Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Editors Note From the WaterTown Daily Times Concerning A Letter from "the People" that appeared in Monday's Times ~ Town official Lied about meeting with BP

Yesterday there was a letter from the people published in the Watertown Times that accused Supervisor Hirschey of lying to the residents of Cape Vincent about the cancellation of a conference call initiated by BP.

In the interest of being accurate the Watertown Times has published in it's print edition the facts concerning this matter.

Note ~ at the end of the Editors note below is a paragraph from the questionable  letter to the Editor

Editor's note
A Letter from the People that appeared in Monday's Times has presented, especially with its headline, a position of certainty in an ambiguous situation that needs clarification.
A Freedom of Information request submitted to Cape Vincent for a letter written by a town counsel to cancel a planned conference call between interveners in the BP wind farm application was denied on the grounds that no such letter existed. After a request for an affidavit to that effect was filed, the town produced a letter from the law firm Shulman Curtin & Grunder PC suggesting that BP had not provided sufficient information on the project to interveners and that BP provide the town with information on witnesses to be called in order to have town witnesses available for discussion. The letter from the lawyer is clear that the town's attorney did not cancel the conference call but rather requested it be postponed.
Here is the salient text of the letter, sent to BP attorney John S. Harris at Brown & Weinraub: "...I am thinking that we may not be able to coordinate our collective experts at this late date and therefore would specifically request that you provide a more responsive reply to my ongoing request and designate new conference call dates that are convenient for yourself, BP, the DPS, DEC as well as the Town of Cape Vincent."

It appears clear that neither the town nor its attorney suggested canceling the conference call, merely postponing it. The matter is one of a semantic difference of opinion between town and people supporting the proposed wind farm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A Letter from "the People"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Town official Lied about meeting with BP
I am a frequent visitor to Cape Vincent. Over the years, I have made many good friends and enjoy following current events and news of the Cape online.
One way I keep informed is through watching the town board meetings on the town website. I was disappointed after watching the Aug. 15 meeting to hear that the supervisor had lied directly to the residents when he replied “no way” to Harvey White’s question as to whether the town had canceled a planned meeting with British Petroleum. You only have to watch the video for a short time into the meeting.[Watertown Times]


 In the video below Voter For Wind ,Harvey White addressed the TOCVTB August 15,2013 concerning this very issue.
Harvey White: Who cancelled the telephone conference with BP and why ?
Supervisor Hirschey: It's a simple question and a simple answer and that is... ask BP 
White: I already have

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gloria Hayes wrote this in her letter yesterday to the Times:
"On my next trip north, I saw a letter dated July 25 from the attorney representing the town and sent to every town board member informing BP that the town was canceling the meeting. "

It now appears that Gloria Hayes is the real liar. If she read the text quoted in the editor's note how could she conclude that the town was cancelling a meeting with BP? This smells like some dirty political games and once again it smells like BP is behind this one too.

So, this is how the opposition wants to take back the town. More lies, political games, deceit and obfuscation. We need clean, honest and open government not more of this good old boy nonsense.

Anonymous said...

"The matter is one of a semantic difference of opinion between town and people supporting the proposed wind farm."

Come on. This is much more than a semantic difference of opinion. It is a deliberate and knowing effort on the part of those who support wind development to spread falsehoods regarding the performance of the highly honorable and open conduct of the current town council.

Honorable and open are not qualities with which the challengers are familiar

Anonymous said...

Yup!

Anonymous said...

Right on Anon 6:14

I thought the Editor's Note was well done until the last sentence, semantics my ass! Read up in the note and they say "it was clear."

My guess is that some old, gray-haired editor added the last sentence so that it wouldn't look as though the paper screwed up a bad as they did.

Anonymous said...

Yup!

Anonymous said...

The Watertown Times acted in a reckless and irresponsible manner when they published this letter.

Anonymous said...

I do not believe that the times acted recklessly.
The times was given what "were declared as facts by the letter writer". It was the letter writer that provided "the position of certainty"

It was the facts as they knew them and now they have added an editor's note.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:06 How about the headline for the letter:

"Town official lied about meeting with BP"

This headline written by editors of the Times just a day before an election primary involving the very town official accused of lying.

If it were me I'd ask to see the letter before publishing that kind of letter just before an election.

If it wasn't reckless, it was at least poorly done and the proof was the need for an editor's note.

Anonymous said...

Keep in mind the WDT's principal goal is to sell newspapers. Publishing Ms. Hayes letter with its attached headline was deliberate, you can be sure. Messages such as this accusation do not slip past the editor. It is quite customary for the editor to alter headlines of opinion letters, this would have been a good time to do so and avoid the necessity of writing an editor's note to cover their ass.

Nothing wrong with printing the letter,but publishing that headline one day before a primary, was irresponsible.

Can you spell- corrupt corporate influence?

Someone should keep an eye on this editors driveway, see if a new car appears in the next few months.

Anonymous said...

In my opinion Harvey White is an ignorant douchebag! Maybe he can make some money in a reality TV show about inbred morons in the North Country. You know it would be kind of like wrestling, not true, but funny as hell. Who knows maybe Harvey could become a star! I can hear him now, “I dunno much abot politicking, buts I know I wants my money for dem turbins ands um willing to spread as much manure as I have to ta get um.