eChaser: August 2004


	Welcome to our newsletter ... Society of Professional Journalists, Fort Worth Professional Chapter Public Relations Society of America, Greater Fort Worth Chapter International Association of Business Communicators, Fort Worth Chapter eChaser archive [graphics format] We appreciate our advertisers! Bass Performance Hall Blue Marble Media Business Wire DFW Printing Co. Esperanza's Bakery Fort Worth Business Press Fort Worth Rail Market Friends of the Fort Worth Public Library Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center Immotion Studios InterStar Marketing and Public Relations Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Food Restaurant North Texas Daily Optimist, Abilene Christian University Pancho's Mexican Buffet PR Newswire PRSA Consultants Group The Shorthorn, UTA Star-Telegram TCU Daily Skiff Texas Wesleyan University Tony Roma's The University of Texas at Arlington Weber Shandwick Worldwide Wise County Messenger Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations August 2004 MEETINGS Next at IABC/Fort Worth ... Names, Faces, Dates -- Memory Expert Ramps Up the Recall Once Ron White meets you, he knows your face, knows your name. For a loooong time. How does he do that? Business trainer White shared his memory skills with IABC/Fort Worth last year, and he's back this month to discuss "How to Have a Winning Year." Learn how to create consistent upward growth in your life and get a refresher course on the benefits of a powerful memory. Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3 Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated) Cost: $17 members, $25 nonmembers, $12 students RSVP: Julie Trowbridge at trowbridgeja@c-b.com ----- Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ... High-tech or Tech Hype? How to Thrive in the New Tech Sector High-tech's on a comeback, with editors and reporters on the prowl for trendy stories and sizzling examples of how operating systems and outsourcing are again boosting business to dizzying heights. Right? Wrong. High-tech's on a comeback, but tech hype is dead and gone. Whether you're on a first-name basis with Michael Dell or a neophyte who thinks XML is a new sports league, you need to know what has changed over time -- and what will always be true -- about technology PR. Learn what's hot and what's not at the Aug. 11 meeting from Virginia Brooks, APR, who has been surviving encounters with the technology media since 1994. She rode out the Internet boom of the early '90s managing corporate media relations for EDS and in 2000 founded Brooks & Associates Public Relations, a full-service PR shop focused primarily on technology and energy. Her clients include EDS, Microsoft, Sabre Holdings and Symon Communications. Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11 Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated) Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students RSVP by noon Aug. 6: rsvp@fortworthprsa.org ----- Next at Fort Worth SPJ ... It's tradition. No meeting in August. But plans are well underway for the next round of professional development meetings and the holiday party and the scholarships and awards dinner, and the high school workshop -- all guaranteed to inform and give back to the community. And that's tradition, too. ================================================== STRAIGHT STUFF Star-Telegram higher education reporters Matt Frazier, Jessamy Brown and Patrick McGee will headline a media panel at the PRSA Higher Education Special Interest Group meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, in the Betty and Bobby Bragan Fellowship Hall inside Polytechnic United Methodist Church, 1310 S. Collard St. Park in the lot behind the church, walk through the two glass doors and turn left down the hall. Lunch and soft drinks will be provided; specify if vegetarian menu is preferred. Seating is limited to 25. RSVP by July 30 to Lisa Fellers at lfellers@txwes.edu or (817) 531-4498. ... The PRSA Health Care SIG fall meeting will be 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1, at Harris Methodist HEB Hospital, the East Classroom in the Edwards Cancer Center, 1600 Hospital Parkway, Bedford. Lunch will be provided, and a speaker is planned. RSVP to lauravanhoosier@texashealth.org, or call (817) 882-2550. ... Ideas will be flying about the room at the Nu Pros lunch at noon Wednesday, Aug. 18, at Cafe Express, 1620 S. University Drive. The group, aimed at practitioners new to the PR industry, also has monthly social events every Wednesday following the PRSA meeting. More from Adrienne Gaviglio at gaviglioa@aol.com. ... Reservations deadline is Aug. 6 to stay at the Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin for the National Investor Relations Institute's 15th annual Southwest Regional Conference, Aug. 25-27. Early registration deadline is Aug. 13. Details here. Direct questions to the NIRI's Susie Cunningham or Dahlia Tart at (703) 506-3568, or e-mail scunningham@niri.org. Don't know much about investing? Any weekend at the Driskill is worth it just to hang out in Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn's bar. ... UTA will debut this fall a master's degree in communication. Courses will be offered in mass communication, communication studies, communication technology, marketing and political science. See uta.edu/communication, grad.uta.edu or call the communication department at (817) 272-2163. ... Don't dog this date -- Aug. 31 -- early deadline to register for the Cat Writers' Association's 11th annual conference in Houston, Nov. 19-21: two days of seminars on self-publishing, radio interview techniques, how to write salable articles, ad felinefinitum. Events are in conjunction with the Cat Fanciers' Association International Cat Show, the largest cat show in the Western Hemisphere. Details here. SPJ national update: It's OK, he's one of us; it's not OK, he's not one of us; it couldn't be more OK, we're on the payroll; and it must be OK, because I did it, too. Iraq Prime Minister Iyad Allawi reportedly pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government. Allawi denied the account. See here. ... When WTVJ/Channel 6 was told that senior correspondent Ike Seamans would be barred from Attorney General John Ashcroft's June 30 news conference in Miami, WTVJ news VP Yvette Miley replied: "You really can't dictate to us who we send to cover an event." More here. ... Four of the five House ethics committee Republicans investigating Majority Leader Tom DeLay accepted money in the past from the fund-raising operation involved in the complaint against him. More here. ... John Kerry, whose campaign demanded to know whether President Bush read a key Iraq intelligence assessment, did not read the document himself before voting to give Bush the authority to go to war, aides acknowledged. See here. SPJ national update II: Those liberals, they're everywhere; and free the T-shirt terrorists! E&P's August cover story offers an unprecedented look at reporters' alleged liberal bias and concludes that, indeed, there are more liberals than conservatives at newspapers but that an overwhelming number of editors reject calls for any "ideological affirmative action" program. See here. ... Trespassing charges against Nicole and Jeff Rank