Snopes explains Facebook

posting privacy problems

I post this as a cautionary tale to the many BJ folks, including myself, who use Facebook. Acceptable Facebook math is that, via Friends of Friends, if you have 50 Friends, then your posting has a potential audience of 2,500!

Be forewarned. If you don't want it out there, then don't put it on Facebook. 

Claim:   Facebook has "deleted all privacy settings" and is "getting rid of its privacy policy."

FALSE

Examples:   [Collected via Facebook, October 2013]

OK FOLKS HERE WE GO AGAIN, AS OF MONDAY OCT 14, 2013 ACCORDING TO THE NEWS, IT WILL NOW BE HARDER THAN EVER TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM GETTING ANY INFO ON YOU CAUSE FACEBOOK AND OBAMA CROOKED ASS SO CALLED GOVERNMENT HAVE TEAMED UP TO DELETE ALL PRIVACY SETTINGS ON FACEBOOK. MAKING IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO HIDE YR PRIVATE INFO, PLEASE SHARE AND DELETE YR MOBILE NUMBERS, EMAILL ADDRESSES ETC BEFORE YOU CANNOT. THIS IS ON FOX, ABC, CBS, AND ALL RADIO STATIONS !!!!!!!!
 

---

I heard that Facebook is getting rid of its privacy policy? If so, what about the safety of the children who are on Facebook?

 

Origins:   Back in December 2012 Facebook announced it would be retiring an option that allowed users to control whether they show up when others type their names into the Facebook search bar. The social network began eliminating that option (which shows up in privacy settings as "Who can look up your timeline by name?") from the accounts of people who weren't using it, and in October 2013 Facebook announced it would be completing the removal of that setting for the "small percentage of people still using it":

Everyone used to have a setting called "Who can look up your Timeline by name?," which controlled whether you could be found when people typed your name into the Facebook search bar.

The setting was created when Facebook was a simple directory of profiles and it was very limited. For example, it didn't prevent people from navigating to your Timeline by clicking your name in a story in News Feed, or from a mutual friend's Timeline. Today, people can also search Facebook using Graph Search (for example, "People who live in

Seattle,") making it even more important to control the privacy of the things you share rather than how people get to your Timeline.

The setting also made Facebook's search feature feel broken at times. For example, people told us that they found it confusing when they tried looking for someone who they knew personally and couldn't find in search results, or when two people were in a Facebook Group and then couldn't find each other through search.

The search setting was removed last year for people who weren't using it. For the small percentage of people still using the setting, they will see reminders about it being removed in the coming weeks.

Whether you've been using the setting or not, the best way to control what people can find about you on Facebook is to choose who can see the individual things you share.

This development did not, as claimed in some alarmist messages spread on the Internet, "delete all privacy settings on Facebook," nor did Facebook "get rid of its privacy policy" (and the change certainly had nothing to do with the Obama administration or the U.S. government). All of Facebook's other privacy controls and policies remain in place, and while the "Who can look up your Timeline by name?" setting had some utility for helping Facebook users be less visible to those who might be searching for them, it didn't absolutely prevent others from finding them:

[The setting] wasn't perfect. It would not have stopped, for example, Facebook users from being able to access profiles if those users had been tagged in a public post or picture. Still, it did help those users to keep a lower profile on the social network, such as those trying to hide their profiles from abusive ex-partners or harassment.

There is no equivalent function for preventing other people from finding a Facebook user by name in the search bar, as Facebook has been moving towards prompting users to maintain privacy on an item-by-item basis rather than by entirely hiding their profiles and activity from others. 

However, as noted in a Washington Post Technology article, using a variety of privacy settings and precautions can help prevent the revealing of your personal information to those whom you might not wish to see it:

[W]henever and however you post, you should be checking to see if what you're putting up is for public view or just for friends or specific lists of friends. Also, consider turning on Timeline approval, which shows you what your friends may be posting about your location or whom you're with. You can ask them to remove your name from those posts. Facebook has settings that let you review posts and photo tags before they're posted to your Timeline. If privacy is a major concern, use these tools and don't hesitate to ask other users to remove posts about you that make you uncomfortable.

Another key option in the privacy settings menu is one that lets users disable search engines from linking to their timelines. That will at least cut down on the chance that someone looking for you outside the social network will be able to find your profile.

If your whereabouts or similar information are sensitive, particularly if it's a safety issue, you should be very aware of locations on your posts — no check-ins — and be careful about writing posts that give clues about where you are.

Users should also remember that they can also always block specific users from seeing their Facebook page or from contacting them, but this is more of a reactive step than a proactive one. Plus, just as you could alter your name (yes, in violation of Facebook's guidelines) to hide your identity, so could anyone who is looking for you.

If you're concerned about past posts, Facebook has a setting that lets you limit the audience for posts and information that are already on your profile. You can also go to the "Activity Log" on your timeline to get an action-by-action view of how your activity shows up on the site.

And finally, as Facebook itself makes clear, remember that "things you hide from your timeline still appear in news feed, search and other places on Facebook." These include some things you just can't hide, namely profile pictures and cover photos, but also some news feed activity.

In October 2013, Facebook also loosened restrictions on the extent to which teenager users could share their Facebook activity with others:

Facebook Inc removed a restriction for users under 18 that previously limited who could see their online postings.

Facebook said that teenagers would now be able to manually alter the setting and share information with the public. Until now, a teenager's postings on Facebook were only viewable to their friends, and to the friends of their friends.

Last updated:   17 October 2013

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/privacyremoval.asp#3ws42ayj27CQUU1g.99

Claim:   Facebook has "deleted all privacy settings" and is "getting rid of its privacy policy."

