This has been a hectic week, and with our breaking story on Sons of Charity I have received a lot of comments and complaints that we are out to destroy a wonderful organization and especially accused of attacking a phenomenal man who has touched the heart of many people in his undying love and commitment in helping children with cancer. I have to say that this has been the most difficult story to cover as myself, and writer Ana Nita have always held such high respect for what Sam “Diego” Mejia has done in our community.
This has been a hectic week, and with our breaking story on Sons of Charity I have received a lot of comments and complaints that we are out to destroy a wonderful organization and especially accused of attacking a phenomenal man who has touched the heart of many people in his undying love and commitment in helping children with cancer. I have to say that this has been the most difficult story to cover as myself, and writer Ana Nita have always held such high respect for what Sam “Diego” Mejia has done in our community. He is a force of nature with compassion that brings hope to many that feel that they have none.
The story has been called one-sided and purely an attack, but I adamantly disagree and stand by the story as it is. The first glimpse at a charity in turmoil. We are working diligently to continue the story as there are still many questions unanswered and this story cannot be done in a 350-word count article. It has many components and we are currently going through financials, conducting more interviews and doing our best to provide a fair and balanced story. But this is going to take time to complete and I expect a few more articles to come through that will explain some of the still unanswered questions. But Nita has done a superlative job in getting interviews with all sides of this ongoing story and my editing of the story is full of fact checking, going over documents and reaching out to others to help answer some of the many questions that we have.
It is my hope that Mejia will continue to talk with us, as our intentions are not to destroy this well-loved charity. It is really our hope that he can see an accountant, account for the alleged misuse of funds and create an entity that can continue his quest that is guided for good will. Despite what is going on, I still hold him in high regard and hope that it all turns out well for him. And we will continue to cover this as we get the facts in and will only publish what we can prove through documentation and one-on-one interviews with those involved. So keep you comments coming, good or bad, it will not stop this ongoing investigation. And on a personal note, I give little regard to people that love to comment, but are not willing to use their names. If you have something to say, you should own it, not hide behind it and that is meant for all you anonymous commenters.
In the meantime I am consistently asked about other things going on in the community, the main one being why I have not covered what has been going on with El Cajon City Councilman Ben Kalasho and the ongoing allegations with The Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce and the Miss Middle East Pageant. First, I am not going to write a story that has been covered by most of our other news medias in San Diego County unless I have information that is different than everything that I have read or seen on TV. And what I have found so far is very one sided, despite the documents, e-mails that I have seen. I can tell you this. I have talked with Kalasho, and he is not going to tell me anything more than he is telling everyone else, so I am not going to pass along the same ol’ same and waste precious paper in redundantly repeating what has already been said. He has yet to be charged with any crime and this is a civil case, so as an American that believes that you are presumed innocent, I will wait until he goes to court and then report on it. And that is all that he has said to me is that he is waiting for his time in court to prove the allegations are wrong. So I will wait, as I have with Mark Arabo and the case he just went to court with involving many allegations from the Neighborhood Market Association. No one is giving me any flack about not covering that for some odd reason. Same goes for Congressman Duncan Hunter. If he gets charged for the allegations of campaign money abuse, we’ll tackle it.
I believe in fair and balanced reporting when it comes to news and I stand by Nita’s story on Sons of Charity wholeheartedly and will continue to work with her to ensure that the story continues. I’ll follow up on the others, as they happen. Until then, we will remain a member of The Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce, continue our coverage of Sons of Charity and keep our ears open for new developments on the other issues involving high exposure people in our community. If you have something to say about that, I’m the one to come to and I’m the bottom line in the editorial of this paper. You can call me at 619-441-0400 or email me at editor@eccalifornian.com.
