Johnson City Press front page critique, Wednesday, May 27

Story #1:
More Drama in Carter Courtroom
Commission rejects settlement offer; trial in sheriff’s lawsuit against county continues
By John Thompson, Elizabethton Bureau Chief

Fairly well-written story. Not a lot of back story, ann no analysis of claims made on witness stand - would property tax rates go up $30-40 a year for a $100,000 house? We don’t know if this is realistic or not. Also do not know cost of proceedings so far - something TV news has delved into a bit. Could be in earlier story, so we won't pound it too hard. Shouldn't be lead story, though. (See below)

Story #2
Feeling Grand
Opry takes notice of local school’s year end program
By Madison Mathews, Press Staff Writer

B.S. story, basically. Promotion of an elite program at a local elite school - Mountain View Elementary. Commissioners with the state’s departments of tourism and education are expected. Officials have tried to interest Grand Ole Opry to come to this show, with an Opry tribute show by kindergarten and first graders. Meh. Teachers Angie Baker and Karen Seaver ‘shocked’ to find out state officials are coming. How did the state officials find out about this elementary school show? We don’t know from the story - could the pair have notified them? We don’t know. School system officials? Who knows. Placement as center story on front page is ridiculous. Poorly-written elementary school puff piece does not belong on front page. Period. Good for the kids, though. Not dissing them. Just the story.

Story #3
Obama choice historic
Sonia Sotomayor would be first Hispanic on Supreme Court
AP

Historic. Below the fold. All we need to know about front page editor’s view of the ‘history’ on display.
Fairly balanced AP piece. Should have had top bill - Carter story is on-going, not historic.

Story #4
Police: Men trade stolen gun for pot
By Rex Barber, Press Staff Writer

Pretty much a Washington Co. Sheriff’s Department feed. Lots of quotes from police department, detailing how the arrest went down. I would think this would have some problems - undercover officers trade 1.4 pound of pot for a stolen Hi Point 9mm carbine. Then arrested for intent to resell for taking the pot officers gave them. Can you say entrapment? No mention of where gun came from - from where, and when, was it stolen? Story mentions Brown, one of the criminals, “...had not been out of prison long...” for what? We don’t know. With all the controversy about guns these days, especially those getting into the hands of criminals, where’s the info on where this gun was stolen from? Break-in at a home, or a store? Gun show? We don’t know how the Sheriff’s Department found out it was stolen. Was it through an informant? How did the informant know? C’mon Rex - these aren’t hard questions to ask. Did you ask them? Also, this story is on front page, but at the bottom. Buried on the front page - bet more people read the death notices than this story.