FALSE

Examples:   [Collected via Facebook, October 2013]

OK FOLKS HERE WE GO AGAIN, AS OF MONDAY OCT 14, 2013 ACCORDING TO THE NEWS, IT WILL NOW BE HARDER THAN EVER TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM GETTING ANY INFO ON YOU CAUSE FACEBOOK AND OBAMA CROOKED ASS SO CALLED GOVERNMENT HAVE TEAMED UP TO DELETE ALL PRIVACY SETTINGS ON FACEBOOK. MAKING IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO HIDE YR PRIVATE INFO, PLEASE SHARE AND DELETE YR MOBILE NUMBERS, EMAILL ADDRESSES ETC BEFORE YOU CANNOT. THIS IS ON FOX, ABC, CBS, AND ALL RADIO STATIONS !!!!!!!!
 

---

I heard that Facebook is getting rid of its privacy policy? If so, what about the safety of the children who are on Facebook?

 

Origins:   Back in December 2012 Facebook announced it would be retiring an option that allowed users to control whether they show up when others type their names into the Facebook search bar. The social network began eliminating that option (which shows up in privacy settings as "Who can look up your timeline by name?") from the accounts of people who weren't using it, and in October 2013 Facebook announced it would be completing the removal of that setting for the "small percentage of people still using it":

Everyone used to have a setting called "Who can look up your Timeline by name?," which controlled whether you could be found when people typed your name into the Facebook search bar.

The setting was created when Facebook was a simple directory of profiles and it was very limited. For example, it didn't prevent people from navigating to your Timeline by clicking your name in a story in News Feed, or from a mutual friend's Timeline. Today, people can also search Facebook using Graph Search (for example, "People who live in Seattle,") making it even more important to control the privacy of the things you share rather than how people get to your Timeline.

The setting also made Facebook's search feature feel broken at times. For example, people told us that they found it confusing when they tried looking for someone who they knew personally and couldn't find in search results, or when two people were in a Facebook Group and then couldn't find each other through search.

The search setting was removed last year for people who weren't using it. For the small percentage of people still using the setting, they will see reminders about it being removed in the coming weeks.

Whether you've been using the setting or not, the best way to control what people can find about you on Facebook is to choose who can see the individual things you share.

This development did not, as claimed in some alarmist messages spread on the Internet, "delete all privacy settings on Facebook," nor did Facebook "get rid of its privacy policy" (and the change certainly had nothing to do with the Obama administration or the U.S. government). All of Facebook's other privacy controls and policies remain in place, and while the "Who can look up your Timeline by name?" setting had some utility for helping Facebook users be less visible to those who might be searching for them, it didn't absolutely prevent others from finding them:

[The setting] wasn't perfect. It would not have stopped, for example, Facebook users from being able to access profiles if those users had been tagged in a public post or picture. Still, it did help those users to keep a lower profile on the social network, such as those trying to hide their profiles from abusive ex-partners or harassment.

There is no equivalent function for preventing other people from finding a Facebook user by name in the search bar, as Facebook has been moving towards prompting users to maintain privacy on an item-by-item basis rather than by entirely hiding their profiles and activity from others. However, as noted in a Washington Post Technology article, using a variety of privacy settings and precautions can help prevent the revealing of your personal information to those whom you might not wish to see it:

[W]henever and however you post, you should be checking to see if what you're putting up is for public view or just for friends or specific lists of friends. Also, consider turning on Timeline approval, which shows you what your friends may be posting about your location or whom you're with. You can ask them to remove your name from those posts. Facebook has settings that let you review posts and photo tags before they're posted to your Timeline. If privacy is a major concern, use these tools and don't hesitate to ask other users to remove posts about you that make you uncomfortable.

Another key option in the privacy settings menu is one that lets users disable search engines from linking to their timelines. That will at least cut down on the chance that someone looking for you outside the social network will be able to find your profile.

If your whereabouts or similar information are sensitive, particularly if it's a safety issue, you should be very aware of locations on your posts — no check-ins — and be careful about writing posts that give clues about where you are.

Users should also remember that they can also always block specific users from seeing their Facebook page or from contacting them, but this is more of a reactive step than a proactive one. Plus, just as you could alter your name (yes, in violation of Facebook's guidelines) to hide your identity, so could anyone who is looking for you.

If you're concerned about past posts, Facebook has a setting that lets you limit the audience for posts and information that are already on your profile. You can also go to the "Activity Log" on your timeline to get an action-by-action view of how your activity shows up on the site.

And finally, as Facebook itself makes clear, remember that "things you hide from your timeline still appear in news feed, search and other places on Facebook." There include some things you just can't hide, namely profile pictures and cover photos, but also some news feed activity.

In October 2013, Facebook also loosened restrictions on the extent to which teenager users could share their Facebook activity with others:

Facebook Inc removed a restriction for users under 18 that previously limited who could see their online postings.

Facebook said that teenagers would now be able to manually alter the setting and share information with the public. Until now, a teenager's postings on Facebook were only viewable to their friends, and to the friends of their friends.

Last updated:   17 October 2013
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/privacyremoval.asp#3ws42ayj27CQUU1g.99

Claim:   Facebook has "deleted all privacy settings" and is "getting rid of its privacy policy."

FALSE

Examples:   [Collected via Facebook, October 2013]

OK FOLKS HERE WE GO AGAIN, AS OF MONDAY OCT 14, 2013 ACCORDING TO THE NEWS, IT WILL NOW BE HARDER THAN EVER TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM GETTING ANY INFO ON YOU CAUSE FACEBOOK AND OBAMA CROOKED ASS SO CALLED GOVERNMENT HAVE TEAMED UP TO DELETE ALL PRIVACY SETTINGS ON FACEBOOK. MAKING IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO HIDE YR PRIVATE INFO, PLEASE SHARE AND DELETE YR MOBILE NUMBERS, EMAILL ADDRESSES ETC BEFORE YOU CANNOT. THIS IS ON FOX, ABC, CBS, AND ALL RADIO STATIONS !!!!!!!!
 

