Editorial/Op

Who Will Stand Up for Central?

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An Editorial by Dave Freneaux

    If you have not read the article today titled “Central’s Image Tarnished – Just the Facts”, please take a moment to do so.  In short, the Louisiana Press Association press release concerning its “Freedom of Information” Award contains multiple false statements about the City of Central and about this newspaper, Centralspeaks.com.  Woody Jenkins, a Baton Rouge resident and the editor of the Central City News, has published this press release on his blog site and will likely print it in his twice-monthly tabloid next week.  Claims made in the press release fall into two categories: FALSE or UNSUPPORTABLE.  So, with this press release having been distributed nationally through the Associated Press and having appeared on the pages of USA Today, who will stand up for Central?

    It is unfair to our young city to have a national audience led to believe the false or unsupportable claims that we don’t run our own City, that the City runs campaign ads for the Mayor, that the City is involved in a lawsuit when it is not, and that the Mayor somehow controls a local newspaper.  These false claims are an insult to the people and elected officials of Central and are potentially damaging to the economic development efforts Central will require to support its growing infrastructure and school system.  Who will stand up for Central?

    I know that many of you have read over and over in the Central City News that the City has somehow thwarted the public’s right to information, and that CH2M Hill runs the entire city, but repeating misinformation over and over until it sounds very familiar, does not make it true.  It is interesting to note that the Central City News, who is the stated legal adversary of Central’s City Services Contractor, is willing to reprint the press release in its entirety, while The Advocate’s article on the same press release carefully avoids printing any of the false or unsupportable claims.  I would propose that the Advocate knows enough about the truth in Central that they knew what was responsible to print.    Hats off to The Advocate for standing up for Central.  Who else will stand up for Central?

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