SUN???

OK, this morning didn't start out well at all. Mrs. C went out to get the newspapers and informed me that we got an LA Times but that there was no DB on the driveway. Damn! Now I'd have to read David Allen online.

But then about half an hour later we heard the tell-tale "plop" as a paper was finally delivered. So now I trundled out and picked up my Sunday fix of local news. Once inside I opened up the paper and discovered taht the Flag said "THE SUN."

I was distraught and confused. But the confusion got even worse. Riffling through the paper it appeared that the other sections were the same as I was used to. RCNow, Around the VALLEY, etc. So I went back to the front page, really concerned that I wouldn't get my David Allen fix. But turning to page 4, there was David's smiling face staring back at me. The header of the page said "Inland Valley Daily Bulletin" and all seemed right. So I went back to that front page. I looked at the stories and they appeared to be SB based. I looked at the end of the sidebar on VICTIM OF FRAUD and it was continued on Page 4. But there was no jump on page four, only David's column.

So it looks like my DB got the page 1 from the SUN and nothing else.

UPDATE: I also discovered that I didn't have a DB Sports Section. The sports section in my Sunday paper was from the Redlands Daily Facts. Fortunately, I'm only interested in sports during basketball season and we're not there at the moment.

I think I need another cup of coffee.

Rothman Mayor of Upland

OK, so I'm sitting on Sunday, reading the Saturday DB (I was busy with the Pomona Heritage Christmas Dinner all day Saturday), and to what do my wondering eyes should appear? But an item in the "rail" (the first column on page 1) as shown at the left that made me wonder if there were visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. With the kicker head of UPLAND, I might have passed it over, but I was shocked to learn that Upland was considering appointing a new councilperson for district 5, and that Elliott Rothman had been elected mayor of Upland. Had the election all been just an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato?

But no, when I got to page 10 to read the story, Monica Rodriguez had all the facts right, and the story was about our own Pomona election.

So much for the efficiencies of the DB combining staff with the San Bernardino Sun. Evidently copy editors and proofreaders in the far east have no idea which city is which and can't write a teaser with the correct information, even though one would assume that they were looking at Monica's article as reference. I know that mistakes happen (anyone who's read the Pomona Heritage newsletter knows that I make my share), but a newspaper is supposed to have quality control in place. That's why editors and proofreaders are so vital to a news organization.

Oh, the Indignity!!!!!

Here it is, the Friday after Thanksgiving, full from yesterday's turkey and fixin's it should be a morning to relax, read the paper and just chill before the work of climbing through the garage to extract holiday decorations and start the season.

But the paper did not bring me solace this morning. I'm indignant, my hackles have been raised, and I'm just plain angry!!!

First, an admission--I actually read the legal ads in the DB. It's a habit from having past city administrations try to sneak something through figuring no one reads those ads so we'll do the legal notification and maybe no one will notice. Even though the Pomona staff is now much more out front in their dealings with the public, I can't help but be ever vigilant.

So this morning, after the news, weather, and comics, I turned to the classified section of the newspaper to begin reading the legal ads. Lately, the DB has been intermingling classifications 54 and 55 (LA County and SB County) legal notices--Doesn't this defeat the concept of "Classified?" Anyway, within the SB County notices, was an LA County notice that I was sure was misplaced. The FDIC had their notification of the takeover of PFF. But they had the old POMONA address as their corporate address for the notification. PFF decided first to get rid of Pomona from their name, then they moved to Rancho Cucamonga, where they proceeded to destroy a financial institution that had been around for over 100 years, but when the failure notice comes out, suddenly it's a Pomona institution. AAaaarrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!

We just can't cut a break.

So not only was PFF lax with their loans, but they also must have been lax with their paperwork if the FDIC didn't have their current address. The one thing that might come out of this is that the DB should get another ad from it. If someone from the DB is reading this, be sure to let advertising know so that they can get a retraction/correction ad.

So now, it's time to go off and figure out what to do for front yard decorations since the lovely Mrs. C has laid down an edict "No nails in the newly refurbished house." How can I hang my lights? AAaaarrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!