Now that Ben Dunsmoor has left KELO-TV to take a Bath job as Northern Electric Cooperative communications director, he can open his new local paper and be a wiseguy:
Dunsmoor spent his last days at KELO covering the Annette Bosworth trial (does that go down as a high point or a low point?), but since he started at NEC on Tuesday, he missed out on the thrilling conclusion, handing the mic to Erich Schaffhauser to witness the victory of truth, justice, and electoral integrity.
He still got a word in at the end of trial, by accidental hearsay. Immediately after the courtroom cleared Wednesday night, KELO’s audio/video technician chatted with Judge John L. Brown about the trial. On the still hot mic, online viewers could hear the KELO guy say that Dunsmoor had thought Bosworth had a chance until she herself took the stand. Now that Dunsmoor is free of flagship media’s strictures, I look forward to his taking up blogging and telling his own story of the Bosworth case.
I came out on top of page 2A thanks to my fellow Lake Herman emigrée Elisa Sand, who wrote up my withdrawal from the Aberdeen city council race for our local paper. Even though I’m out, she was nice enough to include my thoughts on why campaigns are important:
A newcomer to Aberdeen, Heidelberger said he joined the City Council race to provide the opportunity for a conversation among the candidates on issues. He will remain in Aberdeen, but will live outside the southeast district.
“Every election is our opportunity to have a discussion about our community,” Heidelberger said in an interview last week. “The first duty of a candidate is to lead the conversation” [Elisa Sand, “Heidelberger Withdraws from City Council Election in Aberdeen,” Aberdeen American News, 2015.05.28].
…and on two big issues in Aberdeen, our streets and the new library proposal:
In the few months he and his family have lived in Aberdeen, Heidelberger said, he’s definitely seen a need to invest more money in road maintenance and points to Goodrich Avenue as an example of a street in need of attention.
“If you’ve got rougher streets, you’ve got more wear and tear on vehicles,” he said.
An avid bicyclist, Heidelberger said rougher roads are also a danger to cyclists.
“People need to get around safely no matter what means necessary,” he said [Sand, 2015.05.28].
(I’m not sure Elisa got that last quote right, but in addition to wear and tear on struts and butts, I said bad roads are bad for economic development, hurting our image and the basic transportation of people and goods.)
He also favors plans for the new public library, with one caveat.
“Let’s make sure we have a plan for the old building,” he said [Sand, 2015.05.28].
Maybe Dr. Bosworth will offer to buy the library and open a VA hospital, as she proposed to do in Hoven last year. Then Dunsmoor, Bosworth, and I could all get together for coffee at Red Rooster.
I hope you bought extra copies of this edition!
Heavens forfend, Dave! The May 9 front page, showing my wife’s photo above President Obama’s, has much more value.
Good for Ben! Unfortunately, this means his days of pinching female reporters from other stations until they bruise so they move out of the way during live shots are over. Maybe he’ll find other ways to show his manliness in Bath.