WCPO TV News Reporter Arrested on 'Sex Charges'

Stephen Hill a reporter with WCPO has been arrested on charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Hill faces 8 counts of unlawful sexual conduct with boys whose ages have not been disclosed. As police tried to arrest him, Hill reportedly attempted to commit suicide by slashing his wrists.

This is what can best be described as a local bombshell news story. When news like this hits home to the media, they take it hard. What will be interesting is the amount of coverage it gets nationally. It was headline news on WLW radio this morning, but was not really a topic of conversation for callers. I chalk that up to it being Saturday morning.

The man deserves his day in court, but his behavior does not bode well for innocence. I would hope his past is being investigated to determine if he has had contact with other children locally and in cities where he worked previously.

If one of children abused was any of the kids he has cared for as a foster parent, then I hope local government officials will investigate how he was screened and let into the program.

The age of the children should be a factor that I hope is made public. All to often this is called Pedophilia no mater how old the victim is. Pedophilia specifically refers to the sexual attraction of children aged 13 and younger. Those who want the 14-17 year olds fall into what is called Hebephilia. For more information on this definitions check out www.religioustolerance.org which lists some definitions and terms used. Neither of these types of behaviors are tolerable, but one is worse than the other. If Hill was abusing a 15 year old, that is one crime, while a 5 year old is a whole different crime, or rather it should be. Lumping both crimes into one umbrella is ultimately unfair. I am sure this sounds like I am trying to defend Hill, something I don't wish to do, but passing comments on WLW referred to this a pedophilia, which is not a valid term. Hills added "crime" is that these people trust Hill to help mentor their children. That makes his actions just seem more heinous, much akin to the Priest sex scandals.

WCPO issued an on air comment on the issue, which is online here.

Additional coverage: WCPO, WLWT, The Post.

UPDATE: WLW is reporting that the children's ages were between 13 and 17. The also saying he is being charged with "child molestation" which goes to the point that no, this would not necessarily be the case.

UPDATE#2: I hate to link to this, but Nate (Rhymes with Hate) is claiming Hill was set up by Keith Fangman. Here is one of his many pseudonym's full post:

Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2004 3:28 am Post subject: Channel 9's Steven Hill Arrested.

I can't believe this shit! The cops are trying to ruin another black man in this city. Steven Hill has been one of the few decent reporters in this town who wasn't afraid to tell the truth about the police department. You might remember Keith Fangman went on a crusade against Mr. Hill a few years ago and now they tell us that Mr. Hill was having sex with children. Give me a fucking break. I don't believe a word of this bullshit. This is the same type of shit they tried to pull with Ovie Mitchell.

These white boys are a bunch of devils. Fangman is a dirty dog just like Pat Dewine. They both hang around with the family values crowd and they both left their wives. Everybody knows that Pepper is a fag. The cops couldn't get Mr. Hill on anything REAL so they made some shit up. When is the Black community gonna wake up and realize that these white motherfuckers ain't worth a damn and stop letting them pick off Black people one by one.
_________________
Posted by The REAL Blog
This is protected by the 1st Amendment aaaannd the RED, the BLACK, and the GREEN !!!

Now I can't wait to see how Nate responds to my post by showing his racism and frankly his paranoia. This was post late last night, so he may not have been thinking clearly, or did not know about the attempted suicide by Hill, but the guy must really be living in a dream world, or just likes baiting people. If he's trying to bait people, I guess he hooked me, but exposing this type of comment I hope instills all of the liberals/progressives and journalists in town, and I especially hope the LOCAL AP REPORTERS, that Nate is a racist and bigot. Please see him for that and do not consider him or his organization as legitimate or worthwhile to include in any community discussion or effort. Also, for those reading this on his message board be sure to read the original at cincinnati.blogspot.com.

Thought Police: Just the Facts Ma’am

Ok, where are all of the conservatives who get pissed off every time a leftist wants them to stop using "Redskins" or "Indians" to describe a sports team going to take a full bore stand against the out right theocratic fascism (yet I said it again) of Phil Burress and the CCV?

Now, everyone knows that Clear Channel has nothing to fear from the current FCC commissioner or the current President, after all Rush Limbaugh is a Clear Channel man. It is interesting that we have not heard much about this on WLW, but I guess they want it to just go away.

On the other hand, this situation sounds like it was taken right from the plot of the 1987 version of Dragnet, where an anti-porn preacher conspired with a pornographer to push each other's causes by orchestrating a theft and a controversy. Now, I don?t see any theft, other than of my freedom, but controversy, yes that is what we have.

What strikes me as funny though, is that Burress is not mounting a campaign against Howard Stern. I have heard WEBN and its morning show and I have heard Stern's morning show, both show compete locally. Stern is 100 times "worse" than the Dawn Patrol. So, Clear Channel dumps on Stern, and then the next day CCV attack WEBN. The target market for WEBN would find Phil Burress to be a nutty prude (some might even call him a fascist as well). It is laying out like a passion play.

Side note: I have to raise one problem with Rick Bird's article. Rick failed to mention in the article that he used to work for WEBN and specifically was part of the Dawn Patrol. Rick should have made that admission in the story. I don't think the story is totally tainted, it says the facts as I think they are, but it does give fuel to the CCV to claim that this story is "biased" because of Bird's relationship to the story. CCV, in a rare case, may have a point. The Post should have given this story to someone else, or at least added a co-writer who could have gotten more of the CCV viewpoint. After all, nothing makes the CCV sound worse then when they keep talking about their bigotry and theocratic movement to bring about Christian Fascism.

Sex and the Cincy

Maggie Downs brings up the finale of Sex and the City. Having not had HBO since I left for college in 1990, I have only watched the show once will visiting a relative. I have to admit that it was entertaining, but I never though it was really that great. It was a story about women, and believe it or not, I am a guy, so I can see why I just did not "get it." I much prefer a West Wing or an ER.

1 Year From Now

If you look forward to the 2005 Oscar season, what do you see? I see a bunch of fanatics bitching and moaning as to why Mel Gibson film did not either get nominated or win an Oscar for every category. I think they will be really pissed if they don't get the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

Also, as soon as the Passion comes out on DVD I will be looking for news reports of some fool pissed off because public schools will not let him show the movie in the school. I expect that locally too.

Marriage Amendment Dead

Calpundit is pointing to a tally that indicates that 40 senators are against the anti-gay marriage amendment. Bush got his day in the theocratic sun, but nothing to show for it. Will this piss off the right wing? Will he still lose the centrist votes that one would guess such a swing right would eliminate?

Preaching to the Choir

Based on this article, the Gibson Movie seemed to just bring out the religious people, this really did nothing but reshuffle the deck. A few Catholics or Protestants might swap sects, but no one new is really taking up the mantle of Christianity. Now, I am sure evangelicals will tout some stats about who is joining their flock, but what I think they miss is that most people they gain, someone else's church is losing.

Gift Horse?

When it is Peter Bronson who writes a column about you and your book, do you take the media attention and smile, or do you distance yourself from his conservative stench? Well, if you are Kathy Y. Wilson, what do you do? Since Kathy writes for a paper with much smaller circulation I would just take it, and hopefully smile at the increase in book sales.