We’ve started the year with some hefty news stories in the Daily Journal on topics that deservedly will find a place on our front pages and our website in the months to come.
Elected officials are sorting out how to proceed with a municipal election this year and a presidential election next year, and we are asking tough questions about how to rely on and continue to pay taxpayer money to an election vendor that failed us and how to win back the voters’ trust in the system.
Hospitals are trying to come up with the best practices to help newborn babies who are born addicted because their mothers are addicted. And we wrote about those babies struggling with withdrawal in the first hours and days of their life. The approaches include casting aside judgments and helping the mothers recover.
We are digging into the mental health plans schools are developing for students. We’ve heard from residents concerned about what’s being built next door and helped them navigate the zoning process.
These are the types of stories and reporting that set us apart as your local news source. We reject just regurgitating what was said at a government meeting without any deeper context. We don’t want to only cover events for the posed photo moment. We want our stories to make you think, ask questions, take action (or not), make you laugh, cry, learn and maybe even get mad every now and then.
Sometimes, we have to do what I call "going it alone." That’s where we ask the unpopular questions about coulda, woulda, shouldas. That’s where we ask about unintended consequences. That’s where we ask why boards or organizations went against their own practices.
But sometimes, we get thank yous. And not little thank yous. Big giant thank yous that remind us that every story matters and has the possibility to touch lives, to make someone’s day better or to help the community find a better path forward.
Let me shed some light on how a few recent stories came to be — and share the phenomenal reach that a story can have. These examples serve as great reminders that every story matters. A short item sharing information on a fundraiser could be key for a family in need. The enterprise story on how taxpayer dollars are being spent and who is being picked to hold key positions in our community is important, too. We need to seek out the invisible people of our community and share their needs and struggles.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a Johnson County Board of Commissioners meeting monitoring for developments on another topic. On the agenda was the executive director of Johnson County 911 and the director of the Johnson County Animal Shelter, and they briefly mentioned reaching an agreement on a foster dog program.
A few days later, I called Heath Brant, the 911 director, to talk about a report we needed, and asked him about the program. He shared enough information to prompt me to send reporter Magen Kritsch to the dispatch center to get the details.
Kritsch wrote, in a story published Jan. 28, that the dog named Lincoln had moved into the dispatch center to help dispatchers with the stress of their jobs, and for them to help him become socialized and ready for adoption.
Lincoln had his own stress. Animal control had been called about a stray dog roaming near a Greenwood business off U.S. 31 last year.
"Workers tried their usual methods to lure the dog to them. None worked. They called in Friends of Indianapolis Dog Outside, a nonprofit agency that helps dogs, who finally caught the dog in December and took him to the Johnson County Animal Shelter," Kritsch wrote.
Here’s where things get cool. We don’t do stories to get thanks or acknowledgment — we report and write, and try to do better every day, to serve the public. So when thanks comes our way, if is often unexpected and makes us catch our breath.
Brant sent us an email the week the story published, thanking Kritsch for her story. He told us that a TV station saw our story and decided to do a story as well.
Then he said this: "Because of your story, Lincoln will be going to his forever home tomorrow."
His forever home is with a Franklin police officer who read the story, came to the dispatch center to meet Lincoln and immediately went to the shelter to fill out the adoption paperwork.
Brant told us that the story had spread across the country, possibly as far as Orlando, Boston and New York. Dispatch centers had been calling him all week asking how to start a similar program.
"Your story has brought so much attention to this project and the need there is for something like this, not just here but in every 911 center. Thank you so much for being a part of it and helping us tell the story. We are beyond sad that Lincoln is leaving but couldn’t be happier that he is getting a home and a home that we know he will be beyond loved. In the short two weeks that this arrangement has been in place the benefits have been beyond amazing for all involved. Thank you so much."
No, thank you.
Then, unrelated, came an email from Kim Smith, the director of Johnson County Senior Services. She is a selfless servant of the county’s elderly needy population and I’ve come to admire her dedication. Spend an hour with Smith and you’ll start examining your own life and asking how you can do more to improve your corner of the world.
I was kicking myself for not thinking of her and Senior Services when we made a round of calls to check in with area organizations and first responders to see how the community was dealing with the extreme cold and what needs had come up. She had a post on social media thanking her workers for taking care of residents and asking the public to please check on their elderly friends, neighbors and family. I decided all was not lost, and we did a story the next day.
Before the story was even published, Smith was thanking us.
She wrote: "I also wanted to mention that this year is the 40th Anniversary of Johnson County Senior Services. Transportation was the greatest challenge seniors were facing in 1979, and sadly the same is true 40 years later. My daily prayer is that one day soon this precious generation will become a priority in our county. My heart breaks for the multitude that is truly suffering in silence.
"Until then, with every fiber of my being I will continue to share their stories and their many needs in hopes that the words and our many tears may fall on open hearts of individuals that will choose to make a positive difference in the lives of this amazing generation!
"Michele thank you for being a champion for so many individuals in our county!"
No, Kim Smith and Johnson County Senior Services, thank you, for everything you do, every day.
The notes serve as an incredible reminder that a newspaper that best serves its readers will uncover hidden gems and not just chase the most obvious stories. We don’t have to change the world — but maybe this week we helped share the news of others working to make our corner of the world a little bit better. Thank you for the opportunity to tell your stories.
