• Infant’s first haircut

• Cops get pied in the face

• Polar plunge

• The Yule Blog

• How to blog a state fair

• The early bird gets the $15 DVD player

• Broken life: Jerry Gaston’s story

• Broken life: Part 2

• Black and blue: The history of black Springfield police officers

• Little lion lost

• $10,000 engagement ring left in cab

• Springfield Cobras: Off-the-street fighters

• Snow rollers appear in rural Springfield

• Ugly fabric contest

In June my neighbor’s mother told me she’d unsuccessfully been trying to reach SJ-R columnist Dave Bakke to tell him about a story idea she had. Her great-grandson at the end of the week was going to be the fifth generation of the Roderick family to get his first hair cut by Springfield barber Bob Brown.

Bakke was on vacation, and I knew this would be a fun story to tell, so I volunteered to do it. The result is the story below, which ran on Page 1 of The State Journal-Register. The photo above was taken by Justin Fowler.

Infant’s haircut continues five-generation tradition

June 13, 2009

Ten-month-old Quinn Roderick wriggled, shrugged and smiled his way through his first haircut Friday morning the way many toddlers do.

He sat on a booster in the big red barber chair looking around at a room full of smiling faces as barber Bob Brown tucked a white smock into the collar of the boy’s dinosaur overalls.

Parents often cherish their child’s first haircut, going so far as to take pictures or tuck away locks of baby hair. But Quinn’s had even more significance. He is the fifth generation of Rodericks to have his hair trimmed by Brown, who has been a barber in Springfield since 1955.

That’s not all. Quinn’s father, Seth Roderick, brought him here all the way from Stafford, Va., so Brown could give him his first haircut. Brown also did Seth’s first haircut around 1975 [...] Read the rest of this entry »

Springfield-area police officers take a pie in the face as part of the annual Badges for Life summer blood drive. Sept. 5, 2007.

I covered the local polar plunge in 2008 and shot video of the frigid fun. You’ll notice there was snow on the ground. This was a fun event to video and write about. I think this is my favorite video of the ones I’ve shot and edited.

I blogged Black Friday shopping in November 2008. I’m not sure who was up in the middle of the night reading about all the shoppers standing out in the freezing cold in anticipation of rock-bottom prices on DVDs and toys, but the blog was a hit the next morning once people got up.

You can read my black Friday blogging here.

Throughout the holiday season we posted various seasonal news items, videos, links, recipes and other tidbits at the Yule Blog. We also posted on the blog a fun little idea I came up with and executed with the help of photographer T.J. Salsman. The idea was to solicit from readers messages they might want Santa Claus to recite to their children on video. We dubbed the project “Santa Shout-outs.”

We asked parents to submit their children’s names, ages, hometowns and an item they had on their wish list for Christmas. We had dozens of replies — so many we had to break the video into three segments to make it easier for parents to find their child’s shout-out.

The response from parents was fantastic. Many wrote us to say their children were amazed or speechless when they watched the video and heard Santa with a personalized greeting for them.

Go here to watch the shout-outs, as well as an interview with Santa in The State Journal-Register press room.

I’ll admit it: I’m a state fair junkie. I love the state fair.

It’s a good thing, because that’s where I spent about two weeks straight in August 2008. I was the “fair reporter.” Each morning I donned a backpack with a laptop computer, a point-and-shoot camera, sunglasses and a good pair of sneakers and drove to the city’s north end to cover the fair. I stayed on the grounds until 5 or 6 p.m. each night, filing updates to the blog and rewriting blog entries for use in the newspaper.

Among the sights I saw at the fair: former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his family prior to his indictment; a senior spelling bee I thought would never end; several carnival rides you will never, ever, catch me on; an auctioneer contest; and a record-setting crowd.

The name of our blog was “In All Fairness.” You can check it out here. (By the way, other reporters contributed to the blog on weekends and at night.)

I’ve done two stints as The State Journal-Register’s morning-after-Thanksgiving Black Friday reporter, and they probably won’t be the last time you’ll find me shivering in front of Best Buy or Toys R Us, talking to bargain-driven shoppers Thanksgiving night.

I have to admit, though, it’s a pretty fun assignment. Photographer T.J. Salsman photographed the fun and he produced this great video. It’s one of my all-time favorites at the paper.

Early Birds / Some deal-seekers stake out stores overnight to get goods
Nov. 24, 2007

Little can come between a serious bargain hunter and the come-hither allure of a $200 desktop computer, an $800 big-screen high-definition television or a $15 DVD player - not a shower of icy snow, sub-freezing temperatures or even long lines.

Let the seduction begin.

Springfield stores were flooded as early as 4 a.m. Friday, as day-after-Thanksgiving holiday shoppers began their search for reduced-price televisions, computers, game systems and other items.

Many shoppers lined up Thursday afternoon and earlier. Some skipped Thanksgiving dinner with family for the chance to land $2 DVD movies and board games for Christmas gifts.

Those waiting in line chatted with each other, made new friends, plotted their in-store strategies, played board games, ordered pizza, drank coffee, talked on their cell phones and shivered in the chilly November darkness.

