| Occasional diarist Matthew Koehler apparently got under the skin of the Missoulian for their recent coverage of the Stimson Mill. New West has published a full back-and-forth between Koehler and reporters, editors, and the publisher of the local daily.
Basically, Koehler's argument was that the paper and Stimson oversimplified the explanation for the plant's closing. The paper's argument was that they accepted the word of Stimson and that unless Koehler had non-circumstantial evidence that they were lying, that he was barking up the wrong tree.
But the circumstantial evidence is pretty overwhelming. Supply of wood may be a problem for the wood products industry, but like any producer, the market for their materials -- which is horribly slumping -- is clearly an issue as well.
Now, if the argument is simply that they can't get wood cheaply enough, it's awful hard to describe it as either a problem of the price of the input or the going rate of the output. When a person drowns, is it because the water is too high or your legs are too short?
Full disclosure: I got the emailed back-and-forth from Koehler at the time it was going, but didn't publish it (I'm not even sure, based on my fuzzy memory right now, whether the version I got had all the emails currently posted at New West or even whether it was sent to me to be published). As is clear, I've made sure Matthew knows that diaries are encouraged at Left in the West. He's added his own voice to the community -- I hope it stays here. Finally, I saw this story yesterday and meant to highlight it, thanks go to the reader who emailed it to me this morning and reminded me how worthwhile of a read it is. |
