Email from the GoGetter
John Schlagetter sent me this email in reponse to my criticism of Jay Love from 1230 the Buzz.

Subj: pepper-napping
Date: 10/19/2002 6:11:31 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: john@foregenitor.com
To: CincyBlog@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)



Brian: I think you're being a little hard on Jay. Based upon media accounts
of the incident, many questions remain. Had David been harmed, the approach
would have been much more serious.

He is accosted around 7:30pm on Hill Street by two Blacks initially
described as wearing ski masks and sunglasses. After dark. In Mount Adams.
Who thinks the cops wouldn't have been called to report suspicious persons?

By 7:47 (according to the Main Street ATM clock), David is withdrawing
money. (Today's Enquirer says it's 7:52.). This after having visited an ATM
on Victory Parkway, the still images from which we haven't seen, from either
his first reported visit or his return.

"Gino" is seen going past the camera as David is conducting his business.
From last night's Channel 5 broadcast, after David gets back into his car,
"Gino" again walks past the ATM camera! Is it possible David is describing
someone who was there but had nothing to do with what was going on? This
ATM is across the street and up from Carol's on Main- I hope the cops have
talked to folks who were there at the time to find out what they saw. And I
haven't read a description of the homeless person David says "Gino" said
hello to so he can be located and his witness statement can be taken.

The media reported the incident as lasting an hour and a half. Today's
Enquirer reports David calling 911 at 8:38, barely one hour after the
initial contact. Subtract the time out between riding the elevator up to
his office, calling Mike Yeazell his chief of staff, a friend, and his
parents, (who calls three people before calling 911?) and the 5-10 minute
drive between Monastery Street and his office, and you have about 30-45
minutes of activity. 30-45 minutes to go to the Victory Pkwy ATM, go to a
Provident bank location, go to the Main Street ATM, then back to the Victory
Pkwy ATM, then back to Mount Adams. We know criminals return to the scene
of the crime, but really!

Why go to the office instead of the nearest phone or even District 1
headquarters? Why not bail while out of the car on Main Street? Why the
neatly knotted tie and Diet Coke in hand while in the Scripps Center lobby?
Has the lobby guard been interviewed? Have lobby videotapes been reviewed?
Why on Thursday night in time for the weekend news cycle?

Legitimate questions about this incident remain. I like to think David
inherited his father's "calm under fire" persona, but many recount David's
thin-skinned approach to confrontation. Either the incident didn't occur as
David recounts it or he didn't repond the way he'd like us to believe.

Unfortunately for David, whatever veracity his recount has it pales under
the victimhood Democrats embrace (Alicia is "racially profiled" for driving
over 70 in a 55; John's brother's roommate is "beaten to a pulp" by guys
stealing flags, etc) and the "feel your pain" disengenuity Clinton
introduced which now allows David to "relate" to Cincinnatians who have been
"touched" by crime.

Of all the people to be mugged in Cincinnati, this guy in Mount Adams? It's
improbable beyond belief. And he talked about his role in the
Collaborative? As God as my witness, that part I believe. At its core,
this story is about the patently incompetent and crappy way Cincinnati media
report the news and their inability and unwillingness simply to report what
occurs and their pathological need and desire to editorialize and
characterize (Ms. Costello on Fox 19's 10pm news last night: "[Mr. Pepper]
rushed to the nearest phone." NO HE DIDN'T! HE DROVE TO HIS OFFICE!

John

My Response:

Subj: Re: pepper-napping
Date: 10/19/2002 11:26:17 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: CincyBlog
To: john@foregenitor.com

John,

I guess Ron Twitty was framed too, huh? Is 1230 the Buzz turning into conspiracy central? I thought the nut case Bill Boshears on WLW covered most of that. I guess since David is the son of "The Man," as Jay put it, he is presumed to be up to something sneaky? How do you drag Bill Clinton into this? Leave that kind of blather to Bill Cunningham and Rush Limbaugh. Let them find a way to blame Clinton for the depravity called the Bengals along with everything else they want, and the will do it.

The only factual issue with your time line is that Post reported that he drove home at about 7:15 PM and the ordeal presumably started before 7:30. The other major problem with your comments is that you seem to basing your concerns on the amount of time of the ordeal. The media reported the 90-minute time frame. You seem to infer that because the media was wrong in their time frame, which somehow supports valid speculation that Pepper was lying and possibly making the whole thing up. I almost get a tone from you that you would not be surprised that the media is in league with Pepper to help him politically.

Now, I do understand that Jay is trying to entertain his audience, but fermenting conspiracy and scandal is just crass showmanship. If you want to play games and poke holes into Pepper's ordeal, then I think you should be up to taking the little heat you get from me.

Brian