Poynter Online

Rural Communities Protest Post Office Closings

The Associated Press is tracking the story of whether the U.S. Postal Service is wrongfully closing some rural post offices. 

The AP reported that 97 post offices have been closed in 34 states in the last five years. The list includes such communities as Midland, Ohio; Coralville, Iowa; Crescent Lake, Ore.; Prairie City, S.D.; Laketon, Ind.; and Howell, Utah.

The AP reported from Hacker Valley, W. Va.:

"The Postal Service cited an emergency — soon-to-expire leases — in suspending operations at the nearly 100 post offices. Ultimately, 25 were officially closed, five are facing closure, and Hacker Valley and 64 others are in limbo. Only two have reopened, including one in McCausland, Iowa, where community members held yard sales, pig roasts and bake sales to raise money to build a new post office.

"At issue in the dispute is the distinction between closing a post office and suspending service.

"Under federal law, closings require 60 days' notice, opportunities for public comment, an accounting of the reasons for the decision and an opportunity for residents to appeal. Suspensions, which are supposed to be used during natural disasters, health or safety hazards or unanticipated lease problems, do not carry the same requirements.

"Under suspensions, 'the office is not closed, but as far as customers are concerned it's not open," said Norm Scherstrom, a Postal Regulatory Commission spokesman."

Recently, the Postal Service said it was still considering "consolidating" 162 post offices.

USDA Drops National Animal ID Plan

By Al Tompkins

When mad cow disease scared consumers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture responded with a National Animal Identification System to track animals from birth to the butcher shop.

The government knew it needed a way to "help producers and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events in the United States," as the Government Accountability Office said.

But ranchers and farmers complained that the system, which already cost more than $142 million to develop, was so cumbersome that it would drive small producers out of business. Barely one-third of the producers signed up.

Now, the USDA says, the plan is dead, even though the American Veterinary Medical Association said it backed such a national animal ID. The Agriculture Department "will revise the prior animal identification policy and offer a new approach to achieving animal disease traceability." The USDA has put together aquestion-and-answer about its "New Animal Disease Traceability Framework" [PDF]. 

The Billings (Mont.) Gazette reported on the issue, saying:

• "In the West, ranchers balked at documenting every movement of range animals from pasture to pasture. Newborns were to be tagged and reported to the government within a day. Animals killed by predators or illness were to be reported within 24 hours. And ranchers didn’t have a choice but to participate.

" 'The good thing now is, we as ranchers have a choice,' said Tom Hougen, Montana Stockgrowers Association president. 'We don't have the government coming in telling us how to do something.' "

Max Thornsberry explained the main problems with the idea on his "The Independent Cattleman" blog:

"Imagine having to get your cattle in a chute, read the tags electronically, and report the numbers to USDA every time you moved a set of calves to another pasture, your Dad’s place, or sent a group of calves to the sale barn. Not only were you going to be required to read the tags electronically, but you were going to be required to report the tag numbers to the appropriate authorities within 48 hours of that movement, or you would be out of compliance and subject to enforcement fines: A range rebellion in the making, and completely unnecessary for a first world country like the United States."

Glitches, Delays Disrupt Plans for Virtual Border Fence

In 2005, the federal government launched a plan to build a $6.7 billion virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. But the government has spent only $672 million and plans to cut spending to $574 million next year. The fence was to be completed next year. Now it won't be done before 2014, if at all.

The Associated Press reported: 

"Ultimately, the project could be scaled back dramatically, with the government installing virtual fences along a few segments of the nation's 2,000-mile southern boundary but dropping plans for any further expansion, officials said.

" 'The worst that happens is that we have a system which gives us some value but we conclude that it's not worth buying any more of it,' said Mark Borkowski, the government's director of the project at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"The first permanent segment of virtual fence -- a 23-mile stretch near Sasabe, Ariz. -- was supposed to be turned over to the Border Patrol by the main contractor, Boeing Co., for testing in January, but the handover has been delayed by problems involving the video recording equipment.

