Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Mountain Citizen, a weekly Kentucky newspaper, is defying a court order to stop publishing under its name, which has been legally acquired by the head of a water board that has been the subject of several critical stories. Judge Daniel Sparks issued the restraining order against Mountain Citizen Inc., when its name was acquired by Martin County Water Board Chairman John Triplett after the paper inadvertently allowed incorporation papers to lapse. In a blistering editorial response, Mountain Press editor Gary Ball described the "serious health threats" posed by his county's "dilapidated water treatment" and the "nasty, brown water coming through faucets." Ball vowed that the paper will continue to arrive "on our community's doorsteps ... this week and next. And our coverage, especially of threats to our natural resources, will continue aspiring to its traditional standards of accuracy and fairness. Why? Because the people of Martin County face a potential crisis - the total lack of safe drinking water - and for us to ignore it is to abandon the trust placed in us by the public."
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Lisa Smith Stayton replied on Permalink
Who is the real Mountain Citizen?
This comes eight years after the fact, but it is disappointing to read, over and over, that Triplett "legally" acquired the name of the Kentucky newspaper owned by me. He "legally" obtained a corporation name "New Wave Communications," but never legally acquired the newspaper trademark. There seems to have been a great deal of misunderstanding regarding this matter. A corporation and trademark are two completely different things... and I must say that is why Mr. Triplett lost this case.