He’ll Beat the Crap Out of Her

Here’s my prediction for 2008 for the 97th district for the Missouri House of Representatives.
Bill Milligan and the Call Newspapers will beat the crap out of Democrat Jan Polizzi.
According to their supposed liberal editorial stance, the Call should be an enthusiastic supporter of Polizzi. On just about every major issue including taxes, health care, the environment, abortion, workers rights, education and gun control they should be in agreement.
Additionally, the Call has a long history of denigrating her incumbent opponent, Republican Walt Bivins. He has endured their wrath ever since he served as President of the Mehlville School Board. His offense was to enforce a limit on the time people could speak at a public meeting. For years the Call has unfairly hammered Bivens for his attempt to keep meetings running smoothly.
Why will Milligan brutally beat Polizzi black and blue? First, the Call has no respect for women. They enjoy hurting them! They would rather smack around a woman then follow their own editorial stance. Issues and/or principles be damned.
Secondly, Walt has begun to propose legislation suggested by Milligan’s sweetheart, Mehlville Fire Board President Aaron Hilmer.
This is simple. According to Call Newspapers:
Women are bad, Hilmer is good. The Call will not only endorse, they will sponsor Walt Bivins for re-election!.
Congratulations Walt!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is almost here so it's time to take a break. I look forward to bringing in the new year with a fresh look at the Call's misdeeds and misleads. We will look further into their abuses of women, their improper relationships and how they affect the community. We will expose their hypocrisy when observing the Missouri Sunshine Law and the Mehlville Fire District. Occasionally, we'll ask questions like: If Call Newspapers/Bill Milligan is so liberal, why doesn't he ever hire any black people?
Thanks to those of you have joined us on our new blog, especially to those of you that have shared it with friends. I wish you all a Merry Christmas. To all those Hilmer Groupies and the Truth Defector, I hope Santa brings you a set so you won't have to toss out insults anonymously.

Mike Heins

Call Newspapers and Women

What do Cindy Christopher, Margi Cook, Rita Diekemper, Marea Hoppe, Julie Leicht and Gloria Weber have in common? They are all women who have run for office in South County and the Call has beaten up repeatedly while doing so. The Call must take pride ın itself for beating up women.They may have a liberal slant when it comes to national politics, but when it comes down to treating the opposite gender as equal, Bill Milligan fails often and miserably. Milligan will have a lot of opportunity to hurt women this year. Every candidate for statewide office in South County,on the Democratic side, is a woman. Judy Parker, Pat Yeager, Vicky Lenz Englund, Jan Polizzi and Sue Schoemehl are running for the area's state representative seats and Joan Barry is running for the state senate.

The Arnold Call

After mentioning that the Editor from Arnold does not live in our community, I wondered about the Call's other writer, Burke Wasson. I guess he doesn't live here either. There's no record of paying any property taxes and no listed phone number. It appears neither writer lives in the community. Is that what you expect from a local newspaper?
While I was searching the web, I came across an article written earlier by Wasson that I thought I might share.
Southern Illinois U.: Military support for Bush declines.
(From University Wire) Byline: Burke Wasson President Bush's military campaign in Iraq could eventually cost him the Election Day support of the very soldiers he has sent to the country, as well as their families. Shayla Goldsmith, whose husband D.J. is back in Fort Campbell, Ky., after spending close to a year in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, said her initial support of Bush has steadily declined over the last few months. "We were behind President Bush in the beginning of the war, but the total solidarity has gone," Goldsmith said. "I think the country as a whole is maybe feeling the way I was feeling. We're kind of like, what are we still doing there? How much longer are we going to make our boys stay over there?" Polls of U.S. military personnel and their families suggest that Goldsmith is not alone. According to a bipartisan poll published by Business Week in December, 36 percent of soldiers, their families and veterans approve of Bush as President. War Times published a story in February that said nearly 50 percent of National Guard personnel and reservists reported low morale. According to a poll conducted in October by Stars and Stripes, nearly one in three of the 2,000 military personnel surveyed believed the war had "no value" or "little or no value." Goldsmith said the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was the first signal to her the President could have made the wrong decision. "I don't even think our soldiers are for sure," Goldsmith said. "They were looking for the weapons of mass destruction, and now there aren't any. It's like making someone look for your wallet over and over when there never really even was one in the first place." D.J. Goldsmith, who is a specialist in the 101st airborne division, said before he came back to the United States on Feb. 1, he and other soldiers were ordered to continue looking for WMD. "[Bush] is my boss, and I have to obey him," he said. "But we've found no weapons of mass destruction. Not one." Shayla Goldsmith said she fears that D.J., who is expected to be sent back to Iraq in March 2005, will be away from her and their two children once again. "We still have 130,000 U.S. soldiers risking their lives, and I just don't want my husband to be another one of those next year." Other members of military families who are feeling opposition toward Bush have decided to organize and take matters into their own hands. Members of a group called Military Families Speak Out say more than 1,000 families have signed up online. According to the group, new members join daily. The group began before the invasion of Iraq. Shayla Goldsmith said despite her change in attitude toward the President, the most she can do is honor the integrity and bravery her husband has shown during his time in Iraq. "I'm very proud of him," she said. "He went over there and he saved people from a horrible dictator and he did it with such bravery. I'm really happy that he's home." ((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))

