I know, not a lot of new blog posts this week. Peter’s out of town on a well-deserved vacation, and that means I have to assemble the paper. Easier said than done, since the last time I did a lot of page composition was back in college and, frankly, I wasn’t very good at it back then. And, unfortunately, many of the Daily Press’ page layout staff are also on vacation this week, so I’ll be on the tightrope without much of a net.
If next week’s paper comes out on photocopied pieces of paper, stapled together, blame me.
Here’s unwelcome news to wake up to on a Thursday morning: Last night, a Hesperia station sheriff’s deputy was shot foiling a robbery on Main and 5th. He’s in good condition and is expected to be released from the hospital today.
I heard about this on the way out of the city council meeting, when I was stopped by City Manager Mike Podegracz with the news.
We have some more details, including the deputy’s name, but are holding off on publishing them at the request of the sheriff’s department. I expect we’ll be releasing his name and photo later today.
After almost two and a half years, the shoes have started dropping:
2 leaders subpoenaed
Postmus, Mitzelfelt called to testify before grand jury
A grand jury has subpoenaed county Assessor Bill Postmus and Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt in what is believed to be an investigation into financial disparities at the now-defunct California Charter Academy.
Mitzelfelt confirmed late Friday that he had received a subpoena requesting that he appear before the grand jury as a witness.
“I will go in there and answer any questions that they have,” he said.
Postmus did not respond to requests for comment.
San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert said Friday that he had informed the Board of Supervisors that grand jury subpoenas had been issued in connection with an investigation into the charter academy.
The fact that two of the county’s top Republican officials have been subpoenaed does not necessarily mean they are targets of the investigation. It could be that the grand jury just wants their testimony in a broader review of the financial collapse of the charter school group in 2004.
It could also be that investigators are looking at one or both for possibly playing a more nefarious role.
Here’s the part most of interest to most Hesperians, I suspect:
Also named in the audit is Tad Honeycutt, a Hesperia city councilman who worked closely with Cox.
Honeycutt was the business-development director for the school’s private management firm. That gave him the ability to steer six-figure contracts to outside businesses and receive pay for work that auditors found questionable.
For example, Honeycutt started a company, Maniaque Management Group, which employed him as the chief executive officer and Cox as director. In one instance, the company received four checks for $6,750 each, totalling $27,000, from CCA.
“The audit team could find no evidence of services provided by Mr. Honeycutt or Maniaque for these payments that would justify the use of CCA funds,” the audit report stated.
The audit also states that Honeycutt used his company credit card for “often quite significant” purchases, which “did not appear related to educational purposes.” Cox totaled more than $712,000 over 2 years, while Honeycutt charged nearly $300,000 over two years, which included such purchases as $18,000 for two jet skis.
Honeycutt said Friday that he expected to receive a subpoena but had not yet. He denied all allegations of wrongdoing, explaining the purchases highlighted in the audit as normal for a private business.
“It’s baffling to me,” Honeycutt said. “The audit that the state did was completely baseless. It’s a glorified list of allegations based on nothing.”
As per the official press release:
Freedom Interactive brings social media technologies to its network of over 40 web sites
Teams up with Pluck to expand opportunities for reader engagement and advertising
Irvine, Calif. — July 11, 2007 – Freedom Interactive today announced a strategic arrangement with Pluck, a social media technology pioneer, to empower its audience to share content and create communities of interest among Freedom’s network of over 40 news and information web sites. This relationship is one of many strategic initiatives Freedom is actively pursuing to strengthen audience engagement and loyalty by offering its audience the ability to create, share and exchange content through an integrated social media platform.
Freedom Interactive plans to launch the Pluck SiteLife technology across its network of newspaper, television and magazine websites in August. With Pluck SiteLife, Freedom Interactive will enable its audience to interact with content and each other via tools allowing users to comment on local news, create blogs, share photos, create profiles, and participate in community discussions. Once deployed, Freedom Interactive will support social media activities through innovative advertising opportunities and sponsorships.
“We are eager to adopt technologies that inspire an interactive connection between our audience and the content we provide.� said Michael Mathieu, President of Freedom Interactive. “Our relationship with Pluck enhances our online community with fresh user-generated content that is essential for maintaining user loyalty, increasing web site traffic and providing new opportunities to our advertisers.�
“The world’s top publishers and media companies have recognized that the way their audiences consume and interact with news and information has shifted with the advent of social media technology,� said Dave Panos, CEO of Pluck Corp. “Freedom Interactive is embracing this shift by offering unique social media capabilities that enhance reader experiences, drive audience interaction and deliver new opportunities for advertisers.�
About Freedom Interactive
Freedom Interactive is a division of Freedom Communications—a national, privately owned information and entertainment company headquartered in Irvine, Calif. Freedom Interactive owns and operates web sites coast to coast, each offering up-to-the-minute breaking news stories, extensive content with a unique perspective, and trusted local news coverage on demand. The company’s web sites are associated with various Freedom Communications media properties including over 70 newspapers and magazines, such as The Orange County Register in Orange County, CA, and The Gazette in Colorado Springs, CO, and nine broadcast television stations.
About Pluck Corporation
Pluck Corporation’s social media solutions empower publishers, broadcasters and brands to integrate open content, community and social networking into their web properties driving audience traffic and revenue. Clients include Cox, Gannett, Hearst Corporation, Meredith, Rodale and The Washington Post. Awards include a Red Herring Top 100, AlwaysOn Top 100, and Fast Company Top 101. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas with funding from Austin Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Reuters. More information on Pluck offerings can be found at www.pluck.com.
I suspect, as part of this, we’ll be seeing the current commenting system on the Hesperia Star, Daily Press and Desert Dispatch sites change. I don’t think anyone really loves the current system, so that’s OK.
The social networking stuff is interesting. I’m not sure that MySpace should be sweating any, but I think there’s a large untapped audience of older folks who would like a Web site but not want to get involved with MySpace or any of its rivals.
 The American Journalism Review has an excellent piece on how local media covered the Virginia Tech shootings.
I know that I was amazed at how good a job the Collegiate Times in particular did during that time — in my day, they were more of a social club than a serious news outlet, and published half as many editions a week — even outshining the predictably solid Roanoke Times during the tragedy and its aftermath.
(AJR is a great bi-monthly read, better even than the IRE magazine.)
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