Stop me if you've heard this one before: Cameras catch the theft of copies of a free weekly newspaper. The perpetrators, angered by allegations against them contained in the edition's lead story, are vilified by many, but are called heroes by a small, yet powerful, minority that sees their actions as falling under the category "by any means necessary."
Longtime readers of the Niagara Falls Reporter would not be faulted for making the assumption that the discussion at hand is concerning this newspaper, but that assumption would be false. The newspaper crime du jour comes to us from the great state of Texas and involves the foolhardy statements of a respected NCAA head football coach.
Texas A&M University-Commerce is a 121-year-old institution of higher learning that boasts of having 5,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students. They offer more than $75 million annually in financial aid and scholarships, and by their own labeling are a "big-name" university.
Well, the big-name is in a big mess and it all has to do with a recent issue of the school newspaper, the East Texan. On Feb. 25, the newspaper ran a story about the dormitory arrest of two students on drug charges. Both kids are players on the college football team. The story featured the headline "Football Players Arrested in Drug Bust." That's when things got interesting.
Soon after they were distributed across the campus, copies of the paper were quickly removed from various distribution racks. Surveillance video seemed to implicate football team members as the culprits, and Crime Information Officer Lt. Jason Bone was dispatched to speak with A&M Head Football Coach Guy Morriss.
According to the appropriately named James Bright, the scribe that broke the scandalous story, Morriss had a curious response when informed his players had illegally confiscated the newspapers.
"I'm proud of my players for doing that," he said. "This was the best team building exercise we have ever done."
That statement came after Bone had asked him if he'd seen the recent issue of the student newspaper.
"I don't read that crap," he replied.
Morriss wanted to know how taking every available copy of a free publication was considered stealing. Attorney Advocate for the Student Press Law Center Adam Goldstein answered, "I think the problem comes when they try to take so many that it interferes with the basic purpose for why a newspaper exists. Publications can limit it to one (issue per person). Certainly one is a rational number."
Bone informed Morriss of the printed policy inside of the East Texan stating that the first issue is free, but each subsequent one taken costs 25 cents.
"I guess I will be the first one out of the door in handcuffs then," Morriss responded. Morriss' actions exhibit a blatant ignorance of the importance of First Amendment rights in America.
A football coach at his level is an educator first and foremost. What he instructed his team on was the fine art of obstructing justice, and in doing so condoned the alleged drug activity of his players.
The entire episode is eerily reminiscent of multiple incidences that have plagued the Niagara Falls Reporter over our 10 years of existence. The one that comes most quickly to mind is when former members of Local 91 were caught by a local pizzeria surveillance camera stealing a stack of papers featuring a lead story detailing the illegal and nefarious actions of their then leadership.
It was not an isolated incident. Former mayor Irene Elia allegedly had staffers remove copies of the paper from City Hall after unflattering columns ran detailing her many missteps as leader of the Cataract City. Mount St. Mary's Hospital and the Parkway Condominiums, two of the Reporter's top distribution sites, refused delivery of the paper in response to lead stories that their management found issue with. Recently, Spallino Towers has been the site of a rash of thefts of bundles of Niagara Falls Reporter newspapers -- evidently in response to our criticism of the local housing authority.
All the thieving parties did was draw more attention to the issues they intended to bury. Our lantern always burns brightest for those so desperate for the darkness that they're willing to break the law to obtain it.
Censorship is never the answer to a problem. Be it school boards banning "To Kill a Mockingbird," the movie ratings board censoring John Waters films or radio stations refusing to play Two Live Crew, it all boils down to a misguided attempt to conquer by dividing.
The right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press is as ingrained into the American tapestry as are the concepts of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To attempt to circumvent those rights by stealing full runs of a newspaper is not only a crime against civil law, but it is a crime against democracy itself.
The irony lost on someone like Coach Morriss is that the newspaper comes equipped with a means of response to allegations that he was free to take advantage of at any time -- it is known as the "Letters to the Editor" page.
About a year ago at this time I ran into jeweler George Edwards. George is a great guy and a longtime advertiser with this newspaper. George let me know that he took issue with a series of columns we'd published concerning Maid of the Mist owner James Glynn. George told me the public had no idea of the many charitable contributions made by the well-known boat ride operator. I told George he should put his thoughts down on paper and send them to Mike Hudson, and that I was sure that Mike would run them in the paper. He did, and the next week his unedited response appeared as a guest feature in the Reporter.
The lesson here is that the only proper response to dialogue is dialogue. Newspapers have a moral obligation to treat the right of freedom of speech as a two-way street.
As of this writing, officials at Texas A&M-Commerce have announced that no criminal charges will be filed in the case of the stolen papers. The newspaper editor has asked for restitution of $1,516 -- the printing and labor costs of the stolen issues. The university president has come out in support of Morriss, despite numerous calls for his removal as head coach of the football program.
Maybe Coach Morriss should be sentenced to two classes -- one on the history of the First Amendment and the second on the merits of proper team building exercises. For East Texan writer James Bright we have an offer: Send us a resume, we've got just the paper and city for you to relocate to once you graduate.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 9, 2010 |