Media: Junker Story Pursued

Well, this week I will try knocking on the door of the PiPress’s education reporter again, and hope that she will answer this time. (Why won’t anyone talk to me? Maybe it’s all these columns about the Cheney shooting I’ve been doing; maybe they’re all big Cheney fans, maybe they don’t like my file photo, I don’t know. Anyway:)

Dear Ms. Boldt:

More than a week ago I sent a request for assistance to you and your editor at the Pioneer Press; I was seeking your help in finding answers to questions I had about the current mental health of one of our school board officials. Since I haven’t received any correspondence from you since then, I must assume that you and your editor are not interested in assisting me.

But I also emailed some questions to you and to your editor, Mr. Jack Sullivan, who seemed to be fielding questions from the public on your behalf. These questions were for you, personally, and could be answered from your store of personal knowledge and experience.

I haven’t received any kind of reply from Mr. Sullivan or from you, and the answers to these questions are very important to local voters here in the district. So this week I will re-send my questions for you, directly to you, and hope that you will answer. Note that that a new question has been added:

1) During the time that you have been responsible for covering our local school board, have you ever attended any of our local school board meetings (District 834)? If so, have you ever noticed Mr. Junker appearing distracted or confused during those meetings, as if he didn't understand what was going on at the moment?

2) On the basis of your experience in covering the school board, and your conversations with various school board members and area residents—have you ever formed any opinion of your own regarding Choc Junker's ability to understand and concentrate on the issues the before the board?

3) Does the Pioneer Press have some kind of ombudsman who answers questions from readers about the quality of the reporting in the paper? Currently I only receive the Sunday edition of the paper, and I don’t read every single page.

As I stated in my previous email: the reason that I am asking the PiPress' assistance with this matter is that 1) I have already asked several local elected officials about Mr. Junker's health (including David Junker) and they have refused to comment on the issue and 2) local newspapers have refused to let me use their letters to the editor page to inquire about this issue publicly.

Regards,

William J. Prendergast
Stillwater Tribune