Journalist Fired for Cemetery Urination (funeral of Iraq casualty)

[Newsjock]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/05/national/a140319S94.DTL

Des Moines, Iowa (AP) -- A television photographer who was fired for urinating in a cemetery while covering the funeral of an Iowa soldier was denied unemployment benefits. Gerry Edwards, of Center Point, was dismissed in December by KGAN-TV in Cedar Rapids.

In November, Edwards urinated near a monument at a cemetery while he was there covering the funeral procession for 23-year-old Sgt. James Musack, of Riverside, who was killed in Iraq, court records said.

... Edwards testified at a recent hearing that he was unable to leave the cemetery to urinate for fear of missing the funeral procession.

"I was leaned on to get that shot," Edwards testified.

[DRoseDARs]

1. Whine some more, Gerry. Should have worn a diaper if you can't hold it. n/t

:eyes:

[Poll_Blind]

3. Holy shit, indeed! Dude, what kind of fuck-up pisses in a cemetary?

You're walking through the cemetary at night (there are lots of cemetaries where I live, some of them very old), and you have to take a leak, the dead will understand if you go off to the edge and whiz up against a tree far away from the gravestones.

But, uh, pissing in a cemetary during the day, while mourners are gathered there- dude, how can you possibly not realize what kind of insulting, disgusting and inappropriate behavior that is?

Day-um!

PB

[DRoseDARs]

4. But but but people we're LEANING on him to get the shot!!!

If someone was "leaning" on his bladder, that'd be understandable, otherwise he's just full of shit.

[VegasWolf]

2. Why, wasn't he just watering the grass? If anybody should be fired it's Bush for putting

the poor soldier there in the first place.

[RC]

5. The Voice of Reason.

:thumbsup:

[Cha]

30. Really! Too bad he wasn't

more discreet but when ya gotta piss ya gotta piss.

[yellowcanine]

6. What does one tell the significant other when that happens? " Honey I got fired for pissing in the

cemetary." How embarrassing.

[Deb]

7. Whoa, this article tells more

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070305/NEWS10/703050328/1001/NEWS

...The editor sent the photo by e-mail to KGAN managers with a note that said, "Urinating behind a statue of Mary in a Catholic cemetery within clear view of a public road, not to mention the numerous members of the Army who were on hand for the funeral, is inexcusable."

...

State unemployment records indicate that last Memorial Day he was at a cemetery shooting video of a memorial service. At one point, he was standing outside a KGAN van, talking loudly on his cell phone. When people attending the service asked him to keep his voice down, he allegedly responded with an offensive comment and said, "I've got a ... job to do here, man. I've been here five hours already."

KGAN received 17 complaints about Edwards' conduct that day.

[Ian David]

9. It sounds like that reporter, and Sinclair Corp, are both falling apart. n/t

[kestrel91316]

25. What's wrong with him that he can't bother to find and use a

PISS BOTTLE inside his f---ing van if he has to go so bad?

I betcha he's a Republican. I just get a funny feeling about this.

Public urination and desecrating graves - why the hell wasn't he ARRESTED???

[struggle4progress]

8. Sinclair owns KGAN. Iowans for Better Local Television filed a petition to deny license renewal ...

... in December 2005

The petition begins with the following quote:

We couldn't hire people with the kind of experience that was necessary to cover news because Sinclair would not pay them. The morale . . . was terrible. . . . <T>he kind of information being disseminated to the public was . . . embarrassing. I, as a trained journalist, could not in good faith and good conscience work for a company like that. . . .

Commissioners, please, please, please pay attention because I worry, if this situation continues, what kind of information is going to be disseminated and how little of it there will be.

-- Amy Johnson Boyle, former KGAN-TV anchor (excerpt from public presentation at October 5, 2005, “Town Meeting,” Iowa City, Iowa

<petition available as MS-word doc download here:> http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/lem05/KGAN-PTD-1223.doc

Looks like Sinclair will continue to piss on the public


<edit:> fix HTML

[LostinVA]

10. After reading the whole story/stories, he should have been fired

VERY disrespectful of family members and the dead. Sgt. Musack, and his life, deserved dignity and respect.

[mainer]

11. Am I the only one who feels sympathy for this guy?

What if he had prostatitis or something? Having a full bladder is a misery.

[ShortnFiery]

12. One Word: Flomax

:rofl: For that growing problem. :blush:

[The Stranger]

14. Anyone who gives a shit about someone urinating in a cemetary has way too much time on their hands.

So I am in complete agreement with you.

