Sandra Lea, Investigative Reporter and Published Author of Whirlwind has taken the normal customary attacks of the liberal blog. I contacted her and offered a Brian's Blog EXCLUSIVE at anytime that she desired it. She has contacted me and the following is her statement about KnoxViews, their harassment and abusive nature toward her. In this statement she sets the record straight.
Please note and adhere to this statement. Not for Publication or Distribution by KnoxViews.
Randy Neal/KnoxViews:
I first contacted you last week, requesting permission to use Tyler Harber's email printed on KnoxViews. In that first email to you, I said, "Due to the continued scandals erupting in Knox County government there is now a renewed interest in the Knox County Sheriff's Tyler Harber Report. Knox County Citizens have asked me to write a condensed version of the Report for distribution...." At no time did I refer to my work as a "Report" as you alleged. Permission was granted to use Tyler's email with a request to be kept informed upon completion of my work.
Once my work, (which we'll now have to call Lea's Report), was completed, I sent you a courtesy copy in a multiple addressed email to a few of my friends containing the words, "Ready for distribution," meaning my friends were free to share this with their friends. My Report had already gone out to the Citizens' group under separate cover, and in hindsight, I should have sent your courtesy copy under separate cover as well. The next thing I was aware of was an ecstatic email from you saying, "The post is up to 200 reads already." Logging onto KnoxViews I was greeted by bold headlines declaring, "Boss Ragsdale: Knox County bombshell report," followed by some cut and paste comments taken from my Report. Contrary to your definition of the word "distribute" verses "publish," I did not give you permission to publish my work, nor did you ask, even though you made the comment, "The Great Pretenders: Pretending to be Public Servants...My guess is that it's a draft of a book, in 'condensed format.'" Correctly guessing that Lea's Report might be material incorporated in a book draft, you also didn't bother to inquire if this material might be under copyright. But that's all water under the bridge now, and all is forgiven.
What is almost unforgivable is the frenzied attack you subjected me to, not only by you, Randy Neal, but by your Users as well. Inviting me to logon and "converse" is like inviting a guest, a complete stranger, into one's home, then attacking and bashing that guest, and encouraging your Users to join in the fun, all in the pretense of "constructive criticism." You've given me a brief dose of what our school kids must be subjected to by school bullies.
In my Report I write: "...Due to the excessive numbers of typos, misspelling, and lack of punctuation, the transcripts of ...(the Sheriff's Report) makes for very difficult and frustrating reading...Language and vocabulary of the Knox County officials and employees...has been quoted verbatim..."
It's now perfectly clear that your KnoxViews Users don't know what the word "verbatim" means. I quoted the exact words and vocabulary of your own elected and appointed officials, complete with misspellings and all, to give an example of your tax dollars at work. I did take the liberty of cleaning up the punctuation and some of the most egregious misspellings, and putting the statements and comments in dialogue form in order to make the Sheriff's Report more readable and understandable.
However, you and your Users, in a narcissistic attempt to impose your pretense of intellectual superiority, attacked me, believing that I'd made such statements as "Them there people," when in fact, I'm quoting your own officials and employees from a report, the Sheriff's Report, that you've spent thousands of tax dollars to produce. This is a damning report; a smoking gun aimed at the deceitful, vindictive, spiteful characters of your elected officials.Their waste of your tax dollars; their self-serving natures, are exposed for all to see. Few read the original 408 page Sheriff's Report of the Investigation of Tyler Harber, and it was hurriedly buried, hopefully to be forgotten. A few good Citizens did read it, and couldn't forget it. They resurrected it by asking me to rewrite, critique and comment on it. Hence, the Lea Report. It's most unfortunate that you didn't get the message contained in this damning report, but chose instead to attack the messenger. Too bad, indeed.
The frenzy appears to have subsided now; your fury appears to be over. Your Users appear to have exhausted themselves after their verbal binge of sarcastic hostility against me, a complete stranger to you all. I imagine they now lay panting, franticly planning, gloating even, in anticipation of their next attack and another opportunity to toot their own horns.
