EDITORIAL - I was made aware of a rather nasty post made about me and this publication by Mr. Lynn Cogdill today. In fact I learned today that Mr. Cogdill got up in front of the Madera Unified School District Board of Trustees and accused me of being a 'SMUT DEALER' and Big Valley News being a 'SMUT MAGAZINE.'

What can I say? It is not as though I can have a battle of wits with Mr. Cogdill. In my opinion, he is an unarmed opponent. In order to fight with Mr. Cogdill I would have to sink to his level and I kind of like it up here on the high moral ground.

Mr. Cogdill is upset with my reporting about Daniel Longoria, a recent hire by the Madera Unified School District. He is a man who has served time in prison and while in prison, by his own confession, became one of the more violent prisoners in the prison system.

I disagree with this hire and I believe the school district is putting our kids at risk. I do not care if he has 'reformed.' I am not willing to risk my children or their friends to find out. I believe there are lines in the sand that you can never come back from once you've crossed.

The school district will not give the parents involved any information about this man's Department of Justice exemptions and conditions. In fact the school district didn't even bother to notify parents that there were plans to hire this man. When our district superintendent, Ed Gonzalez, basically tells parents "it's none of your business" to what this man's credentials are, it's time to stand up and demand answers.

Mr. Cogdill....I will not be bullied into silence. You can not intimidate me to be quiet. Ask around....that is not the way to approach a man like me. You put up a graphic of a man throwing stones and tried to call me out in public. My approach is different sir, I don't bother with throwing pebbles.  I don't join the fray unless there are boulders to be thrown. In this case, Herculean boulders that will expose the truth about this man. And then I will share it with my readers, because their children are affected also.

This is my responsibility to the community. To loudly insist on answers to the questions that others have asked, but they have been ignored. To stand up for those that are afraid to stand up. No sir, there is no smut being published here at Big Valley News, just seventeen years of real journalism and standing up for a community that I love when it is  attacked by outsiders like you.

You want to attack me, fine I can take it. I know who I am and I am very secure in what I believe is right and wrong. If you want to question my integrity, you better find more than an accusation of 'SMUT PEDDLING.' Because anyone that actually reads my website knows there is not now, nor has there ever been a story published on our site that was not one hundred percent true and fully researched before it was published.

If you have anything else to say, please bring it on. But you might want to attempt to put at least half as much research and fact-finding into your comments as I manage on a regular day-to-day basis.

This is Lynn Cogdill, Does He Represent Your Values?