Here’s something about Phil Luciano you need to know …
He’s a human being. And he has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. And he’s accused of getting into a bar fight. And from all reports no one was injured. This is not the crime of the century, folks.
The Journal Star hasn’t allowed comments on this or other articles about the mess he’s found himself in. But they have allowed comments on his column. And I’ve been amazed at the venom that’s been hurled at him. There’s even some of that nonsense here on C.J.’s site.
Here is a question for all of the boo birds, anonymous or otherwise: Ever been arrested? Ever do anything you could have been arrested for, but managed to get away with it? Think hard. It didn’t take me long to make a list.
I’m not defending Luciano. He’s going to have to do that himself. When this is over, he’d be wise to come clean. But he has the right to a trial and his attorney no doubt wants him to keep his big yap shut. And because he isn’t flapping his gums, all we know is what has appeared in police reports and those are based on information from the victims.
I’ve been very critical of some of Luciano’s columns. Some of his targets think he’s been unfair. Some people think his snideness is insufferable. Still, he has written some good stuff.
There’s too much important crap going on in Peoria and the world to waste a minute wallowing in schadenfreude.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
“Some of his targets think he’s been unfair. Some people think his snideness is insufferable.”
While still others think he is one of the most boring writers/radio people on the planet…
Seriously, I find more excitement reading the damned phone book…
I worked with Phil. He was the president of my union for six years — twice as long as anyone else ever has been. When he ran the last time, I voted for his opponent, because I thought it was time for a change. He lost to Dayna Brown Nielsen. He ran for vice president when the Journal Star was for sale in late 2006. I voted for him then, because I thought his vast experience was needed when our union faced a big challenge.
He is a hard worker; I never heard him complain about an assignment. I know very little about his personal problems, because I don’t work at the Journal Star anymore. And, yes, I think Rick Baker was a better columnist. But Baker is dead. And he was a tough act to follow. Phil is much less of a prima donna than Baker was.
Phil is a genuine media personality. He and Markley’s radio show is amazingly good for a market like Peoria. Hell, it would be pretty good in a major city.
If Phil did what he is accused of doing, it was pretty dumb. But he’s a big boy and knows that reader venom goes with the territory. He’ll be fine.
I would like to add this about the Journal Star. I told this to management for years: It doesn’t matter if people love the Journal Star or hate it. The Journal Star dies when people ignore it.
So much has been said about what Phil did, but nothing about why he did it? Perhaps he was egged on to do something that he wouldn’t ordinarily do by some person who deserved to have his bell rung. In the meantime lets get on with the day and get our noses out of his business.
Someone like Luciano probably expected this type of public reaction after his arrest. He would have been foolish not to.
And SD, at what age does it become a little ridiculous to be getting in bar fights? Maybe it’s time to, oh I don’t know, drink at home with some friends?
If some average Joe off the street hit some guy and a girl in a bar, he would get his ass kicked and that would be it. I’ve seen many bar fights, and VERY few of them have brought the cops. Phil Luciano got arrested because he’s Phil Luciano.
I like his columns and his radio show and wish him the best.
Thanks, Bill, for your comments. Innocent until proven guilty is still the law, I hope!
Phil does a good job with his column.
How many of you out there could do that day after day, week after week, year after year? Not many. Its very tough!
Thanks Billy, you took the “high road” on this one. Good post.
Ah, the power of positive drinking! Phil isn’t the first Journal Star staffer to get in trouble in a bar and, assuming the paper survives, probably won’t be the last. Back in the day, though, the cops usually weren’t called. I especially remember one guy who was hauled by his buddies to the St. Francis ER about 5 a.m. to get his face sewed up. Seems he was playing pool for money with a couple of ex-cons and couldn’t pay when he lost. Cub reporters are always broke. These guys were a lot younger than Phil, though, and presumably had less good sense.
I’m glad most people are taking the position that this is no big deal. I know Phil and he’s helped me out in the past and he does work for charitable causes. If you only know him from his column, you really don’t know him at all. Most of us have done dumb stuff after drinking, I know I do on a nightly basis. Cheers!
I’m sure Phil is collecting all these comments for a multi-part “Random Axe of Snideness” series after his trial and everything is over.
Oh, a big, steaming pile of BS.
I would agree with all of the mythical whines about “innocent until proven guilty” if the PJS and local media played fair, but it does not play fair when members of the media or friends of the media are caught with their….well, go to Lollygaggin’s site and you see the image I mean.
If anyone else in the area with the visibility of a Luciano like character did the same, but did not exist in the Billy O’Lovefest Bubble, their face would be plastered all over the media and repeatedly.
So all of you Luciano apologists out there take a big swig from your big glass of hypocrisy and keep on protecting while nailing everyone else.
Obrien, while I somewhat agree with your comment, you’re still a steaming pile of dog crap on the sidewalk outside the bakery.
Do you have an example of “anyone else in the area with the visibility of a Luciano like character did the same, but did not exist in the Billy O’Lovefest Bubble, their face would be plastered all over the media and repeatedly.”?
What the, I remember that Ardis’s son got a DUI but no other details were ever released.
Mazr: I addressed this situation in this post. I wrote:
Is the underage relative of a politician MORE of a public celebrity than a radio personality and columnists, and thus more deserving of a front-page coverage?
My personal policy when I made these sorts of decisions at newspapers is that family of politicians were treated like ordinary citizens, not public figures.
What The….real nice and quite mature, your opening line that is…
Ask Billy…there are plenty of local “celebrities” that have benefited from the protective cloak of the friendly local media….but for a start…
How about the two local politicians once caught on tape making highly offensive remarks, or how about a local media person caught up in a sex scandal, or a media personality that once liked to party just a bit too hard…
All you have to do is pay attention to the perp walk mugshot profiles in the PJS that get printed and don’t get printed.
I’m not suggesting Luciano do a column on his own little bar episode, that would be foolish, but it wouldn’t it be somewhat ethical for people in the media to admit, if someone along the same lines as Luciano did the same thing and were not in the media, then Luciano would have been the first one in line to write a column about it?
“How about the two local politicians once caught on tape making highly offensive remarks, or how about a local media person caught up in a sex scandal, or a media personality that once liked to party just a bit too hard…”
Look, I don’t want to get involved too deeply in this conversation, but the above paragraph made me laugh out loud and nearly squirt coffee out of my nose! OMG! Politicians making highly offensive remarks? Journalists having sex and partying just a bit too hard?
Good lord. What’s next? Popes wearing tall hats? Bears pooping in the woods?
Sorry. That just struck me as unintentionally hilarious.
Towery,
It’d be a lot funnier if your people would play by the same standards they use on other people.
Earlier the Pundit here mentioned how he thought family members should be off limits. Well, I also recall some time ago how a local cops’ kid got in trouble and all through the article it was brought up how this kid was the child of a local cop.
You folks refuse to admit it, but there is a double standard here and there always has been. You folks just lack the integrity to admit it.
But let me clarify the politician remark – these two politicians are seen as friends of the media and there lies the problem – if they are friends of the media, then their warts are well hidden by their friends in the media.
Billy, I remember the initial story was in the paper, but unless I’m mistaken, no other details were ever printed.