Paris, IL. (ECWd) –
Not that this is anything new, we just thought we would point out the faulty reporting on the front page of the December 3, 2015 edition of the local weekly, Prairie Press.
Zeman, who is no stranger to local news, decided to run a story on the races for the upcoming primary election. First, she refers to Mike Heltsley, who has been a county board embarrassment for all of three years, as a “long time county board member” who chose not to run for reelection. Alan Zuber, who has been in office the same number of days as Heltsley didn’t get the same title.Β Few would consider one term board members as as long time county board members.
She then mentions Robert Bogue and John Chittick running for County Board District 7.Β Further claiming Bogue is “affiliated with” the Edgar County Watchdogs, and later mentioning “Bogue and fellow Edgar County Watchdog Kirk Allen“, which is a lie, but we have come to expect that from the PP after all the manufactured problems published about the 911 system prior to the last election.
What she could have written, is that Robert Bogue is a veteran, retired from IDOT, and has been active in attending county board meetings for the past several years. Don’t get me wrong, we would love to have Bogue as an Edgar County Watchdog, but the fact is, he is not.
When reporting on her obvious favorite, there is a fleeting mention of Chittick as a farmer, but most reporting was that his father was a long time “Edgar County Republican Party Chairman”. Like it should matter who his father is…but it appears some people in Edgar County still cling to the coattails of their relatives. She could have reported on the losers who circulated Chittick’s petitions, but we will do that when the time comes.
So, now that we know how things are lining up, we wish Zeman would have either asked Bogue or us if he was an Edgar County Watchdog prior to placing the lie in print.
