Thursday, April 24, 2008

Intentional Misinformation or Sloppy Reporting?

I was dismayed to read the Sun's April 24 editorial concerning SKIA, because of its obvious bias against Port Orchard. To call the approach Port Orchard has presented for the development of SKIA "convoluted," is not only misinformed, it does a disservice to the paper's readers who most likely aren't familiar with the proposal, by representing what appears to be misinformation, as factual.

What Port Orchard has presented is a balanced proposal based on what is clearly spelled out in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Port, the County, and the cities of Bremerton and Port Orchard. This is a legal contract which Port Orchard believes the parties have an obligation to fulfill.

As far as any "threatened lawsuit" is concerned, there have been NO threats issued by the City of Port Orchard. Our City Attorney did send a letter to the parties signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding reminding them of their obligations under the agreement — and nothing more. Perhaps the Sun should have checked with Port Orchard before implying to its readers in that editorial it was the potential plaintiff. It is our sincere belief that cooperation is preferable to litigation. Meanwhile, the City has been informally approached to partner with a group interested in using litigation to stop the annexation of SKIA by Bremerton. We have declined to participate because of our obligations under the Memorandum of Understanding.

In the future, perhaps before casting the City of Port Orchard in any kind of negative light editorially, it would be better if the Sun's editorial writer(s) simply picked up the phone and made sure they had all the facts first.

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