Ron Fineman's ON THE RECORD

Trinka Lowe tells Ron Fineman's On The Record, "I love him. I don't want a divorce." But nearly four weeks ago she says her husband of seven years (They've been together 11 years), Derek Lowe, told her "He wanted me gone when he came back from the next road trip."

The photos above are Dodger pitcher Derek Lowe and Fox Sports West anchor/reporter Carolyn Hughes, taken yesterday. OTR has learned that Hughes has been taken off her normal assignment of doing the Dodger pre-game and post-game show, pending an investigation into an alleged relationship. Obviously, that relationship is with Derek Lowe.

Speaking on the phone last night from her home in Florida, Trinka said that investigation began with a call from from her to Fox Sports. She does not recall who she talked with, but was told that her accusation of Hughes having an affair with her husband would be investigated. So far, Trinka has not heard anything back from Fox. But she says right after she called, she noticed that Hughes was off the Dodger broadcasts. Trinka says that Hughes is also married, but she and her husband split up in April.

If Lowe and Hughes are having an affair, which Trinka is convinced is the case, she says neither of them are admitting it. She says that Lowe's car was broken down earlier this month and that he was driving Hughes' car. Two weeks ago, Trinka says he left his home in Beverly Hills and drove to Hughes' apartment in Manhattan Beach, staying the night. The next day, Trinka drove there and confronted Hughes. She says it was quite civil. Considering that Hughes covers the Dodgers, she asked "Do you think this is an appropriate and professional relationship?" According to Trinka, Hughes answered "Yes I do. I do that all the time for my friends. There is no crime."

Trinka believes they are living together now. She says that Hughes said Lowe sleeps on the couch at her apartment when he is there. She says they are just friends. But Trinka believes the evidence shows otherwise. Beside the photos on the beach, Trinka says she has evidence that Lowe and Hughes took a private plane from Houston to the All-Star game in Detroit earlier this month. Lowe is from Michigan, and while there, Trinka says Lowe's father confirms that his son introduced him to Hughes. She says she also found Hughes' phone number in her husband's cell phone, under the name of Jeff.

Trinka says she felt their marriage had the typical squabbling that couples have. But she says she sensed there was trouble in her marriage when she arrived in Los Angeles from their winter home in Florida in early June. "My husband was acting a bit odd," she says. Lowe said he was unhappy. Finally he told his wife words that most wives and husbands hope to never hear, "I don't want to be with you anymore."

Derek is the father of her three kids, including a 20-month old, and her 16-year old son, whom Lowe adopted when he was young. She told Derek she would do counseling. She desperately wants to save their marriage. But according Trinka, Lowe said "I'm done."

I left a phone message for Carolyn Hughes at Fox Sports yesterday, and I left a phone message last night on Derek Lowe's cell phone. So far, neither has responded.

Trinka Lowe is obviously going through a very difficult time right now. She and Derek just sold their home in Beverly Hills and she has moved back to Florida in the last week, while her husband still lives in LA. She says he calls sporadically and will still not admit to the affair with Hughes that she feels certain about. Trinka asks Derek, "Why do you continue to lie?"

Still, even though he said he wants a divorce, she wants her family to stay together. Speaking of Hughes, Trinka says "She has her hooks in him." But Trinka Lowe also says, "I'm never going to give up on him."

KTTV REPORTER CHRIS BLATCHFORD SAYS BERNARD PARKS JUNIOR CROSSED THE LINE WITH PROFANE NAME CALLING. PARKS FEELS UNFAIR TREATMENT, BUT SAYS MATTER IS CLOSED.

This all began for me with a story that Chris Blatchford did on the Biggie Smalls wrongful death trial in late June. I praised him for covering an important story which I'd not seen on any other TV station. But given the testimony, I wondered why he had not gotten a comment from former Chief Bernard Parks, since the testimony involved criticism of him. The suit claims an LAPD cover-up in the case.

Someone in the newsroom emailed me after reading that, telling me they overheard Blatchford having a phone conversation with Bernard Parks Junior, who serves as the chief of staff for his father, who is now a city councilman. They said this was not a word-for-word quote, but heard Blatchford say something like: How can you say I distorted your comment when you wouldn't give me a comment! How many times did I ask you?

This insider also heard Blatchford says something like "I think you're way out of line."

