The Star’s report on the wind and hail storm which ripped through east Alabama early Tuesday morning was well-written and comprehensive. The story, by Nick Cenegy, told of a 100-year-old oak tree that crashed onto a home in Oxford. The tree, “which had defied gravity, drought and stormy weather for a century � couldn’t hold out any longer. The branching arms that once reached skyward came thundering through the roof” (Feb. 27, Page 1A).
Two other stories told about damage at Saks High School and a Star carrier who was trapped by the storm for two hours, but completed her route. There were six graphic photos by Bill Wilson.
Depth of election coverage
On Feb. 6, The Star reported on the largest presidential primary elections in the nation’s history. There were 15 election stories, five by Star staff members. There were box-by-box tallies of all Calhoun County races, and nearly complete totals from all Alabama counties, an achievement given the brief time between voting returns and The Star’s deadline.
The local and state reports included turnout figures and also interviews with area voters by this year’s Knight Fellows studying at The Star. They did not include interpretations of the county and area results in terms of geography, economic status or race.
The story on the Calhoun County Democratic primary, by Megan Nichols (Page 1B), said that Barack Obama “took Alabama’s Democratic primary nomination.” There is no such thing as a state “primary nomination.”
There was a well-researched story on Alabama’s “superdelegates” (Feb. 20, 1A). The article, by Markeshia Ricks, named Alabama’s superdelegates and interviewed several about their choices.
A story overlooked
On Feb. 5, Alabama won an important victory when a federal appellate court threw out an agreement that would have allowed Georgia to use nearly a quarter of the water in that state’s Lake Lanier. The legal action was brought by Alabama and Florida. Stories about the court ruling, including comments from Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, were carried on news wires and used by some news media Feb. 6. The Star missed the news story. There was an editorial about the ruling on Feb. 14.
Missing PCBs information
After many delays by Anniston city officials, and many stories in The Star about the delays, the report from an environmental attorney about a controversial second Solutia company landfill was finally released. There was an article about the report (Feb. 14, 1A); the complete text of the report was posted on the paper’s Web site. The primary issue was whether the landfill, off Monsanto Road, is in compliance with the law and the “partial consent decree” concerning the PCB cleanup in West Anniston. Soil from PCB-contaminated properties is placed in the landfill.
The nine-paragraph Star story did not include some important parts of the attorney’s report. The article, by Megan Nichols, said that Solutia was “in compliance with the partial consent decree.” The headline said, “PCBs report: Solutia in full compliance.”
But the report put it somewhat differently: “It does appear” that Solutia “complied with all procedural requirements.” The report also noted that Solutia is required to file monthly reports with the Environmental Protection Agency; “�the City specifically did not ask us to review these reports � and we have not done so. Consequently, we express no opinion regarding whether Solutia is in violation of this provision of the Consent Decree.”
The Star accurately quoted the report, stating that, “The City’s only recourse is to exercise its political influence on behalf of its citizens” about the landfill. However, the report also said that the city could “… take and analyze soil samples � to ensure that the PCB levels (in the landfill) do not exceed 10 ppm PCBs as set forth in the applicable orders.” This option was not included in The Star’s story.
The Star has not reported what the city paid for this report.
Some problems this month:
A story about a Piedmont-Ohatchee high school basketball game had several paragraphs beginning with “(bullet).” Somebody forgot to enter the computer code for the large dot, or “bullet” (Feb. 21, 1C).
A “Coffee Break” column was headed, “These were our favorite movies.” This was followed by one paragraph repeated nine times � but no movies (Feb. 25, 8A).
And some starred stories:
“And the Oscar goes … somewhere else,” a helpful explanation of why we don’t see the nominated films in Anniston/Oxford, by Shawn Ryan (Feb. 24, 1A).
George Smith spoke for many baseball fans (including this one) about the impact of the steroid scandals in his column, “No longer for little boys” (Feb. 17, 1B).
“Sight and Sound,” a sensitive story about a piano tuner at work, by Laura Tutor, with striking photos by Stephen Gross (Feb. 23, 1D).
