Killeen Daily Herald

[Stu]

Letters to the Editor you likely won't read in our hometown newspaper.

[Stu]

29 April 2007
To the Editor:

Readers expect the Killeen Daily Herald to do more than just echo the Associated Press’ slanted view of the world. (Economy crawling at slowest pace in 4 years, 28 April). Those who track authentic financial analysis know that market cycles will occur even within our current vibrant and growing economy and that the “average” American is better off today than they were 6+ years ago. This reality however won’t change the AP’s dour economic drumbeat until democrats no longer pine for the White House.

Mrs. Sue Mayborn said “Newspapers are expected to take a leadership role in the community, and we want to.” The Herald could start by focusing less on short-term fluctuations in market sectors and more on what Congress must do to mitigate the negative long-term impacts of our onerous tax system, growing federal and individual debt and exhaustion of the Medicare and social security system funds. This investment in real journalism would be a welcomed change to replace the front-page AP editorials that currently masquerade as news.

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

23 December 2007
To the Editor:

Recommend the Killeen Daily Herald staff capitalize the words Soldiers and Families in their articles. Recently, Army Chief of Staff Peter J. Schoomaker directed this change in all new Army documents and media releases to show respect for the Soldiers who defend our freedoms. The Director of the Army Staff followed by adding Families to pay respect to those who also serve.

The Army asked the editors of Webster’s Dictionary and the Associated Press Stylebook to include this change. Webster’s balked and the AP said they’d “consider it”.

DoD can’t mandate that civilians adopt this standard but doing so would reflect positively on the KDH, especially given its role as a media leader in a military town.

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

27 January 2008
To the Editor:

Issues of substance abound, yet the Killeen Daily Herald chooses instead to run sordid material in its Sunday front page headline. (Strippers vocal about sex charges, 27 January).

Perhaps someone would explain the thought process that led to that decision, as well as including most of page A-3. If the intent was to elicit sympathy then a scan of just the first sentence identified those who deserve it; the TABC investigators who wade through that environment every day.

Regardless, that the KDH considers this story worthy of such expansive coverage shows both a lack of propriety and poor judgment. Hopefully others joined me in bypassing the sleazy details, burying that section in the recycle bin, and expressing their displeasure.

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

10 February 2008
To the Editor:

What is the deal with the editorial process at the KDH? Ground breaking for the Killeen Police Station and the City Council’s impasse on mailboxes merit the front page yet Lieutenant General Odierno’s nomination for promotion to General and assignment as the Vice Chief of Staff – Army is relegated to page B-1, and with an AP byline at that. (Killeen Daily Herald, 6 February).

I waited a few days to see if the AP article was just a placeholder. Sadly, it appears that’s not the case.

LTG Odierno has done a magnificent job as Commander, US III Armored Corps and Commander, Multi-National Corps – Iraq. The KDH might appreciate the significance of this announcement if someone understood the scope of the VCSA’s duties and responsibilities. Hopefully the KDH will invest in that research soon and then generate coverage appropriate to the occasion

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

Rep. John R. Carter (R-TX) is our United States congressman. To some, that may come as a surprise given media coverage that remains slanted in another direction. Texans however know that redistricting in 2003 aligned Rep. Carter with District 31 and moved Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX) to District 17. Since then however the response of the KDH and some local civic leaders continues to best be described as petulant.

The gaffes - and that's being generous – and impertinent behavior include misidentifying him as C.W. Mike Carter (a candidate for Nolanville mayor), fawning over Rep. Edwards during local events even when the two are together (including the dedication of the Visitors Center at Fort Hood), and including him as the blurred figure in a picture foreground. (Vets hear from candidates, February 10).

Congressman Carter recently helped secure $357K in the 2008 Omnibus bill for range revegetation; a project that will help sustain training areas at Fort Hood. Once again, many would only know that if you caught the tiny article on page B-2 (KDH, February 12).

Politics aside, many of us appreciate what Rep. Edwards has done for this community since 1990 by leveraging his seniority in the US Congress, especially for Soldiers, Families, and Fort Hood. Still, the KDH et al need to get a grip and treat the Judge with the respect he deserves and has earned. It’s way past due.

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

19 April 2008

Instead of dullards from CBS News and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, it would be refreshing if the KDH would instead carry cogent pundits like Ralph Peters in the editorial section.

Ralph and I were students at the US Army Command & General Staff College in 1991-1992. Ralph never shies from the truth and articulates his points in a succinct and convincing manner. Some may find his delivery acerbic, but few Soldiers I know disagree with the essence of his points; unlike we do other retired talking heads.

The New York Post carries Ralph and published the following on April 11, 2008. As usual, he’s spot on.

