Prata may be a drug user

Here's how yellow journalism works.

 

You ask a question, then you write a story about the answer, not the facts that surround the answer.

 

For example, in response to a recent email from Prattle, I asked her if she was high on drugs or alcohol. She didn't reply. I then sent a follow-up email telling her I would take the lack of a reply as lack of a denial. She didn't reply to that email, either.

 

So now I can clearly tell you, our loyal readers, that Prata does not deny being high on drugs or alcohol.

 

Which is extremely misleading. And my statement becomes a lie itself. The reality is that Prattle chose not to respond because she considered my question to be ridiculous.

 

Which brings me to the garbage of an article she wrote about Foster being investigated by the office of the Maine Attorney General. Prata got part of it right - Town attorney Bill Dale said Foster is not being investigated. He also said that the AG's office was doing a "follow up" or "inquiry" to a "letter of complaint." 

 

A simple denial does not mean the investigation is not underway. And in fact, the dictionary defines an investigation as a ". . . systematic inquiry."

 

The correct article should have read "Foster denies he is being investigated. Bill Dale referred to questions from the AG's office as an inquiry or follow-up."

 

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's an investigation.

 

The real story here is Foster breaking the law by deleting a year's worth of emails, which are considered to be public documents. Whether or not you call the AG's questions about those deleted emails an investigation is irrelevant. Foster openly admits to those deletions. The only question now is whether or not the AG's office will consider his actions harmful enough to warrant the fines of $500 per deleted document.

 

Quack, quack.

 

Nathan Tsukroff