Emails: WFMY scripted Greensboro Police 'interview'; submitted for police approval

GREENSBORO, NC -- Emails recently obtained by this blogger show a local TV station submitting a script to a Greensboro police officer in advance of an upcoming live interview about door-to-door solicitors and the script getting forwarded to the police public affairs liaison for approval. The email, from WFMY anchor Tanya Rivera, includes what she calls a "working script" for the police officer's review. It includes Rivera's questions and suggested answers for the officer. "Anything you say is in the <…>," Rivera writes.

Although the anchor says the scripted answers are "examples" and "placeholders," the script reveals that, rather than probing the police for information, the anchor had already formed an opinion of the subject and was suggesting answers to the police officer that would conform to her narrative.

Excerpt (emphasis added):

Tanya: and usually... if it's in one neighborhood...it makes the rounds. 

<your answer: example-- right. so while it just happened in the north part of the city-- these people don't stay in one place. they move around, trying to get the most victims possible. they use everything from magazine sales to ****. and just because they have a nice sounding or charity sounding name...don't let that fool you.>

The email was subsequently forwarded to the Police Department's public affairs liaison for approval:

"I need your approval of this script Tanya Rivera of News 2 has prepared for an interview this evening."

Here are the emails in their entirety:

---

From: Uehlein, Pat C
To: Danielsen, Susan
Subject: FW: WFMY script for Wednesday 5:30pm
Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 8:41:34 AM

Susan,
I need your approval of this script Tanya Rivera of News 2 has prepared for an interview this evening
with Officer Eric Rasecke.

Pat

P. C. Uehlein, Sergeant
Western Community Resource Team
Greensboro Police Department
City of Greensboro
Phone: (336) 412-3910; Fax: (336) 373-4663
PO Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402-3136
www.greensboro-nc.gov

---

From: Rivera, Tanya [mailto:trivera@wfmy.gannett.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 7:02 PM
To: Rasecke, Eric H
Subject: WFMY script for Wednesday 5:30pm

Hey Eric—thanks again for being available for a live interview tomorrow. The newscast is at
5:30pm…please be here by 5:15pm and you will be done by 5:45pm. Here is the working
script. Anything you say is in the <…> You can see I put in examples…these are just
placeholders. Please email me back your answers so we can make sure we are on the right
track. I’m thinking of adding one or two tidbits of the code enforcement information at the end of
your interview and then putting the other code enforcement info in the web story. Would you
please pick out the number 1 or 1&2 points you think viewers need to know & then email me the
entire list.

Thanks again! –tanya

Tanya: On this neighborhood alert email--it says.. contact police if a solicitor shows up at your
door...
chances are... the solicitors won't show up in the this neighborhood again...but they could
show up in yours.

{***TANYA & GUEST***}
Officer Eric Rasecke with the Greensboro Police Department has seen his share of door-to-door
calls.

<your answer: example-- door-to-door scams happen in every neighborhood-- and it doesn't
seem there is a season without them.>

Tanya: and usually... if it's in one neighborhood...it makes the rounds.

<your answer: example-- right. so while it just happened in the north part of the city-- these
people don't stay in one place. they move around, trying to get the most victims possible. they
use everything from magazine sales to ****. and just because they have a nice sounding or
charity sounding name...don't let that fool you.>

Tanya : i imagine tracking down the people going door to door isn't all that easy unless a
neighbor calls you right then and there.

<your answer: example -- most of the time people call 20 minutes later when they get to thinking
about it. its usually too late. etc>

Tanya : and getting your money back from these people....

<your answer: example -- it's just as hard.....etc >

Tanya: the one thing we can count on...is if it's making the rounds in one neighborhood...there is
a good chance this could be in your neighborhood next.

(possible points 1 or 2 of the code enforcement—what every solicitor should have on their
person when they come to your door…..)

{full screen}

Tanya Rivera
2 Wants To Know
Office 336.379.5685
Twitter: @TanyaRiveraOn2

An open letter to mayor-elect Nancy Vaughan

Dear Mayor-elect Vaughan,

Congratulations on your victory. On the campaign trail, you emphasized job creation as one of your priorities—a priority consistently shared by your predecessors since we started bleeding our traditional manufacturing jobs some fifteen years or so ago. Unfortunately, our economic exsanguination has continued despite the sincere desires of mayors before you to find some antidote.