of Corpus Christi, who wore anti-Bush T-shirts to the president's July 4 rally at the West Virginia Capitol, were dropped because a city ordinance does not cover trespassing on Statehouse grounds. The shirts had President Bush's name with a slash through it and the words "Love America, Hate Bush" on the back. More here. And what of Michael Larson, the man removed from a Bush rally in Duluth, Minn., July 13? Police and Secret Service agents ushered him out, but ultimately he was never charged. John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune tells The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin that police "said they'd let him go if he promised not to go back in, he wouldn't promise, so they drove him to the other end of town and dropped him off!" Meanwhile, a McLennan County judge dismissed charges against five anti-war activists who were convicted of illegally protesting in Crawford, Texas, last year. See here. SPJ national update III: Spying is good; less news is good; and nips and perqs. The House on July 8 refused to block the USA Patriot Act where it facilitates spying on people's reading habits. GOP leaders kept the vote open 23 minutes as they persuaded about 10 Republicans who initially supported the roll-back to change their votes. Rep. C.L. Otter, R-Idaho, an advocate of the defeated provision, told reporters: "You win some, and some get stolen." See here. Last year on the Medicare overhaul, House GOP leaders held the vote open three hours until they got their way. An administration investigation into that law confirms there was an effort to keep its costs from Congress and the public. See here. ... Approximately 460 Voice of America staffers signed a petition accusing its Broadcasting Board of Governors of "dismantling the nation's radio beacon" piece by piece and broadcasting "less news, information and analysis to fewer countries for fewer hours in fewer languages." More here. ... The New Yorker reported in its July 26 edition that members of all four branches of the U.S. military can get face-lifts, breast enlargements, liposuction and nose jobs for free. "Anyone wearing a uniform is eligible," the chief of plastic surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio told the magazine. Between 2000 and 2003, military doctors performed 496 breast enlargements and 1,361 liposuction surgeries on soldiers and their dependents, the magazine said. SPJ national update IV: DeLay lawyers up; facilitate FOI; and the best kind of spontaneity -- staged. Following a trail blazed by both his president and vice president, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has retained not one, but three lawyers to defend him in a congressional ethics probe and an ongoing investigation into Texas' 2002 legislative races. See here. ... The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on July 27 urged the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to clarify the standard for when government agencies must more quickly process FOI requests. More here. ... Remember those jubilant Iraqis toppling Saddam Hussein's statue April 9, 2003, after he had been chased from Baghdad? Now the U.S. military admits that it conceived the stunt with the help of a fast-thinking Army psychological operation. See here. SPJ national update V: The networks, the Times, CBS -- they all roll over. U.S. news networks agreed to censorship of certain images of Saddam Hussein's court appearance June 24. Even before the hearing began, CNN and Al-Jazeera, the pool camera crews, were told to disconnect their audio equipment. ... Institutional failures at The New York Times enabled a "cunning campaign" by those who wanted the world to believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the paper's ombudsman says. Daniel Okrent said some stories pushed the Pentagon line so aggressively, "you could almost sense epaulets sprouting on the shoulders of editors." The Times now admits that it did not question Iraq WMD assertions before the war strongly enough partly because it "did not listen carefully" to those who raised those doubts. See here. ... CBS, which bowed to conservative heat on its TV miniseries "The Reagans," was the big winner of this year's Jefferson Muzzles given by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. CBS also refused to air a 30-second Super Bowl commercial from GOP-critical Moveon.org, while allowing erectile dysfunction ads and Janet Jackson's halftime hoo-ha. ================================================== PEOPLE & PLACES SPJ new member and Indiana U. grad Michelle Medlock Adams has been published everywhere from Writer's Digest to Today's Christian Woman, has authored 15 books with five more set to debut this year and received first-place awards from SPJ (in '95, for sports reporting) and from the AP and the Hoosier State Press Association for features. Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Texas named her Author of the Month in May 2003 for her children's book, "Conversations On the Ark." Appreciate greeting cards? She's done those, too. "Being able to write words that touch someone's heart -- that's the best job in the world," she says. "I am so thankful that God called me to this profession." Need a speaker for your next meeting? The newly created Speak Freely links Tarrant-area groups with speakers eager to make funny, serious, motivational or just informational presentations at no charge. Pick a topic: "The Dog of My Nightmares: A Humorous Tale (Tail)," "Becoming a Marketing Guerrilla," "Nine Big Mistakes Investors Make." And that's just the short list. More at speak-freely.info. ... Entries from the UTA Shorthorn and Renegade magazine are finalists for three national Mark of Excellence awards, the highest honor SPJ gives for student media. Winners will be announced at the SPJ National Convention in September. ... The Wise County Messenger parlayed the work of Skip Nichols, Lisa Davis, Robert Morgan and Joe Duty into first place in eight of nine categories and second in the ninth and won sweepstakes in recent West Texas Press Association competition. Messenger publisher Roy Eaton received the Harold Hudson Memorial Award for his contributions to the newspaper industry. Hudson, who died in 1991, was the publisher of the Perryton Herald and, like Eaton, a past president of both the Texas Press Association and the National Newspaper Association. ... The Star-Telegram took home two firsts (Chris Kelly, Tim Madigan), a second (Ken Parish Perkins) and a third (Andrew Marton), and Heather Svokos, who starts working at the paper this month, won a third place for short features in Division II in the recent American Association of Sunday and Features Editors national writing competition. The S-T's division had more than 1,800 entries. ... Cancer Care Services, an agency that provides direct post-diagnosis assistance to cancer patients and their families, has been chosen over 15 other local nonprofits to receive assistance with PR strategy in the coming months from Greater Fort Worth PRSA. PRSA members are invited to contact the other 15 organizations if they can help. To volunteer, reach Julie O'Neil at (817) 257-6966 or j.oneil@tcu.edu. ... The nonprofit Texas Inmate Services (mission statement: "Inmates helping inmates to make the transition