And here's one partly about him:
Woman who helped with hoax hires lawyer
Monique GarciaDaily Egyptian One day after SIU Police announced an investigation into what is now known as the "Kennings hoax," the woman who helped orchestrate the ruse said she has hired a lawyer. Approached by Daily Egyptian reporters while leaving the School of Law building Wednesday afternoon, Jaimie Reynolds said she now has a lawyer but declined further comment. Since a six-hour interview with the Daily Egyptian last week, when she admitted to recruiting friends and family members to unknowingly participate in the elaborate deception, Reynolds has not answered phone calls or answered the door at her home. SIUC Police Chief Todd Sigler did not return multiple phone messages seeking comment Wednesday, but University spokeswoman Sue Davis confirmed the department was investigating if Reynolds broke any laws while executing the hoax. Sigler told the Chicago Tribune that police have interviewed "some of the people involved" but declined to say who had been questioned. "It's a bit of a unique situation, so we're moving at a very deliberate, methodical pace," Sigler told the Tribune. "The devil will be in the details with this." Caitlin's father, Richard Hadley, said University police interviewed his daughter over the phone Wednesday afternoon and were primarily trying to determine a motive. "My focus is on assisting officials, police, whatever, in identifying the 'why,'" Hadley said. "This woman manipulated the feelings of an 8-year-old girl. And that's what I would ask her if she was in front of me: 'Why? What was going through your mind that would make you do this, to toy with an 8-year-old girl like this?'" For more than two years, Reynolds pretended to be Colleen Hastings, guardian of Kodee Kennings, an 8-year-old girl whose father, Dan Kennings, was serving in Iraq. After a May 2003 story told of Kodee's struggles at home without her father, the girl and Colleen Hastings befriended Daily Egyptian staff members. Kodee later wrote her own column, "Kenningsology" and her father visited the newsroom. There was no Dan Kennings, Kodee Kennings or Colleen Hastings. The story was a sham. At the center was 27-year-old Reynolds, who posed as Hastings. The girl who came to the newsroom and whose face appeared in print was Caitlin Hadley of Montpelier, Ind. Caitlin and her parents believed she was starring in a documentary film about the soldier and his daughter, which was being recorded with hidden cameras. The man who appeared in the newsroom as Dan Kennings was Patrick Trovillion of Vienna, who contends Reynolds paid him for his part. Reynolds said she did not act alone, and the hoax was actually masterminded by former Daily Egyptian editor Michael Brenner, who concocted the story to advance his journalism career. Reynolds said Brenner threatened her to go along with the ruse. Brenner vehemently denies the allegations but said he should have checked his facts while writing "Forced apart," the May 2003 article that first introduced Kodee to Southern Illinois. Since learning of the hoax, the Daily Egyptian has issued an apology and retracted all found stories, letters to the editor and columns regarding Kodee and Dan Kennings and Colleen Hastings. The newspaper has continued to report on its findings. Throughout the hoax, many of those who say they were duped received numerous e-mails, phone calls and drawings from Kodee, Colleen Hastings and Dan Kennings. Former Daily Egyptian editor Burke Wasson said he could remember times when Kodee or Colleen Hastings called him six or seven times a day. He also received dozens of e-mails from Kodee and Dan Kennings, as well as Kenny Tinsley and Jim Johnson, soldiers Dan Kennings supposedly served with in Iraq. Wasson also spoke to people posing as Tinsley and Johnson on the phone for the article "Mixed feelings of wartime," which has since been retracted. "I'll say that we were thinking too much with our hearts and not with our heads," Wasson said. "We saw this little girl who needed to be cared for and that was in a really bad situation. As journalists we failed big time, as human beings we did absolutely nothing wrong. I can live with that." Reynolds said she sent some of the e-mails under Brenner's direction, but she said others were sent by Brenner via Yahoo! accounts he would access on her computer. Brenner said he has never been to Colleen Hastings' or Reynolds' home and denies sending any e-mails. "I can't even think two moves ahead when I play chess," Brenner said during an interview Saturday. "How could I have come up with all this?" Since reporting on the deception, the Daily Egyptian has received at least one hoax e-mail. The writer claimed to be a University alumnus and former media ethics professor at the University of Tennessee. Checks with both institutions revealed no records of such a person.

Sir Anthony of Arnold

I don't like or respect Mike Anthony. I haven't met anyone who does. In fact, most people don't know Milligan controls Call Newspapers. Usually they blame Anthony for its content. He's the Executive Editor of the weakly newspaper they feel hurts their community. Since I understand the setup more the most folks, I don't carry the anger that most have for Mike. I realize he's just a pawn. If Milligan told him to change his editorial stance to something, he would. If he told him to die his hair another color, I'm sure he'd do that also. He's a punk and it's really a waste of time to be angry at punks. I refer to him as either Sir Anthony of Arnold or the Editor from Arnold because he lives there. I think that's important to remember as he lectures your fellow citizens and elected officials in South County on how they should act or vote. I can only assume he continues to work for Milligan/Call because he can't get a position with a respectable paper. I'd actually feel sorry for him if I didn't feel he makes a living hurting our community by blatantly distorting facts to our citizens.

Mehlville Fire News

I heard our Mehlville Fire Board was holding a meeting last evening. I thought, what the heck, with all the trouble the Hilmer groupies and the Truth Defector give me, I should drop by and check it out. You can't rely on Milligan and the Call Newspaper for correct information. The district's website said the meeting was at 5 pm. I arrived just after 5 pm to find a posting for a meeting at 7 pm. The posting was made at 5 pm. Public meetings are required to be regularly scheduled and at least 24 hours in advance, unless it's an emergency. Chief Silvernail told me today that it was originally supposed to be at 7 pm and it was a clerical error. Clerical or not, with all the other violations of the Missouri Sunshine Law already committed over the last two years, the district would have been better off delaying their business until their regularly scheduled meeting. The public had no advance notice of a meeting unless you just happened to walk by the department headquarters between 5 pm and 7 pm.


Note: According to Chief Silvernail: No closed session votes were taken.

Milligan's Shenanigans Part II

I should have added to the story below with the fact that Milligan would also publicly and falsely accuse others of sexual harassment. He later yelled at a female school board member, with her daughter present at the Lemay Ferry Bridge re-opening ceremony. He tried to pull the same nonsense with me at my son's cross country race. I filed a complaint with the St. Louis County police the next day for assault. It's funny how this stuff doesn't make it in our weakly newspaper.
Sexual Harassment-False Accusations by Newspaper owner-Assault-Spouse Abuse-Fraud

Milligan's Shenanigans

The recent news about the Crestwood fire proposal reminds me of some other Bill Milligan/Call Newspaper's shenanigans.
About 3 years ago, Milligan called our school district wanting to anonymously report a district employee for sexual harassment. The secretary recognized his voice and he confirmed it.
After a thorough investigation, in which the Call’s employees refused to cooperate, the district employee was cleared of the charges.
It was quite interesting to read the Suburban Journal following Crestwood’s Mayor Robinson’s election. It seems that just before he was to take office, an anonymous sexual harassment claim against him was called in to the city. I’m sure there was no evidence to back up this allegation.
Perhaps this was a coincidence. I would guess it’s more likely a pattern.
Remember, they’re not content on reporting bad news; they’ll even help it along.

Advertise with Integrity Update

Where can an advertiser go to find some ethical people to spend their advertising dollars with here in South County? There’s always our daily newspaper, the St. Louis Post Dispatch. In addition, we have a weekly paper, the Suburban Journal. If you’re looking for some direct mail saturation, I’d suggest Shop Wise at 888-876-ADVO or the coupon type mailers "Money Mailer" call 314 504 0800 or the Valpak mailer call 1-800-676-6878. Also, we have the Coffee News. It’s a pleasant little free sheet distributed by over 100 area businesses at their locations. Call 651-3000. In addition, there’s the Mehlville Messenger. This highly acclaimed school district newsletter is delivered over much of South County with very favorable advertising rates. Call 467-5152 for more information. There’s quite a bit to choose from. You might even consider cable target area advertising, call Charter at 314 394-2500. I assure you, the next time I make a major purchase or sale, that's where I'm going first. There’s no reason to tarnish your business’s reputation by dealing with an advertiser with little or no integrity!

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Housekeeping Notes

1. I'm having some technical difficulties commenting in this BLOG as well as others. I'll get it figured out, but I don't have as much time as I've had to spend as I've gotten used to.
2. The reason I don't have as much time is that I'm no longer housebound recovering from an injury after an accident. I'm back to work and my volunteer duties.
3. I've been getting some rather cowardly anonymous e-mail accusing me of crimes and spending times with criminals. How much simpler can I make for anyone? If I say it, I'll take a polygraph for it. If you can crawl out from behind you rock and come up with the money, let's get it on.
4. I understand an anonymous blogger has referred to me as an arch liberal. I really don't know where he gets that idea. I generally only comment about public education and my support for it. If that makes me an arch liberal, so be it. Frankly, I think I'm rather conservative about the role of the federal government in education, even compared with most Republicans in Congress.
5. This is my hobby. Thanks to the recent shots I've taken, even more info is flowing my way.

