What is the name of Scoop's dog in Kirkwood?

On February 29, 2008 the Webster-Kirkwood Times’ ran an editorial from Editor-In-Chief Don “Scoop” Corrigan entitled “Lessons From A Class Long-Ago.” This editorial dealt with the some of the issues former City Council member Connie Karr talked about when she spoke to one of Scoop’s journalism classes at Webster University just prior to the tragedy of February 7, 2008. He quoted Mrs. Karr as saying,

"Everyone deserves a seat at the table in a democracy; it is part of the mission of journalists to make sure that those seats are available."

Scoop went on to say,

“Karr said her belief that everyone deserves a seat at the table inspired her to fight for a ward system in her city, instead of electing representatives at large. She said she regretted "taking on the fight like gangbusters," instead of taking time to convince voters about the advantages of wards.

After the carnage at Kirkwood City Hall, students asked if wards would have made a difference: Would two aldermen from southeast Kirkwood been able to better negotiate the grievances of an outraged resident? Would they have interceded to rein in an unruly resident, before the situation spun out of control?

We will never know the answers to these questions. Folks in Kirkwood and Webster Groves defend at-large elections as appropriate because the towns are too small and close-knit for wards. Maybe. Then are wards wrong for even smaller towns like Des Peres, Crestwood and Sunset Hills?”

I found Scoop’s rehashing of the ward debate after the tragedy as incredibly ignorant and outrageously insensitive. I clearly remember him in a previous editorial regarding the K-Fair 2003 ward proposal describing it as an “intense battle.” Scoop said in that previous editorial, “There's a lot of passion on both sides of this contentious issue, but I'm sorry, I just don't feel it.”

On March 4, 2008, I sent an email entitled ““Uninformed and Callous” to Scoop, other area journalists and several Kirkwood civic leaders questioning the purpose of his editorial. I said,

“Did I read an editorial trying to bring healing to the citizens of Kirkwood? Did I read an editorial trying to bring the citizens of Kirkwood together? Did I read an editorial pointing our community in a positive and productive direction?

No. Why would you ever want to do that at a time like this?

Instead you decide to do a piece that wants to rehash the most contentious issue of at least the past decade in Kirkwood. You want to pick up the 15-year-old wedge of contention of a ward proposal and drive it once again into our community. Yes, the ward issue and its present backers got their start in your paper all the way back to the “Robinson Woods/Craig Forrest Lane” issue in 1992.

Might I suggest before you write another editorial on wards that you at least pretend to be a journalist and do a little factual research. It would keep you from proving your ignorance of election results can only be out done by your insensitivity toward a community trying to heal.”

Ever since that editorial, I have heard a few Kirkwoodians parroting Scoop’s words at different meetings I have attended around town. I heard a call for a ward system during citizen’s comments at a City Council meeting. I heard a call for wards from a Mayoral write-in candidate at the Meacham Park Candidate forum. I heard wards offered as a solution by a small group discussion participant at a recent “Community for Understanding and Healing” meeting.

It is interesting how this all seems to “just happen” in Kirkwood. Or does it really “just happen?”

It is interesting how Scoop, the trained journalist who trains budding journalists, wants our community to ignore the fact that during the K-Fair 2003 ward proposal the issue of wards was researched and debated in our community for almost a year. It is interesting how Scoop, the editor of our "Hometown Newspaper," wants our community to ignore the fact that K-Fair’s 2003 ward proposal was soundly defeated 3.2-to-1 by the voters of Kirkwood. It is interesting how Scoop, the trained journalist, wants our community to ignore the facts regarding the election data of the ward community he lives and votes in.

What would drive a trained journalist talking about his class of budding journalists to ignore these three key facts, much less a myriad of other facts that contradict the statements made in his editorial about wards?

I do not have an answer to that question.

Clearly, though Scoop has gone out of his way with his editorial to get the ball rolling toward yet another “contentious” ward proposal in our community. We need, therefore, to call into question that previously mentioned editorial Scoop wrote regarding the K-Fair ward proposal back in 2003.

It was from July 25, 2003. It was artfully entitled, “No Dog In That Fight.”

Scoop said in that editorial,

“Nevertheless, skeptics abound -- they always know better. They call convinced that the latest coverage is biased. I will sometimes respond with: ‘Hey, I don't even have a dog in that fight.’ This means I just don't have a strong opinion one way the other.”

Well Scoop … one thing is for sure about the ward issue in Kirkwood … you can no longer claim “No Dog In That Fight” anymore. You have gone out of your way to have your dog dig up that bone of contention in Kirkwood.

So, what is the name of Scoop’s dog in Kirkwood?



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