from prison to the 'free world,' breaking the cycle of crime and incarceration for inmates, ex-offenders and their families") is strengthening its Board of Directors and desires to have a board member with PR experience. Founded in 1997, the organization is enjoying growing community support and recently obtained a $220,000 HUD grant for a transitional housing program. More from board member Tim Stevens, (817) 922-9724 or smetzs@prodigy.net. ----- The Washington Post's Style Invitational asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. The 2003 winners: arachnoleptic fit the frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web Beelzebug Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at 3 in the morning and cannot be cast out bozone the substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating cashtration the act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period caterpallor the color you turn after finding a grub in the fruit you're eating decafalon the grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you dopeler effect the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly glibido all talk and no action hipatitis terminal coolness inoculatte to take coffee intravenously when you are running late intaxication euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with karmageddon when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right?, and then Earth explodes and it's, like, a serious bummer osteopornosis a degenerate disease reintarnation coming back to life as a hillbilly sarchasm the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it ----- Kudos & contracts ... Envision Works will develop a campaign to promote Fort Worth-based Curb Appeal Renovations as a unique design/build company to high-end residential homeowners. The image will be presented in a local ad campaign, a direct mail program in Colleyville, and marketing brochures and Web-site development. ... Also at Envision Works, the firm has created a logo for the Colleyville Parks and Recreation Department. Envision Works also has worked with North Richland Hills, Richardson and Grapevine on projects ranging from logo creation to mass-produced sales promotion graphics. ================================================== GET A JOB Partners Together for Health, the foundation for JPS Health Network, seeks a development coordinator for special projects. Must have a bachelor's degree, preferably in journalism, public relations or related field; minimum five years experience in fund development, journalism, public relations or marketing; and familiarity with standard word processing and spreadsheet software. Send résumé to director Janet Neff, Partners Together for Health, 2500 Circle Drive, Fort Worth 76119. ... The Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas wants to hire a second 20 hours-per-week in-house graphic design professional. Must have design software proficiency, a visual communications degree or the equivalent and a minimum of two years experience. Pays $15,000-$20,000 plus some benefits. E-mail résumé to marketing@jfgd.org with three design samples (PDF format preferred) or a link to an online portfolio. ... The Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Dallas seeks a communications specialist with strength in news writing and working closely with the media. Details about the job and its requirements are at greatjobs.tamu.edu (specify NOV number 00532). Interviews will be conducted the first week of August. ... Metro-D, a new monthly newspaper targeting young professionals with a passion for art, journalism and dining out, debuts soon, and drumbeater Carla McClanahan thinks you should be in it. "This is an excellent opportunity for you to exhibit your creative talent and expand your writing portfolio. We encourage you to implement your individual experience and personal writing style in your submitted work. Positive feedback from a loyal audience will be key to increased exposure, which will in turn promote your writing career and increase the overall success of Metro-D." Interested freelance writers, novice and experienced alike, should contact editor Sabra King at s.king@metro-d.us. ... JPS Health Network has an opening for a senior PR coordinator. Must have a bachelor's degree in journalism or public relations and two years PR experience, or a degree in a related field and three years PR experience; strong writing skills; knowledge of desktop publishing (QuarkXPress), printing specifications and operations, publication design and layout. Must type at least 40 words per minute. See jpshealthnet.org/join, or contact Mindy Battenfield at mbattenf@jpshealth.org, fax (817) 536-3092. ... The University of North Texas needs a senior marketing specialist to produce recruitment materials and ads. Bachelor's degree and three years experience in marketing, public relations and/or advertising, preferably at a college or university, is required, along with proficiency in budgeting and multitasking. Salary $37,704. Send résumé and cover letter to UNT Human Resources Office, attn: Employment, P.O. Box 311010, Denton 76203-1010. ... A PR/marketing account executive is sought with at least three years experience. "In an ideal world, has worked on commercial real estate account. Must have good writing skills." E-mail résumé to mgallier@galandwit.com. ... The Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families, based at the University of Maryland, seeks a news researcher/journalist to provide Web-based info for print and broadcast outlets. At least three years newsroom experience are required, among other qualifications. Send résumé, writing sample, cover letter and salary history to CJC director Beth Frerking, 4321 Hartwick Road, Suite 320, College Park, Md. 20740, or e-mail bfrerking@casey.umd.edu. ================================================== NEW MEMBERS SPJ ... Linda P. Campbell, Star-Telegram ... Jim Douglas, WFAA/Channel 8 ================================================== COMINGS & GOINGS Additions ... at the S-T: Heather Svokos, formerly with the Lexington Herald Leader, covering a range of assignments -- profiles, trends, fashion, music Exits ... Karen Brooks, after seven years at the Star-Telegram, to The Dallas Morning News Austin bureau ================================================== READING MATTERS "Into the Blue: A Father's Flight and a Daughter's Return" / Susan Edsall / St. Martin's Press Four years ago, Wayne Edsall, a rebuilder and pilot of antique airplanes, suffered a stroke that left him unable to read, write, speak or tell time. Doctors said the best the family could hope for was that he would learn to play checkers. The author knew that if her dad couldn't fly, he'd just as soon not breathe; battling the experts' pessimism and her own looming fears, she and her sister got their father back behind the controls of his open-cockpit biplane and into the air. "Into the Blue" is a powerful memoir about feisty sisters from Montana who bring their father to life -- and discover themselves in the process. Inspiring and often hilarious, it's also a story for anyone who has ever challenged a dire prognosis to pursue a dream. =================================================== RESOURCES Curious about who owns the local media, telephone and cable