Veteran's Day

I hope everyone takes a moment out of their day to reflect and give thanks for the men and women, past and present, who have served our great nation in the Armed Forces.
Mike Heins
Senior Master Sergeant
United States Air Force Reserve ( Retired )

The following was taken from an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Nov. 8th, 07, on the retirement of Bob Shannon. Coach Shannon is retiring after 30 years of coaching high school football in East St. Louis, Alton and at CBC. He was considered one of the best coaches in the nation.


A year ago, heading into CBC’s first state championship game, Shannon talked about how much and why enjoyed coaching.
“I’m a salesman,” he said. “I’m selling discipline and commitment. I’m selling preparation, trying to teach them how important it is to be prepared, hoping that all of this will carry over somewhere in life for them…In a way it’s teaching kids that life is not always going to be successful, but you learn how to deal with your failures, too.”

Taking a Joke

To those who would give me grief for telling a joke about a drunk, I say “Lighten up.” Sure, I understand it’s an addiction, but most jokes poke fun at our human weaknesses. Let’s move on to someone I like to poke fun of on a regular basis, Mr. William (Bill) T. Milligan, owner, president, treasurer, general manager, photographer and ambassador of good will* for the Call Newspapers.

Let’s look at why his, and his newspaper’s, credibility can be important to their readers. Let’s assume, for the sake discussion, someone with the editorial authority at a local paper has a serious drinking problem. That would be his business according to most people. But let’s also assume you live in a municipality that’s business is very much scrutinized by this newspaper. Let’s also assume, one of the leaders in your municipality has a drinking problem affecting his performance and is getting favorable coverage from his drinking buddy or at least someone who has a lot in common with him. Do you think that could cloud the facts?

Now, look at what we have witnessed, either personally or in public records about the Call and its management. What have his former employees; business partner, spouse, elected officials and the State of Missouri told us about them?

Forget about alcohol abuse. Can we trust them to look into lies, fraud, tax evasion, reckless driving and violence against women when it comes to our public officials? I’ve lost my confidence in them long ago. How about you?

*His words, not mine. Taken from public records.



Lawsuits
Against Call Publications
&
William T. & Deborah (Baker) Milligan

Case #21C94-18795 Landlord, Darrel D. Climer had to sue for back rent for over $11,000 Release of Garnishment Oct 27, 1995 , Case # 21C97-23879 State of Missouri Failure to pay taxes, Case #681813 Alonzo Potts- Former Business Partner with Call Publications sues the Milligans and the Call for Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Breach of Contract and Fraud ($30,000).
Case # 97CC-001749 continued action to settle previous case of Alonzo Potts- Judgment #781307, March 26th, 2003.
Small claims-sued by Lynne N. Lockos Case # 21S90-02371, Case #21S90-02372 by Teresa L. Voyles, Case # 21S96-01019 Service Assurance Corporation.

Against
William T. Milligan
Case # 21B901359 07/17/90 Adult Abuse brought by Deborah S. Baker Case #21C98-04554 Failure to pay account-Commercial Phone Marketing


Municipal and State Traffic Court Cases
Against
William T. Milligan
Case #931976939 Failure to register vehicle, case # 932000078 speeding, case #96010990 Failure to register, case #76151990 Failure to appear, case #90030990 speeding, case #7651990 Failure to appear, Case #21-94TR-011892 speeding, Case #94TR-11892, Case #95TR-7291, Case # 90TRTR-26455 Disobeyed red light (04/12/90) 2 cars were totaled in 1990!

Against
Deborah (Baker) Milligan
Case # 613949 Dissolution of marriage 08/14/90*

*note date above for adult abuse charges against her husband

Random Drunk Story

A man and his wife were awakened at 3:00 am by a
loud pounding on the door. The man gets up and goes
to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in
the pouring rain, is asking for a push.

"Not a chance," says the husband, "it is 3:00 in
the morning!"
He slams the door and returns to bed.

"Who was that?" asked his wife.

"Just some drunk guy asking for a push," he
answers.

"Did you help him?" she asks.

"No, I did not, it is 3:00 in the morning and it
is pouring rain out there!"

"Well, you have a short memory," says his wife.
"Can't you remember about three months ago when we
broke down, and those two guys helped us? I think
you should help him, and you should be ashamed of
yourself!"

The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and
goes out into the pounding rain.

He calls out into the dark, "Hello, are you
still there?"

"Yes," comes back the answer.

"Do you still need a push?" calls out the
husband.

"Yes, please!" comes the reply from the dark.

"Where are you?" asks the husband.

"Over here on the swing," replied the drunk.

SMACK THAT CREDIBILITY ON THE FRONT PAGE!

I couldn't have said it better. That's what so great about critiquing this piece of trash known as the Call. It's so easy and I haven't read it in over a year. Add this blunder to the fact that one of their writers was involved in one of the greatest hoaxes in American Journalism's history and you have a horrible example of what a newspaper is supposed to be! And folks, as usual, they have no comment. In addition to contacting the Call, I contacted their printer, way up in Louisiana, Missouri. Again, no comment.
They just don't care about their reputation. How could they? You've seen some of the litigation against them, the comments from the journalism professor, the unbelievable nonsense he tried to pull on me. What truly amazes me is why anyone would risk their reputation advertising in this rag. When I see anything related to the Call, I think of incompetence, lack of integrity and lack of decency.

Call Newspapers - Front Page Screw Up

Regular readers of our little blog know I prefer to give you the scoop about our weakly newspaper, rather than commenting on their so called news.
It seems as though the rag that likes to point out everyone's warts, actual and imaginary, has made a colossal blunder this week!
With a picture of the Mehlville/Oakville football game last Friday, this week's Call headline had the Oakville Tigers as the district champions. This was above the fold on the front page. So much for getting the facts right. As I've said before, these ignoramuses can't accomplish even the simplest of tasks.
No folks. As usual, the Mehlville Panthers are the district champions. The game wasn't even close. What's so amazing is that the game was on Friday and their deadline was Monday night. It's not like they were under any pressure. Let's see if they run a retraction. I've never seen them do it before, but this mistake was huge. Can you admit you blundered Bill?

Call Refuses Comment

http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/expenddetail.asp?txtName=CALL+AND+POST+NEWSPAPER&Cmte=RPC&cycle=2006

This little item is going to be a little more work. As usual, I have some information from public records that the Call refuses to comment on. This is not quite as simple to understand as fraud or spouse abuse. After searching through expenditures of the National Republican Party spent in Missouri, I found some interesting payments to the Call for Generic Advertising in the amount of $16,503. The only elections going in the area at the time were the Hilmer/Stegman for the Mehlville Fire Board and the school board race. I seriously doubt, having watched the school board race from the inside, that it had anything to do with the schools. What will I find when I dig a little deeper?
Have you got an answer for us, Mr. Milligan? Were there any laws broken or is this just another failure to disclose when the story is about your weakly newspaper?