Like most years, near chaos was narrowly averted after Johnny-come-lately “line jumpers” did what they do best - cut in line.

Some shoppers walked out of [...] Read the rest of this entry »

Jerry Gaston became a quadriplegic after an unlicensed, uninsured driver fleeing from police crashed into the car Gaston was riding in and paralyzed him.

Gaston sued the driver and the city of Springfield in circuit court and won the largest verdict in Sangamon County history. The money should have been enough to take care of all his medical and personal needs for the rest of his life.

Gaston has never seen a penny and probably never will.

Of all the work I’ve done at The State Journal-Register, this is the story I’m most proud to have told. I wish I could have done more for Jerry and his family.

Photographer T.J. Salsman documented Jerry’s life in photos. This was my first attempt at narrative writing on a significant news story.

Broken life / Reckless driver forever changes Jerry Gaston’s world
Aug. 27, 2006

Jerry Gaston’s eyes flutter open about 4 a.m. most days.

He wishes he could sleep longer, but painful muscle spasms jar him awake. Four to five hours of sleep a night is all he can manage.

He can hear his fiancee, Minnie Blue-Bond - his wife for all intents and purposes - breathing heavily next to him. Occasionally, he hears one of the children stir in the next bedroom.

He can’t see out the window behind his head, but he can tell dawn is breaking from the way the hues in the room change and from the furious chirping of birds outside.

He orders his [...] Read the rest of this entry »

Part 1 of the “Victim of circumstance” series was about Jerry’s life now, what unfolded the night of the crash and Derek Brown’s history as a reckless driver and his brushes with the law.

Part 2 examined the relationship between Jerry and his fiancee and caretaker, Minnie Blue Bond, as well as the legal battle, Jerry’s injuries and his prospects for the future.

Spinal cord injury leaves Gaston with few options
Aug. 28, 2006

Snap a pencil in half, and you’re left with two pieces of wood with a lead core running through the center. Firmly bind the two pieces back together, and there’s a good chance you can continue using the pencil with no trouble.

Now imagine your spinal column with the spinal cord running through the center - something like a pencil with a piece of licorice inside.

Had Jerry Gaston’s vertebrae simply fractured as a result of the crash in May 2002, he might have walked away. But in his case, three bones in his neck broke and dislocated from each other, stretching and pulling and putting pressure on his spinal cord.

Doctors rushed to stabilize the injury when Gaston got to the hospital. They used a device that applied traction and allowed them to realign the bone to prevent further damage to the cord. His surgeon, Dr. Stephen Pineda, then performed surgery to repair and stabilize the fracture with a series of plates, screws and rods.

Despite doctors’ [...] Read the rest of this entry »

My editor in 2005 asked me to research and write about the history of black officers in the Springfield Police Department. The assignment stemmed from ongoing claims of racial discrimination and bias within the department and the civil lawsuits stemming from those allegations.

I spent no less than six months researching the topic. I pored through reels of microfilm of old city newspapers, picked up books on the history of the city, spent hours at the Sangamon Valley Collection and interviewed several retired and current black officers.

Black and Blue / African-American officers struggling with racial divisions in the Springfield Police Department is nothing new.
Sept. 4, 2005

Ask Harry Draper about his 25 years with the Springfield Police Department, and he’ll regale you for hours with tales of solved murder cases, department politics and officer shenanigans.

He’ll reach into his front pants pocket and show you the badge he still carries around, even though he’s been retired since 1981.

His eyes get a little misty when he recalls the day in 1963 when he was the only black officer chosen to guard Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke at an AFL-CIO convention at the Illinois State Armory.

But not all of Draper’s memories are fond ones. When he joined the police force, even though the modern civil rights movement was gaining momentum, racism was overt and accepted among Springfield officers. Many black officers agree that the discrimination they experienced was far worse among their [...] Read the rest of this entry »

This is one of my favorite stories ever. We’d just had Steve Buttry at The State Journal-Register to talk to reporters about writing. Two things I took away from the session were reminders to write good stories and that it’s OK to write short.

Within a few days I spotted an odd classified ad in the paper. A parent was looking for her child’s stuffed lion, which had been lost in Washington Park and was desperately missed. I called up the number listed in the ad and drove over to the Thuma home to find out more about Leo and how he came to be lost.

I wanted to write it in the style of a fairy-tale without overdoing it. This was the result:

little lion LOST … / …and found in Washington Park
May 7, 2005

Leo never intended to tumble out of a little girl’s stroller and onto the Washington Park jogging path when no one was paying attention.

And he certainly didn’t expect to spend the night in one of the park’s trees. But that was where he found himself Wednesday.

It wasn’t the first time the little stuffed toy lion - yellow, pink-tongued and matted from all the love and affection a little boy can offer - had become separated from his loved ones. There also was the sporting goods store and the gym.

His family always would come back for him. But this time, he was alone there on the path [...] Read the rest of this entry »

Eric Culbertson and Krista Saputo were nice enough to tell me the story of how they went to Chicago for a romantic weekend, during which Culbertson was to pop the question to Krista. Trouble was, he accidentally lost the engagement ring — the $10,000 engagement ring — in a taxi.