company? The Center for Public Integrity offers information on every radio and television station, cable television system and telephone company in America. Search by company, by call sign or by area. =================================================== PRESIDENT'S CORNER Pamela Smith, Greater Fort Worth PRSA I've decided to take a vacation from the president's message. No long speech this August. I tried my hardest to think about a column from my Twin Cities hotel in Minnesota, but at the end of the day, the one thing that stood out in my mind is that everyone needs a vacation. I even gave the PRSA leadership a break from our monthly board meeting. If you haven't already taken a much-needed siesta this year, make arrangements, soon. We all need a vacation -- even presidents. As a wife, mother of a 4-year-old, full-time employee, part-time graduate student and a volunteer, I think I am entitled to one month off. And even if your plate isn't as full, you are, too. So give your mind a midyear rest, even if it's just for the day. You'll need that replenished energy in the months ahead. See you at the monthly luncheon. I should be back to the real world by then. ----- PRESIDENT'S COLUMN Tim Tune, IABC/Fort Worth We're one for one in meaningful meetings this new year. In early July, we launched the 2004-05 board term by holding our first speed networking lunch. It's not a new concept, but it was new to us, and we hit a home run. Members and guests had a great time and made some good connections, or just got acquainted. Some things you take your time with. Some things you don't. Coming up Aug. 3, don't miss memory marvel Ron White's program on "How to Have a Winning Year," a presentation packed with demonstrations, instructions, techniques and strategies for making the next 12 months your best ever. And in September, Weslynn Martin will challenge us to sharpen an overlooked aspect of communications: the art of listening. We look forward to seeing you -- and hearing from you -- again soon. ----- OVER & OUT John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ Welcome to the leadership biz, new board members Linda P. Campbell and Jim Douglas, board president Gayle Reaves-King, scholarships VP Angie Summers, programs co-VPs Paul and Paula LaRocque, awards and recognition VP Kristin Sullivan and membership VP Mike Martinez. Welcome back to the board, John Sparks, Dino Chiecchi, John Jenkins and Tom Williams. Good luck and tell us how we can help, Tony Pederson, who resigned from the board to devote more time to SPJ efforts in Dallas. ... A heartfelt hat tip and cross-species huzzahs to Gary and Cami Hardee, sons Evan and Taylor and Hunter the fat-back beagle for loan of their picturesque Grand Prairie backyard for our annual splash day. Jim Douglas took a Stockyards-worthy melodic turn on guitar, Ron Holcomb fed us with flair, troubadour Brad Hines sounded better than James Taylor, and organizer Mark Horvit ably tied everything together. Thanks to them all. Brad deserves a robust throng wherever he plays, and Hunter, who did a nosedive like a pig on truffles into the musician's foil-wrapped take-home rib dinner, should have his own show. ... Knight Ridder's Joseph L. Galloway delivers "a real keeper" of a story by a West Point graduate, Class of 2003, who's at war in Iraq. The author gave permission to quote from a letter he wrote if his name wasn't used. It's here. ... When others say it, it's treason. So what is it when conservatives say it? "... So the leitmotif for Operation Iraqi Freedom was not WMDs, but the freedom of Iraq in the larger context of long-range security for Israel. Mr. Bush is right to change the rationale for war to isn't-the-world-a-better-place-without-Saddam? Of course it is. Was Iraq ever a threat to the U.S. homeland? Of course it wasn't. But hasn't the U.S. occupation of Iraq provided a force multiplier for al Qaeda? Of course it has. And the world is not a more peaceful place than it was before the occupation of Iraq." -- Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-at-large, The Washington Times, Feb. 10. "When there is no penalty for failure, failures proliferate. Leave aside the question of who or what failed before Sept. 11, 2001. But who lost his or her job because the president's 2003 State of the Union address gave currency to a fraud -- the story of Iraq's attempting to buy uranium in Niger? Or because the primary and only sufficient reason for waging preemptive war -- weapons of mass destruction -- was largely spurious? Or because postwar planning, from failure to anticipate the initial looting to today's insufficient force levels, has been botched? Failures are multiplying because of choices for which no one seems accountable." -- George Will in his column April 30. Closing words: "Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of U.S. lives." -- from one of a series of daily memos apparently sent to the entire Fox news operation by John Moody, a senior vice president; the memos are a focal point of Robert Greenwald's film, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" ... "We're about to elect a president of the United States at a time when we have young people dying in our name overseas, we just had a report from the 9-11 commission which says we are not safe as a nation, and one of these two groups of people is going to run our country. The fact that you three networks decided it was not important enough to run in prime time, the message that gives the American people is huge. As a citizen, it bothers me." -- PBS anchor Jim Lehrer to Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings, at a panel discussion at Harvard U., on their networks' paltry political convention plans ... "Even criticism of the United States has to be imported from the United States." -- the left-leaning Polish newspaper Trybuna on the generally negative reviews in that country of "Fahrenheit 9/11" ... "My youngest [child] is 23, my oldest is 36. This is about them. What right do we have to put them in a permanent war with people who are crazy? Here we have 9-11, and the whole Muslim world, 99 percent of them, even the true believers, were horrified and said, 'What can we do to help you?' And these nuts [in the Bush administration] drove them away. These ideologues drove them away." -- Seymour Hersh to the Star-Telegram's Tim Madigan ... "There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write." -- William Makepeace Thackeray ... Top administration officials "cherry-picked the intel for the most damning, and often least reliable, tidbits and produced alarming conclusions -- the 45-minute chemical attack scenario, the African uranium and the al Qaeda connection. The CIA never supported these assertions." -- Lt. Col. Dale Davis, a former Marine counterintelligence officer now at the Virginia Military Institute, relating conversations with former intelligence colleagues to New York Times writer Nicholas D. Kristof ... "We call them, we have questions, we want to know, and they don't have anything to tell us. They don't have nothing to say, and that's not right." -- Lufkin resident Rebecca Suell, contesting the Army's assertion that her 24-year-old husband, a three-year military man who preached to others that suicide was a sin, died of a drug-overdose suicide in Iraq

