Matt Patrick out from Akron Parade .. and other odds and ends

A holiday tradition is coming to an end. Matt Patrick will no longer be the host of the City of Akron's "Welcome Santa" Parade.

Patrick talked at length about the decision during his Monday talk show on WHLO (AM-640) saying that the City of Akron was dumping him because he had taken city hall to task over last month's proposed layoffs.

Patrick said that "it's their parade, they can do what they want," and "I don't care." He also mentioned that he wasn't paid for the event, but rather gave his time to support the event.

On his Facebook page, Patrick penned: "I got gassed from my 25 year, non-paying job of hosting The City Of Akron Holiday Parade! Why? I spoke to the Police and Firefighters last month. Well...that's a GOOD reason!!"

He later ranted a youtube video to remove all doubt:



Rumors began to circulate late last week that the city was considering ousting MP.

Matt told me this afternoon that he actually found out from an employee at competing local radio station, so he's accepting that it's true. No one has told him he's wrong.

Got to admit .. as an Akron father who takes his sons to the parade, it won't sound the same with MP ... 4th of July fireworks either, if MP is gone from that event as well.

I have a request in to city hall for its side of the story .. and I'm told that a press release will be sent out. Not sure when, but when it comes, I'll post the info here.

Odds and Ends ..

Got quite a few emails from folks wondering what happened to NewsNight Akron from Oct. 2nd. The broadcast aired at 10 p.m., an hour later than its usual time slot, to allow for a special on the National Parks. If you missed the broadcast, you can watch it on-line here. I wasn't aware that the show was being pushed back, but in the future, I'll try to make sure I confirm the air time. As for this specific episode, I was a bit surprised that the panel jumped on the fire union the way that they did, but they raised some specific points.

I was surprised that Saturday's Infocision Stadium crowd was only 16,000+ .. a little more than half full. This was the first MAC game in the new stadium, and while I know the team is struggling, I thought the crowds would continue to be closer to capacity. It really is a great place to watch a game, so I hope fans get a chance to get to a game. I'm sure the seats will be full for the Zips matchup with Kent State.

A friend tells me that her nephew, who is attending Ohio University, got sick and went to the doctor, who told him that he had swine flu .. and sent him back to the dorm to get better. A day or so later, he was near death in a hospital in Columbus with bacterial meningitis -- not swine flu. I share this not to take aim at a doctor's misdiagnosis, but rather to highlight that swine flu is becoming so common that the symptoms could be mistaken.

Since we don't have a 7 p.m. newscast on Mondays due to "The Point After" Browns show, I'm trying to use my Mondays to catch up on my writing . .and to get additional interviews for future stories. Some days I make more progress than others.

Loving the Big Bang Theory on CBS on Monday nights. If you haven't discovered this comedy yet, give it a try. And don't give up after one episode; some of the humor cuts back to previous episdoes so stay with it. One of the stars, Kaley Cuoco, was on the Morning Show today .. and she was great. Watch it here:



And finally .. I guess I need to check my attire a little closer. Wearing a white shirt and solid red tie, I recently went to a supermarket with a photographer to do a story on the economy. I let the photographer wander around the store to get some shots, and I waited near the cash registers. Not once .. but three times .. someone asked me if products were on sale or where to find certain items. Each time I had to smile and say "I don't work here."