WORLDexclusive: Star Whining And Naysaying Reporters Up The Ante

The ultrasecret, six demands of the Windsor Star whining and naysaying reporter rebels have now been made public by Councillor Bill Marra for all the world to see! Hopes are fading that the putsch at the Windsor Star that has seen the capture of the Windsor Star Editorial Board can be settled peacefully and without a show of force. Answers to those demands may be the only way to prevent a huge tragedy from unfolding in Windsor.

Sources embedded with the joint task force set up by Windsor police, OPP, RCMP and Canadian Forces that are surrounding the Windsor Star building in downtown Windsor have learned that the combined forces are waiting for orders for a major assault on the Star Headquarters. They are reporting that concern is rising that the posse of whiners and naysayers that have seized control of the Editorial Board may be becoming desperate.

Mere days ago, on Wednesday, the Star Editorial shockingly named Mayor Eddie Francis in the first paragraph of a negative editorial:

• “Cleaning up
  Focus on neighbourhoods
  
  Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis and council seem to care more about what strangers and tourists think about this city than you or your family do. They have earmarked significant resources to beautifying streets leading into town while leaving core neighbourhoods -- those places where people live rather than drive through -- blighted with weeds and garbage.”

This followed the wimpy Editorial last Saturday in which the Mayor was criticized through the use of the generic term "city" but only after reading through the entire Editorial:

• “Tunnel deal
  Make business case public
  
  It is difficult, given the frustrating dearth of specific financial details, to determine whether a proposed tunnel deal with Detroit would benefit Windsor in the longterm without also forcing it to assume an unacceptable level of risk…
  
  But the business case for the city assuming control of the tunnel needs to be rock solid, made plainly in public and robustly debated before the city pulls the trigger on any deal.”

Today, the stakes were raised dramatically. The Star Editorial sharply criticized the Mayor by name, again in the first paragraph:

• “No more secrets
  Shine a light on tunnel talks
  
  When indicted Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick crossed the border for a secret meeting with Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis Wednesday, Francis crossed the line.
  
  
  
  Without any public notification, the pair met in a lawyer's office, far from the prying eyes of the media, the public or their respective councils, to discuss a $75-million deal involving the Windsor-Detroit tunnel, a vital piece of international infrastructure. It is unclear why Francis didn't insist the meeting take place, as it could have, in his office at City Hall or, better yet, in council chambers with the participation of Windsor city councillors.”

Explicit in these remarks, is an absolute rejection of the Mayor’s role as the Voice of Council given his failure on the border file to date. It is completely unheard of in Windsor for Councillors to be considered for any kind of a role on anything significant.

The Star went on:

• “But it seems odd and ironic, almost wrong, that the fate of this public asset is being determined privately behind closed doors…
  
  By attending it, Francis exercised poor judgment and showed his disdain, yet again, for openness and transparency.
  
  It is time this whole process was dragged out into the open. No more secret meetings. No more closed doors. No more meetings without councillors. All financial details need to be released now along with the minutes and resolutions of all meetings, in-camera or otherwise, related to these negotiations. No sunshine? No deal.”

Sources have raised concerns for several reasons. No one can recall when it was ever said that Eddie “exercised poor judgment.” Again, the demand that Councillors attend meetings is unprecedented and was stated twice in the same Editorial.

However the main problem is that the Star’s main columnist, who at this time is being interviewed as a “person of interest,” has again written columns that are totally irrelevant and have nothing to do with the Tunnel deal. Authorities are trying to determine what role he has played, if any, in this rebellion. It almost appears as if he knows that this Tunnel Deal is horrific and that he chooses to stay completely out of it.

Apparently, it is believed that the Publisher of the Star, Jim Venney, and his wife have been captured by the whiners and naysayers and have been taken into hiding. The fear is that he has actually been missing for almost 1 year. Authorities point out that the photograph in the Star on Saturday of the Publisher and his wife while seemingly taken at the Red Bull Race Party may actually have been taken on August 17, 2007. That edition of the Star shown his left shoulder was published on that date. Clearly that was intended as a message by the naysaying and whining reporter rebels.

• "Windsor Star 08-17-2007
  
  Transit Terminal opens on time, under budget; New facility redefines and strengthens an already diverse neighbourhood
  
  The new Transit Windsor bus terminal, with its arched roof, abundance of glass and sleek, modern lines, fits right in with its new neighbour, the Art Gallery of Windsor."

They note as well that the bus terminal, (and hybrid buses were mentioned twice by Henderson recently), is located right beside the Art Gallery, the location of the Red Bull Party.

Authorities now believe that the Publisher’s statement written in the Star, supposedly by Venney at the end of April, 2008 was a phony. They now confirm what only the Blogmeister wrote at the time about the strangeness of the story:

• “Jim, Jim, Jim...I got so teary eyed when I read your Publisher's message in the Star on Saturday.
  
  I wanted to get your message out to my friends across the country. I wanted to send it out to them by e-mail as soon as possible. The only trouble was I couldn't find it on the Star online or on the Windsor Star Digital Edition...
  
  Not much of a commitment there, Jim. Hard to get the message out when the message is invisible even on your own websites.”

That statement included a discussion of a relationshipship between the Star and the Windsor-Essex Development Commission. Now the Authorities point out that the whining and naysaying reporters are mocking the Commission as another signal about the Publisher’s capture. Their prime example was the advertisement supposedly placed by the Commission on Saturdat looking for a new CEO. They state that no one could be so ridiculous as to look for the senior official for Windsor using the services of a placement company located in Vancouver, BC

It can now be revealed that Councillor Bill Marra has been acting as a negotiator between the whiners and naysayers and the Authorities since the capture of the Publisher and his wife. Apparently, the Councillor whose reputation is known as one of being a consensus builder and trying to settle differences between parties as can be seen in his conversations at City Council meetings was the only Councillor who was considered for this role.

The whiners and naysayers provided a list of six demands that Councillor Marra presented to the Mayor in September, 2007 after the Publisher was captured, but to date there has been no response from City Hall. To avoid causing public panic, the Councillor asked the question as a Windsor Tunnel Commissioner rather than as a Councillor. However, the recent Editorials suggested that there was a need now to go public with the demands.

Accordingly, to put pressure on the Mayor to try to get a resolution of this issue, Councillor Marra went public at the last Council meeting to let everyone know that he was formally putting the demands out for the Public to see. Those questions were posted at the beginning of this BLOG.

It remains to see what the Mayor will do now or whether the Windsor Councillors will finally take heed of their legal responsibility under the Municipal Act and take action.

Sources also say that intense pressure is being placed on Infrastructure Ontario to reveal what their due diligence work turned up notwithstanding that the City's loan application is "on hold."

There is no doubt, sources report, that the situation is very grave. We return you to your weekend leisurely activities.