I won’t permit officialdom to tell me when and what to print

“Vinnie the Vet gets the scoop!” — Ed (Uncle Buck) Buchanan, holding his nose in an attempt to sound like Walter Winchell

If there were any such thing as a Community Journalism League, I’d be leading it in publishing true, but unauthorized stories. Not because I’m trying to sell papers. This on-line rag is free.

I lead the league in running stories that drive officialdom up a wall because of George Orwell’s comment, “The news is what somebody else doesn’t want you to know.” And if my story is true, I lose absolutely no sleep doing it.

This contentious process has accelerated somewhat in the last two years. I’ll present five true stories: One in which I was burned by treachery, four in which I was unpopular, but telling the truth.

• Just about the time the Martin football team had concluded its sixth straight winless season in 2013, I was told by excellent sources that coach Brett Neal had told his players he wouldn’t be back next season. I ran a story, much to the displeasure of Supt. Bill Miller, who told me his resignation had not come before the school board and he (Miller) was the only person authorized to give out that kind of information.

Several weeks later, Neal’s resignation letter was read to the board.

• Using powers of deduction, I concluded former Dorr Township Treasurer Janice Saunders planned to resign at the end of 2013. I approached her and she neither confirmed nor denied it. She asked me to wait a few more days and she would get in touch and promised I’d be the first to know.

About two days later I read the Penasee Globe’s story about her resignation and felt like a real sap for being a nice guy.

• I came across information that Steeby Elementary Principal Rita Nowling was set to retire in the spring of 2014 and when I asked Wayland Supt. Norm Taylor, he said the matter had not come before the school board. I printed the story regardless and got the date of her retirement wrong.

A perplexed Taylor e-mailed me to say what I did was tantamount to leaving a ballgame at halftime and getting who won wrong. No, it was like leaving at the half and getting the final score wrong, while correctly reporting the victor.

• I used a couple of my many sources (I grew up here and I know a lot of people) to learn that a teacher was being dismissed last September and negotiations were under way to work out a severance agreement. I had no interest in hearing it hadn’t come before the board, so I ran the story.

This time Taylor sent me an angry e-mail claiming my story was false, accusing me of making up stories and even hinting at possible legal action against me. But once again, the story later turned out to be true.

• A little more than a year ago I had several quality sources tell me head football coach Jerry Diorio was being asked to resign. I didn’t hesitate to run the story without consulting the administration, with which I had come to have a bad track record in getting the truth quickly.

During the next school board meeting, a group of parents showed up to protest, but the only way they would have known Diorio was done was through my story.

• The latest sticky business was that I used a few sources to publish a story about Martin’s head football coach, Travis Farris, stepping down because he thought he had landed a teaching job at Lowell. He didn’t, but then decided to stay on as an assistant coach under Randy Hunt.

I was told Martin officials were upset that they knew nothing of this until they read my story. All of them were on summer vacations and unavailable, so I should have waited, they said.

So there is a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about my penchant for publishing unauthorized stories. My first response is that if what I print is true, expect no apology. My second response is, don’t try to manage the news by telling me when and how I should write the story. Officials who want better cooperation need to do a better job of being straight with the public and me and stop acting like politicians and corporate CEOs by doing their little dances.

I will not wait for someone to authorize me to write a story. This is not Pravda, it is a fiercely independent community newsletter. As long as my stories are true, I shall continue.

My personal motto after all these years as a community journalist:

“I write about what I see and hear. And sometimes I comment on it.”