Your attacks, spurred on by your leaders, the bean & clark* antagonist, focused not only on me personally and my "Report", but also against my publication, Whirlwind: The Butcher Banking Scandal. I, more than any other, am terribly embarrassed by the typos found in this book. I acknowledge that it contains double the numbers of typos found in the average book, while pointing out that my book, at 647 pages, is twice the size of the average 250-300 page book. A volume containing over a million words is bound to have errors, and for that I'm sorry, but the factual content is accurate and complete.
However, since my professional integrity as an author has been called into question, I feel I should also be allowed a little toot. And you must be obliged, under the circumstances, to indulge me this toot.
How many books have you and your KnoxViewers published? And if any of you have published books, how many of your books have hit Number One, twice, on the B*A*M Best Sellers' List? How many of your books never slipped off the Top Ten on the Best Sellers' List for over two years?
How many of your books are in university law libraries across the nation, and have been designated as required reading/teaching guides in major university courses such as Law, Economics, and Criminal Justice? And if you've published books on the topics of fraud and banking, how many of your books can claim the distinction of being declared a "Classic in American Corporate Fraud," by Dr. Roy Davies, the Librarian of the St. Lukes Campus, University of Exeter, in Devon, England?
The life of a book is five years at most. At the end of the five-year life of your book, when the bookstore shelves remain empty of your title, how many of you have experienced a price soar of over $4,000 for a single, unautographed copy in a two month time period? (See Attached) I'd say none of your books have, since my publisher has said that this is unprecedented, especially while the author is still living.
Whirlwind can claim success in all of the above. How successful have your literary efforts been? You may revile me and blast my writing style as you please. You may refrain from buying any of my books, that's fine with me. There are thousands of readers who're tired of the bland choices placed before them. They crave a bit of flavoring and spice in their word soup. They like word pictures painted in bold strokes; they like analogies. I aim to please them, and hope I do. I have my little niche in this world, and so do you. From my niche I speak to thousands and thousands, internationally. Your niche is regional and appears to consist of less than a hundred, except when you print Bombshells. We're noncompetitive. I won't venture into your little niche, and you'll never venture into to mine.
And if a picture paints a thousand words, then how shall I paint you KnoxViewers? This is not Knoxville's finest hour. I should think you'd want to put on a prettier face, especially while the eyes of so many strangers look upon you during this time of turmoil. This author is very much alive. This stranger's eyes are piercing, and you've shown yourselves to me clearly. What I've seen isn't pretty. What this stranger's eyes have seen is ugly.
In all honesty, I wish I could say that my brief visit with you has been pleasant. But I can say it's been very entertaining.
I will own up to one statement you made, although I don't like your tone: "She writes, and writes, and writes." That's what I do.
Farewell, KnoxViews.
* Not a typo.
2007 Sandra Lea --The Great Pretenders: Pretending to be Public Servants
Please note and adhere to this statement. Not for Publication or Distribution by KnoxViews.
Randy Neal/KnoxViews:
I first contacted you last week, requesting permission to use Tyler Harber's email printed on KnoxViews. In that first email to you, I said, "Due to the continued scandals erupting in Knox County government there is now a renewed interest in the Knox County Sheriff's Tyler Harber Report. Knox County Citizens have asked me to write a condensed version of the Report for distribution...." At no time did I refer to my work as a "Report" as you alleged. Permission was granted to use Tyler's email with a request to be kept informed upon completion of my work.
Once my work, (which we'll now have to call Lea's Report), was completed, I sent you a courtesy copy in a multiple addressed email to a few of my friends containing the words, "Ready for distribution," meaning my friends were free to share this with their friends. My Report had already gone out to the Citizens' group under separate cover, and in hindsight, I should have sent your courtesy copy under separate cover as well. The next thing I was aware of was an ecstatic email from you saying, "The post is up to 200 reads already." Logging onto KnoxViews I was greeted by bold headlines declaring, "Boss Ragsdale: Knox County bombshell report," followed by some cut and paste comments taken from my Report. Contrary to your definition of the word "distribute" verses "publish," I did not give you permission to publish my work, nor did you ask, even though you made the comment, "The Great Pretenders: Pretending to be Public Servants...My guess is that it's a draft of a book, in 'condensed format.'" Correctly guessing that Lea's Report might be material incorporated in a book draft, you also didn't bother to inquire if this material might be under copyright. But that's all water under the bridge now, and all is forgiven.
