Wikipedia / Drawing of Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood and his name-calling antics in a city where violent crime is all too real and getting worse.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Politics has reared its ugly head in the organizing of the Trayvon Martin Community Forum planned for tonight at the Greater Friendship Baptist Church, with this internet newspaper publisher caught in the middle.
It's unfortunate and hypocritical, but certainly not something I'm going to pretend hasn't happened. Call it the Michael Chitwood Factor.
The Rev. L. Ronald Durham has some explaining to do if he expects to generate anything positive from this forum.
First he sent out a press release Tuesday night naming me the "impartial moderator," a term he came up with -- not me.
Then less than 24 hours later, he reversed course, this time in a telephone call Wednesday night saying he was meeting "resistance" and that a certain person, who he would not name -- had made others aware of his unhappiness.
Once I saw who was on his panel, it became obvious to me who it was and when I said the name -- Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood -- he got really quiet.
When pushed for details, Durham clammed up, saying he still has to "live in this town when all is said and done."
"This is about Trayvon Martin," Durham said. "Bigger than any one person." Amen to that, but a bit hypocritical that Durham would cave just like that without any specifics.
If Durham thinks this forum tonight is going to bring the greater community together with this situation as a backdrop, then he's sorely mistaken. Take Saturday's rally outside the 5th District Court of Appeal, for example.
Of the 400 or so people attending, only two dozen or so were white. And None of the half dozen speakers with Durham on the makeshift stage on Orange Avenue were white.
And behind them on the roadway was Chief Chitwood with a tall white motorcycle cop -- each of them taking turns hoisting little black boys and girls onto the motorcycle seat. Yes, Chief Chitwood, the only white guy (or white person for that matter) on tonight's panel.
The police chief who is so sensitive to race that he didn't have a single African-American cop among the half dozen or so cops on scene with him.
When I called Mayor Derrick Henry after the rather unsettling phone call with Durham, the mayor said he was "surprised," by the change, adding he was looking forward to my moderating, considering I was the only Volusia County media representative to bother attending the George Zimmerman trial.
And Mayor Henry knows how much work I've put into the coverage of the Trayvon Martin story, even driving down to Miami just weeks after the slaying to get an interview with his parents -- Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin.
Just last week, I covered a peaceful march by 200 or so people who live near the Bethune-Cookman University campus. It will be interesting to see how Durham plays this situation.
Will he ignore it and pretend nothing's wrong? I don't really care either way as long as I'm not dragged through the mud in the process, though that has apparently already occurred.
How ironic that the one reporter who has covered the courts in Daytona Beach and DeLand -- since the mid-1990s -- longer than any other member of the working press in Volusia County, is now on the outside looking in.
Durham had a moderator who has sat through more than a hundred jury selections and covered some of the biggest cases in Volusia County in the pst 15 years -- the appeals and execution for serial killer Aileen Wuornos, the civil trial of Dale Earnhardt's widow in keeping his autopsy photos sealed, the Stanley Quaggin manslaughter trial (the Castle Doctrine and pre-cursor to Stand Your Ground) and the criminal trial and acquittal of the Abundant Life Ministries in the day-care van death of African-American toddler Zaniyah Hinson, left behind strapped in her car seat.
But to appease Chitwood and his few influential black friends, Durham acquiesced.
Ironically, I approached Durham last week about wanting to hold a community forum and asked if I could use his church as the site. He loved the idea, though Wednesday night he claimed he was going to have a forum any way.
Well good for him. And good for Chitwood. There is no love lost between us and it's no big secret at City Hall. After all, it was Chitwood who cut me off from his media distribution list last October after I won a couple of awards from the Florida Press Club for my investigative story on his promotion of patrol supervisor Jim Newcomb to captain despite a history of alleged sexual harassment of women cops under his command for a decade.
And Newcomb is not the only captain involved in wrongdoing. But you won't read about it in the daily newspaper because of the Michael Chitwood factor: He's a caricature of Buford Pusser's Walking Tall. Except, instead of carrying a big stick, Chitwood just runs his mouth -- calling people names like "knuckleheads" and "scumbags."
And Newcomb is not the only captain involved in wrongdoing. But you won't read about it in the daily newspaper because of the Michael Chitwood factor: He's a caricature of Buford Pusser's Walking Tall. Except, instead of carrying a big stick, Chitwood just runs his mouth -- calling people names like "knuckleheads" and "scumbags."
Chitwood is great for quotes and loves the camera -- a walking press release with colorful language to boot. Chitwood was all too pleased to help the Volusia League of Cities make sure I didn't take one step off the public sidewalk and onto private property where a dinner awards show was happening May 31, for another public official who doesn't like investigative reporting -- New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer.
The embattled mayor was feted with a glass figurine for the "top award of excellence" despite the fact he's facing multiple charges with the Florida Commission on Ethics -- as is New Smyrna Beach City Manager Pam Brangaccio.
Headline Surfer video / Deltona City Commissioner Webster Barnaby speaks with Headline Surfer while a Daytona Beach cop babysits the interviewer to make sure he doesn't step onto private property during thr Volusia League of Cities awards dinner where the media was banned.
That Chitwood would have as many as three cops babysitting me during this dinner in a city where close to half a dozen murders have occurred since October with no arrests speaks volumes as to his priorities.
It amazes me how Chitwood can call people names and yet suck up to a few influential members of the black community as though he really cares. He demonstrated that Saturday with his all-white show of force.
Chitwood likes to brag of his community policing and how he has reduced crime. Property crimes are one thing. Violent crimes are quite another. And the numbers don't favor Chitwood. Not by a long shot. But again, it takes "new media" to report the real news.
The politicians and the insiders know it, but they are too afraid to stand up to him as is the media with the one exception here.
I won't be moderating tonight's Trayvon Martin forum because Durham caved to the Chitwood's supporters lurking behind the scenes. But I'll be there to report the news whether Chitwood likes it or not.