Note to the Executive Editor from Arnold, Mo

Mr. Anthony,

Please Don't Throw Me in the Briar Patch!
cocoon[noun]
Entry Word:
cocoon
Function:
noun
Text: something that encloses another thing especially to protect it

Missouri Education Funding Lawsuits

It looks as if the lawsuits are over for now. Recently, a Cole County judge completed his rulings against numerous Missouri school districts, known as CEE, suing the state looking for more funding.
Most suburban districts in this area were not plaintiffs in the case. Instead, they entered the case as an intervening party known as the Coalition for Excellent Schools. Rockwood and Mehlville were active leaders in these efforts. For area taxpayers and schools, this was pretty much a draw. Had the judge ruled in favor of the CEE, state funding could have been reduced for our schools. This was favorable. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in our arguments that the current state tax assessment practices were blatantly unfair.
This fight is not over. I expect the Coalition For Excellent Schools to take this matter to federal court. You heard it here first.

Education Thoughts

“We have placed too much confidence in school reforms that affected only six hours a day of a child’s life…. In the face of many negative influences on our children that come from outside the school, we have done well to maintain our high school completion rate and our level of performance on achievement measures…. We have foolishly concluded that any problems with the levels of academic achievement have been caused by faulty schools staffed by inept teachers. School leaders and others must turn increasingly to the parents, homes and communities.”
Terrel Bell
Former Secretary of Education
Under Ronald Reagan

These words reflect a change of heart by the man most responsible for the nonsense in
“A Nation at Risk.”
Bell’s words first appeared in Phi Delta Kappen in April 1993.

Continued Success for Mehlville Administrators

It’s always good to hear about the success of former colleagues, especially when they’re disliked by the “Call.”

Dr. Randall Charles, former Mehlville School District CFO, recently moved from his position as Superintendent of the Hillsboro School District to his new position as Superintendent of the St. Charles School District.

The Lemont-Bromberek School District, in the suburban Chicago area, recently announced the 5-year renewal of their contract with Dr. Timothy Ricker, former Mehlville School District Superintendent.
Congratulations gentlemen!

Classified Ads

Wow! I just tried the Craig's list thing and boy was I impressed. It's so easy to use, even a non-techy like me posted my own classified ad, edited it the following day and deleted it a week later when my motorcycle was sold with no problem.
This is free, it's easy, it's effective and it's not the Call. Try it!
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/




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Is the Call Above the Law?

It’s quite apparent that from its beginning the Call has shown absolutely no respect for the law. You would think at some point there would be some signs of maturity, but that is not the case. I just checked the Missouri Secretary of State’s website only to find the Call was over 100 days late filing their annual registration with the state. In fact, it wasn’t filed until they were threatened with having their corporation dissolved. As great as that might sound to many of the fine citizens of our community, especially parents, one has to wonder if they can accomplish even the simplest of tasks correctly. Of course, they paid financial penalties for their tardiness, which I can only assume will be passed on to their advertisers.

Call Newspapers - From the Beginning

Reference Case # 04CC-002091 St. Louis County Circuit Court

William T. Milligan stated a COMMON FACTUAL ALLEGATION:

6. From its inception in 1989 until approximately late summer of 2003, Call Newspapers enjoyed a healthy rapport with the district.

_________________________________________________________________

Now I don’t want you to get hung up on the part about the healthy rapport part. Sure, it’s absurd, but please concentrate on inception in 1989.
Notice what happens in June of 1984.

________________________________________________________

Reference: Case # 681813 St.Louis County Circuit Court

Alonzo Potts as Plaintiff stated in PETITION:

6. Potts, Milligan, and Baker were originally equal shareholders in the Call. As detailed herein, Milligan and Baker used their control over the Call to seize the newspaper business and transfer all of the assets to their new corporation, Concord.

COUNT I Breach of Fiduciary Duty

8. Potts, Milligan and Baker formed Call in or about June, 1989.

15. On or about January 1994, Milligan and Baker intentionally and in bad faith transferred substantially all of the Call’s assets, including the newspapers Oakville Call and Concord Call, to defendant Concord.

COUNT IV (FRAUD)
39. Milligan and Baker stated and continuously represented to Potts that if Potts mortgaged his house and loaned $30,000 to Call, he would own one- third interest in the newspaper business.

51. Milligan has admitted to Potts that the transfer of the assets from Call to Concord was, in his own words, “ a fraudulent transfer.”
_________________________________________________

I usually don’t struggle to find words to express my opinion, but I’m having a little trouble now. What could I possibly add to this story that hasn’t already been said in these court documents. How about this? I’ll bring you more later.

Time to get Serious

Dear Fellow South County News Associates,

Now that we are starting to grow in numbers, I thought we might get a little more serious. As you know, I’ve dug fairly deep in the well of public records to learn about Mr. Bill Milligan, owner and general manager of Call Publishing, distributing the direct mail trash known as the Concord Call, the Green Park Call, the Oakville Call and the SunCrest Call. I think it’d be a good idea to start from the beginning. I know you’re a bright group of people but I wanted to share with you a couple of definitions before we get going.

Foun·da·tion Pronunciation: \fau̇n-ˈdā-shən\
1: the act of founding2: a basis (as a tenet, principle, or axiom) upon which something stands or is supported

fraud Pronunciation: \ˈfrȯd\
1 a: deceit, trickery; specifically : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right b: an act of deceiving or misrepresenting

Litigation versus
William & Deborah Milligan
Concord Publications, Inc dba Call Publishing Call Newspapers

· Case #21C94-18795 Landlord, Darrel D. Climer back rent for over $11,000 Release of Garnishment Oct 27, 1995.
· Case #681813 Alonzo Potts- Former Business Partner with Call Publications sues the Milligans and the Call for Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Breach of Contract, and Fraud ($30,000).Case # 97CC-001749 continued action to settle previous case by Alonzo Potts- Judgment #781307, March 26th, 2003.

Giving Back to the "Call"

People often suggest some kind of boycott of the "Call Newspapers" or their advertisers in response to what they have witnessed from this weakly newspaper.
I always tell them about what I do and let them make up their own minds. First I have requested and don't receive the "Call" so I really don't know who their advertisers are. I can tell you when I sell my house, I will check and give preference to someone who advertises elsewhere. That's probably a good bit in the future. As far as organizing some kind of boycott, I'd be against it. But I would share this blog and everything I know about Milligan and the "Call" and hopefully they will make their own statements about this disgraceful business. http://southcountynews.blogspot.com/
I think the best thing to do is to encourage the good citizens of South County to support the advertisers of the "Call's" competitors. Use the coupons you receive in the "Money Mailer" or any of the other competitors listed on the Advertise with Integrity, Aug. 28th of this BLOG.

Sexual Offender List

It amazes me. The "Call" has space to print numerous salaries of selected public employees, sometimes repeatedly with editorial comment. Yet, that don't have much space for news you can use. You won't read this in the "Call". No, there much too busy counting and printing how many times a public employee calls home before 5pm. You'll have to try to figure out the reasoning behind their priorities.
Below is the list of the registered sexual offenders in our area. For other zip codes or more information, see the MO Highway Patrol Website below.