Word of the fumbled proposal spread around the Windy City and eventually got back to Springfield. The Chicago Tribune and the Sharon Osbourne Show also found out about it. My editor asked me to find the couple and see if they would tell me their story.

‘I fumbled’ - fiance / $10,000 engagement ring is left in cab
Sept. 16, 2003

Suite at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, complete with a view of Lake Michigan: $300.

Romantic dinner for two at the Bandera Restaurant, perfect for popping the question: $150.

Losing the $10,000 engagement ring in a taxi on the way: priceless.

Chicago seemed like the ideal backdrop for Eric Culbertson to ask Krista Saputo to marry him this past weekend.

Instead, their unforgettable evening turned into a nightmare when Culbertson discovered the engagement ring he’d purchased two weeks earlier apparently had fallen out of his wallet when he paid the cabbie who drove the couple to a restaurant 10 minutes from their hotel.

“I fumbled. I was on the one-yard line, and I fumbled,” Culbertson said Monday. “I couldn’t begin to explain all the emotions I had.”

Culbertson, 28, and Saputo, 29, ran into each other about a year [...] Read the rest of this entry »

I met some great kids in 2003 when photographer T.J. Salsman and I documented the Springfield Housing Authority’s Cobras boxing team, an after-school boxing program for youths looking for something productive to do or a safe, suitable outlet for their aggression.

The resulting story appeared in the Feb. 28, 2003, issue of Heartland Magazine in The State Journal-Register.

Off the street fighters / The Springfield Cobras boxing team offers structure and discipline to young people at risk
Feb. 28, 2003

Nine-year-old Keith Treadwell knows what it takes to become a good boxer.

“Practice,” said the Butler Elementary student, who is a member of the Springfield Cobras youth boxing team. “I practice here. I practice at my house. Sometimes I’ll be in bed at night and I practice.”

Any secret moves up his sleeve?

“There’s no secret to boxing!” he said, incredulous that someone would ask such a silly question. “You just have to have good punches and upper cuts and hooks.”

And with that, the boy with the sweet face who prefers to sit alone quietly if he loses a match smacked his gloved fists together and headed for the boxing ring, where his sparring partner waited.

Treadwell is one of about 23 kids who box for the Cobras, a team sponsored by the Springfield Housing Authority. The youngest boxer is 6 and the oldest is 23.

With a shoestring budget, a few dedicated volunteers and a lot of spirit, the team is taking impressionable youths off the [...] Read the rest of this entry »

I was working the night shift in February 2003 when the newsroom phones started ringing. Readers wanted to know if we knew anything about the odd-looking snow balls dotting the landscape in the rural areas around Springfield. Photographer T.J. Salsman and I set out to see for ourselves what people were talking about. Turns out they are a weather phenomenon known as “snow rollers.”

Wind causes snow ‘rollers’
Feb. 12, 2003

“Creepy” and “weird” were how some people described a Tuesday night weather phenomenon in which large snowballs formed in fields, yards and parking lots without human help.

More than one motorist paused to look at clusters of the snowballs - known in the eastern United States as “rollers” - that formed as strong gusts of wind from the west blew across snow that was already on the ground.

“It looks like a Mars landscape at night,” said Stacy Bowman, who noticed the unusual snowballs about 8 p.m. in fields west of Bradforton Road as she drove home from Springfield.

“At first I thought they were just clumps of sod being turned over in the field,” she said. “Then I thought maybe some kids were out, but I didn’t see any footprints around.”

The “rollers,” which were more log-shaped than round, left yards of trails behind them where newly fallen snow had rolled and picked up the snow on the ground.

Melissa Byrd, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Lincoln, said the agency received numerous reports [...] Read the rest of this entry »

How does one begin to write about an ugly fabric contest? That was my challenge for a March 2002 assignment.

Photographer T.J. Salsman and I headed to the contest site, unsure what we’d find. The result was a light feature for the next day’s newspaper.

Sew what? / Guild challenge makes fashion sense of ugly fabric
Thursday, March 28, 2002

It comes with the territory.

People who love to sew eventually find themselves with yards and yards of ugly fabric - cuts of material that seemed like a good idea at the time but lost their luster through the years. (Some might consider paisley a good example.)

When those unsightly textiles pile up, an “ugly fabric contest” can be a seamstress’ best friend.

Twenty-two women from the Lincolnland chapter of the American Sewing Guild rose to the challenge of turning a scrap of ugly fabric into something wearable or usable. Their creations were modeled at the chapter’s annual meeting and style show Wednesday night.

“We all have stashes, and we all have fabric in our stashes that we think, ‘Why did we buy that? ‘” said Nancy Ward.

The contest started in December, when members of the chapter were asked to bring a piece of what they considered ugly fabric that was at least one yard and seal it in a brown paper bag. The members selected a bag and were challenged to create something from the surprise fabric inside.

Frances Metcalf, who taught home economics in Riverton for 10 years, [...] Read the rest of this entry »