Archives

Archives The Great Brewton Gambling Fiasco I live in Northern Virginia but I have a great deal of interest in what goes on in South Alabama, particularly Brewton, Alabama where I lived on two different occasions and will probably live there again. Each week I read the Brewton Standard online and it suffices as to providing me general information as to what goes on, but seems very light on hard hitting news. A case in point: This week on Wednesday, April 5, 2005, Mary-Allison Lancaster wrote a piece on a gambling raid conducted by Police Chief Monte McGougin. It was not what was said in the article that was intriguing, but what was not said or asked. In two establishments there were allegedly a total of 22 slot machines found. According to the article McGougin allegedly gave the proprietors 3 days to get rid of the machines and never bring them back. The name of one establishment was Mom and Pops which showed an address at 1000 Douglas Avenue - one of the major streets in town. What was not said was the name of the owner of the property at that location. According to public records 1000 Douglas Avenue is owned by G... J.....and others of Pensacola, Florida. Now you think if  a business on your property has five slot machines going, that the property owner would know about it. Maybe not in this case, but did the Standard check it out?  I've seen college and high school newspapers that fleshed out stories better than this. The other business, Nan(the Mobile paper shows a different name) and Terry's had 17 slot machines. Searching public records I could not find the owner of the property, but I have my suspicions as to who it might be - and I'm shocked. This business is located at 104 W. Jackson Street in Brewton - which according to everything I can see is very close to the Brewton Elementary School. If I were a parent in Brewton I would definitely be concerned about this establishments proximity to my children. You would think Standard reporters could briefly remove their muzzles  to report this kind of thing. Now here is a thought, Chief McGougin claimed his officers responded to a tip. Now this sounds like verbal B.S. Those businesses have been going on for a long time. Brewton is a small town. Either the chief is very very naive or the Brewton Standard accepts stories like this hook line and sinker. Did you ever wonder why the Mobile paper actually gives better coverage to a story than the Brewton paper does. This a link to the Mobile paper story which is at least twice the length of the Standard story:  Mobile Story   Brewton Standard Story Why does the Brewton Standard consistently stick its journalistic head in the sand when it comes to covering important stories. Whose feelings are they afraid of hurting, or better still whose toes are they afraid of stepping on? Boone Newspapers of Tuscaloosa, which owns the Brewton Standard, is a big company. They have 25 newspapers in 7 states. Surely they are big enough to fund their papers for at least one quality investigative journalist and big enough to have some journalistic backbone. You'd amost be persuaded to think that they want  take the Brewton community's advertising revenue but not give back to the community the hard hitting news it deserves. Again, what do I know? I don't know the pressure points that can be exerted on a publisher by certain influential citizens.  There are news events coming up that I wonder if the Standard will even cover. There is an upcoming hearing concerning one of Alabama's major educational trusts. Is the Standard going to be there to cover it? Does it know about the hearing? Here are some interesting questions Mary-Allison Lancaster and her publisher, Kerry Whipple Bean might ask the police chief, the district attorney, and the sheriff: The Chief had the goods on the gambling operation, which  well-placed sources told me had been going on for  a length of time. Why didn't Monte McGougin confiscate the slot machines and throw cuffs on these folks? Did anyone on the police force check for alcoholic beverages being consumed or if these establishments have liquor licenses? Who actually owns the slot machines in question - anybody we know - does the owner have a connection to law enforcement? Is this an ongoing story and could that be why we are not hearing more about it? Only Publisher Bean and Managing Editor Mary-Allison Lancaster can tell you that.  