Category: Conway

The Big Picture

It all comes together in the end—drugs, murders, rape, overdoses, heroin and shoplifting—that’s what you learn covering cops and courts.

That isn’t my only job at the Sun, but lately cops and courts have been a large part of what I cover, and today I got to put the finishing touches on a story that weaves together a lot of that coverage to get at the bigger picture.

A few months ago I was not in the good graces of the Conway Police Department. I reported on some irregular spending right before the town meeting vote, and the story likely contributed to their not getting approval from residents for two additional officers they wanted. They were not psyched, but there was no question about the accuracy of my reporting.

Then came the Krista Dittmeyer case, where, as the local media, I was the familiar face in the crowd. We were fair yet aggressive, and as were the police, and I got to know the administration a little better.

Last was the story of the money stolen from within the police department. I handled that as carefully as I could, avoiding sounding accusatory while still pressing for the story.

All that time, every day, I type up the police logs and the court news. Every day I see what they see, although instead of seeing it on the street I see it in black and white. And what I saw recently had me concerned.

Fire and medical calls are dispatched through the police dispatch in Conway, and I started seeing repeated calls for people unconscious in random places. One or two wouldn’t be a big deal, but they kept popping up, usually younger, between 18 and 50, an age you wouldn’t expect to just pass out.

Around the same time I read a story in the New York Times about a new drug called “bath salts.” The light clicked for me that these might be a new drug problem.

It turns out I was right and wrong—they weren’t bath salts, but they were the town’s drug problem, a problem most visitors never even consider. But it’s serious, and it centers around prescription medications.

And to top it all off, over the course of my covering serious cases at the court I’d noticed strange overlaps of people, overlaps that were one or two people removed, but close enough to think there must be connections between actors in several of the serious crimes in Conway.

It all tied together, but it’s hard to pull those connections into a story. I can’t just write what’s in my head—you need facts, quotes, other people to confirm things. But tomorrow’s story, somehow, is just that—what was in my head. I was able to peg it to an event, talk to people in law enforcement, health and human services and emergency medicine and pull state and national statistics together to make that comprehensive story, the one not about day-to-day events but about the big picture.

Big picture reporting is hard. It takes time, and sometimes the story is just, well, too big. Today, I think, I pulled it off. It follows a thread throughout, but it goes everywhere, and hopefully in the end it opens people’s eyes. Looking at police logs and court documents certainly has for me, and reporting is about being the eyes for everyone else.

Another Gold Star

I have three episodes of reporting I’m particularly proud of since I’ve been at the Conway Daily Sun, and all of them center on the police.

The first was a story I did right before town meeting on the department’s end of year spending habits. Several years ago the department blew through tens of thousands of dollars in the final days of the year. The next year it was a similar story, although less pronounced, to the point they had less than $50 to give back to the town. Finding and pointing out that pattern was exhilarating. When I was staring at their expenses and realized what had happened I almost started bouncing.

The second one was durring Krista Dittmeyer’s disappearance. Through random connections and some luck I found the name of her baby’s father. Then with a bit more digging I found out he was in prison in Maine. That afternoon I was at a press conference with national media where reporters in calf-length jackets and hipster glasses grilled the local lieutenant about the case. They kept asking about the father, but the lieutenant wouldn’t budge. The Sun photographer there with me had to remind me to wipe away the smirk. I knew I knew something no one else did. We wound up beating every other news outlet with that story, including the Portland Press Herald, a much bigger paper based in the town Dittmeyer lived in.

And yesterday the third story came out.

This story was about a theft within the police department, a theft that happened months ago that no one has been talking about. I was able to get the police chief, the police commissioners and the State Police to talk about the incident, and I was able to get a number of the key details out.

When you feel a story like these start to come together it feels really good. It feels like you’ve just discovered a lost civilization, one people meant for you never to find. It’s a treasure hunt, and with these ones I found the prize. There are surely more prizes out there, however. I’m happy to keep digging.

Unhappy Father’s Day

I got to break bad news to two dads today: their sons names were going in the paper, and they aren’t going to look too good afterward.

One got hit in the head with a hatchet trying to retrieve a $5 hat. The other is accused of assaulting and robbing his girlfriend and assaulting two other people.

One son is 18, the other is 17. Both dads called today to see what they could do to smooth over what showed up in the paper. Neither man was pushy — they both were following their parental instincts, trying to protect their boys. And I had to tell them I understand the position they are in, but there isn’t much I can do.

