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CEO OF DC'S PBS STATION MAD ABOUT DAY LABORERS NEXT TO STUDIO
Media Research Center ^ | Friday August 1, 2003 | BrentBaker

Posted on 08/01/2003 9:51:57 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay

PBS cares about the riff-raff and plight of undocumented aliens and condemning mean-spirited conservatives for not caring about them -- think of many prime time PBS specials on those being "left behind" and lectures from Bill Moyers -- but not when they actually have to see them next door.

Earlier this week, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, CEO of WETA, the Washington, DC PBS station really located in Arlington County, Virginia, lashed out at the county board for voting to build a pavilion, to house day laborers waiting for work, next door to WETA's studios where the PBS NewsHour and Washington Week are taped.

"WETA balks at having day-labor shelter next door," declared the headline over the July 31 story in the Northern Virginia Journal about WETA's reaction to the Tuesday night vote by the all-Democratic county Board of Supervisors.

An excerpt from the story by Scott McCaffrey:

The Arlington County Board's decision to build a $100,000 pavilion to house day laborers waiting for work may have severely ruptured relations with one of the county's most prominent employers.

After more than three hours of public comment and debate, County Board members voted 4-1 to spend up to $140,000 to create the new facility, which would be located not far from Interstate 395 at the intersection of 27th Street South and South Shirlington Road.

The new facility is designed to give day laborers, mostly Hispanic immigrants, a place to congregate and meet employers each day. It is located across Four Mile Run Drive from the current, informal day-laborer site on the Washington & Old Dominion Regional Park trail head.

The new day-laborer site will be located adjacent to the WETA broadcast facility, one of several buildings it uses in Shirlington.

WETA's Chief Executive Officer, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, who made an almost unprecedented appearance at the board meeting, was stinging in her rebuke to board members.

"You've been wonderful to work with -- until recently," Rockefeller said.

She predicted a "pretty hostile environment" for WETA employees who could be accosted by day laborers while walking from one building to another. Putting the day-laborer building in the planned location will also inconvenience high-profile guests who arrive to be interviewed on the "NewsHour," public broadcasting's signature news program that is produced from WETA's studios in Shirlington, Rockefeller said.

"This is not going to be a good solution," Rockefeller said. "It would absolutely complicate our lives."...

On average, about 30 workers congregate most mornings at the current pickup site, county officials said. About two-thirds of them find employment and are gone by noon.

The new facility, located adjacent to Arlington's Jennie Dean Park, will be open to employers from 6 a.m. to noon daily. Although pickup facilities will be closed at noon, day laborers who did not find work will be allowed to stay in the vicinity throughout the day.

County officials promised a vigorous police presence, something they acknowledge does not always occur at the current day-laborer site. Police will not, however, take on the role of immigration officers; county officials concede that many of those who are looking for work are in the United States illegally....

END of Excerpt

You need to subscribe to the Monday through Friday newspaper to access its stories, as I do, but you can view the leads of the day's stories on the Northern Virginia Journal's home page: http://www.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/ffx/default.cfm

Remember this the next time you see anything on PBS decrying how conservative policies don't respect illegal aliens and the poor.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: arlingtonva; daylaborers; mrc; pavilion; pbs; sharonrockefeller; weta
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Rockefeller "predicted a "pretty hostile environment" for WETA employees who could be accosted by day laborers while walking from one building to another...will also inconvenience high-profile guests who arrive to be interviewed on the "NewsHour"..

Think Moyers will be going next door to offer up a Welcome Wagon basket of fruit, nuts and other delectable goodies? Only if for damage control on PBS showing its true colors.

Put the shoe on the other foot and ask why Arlington County is building a hundred thousand dollar facility of tax payer money for illegals?

1 posted on 08/01/2003 9:51:58 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
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To: aculeus; Fresh Wind; kesg; m1911; Tamsey; Tigercap; WorkingClassFilth; weegee; Loyal Buckeye; ...
*NPR/PBS* Ping list

If you want on or off this *NPR/PBS* ping list, please FReepmail me or just bump the thread
AND indicate your desire to be included. You must opt in! Don't be shy!
This is a low to moderate activty list.

