"Decision expected soon in Wal-Mart appeal"

It seems to be that "Baghdad Chris" Lupke would be the last person in the world you would want as a "spokesperson." The preening, self-important, shrill, know-it-all Lupke's ad hominem attacks continually serve to alienate PARD in the community even further.

Just who are those people that "blindly support" Wal-Mart, Lu Laoshi? The beloved mayor of Pullman who, when he fell ill recently, had a hospital room full of flowers? The democratically-elected members of the Pullman City Council who recently announced their intention to pass a resolution of support for Wal-Mart? How about Pullman's business leaders like Fritz Hughes and Tom Handy? It's no wonder that local business owners like Leslie O'Dell don't want to be associated with PARD's "Think Pullman First" campaign.

From today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

A panel of judges is expected to soon decide the fate of a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman.

The three-judge panel has six months from the time a case is heard to render a decision, said Renee Townsley, Washington Division III Court of Appeals Clerk. She added that state law requires appellant judges to wrap up all uncompleted matters in that time frame or risk a delayed salary check.

Oral arguments concluded Dec. 19 in the appeal brought by the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development, which has long opposed a super center on Bishop Boulevard. June 19 will mark six months since the hearing took place in a Spokane courtroom.

PARD spokesman Chris Lupke said the group holds out hope that the judges will take its side.

"Obviously, the fact that they've taken this long shows that they're taking the case extremely seriously and it's a lot more complicated than those who blindly support Wal-Mart would have you believe," he said.

Wal-Mart announced plans to build on Bishop Boulevard in October 2004 and a site plan for the store was later approved by Pullman Public Works Director Mark Workman. PARD appealed the city's approval of the company's environmental checklist and site plan on the grounds that the store would affect stormwater runoff and traffic, and would negatively affect Pullman's economy.

Because state law allows only one public hearing on a proposed development, Spokane attorney John Montgomery - who acted as Pullman's hearing examiner - was called to oversee PARD's initial appeal. Montgomery compiled a findings of fact document from Wal-Mart, Pullman and PARD, and concluded Wal-Mart's site plan and environmental checklist was sufficient. Montgomery's decision was upheld by Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier, and PARD's appeal was dismissed.

PARD then took the case to the Division III Court of Appeals.

Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson said the city eagerly awaits a final opinion.

"All I can say is that we can't wait for this to be resolved," he said. "From our standpoint, we believe we did the right thing in the first place."

Johnson said other retail projects around Bishop Boulevard are being held up until a decision is rendered.

"We desperately need the additional retail," he said.

Jennifer Holder, Washington Wal-Mart public affairs manager, said the company is waiting for a court decision before moving forward with any construction.

"(Wal-Mart is) not going to construct anything until the case is over," she said.

Pullman Planning Director Pete Dickinson said the city has not yet received the necessary documents that would allow Wal-Mart to begin construction.

"But the city is in a position to issue those permits at any time," he said.

Lupke said PARD has waited several years, and can patiently await a final outcome.

"They're going to decide when they decide," he said.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

The Rantings of an Arrogant and Contemptuous Jerk

Your blood will boil when you read what elitist WSU archictecture prof Ayad Rahmani wrote in an op-ed that appeared in the October 27, 2007 issue of WSU Today. Some quotes:

WSU’s claims to “world-class” status, while true, ultimately ring hollow because the reality finds no match with those statements. World-class ambitions cannot be met with low-class ideas. High-class faculty will refuse to live in scattered and inconsequential buildings. [And after all, it's only the "high-class" faculty that matter in this town. The rest of us are just low-class. Oh my God. -tf]

The new housing stock in Pullman sadly represents the worst of the effects of a market economy; it has neither respect for art or the environment — or for that matter the fact that within a short walk there is an architecture school with graduates who have gone on to change the world. [So what's stopping them for developing houses with respect for "art and the enivonment?"? Oh yeah, money. It's much easier to tell someone else how to spend theirs. - tf]

