Here we go again. How do we juggle the important stuff?

The brackets came out for the District 10 championship games today I didn't get past  the Class A baseball game between Rocky Grove and West Middlesex.

For some reason Memorial Day has become the tradition for holding the PIAA District 10 championship games.  A day that is set aside by our nation to remember the importance of sacrifice.

I'm not a flag waver, nor am I a veteran. My work, however, has put me face to face with veterans, people who were put face to face with unthinkable choices and who lost very important people in their lives in unfathomable ways.

These are generally older folks who don't ask for anything for their service other than the right to be proud of their country and the small (but huge) part what they accomplished in service and for the love and respect for those who did not come back... or have since left us.

One day. Just one day.

And I'm guessing most would be happy with just the half the day they set aside for a tiny service few attend or a parade that draws politicians running for office and a few others to pay tribute in their hometowns..

As the Rocky Grove baseball team will be taking the field in Slippery Rock on Monday, the community they are from will be paying tribute to the fallen back home. Some are parents and grand parents of those players who now have to choose between their commitment to their honor as soldiers and their commitment to honor of their family.

Most know the answer of what to do, but I can't help wonder why they have this burden of choosing to begin with?

Family always first, but I know many of these old soldiers and they have more than one family, those of blood and those of another kind of blood.

It would be a very simple thing for the PIAA or District 10 to push back the playoff games to after 3 p.m. or hold them on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend instead of Monday.

As a newspaper photographer I found myself rushing from event to event and making compromises to coverage. Do I cut out early from the memorial services that showcases the importances of fighting for what our constitution stands for in order to get to a baseball game 30 miles away to perhaps witness a once in a lifetime championship event? It could be easy to say you cover the possible once in a lifetime event of our youth who are our future, but in doing so we miss the opportunity to celebrate, or pay tribute to those who served and who may not be with us the next Memorial Day.

I'll admit each year I cover Memorial Day I questioned what I am doing, hoping I give justice to both. Not all the veterans or those who lost someone have family members playing ball and this one day, and so it means something to them I cannot even imagine.

 I know I have seen grand parents at the morning parade rushing to an afternoon game to be sure to honor both of their blood families. But this 10 a.m. game means they cannot and I really think that it is time the PIAA and District 10 step up and find an alternative. America --or the United States of America is about hot dogs, apple pie and baseball, but is it really? And can't we have that,  if it is true, and still honor our people who have sacrificed for at least one day of the year? Or at least half the day, in the morning when we hold these memorial services and parades?

I love nothing better than people pulling themselves up by the bootstraps while facing adversity and still pushing forward. 

When I read online posts by staff members at the soon-to-be-defunct Derrick and News-Herald, where I once proudly worked, saying they were going continue on as an online news outlet I was thrilled.

I literally said out loud to my computer...  "good for them."

​From online comments, it is obvious people are excited that a portion of The Derrick legacy will continue. 
​ 
When the official announcement hit the newsstand on February 20, I had a much different reaction and some very serious questions.

A lot of them.

At first the article mentioned TheDerrick.com would continue after the physical printing of the newspaper would cease on March 20.

It stated they would be working in collaboration with the non-profit Oil Region Alliance, which is an agency funded, in part through government grants and which is involved in dozens of projects The Derrick and other independent news outlets report on regularly.

​Reporting that can investigate, when necessary, the actions of the agency and what impact, positive or negative, their projects have on the community. Reporting that should be through an unbiased, independent eye. That's journalism.

As I read the article. my ethics 101 red flag radar began dinging like a impatient hungry customer at an unmanned deli counter.

I have a lot of questions.
​
First, who wrote the article? It had no byline or attribution. This is odd for this newspaper. No "staff reports" that would indicate it was a press release vetted for authenticity, then edited into a readable story for the paper. Since it didn't have a byline, it implies it wasn't written by a specific staff member. It contained no editor's note. It contained the word "we". This is strange.

Was the source of this article the ORA, the Derrick Publishing Company, both,  or was it a a staff writer, without the usual byline?

What about the obvious journalistic conflicts of interests and ethical dilemmas that will arise with such a partnership?

The article addressed all the positive aspects of keeping a reliable legacy news source, but none of the ethical shortcomings of a union between a media outlet and an organization it frequently reports on. The article also failed to address what the organizational structure will be.  This made me wonder how the TheDerrick.com editing team will handle news from the ORA if they are under its umbrella.

