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Resurgence of heroin in Jackson County

Posted by Aaron - 28/07/10 at 05:07:30 pm

Heroin is back, and according to Jackson County Undersheriff Tom Finco, “it’s back strong in Jackson County.”

Nearly six months ago, I noticed an alarming amount of people telling Jackson County judges the reason they committed their crimes was to feed their heroin addiction. That spawned an exhaustive look at the problem of heroin in the county and the havoc it wreaks.

I wrote a series of stories — run over three days — trying to answer three questions: What is heroin? What is its impact? What is being done to fight it?

Part 1: Addictive drug that can shatter lives ‘is back strong in Jackson’, July 25, 2010.

Forced to choose between milk and heroin, Joe Pritchard called his dealer…

Once confined to dope houses and dens, slithering in the seedy underbelly of American cities in the 1970s, heroin is now a drug abused by all ages, all incomes and all over.

“And it is back strong in Jackson County,” Undersheriff Tom Finco said.

Part Two: ‘IT’S PURE EVIL’: Heroin kills. It strains families and destroys lives, July 26, 2010.

Heroin kills. It strains families and destroys lives. The drug lands people in jail, rehab and the gutter. The drug kept Joe Pritchard from his family, first jail, then rehab. It took Andrew Hirst from his family, killing the 24-year-old in May.

“It’s pure evil,” said Hirst’s father, Michael Hirst. “It’s going to kill you. That’s the bottom line.”

Part Three: Heroin addicts face physical and mental challenges when battling addictive drug , July 28, 2010.

It is the toughest thing they will ever do.

Inside a Victorian house, set among the summer cottages and lakeside homes of northern Michigan’s sleepy town of Petoskey, almost 40 men wage war on addiction.

Among them is a 60-year-old with a lifetime habit of drinking; an 18-year-old with a drug habit that took hold fast and strong; and Joe Pritchard, a 39-year-old father of three from Jackson trying to rid his body and mind of the need for heroin.

“It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of pain,” said Pritchard, who was sent to Harbor Hall through the Jackson County Drug Recovery Court program.

Beating heroin is not a option. Addicts struggle internally, knowing they will square off with the disease for the rest of their lives. Police chase the drug, its users and its dealers.

Death of Air Force officer 1st Lt. Joel Gentz

Posted by Aaron - 24/06/10 at 02:06:58 am

On June 9, 2010, 1st Lt. Joel Gentz, an Air Force combat rescue officer from Grass Lake, Michigan, was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

As a combat rescue officer, Gentz was one of the most highly trained airmen in the Air Force. He led a crew of pararescuemen on search and rescue missions.

For the Citizen Patriot’s complete coverage of Gentz’s death and funeral, click here.

Joel Gentz remembered by family, friends, former teachers and fellow airmen, June 24, 2010.

Before Joel Gentz decided to join the Air Force, jump out of airplanes and save wounded men, women and children, his brother Jared and sister Rachel put him through unofficial training.

During their brother’s funeral Thursday in Chelsea, the two shared stories of camping, swimming, spying and swamping, bringing tears but much laughter.

“We always tried to be like Joel and looked up to him,” said Jared Gentz. “We’ll miss you Joel.” (more)

Chelsea streets lined for funeral procession of First Lt. Joel Gentz, June 24, 2010.

Flags around Chelsea flew at half-staff and people lined the streets to pay final respects to First Lt. Joel Gentz.

Men in suits, boy scouts, motorcycle clubs clad in leather waved flags as they waited from the procession to pass.

Gentz, 25, was killed in a June 9 helicopter crash in Afghanistan. As an elite combat rescue officer, the 2002 Chelsea High School graduate commanded a squad of pararescuemen on a NATO rescue mission. (more)

Family of First Lt. Joel Gentz shares memories of airman who died in Afghanistan, June 13, 2010.

Judy Gentz called her son a peacemaker.

He flew eight missions a day into hostile territory in Afghanistan. He rescued men, women and children, Afghanis and Americans.

First Lt. Joel Gentz did not fight. He helped.

The Grass Lake man, a 2002 graduate of Chelsea High School, was one of four killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash during a rescue mission in Afghanistan. Gentz was 25.