Rather than taking clues from cities such as Portland and Seattle — whose architects and developers have joined forces to create a denser and more community friendly environment [and that obsession with "density and community friendly environment" has added $200,000 to the average price of a Seattle home - tf] — Pullman developers have made more suburbs. These offensive McMansions, with garages looking onto the streets, use materials and planning that are highly wasteful and unsustainable. [You mean like wood, which is a renewable crop? Concrete? Seems to me there is a virtually infinite supply of sand and gravel. Vinyl, which can be recycled? What's wasteful and unsustainable? - tf]

Rather than building inward and promoting walking and bicycling, these suburbs force those who live in them to use their cars. And rather than building with materials that have a low-carbon footprint and reflect an inventive approach to scarcity, these same suburbs persist with a cookie-cutter mentality. [So why did Pullman just get nationally recognized as a "pedestrian-oriented" city? And where in the hell are we going to build "inward" in Pullman??????? College Hill?? Downtown?? There's no room left but at the periphery of town. But in any case, there is no "suburb" in town that is more than two miles from the WSU campus. What a joke to call that "sprawl." And that "cookie-cutter mentality" is otherwise known as "affordable family housing." How dare you insult my home as "cookie-cutter" when that is all I can afford, you snobby asshole. - tf]

The university also cannot rely on the town to resolve this problem; the town is too bogged down in trying to increase tax revenues to worry about the role of architecture in improving matters. The university must lead the way in not only improving its own grounds but in transforming the town. [Oh sure. The poor townies are so plebeian wanting to pay the bills for parks, police, fire and emergency services, schools, etc., etc. Let the highly-educated solons take over. I have read some elitist and snobby crap before, but this takes the cake. - tf]

The Homophobic Nazi Suicide Bomber

Below is my letter to the editor published in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News about Chris Lupke mistakenly identifying me as an anonymous commenter on Dnews.com and accusing me of making "homophobic jokes" and being "fascinated" with Nazis.

I know several of you here disagree with my philosophy. But for those of you that endorse anonymous/unmoderated comments at Dnews.com as a way of instantly responding to news stories/opinion, protecting "whistleblowers," or making arguments based on merit not the person, I ask you two simple questions: Is it your name and reputation being affected by these online comments? Does your family have to answer questions about things you did not say?

At what point does the First Amendment become a letter of marque to go after your enemies with no consequences? A newspaper is not a blog. Everyone in the community reads it. They don't go there expecting to read personal attacks, lies, and unsubstantiated claims (or maybe they do, possibly explaining why Nathan Alford insists on keeping the comments turned on.) People go to a newspaper website expecting the truth, in the form of news.

If Chris Lupke hates me so much, as he obviously does, then why doesn't he start his own blog? www.tomforbesistheantichrist.com. The answer is that he won't. He's getting a free ride without putting in any work other than thinking up some pithy putdown. It's much more effective to lob grenades at me at a website he knows gets thousands of hits a day to inflict maximum damage on me. And I pay money every month for this privilege.

Rather than "encouraging a constructive community dialogue," these comments chill it considerably. Most people do not have the thick skin that I do. And what can I do to get my good name back? The onus is all on me to go after Lupke by putting down thousands on a retainer for an attorney. The Daily News provides this platform for Lupke and then just says "sucks to be you buddy." It doesn't matter to them how untrue or damaging any of his garbage is.

Let me give you some examples of this "constructive dialogue" that Lupke and his toadie Matthew Root have indulged in, all in response to a story that did not concern me in response to a commenter who is not me:

tj -- calling yourself "reasonable and responsible" should elicit guffaws from even the most dotrinaire of observants. Your "reason" reminds me more of that employed by the nazis for whom you hold such a prurient fascination, as illustrated by your obsessive discussion of them on these pages.

