Tucson Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • 13

fe 1 sedyaw Opinions of others Analyses Background reports Thursday April 4 1 991 Tucson Citizen 13A Channel unlucky new signal is not good Switching transmitters and fouling up local CBS broadcasts in hoop-crazy Tucson the day before the NCAA Tournament had to be the bonehead move of the year 1 thought Or maybe it was bad luck for Channel 13 Why else would KDLD-TV send a fuzzy signal to thousands of Southern Arizona viewers and even jam cable reception in some parts of town just as the biggest ever tuned in to watch the University of Arizona Wildcats? Like armchaiw coaches all over towm I drew a technical foul and was nearly ejected from the Family Arena for cursing KOLD A cast of thousands called the station And when phone lines were overloaded they called other TV stations And w'rote letters to the editor And called me you find out going a Green Valley woman pleaded the only one who gets a good picture and all my neighbors are coming to my house to watch the I figured somebody ought to do something before she invited her neighbors to leave with a lit stick of dynamite So I called KOLD-TV Their polite complaint officer said like their galling ads that service was actually improved by the more powerful new transmitter But for those who noticed all that he had some suggestions: add an antenna for Channel 13 only move your antenna or buy cable Cable viewers could switch to temporary broadcasts on another channel try using a VCR to bust or disconnect cable and switch to rabbit ears for uled complaining) going on at Channel 13 is well not good news People: Since the News Press Gazette company of St Joseph Mo bought KOLD in June 1989 many well-known faces have vanished So big deal TV news changes anchors faster than Larry King changes wives But employees who survived at KOLD say be fired in a stationbreak if they badmouth management And those who have been axed say well-paid are being replaced with minimum-wage rookies and it shows crowning blow for me was when they let (sports anchor) Kevin McCabe go a day before said former KOLD weatherman Jimmy Stewart now at KVOA want a contract with those McCabe now at Channel 10 in Phoenix agreed that his surprise layoff gave new meaning to And he says it still hurts to see that the station carrying the NCAA Tournament sent nobody to cover the Wildcats Ratings: Neilsen ratings show that KOLD's local new has slipped in the past year The ratings numbers (a percentage of all TV sets) for the 5 pm news dropped from 11 to 7 Audience shares a percentage of all viewers slipped more and are now about half the size of leader numbers Management: A KOLD spokesman said the market will determine the wisdom of changes and right But he asked to talk off the record and wanted the names of people I talked to at the station I say and he say much Others said KOLD is treating Tucson the 80th ranked TV viewing market like an college for TV news Jon Ruby president and general manager of KVOA-4 said that KOLD was No 1 and Tucson wrns a training market in 1974 But no hired a news department employee with less than three or four years' experience in eight And Ruby said a 1985 study by all three commercial stations found that moving transmitters to new location would leave 15 percent of local viewers blocked by mountains So Ruby and KVOA Vice President of Programming David Hatfield think KOLD deliberately switched transmitters during the NCAA Tournament to get more viewers to re-aim their antennas northwest toward 13 and away from the other northeast transmitters 1 "Now getting calls about poor reception of Channel 4 from viewers who changed their Hatfield said timing was no Maybe it wasn't a bonehead move at all Maybe it was an intentional foul Peter Bronson is Editorial Page editor for the Tucson Citizen llis column is published each Thursday Right I could picture couch potatoes all over Tucson dropping their remote controls and rewiring the TV to see what's on 13 Not me I watched much local news on 13 since Vic Caputo left And not the only one The night the ground war began in the Persian Gulf Channel 4 news got a 17 percent share of viewers Channel 9 news got 12 percent and Channel 13 news got just 3 percent So what gives? (We interrupt this column to caution viewer discretion: Channel 13 is a private business with only a vague FCC obligation to serve the public Their business is THEIR business They could broadcast local news a week late and Tucson die More news than most of us can stand is offered on two other competing commercial stations KGUN-9 and KVOA-4 in a half-hour of and in both daily papers We now return to regularly sched editor To support this fact I present the following: The south and est sides have six city neighborhood centers nine recreation centers and 16 sw imming pools The rest of Tucson has no neighborhood centers three recreation centers and five swimming pools The county has eight recreation centers on the south and west sides and three in the rest of the city Also Reid Park with its zoo golf courses tennis courts and recreational facilities is much more accessible to south and west Tucson than to the rest of Tucson Recent funding for new facilities for the rest of Tucson has been