The combat rescue officer once told his father there was no greater joy than saving an Afghani child and then seeing the look on the faces of the child’s parents. Gentz saved a lot of children, said his father, Steve Gentz.

“Just knowing our son was doing stuff like that means a lot to us,” he said Sunday. (more)

Airman from Jackson County’s Grass Lake killed in helicopter crash in Afghanistan, June 10, 2010.

An elite combat rescue officer in the U.S. Air Force, 1st Lt. Joel C. Gentz of Grass Lake died in a helicopter crash while serving in Afghanistan.

The 25-year-old is the first Jackson County resident to die serving in Afghanistan. Gentz was assigned to the 58th Rescue Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Gentz and three other airmen were killed when their HH-60 Pavehawk helicopter went down Wednesday near Forward Operation Base Jackson, said Lt. Ken Lustig, a public affairs officer at Nellis Air Force Base. Three airmen were injured in the crash. (more)

Shooting of Jackson police officer James Bonneau and Blackman Township PSO Darin McIntosh

Posted by Aaron - 06/05/10 at 02:05:09 am

The death of police officer James Bonneau devastated Jackson.

Bonneau, 26, was assisting Blackman Township public safety officer Darin McIntosh with a call on Mitchell Street when Elvin Potts fired at both officers. Bonneau was killed, McIntosh shot in the leg and taken to the hospital in critical condition. The Blackman township officer shot Potts in the head, killing him at the scene.

The news dominated The Citizen Patriot for days. Bonneau’s funeral was in his hometown of Canton and hundreds of police officers for around the country, including McIntosh, attended.

For complete coverage of Bonneau’s death and funeral and McIntosh’s recovery, click here.

(On some stories, I share a byline with fellow public safety reporter Danielle Quisenberry)

Wounded Blackman Township officer eager to return to duty, May 6, 2010.

As soon as his right leg can handle it, Officer Darin McIntosh will be back on the job.

“I’m coming back,” the Blackman Township public safety officer said Wednesday, “and I will be back earlier than you thought.”

McIntosh was shot in the right thigh March 9 by Elvin Potts, who also shot and killed Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau. McIntosh returned fire, killing Potts.

Hundreds of officers from around the state pay respects to Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau, March 13, 2010.

CANTON — As hundreds of officers stood at attention in long rows outside the funeral of Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau, the badges on their left shoulders showed how far the law enforcement family stretches.

Jackson. Albion. Delta County. Van Buren County. Morenci. Trenton.

Police officers, firefighters, paramedics and academy recruits from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Chicago filled the sanctuary, the balcony and the lobby of St. Michaels Lutheran Church in Canton Township on Friday morning.

“We’re here to show support for our brothers in arms, to support the family of the Jackson Police Department,” said Sault Ste. Marie Police Department Capt. Judd Price. “It’s never too far.”

A somber salute: More than 1,000 attend funeral for slain Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau, March 13, 2010.

Jackson Police Officer Larry Jacobson did Friday what Officer James Bonneau could not do Tuesday.

He signed off for the slain policeman.

“Officer Jim Bonneau, badge No. 042,” Jacobson said, re-creating the radio conversation every officer has with dispatch at the end of a work day.

“His shift is over, and he is going home. We have watch. Officer Jim Bonneau will be secure.”

It was an especially emotional moment during a funeral that brought tears to the eyes of many police officers who gathered at St. Michael Lutheran Church in Canton Township to remember Bonneau, 26.

Injured Blackman Township Public Safety Officer Darin McIntosh was determined to attend Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau’s funeral, March 12, 2010.

CANTON — Moments before the sanctuary filled with more than a thousand men and women in uniform, Blackman Township Public Safety Officer Darin McIntosh offered a solitary tribute to his fellow officer James Bonneau.

After a Jackson Police Department Honor Guard rolled Bonneau’s flag-draped casket down the center aisle of St. Michael Lutheran Church on Friday morning in Canton Township, McIntosh, sitting in a wheelchair at the back of the church, brought his hand to his brow in a salute.

“It meant a lot to him to be here,” Blackman Township Public Safety Director Mike Jester said.