They suggested that I give Blatchford a call to get the story, and so that is what I did. When I reached him, I was impressed that he was willing to speak to me on the record about this. I wish more LA TV reporters and anchors had his courage.

He explained to me that he had done eight stories on the Biggie Smalls trial between June 27th and July 7th. Six days before the first piece aired, Blatchford tells OTR that he called Parks' office for comment. He says he talked with a woman, and that he made it clear there was plenty of time for Parks to talk.

Bernard Jr. tells OTR in an email that his assistant told Blatchford that the councilman would not be available that day. Parks said "I believe he took that to mean that he would never be available to comment on the story."

However, Blatchford says she never said that. Rather, he says she said "I don't think we'll be commenting on that." And Blatchford says he considers Bernard Jr.'s explanation "baloney."

Parks also said "I phoned him the day after the story ran to admit a breakdown in communication and to request that if he ever did another Notorious B.I.G. story, that he, again, allow us the opportunity to respond."

Blatchford tells OTR that he told Bernard Jr. that his father was welcome to comment "any time he wants," with the knowledge that this trial was just starting. Blatchford says he felt he left it open for the former chief to call anytime.

According to Bernard Jr., the next day was another Notorious B.I.G. story "where the Council member was a central figure. But he never called to get a comment."

It was this story - Day #3 of the trial - which got my attention in the first place, and I asked Blatchford about it. He said "In two earlier conversations, they passed (on commenting). I don't think we were compelled to ask them to respond to courtroom testimony. And they had a blanket invitation to comment at any point anyway, and refuse to this day."

Bernard Jr. said "When appropriate, the Council member has commented on the story. He's testified in court as well. There are certain sensitivities that he has to pay attention to because the case is still ongoing. But when he feels that he can make a comment without possibly putting the case in danger, he does."

And Blatchford added that beyond the courtroom testimony, he tried to get the city's side from defense attorney Vincent Morella that day, who gave him a "no comment" at the courthouse. Blatchford also said he waited 45 minutes after the end of testimony that day to get a comment from Deputy City attorney Don Vincent, but never saw him.

According to Blatchford, Bernard Jr. had called and left a message for him on the night that Day #3 story ran. Blatchford says he called back....before his story aired....but Bernard Jr. was not there. Bernard Jr. called back after the story aired, and Blatchford said he was "furious."

What had him really angry was that Blatchford had used a picture of his sister Michelle, from a cocaine arrest in Las Vegas, in which charges were eventually dropped. Her name came up in court because a detective testified that he had seen a picture found in Compton which included disgraced cops Raphael Perez, David Mack and Michelle Parks. That picture has not surfaced during the trial, which Blatchford pointed out in his story. But he felt it was appropriate to use the other photo. Said Blatchford "I'm in the television business. If I have a picture of something, I use it."

According to Blatchford, Bernard Parks Junior, Chief of Staff for Councilman Bernard Parks finally said "You're nothing but a mother fucking punk ass bitch." Blatchford tells OTR that he said it in a menacing way, and he repeated it. He says Bernard Jr. also said "I'm going to be so far up your ass it's going to hurt. We're going to get your job."

I asked Bernard Parks Junior if he had called Blatchford any profane names, but he would not deny or confirm it. Though he obviously has given me some comments, he also said "The conversation that I had with Mr. Blatchford was private. So, I
don't feel the need to comment on it."

But he also told OTR "Though I don't recall specifically saying that I was going to get his job, I did indeed inform him that I was going to talk to Fox management.
The following day, Council member Parks talked to Blatchford's superiors
and had a very productive discussion. Since that discussion, we have
considered the issue dead. They responded by promising to
take his concerns into consideration the next time the issue surfaces in
their newsroom. The Councilman is more than satisfied with those
developments."

And during that conversation with KTTV General Manager Kevin Hale, as you can imagine it was made clear that Councilman Parks was still free to comment on the very serious charges made against the LAPD while he was in charge and made against him personally.

So far that has not happened. Though Bernard Jr. added "Furthermore, since the incident, even more evidence in the Notorious B.I.G. case has come out that further solidifies the Council member's position.

Thanks again for the opportunity to respond."

I'm not sure what evidence he is referring to. But I do know that the judge declared a mistrial because she said the LAPD may have purposely withheld evidence.