"... Both Boeing and the government officials said the technical problems stemmed from an erroneous belief that the first-of-its-kind virtual fence could be put together relatively quickly by tying together off-the-shelf components that weren't designed to be linked."

Plenty of groups are critical of the Obama administration's cuts to the fence project. 

Seattle Times Series Reveals Mistreatment of Seniors in 'Adult Family Homes'

This is an investigation that reveals nothing less than a sort of human trafficking involving senior citizens. It works like this: One person owns a property and gets approval to house a handful of senior citizens to live there. The owner of the home then sells the property as a business. The buyer buys the home and the old folks inside. The buyer may know nothing about taking care of seniors, especially those with dementia. 

When I contacted Seattle Times investigative reporter Michael J. Berens last week, he apologized for taking a little while to get back to me. Since the paper and its Web site launched his project on "adult family homes," he has been flooded with hundreds of calls and e-mails from readers.

"I've done long-term projects for many years. Yet this topic has resonated with readers unlike any other," he told me. "I think our videos create a powerful companion to the stories." The investigation, he added, is just the beginning of a year-long effort to examine the system. 

You will be struck by how The Seattle Times didn't stop with the printed stories, but produced an impressive and effective online version as well, complete with an online chat and video interviews involving the main characters from the series. 

The Times also built a searchable database andinteractive map of the state's adult homes. It posted the actual complaints [PDF] filed in the cases of the main characters in the story. I really appreciate that level of transparency. 

This story is a national one. It is in your backyard, no doubt. It is growing, no doubt. The project also shows how we do a bad job of planning for our long-term care needs, for ourselves and our loved ones. 

You can find out more about Berens' project in this edited e-mail Q&A:

Al Tompkins: It seems that making contacts would be one of the most difficult parts of an investigation like this, especially when the victims are elderly and sometimes mentally diminished.How did you find the people featured in your series? 

Michael J. Berens: I sought individuals who had devoted their [lives] to championing elder rights -- consumer advocates, the state ombudsman, members of trade groups. I used these contacts as intermediaries to victims. A key is absolute honesty and sincerity. I essentially recruit subjects to share the story process with me. We stay in constant contact. Yes, it's a fine line at times. But you can't be afraid to show that you care. 

I don't believe in stealth reporting. I told everyone about the story's purpose and themes -- even those who opposed the story. In the end, as word spread through the grapevine, dozens of victims and families came to me. 

Is it reasonable to think that these adult homes will grow in importance as the percentage of seniors in the population increases? And isn't this trend toward adult homes also a reflection of the cost of senior care?

Berens: Where will we all go, particularly if we don't have a lot of money? It's a sobering thought. America is aging like never before. Without doubt, adult family homes will explode in popularity because cash-strapped states will likely turn to the least expensive options for long-term care. Unfortunately, homes that accept low-income residents are often places that offer the least services or amenities. 

Do I understand from your story that governments are moving people out of 24-hour nursing homes to these adult homes? Why?

Berens: The short answer is to save money. But the explanation is more complicated. Medicaid pays for low-income patients in nursing homes, which are highly regulated. State and federal governments share costs. Medicaid rates for scantly regulated adult homes are about two-thirds lower. The state saves millions of dollars by steering nursing home patients into adult homes. This would be fine if the homes provided adequate care. Many homes have failed, sometimes with deadly results.

It seems that it would be a regulatory nightmare for state inspectors to keep up with thousands of adult care homes that have four or five folks in them, as opposed to a full-tilt nursing home that has a hundred or more patients. Is this why inspectors are overwhelmed?

Berens: Regulatory costs are a huge issue. We have 2,843 homes scattered in every nook of the state. Yet, the state has ordered a hiring freeze and restricts travel for most state employees. Washington admits that it no longer has enough inspectors to survey each home once every 18 months, as required by law. Without more revenue, regulators are threatening to lengthen inspection times to three years. Many inspections are already superficial. 

Are senior placement agencies essentially headhunters that find old folks to put in adult homes?