Yes, Tom, we all know about your habitual resorting to name calling when you've run out of cogent responses (which is pretty quick). I think the only one "raging" is you. Even your sidekick Lobo seems embarrassed by you at times, though not enough in my opinion. When people disagree with you, you panic, call them names, threaten their tenured status. You're not much of a neighbor and you really seem to hate collegetowns. If you're unhappy here, consider moving. Just a suggestion. I won't resort to calling for you to be run out of town, as you have us -- in a fit of rage.

Yes, you always claim to speak for "the rest of us" (another fallacy), but your pathetic attempt at garnering a pro-Wal-Mart petition resulted in fewer signatories than we gathered in any one hour of gathering signatures locally. You may have forgotten, but we gathered OVER TEN THOUSAND asking Wal-Mart not to build. All locally. [This comment appears to have been deleted from the Daily News website, making Alford's claim to me that Dnews.com is an "unmoderated forum" de facto (and likely de jure) untrue. But any reasonably intelligent onlooker can tell from Lupke's non-deleted comments that he is referring specifically to me.]

Hi Chris, yes he resorts to name calling again; its all he’s got. I suggest we just let him ride the bomb to his own self-destruction, like his fake namesake. I find it funny that the fictional T J Kong was a suicide bomber.

I also basically agree with you about tj. I knew he would be a waste of time the first time I heard of him trying to claim I'm related to some guy named Chad Lupke and that therefore I'm not a permanent resident of Pullman. He has a small palette of rhetorical techniques that consist mainly of blathering his point of view (fine, who cares); if that doesn't work, insulting his interlocutors with vicious, slanderous names; lies about other people in the community; threats such as running people out of town; and rather pathetic attempts at self-arrogation mixed with a real envy of the academic life. I'm not sure what trauma occurred in his academic life, but it clearly left him scarred. In all his blather, I have never once gotten the impression that he wanted to persuade his adversaries of anything and am confident he never has.

It is remarkable, though, that in his frustration his only recourse is a homophobic joke. What was it last week -- nooses? Disgusting. Never ends.

tj -- your lies never end. I never said I hated you and, as a Christian, I don't. That doesn't mean I approve of your unsavory tactics. But there is hope for everyone. Even Lee Atwater, for example, who is the modern inventor of the style of character assasination and dirty tricks methods you employ, repented on his death bed, writing many apologies to those whom he verbally assaulted. I therefore hold out hope that anyone can reflect on the rotten things they inflict on others and change. I would hope they would come sooner than they did for Atwater.

My wife's friends and co-workers read this bullshit and she has to deal with it. Think about if you would want your family to be subjected to that.

Here is my letter:

Daily News publisher Nathan Alford insists on running an anonymous, unmoderated online forum, despite the legal and moral risks this poses.

Authors of letters to the editor and opinion page columnists are required to divulge their identities before being published. Why should online commenters be held to a different standard? Libel laws apply equally to online editions as to print ones.

Even though there are numerous blogs and message boards not owned by newspapers that allow anonymous, unmoderated comments, that doesn't mean our community newspaper should. Newspapers, especially in small towns, have a special responsibility to their readers to encourage constructive discussion and debate. MIT Professor of Sociology of Science Dr. Sherry Turkle has conducted research into "identity and multiplicity" online and postulated that the quality of online forums is inversely proportional to the anonymity of its participants.

Several months ago, the Daily News took steps to eliminate "sock puppet" accounts. While a good first step, the anonymity and unmoderated nature of the online comments still allows for reprehensible, irresponsible, and destructive comments. For example, in responding to recent posts from a regular commenter known as "tjkong," Chris Lupke mistakenly assumed that it was me and leveled accusations that I made a "homophobic joke" and showed a "prurient fascination" with Nazis. It is Lupke's constitutional right to have an opinion about my public stance on various issues (as I do about him). However, he is not entitled to associate me with controversial comments that I did not make without prior and incontrovertible evidence concerning my identity. The Daily News refused to delete those comments.

I encourage you to contact Nathan Alford (alford@dnews.com) and urge him to restore decency to our community newspaper and hold it to a higher standard by eliminating the anonymous unmoderated online comments.

