My first front-page byline as a Mercury reporter was a story about a boy named Bobby Cook. Bobby Cook was a 4-year-old local boy battling leukemia. I was assigned to write about his illness, the difficulties of his family to pay medical expenses and his desire to vacation in Disney World.
Bobby’s grandmother owned a Pottstown luncheonette, and she had started a fund among her customers to send Bobby on the trip of his dreams. The cause came to the Mercury editor’s attention, and he assigned me the job of writing stories and inviting readers to send in money for the Bobby Cook Fund.
We collected checks and cash, turned it over to the family, and I chronicled for the front page Bobby’s departure from the Reading airport to Florida. The tale was one of those heartwarming stories that instill some humanity into the pages of our newspaper.
During those same early reporting years, The Mercury published another series of stories about the plight of a local family whose mother was suffering from a serious illness. We chronicled the father’s efforts to provide for his ailing wife and take care of their children. It was a poignant and sad tale of struggle, misfortune and the devastating effects on a family wrought by illness.
We started a newspaper fund to help the family, and donations poured in. Each day, a reporter was assigned to write an update about the fund and remind our readers of this family’s need.
But then we learned the truth about this particular family. The mother was ill, but the father was not struggling to provide for his children. Rather, he was using the money solicited and given in good faith to fund a lifestyle of expensive gifts for a girlfriend, and jewelry, hotels, dinners and gambling for himself.
The Mercury was then, as it is now, the kind of community newspaper that wants to help the downtrodden of the towns we cover. We want to believe that when people tell us their stories on the record and for publication that we can trust they are telling us the truth as best they can.
This experience hurt us as a staff and hurt our credibility. From that time on, we vowed to never collect money again for an individual. We will publicize a fund and tell a story of someone’s plight, but only if a fund has been set up independently of us. We will inform readers of that fund, but not solicit their generosity.
The exception is Operation Holiday.
We began Operation Holiday in 1991 to help children in needy families enjoy gifts and food at Christmastime. The fund has raised more than $1 million and has provided food and gifts for thousands of area children, averaging 400 children each year in as many as 175 families. Although our news staff coordinates the list of recipients, we partner with other social service agencies and accept their recommendations of deserving and needy families.
Each year, dozens of people call us and ask to be put on the “Santa-Christmas-Holiday” wish list. People write letters, call, come in the front door and tell us about themselves or their daughters or their brothers or their grandchildren, pleading, sometimes in tears, for help.
We say no. We tell people that they must go through an agency who can verify their circumstances before we will consider them.
In the 10 years that I have supervised the Operation Holiday list, I have made two or three exceptions to that rule. One of them was this year.
Jenna Esslinger wrote a letter asking us to publicize a spaghetti dinner fundraiser being held on her behalf at the Birdsboro Sportsman’s Club. She said she suffered from amyloidosis and was struggling as a single mom to pay medical bills and provide for her two young children. She fit the criteria for Operation Holiday and since there was already a fund established independently for her at Sovereign Bank, I made the decision to add her to our list. She was interviewed for an on-the-record story by a reporter, and we were aware that The Reading Eagle newspaper had also done extensive interviews with her for a column and video on their Web site.
When the Operation Holiday items were distributed, Jenna Esslinger came in as requested to pick up two $75 gift cards for gifts for her children. But when it was time to get the food, it took four phone calls over two days to get a response. That concerned us.
Then, about a month ago, a detective called to say she was under investigation for charities fraud. Last week, she was arrested and charged with misappropriating $12,000 by publicly claiming an illness she did not have.
Like that story of the philandering father three decades ago, our trust – and the trust of our readers – has been violated. As a result, there will be no more individuals or exceptions on our list in the future.
Of the $12,000 Jenna Esslinger collected, only $150 was from Operation Holiday, and as gift cards, it may have been for gifts for her children. We don’t know. But we are concerned that by publicizing her story, we added to her alleged crime.
The greater victims in this travesty though are the people who have real needs, but whose stories will not be believed and whose trust will not be honored in the future.
Helping others always carries with it the danger of helping those who take advantage. Sadly, we have learned this lesson yet again.

Phillies fans, campaign volunteers and newspaper editors shared a week to be remembered last week -- a seven-day adrenaline rush through sleep deprivation (late games on TV), endorsement editorials (down to the wire), and planning/revising/finalizing celebration front pages.

The antics of the weather and the dramatic play on the field made headline writers out of all of us.
"The Chase is On,"
"Reign Delay,"
"Lumber Party,"
"Swat Team,"
"Loud and Proud,"
"Parade of Champions,"
and "Phinally --
World expletive-deleted Champs."
Creativity was at full tilt throughout the week, as we pulled all the stops on full-color poster front pages, wrapping World Series coverage around the regular newspaper, and juggling deadlines and ad copy at midnight more than once to get the most out in front of readers in timely fashion.
For the first time that I can remember in 30-plus years at The Mercury, we cranked up the press a second time in the same cycle to print more copies. An extra 2,500 copies came off the press Thursday morning to be snatched off store shelves and out of honor boxes as quickly as the first run.
I overheard conversations among 20-somethings at Coventry Mall lamenting that they couldn't find a paper to buy anywhere on Thursday morning.
When the Phillies took the field to celebrate Wednesday night, fans were holding up bulldog copies of Philadelphia newspapers to banner the news "WE WIN!" in all its glory. Newspapers were selling out at train stations, local newsstands, and convenience stores as fast as the World Series locker room shirts at sporting good stores.