Berens: Exactly. It's a largely unregulated and lucrative industry where most anyone with a computer and Web site can, virtually overnight, set up shop as a senior placement agency. No training; no experience; no background checks -- nothing. Adult homes pay these agencies huge commissions to fill empty beds, up to $7,000 for an elderly person. 

The question: Are agencies placing the aged in the best place, or the place that pays the highest commissions? This is going on in every state.

With states under huge financial pressures, laying off all sorts of state workers, is there any hope that these adult homes will clean up their acts?

Berens: We can't expect state regulators to police every home every minute of the day. But we can expect state regulators to create licensing and training standards that filter out incompetent profiteers. Unfortunately, Washington has been weak in both areas. The answer, perhaps, is not more regulators. 

Instead, the state needs to consistently enforce laws that are already on the books. Again, Washington fails there, too. On average, Washington grants a new adult home license every day. That's too many, too fast; it's become a true gold rush, with the elderly as commodities.

Recalls Lower Toyota Resale Value

If you own one of those Toyotas that was just recalled, your vehicle could be worth less now than it was a few weeks ago.

USA Today said two of the most important auto valuation services, Kelley Blue Book and ALG, estimate that the recalls could lead to an estimated 5 percent depreciation value over the period of time it takes to fix the recalled vehicles: 

"That's the verdict of two carefully watched services, Kelley Blue Book and ALG, that make a business out of estimating the value of used cars. For decades, Toyotas have been among the strongest vehicles for resale value. But now, with safety shortcomings in some of the vehicles laid bare, it may become harder to resell their new cars when they go on the used-car market. Residual values could suffer.

"KBB and ALG seem to agree that Toyota's public-relations nightmare, unless somehow miraculously corrected, could result in about 4% to 5% additional depreciation value on the vehicles it currently has on the streets.

"It's not just about the models being recalled. The bad reputation would permeate the entire line. Safety problems could wind up costing Toyota owners a bundle."

The New York Times said that given the low demand for the brand at the moment, it is a terrible time to trade in your Toyota. The Times interviewed Phil Reed, senior consumer advice editor at Edmunds.com, about the issue: 

"Regardless of the exact percentage, the drop in the resale values of recalled Toyotas means that the $1,000 trade-in incentives other car makers are offering to Toyota owners aren’t necessarily good deals. 'I would strongly caution anybody against responding to those incentives,' said Mr. Reed of Edmunds.com (see more tips from Edmunds.com for owners of recalled Toyotashere). 'While car dealerships are saying they are going to give $1,000 extra, it could be $1,000 over a very low price.' 

"In addition, if history is any lesson, resale values tend to drop soon after major recalls and then eventually rise again. After the recall of Ford Explorers earlier this century because of tire failures, the resale values of the models dropped 2 to 3 percent or so initially and then gradually caught up again five to six months later, according to a preliminary Kelley Blue Book analysis.

"With Toyota’s long reputation for safety, quality and reliability, car industry experts at this point expect Toyota’s resale values will similarly return to some level of consistency within three to four months."

Child Support Suffers a Downturn

States are about to start snagging tax refunds from parents who are past due on child support payments. And the number of overdue payments is growing because of the recession.

In Tennessee, for example, the state says it is collecting less in child support than it did last year, the first decline in a decade.

Some parents are going back to court to have their child support payments reduced because, they say, the payments were based on a full-time job that they no longer have.

The Tennessean reports:

"Across the country, child support collectors are reporting a downturn this year, said Kim Bridges, president-elect of the National Child Support Enforcement Association. As well, she said, agencies are collecting more child support from unemployment benefits and less from employers.

"There is so much concern about the trend, Bridges' group is discussing forming partnerships with employers and job training agencies where collectors can refer child support payers who are out of work.

"Tennessee's Department of Human Services has a number of tools to collect child support from parents ordered to pay -- about 90 percent are fathers -- including tracking them from job to job, garnishing wages or unemployment benefits, and seizing tax returns or lottery winnings, said Mike Adams, director of the state's child support services.

