YouCentral: Leonard Harville’s Reply

Here at SouthsideCentral, we strongly encourage replies and feedback to our articles. We’re glad to publish any replies that are directed to us. In this YouCentral article, Leonard Harville replied to about our latest LeonardWatch article about him disclosing a potential child abuse situation before the police arrived on scene.

This is from Leonard Harville’s multiple Facebook pages. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to see it unless you’re a “friend” of his there.

And there you go. I apologize for the ALL CAPS, but that’s how Leonard types. I gladly accept his criticism and am proud to publish it here on SouthsideCentral.

And now, here’s my response to his criticism…

• Leonard may claim that he has “15,000 people reading on Facebook”, but that’s false. He has three different Facebook accounts (in clear violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service), but Facebook’s page generating algorithms do not put all of his posts on each one of his “friends” pages. His posts will get 15% of his alleged reach at most. Leonard could change that situation by making a Facebook Page for his content, but he hasn’t done that (and won’t do that) because he wants absolute control of his audience. If anyone shows the slightest bit of criticism to his writings, he’s well known to unfriend that person and crow about it with a “POOF BE GONE” message.
• On the other hand, SouthsideCentral maintains a website that is open to the public and freely accepts comments both agreeing and disagreeing with my content. I also have a Facebook Page with the same content. I also use multiple other social media streams where people can share and comment on my content. SouthsideCentral was founded on the belief that any form of censorship has a chilling effect. I’m never going to delete a comment or ban a person from any of the SouthsideCentral ventures except when people resort to threats or “beyond the pale” level of comments.
• I’m not sure why Leonard feels that reporting drug and criminal activity in a neighborhood is “snitching”. I’m proud of my neighborhood and of my city. I strongly believe that cooperation with city authorities and the police department are part of one’s civic duty to continually improve our region. I’m disappointed that Harville feels the opposite.
• As for his “KISS ASS” comment, I’m also not sure where Leonard is coming up with that. SouthsideCentral is well known for being highly critical of city activities that I find objectionable. As an example, I was the only person to speak in front of Danville City Council about the city’s mishandling of the stinky water issue. After I made that speech, I published it here on SouthsideCentral. That is just one example out of many stands that I have taken against governmental positions that I didn’t like.
• To be a good reporter, you have to develop a good working relationship with lots of potential sources in and out of government. I pride myself on building such a network of sources and that’s why SouthsideCentral has gotten the reputation that it has.
• I also pride myself on only having to publish two retractions in over six years of SouthsideCentral work (that six years includes the time that I was doing it as a hobby, not a business). Leonard has been shown to be loose with the facts and has been proven clearly wrong. When cornered on those errors, he either ignores the criticism, deletes the people who criticize him or blames other people for giving him the wrong information. Sometimes, Leonard’s been known to do all of those actions.
• Leonard’s definition of “news” is not my definition. I freely admit that. There’s more to Danville coverage than just talking about crimes and showing up at City Council meetings sporadically. SouthsideCentral believes that business, political and all other types of news are just as important, if not more so. Today, we published an in-depth BreakDown of where Danville’s Industrial Development Authority gets their monthly rental income from. You’ll never find in-depth information like that in Leonard’s content.
• Finally, when it comes to “THE ONLY ONES THAT READ YOUR PAGE ARE THE DOUCHBAGS (sic) THAT I HAVE KICKED OFF !”, Leonard’s just full of horsecrap. As I’m typing this, SouthsideCentral has had 1,094,765 pageviews in the last 14 months. Clearly, we’re doing something right.

I’d like to thank Leonard Harville for his criticism tonight. I look forward to continuing this dialog with him at any time and any place.