Each of your predecessors, however, took essentially the same approach to job creation, manifesting their hope in the capabilities of others, primarily various "economic development" officials and organizations. While the mayors pitched in with efforts to make land "shovel ready" or to make us an attractive place by improving our quality of life, those efforts, while not unimportant and not unappreciated, essentially consigned the mayors to an ancillary role. I think you should do things differently.

I suggest that you take the lead as a corporate recruiter for Greensboro. Cooperate with and utilize the expertise of the professional "economic developers," but take the lead. What would that look like? A job. Each day, you would do some research into business and industry trends. You'd read. A lot. Then, act. Each day, you would make some calls and send some emails or letters to companies that might be expanding or relocating.

Start with this: Foxconn, the mammoth Chinese manufacturer of iPhones and iPads is looking to establish manufacturing plants in the United Sates; one on the west coast, one on the east. You and I know that with our three-runway airport, confluence of highways, ground and air shipping companies, mobile chip maker RFMicro, and our tech colleges training potential workers in modern manufacturing, Foxconn should know about us. We could be the perfect fit.

Put yourself forward for us. On our behalf, begin to navigate your way to the people who will be deciding where the east coast Foxconn plant will be, introduce yourself to them, identify their needs and offer to personally help them consider Greensboro. Be their problem solver and our ambassador.

There will be, I'm sure, people who will tell you "that's not the way it's done." Tell them you want their help, but you'd like to do it a little differently this time, that you think we'll have more success if companies get the personal attention, and persistence, of Greensboro's mayor. Say that, then take charge. That's my advice.

Best of luck!

Yours,
Roch

Five years without a cigarette

It was five years ago yesterday that I quit smoking for good. I haven't had a single cigarette or cigar, not a puff, since. I'm done. I'm sure.

If you are a smoker, here's some friendly advice.

1. Don't give up. I went through periods of "light" smoking and heavier smoking and always thought to myself, "I can quit when I'm ready." I even quit for as much as a couple of years at a time. Even though I would start again, I kept making efforts to quit and I eventually won. Don't resign yourself to being a smoker just because your attempts to quit thus far haven't lasted, if you keep trying, you'll eventually win too.

2. Try anything, try everything. My eventual permanent success came about through the use of the prescription drug Chantix. It worked like a charm for me. No side effects -- no effects at all except that, after a little while, I simply did not desire a cigarette. It kept the desire at bay long enough for me to physically and mentally free myself from my need for cigarettes. There is plenty of good advice out there for techniques and steps that can increase your chances of successfully quitting. Don't be afraid to try them, even if you have before or even if they seem foreign to you.

3. Believe in your unseen reward. If you smoke, you are oblivious to just how much better your body and mind can feel without cigarettes. Trust me on this. One thing I can guarantee you is that, if you quit, you will reap an eventual but obvious improvement in your sense of wellbeing. "Healthy" will manifest itself in a physical way with you that you will feel viscerally. You can only appreciate how vastly superior this condition is to that while you were a smoker by experiencing it, but it's real, substantial and very positive. This is not to say that you may not have some significant, maybe even tortuous suffering as you try to quit, but that will go away if you can outlast it and your rewards are some very good feelings you cannot even imagine yet, but they are there, waiting for you.

Grand advice for the GOP

Tom Ridge, Republican, former Governor of Pennsylvania and the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, offers some sage advice to the Republican party, including this:

"In order to govern, we must win national elections. To do so the narcissists and ideologues within our party need to understand that Americans are, more conservative than liberal, but are more practical than ideological and more tolerant and open minded than judgmental. They are also looking for real not rhetorical solutions.

"They are not attracted to a party that imposes an even more severe litmus tests on its own members, projects an unacceptable rigidity and self-righteousness on social issues, and spends more time and energy objecting to bad law rather than proposing alternatives."

Read the rest.

Jim Kee campaign finance discrepancies

GREENSBORO, NC -- How much money has district 2 City Council representative Jim Kee received from William M. Kotis of Kotis Properties? There are discrepancies in Kee's campaign finance reports that raise questions.

According to Kee's latest filing, he has received an aggregated total of $4,000 in contributions from Kotis for this election, the legal allowable maximum. But only a single $500 contribution in September of this year is itemized in any of Kee's reports for this election cycle. When and for how much were the other contributions and do they, in fact, add up to only $4,000?

I emailed Kee yesterday morning to ask for clarification. He has not replied. Should I get a response, I will post an update here.