On the bigger subject of vice in the Brewton area, is the good police chief, the sheriff, and the district attorney ever going to do anything about bookie and sports betting operations that go on in plain daylight at a prestigious local club in the presence of many prominent folks(including doctors, judges, and lawyers) in the community? This operation is much bigger than a  couple of small time gaming establishments catering to poor blacks and poor whites. Why isn't ABC sending its investigators into this club? Aren't there some laws about mixing gambling and booze? How many markers is the prime bookie holding? Sports betting in most cases is a violation of the federal Wire Act - very serious business indeed! Did a recently resigned public official have major gambling debts, now or previously to the primary Brewton bookie? Does Kerry Whipple Bean or Mary-Allison Lancaster plan on writing any articles about gambling addiction in the Brewton community or are we going to continue to read mush at a level near the consistency of the pulp the paper is made from? Humorous side note: When the chief gave these criminals three days to get rid of the machines, could the gamers have put an advertisement in the Standard that said, CLOSING SALE! THREE DAYS OF LEGAL SLOTS! Michael H. Thomson, April 7, 2006 What's going on at the Jail? WHAT'S GOING ON AT THE JAIL? April 10, 2006 Mary-Allison Lancaster did it again. Another ambiguous interview. This time with the Sheriff. Some correctional officer has done something wrong at the jail. According to the high sheriff, quoting the article: "'Escambia County Sheriff Grover Smith said he received a tip several months ago from a credible source regarding a corrections officer who was committing criminal acts involving inmates.'" Obvious question from the Dixie Bugle - Why didn't Grover do something about it then? Why didn't Mary-Allison Lancaster ask that question? "'Typically, Smith said, an investigator with the Escambia County Sheriff's Department is called to handle charges regarding misconduct. However, in an attempt to ease the minds of the inmates, staff and the public, Smith said he called upon the ABI to investigate the matter.'" The Dixie Bugle's B.S. meter is clocked over to the right hand side on that reply - Since when did Grover Smith ever start giving up control to somebody else? "'An ABI investigator has been interviewing inmates and staff members with the sheriff's department. Smith said the external investigation is independent of him or his staff, but the sheriff said he is working in “full cooperation” with the investigator.'" Does something about this smell to you? If you know something the Standard or the Sheriff isn't telling us - send an email to miket@thomsontalks.com LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Readers, not all the comments to my article "The Great Brewton Gambling Fiasco" have been positive. This was sent to me by a person identifying themself as "JJ SMITH" the return email is jsmithwhatever@yahoo.com I find it quite interesting that you are so quick to point out the "problems" with the reporting at The           [Brewton Standard has a lot] Brewton Standard. ALL papers have problems, even the larger paper you are so quick to compare with the Brewton paper. Case in point: The Mobile paper did not include in its article any reference to why there were no arrests. Why didn't you includ THAT in your theory?            [Most people don't know this, idiot] The time of the arrests were incorrect, as was the name of one of the establishments. Why state in a small community as that one who owns the establishments? Most likely everyone in town already knows who owns it, so why reiterate it? Regardless of length, there really wasn't that much of a difference, except the fact the reporter for Mobile stated the establishments were a couple of blocks away from the school. If you have BEEN to Brewton like you state, you might realize a majority of establishments [you're an apologist for crooks] are within walking distance of the school. NO children were harmed and none were seen coming in or leaving any of those places. What's your point? Have you thought maybe the reporter at the Brewton paper asked the chief the questions you are so quick [the reporter was gutless] to pose? Have you ever been in a reporting position and had law enforcement DECLINE to answer. If she had asked the question, maybe she should have said in the article "the chief declined to say why he made no arrests." BUT, would that REALLY have made a difference in the reporting? NO. Before you call the reporter at the Brewton paper spineless, be fair, the Mobile reporter[Quit apologizing] didn't do that great of a job either. As for the sheriff bit: Link to local television news channels around here. They had essentially the SAME reports as the Brewton paper. It's very easy to sit in your chair and pose questions. But, I think if you stepped on the other side you might realize it's not as easy as you think. As with ANY job. [I know incompetence when I see it-especially in newspapers] Maybe you should try and scour YOUR OWN TOWN's paper[Whine, Whine, Whine] and judge that one. [Editor's note- I'm not sure if J. Smith is a bonafide person. I suspect J. Smith from his or her content is associated directly or indirectly with a newspaper. I wonder which one? If it's not a real person - It's typical of the gutlessness and denial that characterizes a number of small town newspapers.] Uh oh! I think I'm going to have to go to the ENT specialist, I can't seem to get that "whining" out of my ears! Raymond Wiggins v. Wilson Millard and Brewton Standard Recently (like yesterday) I came across this case which involved the Brewton Standard. I don't know how much this case or the verdict was publicized in the local area - But then again, that's why I'm here - Go to MoreLaw