Jay Grelen … Chief of Staff Emeritus, Maumelle
Now that you know who is behind this newsletter ...
… Maybe you won’t automatically delete Maumelle Monitored. (Or maybe you’ll delete twice as quickly, totally understandable.)
I have hand-crafted this subscription list so that only those on the list have had the distinct horror, pleasure, or perhaps both, of interacting with me at some point in my peripatetic newspaper career By hand-crafted, I mean I scrolled (actually, I’m still scrolling) through all of my contacts and manually typed (still typing) the email addresses into my Substack list.
For the sake of our 1999 Christmas card, my daughters suffered the indignity of donning red cowgirl hats, boots, and other western gear to pose in broad daylight under my big mug shot within sight of I-40 in Oklahoma City. The billboard was one of several the Daily Oklahoman erected around town to warn subscribers of my arrival.
Currently, my job title is Maumelle’s Chief of Staff Emeritus. That’s because for a year, I was Hizzoner’s chief of staff, and now I’m not. As we report what some may perceive as negative news about Maumelle’s city government, you can bet that some city hall employees will retort: “Grelen’s just a disgruntled former employer.” That’s one of the oldest lines deployed to discredit a person who speaks negatively about a former employer. While it’s true that I’m a former employee, I am by no means, nor was I ever, disgruntled. I’ve just seen things that I think need addressing. Further, even if I were disgruntled, that doesn’t mean I’m not speaking truth.
In thirty-five years, I’ve worked for nine newspapers in nine cities – Alexandria, Shreveport, and Baton Rouge in Louisiana; Denver; Lexington, Kentucky: Mobile; Oklahoma City; Myrtle Beach; and finally, Little Rock, where I wrote the Sweet Tea column (surely you remember). For five years, I was Governor Asa Hutchinson’s senior writer, then I took the chief of staff job in Maumelle. Now I’m returning to my calling as a writer, reporter, investigator, and story teller.
The need for Maumelle Monitored is urgent because newspapers and TV newsrooms are cutting back on their coverage, or, as with our ancestor, the Maumelle Monitor, dying off altogether. So Maumelle Monitored is taking flight to cover Maumelle, the good, the bad, and the beautiful. Maumelle Monitored will ever be on the lookout for stories that strum the heartstrings with optimism, hope, and happy endings, because those are the best stories to tell.
However, work before pleasure. We need to do a lot of housecleaning in Maumelle (see photo below) before we take a break to toss Frisbees at Lake Willastein
This was Mayor Caleb Norris’ desk and part of his work space on August 13, 2023. (My desk was pretty messy, too.) Hizzoner has since bragged that Deb Roush, his current chief of staff, has cleaned him up, something the Director of Human Resources offered multiple times to do over the year I was there, but Hizzoner declined.
Maumelle Monitored is rising from the ashes of that late great newspaper, the Maumelle Monitor, which wrote “pubic” for “public” in a headline only once that we’re aware of.
It’s not news to observe that few people trust government in Maumelle or anywhere else. We certainly don’t. But we will shine the kerosene lamp (we’re old school here) of truth into the nooks and crannies and flush out the crooks and nannies. Maumelle is mired in mud, so we are going to harness the mules, wrap the chains around to the axle, and attempt to pull her out.
You don’t have to live in Maumelle to enjoy or support this newsletter. Our housecleaning will offer much entertainment and the satisfaction of seeing transparency and honesty win the day. You will find so much truth-telling, accurate reporting, lively writing, and first-rate stories that your week won’t feel complete unless you pause and read Maumelle Monitored.
Here’s our motto, which is also a promise:
We will comfort the afflicted and afflict the afflicters. If you’re an afflicter, buckle up and batten down. We’re here. Likewise, if you’re afflicted, breathe easy. We’re here.
The folks behind Maumelle Monitored:
Co-Founders
Jay Grelen, editor
Jon Wood, Attorney, director of legal affairs.
Samir Husni, Mr. Magazine™, advisor.