made to try to correct this imbalance and bring the availability of these various functions to citizens in all areas of the city Obviously since the facilities recently constructed for the rest of Tucson are new they are going to be more up to date and in better shape It's agreed that many of the older facilities need funding for upkeep and improvements but keep the facts straight and the use of the word in its proper and accurate perspective GARY MUNNTLL Letters to the Deep loss Our community recently suffered the recent deaths of some well known members Dr Paul Dempsey and George Meld and his family The loss is felt not only by those who knew them personally but also by those ho only knew of them One might ask why the feeling of loss goes so deep at a time when tragedy and death seem ommonplace It is only when those we perceive to be the Iwst among us are taken that we ask ourselves why the good the young and the innocent have to die It is the people who seem to hae so much left to do who have inspired us through theii example to be better people than we thought we could be who make us stop to ponder the why of death But it goes beyond being smacked in the face it our ow morality It is tragedy telling us to take the time to ponder who we are If tomorrow you die will you have loved your hildren enough or your spouse? Will you have a ted ith enough kindness to strangers? How will we be remembered by those who knew us and by those we only tout hed casually in life? I he good die as a reminder that we can be more than we are can love more than we do IJiey die so we who have lost our way on the road to being better people ran right our path and continue our journey And they serve as a i eminder that we are a part of everything ai ound us that as insignificant as we may feel in the sc heme of the world we are a part of the pi oc ess and should bear the responsibility with care Sadly lost from our community some who cared deeply Let us learn from their examples and carry their commitment and idc als uh us in our own lives It will not lessi the loss but our lives will be richer for tlu ir having lived BARBARA TH6 REAL MOTHER OF AtU 0ATTL6S buy peace from defense contractors Conservative fiscal policy should avoid the parasite of big government STEVE TWEET for suggestions how to handle the situation be surprised how much children yearn to be consulted about their own discipline and how they stick to the solutions they help formulate raise children to be problem solvers not passive subjects who are ordered around and smac ked hen they displease us Although not instantly gratifying to the parent to avoid the quick and silencing slap it is instantly gratifying to the child who feels guided by love knowledge understanding and respect it worth it to look for a better ay? TRISHA CAM PIE PAULOWSKI Insidious disease The military industrial complex is a symptom of a more prevalent and insidious disease 1 lie ultimate beneficiaries of defense spending are not the soldiers for whom the government buys but the capital owners from whom the government buys This distinction between bought for and bought from is critical to understanding the phenomenon of the riih getting richer and the poor getting poorer in America The programs have greater benefits for those ow tiers of capital resources than the consumers of goods and services In the medical field the ultimate recipients of government subsidies such as Medicaid and Medicare are the physicians The profit physicians poc ket more than atones for their individual share of the program's tax burden whit has leen distributed across the board The legal field exhibits the same symptoms Attorneys secure a greater return on their invested capital using the vehicle of liberal justice at livism One cannot buy youth from physicians or justu from attorneys anymore than one can Better way Arizona schools should stop paddling kids but why are adults exempt from the law when it conies to hitting their kids? Why would they want to deliberately inflict pain? Parents who engage in this form of punishment rarely stop to consider the reality of their behavior As the mother of two children under age 5 1 can understand how frustrated a parent can become ith a grow ing unpredictable behavior But the only information you can give the child hen you lash out is that lashing out solves problems face it This type of parental behavior only escalates the anger hurt and resentment of both parent and child Too often I see parents threaten their children over tlm slightest annoyance Listen to your child Offer alternatives Hug your child Take him or her to a quiet place Ask the child The Citizen welcomes letters from readers Letters must include the name address and daytime telephone number We reserve the right to condense or reject any letter and to limit frequent writers Please do not send us letters or copies of letters sent to others We regret that we are unable to acknowledge or to return unpublished letters Address: PO Box 26767 85726 Fax number: 573-4369 Questions? Call 5734662 Perspective on parks I take exception to the bias charge made by ooncilmen Steve loal and Bruce Wheeler garding the funding of city parks I here has long been an imbalance in Tucson of fa ilities available