Bridges, Jason D
13149 Butler Oak Dr Apt 4
St Louis, MO
63128
Efken, Joshua R
4531 Little Rock Apt B
St Louis, MO
63128
Henley, Paul Robert
4528 Garon Drive
St Louis, MO
63128
Leible, John Eugene
4352 Kensington Manor Dr
St Louis, MO
63128
Pfeiffer, Kerwin Anthony
12574 Chardin Place Apt 1
St Louis, MO
63128
Wolf, Joseph A
4709 Brunston Drive
St Louis, MO
63128
St. Louis

63129

Aguado, Arthur P
2650 Denacre
St Louis, MO
63129
Bennett, Ronald A
5032 Flintwood Dr
St Louis, MO
63129
Berkemeier, Curtis D
5064 Clayridge Dr Apt 105
St Louis, MO
63129
Brooks, Ronald J
4489 El Paulo Ct Apt D
St Louis, MO
63129
Brown, Jeffrey L
5280 Cricket Glen Ct
St Louis, MO
63129
Capri, David A
4325 Barcelos Dr
St Louis, MO 63129
Clark, Randy
5576 Oakville Heights Ct
St Louis, MO
63129
Dixon, Thomas O
900 Lynton Drive
Mehlville, MO
63129
Elkins, Ward T
1135 Corumba Walk Apt D
St Louis, MO
63129
Faille Jr., Michael
2577 Grayland Walk
Oakville, MO
63129
Gibbons, Martin Matthew
1155 Kinslar Drive Apt D
St Louis, MO
63129
Henthorn Jr., Michael Allen
2836 Innbruck Dr Apt Q
St Louis, MO
63129
Holloway, Paul Fredrick
2713 Irondale Dr
St Louis, MO
63129
Knotts, Dennis
3500 Sunland Garden Ct
St Louis, MO
63129
Manhal, Donald
2860 E Innsbruck Apt H
St Louis, MO
63129
Mcnelly, Bradley D
1164 Casa Brazilia Ct Apt F
St Louis, MO
63129
Ohlman, Edward Thomas
2527 El Paulo Ct Apt C
St Louis, MO
63129
Olson, Richard D
6630 Heintz Court
St Louis, MO
63129
Page, Robert E
7132 Christopher Dr
St Louis, MO
63129
Recker, Fred
4146 Metaxa Apt D
St Louis, MO
63129
Reichle, John C
4216 Casa Brazilia Apt D
St Louis, MO
63129
Schulze, Carl
516 Aqua Ridge
St Louis, MO
63129
Shipley, Richard Neal
142 Kinswood Ln
St Louis, MO
63129
Snyder, Courtney A
5053 Clayridge Dr 113
St Louis, MO
63129
Vansaghi, Jeffrey M
4953 Tanqueray Apt C
St Louis, MO
63129
Walker, James L
4050 Nottingham Estates
St Louis, MO
63129
Wamsley, Steve R
5238 Lemay Ferry Rd Apt 3
St Louis, MO
63129
http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/CJ38/Search

What Motivates Me? Good Question.

I know what most of you must be thinking. People who are actively involved in the South St. Louis County community have little respect for the “Call”. But they don’t spend a lot of time and effort searching through public records, interviewing former “Call” employees and writing about them on a weekly basis. What motivates me?
Well, let me be up front about my motivation. Let me spell it out for you.

Let me tell you a story.
About 16 years ago I moved into the area and read the “Concord Call” as it came in my mailbox. I must admit it motivated me to help many of the local institutions as I thought they were often under attack and needed assistance. Years later, as I would get involved in higher level committees and eventually serve on the school district’s board of education, I would find the source of the negativity to be the “Call” itself. Not content on reporting the news, they would make or instigate the news. Now the “Call”, like anyone else, has the constitutional right of free speech. It’s just a damn shame that they can constantly distort the truth to simply stir controversy, but even I would rather have that than censorship. But the citizens deserve the truth. This kind of stuff you already know, because you have read the” Call” before. Here’s the rest of my story.
As a new school board member, the “Call” usually left me alone. They really liked to hammer the female board members. It wasn’t until I e-mailed one of their guest editorial writers that they started their silly attacks on me. It was so funny. This guy was editorializing about our conflict of interest policies and I pointed out how hypocritical he was being from his days of elected office. He would soon end his editorial writing, but I had made them mad. They printed a cartoon soon following this conflict and I was drawn as a monster. You can bet I kept a copy for the grandkids.
Although they had numerous problems with the district, as they have had pretty much since their inception, I was rarely a target of their personal attacks. Usually they would concentrate on whoever was running for re-election that year.
In 2005, things weren’t going well for Bill Milligan, “Call” owner, general manager. He was getting frustrated. The administration and the board ignored his journalistic tantrums and his sunshine lawsuit against the district was going nowhere.
In early October I was volunteering at my son’s cross country race at Jefferson Barrack’s Park. After eavesdropping on a conversation I was having with a race official, Milligan interrupted us with a derogatory remark to me. I tried to talk with him but to make a long story short; he started pointing his finger in my chest and asking me when I would stop sexually harassing his employees until an administrator intervened. The next day I called the police. I wanted to know how much I had to put up with before I retaliated. I was told according to Missouri law I had to retreat but I could file a complaint for assault, which I did. Milligan avoided talking to the police for ten days saying his attorney was out of town. He then denied everything and said I head-butted him. Then, that very same day, the snake drove up to Clayton and filed for a restraining order against me. He alleged I’d been stalking him. Now look at the timing here folks. We had a newspaper owner with a grudge against a board member who comes up with a head-butt story ten days after the fact and a stalking allegation perhaps a year after the imaginary fact and he didn't print anything in the newspaper. You know if it was true it would have been the headline in 72pt type. I had to go Clayton for a hearing in family court. If my, and the district’s reputation had not been on the line it would have been hilarious. He got up and contradicted his own statement numerous times and of course had no witnesses other than his imagination. I have got copies of all the statements and the court transcripts if anyone would like to see them. The case was thrown out before we even got a chance to talk. I brought an assistant principal, a teacher and a student to back me up.
None of this was ever printed in his weakly newspaper. So there you have it. I’m still a little angry that that SOB made up that incredible story and went to court and lied about me trying to ruin my reputation. And even though I don’t own a newspaper, it’s my hobby to share with our community the reputation he has so richly deserved. See below for what his business partner, his wife, his former employees and the police have to say about Mr. Milligan and the “Call Newspapers”.


