a small newspaper
such as the STAR, this is always
very personal. I always
tell my people in supervision,
if you must fire someone,
make sure you have reason to
do so, and do it with dignity.
But, regardless, it’s a difficult
task.
As far as the STAR, I’ve al-
Woman fined $717,000 for claiming
to be nurse says she will appeal
CHATTANOOGA (AP) —
A woman fined $717,000 by
Tennessee’s nursing board
for falsely claiming to be a
registered nurse and nurse
practitioner said Wednesday
she is a victim of “falsehoods”
and will appeal the
penalty.
“I want these falsehoods
retracted,” said Marketa
Barnes, 50, who formerly
worked as administrator at a
Caring Senior Service USA
franchise in Chattanooga. “I
know I am going to appeal
it.”
A state Board of Nursing
order said Barnes was fined
for dispensing medicine and
directing other employees
without a license.
Jeff Salter, the San Antonio,
Texas-based company’s
founder and chief executive
officer, said Barnes “at all
ways liked to try things that
are different, and we’ve always
been at the forefront of
doing things differently. We
were among the first papers in
the state to be completely computerized.
We were among the
first in the region to use color
photos daily. We now employ
three full-time photographers
and one part-timer. I can remember
when we only had
one photographer, and all our
pictures were black and white.
But through the years we began
using more pictures and
trying to build stories around
pictures, and using pictures to
supplement how words are
used. As the technology
emerged, we began to use color
pictures. And now, all our
cameras are digital.
From my columns, you
probably know that I am also
interested in history. I really do
believe in the famous saying,
“Those that don’t read history
are condemned to relive it.”
And, that’s true.
Newspapers are often accused
of bias, distortions and
sensationalism. And, it’s inevitable
no matter how good a
job newspapers do. Everything
somebody does is biased
to some extent. You have to
decide what to cover, how to
play it, what quotes to use,
what quotes not to use. The
best you can do is try to be fair.
I think as a newspaper we do
that.
Through my experience as
a newspaperman, I have
found that our core readers are
older and getting older, and
that is true of most newspapers.
At the STAR, we have a
Newspaper in Education program,
which is extremely important,
because it introduces
young readers to the newspapers.
But, I think we will always
have more older readers
than young readers, simply
because that is how it is. At
certain stages in life, more people
are going to be interested
in reading, particularly the local
news, than they are in another
stage of their life. And, to
take a 19-year-old-now and
put him or her up against a 45year-old
who owns a home
and has a vested interest in
their community and say,
“Gee, that 19-year-old isn’t
times was an employee of a
franchisee which is independently
owned and operated.”
He said the company
“had no supervisory authority
over her.”
The former franchise holder,
Jerry Batson, could not be
reached for comment.
From about October 2004
to April 2006, Barnes repeatedly
called herself a “registered
nurse” or “nurse practitioner”
despite not having
been licensed, the order says.
While purporting to be a
nurse, Barnes gave medications
about 72 times and
gave instructions to workers
about 75 times, according to
the order.
“The action of Marketa
Barnes poses such an imminent
threat to patient safety
that it requires maximum
penalty,” the order says.
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reading the newspaper like a
45-year-old,” that doesn’t say
to me that 19-year-old won’t
read the newspaper at age 45.
I think newspapers will always
be relevant, especially local
newspapers. I don’t know
anyone that takes their computer
to the bathroom with
them, but I know plenty of
people who take their newspaper
to the bathroom.
There’s something about
newspapers that is sort of romantic
— taking bad copy and
writing it over to make it good,
shaping sentences that flow
clearly and passionately, trying
to meet a deadline, being
there to get that first issue “hot
off the press,” the pages still
warm in your hands.
What makes it romantic?
Every day of every week, of
every month, depending on
the publication, together, the
publisher and his staff have
created a kind of time capsule,
and its importance goes beyond
today. It becomes precious
to history.
Forgive me if I brag a little.
Now, when most papers are
corporately owned by large
chains, it is no small thing that
a small privately owned newspaper
could survive in Elizabethton
for more than 125
years, beginning as The
Mountaineer in 1864 by the
late W.R. Fitzsimmons. No
matter what you think of us,
that fact says something honorable
about the community
and the people who have lived
and worked here for many
years. You make us what we
are.
We only exist because of
you — our readers and advertisers
— and that is very humbling
to us. Aside from gathering
and printing the news, our
objective is to serve, and hopefully,
we will always strive to
do just that.
It is my duty and responsibility,
including reporters, to
serve all our readers with honest
and fair news.
A college student wrote his
father: “No Mon, No Fun,
Your Son.”
The father’s reply was:
“Too Bad, So Sad, Your Dad!”
Barnes also could face legal
problems from the Tennessee
Department of
Health’s investigation. The
department attorney is referring
the case to the Hamilton
County district attorney and
“any other appropriate legal
authorities,” according to the
Board of Nursing order.
The order, issued after a
Dec. 7 hearing, is the “culmination”
of the department’s
investigation, department
spokeswoman Shelley Walker
said.
The order also said Barnes
gave one client drugs such as
liquid methadone and later
pronounced the same client’s
death.
“That is a falsehood,”
Barnes said. “These people
self-medicated. They did
have nurses in the home.”
Barnes said she was a victim
of a business dispute
“vendetta” and was preparing
an administrative appeal.