Welcome to our newsletter ...

Society of Professional Journalists, Fort Worth Professional Chapter

Public Relations Society of America, Greater Fort Worth Chapter

International Association of Business Communicators, Fort Worth Chapter

We appreciate our advertisers!
Bass Performance Hall
Blue Marble Media
Business Wire
DFW Printing Co.
Esperanza's Bakery
Fort Worth Business Press
Fort Worth Rail Market
Friends of the Fort Worth Public Library
Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center
Immotion Studios
InterStar Marketing and Public Relations
Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Food Restaurant
North Texas Daily
Optimist, Abilene Christian University
Pancho's Mexican Buffet
PR Newswire
PRSA Consultants Group
The Shorthorn, UTA
Star-Telegram

TCU Daily Skiff
Texas Wesleyan University
Tony Roma's
The University of Texas at Arlington
Weber Shandwick Worldwide
Wise County Messenger
Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations

August 2004

MEETINGS

Next at IABC/Fort Worth ...

Names, Faces, Dates -- Memory Expert Ramps Up the Recall

Once Ron White meets you, he knows your face, knows your name. For a loooong time. How does he do that? Business trainer White shared his memory skills with IABC/Fort Worth last year, and he's back this month to discuss "How to Have a Winning Year." Learn how to create consistent upward growth in your life and get a refresher course on the benefits of a powerful memory.

Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3

Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor

Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated)

Cost: $17 members, $25 nonmembers, $12 students

RSVP: Julie Trowbridge at trowbridgeja@c-b.com

-----

Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ...

High-tech or Tech Hype? How to Thrive in the New Tech Sector

High-tech's on a comeback, with editors and reporters on the prowl for trendy stories and sizzling examples of how operating systems and outsourcing are again boosting business to dizzying heights. Right? Wrong.

High-tech's on a comeback, but tech hype is dead and gone. Whether you're on a first-name basis with Michael Dell or a neophyte who thinks XML is a new sports league, you need to know what has changed over time -- and what will always be true -- about technology PR. Learn what's hot and what's not at the Aug. 11 meeting from Virginia Brooks, APR, who has been surviving encounters with the technology media since 1994.

She rode out the Internet boom of the early '90s managing corporate media relations for EDS and in 2000 founded Brooks & Associates Public Relations, a full-service PR shop focused primarily on technology and energy. Her clients include EDS, Microsoft, Sabre Holdings and Symon Communications.

Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11

Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor

Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated)

Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students

RSVP by noon Aug. 6: rsvp@fortworthprsa.org

-----

Next at Fort Worth SPJ ...

It's tradition. No meeting in August. But plans are well underway for the next round of professional development meetings and the holiday party and the scholarships and awards dinner, and the high school workshop -- all guaranteed to inform and give back to the community. And that's tradition, too.

==================================================

STRAIGHT STUFF

Star-Telegram higher education reporters Matt Frazier, Jessamy Brown and Patrick McGee will headline a media panel at the PRSA Higher Education Special Interest Group meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, in the Betty and Bobby Bragan Fellowship Hall inside Polytechnic United Methodist Church, 1310 S. Collard St. Park in the lot behind the church, walk through the two glass doors and turn left down the hall. Lunch and soft drinks will be provided; specify if vegetarian menu is preferred. Seating is limited to 25. RSVP by July 30 to Lisa Fellers at lfellers@txwes.edu or (817) 531-4498. ... The PRSA Health Care SIG fall meeting will be 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1, at Harris Methodist HEB Hospital, the East Classroom in the Edwards Cancer Center, 1600 Hospital Parkway, Bedford. Lunch will be provided, and a speaker is planned. RSVP to lauravanhoosier@texashealth.org, or call (817) 882-2550. ...

Ideas will be flying about the room at the Nu Pros lunch at noon Wednesday, Aug. 18, at Cafe Express, 1620 S. University Drive. The group, aimed at practitioners new to the PR industry, also has monthly social events every Wednesday following the PRSA meeting. More from Adrienne Gaviglio at gaviglioa@aol.com. ...

Reservations deadline is Aug. 6 to stay at the Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin for the National Investor Relations Institute's 15th annual Southwest Regional Conference, Aug. 25-27. Early registration deadline is Aug. 13. Details here. Direct questions to the NIRI's Susie Cunningham or Dahlia Tart at (703) 506-3568, or e-mail scunningham@niri.org. Don't know much about investing? Any weekend at the Driskill is worth it just to hang out in Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn's bar. ...

UTA will debut this fall a master's degree in communication. Courses will be offered in mass communication, communication studies, communication technology, marketing and political science. See uta.edu/communication, grad.uta.edu or call the communication department at (817) 272-2163. ...

Don't dog this date -- Aug. 31 -- early deadline to register for the Cat Writers' Association's 11th annual conference in Houston, Nov. 19-21: two days of seminars on self-publishing, radio interview techniques, how to write salable articles, ad felinefinitum. Events are in conjunction with the Cat Fanciers' Association International Cat Show, the largest cat show in the Western Hemisphere. Details here.

SPJ national update: It's OK, he's one of us; it's not OK, he's not one of us; it couldn't be more OK, we're on the payroll; and it must be OK, because I did it, too. Iraq Prime Minister Iyad Allawi reportedly pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government. Allawi denied the account. See here. ... When WTVJ/Channel 6 was told that senior correspondent Ike Seamans would be barred from Attorney General John Ashcroft's June 30 news conference in Miami, WTVJ news VP Yvette Miley replied: "You really can't dictate to us who we send to cover an event." More here. ... Four of the five House ethics committee Republicans investigating Majority Leader Tom DeLay accepted money in the past from the fund-raising operation involved in the complaint against him. More here. ... John Kerry, whose campaign demanded to know whether President Bush read a key Iraq intelligence assessment, did not read the document himself before voting to give Bush the authority to go to war, aides acknowledged. See here.