A brief email exchange with The Derrick publisher Paul Hess didn't clarify much. He stated “The (February 20) article says it all at this point. All the details are being worked out.” We played a bit of phone tag that day and he told me if I needed answers to my questions to call John Phillips, president and CEO of the ORA.

Fair enough. 

Around the same time, Phillips replied to an email I sent earlier.

My questions on how the ORA or the participating Derrick employees are getting the rights to continue as TheDerrick.com and if the paper's archives would be part of the deal were defered by Phillips due to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) between the parties involved.

Understandable.

To answer my question about what structure will look like, Phillips indicated he envisions the paper would function akin to the Oil City Main Street Program for which the ORA serves as a fiscal agent. If this will be their arrangement then who will be the owners of The Derrick.com? This is important information. Because it begs the question who will be in charge of the news, in particular the news surrounding the ORA?

I really have a lot of questions. 

Will TheDerrick.com be its own non-profit? Will it have a separate board of directors from the ORA and will the ORA have any say in directing news content, hiring and firing of TheDerrick.com employees or who does and does not advertise on website?

Will the reporters and editors feel the freedom to ask questions about the actions of the ORA and its projects? Will they feel hindered from receiving or pursuing information or topics not necessarily favorable to the ORA?

Just to be clear, non-profit journalism is growing more common with new media outlets - so on the surface this sounds like a good possible solution to many.

Spotlight PA is the first that comes to mind. This independent, non-profit news organization rose up to take the mantel of investigative journalism throughout the commonwealth in 2019. 

The key word here is independent. They are not under the umbrella of another organization that funds projects of public concern.

I'm not trying to be curmudgeony and certainly do not want to see this effort by the staffers at TheDerrick.com to fail. Their continuation is a good thing and perhaps essential to Venango County news gathering.

But the sheer volume of stories involving the ORA each year means the conflicts of interest are a very serious concern of jounralistic ethics. That has yet to be addressed. A quick use of current TheDerrick.com search option pulls up more than 1,700 items in which the ORA has been at least mentioned since 2014.

That’s a fair amount of stories. Many stem from ORA press releases or follow ups to those releases. Other stories are updates of their long-term projects, involvement in community events and other collaborations. 

Which brings me to another question with obvious interests to Eight & 322. How will the ORA move forward with issuing information, press releases and answering other news sources' inqueris?

It is a concern given that in The Derrick's article on February 20 where it was attributed to Phillips and Debbie Sobina, the ORA’s vice president  that “…they and their ORA staff are dedicated to assuring the Oil Region’s only reliable source of news will be serving the community for a long time.” Calling them the "only reliable news source" indicates they don't necessarily trust other area news outlets. Phillips said the ORA did not write the article nor did they review it before it was published. He also said the ORA will not show favoritism to TheDerrick.com over the other local news sources.

I certainly hope this is true and I have no reason to doubt his sincerity. And, as pointed out in the first column of this series, there are a number of news sources that serve the oil region.

​Lastly, as stated prior, the ORA gets funding through the government, including the county hotel tax. And their projects directly effect local municipalities - all things the newspaper reports. There are also elected government officials on the ORA board.

Ethical journalism goes out of its way to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest. 

How does TheDerrrick.com plan to maintain impartiality and its standing as a watchdog while under the umbrella for an organization with so many connections to local government? 

So in summary: Is the ORA going to be the overseer and give directions to the news website? Is investigative journalism of government grants and community projects handled by the ORA, when needed, going to be possible under this arrangement? Will the TheDerrick.com be independent of the rest of the ORA’s operations? And to reiterate, how separate can they be if payroll and finances are handled under the ORA’s umbrella? Can any newspaper, online or print, be truly independent if they are governed by a major subject of their reporting? 

As I said I have a lot of questions and though this may sound as if I am hoping for failure of this venture, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I fear for any community that loses its newspaper. I understand the times they are a changin’.  All the more reason to be diligent in how we go about reporting the news.


Read the first column in this series here: https://www.8and322.com/editorial/editorial-the-changing-landscape-of-oil-region-journalism

​Since announcing the closure below the fold on February 6, several Derrick newsroom staff members posted on social media they might not be done.