Defendant William & Deborah Milligan
Concord Publications, Inc dba Call Publishing-Call Newspapers

· Case #21C94-18795 Landlord, Darrel D. Climer back rent for over $11,000 Release of Garnishment Oct 27, 1995.
· Case # 21C97-23879 State of Missouri Failure to pay taxes,
· Case #681813 Alonzo Potts- Former Business Partner with Call Publications sues the Milligans and the Call for Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Breach of Contract, and Fraud ($30,000).
· Case # 97CC-001749 continued action to settle previous case by Alonzo Potts- Judgment #781307, March 26th, 2003.
· Case # 21S90-02371 Small claims by Lockos, hostile work environment
· Case #21S90-02372 by Voyles
· Case # 21S96-01019 by Service Assurance Corporation

Defendant William T. Milligan

· Case # 21B901359 07/17/90 Adult Abuse brought by Deborah S. Baker (spouse)
· Case #21C98-04554 Failure to pay account Commercial Phone Marketing
· Case #931976939 Failure to register vehicle
· Case # 932000078 speeding
· Case #96010990 Failure to register
· Case #76151990 Failure to appear
· Case #90030990 speeding
· Case #7651990 Failure to appear
· Case #21-94TR-011892 speeding
· Case #94TR-11892
· Case #95TR-7291
· Case # 90TRTR-26455 Disobeyed red light

Defendant Deborah S. Baker- Milligan

· Case # 613949 Dissolution of marriage 08/14/90

Please do me a favor. Share my blog with your friends on your e-mail list or print portions to share with others.

As always, if anyone doesn't believe me, I've got the court documents and will take a polygraph about anything I write.

Mehlville Fire Nonsense

First, let me say this. If this really started on Sept. 11th, it has to be one of the tackiest displays by a local elected leader that I am aware of.
Second, one board member does not have the authority to make this happen. Either the chief agreed with the request and thought it was in the best interest of the fire district and acted on his own authority or the board must have made a decision.
Third, I can see where there might be some discussion about the union’s stickers on the district’s vehicles, but I would also go back to my second comment.
Fourth, what possible problem could anyone have with the high school stickers on the fire trucks?
Fifth, I really thought the Call would have covered this, but it wasn’t in Thursday’s edition. They like soft controversy even when they are fond of the subject such as Bonnie in this case. Now if they don’t like the subject, they run a two page editorial filled with innuendo, then they find a way to bring it up repeatedly over the next year/s. Watch for a couple of letters to the editor about this. Then it will be followed up with longer letters, filled with nonsense, by guys like Stonebraker who since he found religion, got straight, got politically connected and started selling vacuum cleaners thinks he knows everything.

Mehlville Fire Dept. Pettiness

I received the following e-mail earlier in the week. I deleted the names but the body of the letter remains the same.
Mike,
I hope you don’t mind me writing you, but I am the neighbor of -------. Also, my wife has taught in the Mehlville School District for the past 18 years. ----- has forwarded me some of your writings about the Call Newspaper and such.
I thought you might find this interesting. On the morning of 9/11/07, one of Mehlville Fire Districts wonderful board of directors (Bonnie Stegman) made the Chief put out an order. We were ordered to remove all IAFF union stickers from all of the fire trucks and ambulances. We have until January 1, 2008 to remove our union logo from all of our uniform shirts, and the Oakville Tiger must be removed from the truck which covers Oakville High School. This logo was paid for and put on by the members of that engine house as a sense of pride towards the community. Do you think you will see a story about this in the Oakville Call? It sure would be nice to have the School District pursue this matter publicly.

Public Service Announcement

I thought I might get back to writing about things you can't read much about in our local newspapers. This is definitely not the kind of stuff that Bill Milligan and his Call want you to read about, especially with his background.

Lydia's House

Since its incorporation in 1995, Lydia's House has worked to provide transitional housing, comprehensive, goal-oriented support services, and access to community resources for more than 275 abused women and their children. Lydia's House currently serves 35 women and up to 70 children! Lydia's House is Missouri's largest provider of confidentially-located, furnished apartments for abused women and children for up to 24 months, and is one of the largest programs of its type in the United States.

In partnership with its donors and volunteers, Lydia's House works to end domestic violence by continuing to provide a place of healing and a voice of hope for abused women and their children.

http://www.lydiashouse.org/abuseshelter/index.htm

Is it a Local Weekly Newspaper?

I have a big problem referring to the Call as a newspaper. That’s why I like to refer to them as the weakly newspaper. Who are they kidding? They have a Monday evening deadline and the paper is delivered on Thursday. The supposed news in the paper can be ten days old. That’s not even considering their preference to bring up even older news to run even further into the ground. Then you have to consider they have no respect for journalistic standards whatsoever. This includes no sense of balance or a concern for accuracy. It would better referred to as direct mail or trash.
I also find it a bit humorous that they think their local. They have their newspaper printed in Louisiana, Missouri at a place called Press Journal Printing. This is, of course, to avoid paying for the local, higher union wages in the St. Louis area. Mr. Milligan is only as liberal as your pocketbook extends not his.

Can the "Call" be Embarrassed?

I thought I might share with you the thoughts of Webster University Professor and the former editor of the St. Louis Journalism Review.

Mr. Heins,
Over the years I've had several complaints about the Call and we've done two pieces but I'm afraid embarrassment has no effect.

Ed Bishop
Editor
St. Louis Journalism Review

Well Ed, maybe they weren’t embarrassed enough.
Mike

Schools are to Blame?

In Saturday’s St. Louis Post Dispatch article about the suspect in Officer Brown’s tragic shooting death, much blame was assigned to the St. Louis Public Schools. Robbyn Wahby, Mayor Slay’s executive assistant for education complained, “Mostly, the schools are not taking responsibility for what they need to be doing for these children.”
Such an opinion based on these facts is ludicrous.
Here was someone who didn’t enroll for the 05-06 school year, missed 62 days last year and we are told it’s the fault of the school district he hasn’t been successful.
This killing was a result of an individual not respecting the value of another’s life. It’s a damn shame. But the responsibility belongs to the individual. If you want to help kids from falling through the cracks, I suggest you start providing the staff with the Missouri Social Services Department with the resources to deal with the overwhelming numbers of children whose family’s can’t or won’t deal with them. Blaming the schools may be popular but it’s flat wrong.
Mike Heins

Advertise With Integrity

Where can an advertiser go to find some decent folks to spend their advertising dollars here in South County? There’s always our daily newspaper, the St. Louis Post Dispatch. In addition, we have a weekly paper, the Suburban Journal. If you’re looking for some direct mail saturation, I’d suggest Shop Wise at 888-876-ADVO or the coupon type mailer "Money Mailer" , call 314 504 0800. Also, we have the Coffee News. It’s a pleasant little free sheet distributed by over 100 area businesses at their locations. Call 651-3000. In addition, there’s the Mehlville Messenger. This highly acclaimed school district newsletter is delivered over much of South County with very favorable advertising rates. Call 467-5152 for more information. There’s quite a bit to choose from. There’s no reason to tarnish your business’s reputation by dealing with an advertiser with little integrity!

Choosing a Real Estate Agent

Choosing a Real Estate Agent

Tips for a Successful Sale of Your Home
In South St. Louis County

The average homeowner in South St. Louis County will spend over $10,000 in fees to sell their home. It pays to do some homework prior to listing your home with a real estate agent. Follow this advice and you will save yourself a lot of trouble and perhaps a little money.
The most important thing you can do is to interview several potential agents. Don’t stop at one! You must compare. This is the time when agents must really compete and you need to let them.
I normally don’t recommend two types of agents: Relatives/ Friends and agents that advertise in the Call Newspapers. I’m not saying never use them, but you should understand the pitfalls.
The reason I don’t recommend relatives or friends is I don’t like to hire someone I can’t fire. If you think your wife’s cousin will be disappointed in you for not listing with her, imagine the fuss she’d make if you cut her loose after not successfully closing on your sale. The reasons I can’t recommend an agent that advertises in the Call are numerous. The main one is that today’s housing market demands speed. This weakly paper is not really printing the news, they are printing history and not doing a very good job of it. Additionally, they have some serious questions surrounding their integrity. I don’t know why a reputable agent would want to be associated with it. You’re better off choosing an agent that’s up to date and cares about his/her reputation.

