FREE WHITEWATER

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Janesville Gazette Covers FREE WHITEWATER

Welcome, visitors from the Janesville Gazette and the Gazette‘s online edition, GazetteXtra.com. The April 14, 2008 Gazette has two stories on FREE WHITEWATER: City Officials Seek Blogger’s Identity and Blogger Keeps a Watchful Eye on Whitewater. Gazette reporter Kayla Bunge describes what blogging is like, recounts responses here to this blog about life in Whitewater,…

Register Watch™ for the March 20, 2008 Issue

Here is one of my new features, along with the Daily Bread morning post. I have called it Register Watch™, and it will be a weekly review of the latest issue of our local, but dismal paper, the Whitewater Register. Going forward, it will appear one day after the latest issue of the Register; typically…

WISN’s Mark Belling on Free Whitewater

Yesterday, on his afternoon show at WISN radio, 1130 AM in Milwaukee, Mark Belling spoke about Free Whitewater, and municipal actions against this website. I did not have a chance to catch the program live, but heard about it later, and listed to the segment via the WISN website. Although Belling’s no fan of anonymous…

To the Municipal Opponents of Free Speech

Good afternoon, readers from across Wisconsin. Earlier this Sunday, the Wisconsin State Journal‘s veteran reporter, Dee Hall, published a story describing my recent experiences as a blogger in Whitewater, Wisconsin. It’s on the front page of the State Journal, and is entitled, “Whitewater Police Pursue Anonymous Blogger, Critic.” Her story recounts how City of Whitewater…

Answers for a Reporter, and the Community, on the Larry Meyer Case

Last week, I wrote on the Larry Meyer case in a post entitled, “Questions for a Reporter, and the Community.” I had two questions about coverage of the lawsuit against Larry Meyer, the now-retired investigator of the Whitewater Police Department. My questions were directed to the reporters of the Janesville Gazette, The Week, and their…

Questions for a Reporter, and the Community

Readers of FREE WHITEWATER know that I have written about the lawsuit against Larry Meyer, former investigator of the Whitewater Police Department. This is a public matter involving the conduct of a public employee. It tells much about how that employee was supervised and managed. Most recently, in a post entitled, “Clear Information in the…

Writing and Readership

I love this beautiful town. I’ve been writing and publishing posts at FREE WHITEWATER for over seven months’ time. My first post was on May 22nd, and I’ve written over two-hundred thirty posts since then. This website has photos, an email link, a calendar, a translation tool, and a searchable archive. (Videos of places in…

Against Confidentiality in Municipal Litigation

Longtime readers know that I have covered the federal lawsuit against Larry Meyer, a now-retired detective of the Whitewater Police Department. Plaintiff, Steve Cvicker sued Meyer federal court alleging violations of his civil and constitutional rights. In March, Cvicker’s Fourth Amendment claims survived a motion for summary judgment. In October, newspaper accounts reported that the…

Signs of a Broken Police Culture, Part 2

What a surprise – truly – to see the Register report in its 11/8/07 issue that the Walworth County District attorney’s office will not prosecute a felony count against a Whitewater man who was involved in a standoff with the police recently. Outside the man’s residence during the standoff, armed city and county officers reportedly…

Catching up with the Register, October 25th Issue

From the October 25th issue, on a story about an arrest in an overnight standoff — How many police officers and sheriff’s deputies does it take to persuade an apparently suicidal man to leave his home? In Whitewater, it takes approximately 30. What is a “suicide type statement,” by the way? It’s how an inarticulate…

The Register’s Echo Chamber

Last Thursday’s Whitewater Register is evidence of the decline of that weekly, and how it has become an echo chamber for a small number of residents. “Editor” Carrie Dampier devotes precious front page space, above the fold, to a single council member’s pet topics from the last Common Council meting. Two topics preoccupied that council…