Still Serving & Army Strong!

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

PRESS 1, TROOPS 0
By RALPH PETERS

TODAY, the Newseum - a 250,000-square-foot homage to journalism that cost $450 million to build - opens on Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between the White House and the Capitol.

What's wrong with this picture?

Other than the (symbolic?) fact that the building's an architectural mishmash, it's this: There's no museum in the vicinity of the National Mall dedicated to our military.

Tells you a lot about the vanity and priorities of today's governing and informational "elite," doesn't it? Ignore the blood, enshrine the ink. A Pulitzer Prize outranks a Congressional Medal of Honor.

I don't really begrudge journalists their we-love-us monument. Massive egos need a massive building (total of 643,000 sq. ft., including a new Wolfgang Puck restaurant). But isn't something fundamentally wrong when there's plenty of donor funding available for a museum glorifying those who cover our wars, but not a cent to tell the stories of those who fight them?

Having served in our Army for more than two decades, followed by a decade's adjunct membership in the media, I have to tell my new colleagues to get a grip: You are not the story.

Let's be honest: Journalists are parasites. Whether war correspondents or metro-desk editor, we live off the deeds and misdeeds of others. They do, we tell. Without the soldiers, cops and firemen (or the politicians, terrorists and criminals), there ain't no stories.

And for the record: I don't throw words around. The primary definition of "parasite" in the Oxford English Dictionary (Fifth Edition) is "a person who lives at the expense of another person or of society in general."

To paraphrase Johnnie Cochran, "If the epithet fits, you must admit."

Of course, any biologist will tell you that there are good parasites and bad ones, so we're not condemning the entire profession here. Just noting that journalists piggyback on the courage or failings of others.

When I go to Iraq, I recognize that I'm just a privileged tourist among our troops. I wish more journalists figured that one out.

What happened? It's pretty straightforward. Journalism was always something of an outsiders' profession. The great war correspondents of the past - Ernie Pyle, Richard Tregaskis, Edward R. Murrow, Bill Mauldin and their like - either came up from the same tough streets or small towns as the soldiers they covered or at least knew the kind of folks who served in the ranks.

Not these days, pardner. Today, big-media journalism is a white-collar, insiders' profession that grows more elitist by the year.

The change began in Vietnam, when ambitious young men (and some women) looking for kicks after college went slumming amid the carnage. Some had big talents; all had big egos.

That's when journalists began casting themselves as the heroes of their stories, as the courageous fighters for truth, as the saviors of the nation and all humanity.

Then came Watergate, when two young reporters brought down a presidency and were rewarded by successive bestsellers and a film in which two real-life nebbishes were played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.

Journalism faculties boomed. Journalism began to be written for other journalists, for prizes, not for the people.

From "All The President's Men" forward, journalism was the ultimate career for the well-educated, well-connected young voyeur who didn't want any bottom-line responsibility (just a byline, thanks). No need to get dirty, at least not for very long. Just make fun of the young soldiers or cops who get dirty every day.

It's gotten so bad that one middleweight media concern in DC now does all it can to hire only Ivy League grads.

Think there's any exaggeration in this column? Let's have a pop quiz:

Name some journalists who've reported from Iraq. Even if the names come a bit slowly, the faces in those TV stand-ups leap to mind, don't they? We know who the reporters are. (A public-affairs officer described one network anchor who touched down briefly for street cred as "The most frightened human being I've ever seen.")

Question No. 2: Name one decorated hero from Iraq or Afghanistan. Just one. Out of the Congressional Medal of Honor winners, or from among those awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, or out of the hundreds whose selfless courage earned them a Silver Star or a Bronze Star with V-device (for valor).

If you can't name a single hero, can you at least picture one face? They way you remember the smarter-than-thou mugs of the journalists posing in helmets and flak jackets behind the cafeteria in the Green Zone?

In World War II, we knew the names of our military heroes. Now we know the names of the journalists who, at most, report an act of heroism as "Sergeant X lost his life defending his fellow soldiers in a botched military operation." (In the media world, all military operations are botched.)

Yes, I realize we need a free media. (My officer's oath was to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States." And the First Amendment, well, it comes first. Got it.) But with freedom comes responsibility.

Would it be too much to ask for a little humility on the part of the privileged? Yesterday, at Ft. Bragg, I met a Special Forces sergeant-major whose courage won him the Distinguished Service Cross. He'll never earn what a TV anchor earns.

Yesteryear's journalists viewed our troops as their brothers. Today's star journalists regard our troops as props.

Is any journalist - any journalist - really more heroic than the least private in an Infantry platoon? Where's Private Smith's museum in the heart of our nation's Capitol?