---

I heard that Facebook is getting rid of its privacy policy? If so, what about the safety of the children who are on Facebook?

 

Origins:   Back in December 2012 Facebook announced it would be retiring an option that allowed users to control whether they show up when others type their names into the Facebook search bar. The social network began eliminating that option (which shows up in privacy settings as "Who can look up your timeline by name?") from the accounts of people who weren't using it, and in October 2013 Facebook announced it would be completing the removal of that setting for the "small percentage of people still using it":

Everyone used to have a setting called "Who can look up your Timeline by name?," which controlled whether you could be found when people typed your name into the Facebook search bar.

The setting was created when Facebook was a simple directory of profiles and it was very limited. For example, it didn't prevent people from navigating to your Timeline by clicking your name in a story in News Feed, or from a mutual friend's Timeline. Today, people can also search Facebook using Graph Search (for example, "People who live in Seattle,") making it even more important to control the privacy of the things you share rather than how people get to your Timeline.

The setting also made Facebook's search feature feel broken at times. For example, people told us that they found it confusing when they tried looking for someone who they knew personally and couldn't find in search results, or when two people were in a Facebook Group and then couldn't find each other through search.

The search setting was removed last year for people who weren't using it. For the small percentage of people still using the setting, they will see reminders about it being removed in the coming weeks.

Whether you've been using the setting or not, the best way to control what people can find about you on Facebook is to choose who can see the individual things you share.

This development did not, as claimed in some alarmist messages spread on the Internet, "delete all privacy settings on Facebook," nor did Facebook "get rid of its privacy policy" (and the change certainly had nothing to do with the Obama administration or the U.S. government). All of Facebook's other privacy controls and policies remain in place, and while the "Who can look up your Timeline by name?" setting had some utility for helping Facebook users be less visible to those who might be searching for them, it didn't absolutely prevent others from finding them:

[The setting] wasn't perfect. It would not have stopped, for example, Facebook users from being able to access profiles if those users had been tagged in a public post or picture. Still, it did help those users to keep a lower profile on the social network, such as those trying to hide their profiles from abusive ex-partners or harassment.

There is no equivalent function for preventing other people from finding a Facebook user by name in the search bar, as Facebook has been moving towards prompting users to maintain privacy on an item-by-item basis rather than by entirely hiding their profiles and activity from others. However, as noted in a Washington Post Technology article, using a variety of privacy settings and precautions can help prevent the revealing of your personal information to those whom you might not wish to see it:

[W]henever and however you post, you should be checking to see if what you're putting up is for public view or just for friends or specific lists of friends. Also, consider turning on Timeline approval, which shows you what your friends may be posting about your location or whom you're with. You can ask them to remove your name from those posts. Facebook has settings that let you review posts and photo tags before they're posted to your Timeline. If privacy is a major concern, use these tools and don't hesitate to ask other users to remove posts about you that make you uncomfortable.

Another key option in the privacy settings menu is one that lets users disable search engines from linking to their timelines. That will at least cut down on the chance that someone looking for you outside the social network will be able to find your profile.

If your whereabouts or similar information are sensitive, particularly if it's a safety issue, you should be very aware of locations on your posts — no check-ins — and be careful about writing posts that give clues about where you are.

Users should also remember that they can also always block specific users from seeing their Facebook page or from contacting them, but this is more of a reactive step than a proactive one. Plus, just as you could alter your name (yes, in violation of Facebook's guidelines) to hide your identity, so could anyone who is looking for you.

If you're concerned about past posts, Facebook has a setting that lets you limit the audience for posts and information that are already on your profile. You can also go to the "Activity Log" on your timeline to get an action-by-action view of how your activity shows up on the site.

And finally, as Facebook itself makes clear, remember that "things you hide from your timeline still appear in news feed, search and other places on Facebook." There include some things you just can't hide, namely profile pictures and cover photos, but also some news feed activity.

In October 2013, Facebook also loosened restrictions on the extent to which teenager users could share their Facebook activity with others:

Facebook Inc removed a restriction for users under 18 that previously limited who could see their online postings.

Facebook said that teenagers would now be able to manually alter the setting and share information with the public. Until now, a teenager's postings on Facebook were only viewable to their friends, and to the friends of their friends.

Last updated:   17 October 2013
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/privacyremoval.asp#3ws42ayj27CQUU1g.99

OSU roommate’s view on Harry 

The late BJ Alums founder Harry Liggett's former Ohio State roommate, Jack Pershing, provides new details about the 1965-95 BJ newsroom editor:

John:

I read the eulogy that Harry's nephew posted on Harry. Very meaningful.  Harry and I roomed together at OSU for 2 years. We lost track of each other since I got married and remained in the Columbus area.  Harry worked with my brother-in-law at the newspaper in Uhrichsville.  

Harry did a great job when he set up the Facebook for our high school class.  With Harry posting on it, we were able to keep in contact. 

Hope that you are doing well with your Pacemaker.  Again,  you did a great job with the information you continued to post when Harry was ill.  I felt bad that I couldn't make it to Akron to see Harry.  

Jack Pershing

In an earlier email, Jack posted:

I was a classmate of Harry's at Dennison High School.  I have some photos I want to sent to Tom (Harry's son) that were taken when Harry and I were in our Junior class play.  

I also appreciated the fact that I could keep up with Harry's status thru your BJ Alums blog when Harry was ill.  