Then late last week The Derrick put out a top-of-the-page story that several employees and the publisher Paul Hess are working with the Oil Region Alliance to keep reporting on Venango County. Listed were six newsroom staffers along with Hess. No mention of other support staff or advertising sales reps, but they stated many details are to being worked out.
​
The article stated that they will continue as TheDerrick.com starting March 21. They will work out of the same location until they move to the ORA’s Venango Campus just up the street.
​
On the surface, it is great news. They will continue delivering news that effects the residents of Venango County. In the February 20 article, Hess stated, “This keeps a credible, verifiable online news source available in this area partnering with a forward thinking organization like the ORA. I truly believe this is a win-win situation.”

One line included in the article said, “ORA President and CEO John Phillips and Vice President Debbie Sobina said they and their ORA staff are dedicated to assuring the Oil Region’s only reliable source of news will be serving the community for a long time to come.” 

Later that same day exploreVenango unveiled plans to start offering a membership plan that provides readers with a digital “printable” product that complies the news of the day into one space and eliminates national ads. The membership fee and the look of the daily product that will be on their website are to be announced soon, Bauer said.

To summarize –The Derrick Publishing Company announced the impending closure of three papers, Explore Your Town followed by promising to expand its online coverage of the area, employees at The Derrick newspaper announced they will be continuing on as TheDerrick.com in collaboration with the ORA, and Explore Your Town nearly simultaneously introduced the expansion of its website to include the addition of a membership option that provides a printable product while still keeping the majority of its content free.  
Put another way – the company known for their print products will move forward as an online platform under a non-profit umbrella and the company known for its free news site will now be offering a pay-for-news option.

Does that clear everything up? 

February has brought us a lot of news about the news.  

Two’s Company, Three (or More) is a Journalism Pool

Everyone adapting and moving forward sounds good and Bauer appears to agree. In an article about TheDerrick.com published by exploreVenango on February 23, he said, “Competition breeds excellence, and at the end the day, the Oil Region is the winner when there are multiple sets of eyes on local government and community events… Having two reliable news sources makes our community stronger, more transparent, and better informed.”

Before wrapping up this column, it might be fair to address the claims of one outlet being the “only reliable” source of information in the Oil Region and another pointing out that there are “two reliable news sources.”
Without diving into the debate of the what reliable journalism is or is not, it is worth acknowledging in the Oil Region, which includes all of Venango County as well as the Titusville area in Crawford County, there are several news outlets and information distributors. We’ve mentioned in length The Derrick Publishing Company and The Explore Your Town group. Discussed earlier as well is The Titusville News-Journal weekly, the daily Meadville Tribune and the weekly Progress News.
​
Your Daily Local out of Warren covers a lot of the region, particularly District 9 and 10 sports. Stream TV broadcasts the Morning Drill and streams area sports and the occasional event. There area has seen a bump in TV coverage out of Erie as of late. There are still radio stations on the FM and AM dials, believe it or not. And yes even Eight & 322 is around covering topics, thought on an admittedly part-time basis.
​
I appreciate all the variety of outlets available. In fact, I do freelance work for many of the media listed above.

The world is in a constant state of change. The delivery of news must change along with it. It is my hope that everyone changes in ways that are ethical, strengthen the community through access to information, and solidify the important role of responsible journalism.
It is, after-all, up to us.

​

Vice President Kamala Harris made a stop in Erie, Pennsylvania Monday to emphasize the importance northwest Pennsylvania has had on elections in the 21st century, picking the winner since 20008. "Erie County is a pivot county," said Harris in front of a full Erie Insurance arena. How you all vote in presidential elections often ends up predicting the national result."

Thousands attended the Erie rally, many traveling some distance in order to see the vice president and hear what she had to say about the election that in just a little over 20 days away. Several local dignitaries spoke. Senator John Fetterman came donning a Pittsburgh Steelers hat a day after the they demolished the Raiders.

The last day to register to vote is October 21. Last day to apply for mail in  or civil absentee ballot is October 29. Election Day is November 5.

Below are more photos we captured at the rally.

Addendum: As a small community journalist it is always interesting when the "circus comes to town. I told a national journalist back on the George W. Bush era that you're in my town here, you don't push me around.

We are important.

And northwest Pennsylvania is critically so to both the Democrats, who hope to snag Erie county and garner enough votes to cancel out the rural voters who mostly vote Republican.