Police say calls for domestic disturbances are fraught with danger, March 13, 2010.

Police officers often work alone. They pull over speeders, follow up on missing persons’ reports and investigate crime typically by themselves.

A domestic disturbance or assault is a different story. Most local departments send officers to those calls in pairs.

“There’s a lot of emotion in them,” said Blackman Township Public Safety Director Mike Jester. “Officers know that it is a dangerous situation. It’s something that’s always in the back of their mind.”

Jackson Police Chief Matt Heins says phone call about slain police officer changed his life; hundreds head to graveside service after funeral, March 12, 2010. (with audio recording of Heins’ eulogy)

Jackson Police Chief Matt Heins said it was a call no chief wants to get.

Heins told an overflowing crowd of police officers from around the country, and friends and family of slain Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau the magnitude of that phone call he received Tuesday morning when he learned one of his officers had been shot.

“That phone call changed my life, the officers’ lives and certainly the lives of Jim’s family forever,” Heins said.

Wounded Blackman Township officer hit hard by shooting death of Jackson cop, March 11, 2010.

When Darin McIntosh came out of surgery Tuesday morning, he immediately asked about his fellow police officer.

“He was devastated,” said his mother, Jeanine McIntosh.

The 22-year-old Blackman Township Department of Public Safety officer took a bullet in the leg during the Mitchell Street shooting earlier Tuesday that killed Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau, 26.

Video: Reaction to Officer James Bonneau’s death, March 10, 2010.

Reaction to Officer James Bonneau’s death

Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau remembered by family, friends, colleagues as genuine, good-natured, March 10, 2010.

Overwhelmed by grief and often unable to check her emotions, Rachael Maloney at first did not want to speak about Jackson Police Officer James “Jim” Bonneau. She later changed her mind, saying she wanted others to get to see the man she and his father called loyal, genuine and good-hearted. “I got to,” said Maloney, Bonneau’s girlfriend. “I was very lucky.”

>Jackson police officer shot to death identified as 26-year-old James Bonneau; Blackman officer wounded identified as Darin McIntosh; suspect killed identified as 63-year-old Elvin Potts, March 9, 2010.

Jackson Police Officer James Bonneau remembered by family, friends, colleagues as genuine, good-natured The Jackson police officer killed in a shooting early Tuesday on Mitchell Street was identified as James Bonneau. A Blackman Township Department of Public Safety officer also was wounded in the shooting. Jackson police officer killed in Tuesday shooting is 16th area officer to die in the line of duty Jackson police officer killed, Blackman Township public safety officer wounded in shooting early Tuesday; suspect also killed Bonneau died at Allegiance Health. He was 26.

Video: From the shooting scene, March 9, 2010.

Shooting scene on Mitchell Street

Jackson police officer killed, Blackman Township public safety officer wounded in shooting early Tuesday; suspect also killed, March 9, 2010.

A Jackson police officer was killed and a Blackman Township Department of Public Safety officer was wounded in a shooting early Tuesday morning on Mitchell Street.

The officers shot and killed the suspect, Jackson County Undersheriff Tom Finco said.

The Blackman Township officer was shot in the leg, an injury Finco did not believe was life threatening. The officer was taken to Allegiance Health.

They were making fun of twitter…

Posted by Aaron - 19/02/10 at 08:02:32 am

My favorite congressman to follow on twitter, @petehoekstra, made a stop in Jackson today.

I announced the finding with some excited this afternoon to the newsroom. “Pete Hoekstra was just in Jackson.” “Oh,” I think the education reporter said. “He just tweeted that he was at the Corney Bakery.” No response. People carried on with their days.

I did not understand why this was such non-news. Like him or not, Hoekstra is running for governor and is an essential television news talk show star. So I say, he’s kind of a big deal (and today was a slow news day).

Then later in the night, I heard a few of the reporter making fun of twitter. They were saying not so nice things about that “little twittering thing.” So it all makes sense now.