Harry  was a great person and he will be missed by all. 

Jack Pershing

Harry passed away Jan. 24 after being in and out of hospitals and nursing homes since his August 2013 surgery. He was a legend at the BJ for being a stickler for accuracy and his no-nonsense style in training reporter after reporter.

Once, when Harry lamented about a reporter's mistake, I said, "Well, Harry, everyone has to begin somewhere," he replied, in typically terse, muttering Harry style: "Yeah, but you get tired after saying the same thing 500 times." 

Oh, well, now Harry can help St. Peter deal with Pat Englehart, the whirling dervish State Desk Editor.

Penelope, John wed

Cathy Strong marries off

third daughter, Penelope

Former 1970s State Desk reporter Cathy Strong's daughter, Penelope, married international patent attorney John Pint, originally from Minnesota, in New Zealand (Valentine's Day Friday in New Zealand time, day-before-Valentine's Day Thursday in Ohio time). 

Facebooked Cathy: 

Penelope Strong and John Wayne Pint are now married . In St Anthony 's in Martinborough, New Zealand. Fantastic wedding followed by everyone on a bus tour of local vineyards

Martinborough is the wine valley bout two hours from my place, which is so idealic that Hollywood moguls like James Cameron and Peter Jackson have homes there.

The new groom Facebooked:

John Wayne Pint

Dinner with Mrs Pint. Non-stop Johnny Cash on the juke.

Off to the winery & honeymoon!

Long-time friend Pam McCarthy, from their 1970s State Desk days, long before Pam's retirement after a long career as a North Canton Hoover High teacher, added:

Pam McCarthy 

Give her my very best wishes. Where will they live?

Pam and Cathy are so close that they spent time in a hot tub together in a Boston reunion several years ago, which was memorialized in photo and words in a BJ Alums blog article.

This is the second "earthquake" to hit Martinborough and Cathy. The first came Jan. 20, when it was Mother Nature's turn to make a noise at the 6.3 level. 

Cathy's daughter, Rebecca, and husband Dion, have three daughters and a son. Rebecca and Dion were married in 2005 in the tiny historic Pukekaraka St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Otaki. Rebecca is a hydrographer and lieutenant in the New Zealand Navy and her husband, Lt. Dion Hewson, is also a lieutenant in the Navy.  

Cathy and former husband Percy Strong's third daughter, Amanda, married Jeff Shima near Waiouru, New Zealand in 2013. They have a daughter. 

Cathy's impressive journalism career includes her current position as the creator of the journalism master's degree program at Massey University's Wellington campus. She also spent three years in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, teaching journalism, mostly to daughters of Arab royalty.

What does Comcast purchase mean

for Time Warner Cable customers?

What would Comcast's purchase of Time Warner Cable mean for TWC customers, including those in Northeast Ohio?

1. Comcast's wider menu of channels and services, such as 50,000 video on-demand choices on television, 300,000 plus streaming choices on XfinityTV.com, Xfinity TV mobile apps that offer 35 live streaming channels plus the ability to download to watch offline later, and X1 cloud DVR.

2. Hiccups in merging customer database -- double billing or accounts getting lost.

Comcast says that if the merger is approved by federal regulators, they would become one with Time Warner Cable by the end of this year. 

"An enlarged Comcast would be the bully in the schoolyard, able to dictate terms to content creators, Internet companies, other communications networks that must interconnect with it, and distributors who must access its content," said John Bergmayer,  senior staff attorney for online consumer activist group Public Knowledge.

In a MoneyRates.com survey: 25% called cable companies the worst for customer service; 15% named credit card companies, 14% listed insurance companies at 14% and 12% cited phone companies.

Comcast and Time Warner Cable are largely in different U.S. markets.

If you're dissatisfied with the Comcast takeover, there's always satellite dish companies and AT&T's U-verse.

To read the entire article, go to http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/tech/web/comcast-time-warner-consumer-impact/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Curt Brown with former
United Rubber Workers
president Peter Bommarito

Hey, Curt, plaid WAS cool!

The guy in the plaid suit is Curt Brown, during his days as the United Rubber Workers' PR guy.

Quips Curt: "If you don't throw up looking at that suit, then you don't have a pulse."

Curt Brown,
today's suit

Curt went from covering unions for the BJ (1971-74) to working for the URW and the United Steelworkers for years.

Curt has been music director and organist/choirmaster at New Life Episcopal Church, 13118 Church Ave. NW, Uniontown and teaches piano and organ at his Highland Square home. He also does organ recitals. His mother and two sisters also played the piano.

Curt was city editor of the Charleston Gazette, West Virginia's largest newspaper, when the Marshall University plane carrying the football team, staff and supporters crashed in 1970 on its way back to Huntington after a game, wiping out the Thundering Herd's grid squad.

The next year, Curt came to the BJ. And later began his PR work for the unions.

Curt was captain of his high school swim team, and also competed in swimming at Baldwin-Wallace. He studied at Oberlin College, with its highly regarded College of Arts & Science Conservatory of Music.

J. Curtis Brown, Jr., 29, is the son of Curt and Curt's late wife, Jolan "Jody" Moldvay Brown, who died Aug. 4, 1993.

Catching up with 
       . . . Russ Musarra

Paula Tucker, Bev & Russ Musarra, John Olesky

Retiree Russ Musarra is 75 pounds lighter than in his BJ newsroom days. He walks around Sunny Lake in Aurora during good weather and inside a Lowe's store near their Streetsboro residence when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate.

Bev and Russ have four children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, all living in the area, so they see them frequently.

Russ and Bev will celebrate their 56th wedding anniversary April 4. They moved to Streetsboro in 2003 after living 15 years in Northfield Center and 22 in Macedonia. 

