I received an interesting and IMO informative response from Craig Anderson to my question in the referenced post:
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 06:02:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: <holybarb@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Your response to my Eventemp post
To: ...
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. I just wanted to answer your
question about Eventemp and Don Massey. Late in the day before my story went
to print, I spent a LONG time on the phone with Schroeder and Blasczyk, trying
to feel them out and make sure I was not doing them an injustice by printing
my story. They had very convincing answers and excuses for everything they've
been accused of, but one thing Blasczyk said killed it for me. He said he
hadn't talked to anyone at Massey for at least 45 days, and that as far as he
knew the deal was still on and everything was fine. Well, he obviously knows
from his conversation with P. Stahl, and from the Hilgersom Web site and
others that SOMEONE at Massey has been denying that there's any purchase
order. Why wouldn't he call the Massey dealership right away and clear it up?
If Eventemp really has a deal with Don Massey, why doesn't Blasczyk just call
someone over there and ask them to set the record straight once and for all?
You'd think he would have at least tried a little harder to prove it to ME,
given the fact he knew I might potentially trash his company in the
community's largest newspaper. (I certainly went a lot easier on Eventemp then
others might have.) I just couldn't come up with a logical explanation for his
behavior, except that he must be lying. Now this is sheer, unsubstantiated
speculation on my part, but I think Sloane Fitzgerald jumped the gun on that
press release, anticipating that there WOULD be a purchase order, and when it
fell through, Blasczyk & co. decided it would be better to simply play dumb,
given the relatively vague language of the press release. As they say, don't
quote me on that! One other thing, Blaszcyk insisted he had a signed purchase
order and offered to fax it to me, but then Schroeder got angry and frustrated
(a complete change from the way he was acting a few moments prior) and said he
was sick of having to prove himself to me and he wasn't going to fax anything.
It was all a bit too well-orchestrated. Schroeder also threatened me in a
really vague way. He said something like, "You'd better be careful who you
make an example of." After that, I hung up the phone, filed my story and went
home and had a wonderful night's sleep. As I said to P. Stahl, please feel
free to post this for everyone's benefit.
Craig Anderson
The Arizona Republic |
