No plans to fire Par Ridder, says Chris Harte

There are no plans to fire Par Ridder, publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, said Chris Harte, chairman of the Star Tribune Co., despite a threat from the owners of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that they may seek criminal charges unless Avista lets Ridder go. [Harte is a former BJ publisher.]

Testifying in Ramsey County District Court in St. Paul on the second day of what's expected to be a three-day hearing to determine whether he can continue at his post with the Star Tribune, Ridder said he never used data from the Pioneer Press to harm it.

A contrite Par Ridder defended himself in court Tuesday against allegations that he stole financial information from his previous employer, the Pioneer Press.

He testified he'd thought about deleting Pioneer Press information contained in spreadsheets he shared with his new colleagues to show them the formatting, but "there was just so much information -- it was massive," he said. "But I wish I had."

The day drew to a confrontational close as plaintiff's attorney Phil Sechler accused Ridder under cross-examination of taking from St. Paul things that he had guarded closely when he was that newspaper's publisher.

"It's as if you had the secret formula to Coca-Cola, and you took it to Pepsi," Sechler said.

Ridder disputed the importance of some of Sechler's points, offered to correct him at other times and sometimes avoided a yes or no answer to questions that clearly sought one.

A ruling from Judge David Higgs may come in a week or more, say legal observers.

Click on the headline to read the full story from Matt McKinney and Steve Alexander, Star Tribune staff writers