China's Beijing is among their travels, although their favorite trip is packing as many family members as possible into a beach house in Sandbridge, Virginia. 

Russ' family came from Sicily. John's family came from northern Italy, in Mione and Pellizzano.

Since Russ, John and Paula go back to the 1970s State Desk days, they joined Bev in a toast to the late Harry Liggett, BJ Alums founder and BJ newsroom retiree, at Babushka's Kitchen, a Polish restaurant in Independence.

Russ was a BJ City Desk reporter and succeeded the late Polly Paffilas as the BJ's About Town columnist. The great Greek passed away in 2005.

Russ and BJ artist Chuck Ayers in 2007 got their "Walks Around Akron," a long-running BJ series, into a book published by the University of Akron that was printed in China. After the Beacon Journal dropped the "Walks" essays, they were published by Akron City magazine and later Akron Life and Leisure magazine.

They also collaborated on two other books -- "Greetings From Akron" (subtitled "Celebrating Akron’s History in Picture Postcards"), published in 2000 by the Summit County Historical Society, and "Joe’s Place: Conversations on the Cuyahoga Valley," published in 1999 by the Cuyahoga Valley Association. 

Russ also wrote "Sleep With the Angels," with former Cleveland detective Robert L. Bolton, that was published in 1985. 

Since his February 2000 retirement, Russ has written a general interest column for Focus, a monthly tabloid aimed at readers 50 and older; the Town Crier column for Akron City magazine;  covered Hudson as a Beacon Journal news correspondent; and was on the board of Actors Summit Theater in Hudson.

If you want to touch base with Russ:

Current address: 8916 Falcon Drive, Streetsboro 44241
Home phone: 330-626-4188
Cellular phone: 330-322-8890
E-mail: rmusarra@neo.rr.com

Harry's granddaughter scores again

Anna Liggett

The late Harry Liggett's granddaughter, and Harry's son Tom's daughter, Anna, Tom announced:

"Really proud dad moment. Anna, my St. V-St. M freshman, just got the lead role of Belle in the musical 'Beauty and the Beast.'  Great job, Anna. Take care of that voice. I love you baby."

Anna, whose mom is Susan, performed in a St. Vincent-St. Mary High School dinner murder mystery play Feb. 6 and in a St. V-St. M summer camp production of "The Mysterious Case of the Missing Ring."  

Harry, founder of the BJ Alums blog and a BJ newsroom retiree, passed away Jan. 24.

Mush, you huskies, for Katie!

Katie Byard dogsledding in New Hampshire;
she must have worn out the white dog

BJ reporter Katie Byard went dogsledding in the White Mountains of New Hamphire?

Katie's response: "Oh, yes, we did!"

My late wife Monnie and I enjoyed the White Mountains and Franconia Notch in 1996. We didn't climb aboard a dogsled, but in 2010 Paula and I did visit an Iditarod champ's camp in Alaska and watch sleddogs perform at Denali National Park.

Monnie and I took a $40 van ride up Mount Washington, at 6,288 feet the highest peak in the Northeast. It was 76 degrees when we began the climb and 1 degree with wind chill at the top! 

We stood where "Walden" author Henry David Thoreau once stood at The Cup, near The Flume.

We stayed two nights at the Stonybrook Motel and Lodge in Franconia, NH before we headed for whale-watching off Bar Harbor, Maine. 

Be glad it’s not 2008 winter 

Think this is an unusual winter snowfall for us?

At last count, the Akron/Canton Airport winter snowfall totaled 50.5 inches. That's nearly 20 inches more than at the same time last winter and it's slightly above the 47.4-inch average winter snowfall for Akron/Canton.

But this winter is about 10 inches behind the 2010-11 winter's total snowfall. Since the February average is 10.5 inches, 2010-11 may fall, too, to the current winter. 

Just be glad it's not 2008. It had the all-time snowiest February with 25.8 inches.

Mansfield's winter snowfall average is about the same as Akron/Canton. Youngstown is No. 2 at 62.8 inches. Cleveland is No. 1 at 68.1 inches.

Only May through September have no snowfall average on record for Akron/Canton.

Susan Miller has broken leg

Susan Miller

Susan Miller, with the BJ more than 25 years when she left the Advertising Art Department in 2009, has a hairline fracture of her right tibia from her car's Jan. 26 non-Olympic luge-style slide into an abutment on an icy Akron freeway.

Quips Susan: "The good news. I can throw out all my hooker heels."

Susan injured herself while "trying to stop my car Fred Flintstone style."

For laymen, the tibia is the shinbone. Shinbone connects to the anklebone. Well, you know the rest of the song. 

Susan lives in Canton and is a graduate of Canton Lincoln High School and Miami of Ohio in Oxford.

Her father, Sam Raider, passed away Feb. 2, 2004. Sue had a tribute to him on her Facebook page on Feb. 2. Dad was 89 when he died.

If you want to wish Susan well, go on her Facebook page.

Eloquent eulogy

Copy of nephew’s remarks

at Harry Liggett’s funeral

At my request, the late BJ Alums founder/BJ newsroom retiree Harry Liggett's grand-nephew, Kent State journalism student Eric Poston, emailed me the eloquent eulogy delivered by Harry's nephew, Nick Kowal, at Harry's funeral Jan. 29. It was one of several remembrances of Harry that family members discussed on the St. Paul Church pulpit. Nick's mom was Pauline Kowal, sister of Harry's late wife, Helen Smolak Liggett. This eulogy revealed things that even I didn't know about Harry, despite being joined at the hip with him at the BJ for 26 years.

