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Yahoo!On Wednesday morning, attorneys for the Santa Barbara News-Press will be heading to the Santa Barbara Courthouse in an attempt to retrieve a hard drive that contains an astonishingly criminal amount of child pornography. They want the illegal material because — as reported in the controversial, front-page News-Press story on Sunday, April 22 that named former editor Jerry Roberts as the one-time owner of that computer — the newspaper's management and attorneys are hoping to determine who downloaded all that porn.
The move is being opposed by the City of Santa Barbara, because it's usually frowned upon to return illegal material to its owner. Furthermore, the Santa Barbara Police Department and the District Attorney already investigated the matter thoroughly — employing, according to the cops, one of the state's high-tech forensics experts. They concluded that because the computer was purchased as a used device, because it was not password protected, because there are no time stamps on the material, and because other editors before Jerry Roberts used the machine, it's essentially impossible to determine who downloaded the pornography.
But the News-Press is pushing forth for the sake of the children, according to an editorial that was posted on their website late one night last week but taken down before the morning. (See more reports on that ghost editorial — which also called the cops "lax" in their investigation and said that "they blew it," took aim at The Indy for referring to the images as "kiddie porn," and asked "What message does all this [legal wrangling by the city] send to the child pornographers who right now are in our community committing these crimes?" — at Blogabarbara and Craig Smith's Blog.)
Many Santa Barbarans are simply not buying the News-Press' righteous claims, however. These folks, many of whom were behind the Operation Cold Shoulder and Wake Up Wendy Wednesday rally, see Wednesday's legal move simply as a means to link former editor Jerry Roberts to the scourge that is child pornography. The newspaper's owner Wendy McCaw is currently suing Roberts for $25 million, so there's no shortage of theories as to why she may want to vilify him. Roberts, of course, denies all claims, has sought an official retraction via his attorneys, and is currently determining whether he can file a libel suit against the News-Press or not.
Explained the rally organizers, "Many people believe that this so-called news article, with no author credited, was published by the News-Press to ruin Roberts' reputation as part of a continuing lawsuit where the News-Press is suing him for $25 million. The News-Press demand for the computer hard disk, through a court action, appears simply to be a ruse and an insulting distraction because such images are illegal contraband and law enforcement authorities cannot allow them to be possessed by anyone."
So as a response, on Wednesday, May 2, from 8:45 to 9:15 a.m., there will be "a demonstration of community outrage" at the Santa Barbara Courthouse, under the large arch on Anacapa Street. The rally will be comprised of Jerry Roberts' supporters as well as those who are simply angry at the state of the News-Press, a newspaper that was once required reading in Santa Barbara but has since experienced a precipitous decline in staff, massive drop in news coverage, and, as reported earlier today, a "plunge" in circulation. Protest signs are encouraged, and the organizers are also asking the rally-goers to hold up a the latest cover of The Santa Barbara Independent, where we asked the question, "Have You No Shame, Mrs. McCaw?"
For more info on the half-hour rally, send an email to operationcoldshoulder@gmail.com.
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The specific posting at Blogabarbara regarding the incredibly-disappearing editorial is here
http://blogabarbara.blogspot.com/2007/04...
Some of the comments posted there included details of what is in that Newspress editorial where they claim the local police "blew it" and where they attempt to justify why then need that computer disk back so they can find the real child porn criminals, just like OJ Simpson claiming he is going to find the real killers of his murdered wife.
FirstDistrictStreetfighter (anonymous profile)
May 1, 2007 at 12:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Let us not forget that this behavior is not limited to Jerry Roberts. It has happened to other local people in the past, including Greg Parker (and Brian Cearnal). For a refresher, read the following excerpts from the Foley & Bezek law website on the Parker case. http://www.foleybezek.com/in.the.news/pa.... Then go back in the archives and check the NP's coverage of this case.
"Billionaire Wendy McCaw, Found to Have Engaged in 'Despicable Conduct' and Ordered to Pay $14.8 Million in Damages"
The conduct of Wendy McCaw, the owner of the Santa Barbara News-Press, in connection with her business dealings, including the News-Press was recently found to be "despicable" by Justice Eagleson...in an arbitration brought by Mrs. McCaw against her former employee, Greg Parker.
McCaw tried to avoid paying sums Parker earned under several contracts. Mr. Parker countered, claiming McCaw had breached several contracts and had engaged in fraudulent conduct.
Justice Eagleson found that McCaw's overall conduct was "oppressive, meaning despicable" and merited punitive damages. The award stated that there were many examples of her conduct that Justice Eagleson found despicable, and describes three: McCaw "stripped [the incentive compensation vehicle in which Parker had an interest] of its assets, and used part of [those assets] to support a line of credit needed to purchase the Santa Barbara News-Press." She also hired a PR firm "to place articles in her newspaper complimentary to herself and derogatory of Parker in an effort to create a community animus towards Parker." She then filed a complaint against Parker with the State Bar that was "completely without merit" "out of spite to harass and intimidate Parker."
The award shows it was based on credibility. It describes McCaw and her personal lawyer (and Santa Barbara News-Press former Publisher and current President) Joseph Cole as not being credible: "As far as McCaw's testimony is concerned she waffled, contradicted herself, was generally uncertain, suffered from unusual lack of recollection, was evasive and expressed denial of events even in the face of written evidence to the contrary. Put differently, she was a totally unconvincing witness." The award continued: "Cole was a completely compromised witness... [H]e was not able to testify forthrightly about the events in which he was directly involved and with respect to which he should have had much better recollection."
Parker, said: "Justice Eagleson's conclusion of 'despicable' pretty well sums Wendy McCaw's conduct in attempting to avoid paying me what I earned. The fact that she is now attempting to avoid compliance with the arbitration award is entirely consistent with her past behavior." In arbitration, an award of punitive damages is rare but the award against Mrs. McCaw speaks volumes about the legal and personal attacks launched against Mr. Parker in her case and through her newspaper."
Conscience (anonymous profile)
May 1, 2007 at 2:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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