Fact Mangler

How does Ken Leighton mangle the facts? Let me count the ways (“Pay the DJ,” “Blurt,” July 2).

1. He prints ridiculous claims unchallenged. For starters, Jefferson Jay claims (to quote Mr. Leighton) that “KCR, the on-campus radio station, damaged his chances to get a job in radio” — and this after his brief stint at now-defunct Free FM, the all-talk FM station. Wonder why they didn’t want him back for a second show?

2. By the way, Ken, KCR is an on-campus radio station at SDSU, not the on-campus radio station.

3. The Jefferson Jay Show aired on Tuesdays, not Mondays.

4. Mr. Jay said, “It was the only show on KCR that got calls or [media] attention.” Other DJs did get calls, and the station knows how to get press, thank you.

5. Mr. Jay says that letters were sent to SDSU president Stephen Weber that accused him of improprieties and that he believes they were sent by a particular DJ (i.e., me) — who did not in fact send them. I realize that this is merely a quote from Mr. Jay and is printed as such, but Ken, even in high school journalism they taught us to get both sides of a story.

6. Mr. Jay defends himself against charges of drinking on-air by pointing out that “somebody went through the trash and allegedly found beer bottles, [but] the trash can was outside the station in the quad area.” Yes, a whole five feet outside the studio door. Mr. Jay neglects to mention the matching evidence found inside the studio as well.

7. Mr. Jay was released from KCR in August 2006, not September.

8. Mr. Jay says (to quote Mr. Leighton) “that the KCR general manager and the DJ with whom he had had the falling out continued to bash his character on blogs.” Patently, blatantly false. Ken, do you even know what a blog is? Because this isn’t in mine. Catch up with the 20th Century while there’s still time.

9. “They wrote that I was gay.” This use of the word “gay” was written elsewhere. Admittedly never a wise thing to joke about in writing, but from the context (and this is out of context), it’s clear that the writer was joking.

10. “They said I was banned from the premises, when in fact I was a student in good standing.” So what? Mr. Jay might not have been kicked off campus, but he was banned from KCR.

11. Mr. Jay says, “The judiciary committee apologized to me and said I hadn’t done anything wrong.” Maybe so, but the SDSU campus police instructed him to cease contacting the general manager, the faculty advisor, and me. So he continued contacting the general manager, the faculty advisor, and me. And trespassing. (This is documented.)

12. “Norton was asked to comment about the fact that his administrative decision to expel Jay from the all-volunteer station just cost SDSU $3000.” Gee, Ken, when you put it like that, you make it sound like a legal triumph. Mr. Jay was seeking damages far beyond that, but the university was willing to pay a trifling amount to settle the matter and get the plaintiff out of the way. That’s what happens in settlements, Ken. Oh, and I notice that the faculty advisor is now being cast as the villain. Funny, I don’t remember Mr. Norton being the one who jeopardized the station by flooding the airwaves with a torrent of filth on a weekly basis.

“Some people are in charge of pens that shouldn’t be in charge of brooms,” aren’t they, Ken.

Scott Tissue
KCR-FM
San Diego State University

The Decision

Skot Norton, faculty advisor to KCR, responds to my “Blurt” story, “Pay the DJ,” July 2: “I made no administrative decision to expel [Jefferson Jay] Gottlieb. I did speak with Gottlieb about the decision on the phone, but this is a student-run organization and the students made the decision.” Gottlieb maintains that Norton was involved in the decision. “You can’t tell me that a 19-year-old student [Jayson Schmidt, who is no longer KCR general manager] made that decision on his own.” At the time the article was written, Norton requested that all questions be submitted via email. Norton declined to answer most written questions regarding this article.

Ken Leighton
via email

Insane? Reader Is For You

Your July 2 issue was another exercise in futility. Why have you relegated “Sheep and Goats” to page 143? The “Blurt” cartoon said it all about your idea of music, if that’s what it can be called. As for Mr. Grimm’s useless article on phony diplomas (“The American Board of Nonexistence,” “City Lights”), why does not Mr. Grimm or one of your other brilliant reporters concentrate on the useless so-called colleges in San Diego County, which dispense false and utterly useless courses but are allowed to exist by the so-called accrediting agencies and the morally bankrupt State of California? Are you bipolar, schizophrenic, or generally insane? The Reader is for you.

Name Withheld
via voicemail

With Satan?

Am wondering if Dennis Martins was misquoted in the last paragraph of “Sheep and Goats” (June 25), wherein he closes with “At which time, we are sent to hell with Satan” (italics mine).

It sounds like he is including himself with the lost. Is that accurate?

Paul
via email

Matthew Lickona writes: It is not a misquote. It’s a conditional: “If we don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ…we are sent to hell with Satan.”

Teacher’s Pet

I wish to commend the author Laila Zahedi on her very interesting and informative article “Blood on the Pomegranate Tree” (Feature Story, June 18). I am both impressed and proud, as I was her teacher of ESL at Kearny High School in 1994, the year of her graduation. She was a hard worker and so humble, always doing her very best. With her shy smile, few knew what a great sense of humor she had, and the smile that accompanied it often gave me the lift I needed in a classroom full of energetic learners. I am hoping we will read more of her memories of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and also of her early years in San Diego.

Joan Sprague
Linda Vista