KCAL TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

After the infamous Lorena Bobbitt case, I thought it was clear that America had grown up enough to where you could now say "penis" on television. But quite ironically KCAL has gone conservative on us. Yes, the station that has a history of putting on a T & A newscast after Laker games, suddenly would not say "penis". Okay, you're right....they show T & A not P & A. Seriously though, how can such a station, which markets sexuality through anchor Mia Lee and weather anchor Jackie Johnson, suddenly get so prudish?

In a Lorena Bobbitt type story last week on KCAL's 2pm news, Mia Lee said that some guy had his "private part" cut off. Yes, "penis" was as absent from the story as it was from the guy who had been hacked.

The woman testified that she cut it off after being physically and sexually assaulted by the guy over a four year period.

Someone at KABC really dropped the ball on this one! According to David Ono on KABC's 5pm news, "This is an amazing story. Santa Barbara County taxpayers are going to be paying the price for the Michael Jackson child molestation trial. The tab so far is nearly 300 million dollars, and counting. Most of the money went to Sheriff’s deputies who were posted at the Santa Maria courthouse where the trial took place from January until June. Crowd control also added to the bill and there are more costs that haven’t been added in yet. The county’s business manager says the price for the investigation and prosecution of the case, and the grand jury will add to this bill."

Whoa!! 300 million dollars, and most of that just for paying the deputies? Too bad no one at KABC double-checked. When I saw the story on KNBC's 5pm news, Paul Moyer that the figure was 2.7 million dollars. That's more like it. I did an internet check and found that the 2.7 million dollars is the accurate number.

Since I started writing about this many years ago, I think some TV newsrooms have thought twice about always going to Bluebird Liquors for their lotto stories. True, a lot of local boneheads are willing to wait in line for lotto tickets there, when they could walk in another store with no waiting. And it is the not-too-bright reporting which helps feed this nonsense. Last week, KCBS's Suraya Fadel said "We found many people lining up to buy their ticket at lucky shops, like Bluebird Liquor in Hawthorne. The store has a record of big wins with Fantasy Five and Super Lotto." A sound bite with a worker there said they've had five millionaires over the years.

He did not say the last time someone won the big lotto jackpot. Since they clearly have a lot of lotto customers, how "lucky" they are would have to be in relation to how many tickets they sell. In other words, if for example they sell five times as many tickets every week as the state average, they should have more winners. But, lucky? Is there some magic to their lotto machines? Are your chances really any better if you buy your lotto ticket there? Absurd. But don't tell that to Fadel. She says the store is lucky.

KABC's Wendy Burch also covered the big Mega Millions drawing, but with a lot more substance. While she did get the usual sound bite of someone hoping to win, she found a real hard news angle.

There is a lawsuit pending against California's participation in Mega Millions. She interviewed State Senator Dean Florez who wondered what would happen if a Californian wins. Could the winnings be held up in court? Burch interviewed a member of the group which filed the lawsuit, who said if that does happen, it's not his problem.

It's pretty unusual for these big lotto drawing stories to have a serious angle. This was unusual. Kudos to KABC and Burch for covering it. Well done.

KABC is pushing the idea of folks sending cell phone video or pictures to them, in case someone captures some news. Not a bad idea. Jovana Lara did the story to promote the idea, and then was on set afterward.

Ellen Leyva asked "Is it really as easy as just taking a picture and sending it to us?” Lara then says she’s going to “do it right now” and Leyva says “oh?” as IF she didn’t know that was about to happen. That little chit-chat was silly. Obviously this was planned so why have Levya ask the question as if she didn't what was coming next. And that "Oh?" was obviously fake. You are news people. Why pretend?

After Lara snapped the photo of Ono and Leyva, the plan was to go to a computer screen and show the viewers how easily it is delivered. But it went slower than expected. At one point Lara said how KABC would evaluate them and, obviously waiting for the picture said "do we have your picture? Maybe not." Then Leyva joked "Maybe we weren’t suitable." Now that comment was good.... a real ad-lib. Anyway, the picture made it to the computer 25 seconds after Lara shot it and sent it, and so we did get to see it on the air.

It was a little more informal when they did the same deal at 11pm. Marc Brown was soloing and though he held up a cell phone to take a photo of Garth Kemp, he explained that the photo they would now show us of Kemp was taken a few minutes earlier. I guess KABC decided they didn't want to waste 25 seconds at 11pm waiting for the picture. And I am certainly glad they were honest enough to tell viewers that the photo was already taken.