Tom Forbes, Pullman

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Anything You Don't Say Can and Will Be Used Against You

If you are contemplating taking a public stand on a controversial issue, take my advice: Don't. The local media-academic complex will knock you down.

For example, our "community paper," the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, has abrogated its moral and legal responsibilities, turning the comments section in the online version of the newspaper into a fetid cesspool of libel, lies, gossip, rumor, and innuendo.

This is an e-mail exchange between Daily News publisher Nathan Alford and myself:

Date: Friday, March 21, 2008 11:03 AM
From: Nathan Alford
To: Tom Forbes
Subject: Re: Libelous Comment
Size: 4 KB

Tom,

Your note was received. Thank you.

You and I have visited about the positives and negatives of unmoderated public forums on the Web. One negative is that often times those engaged in public debate get poked, or become the subject of loose and unpleasant accusations.

Remember, we're not editing or filtering these comments. We view each individual as responsible for their comments. That's per our written policy, "Individuals posting libelous statements may be held individually responsible."

In this case, it sounds like that's Chris Lupke. I'd encourage you to discuss the matter further with Chris.

Regards, Nathan.

Tom Forbes wrote:

Nathan,

Chris Lupke has left a comment on the Daily News website that states:

"It is remarkable, though, that in his frustration his only recourse is a homophobic joke. What was it last week -- nooses? Disgusting. Never ends."

If you read the entire comment thread on the "TOWN CRIER III: Lessons from the Hawkins development settlement" column, you will see that Lupke mistakenly labels the "tjkong" commentor as me. He has done this on numerous occasions and in the past I have ignored it. But this time, claiming that I am "homophobic" or tell "homophobic" jokes is libelous and injurious to my reputation (much less the Nazi allegations he also made.) I warned you about the dangers of anonymous
commenting when we had lunch several months ago. I continue to urge you to associate real names with online commentors. If you take this measure, this type of behavior will stop. This has nothing to do with either a "constructive community dialog" or the First Amendment.

I demand the "homophobic" comment be immediately deleted and Mr. Lupke notified that I am not "tjkong" and that his comments about me are way out of line. If this is not done right away, I will have no choice but to seek legal remedies to protect my name and standing in the community.

I await your prompt reply.

Best regards,

Tom Forbes

--
*Nathan H. Alford*
Moscow-Pullman Daily News Editor & Publisher
(208) 882-5561 ext. 247
alford@dnews.com

Visit us on the web at:
DNews.com NWmarket.com
lmtribune.com

Alford's logic might apply if I had been involved in the discusssion online at Dnews.com, but I HAVE NOT BEEN. The column in question and all of the previous comments had nothing to do with me, and yet Lupke manages to drag me into it anyway. So Lupke is now free to continue to claim that I am someone that I am not and libel me with accusations of making "homophobic jokes" and a "prurient fascination" with Nazis.

I certainly intend to bring this matter to Lupke's attention, but not before making a public records request to see if he used his WSU account to post these comments.

And the Daily News' defense of unmoderated comments will not hold water, in my opinion, when subscribers have to pay with a credit card to access the online edition and when the identity of every poster is known to them.

I encourage you to drop Nathan Alford a line and let him know how you feel.

Pullman Enemy #1

KLEW TV has more on the Moscow Civic Association forum on the Hawkins water deal, and you won't believe what Tri-State owner Gerard Connelly had to say.

Connelly said he supports the "pro-business" makeup of the new council, but said there's a difference between economic expansion and retail displacement. He used the proposed Wal-Mart supercenter in Pullman as an example.

"Currently, in Pullman, they think that when Wal-Mart opens a 100,000 square-foot grocery store there that people are going to eat more food. They're not," he said. "Nationally, when Wal-Mart opens up a 100,000 square-foot grocery store, two grocery stores in that market go out of business. Nationally, for every two people that Wal-Mart employs when they open up, three people lose their jobs. That's not a matter of philosophy, it's a matter of record."