NCLB Holding Schools Hostage

In the very near future, we will be inundated with media coverage of last year’s test results for Missouri’s public schools. The news here in South County is that 4 of our Mehlville Schools will be on the “needs improvement list” according to the standards of the No Child Left Behind. What is really important for the parents of these schools to know is that this rating is nonsense. Without going into a long diatribe about the intent and unrealistic expectations of the NCLB law, let me explain. The law breaks the children into groups, even if the title infers singularity. If a group fails to meet standards, so does the school. A group is only counted if there is a certain amount, I think it’s 25. So if School A has 24 Hispanic kids, it doesn’t matter how they do on their test. If school B has 25 and they just moved here from Brazil last year and they don’t read English so well, your school fails. If you are a parent of one of this children this may concern you, but for the rest of the parents, I wouldn’t think so much. My blood pressure can really start to rise when I think of how silly this law is. I can understand how the liberals in Congress thought that spending a lot of money on this lunacy was a good thing. Here’s what I don’t understand. How did conservatives leave their good senses long enough to pass a law that holds schools solely accountable for the education of a child instead of the child, his/her parents, the community and the school together? Change the law!

Good News for Mehlville School District Tax Payers

Good News for Mehlville School District Tax Payers

You heard it here first. The 49-cent tax increase or Prop P, approved by Mehlville School District voters in Nov. 2000, will not be levied for 20 years. Due to favorable market conditions and wise decisions made by the Mehlville Board of Education, sufficient revenue will allow the district to pay off their bonds in just 13 years. While much credit must go to our investment bankers at A. G. Edwards, congratulations are in order for the district’s administrators. These include former CFOs Dr. Randall Charles and Stephen Kaiser along with current CFO Brent Bell. The former superintendents were John Cary and Dr. Tim Ricker along with current superintendent Mr. Terry Noble.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,
Another week rolls by and yet the Call doesn't print any of my letters. It's because of this censorship that I've had to start my own blog. I just wanted to again offer you or anyone from the Call, an opportunity to correct any mistakes I make at any time. You know that I've always tried to get you to look my information over before I print it, but you refuse to comment on anything. I've even copied many of my letters to your attorneys; well not all of your attorneys. Who could afford to write certified letters to all of your attorneys? I just sent them to the office of your last defense attorney and the attorneys for the MO Press Assoc. and your last Sunshine Law attorneys. As I've said before, if there's anything you don't believe, just pony up the money for a polygraph test. I'd be glad to take one. I think it'd be really cool. http://southcountynews.blogspot.com/
Mike Heins

written exclusively for the Call and my blog

End Trash in Your Mailbox

Many S. County citizens and advertisers don’t know that the Call is not delivered to all households as they advertise. This is just another example of a lack of integrity on the part of our weakly newspaper!
I live in their distribution area and have not received a Call in over a year. Like many people, our family decided we did not want to receive this trash in our mailbox every week. I sent a certified letter to the Call and asked to be removed from their mailing list. I followed up with e-mails to their publisher Deborah Baker Milligan.
Here’s what Baker Milligan sent me.
Sunday, June 4, 2006
Dear Mr. Heins: I have just returned to work and I wanted to let you know that I forwarded an earlier e-mail received before I left to Bill Milligan, General Manager, who handles requests concerning delivery of the Call. I believe he has explained that the labels are printed several weeks ahead. Your request has been submitted to the circulation department and the delivery of the newspaper should stop within a few short weeks. I am sorry for the delay in my reply but,I want to make it clear that your request should be directed to Bill Milligan, General Manager. I also want to make it clear your request has been addressed if you can just bear with us since the labels are printed ahead. Thank you for you patience. Deb Baker, Publisher
If you would like less trash in your mailbox, I suggest you e-mail Mr. Bill Milligan at wmilligan@callnewspapers.com If after 6 weeks you continue to receive the Call, e-mail me and I’ll help you file a complaint with the postal service. Mike

I'll Accept the Blame.

About six years ago, I received an invitation from our school district to volunteer for the redistricting committee. We were changing from 11 elementary schools to ten. A lot of children would be forced to change schools. I thought about what a difficult challenge that would be. I expected a lot of unhappy parents making major changes like that. I was reluctant to fill out the form. I put it down, probably hoping not to pick it back up to it until it was to late to join. Then I opened up an envelope from the Boy Scouts. It was my approval as a merit badge counselor for Citizenship in the Community. Great, I thought. How can you teach young men to be active citizens unless you lead through example? I mailed in my application to the school district. A couple of meetings into the process, we picked co-chairs. I volunteered again. I thought to myself how a lot of people were going to be upset and how they would blame me. I was prepared to shoulder that blame. Things went much better than I had expected. In fact, very few people were upset. I believe this was due to the great parents on the committee. I think most community felt we did the best we could.
Serving on the school board was a little different. You get lots of credit and blame for things for which you have little or no control. Such is the nature of school board service. I could make a list a mile long: your school doesn’t have a pool or tennis courts, your daughter got cut from cheerleading, AP Chemistry is not offered this semester, there’s not enough parking, etc. You learn to live the complaining. Recently I saw some old complaints renewed about my service on the board. This disappoints me. They weren’t appropriate years ago and continue to cast a negative image about our schools. Having written that, let me say to anyone who wants to blame for something they don’t like about their teacher, their school or our district. Go ahead; blame me, if this gives you some comfort. I willingly accept the blame. I just have one request. Afterwards, get on with your life. Stop clinging to your excuses! Support your teacher, your school, your school board, yours school district and your community.

The Call Newspapers and the Law

I’m sure most of you are aware of Missouri’s Sunshine Law. Our weakly newspaper mentions it often in their self-promoting articles. When a public entity, such as the City of Crestwood, gets a request for a record, they must produce that record within 72 hours. There are a few exceptions, but that’s the general idea. When the Call doesn’t get their request in 72 hours, they start threatening litigation and sometimes waste a lot of time and money on lawsuits. In the last two years, over one hundred thousand of your tax dollars have been wasted due to this frivolity. Recently I noticed the Call had not paid their property taxes. After contacting the Call repeatedly, they paid them on July 3, 2007. That was 180 days or 4,320 hours late. It amazes me how Mr. Milligan and Mr. Anthony can concentrate on one law, yet have such little respect for all the others. See below for other laws they ignore.

