Columbia Missourian FRIDAY & SATURDAY, February 19-20, 2010 — Page 5A

Write.
Reflect.
Respond.

TODAY’S QUESTION
Did prosecutors make the right decision in offering
Sanders a plea deal? Is 19 years a fair sentence for
the case?
In 2008, Daniel Sanders was pulled over by police for driving errati-
cally. A shovel and his mother’s body were in the trunk.
On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and felony evidence
tampering for drowning her and attempting to hide the body.
Prosecutors said they lacked the evidence to convict the 20-year-old
of murder, so they offered him a deal, which he accepted.
Assistant Boone County Prosecutor Andrew Scholz was worried
that the prosecution didn’t have answers to some questions that could
be asked during the trial, especially about the drowning of Sanders’
mother. Investigators still suspect a family connection in the drown-
ing, and the initial indictment said that Sanders didn’t act alone.
In January, Sanders’ lawyer, Christopher Slusher, filed a motion that
said Sanders asked for an attorney when he was pulled over, making
the vehicle search unconstitutional and the discovery of the body inad-
missible.
The agreement was made before Boone County Circuit Judge Gary
Oxenhandler was able to decide on the motion.
A 15-year sentence and a four-year sentence were recommended by
the prosecution and will be served consecutively. Scholz said he pre-
ferred to give Sanders a 19-year sentence than risk a trial.
— Kourtney Geers
Tell us what you think
E-mail your comments to letters@ColumbiaMissourian.com
Or mail them to: Idea of the Day, P.O. Box 917, Columbia, MO 65205

Guest commentary

Editorial climate at Tribune

detrimental to campaign
Controversial editor an
I
support the principle of a shine Law/Freedom of Information

asset to the community

newspaper editor interview-
ing candidates. Generally, it is
a worthy, important and vital
contribution to our democratic form
of government.
Act e-mails revealed Mr. Waters’
role as “Hank the Butterfly” in a
plan to take private land using “emi-
nent domain” for the State Histori-
cal Society. The plan included care-

