In This Corner - Robert Slager |
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Wrapped in a pure white blanket of snow
There is something pure about new snow. Maybe it’s the way it glistens as the orange December sun slowly slips from the sky. Maybe it’s in the way it all seems so clean.
I found myself standing on my front step on Sunday afternoon as the last flurries settled softly all around me. I caught one on my tongue as if I were a six-year-old boy again, wide-eyed and innocent, wrapped in the magic of the moment.
For a few minutes Wareham seemed very far away. It was as if the world had become a snow globe, without a hint of darkness to be found. I closed my eyes to burn the image in my memory. Then I went back inside to face the darkness once again.
Sometimes I worry that the dirty water of Wareham politics will somehow stain me forever. I will not lie to you; this has been one of the most grueling years of my life. Not only has the recession been hard on the Observer but so have the shameless efforts of the political partisans who have abandoned all pretense of morality in harassing our advertisers and distributors. I never imagined that in America some people would so brazenly trample on the First Amendment for the sake of their own personal and political agendas.
Then, of course, there was the frivolous lawsuit filed against the Observer (and me as an individual) by former police chief Thomas Joyce. Yes, the judge ruled that Joyce had provided no evidence that the stories in question weren’t true. Yes, Joyce had to hand over $12,000 in court costs and legal fees under the Massachusetts Anti-SLAPP statue, but the litigation took an emotional toll on both me and my family. In addition I was forced to swallow $8,000 in legal fees that Joyce was ordered to pay me in order to get any money from him in a timely fashion. Both the company and my family needed something in order to survive. That was a sacrifice I reluctantly made to keep this paper afloat.
Most weeks, after all the papers are delivered, I feel like taking a shower to wash away all this filth. I’m afraid if I don’t it will somehow poison my soul. Week after week the most vicious lies and distortions imaginable are written about me and the Observer on a local hate web site. I have never hated anyone in my entire life. I don’t even know what that emotion feels like, but I would be lying if I said the outright lies don’t bother me sometimes. But it’s not for the reason you may think.
I don’t care about the opinions of people I don’t respect. People like Larry McDonald can spew drivel about me until he’s blue in the face because we both know I called his bluff once and he backed down. I don’t care about people such as Hamatron, who is too cowardly to use his real name. I don’t even care about Nora Bicki, who distorts the truth so often she can no longer keep her story straight. She knows full well that the best way to blow me out of the water is to allow the public access to all the financial records of the former trustees. But she refuses to do so and is instead spending hours on end trying to discredit the Observer’s coverage of the library scandal by throwing nonsense against the wall over and over again, praying something will stick in the minds of her fellow partisans.
No, I don’t care what these people think about me. But what these partisans have done is chipped away at my core optimism about people. I have always believed that most people are essentially good inside. Sometimes people become blinded by self-interest, but when faced with a true test they will ultimately do the right thing.
I have covered many communities in my journalism career. I have interviewed thousands of people. In all that time I have never experienced anything like the political partisanship in Wareham.
I know that many of the partisans are motivated by political ambition. Some are simply trying to protect their jobs within town government. Others just want to keep themselves out of jail. I get all that. But still it is discouraging to realize that there are people in this world who would hurt others simply to protect their own interests. I know that sounds naïve, especially coming from a 44-year-old newspaper publisher. But I can’t help but believe there is still more goodness in this world than darkness. I still believe that the good guys will win in the end.
The library scandal has been difficult for me personally. I knew some people would be offended by these revelations, especially when the person in the middle of all this isn’t able to defend herself. But I also knew that whenever this story was told there would be those who would try to use the death of Mary Jane Pillsbury as some sort of shield. I didn’t get confirmation of the library scandal until Pillsbury had fallen ill. I waited a year to report it until I had enough information to withstand a frivolous lawsuit without having to name my sources. In the minds of Pillsbury's supporters there was never going to be a good time, and they were going to play that card for all it was worth.
The effort to discredit the Observer’s reporting on the library scandal has become relentless now. McDonald wrote that I had been fired from a previous job for making up quotes. That never happened. It’s an outright lie. Another blogger suggested that I wrote racist things about Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva on the fake Observer web site. That’s absolutely absurd. The site moderators know I have never posted any comments on that web site, let alone anything that would be considered a hate crime. But they don’t care. They are so obsessed with ending any and all investigations into corruption in Wareham that they’ll write anything at this point.
My wife doesn’t understand why I read the bloggers. She is concerned that their hatred will rub off on me. I try to explain to her that Wareham needs to see these people for what they are. They need to know that so much of the political warfare that has occurred in Wareham these past few years was all just to protect a dirty little secret.
This morning I received three phone calls within 15 minutes. All three people called simply to thank me for the work I have tried to do on behalf of their town. I told each of them I consider it an honor.
After the last call I leaned back in my chair for a moment and closed my eyes.
All I could see was a snow globe.
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In This Corner - Robert Slager - 5 opinions posted | 