Hoax Fooled Call's Cub Reporter

A former editor's apology:
When I first heard last week that Dan Kennings may not be real, I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. I also remembered two stories I wrote in the spring of 2004 for the DAILY EGYPTIAN. I thought if what the Chicago Tribune and the DE are saying is true, then I can't guarantee that these two stories I wrote are 100 percent correct. I guess you could say I was duped, too. And I want everyone to know. By the time both of these stories ran, the DE had published numerous Kodee Kennings columns for almost a year. Her opinion columns had become so much a part of the newspaper and she was loved by so many people that I never even considered the possibility that her situation may not be true. I don't think anyone else at the DE did either. Sad to say, if Jaimie Reynolds had never "killed off" the character of Dan Kennings, I don't believe anyone would have ever investigated the matter. I was doing a story based on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. war with Iraq. I had interviewed some members of the Southern Illinois Peace Coalition at the Carbondale town square, and I wanted to get some input from some soldiers to widen the story's angle. I figured it would be only half the truth if all I did was talk to protesters. I told who I thought was "Colleen Hastings" that I was interested in interviewing some of the guys in Dan's unit of the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell, Ky. She told me she'd be glad to help. She also said that because of their busy training schedules at the base, I wouldn't be able to contact any of these soldiers through the base's land lines. So, she arranged for them to call me at the DAILY EGYPTIAN. The phone rang, and it was the voice that I had come to know as Dan Kennings. I told him I couldn't use him in the story because I felt like I knew him and his daughter, so he passed the phone around to at least three other guys. They all gave their names and ranks, and I did phone interviews with each of them. It certainly wasn't the first phone interview I ever gave, so I didn't think there was anything weird about it. Besides, I'd never had any prior knowledge of how to contact people at military bases and I was clearly unfamiliar altogether with the whole military lifestyle. I suppose my unfamiliarity was something that Jaimie Reynolds preyed on. I took these interviews and a separate phone interview I also did with a woman who I thought was the wife of one of these soldiers and put them into the story. I also used some quotes from the soldier's wife in a follow-up story. Looking back on it, it was a totally stupid interviewing method on my part ˘ definitely something I would not do today. I thought I could trust "Colleen." We all did. I never heard one person say otherwise. She just seemed like too nice of a person to orchestrate something this evil. Who would believe that hours and hours of phone conversation with Kodee was actually someone else? I never meant to to intentionally deceive anybody. I thought everything I was doing was accurate. I'm sorry to the readers of the DE that I wrote two stories that are probably not true. It certainly wasn't done intentionally. I always try to tell the truth in my stories. But I guess that's the reality of any college newspaper. You're in college. You're still learning. I know it sounds cold to say, but in journalism, it's healthy not to trust anyone. The DE and I learned the hard way. Burke Wasson, a 2004 SIUC graduate, was the DAILY EGYPTIAN's editor-in-chief in the summer of 2004.

His biggest mistake was going to the Call!

Attention St. Louis County Businessperson/Advertiser,

Have you ever had a bad customer? If you’ve been around a while, I’m sure the answer is yes. He can be most unreasonable! Common sense and standard business practices are of no concern to him. The auto dealer must deal with the guy who wants them to cover what the manufacturer won’t because the dealer sold him the car. The insurance agent must hear complaints because the insurer did not handle a claim to a customer’s satisfaction. The Realtor hears how she should have disclosed faults in a home to a buyer she couldn’t possibly have known about. Dealing with unreasonable people is unfortunately part of doing business. Most of these folks just need to share their frustration. They make some calls and write some letters. Perhaps one gets in the local paper. Their threats are innocuous. They’ll tell their friends not to do business with you. A few take it to the next level. They call you or your staff at home or on your cell. They scream at you’re colleagues in public places. Their obsession drives them to start making up other complaints because their old ones are not getting them enough attention. They take you to court. There’s no way they can win, but you have to show up. You have to waste your time and money to protect what you’ve built over a lifetime. Your personal and your business’s reputation is at risk. The line has been crossed. It’s no longer frivolity. It’s harassment. Imagine your worst bad customer.
Put yourself in the shoes of many of our municipal or school employees and/or elected representatives. This is what the people who work for us as civil servants or volunteers have had to endure. They’ve put up with years of frivolous lawsuits and other malicious litigation. It has escalated into false allegations of a sexual nature and harassing lawsuits against our institutions and their directors as bodies and as individuals.
I urge you to carefully choose where you spend your advertising dollars. Investigate the practices of your advertiser. Review their legal background in public records. Don’t support this kind of unethical activity. With so many newspapers and direct mail options, it only makes good business sense to:
Advertise with Integrity!

Have you read about these incidents in your local newspaper?

William T. Milligan Owner and General Manager
of Call Newspapers
The Concord Call, Green Park Call, SunCrest Call and the Oakville Call
dba Call Publishing
2876 Championship St. Louis, MO 63129

· Case #21C94-18795 Landlord, Darrel D. Climer back rent for over $11,000 Release of Garnishment Oct 27, 1995.
· Case # 21C97-23879 State of Missouri Failure to pay taxes,
· Case #681813 Alonzo Potts- Former Business Partner with Call Publications sues the Milligans and the Call for Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Breach of Contract, and Fraud ($30,000).
· Case # 97CC-001749 continued action to settle previous case by Alonzo Potts- Judgment #781307, March 26th, 2003.
· Case # 21S90-02371 Small claims by Lockos, hostile work environment
· Case #21S90-02372 by Voyles
· Case # 21S96-01019 by Service Assurance Corporation
· Case # 21B901359 07/17/90 Adult Abuse brought by Deborah S. Baker (spouse)
· Case #21C98-04554 Failure to pay account Commercial Phone Marketing
· Case #931976939 Failure to register vehicle
· Case # 932000078 speeding
· Case #96010990 Failure to register
· Case #76151990 Failure to appear
· Case #90030990 speeding
· Case #7651990 Failure to appear
· Case #21-94TR-011892 speeding
· Case #94TR-11892
· Case #95TR-7291
· Case # 90TRTR-26455 Disobeyed red light
· Case # 613949 Dissolution of marriage 08/14/90
This is a partial list of records found utilizing Missouri’s Sunshine Law.

Have you read about these incidents in the local newspaper? No, I didn't think so.
If you care about your family and community, you're are going to have to go beyond the Call.

Conflicts of Media Business

Let me show you an example of a story not printed because of profits:
On Friday March 9, 2007, a unanimous Jackson County Missouri Jury rendered a verdict in favor of the Class, finding that American Family breached its insurance policy contract by paying for inferior quality Crash Parts and by failing to pay for certain necessary repair procedures. The jury awarded the Class nearly $17.4 million in compensatory damages. A copy of the verdict form is attached. On June 29, 2007, Judge Messina granted American Family's Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict, overturning the jury's damages award in favor of the class. Plaintiffs are appealing the Order.

Did you ever read this story in the Concord/Oakville Call? No, one of their biggest advertisers is an American Family Insurance Agent.

If you'd like to protect your family, I'd suggest you "Go beyond the Call."
SouthCountyMike

I'd rather have a newspaper on my lawn than trash in my mailbox!

Welcome to all of you interested in our South St. Louis County Community. The purpose of our little blog is to help you stay informed about what's going on here that somehow doesn't make the mainstream media. That isn't a knock on the media. It's just that it's impossible to cover all the news and difficult to cover the important news (and still make a profit). In the case of the Call Newspaper, well they have a hard time doing anything except being negative about everything.