I'll preface any praise of "Tremont West Development Corp. development director charged with assault [1]" - coverage in the Plain Dealer of the assault of Guy Templeton Black, by Sammy Catania - by posting reporter Mark Gillespie's comment on his own blog about his own work - Mark Gillispie, The Plain Dealer [2] - August 27, 2010 at 1:13PM - "xxoo: Thanks for commenting. I understand your concern, but this is not a news article that will appear in the print edition of The Plain Dealer. It is an item that has been posted solely to my Inside Cleveland Hall blog. Reporters who have blogs use them to post items that might not hold much interest to our broader readership but might have relevance to some Cleveland.com readers. That's the beauty of the digital age. Thanks again for reading and commenting".
Mark is responding to a TROLL on Cleveland.com that set up an account to post "xxoo [3] August 27, 2010 at 1:01PM - So much ado about nothing. Is this really worthy of a news article - or is this just a gossip column?"
That is what is pathetic about poor use of technology in the digital age... it allows corporations and special interests to use TROLL accounts places like Cleveland.com to post anonymous diversions of public knowledge from fact to fiction, and to temper public response to news that is in fact deserving of outrage.
I suggest, in my comment to Mark's posting, this assault "should be addressed in the print edition... Catania works for the public..."
realneo [4] August 27, 2010 at 8:24PMMark, I'm glad you posted about this, and it should be addressed in the print edition... Catania works for the public...
Regarding the claim Catania fired a gun in Tremont... you write: "It begins with Catania confronting Black with accusations that he had told someone that Catania had been arrested on a gun charge, which turns out not to be true."
Are you writing that it was not true Guy told someone Catania was arrested on a gun charge, or that it was not true Catania was arrested on a gun charge.
In other words, did Guy provoke Catania by spreading rumors about Catania that were untrue (what and to whom?) or was Catania unprovoked. And, was Catania arrested on gun charges and more important was there an incident of gunplay involving Catania in Tremont at all?
I look forward to your follow-up - thanks.
We shall see if Mark provides more facts and responds to my question - I still can' get an answer to "was there an incident of gunplay involving Catania in Tremont at all"?
Here is the beginning of what Mark has reported so far, full story on-line only at Cleveland.com here [1]...
Tremont West Development Corp. development director charged with assault
Published: Friday, August 27, 2010, 12:43 PM Updated: Friday, August 27, 2010, 12:44 PM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The development director at Tremont West Development Corp., a nonprofit neighborhood agency on the city's West Side, has been charged with misdemeanor counts of assault and menacing in connection with a July 9 confrontation at Lincoln Park.
Prosecutors and police have some interesting evidence to work with: a YouTube.com video of the confrontation between the development director, Sammy Catania, and his accuser, Guy Templeton Black, who shot the video. Black claims Catania punched him in his good eye (he said he is blind in the other eye) and caused him to wrench his back.
Catania, 56, declined to comment. Black, 69, said in a phone message that he and his dog, Yogi, remain "peaceful and non-violent."
The shaky video does not show a punch. It begins with Catania confronting Black with accusations that he had told someone that Catania had been arrested on a gun charge, which turns out not to be true. When Black tries to explain what happened, Catania launches into an obscenity-laced tirade that would make actor Joe Pesci (Think "Goodfellas") proud.
Links:
[1] http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/tremont_west_development_corp.html
[2] http://connect.cleveland.com/user/markgillispie/index.html
[3] http://connect.cleveland.com/user/suzchris/index.html
[4] http://connect.cleveland.com/user/realneo/index.html