By The Associated Press
Forecasters predicted
heavy snow in the Cascade
mountains and in the Idaho
Panhandle today, and more
record warm temperatures
were predicted in parts of
the East Coast.
The heaviest snow was expected
in the higher elevations
of the Cascades in
Washington and Oregon,
and in the northern Idaho
Panhandle and western
Montana. Some peaks in the
Cascades could see more
than 2-1/2 feet of snow,
while Idaho and Montana
are both likely to receive
around between 14 and 18
inches.
Colorado is also expected
to get more heavy snow, but
the worst will fall west of
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CHICAGO (AP) — Crocuses
are pushing out of the
ground in New Jersey. Ice
fishing tournaments in Minnesota
are being canceled for
lack of ice. And golfers are
hitting the links in Chicago in
January.
Much of the Midwest and
the East Coast are going
through a remarkably warm
winter, with temperatures
running 10 and 20 degrees
higher than normal in many
places.
“I’m not complaining. I
can take this,” said Rudolph
Williams, a doorman in New
York City who normally
wears a hat this time of year
but stood outside in 50-degree
weather with his shaved
head uncovered. “The Earth
is recalibrating itself: Last
year, we had a cold winter,
and it’s balancing itself out
now. In January, it feels like
the middle of April.”
New York City saw a November
and December without
snow for the first time
since 1877. And New Jersey
had its warmest December
since records started being
kept 111 years ago.
Maria Freitas said that not
only are crocus bulbs blooming
in her Rahway, N.J., backyard,
but the asparagus is
three inches high.
“They think it’s spring.
They’re so confused,” she
said.
Meteorologists say the
warm spell is due to a combination
of factors: El Nino, a
cyclical warming trend now
under way in the Pacific
Ocean, can lead to milder
weather, particularly in the
Northeast; and the jet
stream, the high-altitude air
current that works like a barricade
to hold back warm
Southern air, is running
much farther north than usual
over the East Coast.
The weather is prone to
short-term fluctuations, and
forecasters said the mild
winter does not necessarily
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Warm winter weather in East, Midwest
Temperatures for December were warmer than normal for much of
the Midwest and East Coast.
Temperature departure from normal Dec. 2006
1-2° below 1-3° above 3-5° 5-8° >8°
SOURCE: Weather Underground AP
mean global warming is upon
us. In fact, the Plains have
been hit by back-to-back
blizzards in the past two
weeks.
“No cause for alarm. Enjoy
it while you have it,” said
Mike Halpert, head of forecast
operations at the National
Oceanic & Atmospheric
Administration’s Climate
Prediction Center.
Whatever the explanation,
Amanda Dickens was enjoying
the weather Wednesday
at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor
as she ate lunch outside with
her husband and 3-year-old
son. Temperatures there
were expected to reach 60
degrees.
At the Marovitz Golf
Course in Chicago near Lake
Michigan, 30 people teed off
between 9 a.m. and noon,
when there are usually no
golfers at all this time of year.
Leonard Berg, the course’s
superintendent for maintenance,
gestured to the fairways
with pride: “Normally
this time of year there would
be a brown singe to it. Look
at that nice emerald green.”
At New York’s Brooklyn
Botanic Garden, the
“everblooming” cherry trees
are flowering more fully than
usual, producing thousands
Denver, with only around 3
to 6 inches expected in the
city.
In the East, soaking rains
were expected from the lower
Mississippi Valley through
northern New England.
Heavy rain was also expected
in the South and southern
Appalachians.
A line of thunderstorms
was expected to develop
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Photo by Eveleigh Hatfield
Warm weather has brought people outside to enjoy the balmy spring-like days of
January. This lady was seen bicycling Thursday on the trail by the Watauga River. Children
were also seen playing in the park. Although, local residents woke up to rain this morning,
temperatures are expected to remain on the warm side today and Saturday.
Unusually warm winter in Midwest
and East makes for strange sights
of blooms instead of hundreds.
But the mild weather is also
hurting some businesses
and events.
In Minnesota, where a water
skier in a wetsuit was recently
seen on the Mississippi
River near St. Paul, ice
fishing tournaments have
been canceled. The U.S. Pond
Hockey Championships —
scheduled for Jan. 19-21 in
Minneapolis — have only a
50-50 chance of being held.
And organizers of the St.
Paul Winter Carnival, scheduled
to begin late this month,
said the ice is not thick
enough to harvest into 1,400
blocks for the ice maze. They
may have to switch to plastic
blocks.
“It would give the effect,
but it’s not exactly Minnesota
winter,” said Mary Huss, a
spokeswoman for the event.
In Ohio, Dan Motz said
sales for his firewood business
in a Cincinnati suburb
are down about 25 percent.
In Maryland, buds are appearing
on apple and peach
trees, raising the prospect of
a poor spring crop if a sudden
cold snap kills the blossoms.
A gradual cooldown
would minimize any damage.
More heavy snow forecast for Colorado
from northeastern Pennsylvania
through Connecticut
that could also bring significant
rain.
In California there were
clear skies and mild temperatures,
with highs in the mid
60s throughout the southern
part of the state.
Temperatures in the lower
48 states Thursday ranged
from a low of minus 7 degrees
at Alamosa, Colo., to a
high of 83 degrees at Fort
Myers, Fla.
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