It is always interesting covering these campaigns that are so focussed on the big issues, they often miss the little picture of all the folks, all around, that mean a great deal to the little piece of this great puzzle they are in control of and that affect their community. The community is where life is.

​The journalists, for the most part that follow national politics try to tap into those lives in order to know the fabric that makes up America. We all have our way of seeing that slice of America.

​The truth is we're all important and deciding who leads this nation is also important. It does define us.

​The next month, a Thursday night concert featuring the Junior Silver Cornet summer camp kids in Bandstand Park was noticeably affected by music coming from Trails. A person who was in the park that night commented on the Eight & 322 post this weekend saying the volume of the music from Trails ​affected their enjoyment of the Junior band show.

We were also there. We also noted the music and its disruptive effects on the regularly scheduled public concert in the park. The comment about the concert was one of more than 50 made under the post, some which came from a manager at Trails and one of the owners.

The comments revealed several things, including some communication breakdowns, claims of music overlapping between Trails and other businesses, and that the volume affects nearby residences.
The conversation started before Saturday’s shows at Trails and the Barrow, so we intentionally took time to investigate with our ears the performances that evening.

The video here was recorded in Bandstand Park on Saturday night around 7:45 to give an idea to the volume. Shortly after that, we walked by Trails and then went into the theatre.

We stood inside the theatre near the wall where the Trails stage is outside. The sound from the band was pouring in, especially through the emergency exit doors.

We walked to the top of the theater on the opposite side to listen again. We can say with certainty that the pit orchestra and the strong singer at the time were powerful and we could barely hear the band from Trails.

Then the song ended and there was the band once again – intruding on the theater experience.

Music is a funny thing. If it is layered, it is more and more interesting. But if the layering is a dissonance, a different song altogether, then it becomes a disruption.

We are huge fans of live music. The arts and downtown cultural gatherings like at Trails to Ales, The Smoke Cantina, Bella Cucina, FoxTales, Benjamin’s, Iron Furnace Coffee and Bandstand Park certainly contribute to the vibrant atmosphere of Franklin.

So how do we maintain that vibrancy without creating competing noise? How can we all be neighborly?

​In one of his comments in the Eight & 322 thread, Trails owner Dave Ballard suggested that everyone affected should join him at a city council meeting to civilly discuss what can be done in the best interests of all involved.

He said "we would much rather be the solution than the problem."

He made further comments about the times included in the city’s ordinance, suggesting it should be extended to 11 p.m., but did not directly address the issue of volume despite time of day.
​
City council member Christian Marshall got on the thread to let everyone know that the council meeting at 7 p.m. on August 5 will likely be held in the professional building at Miller-Sibley due to renovations at city hall.

So, we got our panties in a twist a little on Friday and stirred the pot on Saturday. Hopefully the subsequent scuttlebutt about the music at Trails will lead to a neighborly solution that strikes a good harmony between the needs of the residences on 12th Street, all businesses in that area, as well as who use the park for a variety of activities.  
​

There are a few things the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association should use a bottle of Wite-out to correct.  Putting into motion disciplinary actions against a school for a football game back in October meant to bolster the spirits of a school holding a "White-Out" is one one of them.

This situation stinks of egos run-a-muck and a rule that is at its least poorly written andif held steadfast misses the point of what a community involved in its kids sports is all about.

Before I get to the heart of this, because frankly, I'm a bit steamed about this and it isn't even a team I cover. Rules are meant to preserve the integrity of the game so that those participating, both as players and as supporters, benefit. If a rule interferes in this, then it is a poorly designed rule.

There are a few poorly designed things within the PIAA and we'll touch on two here. One based on the current events and one that has been burning my you know what for a few years now.

The PIAA schedules playoff games on Memorial Day and often on Veterans Day each year. Parents and grandparents become torn whether to attend the parade or watch their family play in a game. Their military families are important to them and it truly causes some grief having to decide.

The parades and festivities are much more than a local tradition to many of these veterans, to them it is them still giving to their country by reminding everyone why it is important for freedom that men and women to serve the greater good of democracy.

It is their chance, again to honor the country they served while receiving the small honor of recognition they deserve, though many will say the recognition belongs to the duty, not the individual.

But PIAA doesn't have a problem scheduling games right in the heart of the day that these events take place. And it's been burning my butt for awhile. 