What is almost unforgivable is the frenzied attack you subjected me to, not only by you, Randy Neal, but by your Users as well. Inviting me to logon and "converse" is like inviting a guest, a complete stranger, into one's home, then attacking and bashing that guest, and encouraging your Users to join in the fun, all in the pretense of "constructive criticism." You've given me a brief dose of what our school kids must be subjected to by school bullies.
In my Report I write: "...Due to the excessive numbers of typos, misspelling, and lack of punctuation, the transcripts of ...(the Sheriff's Report) makes for very difficult and frustrating reading...Language and vocabulary of the Knox County officials and employees...has been quoted verbatim..."
It's now perfectly clear that your KnoxViews Users don't know what the word "verbatim" means. I quoted the exact words and vocabulary of your own elected and appointed officials, complete with misspellings and all, to give an example of your tax dollars at work. I did take the liberty of cleaning up the punctuation and some of the most egregious misspellings, and putting the statements and comments in dialogue form in order to make the Sheriff's Report more readable and understandable.
However, you and your Users, in a narcissistic attempt to impose your pretense of intellectual superiority, attacked me, believing that I'd made such statements as "Them there people," when in fact, I'm quoting your own officials and employees from a report, the Sheriff's Report, that you've spent thousands of tax dollars to produce. This is a damning report; a smoking gun aimed at the deceitful, vindictive, spiteful characters of your elected officials.Their waste of your tax dollars; their self-serving natures, are exposed for all to see. Few read the original 408 page Sheriff's Report of the Investigation of Tyler Harber, and it was hurriedly buried, hopefully to be forgotten. A few good Citizens did read it, and couldn't forget it. They resurrected it by asking me to rewrite, critique and comment on it. Hence, the Lea Report. It's most unfortunate that you didn't get the message contained in this damning report, but chose instead to attack the messenger. Too bad, indeed.
The frenzy appears to have subsided now; your fury appears to be over. Your Users appear to have exhausted themselves after their verbal binge of sarcastic hostility against me, a complete stranger to you all. I imagine they now lay panting, franticly planning, gloating even, in anticipation of their next attack and another opportunity to toot their own horns.
Your attacks, spurred on by your leaders, the bean & clark* antagonist, focused not only on me personally and my "Report", but also against my publication, Whirlwind: The Butcher Banking Scandal. I, more than any other, am terribly embarrassed by the typos found in this book. I acknowledge that it contains double the numbers of typos found in the average book, while pointing out that my book, at 647 pages, is twice the size of the average 250-300 page book. A volume containing over a million words is bound to have errors, and for that I'm sorry, but the factual content is accurate and complete.
However, since my professional integrity as an author has been called into question, I feel I should also be allowed a little toot. And you must be obliged, under the circumstances, to indulge me this toot.
How many books have you and your KnoxViewers published? And if any of you have published books, how many of your books have hit Number One, twice, on the B*A*M Best Sellers' List? How many of your books never slipped off the Top Ten on the Best Sellers' List for over two years?
How many of your books are in university law libraries across the nation, and have been designated as required reading/teaching guides in major university courses such as Law, Economics, and Criminal Justice? And if you've published books on the topics of fraud and banking, how many of your books can claim the distinction of being declared a "Classic in American Corporate Fraud," by Dr. Roy Davies, the Librarian of the St. Lukes Campus, University of Exeter, in Devon, England?
The life of a book is five years at most. At the end of the five-year life of your book, when the bookstore shelves remain empty of your title, how many of you have experienced a price soar of over $4,000 for a single, unautographed copy in a two month time period? (See Attached) I'd say none of your books have, since my publisher has said that this is unprecedented, especially while the author is still living.
Whirlwind can claim success in all of the above. How successful have your literary efforts been? You may revile me and blast my writing style as you please. You may refrain from buying any of my books, that's fine with me. There are thousands of readers who're tired of the bland choices placed before them. They crave a bit of flavoring and spice in their word soup. They like word pictures painted in bold strokes; they like analogies. I aim to please them, and hope I do. I have my little niche in this world, and so do you. From my niche I speak to thousands and thousands, internationally. Your niche is regional and appears to consist of less than a hundred, except when you print Bombshells. We're noncompetitive. I won't venture into your little niche, and you'll never venture into to mine.