In the hatchet incident, there were threats and racial slurs reportedly flying around, and the son and another man pulled into this guys driveway and pulled a knife. The man who’s house it was pulled out a hatchet, and someone got hurt. I asked the dad what he would do if someone was threatening him and then two men showed up at his house? Would he maybe grab a weapon? Yes, he conceded, he might have grabbed a hatchet.

From that point on things were destined to go downhill.

The other man wanted to make a point that his son wasn’t a bad guy. He offered to talk to me, but I told him since he wasn’t there he’d just be a character witness, and not a particularly convincing one since he is obviously biased. I told him I’d be happy to interview his son to get his side of things, but I couldn’t imagine his attorney would recommend it.

It was interesting to field both those calls today. Happy Father’s Day, I guess. Please don’t get arrested; you’re father will appreciate it.

Another Busy Week

It has been a short week this week, because of the Memorial Day holiday, but it has again been crazy. A man struck another man in the head with a hatchet, there was a drug bust in Conway at the same time as someone in the house was overdosing on antidepressants, there was an attempted abduction of a 14-year-old girl, tornado warnings north of the notches, and former mayor Rudy Giuliani stopped by the office to say hello.

Here’s a brief clip of his visit:

It’s been interesting over the last two months — I’ve become almost a full time crime reporter. I’ve talked to the Department of Corrections spokesman at least once a week, sometimes a couple times a day (like today and yesterday), and I’m sinking my teeth into the law almost every day. Child endangerment? Sure. Felonious sexual assault? Why not. I’ve been seeing more and more of this stuff as the weather warms. I’m interested to see just how hot the summer gets. I’m not sure people want to see much more of this.

On the good side, however, I had no fewer than four cover stories today. I’m not really sure how that works, I crowded out everyone else. The good thing is we have two reporters gone on vacation. There’s been no shortage of things to fill the paper with while they’re gone!

Newt!

We got 10 minutes with former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich at the office today. He was swinging through town on his first visit to New Hampshire as a candidate. I was able to shoot video of the entire conversation, which I will post as soon as it finishes uploading. Here’s to the start of the 2012 GOP primary in Conway!

Arrested and Arraigned

Three men — two accused of conspiring to rob Krista Dittmeyer and one accused of killing her — are in jail. The next step in the story that began three weeks ago today is unfolding.

It’s a bit strange to consider this a story, and not a woman’s life, but that’s what it has been to me. And it has been a spectacularly interesting story to watch develop.

The first thing I’ve learned is that I have no interest in being in television news. TV reporters are vultures. Or maybe vulture-sharks. They can smell blood, and they stand in the background while they wait for their chance. When I walked out of the courtroom there was a semicircle of cameras waiting for anyone connected with the case to walk by. The reporters were kneeling down, holding out microphones while the camera operators stood. The reporters shouted questions as people walked by. They literally blocked the exit there were so many of them.

See the video:

I don’t begrudge them their job, but then I think of the newscasts. I’ve seen several errors in reports, and yet there have been no corrections. They just keep rolling on, like a piano player in a band who flubs a note. That’s not the type of journalism I do. I don’t pretend to be perfect, but when I screw up I correct it.

There are other things I’ve learned, like that people will overlook your drug-dealing if you are young, attractive and have a child. Would there be this much controversy if it was a 20-year-old black male who was killed when two people tried to steal his drugs and money? I’ve also learned that many people assume someone is guilty based entirely on what the police say, and not on the evidence. There is no public evidence in the Dittmeyer case, and yet lots of people seem to know these men are guilty. I have no clue what happened, so I’m reserving judgement. Maybe by the end of this we’ll find out.

The Latest

Krista Dittmeyer has not turned up yet, but news about her baby’s father has. He is in jail for dealing drugs, something thus far that has been out of the news. It was only because of my colleagues’ longtime connections in the community that I was able to uncover who he was and what he was in prison for, but we beat the national media hovering over Conway. That feels good.

Now we’ll see where other community connections get me. I’ve been hearing a bunch of rumors that are tough to substantiate about what Dittmeyer was doing over here. I’ve got a few leads out there, and may have another interesting story by tomorrow night. This one is going to wind up on the Today Show, I guess, but I turned down the chance at an interview. I’ll just keep doing my job, and leave television to the television reporters.

One More Vote

Last night was the town election for Conway, and today was the final day (hopefully) of reporting on an event that have ebbed and flowed for more than two months. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to cover something else.

I got a call today from what sounded like an older woman. “I hope you’re proud of yourself for what you put in the paper,” she said. “You probably got fired from your last job.” Then she hung up.

