Reno Gazette-Journal Publisher Ted Power was sentenced to 25 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $640 fine yesterday for driving under the influence of alcohol in December, the Nevada newspaper says.
Power also was ordered to attend a Victim Impact Panel and DUI school.
His arrest late Dec. 3 was noteworthy because it came after the Gazette-Journal had published an award-winning series of stories about lax enforcement of the state's DUI laws. A week after the incident, Power apologized to readers in a column where he said: "I didn't get the message of our own stories."
Power has been the paper's publisher since May 2007.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
31 comments:
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So was he driving the company car? I hope a memo went out to the Publishers and above they are not above the law as most think they are.
ReplyDeleteNo. There is no "company" car in Reno. It was his private vehicle, yet with personalized Nevada plates that read "RGJ.COM." The arrest took place in an exclusive, upscale part of town. I hope people don't jump into the whole schadenfreude thing again; the guy made a serious mistake in his personal and professional life, and got a huge wake-up call. I realize the monetary fine is chump change to a publisher. I realize he'll be doing community service when others would get jail (yes, on a first offense). But his Teflon stature (e.g., his knack for not having any need to flesh out much else past his own reality), and his credibility has been severely damaged especially since the paper had a role in putting DUI's in jail. He's not a "bad" guy -- just too disconnected as the elite usually are. I've dealt with him, and Power would be and is genuinely humiliated by the whole spectacle. Unfortunately for matters of the new flavor of journalistic ethics, the Comment option is currently turned off for this story at RGJ.com. I presume by folks who just want skirt the next round of layoffs.
ReplyDeleteSeems like a really light sentence. Is that the norm in Nevada for this offense?
ReplyDeleteAre you sure they don't have company cars most publishers get company cars or all of them is what I had heard.
ReplyDeleteI am with 9:59. In my state, first offenders are required to go through DUI courses with a shrink before even coming to court. The court uses these sessions to determine if someone is capable of being reformed or not. Then, and it is usually six months later, there is a hearing and first offenders usually get six months probation, suspended and are told that if they drive drunk again within 10 years they will go to the slammer. This Nevada procedure looks awfully lenient to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm 9:46. First offense in Nevada is usually quite stern. Light years more of a hardship than what was dealt to Power, but that's the niche these guys run in, and that's the nature of class society. I am hardly stunned nor do I have the vapors. Thing is, as noted previously, Power is not a bad guy personally. He's not very personable, cowed like most in Gannett on every sadomasochistic rung, doesn't give the freakin' time of day to most of 'em if they don't know the location of his office; the role of publisher is all he metes to his faceless staff usually. With Gannett's death throes, why should he? And now he's essentially sucking kharma. I just think it's sad. Stupid and needless. Would have loved to see him fight to save jobs, like local papers in Gannett used to do. But those jobs cleaved, those were for the little people, and I surmise Power is well on the way in Gannett to becoming one.
ReplyDeleteRENO used to be the West Coast hub with Sue. The leading property with tech and innovation. The site, as in not WWW, won a lot of recognition thanks to people in the trenches... and Sue, she was serious. Sue was completely open. I once debated her in a coffee shop we both frequented; my job was never in question. Can one imagine any publisher now going to the same coffee shop?
ReplyDeleteWhat, no loss of driving privileges? If that’s the case, then the punishment is hardly befitting of the offense he admits.
ReplyDeleteWere this type of leniency (25 hours of community service and the cost of a good case of Cabernet from Napa valley) afforded to like public figures in Gannett’s other markets, those papers would likely write editorials calling for more; as would MADD and other like groups.
Is this guy still the Publisher?
ReplyDeleteYes.
ReplyDeleteAnd I bet there's no story coming soon about light sentences. If Gannett had anything on the ball anymore, that's what they'd do -- and Power would feel free to suggest it: an examination of Class Difference (the guy's Right THERE in it!) in first-time DUI sentencing. Oh, wait. Gannett is about Gannettization, sports scores and drunk chicks in bars I never go to.
ReplyDeleteI should do some drinking and driving in Nevada... here in NY, you can't walk away from a DUI without at least $5,000 in fines and penalties.
ReplyDeleteWhat a bunch if vitriolic mean spirited individuals. I've never seen vultures puck at the bones like you choose to do. I hope you never make a bad mistake abs have the wolves tear you apart. I sleep great at night I am not sure you boots do as well. Mo I'm not Craig, Gracia or a troll. I am a human being that knows evil when he sees it. Shame on you all.
