With more than 25 years experience in journalism, I’ve written and edited newspapers in California, North Carolina and Virginia. In California, I worked for a weekly paper in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I’m from originally.
In North Carolina, I worked two years (1990-92) at the Sun Journal, a daily paper in New Bern. There, I covered county government, commercial fishing – which is a big industry there – and the Gulf War.
New Bern is near the Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock, so I did lots of stories on the effects the war had on the wives and children left behind while the husbands and dads were fighting in Iraq. As one elementary-school teacher told me, “If one child’s father or mother is killed, the security for the rest of the students is shattered.”
In addition, my photographer and I were lowered by helicopter onto the USS Iwo Jima as it returned to port in Morehead City after deployment. I got to interview the sailors and Marines aboard ship and experience, firsthand, their welcome back by local residents who greeted them in the water in hundreds of small boats to escort them home.
I also interviewed parents of Marines killed in the war, as well as a Marine pilot whose aircraft had been shot down overseas. He spoke about what went through his mind while parachuting into the desert and what happened to him while he was a POW. Luckily, it was toward the end of the war and he was eventually freed to return home.
I also worked three years for the Prince William Journal, covering the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, as well as a slew of criminal cases. And I’ve been with Centre View for almost 19 years, covering Centreville, Chantilly, Clifton, Fair Oaks and Fair Lakes. For the past few years, I’ve also covered Fairfax and some of Lorton and Fairfax Station for the Connection.
Recent Stories
Fairfax House Fire Causes $90,000 Damage
Fire officials say an early morning fire last Saturday displaced six people and caused approximately $90,000 damage to a Fairfax home.
Monetary Donations Needed for Fairfax County Students’ School Supplies
More than 30 percent of all children in Fairfax County Public Schools are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals.
‘It Just Makes Me Feel Good’ Veterans Day
OLLI honors veterans with annual celebration.
Fairfax veterans
Seeing the Childhood Of an Iconic Character
Woodson High presents “Peter and the Starcatcher.”
Woodson High presents “Peter and the Starcatcher.”
University Drive Extension Project Advances Slightly
Council votes to bring it to 30-percent design.
The Fairfax City Council has not completely approved the controversial University Drive extension...But the project inched forward slightly Tuesday night when the members voted to advance it to the 30-percent design stage.