Ahl is still asking questions
Jonathan Ahl has one of the most well-developed bull**** detectors I’ve ever ever encountered on a journalist. When he left Peoria for that cushy job in the hinterlands of Iowa, Peoria lost one of the few people left in this town who could keep things relatively honest.
As the one who goaded him into blogging (and demanded he name the blog “AHL Things Considered,
get it?) I am disappointed when he lets posting slip by the wayside.
Well, after a two-month lull, he’s posting again, and this one is chock-full of Peoria-related newsy goodness:
… former WCBU Executive Director Anthony Dean is facing a lawsuit for gender and age discrimination from the wife of civil rights icon James Meredith. At the end of this article, there is a reference to a sexual harassment suit filed against him that was settled. That’s where the Peoria connection comes in. In the course of that lawsuit, the plaintiff obtained a subpoena for Dean’s employment record at Bradley. But Dean fought the that, and Judge John Gorman quashed the request.
Every person is innocent until proven guilty, but I think its pretty obvious that nobody would go to the trouble and expense to attempt to quash a subpoena in another state unless there was something in there they didn’t want other people to see. It’s important to note the lawsuit related to this was settled out of court. Still, for WCBU, Bradley University, and people in Peoria, I think this asks more questions than it answers.
Too bad the general lack of warm bodies in the news biz here in Peoria kept this news out of the local media.
Thanks, Jonathan. You’re still keeping folks informed here in Peoria.
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 
I don’t pretend to know anything about the media either in Peoria or anywhere for that matter, but this Ahl fellow came up with a story about a person who worked at the same radio operation that this Ahl fellow worked at before, if I’m not mistaken. It then obviously becomes a big deal to Ahl because of either a personal tie-in or a professional one, one would think. Does it make a news story just because the person in trouble with the feds worked onetime at a radio station? The other media in Peoria, warm bodies or not as you contend, probably didn’t see the major deal about the story because he once worked at a radio station. If they even noticed at all, I don’t see where it would fit really in a media report if you guage a ‘who really cares’ factor in. It seems more like blog fodder, which this Ahl fellow made it, It was obviously important to him, but my guess is it’s not really important to many. So, I don’t get your point, Billy, except it’s another chance to take a shot at the media, which is your typical blogger pattern, too. That’s OK too, if it’s your mission to take shots at the media. It’s your blog. Every venue has it’s place in the grand scheme. I don’t see the big deal, personally.
outsidethebox — I believe Ahl’s implication was that Bradley might have covered up sexual harassment complaints when Dean was here. And that begs the question, how many other complaints have been covered up? That affects Bradley students and, ultimately, all Peorians.
This is just another in a series of harassment incidents of all types where those who “behave” in inappropriate ways are able to prevent their past behavior from being disclosed. Harassment is rampant in this town from city offices to those in the public schools to what looks like private institutions as well. If we allow this to go without any publicity then we are in fact condoning this behavior and allowing those who are guilty to continue without fear of punishment.