And in other news…

Regulars: photos and stories by Tanner Curtis

Posted by Aaron - 15/02/10 at 06:02:10 am

Regulars, photos and stories by Tanner Curtis

Tanner Curtis interned at the Kalamazoo Gazette as a photographer while I worked there as an intern reporter. We never collaborated on a project, but the shooter did some good work.

I just checked out his blog, Focus, and ran across this post from back in November, Regulars.

Check it out, show him some love and maybe we can get him to post a few more.

What story are you chasing?

Posted by Aaron - 13/02/10 at 08:02:23 pm

Think about this:

“We are, collectively, much like eight-year-olds chasing a soccer ball. Instead of finding ways of creating fresh, original, high impact journalism, we’re way too eager to chase the same story everyone else is chasing, which is too often the easy story and too often the simplistic story—and too often the story that misses what’s going on.” — Peter Baker of The New York Times.

The above is the last quote in a The New Yorker article from Jan. 25 about the media culture surrounding the Obama White House, Non-stop News. Fascinating, but also troubling and a bit depressing to read that the 24-hour, multi-platform news cycle journalists now have to operate in has destroyed thoughtful, in-depth reporting. Baker said:

“When do you have time to call experts? When do you have time to sort through data and information and do your own research?”

Reporting has been deduced to two opposing quotes and a he said/she said story. There is no time to investigate the claims, the facts, to provide context, to do a little digging.

I bet things are not much different in newsrooms everywhere. Rarely do daily, beat journalists get the time and space to really bite off a story and chew it for a bit. I, as much as many other journalists, am enticed by the quick, easy byline for the day so I can get on with the reporting that really matters, but that cheapens the product and rips-off the reader.

Quality journalism, among other things, informs, is useful and entertains. That takes time but should be the goal of every article. All too often it isn’t.

So, what story are you chasing?

Free-throw wizard

Posted by Aaron - 23/02/09 at 10:02:00 pm

Top-ranked Paw Paw shooter, 13, aims for national tourney
BY AARON AUPPERLEE
Special to Hometown Gazette

PAW PAW – He started close to the hoop, easily banking two- and three-footers off the backboard and through the net. Then Tanner Eubank backed up, launching five-, six- and seven footers toward the rim, some sliding through, some rimming out. His father and coach, Scott, rebounded the basketball and fed it back to him. Tanner worked his legs, bending deep before each shot.

“Now shoot some free throws,” his father called out.

Tanner stepped behind the black line painted on the floor of the Trinity Lutheran School gym in Paw Paw. The gym was empty, an entire court behind him and only 15 feet to the basket in front of him. He set his feet, dribbled three times. Cradling the ball in his right hand, he brought it just below his chin.

He bends his knees, stares at the front of the rim, stands and with his hand guides the ball toward the basket.

He missed his first free throw. His father sent the rebound back to him. He missed the second and the third. By the fourth, he warmed up and drilled it. The 13 year old did not smile. He grabbed the ball and shot again, and again, and again. By this time, Tanner started making more free throws than he missed.

He hits 20 in a row, misses one, and then sinks four more, 24 out of 25.

Twenty-four out of 25, last year that sent Tanner and his family to Springfield, Mass., where Tanner competed in the Elks National Hoop Shoot. This year, Tanner is gunning for nationals again.

Tanner is one of the best free throw shooters in Michigan, and for his age, in the United States. He competes in the Hoop Shoot free throw competition sponsored by Elks clubs across the country. This year, Tanner sunk 21 out of 25 at the district tournament in Dowagiac. Then he made 23 out of 25 in the regional tournament at Hope College in Holland and at the state tournament in Midland.

He is shooting at nearly a 90 percent clip as he prepares to compete against the top shooters from Ohio and Indiana at the Great Lakes tournament in Angola, Ind., on March 12.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” Tanner said.

Tanner started competing in the Elks’ free throw shooting competition at 8 years old. Shooting from a 12-foot line, he made 22 out of 25 shots in first competition, surprising his father and himself.

“We really didn’t practice much,” Scott said about the first year. “It’s just something to do go… and it’s taken off from there.”

He has competed each year since, either under the Kalamazoo Elks or the Dowagiac Elks. Craig Gould, the Michigan Southwest district director of the Hoop Shoot, has seen Tanner grow through the competitions. He remembered when Tanner was 10 and had a disappointing competition. Tanner went to Gould to say thank you and looked as if he wanted to cry, Gould said.

