Betty Bean was asked to be on the Hallerin Hilton Hill radio show last week via a phone interview to talk about her Halls Shopper County Confidential [1] series on Tyler Harber.

What HHH didn't tell her was that Dwight Van De Vate, Senior Director of Communication & Government Relations for the Knox County Mayor's office, was in the studio and was apparently given the remainder of Hallerin's show for rebuttal after Betty's short phone-in segment, or at least that's what we're told.

From what we have learned, when Betty found out that she had been ambushed, so to speak, she called Hallerin and got put through to his voicemail. Apparently she gave him an ear full, and in the heat of the moment may have said something about him being a "chickenshit."

Rumor has it that a recording of her voicemail is being circulated among the GOB "powers that be" and that "Scripps brass" [as in E.W. Scripps Co. who recently purchased the Halls Shopper and also owns the Knoxville News Sentinel] have been notified.

(If anyone has a copy of the recording we'd sure like to hear it! Maybe Brian Hornback could fill us in? Gene Patterson? Anyone? Beuller?)

Anyway, is there a swiftboat coming around the bend with Betty's name on it? Are they going to paint her as a "troubled reporter" similar to their dismissive characterization of Tyler Harber and his allegations?

What should happen, but probably won't, is that the "Scripps brass" ought to get on the phone to the "other paper" and ask them why Betty Bean is the only reporter in town with the "brass you-know-whats" to go out and get this story and report on it.

Developing...

UPDATE: WATE playing catch up [2], and barking up the wrong trees. Give them credit for trying, though. Nobody else seems willing to touch it.