Harry D.C. Liggett was a good man. He was honest, truthful, loving, caring, compassionate, trusting, knowledgeable and generous. I guess it’s all those traits and characteristics that made him the best possible journalist he could be. He was a great husband, father, grandfather and uncle to many people such as me. 

Harry, Helen, great-nephew Eric

Uncle Harry, as we all knew him, would officially become part of our extended Smolak family when he married my mom’s sister, Helen, on September 7, 1957. What little did he know was that only 16 days later I would be born and I would eventually come into his life. 

Harry and Helen lived in the little town of Dennison, Ohio after they were married. They rented an apartment above a beauty salon where my mom and Aunt Helen would both get their hair done. Harry worked at the local newspaper as a reporter and photographer, but for all we knew he might have also been printing and delivering it too.

On our family visits to Dennison and Uhrichsville from Akron, Ohio, which I might add were nearly every weekend as long as our grandmother “Baba” was alive, we would always visit all the aunts and uncles. It would be a daylong adventure that we would always look forward to, especially for my two brothers and me. 

There were times while we were visiting Aunt Helen and Uncle Harry where he would get called out to report on breaking news in the local community. It’s those moments that convinced us that Uncle Harry was a very important person! Looking back now, we all realized that he actually was the first celebrity that we knew. 

Harry and Helen would eventually move to Akron in the mid-60s when Harry landed a job at the Akron Beacon Journal. They purchased a house in Firestone Park, which was only one mile away from our house. We knew it was exactly one mile because we couldn’t wait to measure it on our banana bikes that were fitted with speedometers and odometers. My mom was so happy because one of her sisters was so nearby. We were also very happy because now we had a place to visit.

I always remember the Akron Beacon Journal column that Harry wrote, which was named “On the Farm.” How ironic that Helen and Harry move from a little railroad town to the big city and Harry gets to write his very own column about the rural farming community. 

I remember our family driving by the Giant Tiger Department Store in west Akron one Sunday where there were many protesters out front. They were protesting the store being open, which was illegal back then. We drove by because my mom commented that Uncle Harry was doing a story on the protests. How ironic that Harry would be working on a Sunday to report on a story about people working on a Sunday.

Before Tom and Bob came into Helen and Harry’s life, the Kowal family would visit often, or should I say we would overwhelm their house. The family visit would always start out with everyone in the living room, which at that time we called the “front room.” 

Uncle Harry and my Dad would end up in the dining room and us boys would end up playing in the basement, which we truly enjoyed. Uncle Harry would be the person who opened the door to the basement and let us downstairs. 

He was a very smart man. Now that I look back, my brothers and I knew the layouts of all our relative’s basements quite well. Aunt Helen and Uncle Harry always had refreshments and goodies for us kids. We will never forget that. Visits between the Kowals and the Liggetts were very frequent, either at their hour or at our house.

One common theme with Uncle Harry was that he always wanted to know how us kids were doing in school and he always stressed for us to get a good education. A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to an Ohio State football game with a friend of mine that has a daughter attending the university. She took us on an extensive hour of the massive campus. As we walked around, I imagined what it might have been like for a smalltown boy named Harry Liggett to be walking some of these same paths back in the early 50s while working on his journalism degree.

As time moved on, the two biggest pride and joys of Harry’s life would happen in pairs, but spaced over quite a few years. First with his two sons Tom and Bob and then with his two granddaughters Erin and Anna. He was so proud of his children and grandchildren, which was quite evident by the major amounts of time that he spent with them and his personal involvement in all of their activities. He also couldn’t ask for a better daughter-in-law, Tom’s wife Sue.

Harry was always involved in something. He was not the kind of person that would just sit back and do nothing. Harry Liggett was a no non-sense kind of guy, who always wanted to do the right thing. He was a union rep for his co-workers at the Beacon Journal. He was deeply involved with the Boy Scouts of America when Tom and Bob were in the troops. He was on the St. Paul’s Church Council and helped to get many things accomplished at the church and school, long before his two sons and grandkids attended and graduated from the school.

He started and maintained the St. Paul’s Church blog and also started and maintained the Smolak Family genealogy website, which was one of my favorites. The pictures and articles that Harry posted were very information and the majority of the photos were priceless. 

Aunt Helen and Uncle Harry even opened their home throughout the years for a few of my cousins and some of his relative to live during various school years, so they could attend the University of Akron. This is how much getting an education meant to them. I might add that Harry was determined to make sure Tom and Bob both graduated from Archbishop Hoban High School and also obtained their four-year degrees from the University of Akron. Go Zips and Fear the Roo. Last I heard Bob may still be an A K Rowdy.

Uncle Harry has greatly influenced my nephew Eric Poston, who is currently attending the University of Akron for a communication degree. Eric also writes articles for his local newspaper, The Suburbanite, and also takes his own pictures. Sound familiar? 

Harry will be sadly missed, but greatly remembered. I will especially remember my Uncle Harry for the day that he stopped over to drop off all the admission’s paperwork for me to attend the University of Akron. I had been out of high school for a few years and was saving money for going to school, but I just hadn’t done anything to move in that direction. Uncle Harry provided the extra push and perseverance that I needed to get started. I eventually received a four-year degree in electronic technology and was able to land a great job. 

I thank my Uncle Harry for that. 

The rest of the story

about seniors & poverty level

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)

Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty, the percentage of seniors nationwide living below the poverty line has plummeted from 27 percent to 9 percent, according to a BJ analysis by BJ reporter Rick Armon.

Not so, says the Kaiser Family Foundation. When you deduct health expenses from income, which affects seniors more than younger citizens, Kaiser says, the rate is 15 percent. 