The Newseum will charge a $20 admission fee. I checked with the institution's public-relations department: There's no military discount.

[Stu]

Why did someone at the KDH approve that front page photo? (A place to call home, 24 May 2008) I can think of two explanations.

If made without considering the likely first impression – that Congressman Carter wasn’t paying attention – then the decision was sloppy and unprofessional. It seems the Congressman's mother was at the hospital that morning and he was waiting for an update from her doctor. If the reporter had asked then I’m sure another photo could have then been used.

If made intentionally then it’s another petulant dig at Congressman Carter. That’s probably the correct answer given the KDH’s track record.

Either way, it’s another embarrassing data point for Killeen’s marquee newspaper. Think anyone there will notice and apologize? Me neither. But at least today they spared us the Pittsburgh Pundit.

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

If the KDH opts to print an AP business writer’s work then it should at least include the entire article (Oil costs continue to climb, June 7, 2008) The following was omitted, no doubt due to space constraints.

Why should we care? Because the omitted section provides context to the remainder of the article.

This is not the first time that “literary license” has shaped what we read, and not just in the KDH. So what’s your take away?

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

********

Page A-6; Oil costs: $150/barrel? (continued)

Drivers are now paying an average of $3.99 for a gallon of regular gas nationwide, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service; in many parts of the country, consumers are already paying well over $4. Retail diesel slipped a penny overnight to $4.76.

Pump prices are bound to rise even further if oil sustains its advance. James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firm Liberty Trading Group, predicted prices could rise to $4.25 as early as the end of the month. “Unfortunately, drivers cutting back isn’t going to lower the price of gasoline anytime soon,” he said.

The dramatic reversal in what had been a weakening oil market began Thursday after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested the bank could raise interest rates and the euro climbed against the dollar. When interest rates rise in Europe, or fall in the U.S., the dollar tends to weaken against the euro.

Many traders buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the dollar is falling, and a weaker dollar makes oil cheaper for investors dealing in other currencies. Analysts believe the dollar’s protracted decline has been a major reason why oil prices have nearly doubled in the past year.

The euro strengthened further against the greenback Friday. A Labor Department report showing the U.S. unemployment rate jumped half a percentage point to 5.5 percent last month—its biggest monthly increase since 1986—could drag the dollar even lower in the days ahead.

“Unemployment jumping as it did today will be in the market for a long time and will continue to pressure the U.S. dollar,” Cordier said.

The influx of so much fresh money into the energy markets has caught the attention of federal watchdogs. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently said it was six months into a probe of U.S. oil markets focused on possible price manipulation.
Asked about Friday’s surge, CFTC spokesman R. David Gary said: “People are aware of what’s happening and are monitoring the markets closely, but beyond that there is no comment.”

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures jumped 29.32 cents to settle at $3.974 a gallon, while gasoline prices rose 21.35 cents to settle at $3.548 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 17.4 cents to settle at $12.693 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, July Brent crude shot up $10.15 to settle at $137.69 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

[Stu]

21 June 2008

Killeen instituted a red light camera system as a punitive measure to help correct illegal and unsafe driving behaviors. It now needs a mechanism to mitigate the design of the Highway 190/Central Texas Expressway (CTE) ramp reversals since they pose an equally grave safety risk.

The reasoning for these ramp reversals was sound; to help relieve congestion as traffic flowed from arterials to the collectors and streets required to facilitate city growth to the south. The ramps may have looked good on paper but the TxDOT plan appears not to have survived contact with reality.

Traffic merging west of the WS Young overpass has neither the time nor space required to do so properly if drivers already on CTE are in the right lane and preparing to exit at the new Stan Schluter exit east of the overpass. Even if drivers on CTE move left to allow traffic to merge then they will face the challenge of moving back to the right to exit. Jockeying for position will now occur immediately before or on the overpass.

TxDOT is constructing a second such mix-master at CTE and Stan Schluter.

The ramp reversal in Harker Heights will soon present drivers with a similar scenario, albeit beneath the overpass and among concrete columns. Those merging just west of the FM 2410 overpass will soon compete for space with those exiting at a new Indian Trails exit just east of the overpass.

Speeding on access roads exacerbates these conditions. Raise your hand if you’ve been driving on CTE and have not yet been passed on your right by someone doing 60+ mph westbound between Stan Schluter and WS Young or eastbound between Stan Schluter and FM 2410. These folks make merging and exiting from CTE a dicey maneuver, especially at the new WS Young exit by Logan’s Roadhouse where there is a yield sign but no deceleration lane like there is at Stan Schluter by Patriot Pontiac.