ReplyDelete9:29- Are you serious? Mean Spirited? There is absolutely no way this guy deserves to keep his job. At the very least he should have done the honorable thing and fell on his sword. Since he obviously doesn't have the balls the Palace should have pushed him on it. For the sake of the organizations credibilty (what's left).
ReplyDeleteHe clearly violated the trust of the community. If you get paid 200K+ to be the standard bearer of ethics and integrity, and you fail in an epic fashion. Well... goodbye.
What if that were a lowly ad rep. This guy would have had them fired on the spot. Why does he get to stay?
Jeez, what company does 9:29 work for? Anyone on the lower rungs would be out on his ass after something like this. Some lush in charge of a major GCI property? Get real.
ReplyDeleteName an example where someone in a non injury DUI got fired. You can't. Let the vile, vindictive, dribble continue. Jim your advertisers must live thus demographic.
ReplyDeleteI am with 7:38. Do you people really hate all things Gannett that you wish I'll will on another person? I mean when you are not trying to vent on the blog and you are sitting at home to you wish bad things on people? Do you really want to be that person?
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ReplyDeleteCome to Wisconsin! First offense DUI isn't even a crime.
ReplyDeleteMax $665, no jail time, no community service. 6-9 mo. suspension but you get an occupational license immediately.
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/docs/owi-penchrt.pdf
You guys are harsh. People make stupid mistakes all the time. It sounds like he had a great lawyer or three. That's the American way. If you don't like it then move. I know I'd pony up for the best lawyer if I were him.
ReplyDeleteSome of you think he should get the "standard" harsh punishment of other first-timers, but then you want him to lose his job because of his position in society. I'm confused.
I don't know this guy at all, but all I've read is evidence that he greatly regrets the mistake.
Harsh? All I know is that when I worked at one of the miserable Ohio Gannett papers, had I been arrested for DUI I would have been fired the next day by my little despot dictator sniveling publisher.
ReplyDeleteThere has and always will be a double standard for conduct. Gannett's "ethics" policies is a great example of this.
Anon 7:28 AM – Rest assured, employees have been terminated for DUI related incidents, including even some caught on personal time in their own vehicles.
ReplyDeleteNice retort 11:03 but once again you are wring. You are simply trying to inflame the readers with your comment. Sure there may have been an occasion when someone was fired but the vast majority of folks that were involved in non injury, first time DUIs did not lose their job. You are simply making up facts to prove your us vs them point. You are a hater, we get that.
ReplyDeleteAnon 5:49 –Please note 7:28’s comment, they said NO ONE’s ever been fired for a non-injury DUI, hence, my reply – not to inflame, but to inform.
ReplyDeleteOne of the hardest terminations of my career involved firing a widely liked, hard-working professional who for obvious reasons I won’t even come close to naming. Their punishment prevented them from driving (poor legal representation) and as their role involved support of multiple sites they were cut. Plus, we didn’t want to put the company at risk upon reinstatement. The same held true in other areas, especially transportation as the risks and costs of letting someone convicted of a DUI drive company vehicles was too high.
Your attack on me for challenging 7:28 is comical, more so in that I didn’t resort to calling anyone names nor make untrue, conflicting comments – you did.
5:49- YOU ARE WRONG. Fact check the HR handbook. A DUI is cause for immediate termination if your position requires a license. Like say.... if you are an outside sales representitve. I know for a FACT that this is true. I have SEEN it with my own eyes.
ReplyDelete6:40 if you look at an earlier post I said that. If you are an outside sales rep and they take away your license for six months what is any company suppose to do?If your upset he didn't lose his license that's a different discussion. Must non injury, one vehicle,first time DUIs don't result In the driver losing their license. The hater is still a hater.
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ReplyDelete9:46 sounds like one of his "yes men" he has surrounded himself with. The paper is now garbage because of this guy. When the publisher he replaced was there, this paper was respected in the community. He was involved in many organizations outside the paper. Power is clown and believe me what comes around goes around.
ReplyDelete9:46 sounds like you're not a fan. Sorry to disagree but Ted is a great guy who made a mistake. The real clowns are guys like you who enjoy piling on when times are tough. If that makes me a Yes man at least I don't ride to work in your circus car!!!!!
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