And if a picture paints a thousand words, then how shall I paint you KnoxViewers? This is not Knoxville's finest hour. I should think you'd want to put on a prettier face, especially while the eyes of so many strangers look upon you during this time of turmoil. This author is very much alive. This stranger's eyes are piercing, and you've shown yourselves to me clearly. What I've seen isn't pretty. What this stranger's eyes have seen is ugly.
In all honesty, I wish I could say that my brief visit with you has been pleasant. But I can say it's been very entertaining.
I will own up to one statement you made, although I don't like your tone: "She writes, and writes, and writes." That's what I do.
Farewell, KnoxViews.
* Not a typo.
2007 Sandra Lea --The Great Pretenders: Pretending to be Public Servants
6 comments:
When Sandra Lea finished her
book on the world of the Butchers the producer of a radio show I hosted was connected to the company that published the book and we had her on as a guest.
She generated so many calls we had her back more than a few times. I found her to be a very smart lady with a strong grasp of the family she wrote about.
Naturally the rumors of Jessie Barr being the mind behind the book started bubbling up...but after talking to her it was obvious she was both a writer and a well researched one.
That said, she needs to just let the far far left blog become a
memory and at the same
time remind herself if it were not for this and other blogs mentioning them now and they they would never have more than the hand full of posters that live for the next great thoughts of the beaner or her buds.
As for their charges about spelling and such...that is such a worn path for those on the far far left. When they have no facts to back up
their thoughts they resort to
picking and degrading the person in their cross hairs.
Just let it ride and as she said...remember NONE of those posting have ever been published (community papers don't count) and never will.
Walker Johnson
She took a pretty good beating over there, but much of it was rightly deserved. Her "report" is FULL of errors, and not errors that are someone else's fault as she seems to suggest.
She makes up titles for people that are no where to be found in the Sheriff's report or the KNS articles. She writes that Ragsdale drives an Escalade and even makes the comparison to Paris Hilton! I don't know what Paris Hilton drives, but it was reported in the media that Ragsdale has a county-owned Tahoe.
There are clearly some valid issues to be brought up in the report, but she loses any sense of credibility when she makes things up for the purpose of sensationalism and then suggests its error free.
gdrinnen2:
Sandra Lea has acknowledged that some mistakes have been made. Surely, you have made some mistakes that you are not proud of.
The difference is that Sandra Lea making one or a few spelling mistakes is nothing compared to the tabloid bully girls over at the Slopper that report so many things falsely in their entirety.
To my knowledge, I made two factual errors: one concerned Gary Drinnen, the other the brand of car/SUV that Ragsdale drives.
I reported Gary's title as personal assistant to the mayor. The Sheriff's Report said he was an Intern, but thinking he must surely have some sort of title other than Intern, I searched through the 6 inch stack of papers I used as reference to write the Lea Report, and found a document saying that Gary was a personal assistant to the mayor. I've already told him I'm sorry for that error. I now repeat that again: I'm sorry Gary, that I got your title wrong.
I did attempt to determine the exact brand of SUV Ragsdale is driving. In February, a Blogger had stated online that the mayor was driving a Cadillac; I asked three different men who also said he was driving a Cadillac; since February I've been trying through an intermediary to get a list of all County owned vehicles and who they're assigned to. Once my name became publicly connected with this project last week, I started making direct contact in an attempt to get this list, to no avail; getting the run around; being told no such list exists, etc. Finally, on Monday, I wrote a comment about this problem on the Knox News blog. Tuesday morning I received an email from Dwight Van de Vate telling me the records whould be made available to me. So, hopefully, I'll soon get that error cleared up, and be able to factually make a report on the expensive, gas guzzeling SUVs all of them are driving at tax payers' expense.
And once more, you're missing the message. As one man stated on the Knox News blog: what difference does it make whether the SUV brand is a Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus or souped-up Toyota? They shouldn't be driving these expensive vehicles at our expense.
I imagine they now lay panting, franticly planning, gloating even, in anticipation of their next attack and another opportunity to toot their own horns.
It's hard to blow your own horn when you're panting.
It is my pleasure to read your article! What a vivid photo it is! Thank you for sharing! good luck!
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