Before Hurricane Ivan, the recession, and the BP oil spill, Inweekly – then Independent News – celebrated its first five years by choosing some of the best articles. Here is what we came up with:
5 BEST IN NEWS
ECUA – “Melt Down at the ECUA” March 8, 2002; “The New Water-Gate” March 1, 2002; “Poison in our Water” Feb. 22, 2002
Conoco/Agrico fertilizer plant groundwater pollution and Escambia County Utilities Authority cover-up: Today, ConocoPhillips is beginning to dole out a $70 million settlement to property owners around the Conoco/Agrico Superfund site. However, it was the Independent News that first revealed that high levels of radium existed in the groundwater as far back as 1957. It was IN that first showed that Mike Papantonio and his dream team of environmental lawyers had found that the company and local officials failed to promptly and properly warn residents about the potential danger.
The public outrage led to the firing of then-Escambia County Utilities Authority Executive Director A.E. “Van” Van Dever Jr. by the authority’s board. It also led to scorn by local bigwigs afraid of bad publicity and the Pensacola News Journal, which was embarrassed by being scooped on such a major story. The PNJ wrote a smear piece questioning the newspaper’s ethics in reporting the story, only to waste pages and pages of ink on the same exact story 18 months later.
In addition, an Escambia County grand jury released a 63-page report in April blasting local, state, and national officials for failing to clean up the toxic site and protect the health of Pensacola residents.
“Picking Up the Pieces” Sept. 6, 2002
First anniversary of 9/11: A&E Editor Sam Baltrusis wrote his cathartic first-hand account of one of the most horrifying American tragedies in history—Sept. 11, 2001.
A Pensacola native who was working in New York for MTV on that unforgettable day, Baltrusis told an honest, gripping tale of the days leading up to, during, and after 9/11.
The tale’s descriptions bring the sounds, sights, and terror of 9/11 alive. He writes about a friend, Bill, who works in the Twin Towers: “I pray to God that Bill made it out of the South Tower. Oh my God. Please. I hope he wasn’t forced to jump—not like the woman in white.” Baltrusis, huddled in a crowd of onlookers on the corner of Thompson Street and Broadway, also reveals his thoughts: “In the chaos, an eerie quiet pervades the area. Perhaps I’m in a psychological survival zone, cutting off the war-like howls of death and destruction. Minutes seem like hours.”
In the end, after days without sleep and passing out when a bolt of lightning strikes nearby because he thinks it’s a bomb, Baltrusis escapes. But as he says in his story, it’s only after shooting pool and knocking down drinks in an EastVillage pub with Bill a year later that he exhales.
The Fall of W.D. Childers – “Me & W.D.” April 11, 2003; “Axis of Evil?” Feb. 15, 2002; & “Mine, Mine, Mine; Critics Bash County Land Grabs,” Jan. 25, 2002
W.D. Childers and the Escambia County Commission scandals: What were Escambia County Emperor W.D. Childers’ famous last words? “Don’t talk to me about money. You know I didn’t give that son of a bitch any money. I loaned money. When have I been on the end of a losing vote? Never. I’ve made worse investments, but I’ve always got my money back.”
Yep, since his April 2003 trial in Crestview for bribery, money laundering, and unlawful compensation for an official act, the loquacious Childers hasn’t spoken a peep about giving fellow commissioner Willie Junior money in a collard greens pot, about $6.2 million in land deals with a friend, Joe Elliott, or about the six-member jury’s conviction of him on bribery charges. Today, Childers roams free from the Panhandle to Palm Beach as he appeals his 3 1/2-year sentence.
In the April 2003 news column, Editor Duwayne Escobedo gave a behind-the-scenes look at the trial and some antics by the “Banty Rooster” during his previous two years in local politics.
The Independent News first exposed questions about the previous commission’s land deals in the Jan. 25, 2002 story, “Mine, Mine, Mine.” The newsweekly followed up with a story in February of that year that uncovered some of the scandals involving Childers, Junior, Mike Bass, and Terry Smith.
