Opinion
NOVEMBER 13, 2011
Down in the foxhole
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lthough none of us at Toledo Free Press are related by blood, we are very much a family business. With fewer than a dozen core people in the office, and the pace of the twice-a-week printing schedule, 605 Monroe St. is an intense place to work. When one of us suffers a loss, we all grieve. When one of us reaches a milestone or records a triumph, we all celebrate. Toledo Free Press would not have lasted seven years and enjoyed its modest impact without this sense of teamwork and family. I have often said, “You’re either in the foxhole with us fighting or you’re somewhere safely off the battlefield looking at us from afar.” The discovery that one of our family members was leading a check-cashing scheme that stole tens of thousands of dollars from Toledo Free Press LLC has been devastating and difficult to believe. We recently discovered that a former Toledo Free Press circulation manager and a Thomas F. Pounds few delivery people had concocted a checkcashing scheme in which delivery routes were fabricated and Toledo Free Press was fraudulently billed for work that was not done. From as early as 2008, these people stole money from our small company, which means they stole it from the hands of all of our employees. In addition, the same people were stealing actual product. With each delivery of 100,000-plus newspapers from our printer, there is often a pallet or more of “overages,” or extra bundles the printer sends along. Sometimes these extra newspapers are archived, sent to an event we sponsor or returned to the printer. No matter what happens to them, they are Toledo Free Press property. In addition to the checkcashing scheme, these overages were reportedly often removed from the Toledo Free Press warehouse and taken for recycling for cash that was then kept by those who were stealing from our company. When we began to suspect what was happening, we hired an agency to investigate, film and collect evidence of the fraud. As soon as we had that evidence in hand, we terminated the employment of the suspected people and we took our case to the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office for help. As a result of the prosecutors’ investigation, a number of indictments could be announced very soon. The loss of money and property is of course a setback. But coming to terms with having someone we thought of as a family member be the thief is just as great a source of pain. Toledo Free Press and its employees are the victims in this case. But thanks to the efforts of the Lucas County Prosecutors’ Office, we believe justice will be done. Some of the monetary losses may be replaced. The empty space in the foxhole never will. O Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.
EDITORIAL Mary Ann Stearns, Design Editor mastearns@toledofreepress.com James A. Molnar, Lead Designer jmolnar@toledofreepress.com Sarah Ottney, Special Sections Editor sottney@toledofreepress.com
ADVERTISING SALES Renee Bergmooser, Sales Manager rbergmooser@toledofreepress.com Casey Fischer cfischer@toledofreepress.com Matt Mackowiak mmackowiak@toledofreepress.com Chick Reid creid@toledofreepress.com
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LIGHTING THE FUSE
Publisher’s statement
A publication of Toledo Free Press, LLC, Vol. 7, No. 46. Established 2005.
Visit www.toledofreepress.com
The PFSORFAIARFPOD
“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” — Mohandas Gandhi
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answer to make the case they failed to make. It certainly would be neighborly and friendly of us to help the Blocks build their case. But we’re not feeling very friendly these days.
eportedly, eight to 10 people who worked in The Blade’s ad production department received a trick on The Blocks go fishin’ Halloween; they were laid off as the newspaper conTo my untrained thinking, the PFSORFAIARFPOD is a solidated services with its Pittsburgh sister newspaper. One Block fishing expedition, an attempt to force us to incrimiof them posted at Toledo Talk that she had nate ourselves. served there 24 years. The very first question in the PFSORI can’t help but wonder how many of FAIARFPOD asks us to admit to the Blocks’ those people would still be employed if The accusations. The second question in the PFBlade’s parent company, Block CommunicaSORFAIARFPOD asks us, if question No. 1 tions, wasn’t spending untold thousands of is “anything other than an unqualified addollars on a frivolous lawsuit against me. mission,” to state all the facts that support I guess we all have our priorities. the response. About three weeks ago, Toledo Free Press In other words, “Answer this: Have you LLC Publisher Tom Pounds and I received stopped kicking your dog, Mr. Miller?” notice that the Blocks were suing each of The PFSORFAIARFPOD