Local reporter, for the Kern Valley Sun Newspaper, Sue Barr, showed up last year at a "special" Kern Valley Healthcare District board meeting during the heat of August leading up to the hospital's caper to obtain a tax payer bail out on their debt with a GOB called "Measure G."
Today, the district is threatening to unveil it's strategic plan at another special meeting in August, coincidentally, as the board selected a company to do another in a series of reports that are meant to offer new and improved ideas to the hospital which has been in default on its lingering debt.
Due to the fact that nobody from the Sun ever shows up for these special meetings, last year I knew instantly that Barr was attending to report on the board vote for the tax measure and it had to be expected to pass to bring her there.
My best guess is that Barr likely knew the agenda behind the agenda, that the board was huddling together to put a tax hike on the ballot.
Barr, spent much time around the water cooler as information such as knowledge of the real costs, the potential negative impact, were being batted around by the board, and it's bond sales company, Caldwell, Flores and Winters.
Where did the story go?
None of the information ended up in the newspaper as many key elements needed to make a decision by voters were left out of the weekly tabloid.
Though the information included such issues as potential loss of administrative jobs as Beedle spoke of debt insurer Cal Mtg. who was waiting in the wings for a 20 million dollar GOB promised by the hospital, again, none of this was published anywhere else but on this blog.
Nobody except the small audience and participants knew the board and administration tried to get the bond quietly on the ballot in private but due to inflammation of the joint powers, (KVHD and Cal Mtg.) it failed at this meeting too and they had to drag their bond in front of the concerned community at a "regular board meeting."
But I bet you didn't know that.
How do you get your information?
When I wrote for the Kern Valley Sun many years ago, I realized the importance of having local oversight in the form of a "news"paper. There is another newspaper in town, the "Kern River Courier" but they have had little to do with the hospital in terms of news, but they did accept complimentary materials and advertising.
In truth, the Courier did not want to take letters to the editor for a period of time if they were about the hospital. It's too bad, but recently they published a nice piece on the hospital accomplishments. Due to the lack of understanding that these are basically paid PR pieces that show up occasionally, again you get no real workable information.
People used to care...
I observed the participation, and criticism, of local readers and it made it seem promising that the community cared about it's newspaper and the information it put out.
That is no longer the case.
Likely the Sun will show up for this strategic "event" today, as they covered a bit of it already, but what they never talked about and never showed up for, was the meeting with attorney, David Weinstein.
Shunning the free advice
Here we had in our corner for three hours an attorney who was willing to explain to an uninformed public about the various options the hospital has as it is up against the wall financially.
There was no reporter from the Sun, the moon or the stars at this presentation, only a few gathered in the audience know what was said during that meeting. And of course, there's the audio tape I listened to with perked ears.
One particular moment captured was the question of whether this attorney and his firm, would be a match for the "big guys" at Cal Mtg.
Well, Cal Mtg. has an array of defenses and probably a list of justifications hanging on the fridge in the lunch room, but what they don't want is visibility. They are a company which is off the radar for the average community member, and they are also something of a used car dealership in they sell to anyone, but under what terms?
There's a very timely loan situation which took place in between the vote to bring in David Weinstein for an informational gathering, and the sudden seven million coming from yet another deal with Cal Mtg. Weinstein's visit was put off several times, while the loan papers were in the oven, and once that was accomplished Weinstein finally made the trip to the valley.
At this point the information or analysis of hospital financial standing, was different as this loan went through prior to his arrival.
What would he have said had the hospital told him, we don't know what to do with our current situation and we would like to get out from under Cal Mtg.'s program? You see the board and administrators are working for Cal mtg. and the interests of that agency and the conflict of interest with this valley, the keeper of the debt.
It's our debt when it's said and done. When we vote in board members for the hospital we, the voter, resident, expect they will be working for us, just as any political position, senate, congress, etc.
And when the elected board doesn't follow thru on their promises, or are found to be inept, this is when the news becomes so important as people need some cold, hard information. .
Since our media are paid directly by KVHD in terms of advertising, it will be no surprise to see a story pop up on the strategic planning meeting which took place this afternoon. As long as it is positive...
Scott Costa, shown above covering a recent meeting, also known on this blog as "Smooth News" is your other option for news and information on the only radio station covering this community.
Costa came on the information wagon with sparse supplies of hospital history, but did owe the community some research into the hospital, but there was some conflict there as board member, Bob Jamison, shown above in front of Sue Barr, is the engineer for the radio station.
Most of his reports I caught, anyway, were always modestly inaccurate as well as missing most of the major issues the community would need to understand to allow them to decide whether or not to use the healthcare services provided by KVHD...or even to pay more property taxes.
Sadly, during the election results, Smooth News reported that the bond measure passed due to his lack of knowledge regarding the 2/3 vote needed for general obligation bonds.
For several weeks people thought the bond had won. They even wrote me to say how sad it was that the hospital won the bond. I told them that there was an errant report on the radio causing the confusion.
That in and of itself tells the tale of how important it is to have a good source of information such as now that we face some serious issues at the hospital, it's failing rural health clinic, the lawsuits, the quizzical new loan with Cal Mtg. as well as even potential collapse.
Where was the last article?
Noticeably missing from the last meeting at KVHD in the beginning of August, was a story about how board members were served involving the lawsuit being brought about by former employee, Surgeon, Dr. Kent Skoegerson.
According to an audience member, there was a request to hear the nature of the lawsuits, and acquire paperwork associated with it.
Follow the crumbs to the truth about what is happening with this surgeon and his former employer, because you won't find it in the KV Sun or broadcast on the radio.
Two thumbs down
Yes, the Sun can attack private citizens with their police reports and ultra zoom pictures of defendants right smack on the front of the paper, but they won't be doing that to their advertisers. This is what I have observed in terms of my regular media review.
If you hear about this special meeting in the paper or on the radio, you will likely hear what the hospital wants us to hear...like I said, advertising dollars are opinions of their own...