[kestrel91316]

26. Public urination. Desecrating graves. Wake up.

[The Stranger]

32. Okay, I'm awake now. Still it is a total waste of time. No one was desecrating anything.

He had to urinate. He did so. He wasn't making a statement by doing it.

[Stuckinthebush]

15. Agreed

Overreaction by his employer.

They insisted he stay and get a shot, he had to pee, he peed. End of story. I don't think the dead care.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

16. Not about the dead

This is about the view from the public road and others in the cemetary. Not to mention the disrespect to people attending the funeral of a soldier who died doing his job whether he agreed with it or not.

Fuck this reporter, he already demonstrated he was an asshole in the full article. I've been pressed to do my job many times and have skipped meals, and been in airports at 3am to do what is required of me. We all have shit to put up with at work, but most of us handle it with dignity. Not this guy.

How many times have you told your kids that they better go to the bathroom now b/c they are going to be in for a long road trip?

How hard is it for this guy to think, hmmmm I have four hours until the procession and I want to get a good shot, so I need to get there early. Better lay off the coffee. It is not a mystery as to what causes the need to urinate, so it is not hard to head the problem off.

[Stuckinthebush]

19. I'm just not able to get worked up about it

Perhaps there have been so many serious outrages these past six years, that a guy pissing in a graveyard doesn't make it to the level of outrage anymore.

I hear what you are saying, but I'm just not feeling it myself.

[mainer]

21. My kids had to pee outdoors numerous times

Same for me and my hubby. Sometimes there's just no place to do it except around the side of a building, or at the side of the road. And yes, I told my kids plenty of times they had to go beforehand, but bladders can only hold so much.

Ever been in a plane that's circling an airport for hours? And you can't get out of your seat? There was one poor woman who finally had to pee in a juice bottle while her fellow passengers kindly looked the other way.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

34. I have been in a plane circling airports many times.

If you absolutely have to go to the bathroom, they will let you. I doubt your story about the lady peeing in the bottle. No attendant would push someone to that and no one would stand for that.

That must have been one prety limber lady to do that in an airline seat. Not to mention, a woman simply cannot use a bottle without making a mess.

Regardless, this guy was not in an airplane circling for hours or on a long road trip. He screwed up, so screw him.

[kestrel91316]

28. Also, he had a VAN. Has the man never heard of a PISS BOTTLE?

Even I know about them, and I'm a woman. He could have used one inside the van (with doors closed) quite easily.

He's an ass.

[kestrel91316]

27. Public urination. Desecrating graves. Wake up.

[Stuckinthebush]

33. Desecration of graves? Public urination?

I'm sorry...there are so many more things to be outraged about.

[DemoTex]

13. When I piss on Bu$h's grave, if I outlive him, it WILL be an act of contempt.

Edwards' act was not in contempt, it appears. The birds, squirrels, deer, dogs, etc., do it in cemeteries, on graves, every day. Yes, he perhaps should have planned a little better. Perhaps he should have just peed in his pants and suffered the ensuing embarrassment for the all important "shot." I don't think anybody would have pointed and giggled in the cemetery. At most, a person might have thought, "Poor man. Tsk. Tsk."
However, if he is taking certain medications, like I do, "I need to go now" means "NOW!. Stress has the same effect on my bladder, too.

[Thor_MN]

18. They better cremate * and Dick. Instant outdoor urinals will be the result of a burial.

If they don't put in drainage to the sewer under Astroturf, there will be nothing green anywhere near or downhill from * and Dick's gravesites. If you have seen what a 2 lb dog can do to a lawn over the winter, imagine what a nation of adult humans can do to a lawn.

Edit: I forgot, I wonder where I could apply for the beer concessions near their graves?

[KansDem]

17. Don't these guys have vans? Or some vehicle that affords invisibility?

I was caught in a similar situation: My car broke down on the freeway and I had to wait for assistance (I had no cell phone). It took awhile for a state trooper to stop and see what the problem was, so when nature called I got back in my car and used a cup. I certainly didn't stand on the side of the road withing view of passing motorists and pee, only to bitch and moan about it when caught.

[anotherdrew]

20. yep, he should have just pissed his pants, that's so much more dignified. n/t

[kestrel91316]

29. All men with half a brain know about PISS BOTTLES.

[truthisfreedom]

22. Shoulda found a way to be more discreet.

Pretty simple, people. If nobody sees you peeing in a cemetary, it never happened.

[hedgehog]

23. The article doesn't give any indication, but I'd lay a dollar down that

his behavior is a result of alcohol abuse.

[zara]

24. When you gotta go, you gotta GO!

[Skittles]

31. surely though, not in the presence of a funeral

that seems highly disrespectful to me