Newspaper Page Text
July 6, 2011
PAGE 3A
^Reporter
GSU drops Staton radio
BY LORRA LYNCH
JONES & RANDALL
SAVAGE
One of Monroe County's
state senators, Cecil Staton
(R-Macon), is facing another
controversy, this time that
he failed to pay
Georgia Southern
University $50,000
the university says
he owes under a
radio broadcasting
contract with the
school.
Georgia Southern
has rejected what it
called a partial pay
ment from Staton,
whose media company owes
the university more than
$50,000, according to the
university.
University spokesman
Christian Flathman said the
school received by mail last
Tuesday a $24,804 check
from Staton after WMAZ
reported that Staton's radio
company owed the school
$50,000. According to
Flathman, Staton said this
was the money owed the
university as part of his com
pany's agreement to produce
radio broadcasts of Georgia
Southern athletics.
But Flathman said school
officials rejected the pay
ment and sent the check
back to Staton. Flathman
said Staton still owes the
university more than
$50,000.
He said the university dis
agrees with Staton on how
much money the senator's
company owes Georgia
Southern. As a result, the
university ended its relation
ship with Georgia
Eagle Media, effec
tive July 1.
13WMAZ first
reported the story
last Tuesday, based
on documents it
obtained from the
university under an
open-records
request. The docu
ments showed that
the university was request
ing $52,000 it said was owed
for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Flathman's comments on
Wednesday came a short
while after Staton, who has
n't responded to WMAZ's
attempts to reach him for
comment, issued a state
ment through his online
newspaper, The Warner
Robins Patriot.
Staton's article was titled
"MY OPINION:
Irresponsible Journalism."
Among other things,
Staton said "...the leading
television station in Macon
claimed that I personally
owed a state institution a
large sum of money. Of
course I didn't, I don't, and I
never have."
He said "our records indi
cate no money was owed at
all."
Flathman e-mailed
13WMAZ that Georgia
Southern is returning the
check it received Tuesday "to
avoid any confusion that the
amount paid satisfies the
contract. Georgia Southern
continues to communicate
with Georgia Eagle Media to
seek full payment."
WMAZ obtained communi
cation from Staton in which
he complained that GSU
dropped his contract when
he was barely surviving the
worst years in broadcasting
without even a phone call.
Cecil Staton is the regis
tered agent of the radio com
pany and his wife, Catherine
Davidson Staton, is the chief
financial officer.
In April, Staton became
embroiled in another contro
versy when he was accused
of impersonating a female
Republican activist sending
out emails to try to sway the
battle over power in the sen
ate, where he serves as the
GOP whip. Staton denies the
charges but no one has been
able to identify a Beth
Merkleson who actually
exists and her computer’s IP
address matched that of
Staton’s, according to GOP
activist Arch Adams.
This story is courtesy 13
WMAZ © Pacific and
Southern Company, Inc.
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