SPJ national update II: Those liberals, they're everywhere; and free the T-shirt terrorists! E&P's August cover story offers an unprecedented look at reporters' alleged liberal bias and concludes that, indeed, there are more liberals than conservatives at newspapers but that an overwhelming number of editors reject calls for any "ideological affirmative action" program. See here. ... Trespassing charges against Nicole and Jeff Rank of Corpus Christi, who wore anti-Bush T-shirts to the president's July 4 rally at the West Virginia Capitol, were dropped because a city ordinance does not cover trespassing on Statehouse grounds. The shirts had President Bush's name with a slash through it and the words "Love America, Hate Bush" on the back. More here. And what of Michael Larson, the man removed from a Bush rally in Duluth, Minn., July 13? Police and Secret Service agents ushered him out, but ultimately he was never charged. John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune tells The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin that police "said they'd let him go if he promised not to go back in, he wouldn't promise, so they drove him to the other end of town and dropped him off!" Meanwhile, a McLennan County judge dismissed charges against five anti-war activists who were convicted of illegally protesting in Crawford, Texas, last year. See here.

SPJ national update III: Spying is good; less news is good; and nips and perqs. The House on July 8 refused to block the USA Patriot Act where it facilitates spying on people's reading habits. GOP leaders kept the vote open 23 minutes as they persuaded about 10 Republicans who initially supported the roll-back to change their votes. Rep. C.L. Otter, R-Idaho, an advocate of the defeated provision, told reporters: "You win some, and some get stolen." See here. Last year on the Medicare overhaul, House GOP leaders held the vote open three hours until they got their way. An administration investigation into that law confirms there was an effort to keep its costs from Congress and the public. See here. ... Approximately 460 Voice of America staffers signed a petition accusing its Broadcasting Board of Governors of "dismantling the nation's radio beacon" piece by piece and broadcasting "less news, information and analysis to fewer countries for fewer hours in fewer languages." More here. ... The New Yorker reported in its July 26 edition that members of all four branches of the U.S. military can get face-lifts, breast enlargements, liposuction and nose jobs for free. "Anyone wearing a uniform is eligible," the chief of plastic surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio told the magazine. Between 2000 and 2003, military doctors performed 496 breast enlargements and 1,361 liposuction surgeries on soldiers and their dependents, the magazine said.

SPJ national update IV: DeLay lawyers up; facilitate FOI; and the best kind of spontaneity -- staged. Following a trail blazed by both his president and vice president, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has retained not one, but three lawyers to defend him in a congressional ethics probe and an ongoing investigation into Texas' 2002 legislative races. See here. ... The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on July 27 urged the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to clarify the standard for when government agencies must more quickly process FOI requests. More here. ... Remember those jubilant Iraqis toppling Saddam Hussein's statue April 9, 2003, after he had been chased from Baghdad? Now the U.S. military admits that it conceived the stunt with the help of a fast-thinking Army psychological operation. See here.

SPJ national update V: The networks, the Times, CBS -- they all roll over. U.S. news networks agreed to censorship of certain images of Saddam Hussein's court appearance June 24. Even before the hearing began, CNN and Al-Jazeera, the pool camera crews, were told to disconnect their audio equipment. ... Institutional failures at The New York Times enabled a "cunning campaign" by those who wanted the world to believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the paper's ombudsman says. Daniel Okrent said some stories pushed the Pentagon line so aggressively, "you could almost sense epaulets sprouting on the shoulders of editors." The Times now admits that it did not question Iraq WMD assertions before the war strongly enough partly because it "did not listen carefully" to those who raised those doubts. See here. ... CBS, which bowed to conservative heat on its TV miniseries "The Reagans," was the big winner of this year's Jefferson Muzzles given by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. CBS also refused to air a 30-second Super Bowl commercial from GOP-critical Moveon.org, while allowing erectile dysfunction ads and Janet Jackson's halftime hoo-ha.

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PEOPLE & PLACES

SPJ new member and Indiana U. grad Michelle Medlock Adams has been published everywhere from Writer's Digest to Today's Christian Woman, has authored 15 books with five more set to debut this year and received first-place awards from SPJ (in '95, for sports reporting) and from the AP and the Hoosier State Press Association for features. Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Texas named her Author of the Month in May 2003 for her children's book, "Conversations On the Ark." Appreciate greeting cards? She's done those, too. "Being able to write words that touch someone's heart -- that's the best job in the world," she says. "I am so thankful that God called me to this profession."

Need a speaker for your next meeting? The newly created Speak Freely links Tarrant-area groups with speakers eager to make funny, serious, motivational or just informational presentations at no charge. Pick a topic: "The Dog of My Nightmares: A Humorous Tale (Tail)," "Becoming a Marketing Guerrilla," "Nine Big Mistakes Investors Make." And that's just the short list. More at speak-freely.info. ... Entries from the UTA Shorthorn and Renegade magazine are finalists for three national Mark of Excellence awards, the highest honor SPJ gives for student media. Winners will be announced at the SPJ National Convention in September. ...

The Wise County Messenger parlayed the work of Skip Nichols, Lisa Davis, Robert Morgan and Joe Duty into first place in eight of nine categories and second in the ninth and won sweepstakes in recent West Texas Press Association competition. Messenger publisher Roy Eaton received the Harold Hudson Memorial Award for his contributions to the newspaper industry. Hudson, who died in 1991, was the publisher of the Perryton Herald and, like Eaton, a past president of both the Texas Press Association and the National Newspaper Association. ...

The Star-Telegram took home two firsts (Chris Kelly, Tim Madigan), a second (Ken Parish Perkins) and a third (Andrew Marton), and Heather Svokos, who starts working at the paper this month, won a third place for short features in Division II in the recent American Association of Sunday and Features Editors national writing competition. The S-T's division had more than 1,800 entries. ...

Cancer Care Services, an agency that provides direct post-diagnosis assistance to cancer patients and their families, has been chosen over 15 other local nonprofits to receive assistance with PR strategy in the coming months from Greater Fort Worth PRSA. PRSA members are invited to contact the other 15 organizations if they can help. To volunteer, reach Julie O'Neil at (817) 257-6966 or j.oneil@tcu.edu. ...

