LBREPORT.COM IS SUDDENLY GONE, BUT PUBLISHER INSISTS NOT FOR LONG
By Dave Wielenga
Bill Pearl, who essentially founded Internet news reporting in Long Beach when he launched LBReport.com in 2000, insists he is not through—that the website’s sudden disappearance Friday will only last a few more days.
“I’m not going away,” Pearl said Saturday in a telephone conversation from his home. “This is going to be a very short hiatus. We are not done.”
That’s a relief to LBReport.com readers, who discovered Friday that all content on the site had vanished without explanation. A few hours later, Pearl posted a couple of rather hazy clarifications in which he referenced the toll that a decade of 24/7 dedication to Long Beach news coverage was taking on his family life and his health.
Pearl’s relentlessly cranky integrity has been the defining tone and ethic of LBReport.com from the beginning—he decided to found the site after a dissatisfying meeting with news executives at the Press-Telegram, to whom he had taken his complaints about their coverage.
When contacted Saturday by Greater Long Beach for more information about LBReport.com’s abrupt absence, Pearl declined to provide further detail. But he sounded upbeat.
“I took a walk this morning, so things are already better,” he said with a chuckle. “Six months ago I promised my very concerned doctor that I would take a daily walk, and I took the first one this morning.”
6 Comments
Long Beach is a better place as a result of Bill Pearl and LBReport
Dear Mr. Pearl and Family!
You are in my prayers! Thank you for all that you do and continue to do!
GOD Bless you and your family! May 2011 be filled with many blessings of health, happiness and love!
Bill: I wish you well and a quick return to your computer. The citizens need a sharp eye and ear to keep City Hall in line.
I’ll reluctantly change my daily morning internet news routine – LBReport.com first, then the rest of the world – until your return, Bill. Hoping this hiatus is a short one and until then, take good care!
Not much makes news in the holidays…but I was at a Councilman’s Chritmas Party tonight…and the topic of the night was what’s going on with LB Report.com! Even in their absence, LB Report.com and Bill Pearl are the talk of the town.
To Bill and Family,
You have played a key role in getting out my husband’s condition, and helped so much with all the Hugh Boyle fundraisers. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. My days are not complete until I read the LBREPORT.COM.
Warm Wishes,
Brice-Boyle Family