COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Vero Beach 32963, pandering as always to its north barrier island base, is quickly earning the nickname “Indian River Shores 32963.”

Deeply troubled to see Vero Beach leaders making significant progress in lowering electric rates, the island rag this week published a “news analysis” story by reporter Lisa Zahner that is anything but analytical.

The kindest thing that can be said about Zahner’s latest hatched job on city leaders is that, in order to publish her story, trees were cutdown that should have been allowed to remain standing.

More to the point, though, the island weekly’s coverage of Vero Beach city government has become so slanted, so poisoned by Charley-Wilson-style, underhanded, slimy attacks, that the publication now represents and enbodies the very worst in yellow journalism.

When it comes to printing outrageously slanted stories, the famous yellow journalist of the penny press era, including William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, could never have held a candle to the editors of the island weekly. The island rag’s editors and reporters are now the indisputable kings and queens of sensational, slanted reporting.

In a profoundly sarcastic and disrespectful story, in which she likened Very Beach’s special utility counsel, Schef Wright, to a used car salesman, (I wonder how the island rag’s used car advertisers feel about Zahner’s use of that analogy.), Zahner took more than 1600 words to say almost nothing, at least nothing worthy of serious consideration.

Zahner and her editors may not like it, but the fact is Vero Beach currently has a legally binding and enforceable contract to buy wholesale power from the Orlando Utilities Commission. After nearly a year of negotiations, the city and the OUC have agreed to amended terms to that contract that will accomplish three important objectives.

First, the deal will reduce Vero Beach’s wholesale power costs from the OUC by approximately 6.5 percent a year. Second, the length of the agreement will be shortened by 7 years.  Third, Vero Beach will now be free to decommission the riverfront power plant.

“Indian River Shores 32963’s” darling on the city council, Pilar Turner, may object to lowering the city’s wholesale power costs by some $750,000 a month, but Zahner and her editors are sorely mistaken if they think their attack-style reporting is going to change the minds of the remaining four council members, all of whom seem wholly committed to representing the interests of the people of Vero Beach and the customers of Vero Electric.

Zahner wrote yet another attack piece this week, this one sourced by Pilar Turner, through Charlie Wilson.  In their second serving of slime, Zahner and her editors sought to discredit remarks made by Mayor Richard Winger during the most recent city council meeting.

Borrowing from input he received from George Christopher, a former member of the Utilities Commission, Winger, clearly ad-libbing, drew heavily from Christopher’s input about the implications of FPL’s proposed purchase of Vero Beach’s Indian River Shores customer base.

Regardless of from where the input came, who can reasonably take exception to the concerns Winger has raised for six months now about treating all customers of Vero Electric fairly?

And who seriously believes all of Pilar Turner’s public statements have rolled straight off her silver tongue?

Excepting those suffering from acute naiveté, who really believes State Rep. Debbie Mayfield wrote the letter she sent to newspapers across the state last year?

Politicians drawing on input from others to help make their point in nothing new. The one difference between Turner/Mayfield and Winger on this score is that Winger doesn’t pretend he is the repository of all wisdom and knowledge.

One final point, the coward writing anonymously under the name “TheObserver” should not be so confident HIS identity is not known.