Game on

I mentioned yesterday I got a manifest of sorts from the new publisher of the Chicago Journal. I have more knowledge on the details of the transaction (if that's what you want to call it) than I care to share at the moment.

But this -- this paragraph was out of left field.

Ron Roenigk throws out the challenge.... "We're an audited newspaper with a 26-year track record and have been in several newspaper wars. We intend to fight for market share and ad dollars just as we did against Lerner/Booster and others over the years. We've faced off against the best and worst this industry has to offer so look for us to try and scoop you and swipe your advertisers just as I expect you will be doing to us as well. We like competition...."

Competition? Ron, maybe you haven't heard? I just don't like competition. I thrive on it. I co-manage/co-sponsor the highest ranking Privateer AMA Pro extreme off-road racing/trials team in North America. Our team travels the world looking to compete against the very best of the best.

This week I had a hand in keeping HB 3914 from moving forward the Springfield. Now that was tough competition. I even got a note from Harry Osterman. He said, "be gracious in victory." I take it from this response, he was one of the 3 legislatures who wanted to take away the kids rights to ride. I enjoyed this blow-out win. I was able to help shoot down this stupid bill while I was still covering important neighborhood news. Like the boy shot on Fargo this week.

So... to compete against you? Well, I'll run circles around you. I'll run you out of Rogers Park in a year. Maybe less. Ron, your paper will never scoop me in Rogers Park. In fact, other than a church bingo game, or some reworded chamber of commerce press release, I'll challenge your paper to scoop me on a crime or development issue in the 49th ward with-in one year period. We'll keep it to these two very important community topics. I know there's room for nit-picking. We could narrow it down to a murders and any zoning change.

As for competition in advertising. Well, you win there, buddy. Swipe away. I don't take advertising. I only offer quality news the lazy community newspaper journalists love to hijack for their own. Sure, they change a word here and a word there, get a feel good quote from a public official, maybe a meaningless statistic. But they didn't do any of the heavy lifting.

I'll give you an example. The Heartland Cafe closing yesterday. I did the leg-work for Lorraine Swanson. She got the information from me in a phone call conversation. I've got the phone record and time of the call on my phone log. Then she went to my blog to see the exclusive photograph. My coverage led her to the ice-machine problems. I pointed out the pest truck for her. All she did was call the Health Department in her pajamas when they opened their offices at 9 AM. If she tells any publisher, like the clueless Dan Haley anything different, she'd be disingenuous in that statement. How pathetic is that?

And how is your crime reporter, Lorraine Swanson, going to do the police blotter and review arrest reports? She's banned from the 24th district police station information pool? See, Lorraine did something very, very, unethical -- and now isn't allowed in. Like you're denied access in the 23rd district police report files. That's why you don't see any 24th district crimes listed anymore in the News-Star. Most of her crime stories these days she hijacks from me. I wonder if she ever told her old boss why she got 86'd from the 24th?

As for this audited freebie community newspaper crap. Sure, tell us the News-Star actual numbers? You'll be covering 4 neighborhoods with over 200,000 residents. How many copies do you print? Maybe 5000? What's that, 1,250 copies for Rogers Park? I got double that amount of readers a day. That's including you and Lorraine, of course.

So, you want competition? You got it. I'm going to work my ass off to crush your new community newspaper like a bug. To make it interesting for the readers in the 49th ward, I'm taking on Joe Moore's new community newspaper too. I like multi-tasking. That's how I roll.

See, I really do thrive on competition. Game on.