“I’ve seen him progress,” Gould said. “He’s grown up enough… Tanner, I think, mentally, is a strong kid.”

Tanner shoots 50 to 100 free throws a day in preparation and usually makes more than 90 percent of them. Practice is one thing, but pressures rise during the competition. At the Great Lakes competition in March, Tanner will face off against the best shooter from Indiana and Ohio. The three will sit in chairs around the 3-point line while a gym full of 500 pairs of eyes watching them shoot. Miss one or two and it is over, Scott said.

“I trend to think he does a little better in competition,” Scott said, noting that Tanner made 76 out of 80 free throws during competitions last year. “That’s phenomenal in a pressure situation.”

Tanner admitted he aims for perfection each time he steps to the line, 25 out of 25. His routine is the same—three dribbles, concentrate on the front of the rim, bend the knees, shoot. He keeps his mind blank when he shoots, he said, and focuses on the ball going through the hoop.

“I just try and relax,” he said.

Tanner’s family lives in Mattawan, but Scott decided to send him to Trinity Lutheran School in Paw Paw so he could start playing organized ball early. As a 5th grader, and now as a 6th grader, Tanner plays on the 8th grade team. The team is 11-5 for the season. Recently, Tanner scored 30 points, including a perfect three for three from the line. Scott is also the coach of the Trinity Lutheran team.

Tanner has bigger dreams. The 6th grader is quiet and calm, a trait that helps him during the high stress moments of free throw shooting but under-sells him as a star. His father wants him to develop more of a swagger, a sign of confidence, but knows that it will come with time. For now, both Tanner and Scott know he needs to work on his quickness and strength.

He looks up to two rather quiet yet extremely successful basketball players as well. Kurt Hinrich, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, and J.J. Redick, the stand-out shooting guard of recent Duke University fame. Tanner wants to go to Duke. It’s his only choice right now, and he knows it will take hard work to get there. Both his idols, Hinrich and Redick, have told him so during brief encounters with the stars.

Scott is not afraid to push his son. He admitted that it is basketball 24/7 with Tanner. During summer vacations, Tanner and Scott travel around the country playing Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball and attending camps, including a week with Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. Even during a casual shoot-around one morning before school, Scott harped on Tanner for not bending his knees enough, for not using his legs. He jokes that Tanner is weak and lazy, but said that “too many pats on the back will only get you a seat in the back of the bus.”

Other parents have been critical of the Scott and Tanner’s heavy involvement with basketball, Scott said. They worry Tanner is going to burn out or crack under the pressure and not be able to recover. They worry that Tanner is not having any fun. Both disagree.

“If he wasn’t liking it, it would be something different,” Scott said. “I think it’s better for them. I think it’s better to keep them busy.”

Tanner does not mind. He likes it; he likes the competition. And in between shoots, he still finds time to do well in school, play golf and go snowmobiling.

After about a half hour of shooting, probably 50 to 60 shots, Tanner sink his last one. He went over to the bleachers and changed out of his court shoes, slung a backpack on his back and headed to class. The competition is not until March, and he’s got other things to think about for awhile.

Free throw shooting is a mental game
BY AARON AUPPERLEE

Shooting free throws is part muscle memory — arms remembering with how much force to lift the ball, wrists remembering how much arch and spin to put on it — and part mental, staying focused and positive under extreme pressure.

The first part can be practiced; the second takes mettle.

Last year at the Great Lakes Hoop Shoot competition, against the best shooter from Ohio and the best shooter from Indiana, Tanner Eubank, of Mattawan, proved he had both parts of the game.

Tanner likes to shoot first during competitions, he said, setting the bar and putting the pressure on the other shooters to match him. However, at last year’s Great Lakes competition in Angola, Ind., Tanner shot last.

The format for each tournament is the same. Each shooter takes 10 shots in round one and then 15 shots in round two. The best out of 25 wins, and if there is a tie, then the tying shooters go to a best-of-five shoot-off.

The first shooter, from Ohio, made all 10.