But under certain circumstances,
the interview process can become
injurious to the electoral process.
With that in mind, I have politely
declined a private interview with
Columbia Daily Tribune publisher
Hank Waters. Several concerns
— many of them based on my per-
sonal experience with past Tribune
interviews — motivated my deci-
sion, which I consider important to
explain to the people of Columbia.
n Previous Tribune endorsements
have favored per-
Sid sonal friends of Mr.
Waters or reflected
Sullivan a total disregard
of challengers and
their positions.
n In his editorial endorsements,
Mr. Waters often selects part of a
candidate’s platform to develop and
attack a “straw man” argument that
has little or nothing to do with the
candidate’s platform and as such,
misrepresents the candidate’s posi-
tions.
n Mr. Waters is a “civic opera-
tive,” so to speak, who prefers to
lobby the city administration rather
than the elected City Council. In so
doing, he undermines their author-
ity and the will of the people who
elected them. For instance, the Sun-
Guidelines for election letters
The Missourian will publish letters and
guest columns about the April 6 elec-
tions for City Council, the Columbia
School Board and city ballot measures
at no charge.
Letters must be received by April 1.
The last day for letters to appear in
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sourian by April 4.
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ed. Please include a daytime telephone
number and address with your letter
fully orchestrated editorials and
was only uncovered when a member
of the City Council discovered the
“eminent domain” resolution on the
City Council’s consent agenda.
n Mr. Waters is unrepentant about
his often-manipulative, “behind the
scenes” activities. When taken to
task for his “conflicts of interest” by
Missourian editorial writer George
Kennedy, Mr. Waters said he pre-
ferred the term “confluence of
interests” and generally dismissed
Kennedy’s concerns.
I would be pleased to see Mr.
Waters at public forums, and at
some point, I would welcome a more
complete discussion of my positions
with him.
However, my campaign is about
opening the political process to all
takers, not just the few. It would
serve neither my interests nor the
public interest, under the current
editorial climate at the Columbia
Daily Tribune, to sit for an endorse-
ment interview at this time, and it is
with great sadness that I am declin-
ing the invitation.
Editor’s note: Upon receipt of this guest
column, the Missourian contacted
Columbia Daily Tribune publisher Hank
Waters to offer him equal space for a
rebuttal. He has declined that offer.
for verification purposes. We will not
publish your address or phone number,
but we will publish a general descrip-
tion of where each writer resides.
Letters generally run around 400-500
words. Longer pieces will be consid-
ered for guest columns.
Questions? Contact opinion editor
Jake Sherlock at 573-882-9951 or
sherlockj@missouri.edu
MAIL: Letter to Editor, P.O. Box 917,
Columbia, MO 65205
E-MAIL: letters@ColumbiaMissourian.
com
FAX: 882-5702
DROP OFF: 221 S. Eighth Street,
2nd floor newsroom
M
ayoral candidate
Sid Sullivan did
something highly
unusual last week.
He declined an
invitation to an
interview with Columbia Daily Tri-
bune Editor and Publisher Hank
Waters.
You may have learned about that,
as I did, on the Columbia Heart
Beat, Mike Martin’s feisty online
publication, which he describes as
our “alternative news source.” In
this case, as in others, the news
seems to have struck a nerve with
Mike’s progressive/liberal/activist
readership.
Sid’s letter of refusal, which Mike
reproduced, says that he submitted
to interviews in both his previous
runs for office. He thought that
Hank’s evaluations after those con-
versations were “positively injurious
to the electoral process” because
they misrepresented his positions
and ignored his stands on key issues
The refusal found a sympathetic
audience in Mike himself and in a
number of readers, who launched a
full-throated attack on the grand old
man of Columbia journalism.
One reader wrote, “Someone
finally stands up to the bully of our
local press during elections in par-
ticular…. Sid has my vote!”
Another responded, “Thank you
for having the courage to tell the
aging ‘emperor’ he has no clothes
on.”
Somewhat reluctantly, I rise in
Hank’s defense. (I’m on my own
here, because Hank declines to
engage. I called him, and once he
figured out my purpose, he said I
DOONESBURY by GaRry Trudeau
GEORGE
KENNEDY
Hank Waters usually makes
an argument that’s either
persuasive or repulsive.
should put him down for a “no com-
ment.” He does intend to publish
Sid’s letter, he said. And he did con-
firm that it’s rare for a serious can-
didate to refuse to meet with him.)
I’ve competed with Hank, much
as a flea competes with an elephant,
for many of the past 35 years. From
time to time, I’ve taken him to task
in print. The most recent of those
times was last year, after Mike and
Traci Wilson-Kleekamp revealed
the behind-the-scenes role Hank
was playing in what turned out to be
an abortive attempt to use the city’s
eminent domain powers to locate a
new State Historical Society muse-
um downtown.
I thought then, and I think now,
that when a publisher acts as a
power broker he owes the public
more disclosure than Hank deemed
necessary.
On other occasions, I’ve even sug-
gested that a pretty useful voting
guide is to take Hank’s endorse-
ments and go the other way.
But I would argue that, overall,
Hank the editorialist has made a
major contribution to Columbia’s
public conversation and thus to the
public weal. He writes about the
most important issues of the day. He
usually makes an argument that’s
clear enough to be either persuasive
or repulsive.
Maybe the most important of
Hank’s contributions is his sheer
longevity. He was opinionating when
I came to town in 1974 and now,
pushing 80, he’s still at it. I stand
in awe of that body of work. And
like the product or not, you have to
admit he does work at it. Candidates
may not — probably often don’t
— agree with his evaluations, but he
does meet with them face to face,
hears them out and even argues
with them.
As a journalist, I find that admi-
rable. As a citizen, I find it valu-
able. That’s why, some years ago, I
nominated Hank for the Journalism
School’s Honor Medal. He won it
and deserved it.
One of Columbia’s delights is that,
loud and persistent as Hank’s voice
is, it’s not alone. The Missourian, I
modestly assert, offers a broader
range of opinion than does the Tri-
bune. The Columbia Business Times
has some provocative essayists. And
Mike Martin provides both an alter-
native news source and an alterna-
tive ongoing argument.
I have no idea whether Sid Sul-
livan’s refusal will affect his elec-
tion prospects. In any case, he has
performed a valuable public service
by giving us citizens an excuse to
debate the role of journalism in our
little corner of the democracy.
George Kennedy is a former managing
editor at the Missourian and professor
emeritus at the Missouri School of
Journalism.

General Manager Executive Editor Managing Editor Opinion Editor

Daniel S. Potter Tom Warhover Jeanne Abbott Jake Sherlock
potterds@ warhovert@ abbottjm@ sherlockj@
missouri.edu missouri.edu missouri.edu missouri.edu

“I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected
with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for
the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is
a betrayal of this trust. I believe that clear thinking and clear statement,
accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.”
Walter Williams, founding dean,
missouri school of journalism
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