Everyone wanted a souvenir, a collectible, something to hold in their hand, save in the attic and show the next generation. The Internet just doesn't cut it at times like this.
But the Phillies were not the only news story in town. With less than a week remaining before the Presidential Election, we were also faced with getting candidate endorsements written and published during the week for the Congressional and state legislative races in the area.
Many newspapers have shunned political endorsements as an unnecessary exercise in opinions, but we believe that they are even more important, not less, in this age of negative televised campaigning and roadside sign clutter. We believe that print newspapers offer a seasoned perspective that can not be replaced by electronic media. We believe that we own a trust in our local community that holds sway over the strident voices on the air waves.
So, even while mapping out our World Series' specials, we were discussing and crafting our picks in area congressional and legislative races. I also wrote an endorsement last week of Sen. Barack Obama for President, a choice met with some dissension among both employeees and readers of this newspaper. But, it is an opinion, nothing more or less, and we believe strongly that we owe you, our readers, the honesty of our choices while we urge you to make yours.
Last week got a little crazy, but in sports and elections is where print media excels. Baseball and politics are played and celebrated in words and pictures, and that's what we do best. Last week presented a challenge to keep things straight and avoid confusing headlines and slogans. (The Champs We Need?)
The staff of this newspaper did an outstanding job in capturing for our readers the thrill of the Phillies' win. And, now we have an election to cover for you.
Some may say newspapers are a dying breed, but during weeks like last, I see the importance we hold in daily life.
Today is Election Day. Last week the Phillies won the World Series.
Be informed. Celebrate.
Buy a newspaper.

I've been sending email messages nearly daily to the ObamaPA campaign with the same drumbeat: "Why not Pottstown?"

Today, the campaign visits Strath Haven High School in Wallingford, Delaware County, and West Chester University in Chester County. On Monday, the Obama bus made an unannounced stop on Penn Street in Reading.

What is the significance of these campaign events? Well, they are all within a few miles or a few blocks or in one case a few buildings away from other newspapers. Newspapers that are not the one I edit. Those who know me know that bugs me - a lot.

You might say, well you had a visit from Bill Clinton last week in your town. That should have given you your presidential campaign news fix for a while. But those who know me know also that what happened last week or even yesterday is irrelevant. This is a daily newspaper; I need a daily news fix, and the Obama campaign is not cooperating.

There were rumors, which may still prove true, that the Obama bus may stop in Phoenixville today, which is close enough for me to dispatch a reporter and photographer for local coverage. Judging by their timetable, however, I believe it unlikely that the bus will stop between Strath Haven, where my friend, editor Phil Heron will be coordinating coverage for the Delaware County Daily Times, and West Chester, where my friend, editor Andy Hachadorian has already set in motion a half-dozen stories and photos for tomorrow's Daily Local News.

As sister papers, these stories are available to The Mercury. But, that's not the point.

We love to be the center of the universe here in Pottstown when it comes to news. And, Obama's bus has been driving in circles around us. It's making me crazy.

Newspaper photographers and their editors do not hide things in photos.
We do not have ulterior motives and conspiracies in choosing what to photograph or print. And, we are not trying to incite tension among groups of people or risky behavior by teens.
That said, we are aware that some readers pick up the daily newspaper each day looking for hidden Waldos and Rorschach tests in photos. I continue to be amazed by the things they find.
Three examples from the past seven days:
A number of readers have called The Mercury's Sound-Off line to complain about a photo of Spring-Ford High School students cheering their team at a recent District basketball playoff game. The students, members of the Ram Nation cheering section at Spring-Ford, wore clothing and face paint in the school colors of blue and white. Callers say the photo depicts racism.
(These comments -- and there have been quite a few -- have not appeared in Sound-Off under the guideline that we do not print comments that are inappropriate -- or just plain ridiculous.)
On the same front page was a photo of a group of children enjoying a program at Pottstown Public Library. A parent who attended the Family Place Libraries workshop with her child complained to us that the photographer intentionally left her and her child out of the picture.
To the contrary, our photographers are diligent and determined to include as many children as possible at these types of events because they know from experience that kids want to see their pictures in print. But, even a wide-angle lens and the best lighting can leave out the folks in the corners or the back of the room.
Not intentional, no conspiracy, just a fact of taking photos of a group event. Not everybody gets in the picture.
The third example in recent days was the feature photo on page one last Saturday of two Birdsboro teens snowboarding off the roof of their house. A reader emailed us to complain that we were being irresponsible to glorify their behavior.
Well, they were not breaking any laws; we doubt that our pictures would inspire anyone to try snowboarding off a roof any more than not publishing them would deter someone. They were kids having fun, probably with no more risk of injury than some of the stunts they try at terrain parks in ski areas.
Do I personally want to see my own children take off the roof? No, but I am not going to blame anyone for chronicling their ingenuity if they try it behind my back.
Newspaper photos can be worth a thousand words, but trust me, we're not hiding secret messages inside them.