Colleen Wing wrote:Mr. Ken Warren,
You are an incredibly intelligent and articulate guy; currently you are taking yourself and this "experiment" entirely to seriously. I think you should take a step back and look at your reaction posts, they are becoming increasingly more arrogant and not effective in communicating your view point.
Colleen
Ken Warren is the least arrogant person I know.
Ken Warren is probably the most successful person in town at getting things done. While adding a $12 million dollar extension to the Best Library in the country, and heading or being a part of numerous charities and civic group he still gives this project every second demanded of him. For that I will be forever grateful, and the city should be as well.
You have no idea, how dedicated and serious we all are. Why not join the process and give some time. Come to an Observer party and see, before you comment. I remember standing in the rain for hours with Ken at a 100% Republican gathering at Jennifer's house. We left an Observer meeting, in the dry to do so. Now come to an Observer party, warm dry, beverages, even food. Give us half the chance we gave you.
Mark
First, my admiration of Colleen Wing is every bit as large as yours. My appreciation for her and the Republican Party is nearly as big as yours, not the views necessarily, but I know how much work organizing can be.
There is no doubt that many if not all brand me, some wild flaming democratic liberal, and the truth is I am probably not far from that. As I have mentioned I tend to pick my sides by the issue not the R or the D. I have supported candidates from both sides. I would like to know how many of the so call "Centrists" can say the same and show me the checks to support that.
My frustration with Colleen, is that she knows this to be true about me. She knows I do not control the stories getting in the paper, she knows that I have been begging for ANY story the right is willing to put up. No I mean any story a Lakewoodite is willing to put up. We have editors that can work miracles, so English is not the key. I personally never write anything but fluff pieces that are non-political She used a friendship that i have with the Kucinichs as a reason that is based on non-political reasons for a reasons why she will not contribute.
It is all hogwash, does not hold water.
What does hold water is Bret Callentine's comments.
The night Bret called me he told me, I would not like his comments, I said write them. He told me they would never be publish, I said write them. He told me he was assured by members of the Republican Club I would never print them, I said write them. From that moment on Brett Callentine has put up. He has never been told what to write or what not to write. He has never been asked to tone it down.
Two issues ago, the editor assigned to his column found what she thought were inaccuracies in comments about the UN. Bret was called, not sure what happened, but that editor, Emily Hilty worked at the UN, and might be farther to the left than I edited it, cleaned it up, and printed it. I heard nothing wrong from Bret. So I imagine he was OK with it.
Ask every Conservative or Republican who knows me, they know I have been begging for them to write. Jennifer Scott was going to write a column, never came in. Colleen was going to write, never came in. Joe Milan wrote a scathing attack based on no facts, that the editorial staff felt was better a "Letter to the Editor: as that was the style it was written in. Rarely do we publish letters to the editors, as most would be self serving, the ones we publish are like the last issue, negative comments against the paper or how we handle things. Joe was given the choice of leaving it the que, or placing it online, it was placed online, I have the emails of that exchange I would be more than happy to share.
My frustration comes from my personal experience, with three businesses in Lakewood, most taking serious hits because of the time I spend on this paper, and having to hire people to run them, I still find time to write about what is important to me. My total lack of English skills comes from spending way to much time smoking cigarettes(don't try this at home kids) than going to English. I was once assure by a professor at RIT, that I had a command of the English language as good as any seventh grader, but I still try to write.
Ken Warren the busiest man in Lakewood writes, all the people that contribute have other jobs and families they write. LakewoodAlive, who I am a member of, wanted to make sure their message went out, hired a writer to write. So that is hardly an excuse especially from someone within the party that is suppose to be getting their message out. Even when I was getting nothing from the right I would cover Ryan Patrick Demro events, just to have something from the right in the paper. I have never done that for the left. Mark, I believe more than once while debating politics in the elevator I have asked you to write.
My frustration comes from the fact, it is untrue what Colleen took the time to write. It is far easier to attack with the untruth of, it will not get printed, than to write the story. No one has more stories sitting in the well waiting to get printed than Ken Warren with 3, Don Farris with 2, and myself. None are political in nature, none are time sensitive.
The Advisory Board, gives so much of their time just to get information out I hate to ask for anymore. ALL are dedicated to the discussion. My love of Ken Warren comes from the fact that I have watched him and heard him hundreds of times offer thoughts from both sides to aid a discussion. I have seen him asked about a subject he has serious views on, but offer the customer of the library books from both sides of the argument, usually with, "Well if your read this you might want to read this as a dissenting view." One of the few people I have ever met as dedicated to the discussion as I am.
As this has run far longer than it should, I will try to wrap it up. My frustration on this is huge. This past year the Democratic Club ran an ad in the paper, I called Colleen and told her they were running the ad, and asked if they wanted to run an ad. I believe, I could be wrong the answer was "no budget for it." Would the Plain Dealer call?
What has begin to drive me nuts is the baseless attacks on me, the paper, the Deck and the board. We are so open that I encourage these attacks to go public, let's discuss it, let's clear the air, But it is to no avail, it just pops up again and again and again.
So here we have a bleeding heart liberal, spending hours and who knows how much money, begging to get the Right to contribute. I would now like to see the person from the right, write the check for these efforts. Show me the person on the right that is as dedicated to getting the word out about the left, the middle, hell even the right as I am, the LO board is, or this project is they just do not exist in this city.
Luckily, R and Ds mean very little on the local level. It is thoughts and actions that matter in Lakewood. Which is why I love this city.
You have no idea my level frustration.
Hopefully, Ryan Patrick Demro will jump in, as has Bret Callentine.
I will not be able to say it as eloquently as Ken Warren and Bret Callentine's, "Put up or shut up." Instead I just want to thank you for taking part in the discussion, for the minutes you have lent this project, and for sharing your opinion on this and other topics. Because of that effort, all of us and Lakewood has a better understanding of ourselves.
Send checks to Lakewood Observer, Inc. PO Box 770274, Lakewood, Ohio 44107. Or take out an ad, call 216.228.7223 and I will get a sales rep to you. Help us amplify all voices of Lakewood. If you choose not to, that is OK too, we will always be open regardless.
peace
