More on the Kilkenny lawsuit

Blogger and former Brookfield Alderman Cindy Kilkenny announced on her site the lawsuit by Joseph C. Niebler Sr., president of NFI Properties LLC, over remarks she made about the Shire development:

Lucky me! I’m being sued.

May 27, 2009 at 3:10 pm --by Cindy Kilkenny

Hello bloggers. Pay attention. The next few weeks will be interesting to the future of blogs.

I won’t leave specifics right now. MJS just called, they’re running the story tomorrow. They were the first word I had of the action.

I guess I better call and tell the spouse.

This was followed by another blog post, "I Was Wrong About the Shire," where she made a correction and apologized to Mayor Jeff Speaker, Alderman Steve Ponto, and Common Council President Alderman Mark Nelson.

Here is the blog post in question that prompted the lawsuit from the developer and the correction/apology regarding the city officials. Here's another post by her on the subject.

Hey! You sued Kilkenny!

Brookfield blogger and ex-alderman Cindy Kilkenny is getting sued by a developer for remarks she made on her blog and on the blog she wrote on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Joseph C. Niebler Sr., as president of NFI Properties LLC, contends that Cynthia Kilkenny continually made untrue and malicious statements about the Shire development, a name drawn from J.R.R. Tolkien's' "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Kilkenny, Niebler says, called him "the Dark Lord," and described the development as "icky," "a flop" and contaminated by an adjacent, closed landfill, the lawsuit says.

Kilkenny, who is no longer a Brookfield alderman, said Wednesday that she had not yet seen the lawsuit.

"I'm not terribly worried about it," she said.

Niebler contends that Kilkenny made statements about him and the development that she knew were untrue and with malice while she was an alderman, during her tenure as a blogger for BrookfieldNow.com, and in her most recent blog, fairlyconservative.com, the lawsuit says. BrookfieldNow is produced by Journal Interactive, a division of Journal Communications.

Here's a tip for those of you considering a career in blogging: if you're going to accuse a development of contaminated soil, make sure you have the soil tests in hand.  The article does not mention whether or not Journal Communications, Inc., is named in the lawsuit.  As developments (yes, pun intended) arise, we'll keep you posted.

Balance on the radio dial

Now that WKTI is playing more hippie-dippy lefty 1960s music, does that count as equal time for Journal Communications' Charlie Sykes under the Fairness Doctrine?