In an interview with the Independent News for the February 2002 story, Childers, once the state Senate dean, says about a grand jury investigating the county, “Hopefully, they’ll turn over some logs, and some rats will run out.”
They did. And he did.
“Caught Red Handed” June 27, 2003
Escambia County School Board member John DeWitt’s apparent ethics violations: The Independent News investigated John DeWitt and education software companies that employed him.
Among its findings were: companies that DeWitt represented made more than $1 million in sales to the school system since Oct. 26, 1999; DeWitt earned $79,500 from education software companies in 1995 and a high of $170,927 in 2000; he told a Weis Elementary School principal he demonstrated Boxer Math to that he was there “doing his other job”; several times DeWitt stopped the school board from buying Lightspan’s eduTest Assessment program, which competes with LeapFrog Enterprises, a company that employed DeWitt; Lightspan sales representatives reported to school district officials that DeWitt solicited them, telling them he only likes two companies and they pay him to represent them; and DeWitt tipped Scientific Learning to selling their reading software in Escambia, made a speech for the company and then demanded a district employee put the program on the agenda for a vote.
The story led to an ethics complaint against DeWitt, who faced a probable cause hearing in June. The hearing has now been postponed until after the primary election to Sept. 2.
“Judge ‘Lock ‘Em Up’ Kinsey a Law Breaker” Nov. 14, 2003
Escambia County Judge Pat Kinsey’s pro-law enforcement campaign violates judicial conduct codes: Florida’s Supreme Court justices handed down one of their stiffest fines in history when they ordered Escambia County Judge Pat Kinsey to pay a $50,000 fine. The state High Court publicly reprimanded Kinsey Dec. 4, 2003 in Tallahassee.
Kinsey earned the wrath of the Supreme Court because they found she misrepresented incumbent Escambia County Judge William Green’s record during her 1998 campaign and went overboard in aligning herself with law enforcement. In one flyer, Kinsey grins menacingly with 10 black-clad, gun-toting S.W.A.T. members in a grainy black and white photo under the caption: “Who do these guys count on to back them up?”
Florida Justice R. Fred Lewis said Kinsey’s campaign behavior was “intolerable” and argued for her removal from the bench. “In the final analysis, the essential question is whether the parent of a child who has been wrongly accused of a crime could walk into a courtroom and look to Judge Kinsey with confidence that his or her child would be fairly treated and given justice in the courtroom. After hearing Judge Kinsey’s radio interview and reading the campaign literature at issue, the clear answer is no.”
Kinsey currently faces opposition to her seat from criminal defense attorney Clint Couch, a former Marine.
5 Best in Arts & Entertainment?
“Dead Air” Oct. 7, 1999
Even in 1999, the Independent News lamented the conglomeration, one-size-fits-all radio networks. The IN talked to numerous popular local bands and radio stations about why local bands could not get any airplay.
Even then, only a handful of radio stations remained in control of local hands, not behemoths like Clear Channel. The story hinted at bands moving to the Internet to gain sorely needed airtime and exposure.
The Haymaker’s Rick Fortag lamented then: “It’s next to impossible to get on air. Maybe if you know the DJ, your stuff gets played in the middle of the night.”
Local rock radio stations offered a host of excuses, including that the local music scene wasn’t big enough and CD productions weren’t up to airplay standards.
“Aural Assault” Nov. 29, 2002
This 2002 cover story made a bold statement: The Independent News has its finger on the pulse of the local, regional, and national music scene. No watered-down bullshit here. Our in-depth analysis, top-notch interviews, and combative tone earned national kudos for this little weekly alternative that could.
Our inaugural music issue covered the burgeoning regional beat—in all its raw glory—and dared to venture into fowl territory. “We were going to have some chicken sex going on with the video,” Cockfight’s then-bassist Rachel Greene says about the band’s video, “Cockfight.” “This actor in the video looks at a chicken and thinks it looks kind of sexy.”
The chicken in question is a tasty rotisserie bird, not a live fowl.
“Aural Assault” focused on the local yokels trying to carve their mark into the “scene”—ranging from spoken-word diva Phoenix to TK 101’s much-loved DJ Candy—and we haven’t looked back since.