"The department also has the authority to suspend drivers' and professional licenses as well as the passports of individuals who do not pay. In the worst cases, officials can file contempt of court charges, and judges may sentence a parent to up to 10 days in jail for each violation."

CBS News pointed out recently that divorce rates drop in a recession precisely because of the costs of child support and legal advice, and because couples can't afford to sell their homes.

Wild-Hog Population Goes Hog Wild

America's wild-pig population is growing and spreading. Only six states are "pig free," and in the last 20 years, the number of wild hogs has more than doubled -- now estimated somewhere between 2 million and 6 million.

They are big, dangerous and destructive. They ruin wetlands, yards and cemeteries, they eat crops and they have attacked people.

Scripps Howard News Service reports:

"As wild hog populations spread across the United States, they are establishing permanent populations in more and more parts of the country.

"Research by Jack Mayer, a wild hog expert at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, has documented and categorized that spread.

"When a wild hog community is large enough, it reaches a critical mass and gains what scientists say is a permanent foothold, Mayer said. Twenty-one states fall into that category of having an 'established' hog population.

"When the population is smaller, it can still be removed by hunting and trapping. These 12 states have so called 'transitional' or 'emerging' populations.

"States where a feral hog or two has been reported to be on the loose have the best chance of staying pig free, if the states stay vigilant. Mayer labels these 11 states as having 'recent releases/escapees.'

"Established wild hog populations:

"Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia." 

Resources

• A state-by-state listing of where the hogs are. In Florida, there might be up to a million of them. In many states, it is in the hundreds of thousands. That's a lot of hogs.

• How to stop the spread of wild pigs.

• Stories from around the country.

New RTDNA Social Media Guidelines Help Journalists Avoid Ethical Traps

A couple of weeks ago I sat down with some leaders of the Radio and Television Digital News Association to draft what we hope will be useful guidelines for using social media and blogs ethically in our journalism.RTDNA released the guidelines this week.

RTDNA Chairman Stacey Woelfel pushed for these guidelines because, he said, journalists need help balancing the opportunities and land mines that social media and blogs present. The Communicator, the RTDNA publication, said:

" 'These guidelines will be instantly valuable in just about every newsroom across the country,' said RTDNA Chairman Stacey Woelfel. 'I can guarantee that anyone reading the new guidelines has already dealt with at least one of these issues. Now there is a way to weigh your editorial decisions regarding social media and blogging.' "

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We had a few goals. We wanted to speak to how speed and space limitations can compromise accuracy and fairness. We wanted to speak to the frictions that occur when journalists "friend" people on Facebook. We wanted to say something about how journalists are always journalists, even when they are off the clock. We also thought it was important to speak to how journalists sometimes say or post things online that they would not say or show on the air. 

Additionally, we wanted to say loudly that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other such sites have a legitimate place in the distribution and collection of news and information, but that like any tools, they should be used carefully.

We included a range of voices in drafting these guidelines, including those of Woelfel; RTDNA Ethics Committee Chairman Kevin Benz; attorney Richard Goehler; Carol Knopes, director of education projects for the Radio-Television Digital News Foundation; Kathleen Graham, RTDNF executive director; and Ryan Murphy, RTDNA digital media editor.

You can see a list of various news organizations' social media guidelines here. You may also be interested in this collection of guidelines from other groups, such as governments, professional associations and more.

Here are other coverage guidelines that I have helped RTDNA draft. The guidelines cover a wide range of topics, including coverage of juveniles, charities, funerals and more. 

I would love to hear what you think of the RTDNA guidelines. Just drop me a note in the comments section of this piece. 

'Landmark Study' Says Sex Education Focusing on Abstinence Can Work

By Al Tompkins

This will shake things up. A new peer-reviewed study shows adolescents who took abstinence-only sex education classes were more likely to delay having sex. The classes in the study did not include any moralistic teaching. 

The Associated Press said the study "involved assignments to help sixth and seventh graders see the drawbacks to sexual activity at their age, including having them list the pros and cons themselves. Their cons far outnumbered the pros. 