I’m not really sure which story that call was in reference to, but I have a couple ideas. I ran all the candidates’ names through the court system and came out with a couple who had criminal records. I called both men and gave them a chance to explain what happened. One didn’t seem to care, but the other freaked. “How can you do this?” he said. “Are you trying to hurt me?” I heard from some people around town that he was not happy with the story in the paper, and that he felt like I shouldn’t have written it.

Normally I wouldn’t have much sympathy for that — if you don’t want your record examined don’t run for public office. But this guy really was driven to get this position, even though he was not likely to win at all. It was one of those cases when I could feel for the guy, but I wasn’t about to do anything different.

I’ve become used to criticism as a reporter. I’ve written a number of stories people don’t like. When I used to work at the Reporter, everyone had my cell phone number. I’d get calls at home from angry politician unhappy with how I wrote about them. At least now those calls go to the office.

I can hear that criticism, and I don’t mind airing it in public. I would have encouraged the woman to write a letter to the editor blasting me for the story, had she only stayed on the phone long enough for me to respond.

But she didn’t. Elections do that. They fire people up and get them breathing hard. And then I stand in their way for a quote. I can’t expect not to gett spit on once in a while. I’m just happy it only comes once a year…

Don’t Print That!

I had a great conversation today with a guy running for police commission who didn’t want me to put in the paper that he’d been convicted of disorderly conduct and possession.

Those charges are from five years ago. “That’s in the past,” he said. True.

But the pending trespassing and resisting arrest charges aren’t from so long ago. Those are from January, and they won’t go to court until May 11, one day shy of a month after the election.

The man at first argued that this was his private criminal record, and I had no right to be putting it in the paper. I explained that I wasn’t looking to broadcast his record, but he had opted to run for public office. Every one of the candidates running for office went through the same level of scrutiny, I said, and we weren’t singling him out.

(Another man running for selectman and budget committee was arrested two and a half years ago for stealing scrap metal from the dump—a town entity. He was convicted of theft. Wouldn’t it be interesting to have someone convicted of stealing from the town elected to run it? I can’t make this stuff up.)

After explaining I wanted to give him a chance to explain his side of things he (the police commission candidate) did just that. He said he was set up (the selectman candidate said the same thing), and that he was the victim of police brutality, although he didn’t report it. I’m not sure about those accusations, but I can say he felt like I was tossing his hopes of winning the seat in the garbage. He called me back after we got off the phone the first time to tell me his attorney wanted me to know he might take a plea. I don’t want to be spreading this guy’s name all through the paper, but voters have a right to know who is running.

I’ve spent the last week and a half running through all the selectmen candidates, police commission candidates, library trustees, budget committee, etc. (I leave the school board to Lloyd.) They are all going to have their perspectives put in the paper. Almost no where do they get challenged before the election. We put in a few editor’s notes, like when a candidate says they would bring new ideas like LED streetlights (there are already LED streetlights), but we don’t have time to do full stories on all 30 candidates.

So here I’ve done a little digging, and I knock this guy totally off balance. I feel like telling him, “Look, but don’t run if you don’t want your criminal record discussed.”

The paper shouldn’t do that, he said, it’s private.

“Any middle school kid can go to the court house and request these records,” I said. “They are anything but private.”

I don’t think a criminal record should mean you can’t run for office, but I do think voters should be allowed to make informed decisions. On the other hand, some of the other candidate profiles should come with disclaimers themselves…

That’s politics, I guess.

Ray Day

My alarm is set for 4:45 a.m., because tomorrow I’m hanging out with Ray.

Ray Burton has been has been the executive councilor from the North Country since the year I was born. He was actually there even earlier, but he took a break for a bit and only came back 30 years ago.

He and I got into a discussion about the Conway bypass a month ago after I called him with a few questions. I asked him if $400 million couldn’t be better spent in the North Country than to speed up traffic by 20 minutes.

“What would you do with it?” he asked me.

“I don’t know,” I said, a bit surprised to be asked, “build the second wing on the state prison and fully staff it? I bet good paying jobs in Berlin would have more impact than a bit of road construction.”

The truth is, there isn’t $400 million for the bypass. There isn’t even $64 million for part of it. There is no big pot of money that can be spend on roads or on prisons, and the project is likely going to be pushed off even longer because of state funding problems. But that’s a different story for a different time. My discussion with Ray took a side turn there, and it ended with Ray inviting me to be his guest at the executive council breakfast and meeting.

“I’ll be there,” I said.