The nonprofit Texas Inmate Services (mission statement: "Inmates helping inmates to make the transition from prison to the 'free world,' breaking the cycle of crime and incarceration for inmates, ex-offenders and their families") is strengthening its Board of Directors and desires to have a board member with PR experience. Founded in 1997, the organization is enjoying growing community support and recently obtained a $220,000 HUD grant for a transitional housing program. More from board member Tim Stevens, (817) 922-9724 or smetzs@prodigy.net.

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The Washington Post's Style Invitational asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. The 2003 winners:

arachnoleptic fit the frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web

Beelzebug Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at 3 in the morning and cannot be cast out

bozone the substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating

cashtration the act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period

caterpallor the color you turn after finding a grub in the fruit you're eating

decafalon the grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you

dopeler effect the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly

glibido all talk and no action

hipatitis terminal coolness

inoculatte to take coffee intravenously when you are running late

intaxication euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with

karmageddon when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right?, and then Earth explodes and it's, like, a serious bummer

osteopornosis a degenerate disease

reintarnation coming back to life as a hillbilly

sarchasm the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it

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Kudos & contracts ... Envision Works will develop a campaign to promote Fort Worth-based Curb Appeal Renovations as a unique design/build company to high-end residential homeowners. The image will be presented in a local ad campaign, a direct mail program in Colleyville, and marketing brochures and Web-site development. ... Also at Envision Works, the firm has created a logo for the Colleyville Parks and Recreation Department. Envision Works also has worked with North Richland Hills, Richardson and Grapevine on projects ranging from logo creation to mass-produced sales promotion graphics.

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GET A JOB

Partners Together for Health, the foundation for JPS Health Network, seeks a development coordinator for special projects. Must have a bachelor's degree, preferably in journalism, public relations or related field; minimum five years experience in fund development, journalism, public relations or marketing; and familiarity with standard word processing and spreadsheet software. Send résumé to director Janet Neff, Partners Together for Health, 2500 Circle Drive, Fort Worth 76119. ... The Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas wants to hire a second 20 hours-per-week in-house graphic design professional. Must have design software proficiency, a visual communications degree or the equivalent and a minimum of two years experience. Pays $15,000-$20,000 plus some benefits. E-mail résumé to marketing@jfgd.org with three design samples (PDF format preferred) or a link to an online portfolio. ...

The Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Dallas seeks a communications specialist with strength in news writing and working closely with the media. Details about the job and its requirements are at greatjobs.tamu.edu (specify NOV number 00532). Interviews will be conducted the first week of August. ... Metro-D, a new monthly newspaper targeting young professionals with a passion for art, journalism and dining out, debuts soon, and drumbeater Carla McClanahan thinks you should be in it. "This is an excellent opportunity for you to exhibit your creative talent and expand your writing portfolio. We encourage you to implement your individual experience and personal writing style in your submitted work. Positive feedback from a loyal audience will be key to increased exposure, which will in turn promote your writing career and increase the overall success of Metro-D." Interested freelance writers, novice and experienced alike, should contact editor Sabra King at s.king@metro-d.us. ...

JPS Health Network has an opening for a senior PR coordinator. Must have a bachelor's degree in journalism or public relations and two years PR experience, or a degree in a related field and three years PR experience; strong writing skills; knowledge of desktop publishing (QuarkXPress), printing specifications and operations, publication design and layout. Must type at least 40 words per minute. See jpshealthnet.org/join, or contact Mindy Battenfield at mbattenf@jpshealth.org, fax (817) 536-3092. ...

The University of North Texas needs a senior marketing specialist to produce recruitment materials and ads. Bachelor's degree and three years experience in marketing, public relations and/or advertising, preferably at a college or university, is required, along with proficiency in budgeting and multitasking. Salary $37,704. Send résumé and cover letter to UNT Human Resources Office, attn: Employment, P.O. Box 311010, Denton 76203-1010. ...

A PR/marketing account executive is sought with at least three years experience. "In an ideal world, has worked on commercial real estate account. Must have good writing skills." E-mail résumé to mgallier@galandwit.com. ... The Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families, based at the University of Maryland, seeks a news researcher/journalist to provide Web-based info for print and broadcast outlets. At least three years newsroom experience are required, among other qualifications. Send résumé, writing sample, cover letter and salary history to CJC director Beth Frerking, 4321 Hartwick Road, Suite 320, College Park, Md. 20740, or e-mail bfrerking@casey.umd.edu.

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NEW MEMBERS

SPJ ... Linda P. Campbell, Star-Telegram ... Jim Douglas, WFAA/Channel 8

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COMINGS & GOINGS

Additions ... at the S-T: Heather Svokos, formerly with the Lexington Herald Leader, covering a range of assignments -- profiles, trends, fashion, music

Exits ... Karen Brooks, after seven years at the Star-Telegram, to The Dallas Morning News Austin bureau

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READING MATTERS

"Into the Blue: A Father's Flight and a Daughter's Return" /

Susan Edsall / St. Martin's Press

Four years ago, Wayne Edsall, a rebuilder and pilot of antique airplanes, suffered a stroke that left him unable to read, write, speak or tell time. Doctors said the best the family could hope for was that he would learn to play checkers. The author knew that if her dad couldn't fly, he'd just as soon not breathe; battling the experts' pessimism and her own looming fears, she and her sister got their father back behind the controls of his open-cockpit biplane and into the air. "Into the Blue" is a powerful memoir about feisty sisters from Montana who bring their father to life -- and discover themselves in the process. Inspiring and often hilarious, it's also a story for anyone who has ever challenged a dire prognosis to pursue a dream.

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RESOURCES

Curious about who owns the local media, telephone and cable company? The Center for Public Integrity offers information on every radio and television station, cable television system and telephone company in America. Search by company, by call sign or by area.