The Washington Post is calling it a first-of-its-kind landmark study, saying:

"Researchers found that only about a third of 6th and 7th graders who went through sessions focused on abstinence started having sex in the next two years. In contrast, nearly half of students who got other classes, including those that included information about contraception, became sexually active."

The study appears in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Medical Association. Without a doubt, this study will reignite debates about how to stem a recent national increase in the number of pregnant teenagers and those with STDs. Only last week, a study showing the rise in teen pregnancies after years of decline led some to attribute the increase to abstinence-only teaching. This new study turns that notion upside down. The Post said:

"The Obama administration eliminated more than $150 million in federal funding targeted at abstinence programs, which are relatively new and have little rigorous evidence supporting their effectiveness. Instead it is launching a new $114 million pregnancy prevention initiative that will fund only programs that have been shown scientifically to work. The administration Monday proposed expanding that program to $183 million next year. The move came after intensifying questions about the effectiveness of abstinence programs.

" 'This new study is game-changing,' said Sarah Brown, who leads the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. 'For the first time, there is strong evidence that an abstinence-only intervention can help very young teens delay sex and reduce their recent sexual activity as well.' "

U.S. News & World Report described how the study was conducted:

". . . some 662 black 6th- and 7th-grade students, ranging in age from 10 to 15 with an average age of 12, participated in classes held on Saturdays at four Philadelphia public schools that draw from primarily lower-income neighborhoods.

"Students either took eight hours of abstinence-only classes; eight hours of safe sex-only classes that included information about sexually transmitted diseases and the importance of using condoms if sexually active; or an eight- or 12-hour comprehensive course that covered both abstinence and safer sex.

"Another group of students were enrolled in eight hours of a general health class that did not discuss matters related to sexual behavior. That group served as a control for comparison.

"Two years after the courses began, with 84.4 percent of the students still enrolled in the program, students in the abstinence-only class were 33 percent less likely to have had sexual intercourse than the controls.

"About one-third of students in the abstinence-only class reported they'd ever had sexual intercourse, compared with nearly half of the control group, the study authors noted."

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy warned that one study should not be used to set national policy. The size of the problem requires many solutions. The group's Web site said:

"One important consequence of this new study is that an abstinence-only program for very young teens can now be added to the list of well evaluated interventions that reduce risky sexual behavior among adolescents. The vast majority of these proven interventions are comprehensive in scope -- that is, they urge teens to delay sexual activity and also directly encourage sexually active teens to use contraception.

"As noted, the abstinence-only program described in this new study centered on very young teens -- the average age was 12 years. The authors also report that the program did not advocate abstinence until marriage, did not portray sex in a negative light or suggest that condoms are ineffective, and contained only medically accurate information.

"With these new findings, communities now have a somewhat larger and more diverse list of effective programs to choose from in their efforts to help teens make better decisions about sex and contraception, and when and under what circumstances to have children. Even so, caution is warranted. It is unreasonable to expect any single intervention, curriculum, or program to solve the teen pregnancy problem. True and lasting progress requires not only good programs in schools and communities, but also supportive social norms and values, informed and active parents, good health services, a positive media culture, and more. Given the recent rise in teen pregnancy announced last week -- the first since 1990 -- efforts in all these areas need to be more creative, more focused, and more intense."

Story ideas:

• What exactly do your schools teach now?

• I would love to hear from the kids themselves.

• How important is it that this abstinence training did not include morality lessons, just practical lessons about avoiding pregnancy and STDs?

• How will this study affect future funding for abstinence training, which was all but written off as ineffective until now?

• What about your local teen pregnancy and STD rate? Is it going up? Why? Answers that seemed clear a week ago might not be now. Only last week, U.S. News & World Report pointed out that a new study by the Guttmacher Institute found:

"... that the pregnancy rate among American teens rose 3 percent in 2006 (the latest year for which statistics are available), teen birth rates rose 4 percent, and abortion rates were up 1 percent. Overall, about 7.2 percent of girls ages 15 through 19 became pregnant in 2006, compared with nearly 7 percent in 2005.

