City lights: ‘News’ site’s legitimacy close to nil – "The Montana News Association"

The Montana News Association has never been good at reporting the news, but last week it managed to make some.

The Billings-based news outlet – which exists only as a site on the Internet and which few people have ever looked at – became the talk of the town last week when its founder, Donald J. Cyphers, took a shove in the chest from former Police Chief Ron Tussing.

It was a dumb move on the part of Tussing, who had just finished announcing his plans to run for mayor and who should have known that Cyphers, who has been on a crusade against Tussing for more than a year, would probably show up and try to provoke a confrontation.

Cyphers and his associate, Janet Green, badgered Tussing after his announcement, and Green began shouting when Tussing refused to answer her questions, saying he would talk to people only from "the legitimate media."

I normally wouldn’t try to define who is and who isn’t legitimate. Anybody with a computer can be a "reporter" these days, and a candidate for public office should probably be receptive to anybody wishing to talk to him.

But Donald J. Cyphers is in a class by himself. He pleaded guilty to two counts of felony theft in 1999, after being accused of bilking two women of more than $10,000 by pretending he was a lawyer. In one instance, he overheard a woman at a barbecue talking about a motor home accident she’d been in. Cyphers sidled up to her and offered his services, bragging that he’d gotten a $10,000 settlement for another "client" who sprained her finger.

‘Not to be trusted’

Cyphers was sentenced to three years on each count, but District Judge G. Todd Baugh suspended both sentences and placed Cyphers on probation. In the sentencing document, Baugh referred to Cyphers as "a con-artist/thief and an individual not to be trusted."

ED KEMMICK
City Lights

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/06/12/build/local/50-citylights.inc