Bullshit. "That whole 2 stores closing for each Wal-Mart and 2 Wal-Mart employees for 3 losing their jobs" argument is a bunch of weak, unsupported lies right off the Wake-Up Wal-Mart website. If Safeway was so concerned about Wal-Mart closing them down, why in the hell did they just do a very expensive remodel of their Pullman store? And there are only two grocery stores in Pullman to begin with. Does anyone seriously believe that Wal-Mart would shut both of them down and leave only one grocery store in a city of 27,000 people? That's ridiculous.

Again, I know Connelly has been too successful in business to believe that we think that "when Wal-Mart opens a 100,000 square-foot grocery store there that people are going to eat more food." What we believe is that THOUSANDS OF PULLMAN RESIDENTS THAT CURRENTLY SHOP AT WAL-MART AND WINCO IN MOSCOW FOR BUDGET GOODS AND GROCERIES WILL START SHOPPING AT WAL-MART IN PULLMAN INSTEAD. Certainly all the Pullman developers believe that, as evidenced by new and planned construction in and around Bishop Blvd. Connelly knows that. That's why he is only against a Pullman Wal-Mart, not a Moscow one.

Then Connelly mentioned SEL:

Connelly said Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman is a good example of economic development, because SEL continues to adds jobs without displacing any current businesses

HELLO, GERARD????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE RIGHT. SEL HAS ADDED JOBS AND PEOPLE TO THE AREA. IT HAS BROUGHT SOME 1,100 JOBS TO THE PALOUSE. MANY OF THOSE EMPLOYEES AND THEIR FAMILIES ARE NEW TO THE PALOUSE, ABOUT HALF OF WHOM HAVE LOCATED IN PULLMAN, LIKE MYSELF. WE'RE NOT GOING TO EAT MORE FOOD. THERE ARE MORE MOUTHS TO FEED. DO YOU NOT GET THAT???? DID NO ONE PICKUP ON THIS PIECE OF ILLOGIC??? And SEL does cause business displacement, just not in Pullman. Every company that buys SEL relays costs some other relay maker a sale. Eventually, that might result in that other company having to lay off employees or even close. That is the nature of business. There are winners and there are losers. Unbelievable.

And WTF is Connelly doing going off on Pullman and Wal-Mart at a forum ostensibly about the Moscow City Council's decision to sell water to a developer in Whitman County. Neither Pullman and Wal-Mart fit into that equation at all.

I've always disagreed with attempts at boycotting local businesses to express dissatisfaction with the owner, but I'm starting to consider it.

Say What?

More hilarity courtesy of the online comments at Dnews.com:

lupke wrote: on 3/2/2008 10:19 am:
Note that neither the two hiding behind fake names -- tjkong and Lobo -- don't live in Moscow or Idaho yet they feel compelled to blather on about political issues of which they are not a part. Too bad they don't have the integrity to stay out of other state's/communities political situations when they have crowed so loudly and so many times about non-residents' comments on politics in Pullman and Whitman county. Ah, integrity! Where art thou now, fair integrity!

lupke wrote on 3/4/2008 1:09 pm:
I normally don't agree with O'Neal and often find his editorials to be nasty and mean-spirited themselves, causing one to wonder whether or not there is hypocrisy in what he says above. And his usual style is to set up a straw man to knock down. Not so hard to do. But I do agree with this:

"Moscow and Pullman are intimately connected. People who work in Pullman live in Moscow, and vice versa. Shoppers smuggle (sic) goods across the state line. The universities cooperate. The economic, social and cultural fortunes of Moscow and Pullman are symbiotically linked, and enhanced."

In fact, in that light, one Wal-Mart would be enough for our community. If Pullman had a Target and/or Costco, we could truly have a symbiotic relationship with Moscow and all talk of "leakage" would dissipate in the breeze. Thanks for pointing that out, Michael.