The census defines the poverty threshold for those 65 or older as $11,173 a year for a single individual and $14,095 for a two-person household. Since the average annual Social Security payment is about $15,000, then everyone getting average or better SS checks can't be in poverty.

And that doesn't include pensions, IRAs and other sources of income.

The median seniors household income is about $35,000, which puts half the seniors at more than double the poverty level. By the way, when comparing seniors income to their junior counterparts, those in Nevada and Hawaii do the best and those in New Jersey, Rhode Island, North Dakota and Massachusetts do the worst.

A fairer assessment would be comparing after-tax incomes of retirees to current workers. My taxes -- federal and state income and Social Security bites -- dropped $15,000 after my retirement. That means my spending power was equal to a worker making $15,000 more than me. 

Then elderly medical costs kick in to bite into the tax savings for seniors. Obviously, it's a complex issue, and using only one set of numbers doesn't paint a true picture.

To read Armon's BJ article, click on http://www.ohio.com/news/local/an-american-success-story-fewer-seniors-living-in-poverty-1.465187

Will Trexler be forced to testify?

The Ohio Supreme Court voted 4-3 to require BJ reporter Phil Trexler to explain why he shouldn't be forced to testify in a Akron Bar Association disciplinary hearing against Akron attorney Larry Shenise.

The case stems from Shenise's 80-year-old client being arrested and jailed after he missed a scheduled hearing in a civil court case.

Common Pleas Judge Paul Gallagher, who issued the arrest warrant, filed a bar disciplinary complaint against Shenise, who claimed he was misquoted in the 2012 story. 

Beacon Journal attorney Karen C. Lefton said she was working on a response to the high court’s order.

To read the full article, click on http://www.ohio.com/news/beacon-journal-reporter-phil-trexler-subjects-of-ohio-supreme-court-order-1.465078

Von Trapp family, eat your heart out

Anna Liggett, the late BJ Alums founder Harrry Liggett's granddaughter, will be performing in a St. Vincent-St. Mary High School dinner murder mystery play tonight. 

Harry, granddaughters Erin, Anna

Her dad, Tom Liggett, Harry's son, at 8 p.m. tomorrow will be performing at the Civic Theatre with Straight On, a Heart tribute band that will open for Zoso, the “ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience” band.

Ticket sales are so strong that the Civic has opened up the remainder of the balcony.

Last July Harry attended Anna's performance at a St. V-St. M summer camp production of "The Mysterious Case of the Missing Ring."  

Anna's sister, Erin, wrote a moving tribute to Harry that you can read by clicking on http://bjretirees.blogspot.com/2014/01/harrys-granddaughter-writes-farewell-to.html Erin is attending Kent State University and has the acting bug, too.

Somewhere Up There Harry must be a proud grandfather, as he always was here on Earth.

Kathy Lally aka Lilly

covering Sochi Olympics

Retired BJ reporter Charlene Nevada, who is enjoying the relative warmth of their Garden City, South Carolina second home with husband Art Krummel (compared to their Tallmadge residence's Northeast Ohio winter temperature), sends along this email:

John, 

The alums might want to know that alum Kathy Lally (formerly Kathy Lilly) is reporting for the Washington Post from Sochi.  Kathy and her husband, Will Englund, shared the Moscow bureau job for the Baltimore Sun for several years. 

Then she went to the Post back home. I’m not sure if she and Will are both at the Post now or who he works for.  Kathy’s writing is as right-on as ever.

(Kathy, btw, was the cousin of the late BJ reporter, Chuck Lally.)

charlene

Indeed, Char, Kathy is busy exposing Russia's mad dash to get everything ready for the Olympics, including putting lamps into the hotel rooms.

Kathy regularly had Page A1 stories during her days at the BJ. She had a knack of calling the families of Vietnam War casualties and having them pour their hearts out to her. It also helped "put a face on" the Vietnam War, making it personal instead of just statistics and ideology. She left the Beacon about 1975, near the time that U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war ended.

After her divorce from Bill Lilly,  she went back to using her maiden name of Kathy Lally and has an impressive career in journalism.

Kathy had a voluntary buyout at the Baltimore Sun, where she was education reporter, features editor, Moscow bureau reporter and deputy foreign editor; and was deputy business editor at the Washington Post. 

Will, who left  the Sun in 2008 to cover the White House for the National Journal, won a Pulitzer for exposing how the Navy disposed of out-dated ships. 

Will and Kathy have two daughters --  Kate, photo editor for Getty Images in New York, and  Molly, who graduated from Emerson in theater. If you don't recognize Kathy from the photo in this article, check out the face of Molly in the blue dress. That's the Kathy image I remember from our State Desk days together.

If you want to read Kathy's story from the Winter Olympics at Sochi, click on  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/olympic-dream-in-sochi-internet-in-the-hotel/2014/02/01/8cc5d6fe-8a8b-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html

Ott Gangl, nudes photographer

Retired BJ photographer Ott Gangl, in what he labels "throwback Thursday," posted this on his Facebook page:

That's Ott behind his strategically placed camera

"A photojournalist gets assignments mostly involving crime, sports and politics, etc. But once every so often one gets a real fun one, as when I was assigned to ‘cover’ a nudist retreat’s 50th anniversary for our magazine, somewhere between Akron and Medina."

As you can see from this photo montage, Ott got into the mood of the nudity colony, sartorially.

Legend has it that these aren't the only nudes that Ott has photographed during his days at the BJ. His Sunday activities, as Ott recalls, were called "Sinday Shoots." 

Ott was the Sunday skinsation of the BJ.

Germans, like many European nationalities, are not as skittish about nudity as Pilgrimmized Americans.

If you want to see more explicit photos of the nudist colony Ott photographed, you'll have to go to his Facebook page for the danglers and T&A.

