Lehigh Valley/AOL Patch Editor Mariella Savidge breaks ranks, praises Bill Villa/LVS

Email, Incoming, from former Morning Call "newspaper" reporter and current Lower Macungie Patch editor Mariella Savidge.

On June 22, 2011 at 2:16:46pm, Mariella Savidge wrote:

[Patch] it's a public forum and I believe in that. I know there has been plenty of Patch evidence to the contrary in the past few days, but I have never taken down any of your comments ... I feel that I can tell you these things and that you and I have been able to discuss these things reasonably. I understand only a crumb of your grief and distrust of the system and the [un] fairness of how you were treated, but I believe there must be a way to shine a light on government, etc.

And I respect and trust you and your experience and opinions.

[Update] In an email dated October 24, 2011, Patch's VP of "Communications" (for now) Janine Iamunno wrote: "Mr. Villa, we've suspended [i.e., comment-muzzled] your Patch account." Editor's Note: Not surprising, I guess, that Lehigh Valley Patch's mostly ex-Morning Call editors would borrow a page from the Morning Call's truth-muzzling playbook to shut me up and protect DA Jim Martin.

[Update] In an email dated February 8, 2012, Patch's VP of "Communications" (for now) Janine Iamunno wrote: "Mr. Villa, please remove my photo and the associated false claim of 'censorship' from your site immediately."