"We're still doing better than we were in 1990, when nearly 12 percent of teenage girls became pregnant. (About 80 percent of teen pregnancies are unintended.) Still, some states, including New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas, have current rates hovering near 10 percent, And in New York, which has the highest abortion rate, 4 percent of teens and nearly 9 percent of black teens have terminated a pregnancy."

Resources for Covering Senate Hearing on Repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy

By Al Tompkins

Since former president Bill Clinton announced the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in 1993, the U.S. military has said that if you admitted to being gay or were openly gay, you could not serve. 

Tuesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff, will tell the U.S. Senate it is time to stop asking. But don't expect things to change quickly. 

The military now says it wants to study the matter for a year and phase out the policy. The first phase includes suspending dismissals when the dismissal is based on a third party that accuses someone of homosexual activity. 

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said:

• "Passed by Congress in 1993, DADT is a law mandating the discharge of openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual service members. (Read the actual laws and orders here.)

• "More than 13,500 service members have been fired under the law since 1994.

• "73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays (Zogby International, 2006).

• "The younger generations, those who fight America's 21st century wars, largely don't care about whether someone is gay or not-and they do not link job performance with sexual orientation.
• One in four U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan or Iraq knows a member of their unit who is gay (Zogby, 2006).

• "Majorities of weekly churchgoers (60 percent), conservatives (58 percent), and Republicans (58 percent) now favor repeal (Gallup, 2009).

• "Seventy-five percent of Americans support gays serving openly -- up from just 44 percent in 1993 (ABC News/Washington Post, 2008)."

In 2009, the Quinnipiac Polling Institute found that 56 percent of Americans believe that "the ban on openly gay men and women in the military should be repealed." Of those who have family actively serving in the military, half said the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy should be repealed.

A Government Accountability Office report offers the following background [PDF]:

"According to DOD officials, U.S. forces have had policies prohibiting homosexuals from serving in the military since the beginning or World War II. DOD's current policy on homosexuality was formalized in 1982 and specifically state that:

"Homosexuality is incompatible with military service. The presence in the military environment of persons who engage in homosexual conduct or who, by their statements demonstrate a propensity to engage in homosexual conduct, seriously impairs the accomplishment of the military mission. The presence of such members adversely affects the ability of the Military Services to maintain discipline, good order, and morale; to foster mutual trust and confidence among servicemembers; to ensure the integrity of the system of rank an command; to facilitate assignment and worldwide deployment of servicemembers who frequently must live and work under close conditions affording minimal privacy; to recruit and retain members of the Military Services; to maintain public acceptability of military service; and to prevent breaches of security.

"According to DOD, a homosexual is 'a person, regardless of sex, who engages in, desires to engage in, or intends to engage in homosexual acts.' DOD define a homosexual act as 'bodily contact, actively undertaken or passively permitted, between members of the same sex for the purpose of satisfying sexual desires.' "

As mentioned in the report, the GAO tried some time ago to calculate how much it costs to enforce the policy. Based on 1990 figures, the GAO said recruiting and initial training costs of replacing personnel discharged for homosexuality were about $120,772 for each officer and $28,226 for each enlisted troop. The real cost of replacing personnel discharged for homosexuality, however, should include other expenses such as court costs and out-processing, the report said. 

The issue of whether or not homosexuals should serve in the military has been studied for years, even before the Clinton-era policy was enacted. The GAO report said: 

"The Navy's 1957 Crittenden Report (which did not question the underlying premise of DOD'S policy) stated, 'A third concept which persists without sound basis in fact is the idea that homosexuals necessarily pose a security risk.' A more recent draft report, prepared by DOD'S Defense Personnel Security Research and Education Center (PERSEREC), commented that the DOD policy prohibiting homosexuals from serving in the military was based on the same rationale used to limit the integration of blacks. Specifically, it stated:

"The order to integrate blacks was first met with stout resistance by traditionalists in the military establishment. Dire consequences were predicted for maintaining discipline, building group morale, and achieving military organizational goals. None of these predictions of doom has come true."