The Write Stuff

My newspaper work                     

In 27 years at the Ann Arbor News, I covered a wide variety of subjects and even-wider variety of people, from judges and CEOs to victims of crime or tragedy; angry people, ruined people, even a few happy people; professors, medical specialists, or people who never graduated from high school and can't afford a phone.

No two were alike, so I've functioned in virtually every kind of situation.

I've collected some stories to give you a feel for the depth of my experience.

     Washtenaw United Way Director Vince Buccirosso told me that finances at the nonprofit agency "aren't anybody's business."
We begged to differ.
     The nonprofit board stood behind him -- until he walked out the door in the middle of a meeting about Ann Arbor News allegations of wrongdoing.
     The stories eventually led to Buccirosso's conviction for several felonies.
United Way director caught

      I created a large database, the first used at the Ann Arbor News to conduct an investigation, detailing relevant facts in every case of child sexual assault to go to the Washtenaw County Trial Court over a seven-year period. 
      I used that database to formulate stories about why there appear to be geographic clusters of the child sex abuse cases.
      I proved that "stranger danger" is catchy for warning children away from strangers, but irrelevant, since all but a few of the crimes were committed by persons known to the children.
      I reported that most cases were pleaded down.
      And I interviewed the family of a young boy molested by a neighbor all the parents on that street trusted with their children, to discuss the impact of that kind of betrayal. Two of the seven stories that ran over three days are listed. The series led the Ann Arbor News to nominate me for a Pulitzer.
  Victims of sexual assault part 1             part2
  Sentencings of sexual assault defendants part 1           part 2

     Ann Arbor Public Library finance director Don Dely was robbing the library blind to buy himself trips, pay his mortgage, and remodel his house. He even used it to pay his childrens' college tuition.
     But the library board didn't know it, and didn't want to.  This story required paper trail investigations, working with Ann Arbor Police, and prodding the library board to police its own house.Dely was convicted of embezzlement.
Library finance director caught embezzling part 1          part 2          part 3           part 4