American Legion, Millerton News, air differences

MILLERTON -- Despite less than two days notice, more than 70 people attended a public meeting Sunday afternoon at the American Legion Hall, which included representatives from the legion and The Millerton News.

The meeting was held in response to a controversy that started in October when Ray Nelson submitted a family-written press release describing the achievement of his son, Luke Nelson, who completed basic training in the U.S. Air Force.

The newspaper edited part of the announcement that said Nelson was serving for "God and country." In December, Ray Nelson visited the office of the newspaper asking for an apology, and when he didn’t get one, threatened Editor Whitney Joseph, saying, "You just made an enemy out of me and that’s not a good thing." Joseph subsequently filed an official complaint to the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office about Nelson’s behavior.

The American Legion then posted a sign outside its hall, which read "Welcome to Post 178, Millerton News discriminates against the legion, veterans and the troops." Members of the post also sent a letter to the paper complaining about the paper’s coverage of military affairs, as well as its treatment of the Nelson press release.

At Sunday’s meeting, Post Commander Lee Garay and post members Sid Byron, Robert Jenks, Stan Chase, Sean Klay and Al Andrews sat on one side of a dais with The Millerton News Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Janet Manko and Editor and Publisher Emeritus Robert Estabrook on the other side. Estabrook is also a member of the newspaper’s current ownership.

Legion member Donald Barnum, who also signed the letter from the legion to the paper, acted as moderator for the meeting.

At the beginning, each side was given 10 minutes to explain its stance.

Klay, from the legion side, reiterated the points made in the letter.

"In the American Legion Preamble to the Constitution, it states, ‘For God and country we associate ourselves together for the following purposes,’" Klay said. "The legion took exception to the dropping of the phrase ‘God and country’ in the news release. Second, we felt that there has been a lack of positive coverage for a number of years with regards to coverage of service of our local men and women who have served overseas on the war on terror."

Klay added the paper has been inaccurate and incomplete in its coverage of veterans events in the past, such as Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

"For Memorial Day 2007, while the legion does believe there was an improvement in its coverage, there was as much time for coverage in the surrounding communities," he said. "This paper, after all, is called The Millerton News, and our town and village should enjoy a home field advantage, particularly in the placement of the articles."

Jenks added that the phrase "for God and country" is "near and dear" to soldiers’ hearts. He added that the legion was displeased with the coverage of a 2006 Veterans Day ceremony.

"At 1 p.m. the reporter approached me and Lee Garay, who was the commander at the time, asking why we were not down at the park and we told him that the ceremonies were held at 11 a.m.," Jenks said. "He asked us to take everyone back down to the park to take a picture, and we said no, that’s not going to happen. So that showed us a real lack of interest in the post, the community and that day, which is sacred to us."

He said that the only way the post felt they could communicate to the paper was through the sign.

"We just didn’t realize how many people read that sign," he said. "We had many people in this community give us support."

After 15 minutes, Barnum then gave the floor to Ray Nelson and his wife, Grace, who both spoke about the controversy.

"God and country are very important to our family," Grace Nelson said as she looked at Manko. "You took away our voice. God and country is very important to our son. He loves his God and he loves his country."

At first, Ray Nelson would not directly speak about the incident that led Joseph to file a complaint with the police. He did recount part of that day.

"Nothing was heard from for a couple of months then I decided to stop in. I didn’t prepare myself, I walked in there cold," he said. "I sat down across the desk from her and she told me the paper was going to stick by its decision. I made an error of poor choice of words..."

He then acknowledged that he made an error when he told her that "you made an enemy out of me."

"I apologized to Janet over the telephone, I never apologized to Whitney," he said. "It wasn’t premeditated."

Publisher Manko was then given the floor and said she said she didn’t want to give a counterattack or to state any excuses.

"We support the Legion, we support the troops, we support veterans," Manko said. "We felt that the sign was unfair, untrue and hurtful. We have veterans who work for us, I have veterans in our family, our primary owner was a U.S. Naval officer during the Vietnam war who took the charges very seriously. It makes it personal."

She said that the paper does not discriminate and the newspaper put together a compilation of articles about veterans and the military that had been published over the past year.

"I have to say Whitney had editorials that were supportive of veterans and the troops and we did as much coverage as we could with a small staff," she said. "For news releases we go by the style of the Associated Press. The military press releases we receive from Hometown News do not use the words ‘for God and country’ in them. This is not a statement on God or country as far as our editing goes. We don’t see this as censorship, we just see this as editing for style."

Manko said Joseph felt too threatened by Ray Nelson to attend the meeting.

"It has something to do with your demeanor," she said to Nelson. "She felt physically threatened. It should never come to that, especially over ‘God and country’ and also to the editing of a press release."

During the public comment period, the audience was asked who would be offended if the paper included in any statement the words "for God and country." Dianne Engleke, editorial cartoonist for the paper, was the only one who raised her hand.

"I believe in the separation of church and state and I agree with Janet that there is a style that we follow," Engleke said. "That phrase certainly belongs in a letter, but in a news release we follow a certain way to do it."

Jenks strongly disagreed and reiterated the preamble of the Legion’s constitution.

"I can assure you that when I cross the line of departure with a rifle in my hand, we say a prayer each and every time," Jenks said. "And I am representing you."

Despite the majority of negative voices who took the newspaper to task during the meeting, Manko believed its outcome was positive.

"I think it was a good discussion and a lot of issues were brought out which we would not have heard in any other forum," she said. "I think it was good for this part of our readership to talk about their concerns."

Jenks said the meeting was something that needed to take place.

"We will see what happens in the future," Jenks said. "I think the meeting spoke for itself."

The sign, meanwhile, which had been posted for roughly one month, was changed before Sunday’s meeting began (see photo).

Anyone who would like to view the binder with the paper’s coverage of military affairs may do so. The binder is currently at the American Legion Hall, but by next week will be returned to The Millerton News office.