From the Halls of Montezuma:
To the Shores of Hartford Connecticut
December 16, 2004
Nothing delivers backhanded compliments to good people better than a backwater provincial newspaper and its backwater provincial reporters. I guess that the urbane elite from the New York Times has set the whacko bar so high that anything NORMAL is no longer news. And thus...the Hartford Courant shuffled the U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program (TFT) to the back of the deck.
The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve TFT is the undisputed leader in giving joy to underprivileged children during the Christmas season. In the fall of 1947, Diane Hendricks, wife of Major Bill Hendricks (USMCR), had stitched together a Raggedy Ann doll. Mrs. Hendricks asked her husband to find an organization that would gift the doll to a needy child at Christmas. Persevere as he might, the good Major was unable to find such an organization. With the “can do” of a Marine wife, Mrs. Hendricks suggested that her husband start such an organization.
From its humble beginnings in 1947 when Major Hendricks and a few “draftees” collected and distributed 7000 toys to needy children, TFT has grown into an epicenter of Christmas joy. From its website, “The 2003 Toys for Tots campaign was the most successful campaign in the 56 year history of the Program. Marines distributed 15 million toys to 6.5 million needy children.” In its 56 years of giving joy, the U.S. Marines’ TFT program has collected 313 million toys and made a very merry Christmas for 151 million needy children.
One of the most successful drives of the Toys for Tots program is the Hartford, CT based Symphony on Ice (SOI). In its 25th year, the United Technologies sponsored SOI is an annual ice skating show that charges a new unwrapped toy as the cost of admission. As one of the biggest giving events in the nation, Symphony on Ice, through the efforts of thousands of volunteers, has collected 320,000 toys for the Marines’ TFT program. Over 17,000 toys were collected at this year’s show.
Among the highlights of the 2004 SOI were its very beginning and the finale. Upon entering the Hartford Civic Center, one couldn’t help noticing the comforting sight of Marines everywhere. The men and women of the U.S. Marines, whether decked-out in camo or full dress, held a commanding and reassuring presence. That day, they were fighting the battle against the lonely heart of a needy child at Christmas time. These brave defenders of our nation partnered with hundreds of civilian volunteers for the singular purpose of bringing Christmas smiles to the faces of needy children.
After a spectacular ice show that featured the donated talents of The Symphony Skaters, The Connecticut Children’s Chorus and The Group With No Name...the 2004 SOI concluded with Santa’s Zamboni-powered sleigh gliding across the ice with over 17,000 donated toys in tow.
Here was a tremendous charitable event that counted Connecticut’s Governor, Hartford’s Mayor, Alexei Yagudin (a four-time world and reigning Olympic champion) and 17,000 toys for needy children among its “Special Guests”. And how did “America’s Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper”, the Hartford Courant, report it?
The Courant, a Tribune paper and sister to the L. A. Times, devoted its front page to four stories: As Colleges Profit, Sweatshops Worsen (4004 words); Trapped By Zippers And Hoods (4236 words); A Little Fight Over Small Debt (2079 words) and Hussein's Oil Trade An Open Secret--U.S. Did Little To Stop Years Of Illicit Deals (1064 words). Oh...and buried on page B-2, Ice Show Nets 17000 Toys (121 words). Geez...Jimmy Carter’s son got more coverage for his pot bust.
When announcing the layoffs of 10 newsroom positions in the wake of the Courant’s previous reduction of 19 newsroom positions, editor Brian Toolan said, “I would hope that they (readers) would notice no diminishment in coverage.” Was this before or after Toolan let it slip that, “The newspaper also reduced the amount of space in the paper dedicated to news”? God only knows what the rest of the paper is “dedicated” to.
It’s not surprising that the Hartford Courant (along with most other elite papers) is in an “economic slump”. The first line of the Courant’s “Mission Statement” reads, “The Hartford Courant is committed to providing the information Connecticut needs and to being a responsible force for progress in the community.” So, the “responsible force for progress in the community” gives 2079 front-page words to a story on small claims court proceedings and 121 back-page words to one of the largest single-day charity events in the nation.
And that’s the hypocrisy of major elite media companies. Everybody is striving to be an also-ran to the Upper West Side pretensions of the New York Times. Local news, especially NORMAL local news, is not on the cosmopolitan wannabe radar. Apparently the MSM world of journalism loses its sense of smell when it comes to good news. Especially if that good news is dressed in a Marine uniform.
Maybe it takes a worthy organization like “Connecticut Felons on Death Row” to earn the admiration of the Courant’s “innovative...and risk taking” staff. After all...what difference do a bunch of U.S. Marines, dedicated local volunteers and 17,000 toys for needy children make to the urbane discrimination of this Pulitzer Prize winning “force for progress in the community”!
RightPage