Ott is one guy who knows how to have fun in life. Hooray for him!

Don Roese happy in

snowless Florida 

That's retired BJ photographer Don Roese painting the Hollywood, Florida home he co-owns with his brother and their spouses.

Don posts, "All is not fun and games in paradise," but methinks it's tongue-in-cheek. 

Don Roese busy in snowless Florida

Particularly after reading Don's next quip:

"The only ice I see is in my sweet, cold ice tea. Yum yum .... Ain't no slippin' and slidin' going on down here."

Just to twist the knife a little more, in typical Don Roese fun-loving humor:

"You will notice there is not so much as a single snowflake in this photo."

Don closes with:

"Be back in Ohio in a month." 

Sorry, Don, but March in Cuyahoga Falls probably won't be worth returning to, either.

Don and wife Mary Ann were in New Zealand last year, spending a week or so with former 1970s State Desk reporter Cathy Strong, today a big wheel in the Massey University Journalism School in Wellington, New Zealand.

When BJ newsroom retiree John Olesky, assistant State Desk editor during Cathy's time at the BJ, and 1970s State Desk reporter Paula Tucker flew into Auckland, New Zealand, Don was at the airport to greet them.

The Roeses handed off Cathy to John and Paula, who flew from Wellington to Auckland to meet them and take them on a tour of Auckland.

Harry’s great-nephew gets first front-page byline

Eric Poston, great-nephew of BJ Alums founder and BJ newsroom retiree Harry Liggett, got his first front-page byline in the Suburbanite, owned by Gatehouse Media. Eric wrote about Green Mayor Dick Norton's State of the City address.

The Suburbanite covers Green, Coventry, Springfield, Manchester, Lakemore, Hartville, Lake and Jackson.

Eric lives in Green and is a Kent State journalism student who transferred from the University of Akron. He once was in charge of mowing Harry's lawn.  

Canton Repository marketing director Dan Mucci was named Suburbanite general manager in 2008. 

The Suburbanite leaders are Advertising Consultants Carol Cooney and Barbara Harding, editor Erin Pustay, assistant editor Andy Harris and advertising account executive Vickey Blakeslee. 

GateHouse is based in suburban Rochester, N.Y. It bought The Repository in April from Copley Newspapers, along with The Times-Reporter in New Philadelphia, The Independent in Massillon and The Suburbanite in Green.

GateHouse Media is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "GHS."

1. 
   

   Carney recalls 1944 family tragedy
2. 
   
3. BJ reporter Jim Carney's uncle, Sgt. Ralph W. Slate, was killed after his first bombing mission over Germany 70 years ago today.

Jim's report:

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. "My mother's brother, Sgt. Ralph W. Slate, a ball turret gunner on a B-17. and nine others, were killed 70 years ago today after finishing a bombing mission over Germany. Found this web site with their pictures. A report on the flight is on the web site.

To read the entire, detailed report, click on 

http://www.303rdbg.com/missionreports/103.pdf

GERALD A. WHITE CREW - 358th BS
(Assigned 358BS: 16 January 1944 - photo: USA Training)

(Front L-R) Capt Gerald A White (P)(KIA), 2Lt Walter W. Newsom (CP)(KIA),
2Lt Erwin A. Kruse (N)(KIA), 2Lt Warren Stafford, Jr. (B)(KIA)

(Back L-R) S/Sgt Sidney L. Bottomley (E)(KIA), Sgt Ralph W. Slate (BTG)(KIA),
S/Sgt Louis E. Znidersich (R)(KIA), Sgt Wallace E. Becknell (RWG)(KIA),
Sgt Robert E. McCoy (TG)(KIA), Sgt Alexander J. Quinlan (LWG)(KIA)
Crew Note:
The entire Gerald A. White Crew was killed on their first and only combat mission. Mission #103, 3 February 1944 to Wilhelmshaven, Germany in B-17G #42-37927 (no name) (358th BS) VK-P which was flying on her 11th mission. The B-17 was last seen after leaving the target and peeling off from the formation as to penetrate the overcast. It rolled over on its back and headed straight down. It crashed into the North Sea and no bodies were recovered.

[photo courtesy of Sherrie Shelton, niece of Earl Becknell]
[Researched by Historian Harry D. Gobrecht]

Surefire way to cut costs

Publishing "mogul" A. William "Bill" Allen has figured out how to cut costs dramatically.

According to Craig Silverman on Poynter.com, Allen Total Media saves costs by putting fake bylines on digital stories his employees assemble from press releases and stories lifted verbatim from newspapers and wire services. 

To make the stories look legitimate, Allen's folk add typos.

Allen's firm purchased 19 newspapers in Alaska and plans to revert them to digital . . . with a little help from other news sources?

Read the article at http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-the-error/237923/in-pennsylvania-and-alaska-a-publisher-takes-infringement-to-another-level/
  

Black Keys bowl over Super crowd

The Black Keys, with BJ reporter Jim Carney's son Patrick Carney front and center, tore through a 90-minute set of their greatest hits Friday night at New York City’s packed Roseland Ballroom as one of the headliners of a jam-packed weekend full of A-list concerts leading up to the Super Bowl in New Jersey.

Dan Auerbach was dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans. 
Patrick Carney was on drums. Both are Firestone High School graduates. 

The show was a perk for Citi Cardholders. The Black Keys were just one of several bands to headline shows in the area leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl that pits the Denver Broncos against the Seattle Seahawks.

To read the Associated Press article in the Washington Post, click on http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/black-keys-howl-at-super-bowl-weekend-show-in-ny/2014/02/01/d9d90fb4-8b04-11e3-a760-a86415d0944d_story.html