“Massiv Ali G” Aug. 29, 2003
The hip-hop, in-your-face U.K. comedian Sacha Baron Cohen hit it big in the states with his HBO show, “Da Ali G Show” in 2003. In his first—but not only—season he proved irresistibly, corrosively funny.
Posing as a “hip-hop journalist,” Ali G interviewed a host of American officials, including former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh about what is legal; Newt Gingrich, James Baker, Ralph Nader, former CIA director R. James Woolsey, and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft.
Cohen also plays the part of Borat, a clueless, well-meaning TV reporter from Kazakhstan who chronicles British and American culture, and Bruno, an effeminate, punk-looking Austrian fashion reporter.
Ali G also interviewed Publisher Rick Outzen. He coined the word ” Plopacola” for the smelly waterfront.
Look for the British sensation to return to HBO on July 18 for his second season. You might want to find the Independent News’ story and Ali G Translata, so you can follow along.
“Infamous: Pensacola Confidential” May 28, 2004
After scouring through old newspaper clippings, uncovering police reports, and collecting firsthand accounts from the locals, the Independent News compiled a list of “Infamous Pensacola” sites that made the little hairs on your arms and neck stand to attention.
Ranging from serial killer Ted Bundy’s capture near Oscar’s Restaurant on Cervantes to the shady ladies who flaunted some full-bosom lovin’ throughout “The Line” during the early 1900s, we explored Pensacola’s urban myths and ghoulish tales from its sketchy past. In a few cases, we stumbled into TMI land.
The “Infamous: Pensacola Confidential” cover story even raised a few red flags among the incarcerated folk at the Escambia County Jail.
Inmate 2 writes: “You wrote an article which included the ghoul of Whitmire Cemetery. I believe you were wrong. He was caught. A family member turned him in and they found jars of human body parts at his home. My husband was raised just down the street from the man they arrested, perhaps this was a different one, I remember more than one in Pensacola in the late ’50s.”
We’ll leave that one alone.
“Springfest 2004” June 11 & 18, 2004
They said it couldn’t be done. For the first year, the Independent News took the helm as Springfest 2004’s “Official Guide.” Sure, turnout was low. But our coverage, the event and the Copenhagen girls rocked.
With a crack music staff of three, we interviewed most of Springfest’s headliners—including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Live, Train, and The Flatlanders—and uncovered a few hot, up-and-coming acts along the way, including Atlanta’s Sugarland and local hottie, April Start.
In our quest to uncover the dirt, we learned that Skynyrd’s Rickey Medlocke is tired of the group being labeled as a glorified tribute band, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath is unsure about his band’s future, and The Flatlanders’ Joe Ely has mixed emotions about the group’s infamous first CD.
Train’s guitarist, Jim Stafford, should have taken over as the music fest’s meteorologist. His words to one IN music reporter: “Hopefully, it won’t rain. It’s gonna be a big party.”
It did rain. A lot. Party on.
5 BEST IN MUSIC
KISS, April 6, 2000
Way back in the day when the Independent didn’t use the F-word, reporter Dylan O’Leary hooked up with KISS guitarist Ace Frehley.
Seems that O’Leary was intrigued with rumors that the band played “devil music.” He even asks: “What’s your strongest argument to accusations of Satanism and immoral conduct?”
The loose-lipped Frehley bit back: “You know, I was born a Christian. There are people out there burning our records, man, religious fanatics and paranoids. We’re just four clowns playing rock and roll. There’s nothing in our songs, nothing poignant. It’s whatever you want in your head. We’re a theatrical rock group.”
All of KISS’ garish makeup, long tongues, and blood spewing returns to Pensacola on Aug. 1 at the Civic Center. Let the record burnings begin.
Khia, June 7, 2002
Tampa rapper Khia may have been a one-hit wonder, but man, did she leave an indelible mark.
“My Neck, My Back” is a down-and-dirty exploration of female sexuality. While rappers like Chingy and Twista are master debaters, Khia is a cunning linguist.
