It has come to my attention that the Courier offered General Manager Tom Olson up to an entire page for OPA to present OPA news to its readers. Olson said NO! My information did not come from the Courier or any individual employed by or in any way associated with the Courier.

Apparently the Courier also offered a free column to Recs & Parks Director Mike Howell for promoting activities and that was apparently in the works. Suddenly all communication from the OPA side stopped.

Relative to this, here's some interesting information from the General Manager's written evaluation of Deserie Lawrence, the former Marketing and Public Relations Department head fired by Olson.

In one category, "Decisiveness," that looks at an employee's "initiative and courage to act" Olson gives her a "U" rating -- unsatisfactory. Yet in another category Olson complains that she tried to negotiate free editorial space for OPA in the Independent without asking him. So much for "initiative and courage."

Somewhat unrelated, but interesting, are Olson's evaluation comments about her lack of skill in writing news releases. Those with good memories may recall that OPA sent out a news release when she was hired. Olson told me he had asked each candidate to write a news release announcing their hiring should they be selected for the job. Olson used the writing quality of each candidate's news release as part of his evaluation process.

When Olson's evaluation was done he chose Deserie Lawrence and sent her pre-hire news release out to association members.

This particular document may show more about the qualities of Tom Olson as a GM than Deserie Lawrence as an employee.