also asks Tom us. The background for the suit is allegedly Michael S. miller and I to describe our job duties (That’s easy: a provision in the separation agreement Tom oversees all financial and circulation Tom signed when he left The Blade nearly eight years ago, aspects of the newspaper, sells ads, serves on nonprofit which provided that he would not disparage The Blade or boards and generally keeps the business running. He also “take any action, directly or indirectly, intended to harm squeezes free as little page space as possible for me to work the plaintiff, its parent, division, subsidiaries, or affiliates or with, which is the primary reason our business has survived any of their directors, officers, shareholders, or employees.” nearly seven years. I run the editorial side of the newspaper The Blocks claim Tom has used Toledo Free Press con- and spend Tom’s money on writers, artists, photographers tent to breach his agreement, using me as an alter ego or and other unsavory characters). The PFSORFAIARFPOD puppet to accomplish the dirty deeds. According to the suit, also asks Tom and me to identify all of our personal email I am an “instrument and agent” of Tom’s and I am person- accounts. I am not looking forward to reading what the folks ally liable for “damages” under the agreement Tom signed at the Toledo Talk message board have to say about the mesnearly eight years ago. sages from my humancentipede77@hotmail.com account. I have a nickname for this clear attempt to stifle my First The PFSORFAIARFPOD also requests job duty descripAmendment rights: “Operation Bullsh*t.” tions for all Toledo Free Press employees. Are you starting to share my suspicion that one of the intentions of the Blocks’ First time for everything lawsuit is to just bury us in pointless paperwork? Another item of the Operation Bullsh*t PFSORI have never personally been sued before, and probably neither have most of you. As part of this experience, which FAIARFPOD asks for all organizational charts for ToI am told could last from six months to two years, I am going ledo Free Press. No such charts exist, but if one did, to share the journey and try to bring transparency to this it would have a box at the top labeled “Tom,” with a branch for me, the salespeople, the administration staff process of bullying through litigation. On Oct. 4, the Blocks’ legal team sent a 16-page docu- and the circulation crew, with another branch from my ment to all of us named in the suit: “The Plaintiff ’s First box that contains writers, artists, photographers, proofSet of Requests f or (sic) Admissions, Interrogatories and readers and other unpleasant addicts, reprobates and menaces to society. Requests for Production of Documents.” The PFSORFAIARFPOD requests “all documents (inOr PFSORFAIARFPOD for short. Fun fact: So far, the Blocks have generated 116 printed cluding notes, drafts, emails, etc.) related to the May 22, pages for this suit, not counting envelopes and whatever 2011 article entitled (sic) “Blade Unions Authorize Strike.” That will be easy, as that will consist of two documents: a reams of fallen trees they have zipped through internally. I have zero working knowledge of the legal system (al- letter Toledo Blade Newspaper Guild Administrative Ofthough that is obviously changing by the day), but it seems ficer Lillian Covarrubias wrote to guild members on May to me the PFSORFAIARFPOD is an odd document. The 15 (titled “Blade Outsourcing Plan Shames Blocks”) and a Blocks previously filled 13 pages explaining why they were handwritten log of unsuccessful attempts to get a comment suing us, but the PFSORFAIARFPOD consists of 36 re- from Blade President and General Manager Joe Zerbey. quests for information and questions we are supposed to n PFSORFAIARFPOD CONTINUES ON A4 Thomas F. Pounds, President/Publisher tpounds@toledofreepress.com
ADMINISTRATION Pam Burson, Business Manager pburson@toledofreepress.com DISTRIBUTION (419) 241-1700, Ext. 227 tpounds@toledofreepress.com PRODUCTION Joseph Herr, Lisa Stang, Photographers
Michael S. Miller, Editor in Chief mmiller@toledofreepress.com
STAFF WRITERS news@toledofreepress.com Brandi Barhite • Mike Bauman • Jim Beard • Zach Davis • John Dorsey Vicki L. Kroll • Jason Mack • Jeff McGinnis • Duane Ramsey • Joel Sensenig Chris Kozak, Staff Writer Emeritus • Lisa Renee Ward, Staff Writer Emeritus COPY EDITORS/PROOFREADERS Darcy Irons, Brigitta Burks, Marisha Pietrowski, Gary Varney
Toledo Free Press is published every Sunday by Toledo Free Press, LLC, 605 Monroe St., Toledo, OH 43604 Phone: (419) 241-1700 Fax: (419) 241-8828 www.toledofreepress.com. Subscription rate: $100 /year. Reproduction or use of editorial or graphic content in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. Copyright 2011 with all rights reserved. Publication of advertisements does not imply endorsement of advertisers’ goods or services.