to the public but in reverse of their charge How to protect yourself from rip-off contractors By DON REINHARDT Guest opinion Usually it is the little things and lack of communication that cause problems practice after a contractor sends a final invoice is nitpicking alxmt the job thus delaying final payment Some ctistome rs have even gone so far as to attempt to hire some of the general subs to do work on the side in order to get a cheaper jiru hen a probl arise over jxKir workman ship they expx-ct the general to make it right If they have a problem over money with the jx-rsun they hired on the side they may find a lie on th ir home There are ways consumers can protect them vlvs from manv of the se pitfalls They can call the Registrar of Contrai tors to chck on the con license and bend and whether or wot tlmy have any ojx-n complaints They should re qu st that a ontrac tor vnd by mad cc rtificates of liability insurance and tompx-nsation lx fore signing a contrai Tin can also call Contractors and Sup'P'hc rs In formation rv a di ision of Who In Con sinu tion Inc and request a free rofde on the rom f-any they are intr rested in hiring Armth alternative is to call someone hkc Central trs fe rral Sc rxu ith just one hone rail they can ed-tain up to three contractors when re quire! This is usually enough More only makes things ronfusing All contractors are lnense and iMndexl and are me rrfx rs of Cemtrar tors and Supp rs Information Scrx a vurte of infer natmn and can answer questions and vrul vmt lit rafure free of barge Don Reinhardt is owner of Contractors Referral Service Many times the monies requested would make this bid much higher that the ones the consumer turned down panic Remember a contract is a binding document on behalf of both parties If a contractor makes an error in pricing that is his problem and the consume should not have to suf fer A call to the Registrar of Contractors office should gel things cleared up especially if you have the good sense to use a hi env-d contractor There are some national chain departmc nt stores who advertise all kinds of work on your home iin hiding aluminum siding roofing and re mod cling Their iru ent iv are long term pay ments The advertising and contrai ts promote a one year guarantee wine under Arizona law is inform Most lncnvd contrai tors work is subject to a two year guarantee barked up by the Registrar of Contrai tors If you have a problem you should call the Registrar for forth details It is rmt fair to paint the contractor as the bad guy all tbe time bey too have lxen rtpqx'd off by some urtvnipulous customers who are looking to get something for nothing Unfortunately the had on Ixith side have made it diffu ult for the rest to do busine ss I hayc known customers who contrartd for a roun additmn and when time came to make the final payment to the contractor the money wasn't there It had Ixx sjxnt to furnish the rexmr and the i ntraetnr was cxjxxte-d to wait fur the final j-avuie nt or to ar av merits This ty jx of fx hav mr has led manv oritrai tors to ask for large pa nts in advance and full av meet before thp project is completed Another I ail rein ml when it was possible to leave your home uiiloi ked and wiih a handshake have a con tractor make re pairs while you were away hatever hapjx-ned? In today's society there is a world of mistrust lx tween consumer and con tra tor I ac thinks the othc is trying to rip him off Having lee involved with consumers and con tractors in the home maintenance and repair husi ness for the past 10 years I have some insight into the problems on tenth sides 1 sually it is the little things and lack of (ornmu filiation that cause problems People who deal ith re putable contrai tors vx to havp little diffi nilty resolving problems I mdmg that right con trartor do rmt have to be diffi tilt I he choiies available are endless in the tele hone boi newspaper advertising rerommenda tions if friends and neighbors or flyers placed in your door The latter is the most dangerous The tru is to know hat inf irmation to require lx fore ifttmg anyone work on your home or Ixfore sign ing a onirar We hear from time to time font varus pxrpx-trand on unswspx-c ting pxcple our community the construction and home re pair business A problem that vents to have far more disas trous is house to house solicitation UMOg fivers or Jogh pressure sale spxmp These hum to do a'i kinds of re pairs as II as xh ling and room adduions ith financing at a 1 monthly ay tuo Pcojle woo fall to read the fine print are un aw are he mte re st rate barged can cause the price of the job to go substantially vmn times doubling the- oritrar If a roble-m should arise jt could even ad to foreclosure of the propertv It is important that you read all contrails car hills and kexpi in nnnd that you have lie right to anre I any contract signed in your home it hm 72 hurs or three or k-ing dav uh no jx nalty A not he robh is rontrar tors who hlx rat el sol mil a bid tn e-rde to a stgnexl contract One th req'x has bx starle-d and the customer is bn king at a disastf be rontrar tor te tbe cuv me that be nxxi more money ILs excuse is tt at be bad unde rcsiimatexl tbe cost of some of tbe mate rial and would have to have more funds lx fore tbe- work on id some.