Tentative date set in hearing for former News-Press employee

By Sally Cappon/TIMES CORRESPONDENT

The hearing on Ampersand Publishing Company's request for a temporary restraining order against former Santa Barbara News-Press business editor Michael Todd may be held next Tuesday.

Then again, it may not.

The on-again, off-again hearing will depend on completion of a trial scheduled to start Tuesday afternoon in Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle's courtroom.

Anderle on Tuesday tentatively set the hearing date after determining that Todd, the complainant Ana Elisa Fuentes, and their attorneys will be in town and available for a hearing.

The proceeding is called “trailing,” or following a trial of uncertain length. Urging attorneys to “stay in touch,” Anderle estimated the current trial would take eight to 10 days.

Todd is charged with allegedly threatening Fuentes, then a part-time News-Press photographer, last May. Todd claims the remarks he made to Fuentes, which he admits, were in jest.

Ampersand attorney David Millstein estimated his portion of the hearing will take “under an hour.” He failed to answer Judge Anderle's question as to whether he intends to call witnesses other than Fuentes.

Todd's attorney, Stephen Dunkle, with the law firm of Sanger & Swysen, estimated his side will require two hours.

The hearing, originally scheduled for Aug. 15, has twice been postponed at the request of Millstein, first because Fuentes was out of the country. Last week he asked that the hearing be held before a Superior Court judge, rather than a court commissioner.

Ampersand is the parent company of the News-Press. The newspaper and its owner, Wendy McCaw, have been embroiled in a bitter dispute with reporters and editors over the newspaper's content. Todd is one of five editors who quit the paper July 5 and 6 citing ethical lapses by the owners, opening the door for a landslide exodus of editorial employees.

Remaining employees voted overwhelmingly two weeks ago to join a union, an election the company has challenged before the National Labor Relations Board.

October 11, 2006