Ramifications for a journalist (in other
words…Remain silent or else.)
6/27/07 KyHarnessRacing.com

    In recent weeks, Mike Kravchak has been writing a
    column, Trackside, on this site. With it, Kravchak has
    brought harness racing in Kentucky to the spotlight.
    His ultimate goal is getting out the real story, with a
    big splash of humor.  Mike aspires to having the
    column appear regularly in city newspaper's local to
    each track. The chances of this happening look very
    good and most likely will happen as racing begins
    next season. Everyone knows we need all the
    promotion we can get, so let's hope it happens.

    As with any great sports journalist, Kravchak and his
    column Trackside haven’t gone without controversy
    and criticism. Kravchak says, “With every good story,
    there is a good possibility that someone could be
    unhappy. My job is to get the real story, the truth.
    And if the way I say it sounds humorous, that’s
    great. One thing's for sure, like or not, I tell like it is
    and the way I see it. My intentions are not to offend
    anyone, but simply bring you the real story. If I do
    offend anyone, then maybe they need to take a look
    at what happened. If you throw an interception, I will
    mostly like write about it. I may even make it funny.”  
    He continues, “As for the getting canned from
    announcing at the fair, I was replaced by Kevin Mack
    the presiding judge. Now you tell me, if you are
    announcing, can you really do a good job officiating a
    race? No cameras or replays mind you. I have
    announce several races and I can answer
    that - absolutely not!

    Most recently, Mike Kravchak was scheduled to
    announce at the Paducah fair. But due to either a
    column he writes, (Trackside), or a comment to which
    he responded, he was fired (or replaced). Regular
    announcer, Mel Smith had other engagements for the
    two day fair, and Kravchak was asked to fill in. After
    he responded to a comment on this site or it may
    have been one of his weekly Trackside columns, he
    was fired (or replaced).

    Was he fired (or replaced) for writing the truth or the
    real story? Or maybe, he was fired (or replaced)
    because he asked a question? He never was told why.
    The messenger, Mel Smith brought the news to
    Kravchak one night around 7 or 8 pm. So the
    question we have to ask is: Was Mike Kravchak
    FIRED because he did not fit into the click? Or, is it
    the mentality of “AGREE WITH ME OR ELSE” (SURELY
    NOT, THAT WOULD BE LIKE A DICTATOR)? One
    thing for sure, Mike may never be told why he was
    fired (although we all really know), but we do know
    that there is one, and only one person who can make
    that call to fire someone. We know the job
    description of a secretary doesn't include firing. This
    isn’t the first time that someone was fired at the
    fairs. Did I mention he was not given a reason?

    Wayne Oke worked as the presiding judge at the fairs
    for three years, before getting fired. We thought our
    readers may like a little inside scoop. In a
    conversation with Wayne, and in his own words he
    said, “I was relieved of my duties after the end of fair
    racing, during the fall. It was in the round barn, Nate
    asked me if my wife could work the photo finish at
    the fairs the next year. I said sure, she’ll have to
    arrange her schedule at work. Everything was good.
    Two weeks later I get a call from Nate Sholar and he
    said that they wouldn't need my services anymore,
    because of their budget and the cost cutting thing.
    So, I said 'ok'. But this kind of bothered me, so after
    about a week or so I called Nate Sholar and ask what
    was the real reason I was RELIEVED. Nate told me
    “Actually, the KHHA didn’t want you to judge the fairs
    anymore.” So the next day I was in the judges office
    at the Red Mile, and Napier come in and said we need
    to have a talk. So we went outside and I told Napier
    that Nate said it was him (Bill Napier) that had me
    removed. Napier said, “Nate lied to you”. The thing
    that bothers me the most about this is nobody was
    even man enough to say this is why we let you go.
    It's kind of like the new fair rule, nobody knows how
    they come about. All I really have to say is, if you do
    something for the right cause, you won’t have a
    problem taking responsibility for it. We are in a
    position to where we should be held accountable for
    our actions.”

    Wayne ended the conversation with this statement:
    “When I was the presiding judge at the county fairs, I
    was at every draw. Jim Sims, former KHHA board
    member, ask me to do this. I thought it was a good
    idea.”

    This article has been brought to you by
    KyHarnessRacing.com. This is a side of the story that
    you normally would not hear. But, we think it is a
    very important one. We are not making any
    decisions, we like to be open and let the you, the
    people, decide.