A&E Editor Sam Baltrusis wrote: “The Khia controversy surrounds her extremely explicit, and somewhat vulgar, lyrics. “My Neck” is a blow-by-blow, how-to song explaining to her man how to, well, sexually please a woman. Fans call her a post, post-modern feminist whose words embody the voice of an empowered black woman. However, some critics contend her rap is so explicit that it’s repugnant, with some saying it’s downright offensive.”
Khia responded: “I am cussing and saying some hard stuff. But it’s for real. I am coming through and telling the truth, and I still have respect for myself. And if you don’t like it, then oh, well. I am not rapping fantasy; I am rapping reality. Everything I rap about, I went through. I am not going to jail; I am not going to shoot, shoot, shoot.”
You go girl.
Steve Earle, May 17, 2002
Yes, country maverick Steve Earle is combative and acerbic, with a rap sheet as long as the Three Mile Bridge. The country icon may have spewed some not-so-friendly words to the ambivalent audience at Springfest in 2002.
But that’s why we love him.
In our Springfest 2002 issue, we chatted with Earle about his run-ins at the Flora-Bama as well as his then-upcoming political manifesto called “Jerusalem.”
During our interview, Earle leaked some background info about the CD that would later ignite a frenzy of national press from NYC to L.A.
In “Conversation with legend Steve Earle,” A&E editor Sam Baltrusis wrote: “Earle is not shying away from politics—or controversy—on the new rock album he expects to release by Christmas (2002). Teaming up with the Artemis label execs once again, Earle says his upcoming LP will be ‘very, very political.'”
The article continued: “The artist doesn’t reveal too much about the LP except to say he’s more than halfway finished. He does, however, share his upcoming title exclusively with The Independent News, which gives away the political tone with one tumultuous word that explains it all: ‘Jerusalem.'”
Electric Eel Shock Sept. 19, 2003
Those zany Japanese. From the homeland of Shonen Knife come the monsters of broken Japanese/English rock called Electric Eel Shock.
Former music reporter Adam Ziglar needed a translator to get the 411 from these Japanese juggernauts—who later became a U.S. sensation after a brief appearance on MTV.
Ziglar wrote: “Speaking in barely decipherable English, EES tells Floridians to hold on. Their rock ‘n’ roll savior is on the way.
“I think (the) U.S. is (a) great place for rock ‘n’ roll about rock ‘n’ roll people,” says lead singer and guitarist Aki Morimoto in a recent interview with the Independent News. “Everything is bad in Japan without rock ‘n’ roll people. (The) U.S. is too huge to tour, but I love it!”
The IN newsroom called a translator to figure out what the band’s battle cry, “Usagi Chan!” meant. Turns out it’s an endearing term, meaning something like “nice, fuzzy bunny.”
Miles Copeland Feb. 27, 2004
Who knew? Bellydance Superstars’ promoter, Miles Copeland, has a rock star past. And if you didn’t have the skinny on this music industry “mover and shaker,” leave it to this paper to fill you in on the latest.
Then reporter Jason Whited opined: “Lucky for readers, the Independent News’s worldwide music cred landed us this exclusive plum interview with the ultimate musical mover and shaker.”
Awrighty!
Delving into the interview, you quickly learn that Copeland has a rock ‘n’ roll pedigree that could make any local promoter drool.
The article said: “Copeland found fresh success by managing/promoting punk and New Wave acts like the Sex Pistols (on their only European tour) and Blondie (whom he brought to the U.K.). Later, while managing English pop gods Squeeze, Copeland agreed to take on his brother Stewart’s new band, the Police.”
The story continued: “Staying with the Police until their 1984 implosion, Copeland has continued to manage and oversee the solo career of Sting, one of the most popular musicians in modern times. He also founded I.R.S. Records, home to artists such as R.E.M., the Cramps, and Concrete Blonde.”
There’s no doubt about it: Copeland knows his stuff. Even with all his accolades, the promoter comes across down-to-earth, even humble, throughout the Q&A. Armed with our “worldwide music cred,” we get a few pointers from the pro, including that MidEastern beats are the next big thing to hit the music industry.