2 posted on 08/01/2003 9:55:06 AM PDT by Drango (Democratic fundraising....If PBS won't do it, who will?)
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To: fight_truth_decay
Only liberals can be offended by people going to work.
3 posted on 08/01/2003 9:55:10 AM PDT by Semper Paratus
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To: Semper Paratus
They should build it in the parking lot of the INS office....
4 posted on 08/01/2003 9:57:17 AM PDT by ken5050
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To: fight_truth_decay
This was tried in my hometown and it was a bust as the illegals had a problem with hanging around anything associated with authority.

Now they're back to the same old hangouts, pi**ing on the sides of nearby buildings as needed.

5 posted on 08/01/2003 9:59:12 AM PDT by freedomlover
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To: fight_truth_decay
Bump
6 posted on 08/01/2003 10:03:49 AM PDT by talleyman (I calls 'em as I sees 'em)
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To: fight_truth_decay
Sharon Percy Rockefeller

Is she still married to Sen. John Rockefeller(carpetbagger,WV)?

7 posted on 08/01/2003 10:04:19 AM PDT by Varda
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To: fight_truth_decay
If the RNC was raising this objection, it would make the front page of the NY Times for about a month, with accusations of rascism and bias against the working poor.
8 posted on 08/01/2003 10:04:19 AM PDT by Spok
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To: fight_truth_decay
This is a bit off the subject but is this the same Sharon Percy who's twin sister was murdered in their home while everyone slept? Her father was a U.S. senator,I think.


9 posted on 08/01/2003 10:05:00 AM PDT by Mears
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To: fight_truth_decay
Around here, day laborers hang around a local minute mart. No government intervention or expenditures required. So someone tell me again, why does this require a $100,000 glorified bus stop? Sheesh.
10 posted on 08/01/2003 10:05:59 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: All
Sharon Percy Rockefeller..Your 'slip of bias' is showing.
11 posted on 08/01/2003 10:14:10 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
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To: fight_truth_decay
This is so funny.
12 posted on 08/01/2003 10:16:29 AM PDT by Athelas
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To: Mears
That happened in Illinois in the '70s. The poor girl was murdered in her bedroom, case unsolved. Imagine that horror. These people lived in Kenilworth (or Winnetka), an exclusive suburb north of Chicago. Her father was Charles Percy, a senator from Illinois. A very sad story.
13 posted on 08/01/2003 10:17:07 AM PDT by Rollee
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To: fight_truth_decay; Tancredo Fan
bttttttttt
14 posted on 08/01/2003 10:18:02 AM PDT by dennisw (G_d is at war with Amalek for all generations)
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To: Mears
Yes
15 posted on 08/01/2003 10:18:25 AM PDT by John Beresford Tipton
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To: fight_truth_decay
These undocumented workers are just after a better life, but. . .

NOT IN MY BACK YARD!!

16 posted on 08/01/2003 10:19:24 AM PDT by Flyer (No one reads tag lines)
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To: fight_truth_decay
Story previously posted here (WETA Balks at Having Day-Labor Shelter Next Door).
17 posted on 08/01/2003 10:24:25 AM PDT by mountaineer
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To: Flyer
Just like the "energy conscious" Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D)doesn't want the proposed windmills 6 miles out in the ocean off Cape Cod spoiling his view?
18 posted on 08/01/2003 10:25:55 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
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To: fight_truth_decay
Yep, just like. There's a word for it. . .







Hypocrite!
19 posted on 08/01/2003 10:29:46 AM PDT by Flyer (No one reads tag lines)
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To: fight_truth_decay
We>/i> at PBS want to give them a "helping hand" through our airing of their plight, not to actually be touched by their filthy hands!
20 posted on 08/01/2003 10:48:44 AM PDT by arasina (click here ---no, wait a minute---DON'T!)
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