Joan Mellen Speech at AARC Conference

[Tom Bowden]

J and Walt were friends before the press conference at the museum. I discussed the arrangements with J first and then Walt. Barr left us all out to dry by not showing up. Both Walt and J were livid. I held several press conferences over the years at the museum and had a decent relationship with the news media. We had a several local TV stations, DMN and AP for the event. I had a difficult time getting news coverage after the farce. Richard Belzer attracted good coverage on two occasions afterwards.