There was a fatality recently vicinity the WS Young overpass. The new entrance was not yet open but this accident highlights the obvious; bad things happen when motorists drive erratically at high speed in constricted areas. Neither hope nor cameras will solve the ramp reversal problem but we need a solution quickly before there is another tragedy.


Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

6 July 2008

The Herald needs to better educate its team about military vehicles.

I can’t count the times that reporters have misidentified photographs of US Army equipment. The latest was the July 4th Scene. The 2007 Freedom Fest picture is of an M109A6 (Paladin), not an M1A2 (Abrams).

A primer is in order until someone at Fort Hood provides the KDH a deck of flash cards.

Everything with four wheels is not a HMMWV. True, there are many variants of the Hummer, but we now have this thing called the Minefield Resistant – Ambush Protected vehicle; or MRAP. Even I need a reference sheet to keep the MRAP variants straight.

Everything with track is not a tank. The Paladin is a self-propelled 155mm howitzer that provides indirect fire artillery support. The M2 (Bradley) is an Infantry fighting vehicle with a ramp on the back and a 25mm gun in the turret. The M1 Abrams is the main weapons platform in Armor units and sports a 120mm cannon. Cavalry units like 3ACR have both the Bradley and Abrams.

Everything with a rotor mast is not an Apache. The UH60 (Blackhawk) has a wide body and side doors and serves primarily to move troops and equipment. The AH64 (Apache) has a narrow body, seats two, and functions mainly as a gun ship. The CH47 (Chinook) is normally identified correctly, probably due to its distinctive twin rotors.

Incorrectly identifying the subject of any photograph reflects poorly on those who use it. Why? It confirms that no one knew enough, or took the time, to get it right. That’s pretty sad when it comes to standard Army vehicles and the primary newspaper serving America’s largest military base. The remedy however is simple if someone cares enough to ask.

Still Serving!

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

24 July 2008

Who is responsible for checking “Herald staff reports? Whoever it is, needs to learn the difference between the Chief of Staff – Army (CSA) and the Vice Chief of Staff –Army (VCSA) and then educate the KDH team.

A recent staff report incorrectly states that General George Casey is the VCSA and will visit Fort Hood on July 24th (pg B1, 23 July). News flash - General Casey has been the CSA since April 10th, 2007. The VCSA is General Richard Cody; soon to be replaced by General Peter Chiarelli.

We all make mistakes; that’s what humans do. But we’re supposed to learn from them. Organizations that tolerate repeated gaffes in a specific subject area however risk being labeled amateurs. An example is the military and those who tout “We Support Our Soldiers”.

Ironically, these organizations are also prone to jettison those who attempt to resolve such issues. I suspect the most recent Managing Editor was part of the solution, not the problem.

Still Serving!

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

Yet another gaffe.

Check out the three pictures and captions on page 3 of the Fort Hood Herald (dtd August 6th, 2008). The captions all refer to LTG Rick Lynch; the new III Corps and Fort Hood commander. Two of the pictures are indeed of LTG Lynch but the third is of CSM Neil Ciotola; the III Corps Command Sergeant Major.

I realize Soldiers may all look alike in ACUs but there is an easy way to tell the difference from the right flank. LTG Lynch has a 3d Infantry Division combat patch on his right shoulder (See top photo). CSM Ciotola wears a 1st Cavalry Division patch (see bottom photo).

Still Serving!

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

26 November 2008

Job seekers note; the Corrections section of the KDH is a growth opportunity.

It seems segments of the KDH staff remain challenged not only in identifying pictures of military vehicles but those of local officials too. (KISD officials fighting to keep pre-K grant funds, November 26th). The picture on page A-1 is Mayor Ed Mullen of Harker Heights, not Dr. Robert Muller of KISD.

As the Comish of the “More Taste League” says, “That’s funny peculiar, not funny Ha-Ha.”

Speaking of KISD, I wonder how much it cost taxpayers to cater the “yearly Thanksgiving meal” provided for KISD administrators (pg A-8). Someone should reintroduce the staff to the concept of an office pot-luck.

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights

[Stu]

17 January 2009

The KDH regularly edits AP stories for length and the same should be done to ensure Letters to the Editor are at least understandable.

Mr. Ellis’ rambling missive is incoherent and incomprehensible. (Letters, 17 January 09) And it’s not the first time on this topic. Someone should have called and helped him focus his assertion that Bell County is not controlling costs vis-à-vis the new jail. Either that or enlisted the assistance of the other two amigos.

For a lucid review of the facts in this matter, see my latest post in the topic Lampasas County Jail.

Stu McLennan
Harker Heights