"I will always answer any question that is posed," she said. "It may be a response, not an answer."

Um, hello? Did she write the copy on the web page mentioned in the previous post?

may she enjoy those bars. can she speechwrite for caribou barbie from that cold, cold hold?

She filed her last story Thursday night, apparently without telling her editors that she had been in negotiations for a job with the company she was covering.

Well, Ms Shay's professional ethics seem to match those of her new employer.

Given the company owner's history, she should have waited to make sure the check cleared on that advance. I have a feeling she's going to find herself stranded in the middle of a bridge that's burning at both ends before too long, career-wise.

"I will always answer any question that is posed," she said. "It may be a response, not an answer."

"Response", as in "no comment" or "let's change the subject"??

Well, in any case, APF seems to have spurred some "economic development" in Ms. Shays' household, anyway. Gotta start somewhere.....

She looks like she will show up with a backwards B on face, any day now!

Why isn't American Police Force registered with the State of Montana?

I feel sorry for her, sort of.

She's probably (make that definitely) been conned.

Wait until she finds out that that new car was leased and is going to be repo'd, the promised signing bonus never comes, the help with the down payment is actually a 14% second mortgage and the paycheck bounces.

Trust me on this. I've known a few really good con men in my day.

Now she'll be able to afford the cruise she's always dreamed about. She's going to fly to the North Atlantic where she'll rendezvous with the Titanic and complete its maiden voyage.

I'm sure her editor at the paper will be eager to take her back when he considers she quit a job with him to work for a convicted con-man. And her reputation for insight and research should increase, big time!

I've been sending this "reporter" info about the scam that put the vastly overpriced jail in Hardin in the first place. I've been following the story since 2004. I have perhaps 1,000 pages documents, correspondence and stories on the hustle. I suspect that rather than acting on the many leads I provided her, she's shared them instead with the Hardin/Twin Rivers Authority attorney.

The (very) ex-reporter's editor found correspondence between me and the city attorney in her file months ago when I was pleading with them to cover the real story. This was before the APF ever showed up. After I was quoted on Billings television last week, I was told that the vice-president of the TRA posted my bio on shop windows around town.

Within two hours of publication of the initial story on APF, on 9/10, I felt I had gathered enough information to categorically state it was a scam and got hold of the AP and the Billings Gazette. A colleague and I quickly compiled a wealth of additional info. The media still neglected to move on it, save to finally offer a little timid, intermittent skepticism.

Finally on Friday, I documented Hilton's extensive history of fraud, breach of contract and evictions, and a couple of criminal convictions and faxed 30 pages to the AP, the Gazette and the TV station that indicated they wanted the info.

By Tuesday, my colleague and I had demonstrated that the "Michael Hilton" fraudster from Orange county, California, was one and the same as the "Captain Michael Hilton" who was parading around Hardin.

www.privateci.org

So whatever happened to Richard Wolfe???

if she was enticed away for $60 grand, she must have been impoverished at the paper. a little extra cash is nice.

Here are the questions that should be asked:
Is this the purchase of a journalist who was asking questions? Yes.
How was this journalist purchased? Cheaply. With the promise of a decent paycheck, a home and a vehicle.
Why was this journalist for sale at such a low price? Probably because, although she has been a professional for 20 years, she still couldn't afford a home or a nice vehicle, nor was she earning a decent paycheck.
In other words, before she betrayed her profession and her readers -- because the real losers here are the readers of the Billings Gazette (Montana's second largest newspaper and probably the state's most lucrative) -- she was betrayed by her cynical employer, who has cut her wages and trimmed her benefits and passed along zero percent raises for years, and years. Oh, sure, many of you will holler, newspapers are in an economic free fall because of the Internet. No. Montana's Lee Enterprises newspapers still make piles of cash and have for years, and the skimping and squeezing of the newsroom has been happening for decades. During the boom years when each of Montana's Lee newspapers made millions in profits, the corporate leaders kept wage increases WAY below inflation. Do you think that undermines the reporters? What happens to their morale? Does it steal their future? Will they be eating cat food when they retire?
So it's easy to sit back and lampoon Becky Shay, and she probably deserves it. She has been had, after all. But you should also understand the underlying situation. She's probably able to eat out at a nice restaurant without picking the cheapest item on the menu for the first time in her adult life.