Pat Stith retires
The N&O has a nice story about reporter Pat Stith taking a voluntary buyout and retiring.
Stith has long been known among print journalists as our version of Mike Wallace, as in when a government official gets a message that Pat is on the line, uh-oh.
I had the privilege of working with Pat several times when I was at the N&O, including one story that resulted in the departure of the school superintendent. He is a master at investigative reporting, nailing down every detail, keeping his cool, and writing with such precision that there is no question that he knows what he was talking about. We once spent the night at the newspaper, working to get the reporting and writing exactly right.
Most people talk about the stories he's written. I talk about the number of journalists he's mentored. After 40 years in the business, they must number well into the hundreds. I'm proud to be one of them.
Comments (3)
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John, rest assured you're not the only one nostalgic for the days back when JR would actually help get rid of shyster pols instead of becoming unabashed cheerleaders for them.
Posted on September 19, 2008 10:37 AM
I can always depend on skeet club to go off-topic and make a personal attack.
Posted on September 19, 2008 10:40 AM
Personal attack? Off track? You're the one that started down memory lane. I thought the point of your psot was a "days of old, when knights were bold" thing. I'm just saying I'm right there with you.
If we're all honest, I'm sure we've all disappointed our mentors in some ways.
Posted on September 19, 2008 11:06 AM