The city of Bell, Calif. has become infamous for the misappropriation of public funds over the last decade.
The community only covers about three miles and has a population of blue-collar workers of 36,664 and is considered one of the poorest cities in Los Angeles County.
The city manager was receiving a yearly salary of $800,000 per year, the assistant city manager was making $376,288, and several of the council members were making nearly $100,000 per year. The police chief made $457,000, more than the police chief of Los Angeles. In addition, they illegally gave themselves loans.
The total cost of the scandal amounted to $5.5 million. The Los Angeles Times, a newspaper in California, won a Pulitzer for the series of stories.
Apparently, the community had no local newspaper or even a newspaper website.
It is the newspaper reporters who are sitting through hundreds of hours of meetings each year. And it is often on that innocuous agenda that something comes up that nobody is proud of.
While nothing like Bell, Calif. is going on in this county, it is not always easy to write about those difficult topics, to sit through meetings about numerous trivial topics, or to receive letters with personal attacks.
It is not easy to work holiday weekends, Saturdays, or several evenings a week, only to have one’s story stolen by a competitor who doesn’t sit through those meetings.
It’s not easy to work fifty weeks of the year. News doesn’t always happen 9 to 5, remembering that advertising pays our less than a teacher wages. The cost of subscription only pays for the newspaper and delivery.
However, many newspaper reporters are dedicated to telling the truth, even if the story is boring or even if people don’t like it. They are free to write a letter to the editor, with their name on it, just as reporters sign their work.
Karen La Pierre