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PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Pamela Smith, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

I've decided to take a vacation from the president's message. No long speech this August. I tried my hardest to think about a column from my Twin Cities hotel in Minnesota, but at the end of the day, the one thing that stood out in my mind is that everyone needs a vacation. I even gave the PRSA leadership a break from our monthly board meeting.

If you haven't already taken a much-needed siesta this year, make arrangements, soon. We all need a vacation -- even presidents. As a wife, mother of a 4-year-old, full-time employee, part-time graduate student and a volunteer, I think I am entitled to one month off. And even if your plate isn't as full, you are, too.

So give your mind a midyear rest, even if it's just for the day. You'll need that replenished energy in the months ahead. See you at the monthly luncheon. I should be back to the real world by then.

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PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

Tim Tune, IABC/Fort Worth

We're one for one in meaningful meetings this new year. In early July, we launched the 2004-05 board term by holding our first speed networking lunch. It's not a new concept, but it was new to us, and we hit a home run. Members and guests had a great time and made some good connections, or just got acquainted. Some things you take your time with. Some things you don't.

Coming up Aug. 3, don't miss memory marvel Ron White's program on "How to Have a Winning Year," a presentation packed with demonstrations, instructions, techniques and strategies for making the next 12 months your best ever. And in September, Weslynn Martin will challenge us to sharpen an overlooked aspect of communications: the art of listening.

We look forward to seeing you -- and hearing from you -- again soon.

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OVER & OUT

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

Welcome to the leadership biz, new board members Linda P. Campbell and Jim Douglas, board president Gayle Reaves-King, scholarships VP Angie Summers, programs co-VPs Paul and Paula LaRocque, awards and recognition VP Kristin Sullivan and membership VP Mike Martinez. Welcome back to the board, John Sparks, Dino Chiecchi, John Jenkins and Tom Williams. Good luck and tell us how we can help, Tony Pederson, who resigned from the board to devote more time to SPJ efforts in Dallas. ...

A heartfelt hat tip and cross-species huzzahs to Gary and Cami Hardee, sons Evan and Taylor and Hunter the fat-back beagle for loan of their picturesque Grand Prairie backyard for our annual splash day. Jim Douglas took a Stockyards-worthy melodic turn on guitar, Ron Holcomb fed us with flair, troubadour Brad Hines sounded better than James Taylor, and organizer Mark Horvit ably tied everything together. Thanks to them all. Brad deserves a robust throng wherever he plays, and Hunter, who did a nosedive like a pig on truffles into the musician's foil-wrapped take-home rib dinner, should have his own show. ...

Knight Ridder's Joseph L. Galloway delivers "a real keeper" of a story by a West Point graduate, Class of 2003, who's at war in Iraq. The author gave permission to quote from a letter he wrote if his name wasn't used. It's here. ...

When others say it, it's treason. So what is it when conservatives say it? "... So the leitmotif for Operation Iraqi Freedom was not WMDs, but the freedom of Iraq in the larger context of long-range security for Israel. Mr. Bush is right to change the rationale for war to isn't-the-world-a-better-place-without-Saddam? Of course it is. Was Iraq ever a threat to the U.S. homeland? Of course it wasn't. But hasn't the U.S. occupation of Iraq provided a force multiplier for al Qaeda? Of course it has. And the world is not a more peaceful place than it was before the occupation of Iraq." -- Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-at-large, The Washington Times, Feb. 10. "When there is no penalty for failure, failures proliferate. Leave aside the question of who or what failed before Sept. 11, 2001. But who lost his or her job because the president's 2003 State of the Union address gave currency to a fraud -- the story of Iraq's attempting to buy uranium in Niger? Or because the primary and only sufficient reason for waging preemptive war -- weapons of mass destruction -- was largely spurious? Or because postwar planning, from failure to anticipate the initial looting to today's insufficient force levels, has been botched? Failures are multiplying because of choices for which no one seems accountable." -- George Will in his column April 30.

Closing words: "Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of U.S. lives." -- from one of a series of daily memos apparently sent to the entire Fox news operation by John Moody, a senior vice president; the memos are a focal point of Robert Greenwald's film, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" ... "We're about to elect a president of the United States at a time when we have young people dying in our name overseas, we just had a report from the 9-11 commission which says we are not safe as a nation, and one of these two groups of people is going to run our country. The fact that you three networks decided it was not important enough to run in prime time, the message that gives the American people is huge. As a citizen, it bothers me." -- PBS anchor Jim Lehrer to Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings, at a panel discussion at Harvard U., on their networks' paltry political convention plans ... "Even criticism of the United States has to be imported from the United States." -- the left-leaning Polish newspaper Trybuna on the generally negative reviews in that country of "Fahrenheit 9/11" ... "My youngest [child] is 23, my oldest is 36. This is about them. What right do we have to put them in a permanent war with people who are crazy? Here we have 9-11, and the whole Muslim world, 99 percent of them, even the true believers, were horrified and said, 'What can we do to help you?' And these nuts [in the Bush administration] drove them away. These ideologues drove them away." -- Seymour Hersh to the Star-Telegram's Tim Madigan ... "There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write." -- William Makepeace Thackeray ... Top administration officials "cherry-picked the intel for the most damning, and often least reliable, tidbits and produced alarming conclusions -- the 45-minute chemical attack scenario, the African uranium and the al Qaeda connection. The CIA never supported these assertions." -- Lt. Col. Dale Davis, a former Marine counterintelligence officer now at the Virginia Military Institute, relating conversations with former intelligence colleagues to New York Times writer Nicholas D. Kristof ... "We call them, we have questions, we want to know, and they don't have anything to tell us. They don't have nothing to say, and that's not right." -- Lufkin resident Rebecca Suell, contesting the Army's assertion that her 24-year-old husband, a three-year military man who preached to others that suicide was a sin, died of a drug-overdose suicide in Iraq