I've been meaning to write about this for a couple years, but I usually forget because - a couple days pass and I forget like everyone else that these things matter.  Until they do again.

But today, reading about this ridiculous back and forth between the PIAA and Iroquois High School about wearing a different color jersey to create a bit of school spirit reminded me just how out of touch these folks have become with the needs of the communities they are supposed to be bringing together through regional and statewide competition.

An article from our friends up at the Erie Times painstakingly goes through the long list of events that led the PIAA to now hold a hearing as to whether  impose sanctions or some level of disciplinary actions against Iroquois for its decision this past fall to hold a home white out game despite their usual home jersy color is dark.


Many high schools around these parts raise school spirit by hosting a white-out game, a tradition started to show school unity back in the early 2000s by Penn State. They tend to really draw the kids to the event and raise decibel levels considerably, especially when the teams are doing well.

Read the article here, it is long, but thorough.

I understand rules and the need to maintain a level of order to preserve an equal opportunity for all.

I get it.

But, if this article is accurate, and it appears great effort to dot the i's and cross the t's was given here, the schools involved communicated with one another and even sought the officials approval to proceed - so what in the world could possibly be the problem?

Was the rule book's ego hurt. The team asked to wear their white jersey's for a home game. The request was granted. The other team wore their dark jersey's. They had no issue. There was no confusion who was who and they played the game without incident.

And it was back in October and here we are on the Day of Infamy talking about a disciplinary action against the school who played a game and did their best to get the school and community to bond together for a common good. If a rule was broken, but given the green-light by those officiating at the time, who, thought it was an acceptable breach, then how can the school be held responsible for this?

And why is this a steadfast rule anyway?

I was at a basketball a year or three ago when the visiting team simply goofed and wore the same color jersey as the home team. It was confusing for some of us, but the officials seemed to figure it out and they played the game. No big deal. Stuff happens.

This game between Greenvile and Iroquois was coordinated, discussed, planned, hashed-out, mulled over and ratified in agreement.

PIAA - change the stupid rule to make sense and leave Iroquois alone. This is ridiculous.

​A social media post by retired journalist Jim Carroll grabbed our attention due to its subject matter - little-known movie from the 1930s.

"Just watched a 1937 movie I found on YouTube—'High, Wide and Handsome.'
The plot revolves around the discovery of oil near Titusville and the conflict between local oil producers and big money interests and the conflict between the railroads and pipeline developers.
Plus it’s a musical.
I never heard of it before.
Interesting flick but a little weird at times.
Stars Randolph Scott and Irene Dunn."

​We reached out to Carroll to see if he wanted to write a review and he obliged.

​Here is what he wrote.

Thousands of people came to downtown Franklin Saturday to enjoy the holiday festivities that culminated in a parade, the official holiday light up of the town and a pretty impressive fireworks display.

Most seemed to take away a great memory, but some, unfortunately, didn't take away their trash.

Usually after a parade a fair amount of flattened candy is on the road. That's collateral damage for the fun of giving out bushels of small individually wrapped treats along the parade route. But after Saturday's electric light spectacular it seemed that a fair amount of the wrappers on the ground were without treats. Simply disregarded after the candy was consumed. Why can't people pick up after themselves?

​Franklin is a very unique small town. There is a fairly large contingency of people who do an immensely large amount of planning to make sure residents, businesses and visitors have a lot of things to do all year round. Is it really too much to ask those taking advantage of all the hard work put in by staff and volunteers to not leave the place looking like crap?

​Strolling around Saturday night after the fireworks, I was pretty taken aback by all the trash left behind. I was all the way up Liberty to where the parade ended. It was in the road, on the sidewalks and throughout the grass. It was candy wrappers, hot chocolate and coffee cups, water and soda bottles and even a pair of ear muffs. 

Sometimes there was a even a garbage can nearby but admittedly there were sections without anywhere to easily dispose of trash.

Franklin's public works crews did a great job of cleaning up most of the litter left in the street. But on Monday morning there was still a noticeable amount of refuse scattered about the grass, especially near the intersection of Liberty and 12th streets.

The Scouts of America had a saying "Leave No Trace." It means whatever you take in, you take out, specifically garbage. 

Perhaps the city can work to put out more garbage cans next time around and that will help. But even if they can't, attendees should respect the festival, event volunteers and city workers, and take their garbage with them if needed.