EDMOND, Okla. (BP)–What’s a pastor or faithful Christian to do when his town’s daily newspaper — the one he depends on to promote his church or business — is rumored to be using its presses after hours to print pornography for an out-of-state client?
Tim Richardson, pastor of Waterloo Road Baptist Church, found himself in such a position recently, as did other conscientious citizens in this typically conservative town of 70,000 people just north of Oklahoma City.
Waterloo Road regularly advertises in the Edmond Sun’s weekly church section, which features a written sermon by an area pastor. Richardson also serves on the board of The Hope Center, an Edmond charity that serves the needy and works closely with the newspaper to spread its message.
To date, neither the Sun nor its parent company, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI), based in Birmingham, Ala., have admitted printing any indecent material, only that they do not print such material and will not in the future.
For several weeks in January, however, rumors swirled about what was rolling off the Sun’s presses after hours.
The Sun’s managing editor of 15 years, Carol Hartzog, resigned after a meeting with the publisher confirmed the suspicions, she said. A phone call from the mayor tipped her off to what she alleges was going on, unknown to her, at the Sun. A production employee reportedly quit for similar reasons.
Advertising in The Hope Center’s monthly tabloid, which is distributed as an insert in the Sun, was so meager — presumably because of its ties to the Sun — it didn’t print in January.
Richardson, who serves in the Edmond Rotary Club with Hartzog, said he talked with her about her resignation and was surprised to learn of the alleged printings.
Waterloo Road has not pulled its advertising, however, and The Hope Center’s board, which met Feb. 14, agreed to continue its longstanding relationship with the newspaper based on the paper’s statement that it will not print sexually offensive material, Richardson said.
“I guess what I’m really trying to do is to affirm the right direction somebody is going rather than criticize what might have been done wrong. I think you want to be appreciative and affirm when a direction has changed.
I think what the paper has agreed to do is better for them and for the whole community.
“I feel like the newspaper is a vital part of our community in many ways.
We want it to be successful, but we also want it to continue in the trust it has had with the community.”
Most of the six Southern Baptist churches in Edmond use the Sun as an advertising outlet at least occasionally.
Joe Rhodes, pastor of Edmond’s Highland Park Baptist Church, said he first learned of the alleged printing job in mid to late January from one of the leaders of the Edmond Ministerial Alliance.
Rhodes, whose congregation hasn’t run newspaper ads in the Sun since last fall for budget reasons, said if the Sun did print the questionable material, “I’m pretty disappointed. If it were still going on, I definitely would not want my church’s ad in there. However, if they are serious about not doing any such business in the future, I’ll say that I wouldn’t avoid advertising in the paper.”
Hartzog, active in renewal ministry at Edmond’s First Presbyterian Church and the mother of a preschooler and a toddler, told the Baptist Messenger she could not in good conscience stay at the Sun after meetings with the publisher and a phone call to CNHI’s president yielded no hint of dropping the alleged printing endeavor.
That the Sun is a major public schools booster and posits itself as a family-oriented newspaper is hypocritical, Hartzog charged. Hartzog said she and her husband agreed that she had no choice but to resign, she said. CNHI owns more than 200 community newspapers nationally, with about 40 in Oklahoma. The Sun prints more than 200 publications on its presses in addition to its daily, afternoon newspaper. CNHI bought the Sun from local owners two years ago.
Hartzog said the questionable printing was done over several weeks in January and perhaps in December for a strip club operation in north Texas and included frontal nudity and what she deemed obscenity by community standards.
When presented with Hartzog’s allegations, the Sun’s publisher, John Tucker told the Baptist Messenger: “We do not print anything erotic, sexually explicit or offensive in nature.”
Asked if the Sun had printed such material in January, Tucker replied, “Once again, I will say that you seem to have been given inaccurate information. I will not respond to this matter again.” Likewise, CNHI’s chief operating officer, Kevin Kampman, said, “John (Tucker) tells me that he has responded to you that it seems clear, based on your questions, that you have been given inaccurate information. Let me echo that statement to you.
“While I wish I could discuss this matter more fully, legal considerations and appropriate business practices preclude such a conversation.”
Meanwhile, Hartzog said she and her husband are mindful of Exodus 14:13, wherein Moses says to the Israelites who are fearful of the Egyptians in pursuit: “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today … .”
A former colleague of Hartzog’s who left the Sun two years ago, said her actions showed great courage.
“Most of us would ask, ‘Gee, what will I do next?’ She did it without thought of what she was going to do next. That’s extremely courageous. “Imagine what would have happened if someone at Enron would have had that kind of courage two or three years ago.”
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