“Then there’s this little left-hander from Indiana, and all he is doing is netting them,” said Craig Gould, who traveled to watch Tanner shoot. “And you like, ‘This kid will never miss.’ ”

The kid from Indiana made all 10 too. Tanner missed one, 9 out of 10.

His father, Scott, suggested that Tanner not even watch round two. It will lessen the pressure, he said, keeping Tanner in the dark about how many he needs to make in order to win. Tanner listened and spent round two twisted in his chair, stretching and not looking at the other shooters.

The kid from Ohio hit 11 in a row, then missed two and ended the competition at 23 for 25. The kid from Indiana nailed his first 13, missed his 14th shot and buried the 15th. He ended the competition at 24 of 25. Tanner needed to be perfect to force a shoot-off.

Tanner swore he didn’t watch any of the shots. He stepped to the line and maded it rain, hitting all 15 shots and forcing the shoot-off.

Indiana had no chance in the shoot-off. He missed his first two. Tanner stepped up and continued his hot hand, sinking all five, to win with an impressive 29 for 30 and ending on a 20 in a row streak.

An attempt at a live tweet

Posted by Aaron - 24/10/08 at 04:10:00 am

I try to do it. It’s true. During a forum for City Council and mayor candidates, I shot video, took notes, took still photographs and tried to live tweet the event from my iPhone. For those of you who don’t know what twitter is, check it out. Also, I hate to say it, but…

You can follow me http://twitter.com/tinynotebook

Here’s a snap shot. I didn’t keep it up. My fingers got tired.

come follow me!

To aspiring journalists

Posted by Aaron - 24/10/08 at 04:10:00 am

This blog was first posted on “Off the I-15” a blog I write for at www.desertdispatch.com

While filming in Mr. Bonvillain’s 6th period class this week, a student pulled me aside.

“Are you with the local paper?” he asked.

I had a notebook in my back pocket, a camera around my neck, a pen behind my ear and video camera in my hand. As young as I look, I hope I can’t still pass for a high schooler. My cover was blown.

“Yeah.”

The student wrote for the Aztec Warrior, the high school paper, and wanted to know if journalism was still worth going into. Without even thinking, I responded.

“Definitely.”

He asked why, and here was my response. I pointed to the newspaper he was reading (he was looking at stock prices) and said even if we aren’t writing for these things, tapping my pen against the paper, we will still be writing. Journalism is changing, evident by the video camera I now carry in my bag. I told him some of the things going on in the Desert Dispatch newsroom with video, online and multimedia are changing the way we tell stories.

“It’s exiting,” I said. “And fun.”

Then I said that even all that information he gets “for free” on the Internet probably comes from journalists in some way. CNN.com, the New York Times Web site and even your favorite celebrity or music blog does not write itself. Somewhere, maybe hidden in their parents’ basement or at an uneven table at the local Starbucks, there is a person typing away.

But the real reason to still go into journalism, and this reason escaped me at the time, is that without journalists, without the local newspaper (regardless of how you regard us) there would be no one else to tell the community what was going on in that classroom, or what was said at the candidate forum at the high school tonight, or how the volleyball team does on Friday.

I invited the student to drop by the Desert Dispatch office to see what goes on in our newsroom. I open the invitation to any prospective journalist. Give me a call and I can show where journalism is heading at the Desert Dispatch.

Does the economic crisis confuse you?

Posted by Aaron - 10/10/08 at 12:10:00 am

This blog originally appeared on “Off the I-15,” a blog I contribute to for The Desert Dispatch.

It confuses me, but I’ve learned a lot about from two podcasts produced by National Public Radio.

Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, teamed up with some smart money guys from NPR to break down the financial crisis. You can listen to the podcasts by clicking on the links below or download them to your mp3 players if you are tech savvy like that.

The Giant Pool of Money

A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.

Another Frightening Show About the Economy

Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson—the two guys who reported our Giant Pool of Money episode—are back, in collaboration with the Planet Money podcast. They’ll explain what happened this week, including what regulators could’ve done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place.

I also subscribe to the Planet Money podcast, linked above, and listen to it on my drive home from work.

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