Arch Brooks Redirect

Redirected from Janese Heavin's Class Notes:
http://blogs.columbiatribune.com/education/2008/02/and_he_stole_a_turkey.html

Okay -- hold the phone here.

First, we get the "Arch won't interview with a white reporter deal," and we all treat that as some kind of surprise.

But then I read this:

"Brooks, who is black, declined an interview with the Tribune when he found out the reporter is not black, and he did not respond to Tribune questions sent via e-mail."

From 2008? Nope. From 2006! And the reporter: (enter Belgian detective Hercule Poirot) "I believe the reporter Mr. Brooks would not interview with in 2006 was you, mademoiselle Heavin."

http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2006/mar/20060323news003.asp

And yet back then, I don't remember much being made about the issue.

Then I type "7000 N. Buckingham" into my fave search engine -- the Trib Archives -- and I come up with 7 freakin' pages of arrests and summonses, including the highly-publicized murder of Tedarrian Robinson.

Tough place. Gets me thinking there could be more to this story than Arch and a turkey.

Then I read that Arch is just now being arrested for an incident that occurred over 2 months ago, only 6 days after he filed for school board.

Just me, but that seems odd. What up?

Then I read that 20-year-old legal issues are just now surfacing, in spite of Arch's repeated campaigns for public office.

Have reporters discovered the wonders of Casenet or is it that Derek Kravitz is really as good as I'm hearing, and he's kicking some reportorial butt out there?

Hey -- there's no question that scrutiny about Arch's arrest is fair and justified.

But I also want to remind that Chuck Graham is still in office after his incident(s); Tom Schauwecker is still in office after publicly using the F-word multiple times with a constituent and his own employees in late 2005; and the Trib refused to report on the background of a certain recent city council candidate who was spouting a platform that his own actions egregiously and repeatedly violated, much of which was repeatedly documented on Casenet.

If I were a political candidate searching for local role models, the Arch situation would probably not strike me as all that unusual, except for the turkey -- gobble gobble.

And if all the facts hold up in court, my heart goes out to R.G.

But mademoiselle Heavin, I'm feelin' kinda uncertain 'bout stuff.