Kentucky journalists trying to avoid paying fine in newspaper name flap
By The Associated Press
07.02.02
INEZ, Ky. — The journalists who were found in contempt last week for refusing to follow an order not to publish the Mountain Citizen under that banner will try to avoid paying $500 fines.
"We're still looking at whether we're going to appeal this or ask the same judge to reconsider it," said David Fleenor, a Lexington attorney representing the Inez newspaper. "We're still in the process of deciding which of those options make the most sense."
Newspaper owner Lisa Stayton, Publisher Roger Smith and Editor Gary Ball were each fined $500 last week for defying an order by Judge Daniel Sparks to stop using the name “Mountain Citizen.”
John R. Triplett, a local attorney who had been the subject of critical stories in his role as water board chairman, legally obtained the newspaper's name and asked Sparks to order the journalists to stop using it.
In a counterclaim filed yesterday in Martin County, Fleenor argued that Triplett acquired the name for the sole purpose of harassing and intimidating the journalists. He asked that Triplett be ordered to drop his claim to the name and to pay the newspaper's attorney fees and financial damages.
Triplett, former chairman of the Martin County Water Board, took the paper's name after Stayton inadvertently allowed incorporation papers to lapse.
Kentucky corporations are required to submit annual reports to the secretary of state's office. Those that don't are presumed inactive and are dissolved. The Mountain Citizen hadn't filed an annual report in two years, making that name — along with others held by parent company New Wave Communications — fair game.
Stayton said she was preoccupied with taking care of a sick relative and paid no attention to the annual report.
Sparks said he was forced to add the fines to his contempt of court citation to protect the integrity of the judiciary. Sparks said Stayton, Smith and Ball knew of his order and defied it.
Sparks said the ruling does not infringe on press freedom because the journalists could have published the newspaper under a different name.
"To condone the actions of the defendants would be tantamount to promoting and fostering the disrespect and distrust of the judicial system," Sparks said in his ruling last week.
Ball said the newspaper has no choice but to try to fight the contempt order.
"If you set this kind of precedent, what's going to happen next time?" he asked.
Smith said he strongly objects to being fined for using the name “Mountain Citizen,” which the newspaper has been known by for at least 10 years.
"I think it's ridiculous," he said yesterday.
Smith contends that Triplett wanted to silence the newspaper because it had published several stories about problems with Martin County's water treatment plant and its distribution lines.
Photographs in the paper have shown muddy water coming out of faucets, even sand collecting in sinks.
The Public Service Commission yesterday ordered an expanded investigation into the operations of the water district. Investigators will look at financial records and operational policies and try to identify any problems that may affect the water district's ability to operate properly.
The PSC scheduled a hearing for Sept. 13 to review the results of the investigation.