The fact of the matter is that the internet is taking over. Obviously, anyone reading this is starting to realize that. It's the way the world is moving. Especially social media. It's a form of communication now.

Some people (including journalists) don't approve of the transition. Picking up a newspaper is now less common and clicking on a desktop icon and typing a website into the search bar. Using a phone book is less common than typing a name into Facebook or Google+ to find a way to contact someone.

It's all changing. For my generation, it's pretty normal. Sure, there are always tons of advancements to learn, but it's a concept I'm used to.

I've spoken with a few people lately who are completely against the internet transition. The usage of Facebook and Twitter to share news is second-nature to upcoming multi-media journalists, but some journalists who were writing before this transition don't want to accept it.

Personally, I have found it amazing to watch people transition. Facebook isn't just for teenagers and people in their 20s. Have you seen the amount of people on there? My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are on there. Trust me, they're all over 20.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Email, smartphones ... they're changing the world, whether you like it or not.

Sure, people get addicted. I always have my phone with me. Every email address, personal and professional, is synced with my phone so I get an alert every time someone emails me. And texting, oh, texting.

Let's take it back a step though, to the journalists. This is one career where you HAVE to be adaptable. You have to change with the times. That's the way it goes, friends. If you're reluctant to learn new programs and alter the way you work a little then you won't make it.

And frankly, it makes life so much easier. Being able to take a laptop to a meeting and write the story there is so great. Being able to text a coworker about breaking news while you're witnessing it makes everything more calm. Being able to upload videos within minutes to share with the world is something everyone should take advantage of.

Using Twitter's constant news feed to find out what's going on across the world makes journalism so much more fast-paced and thrilling. Sharing things on Facebook with your friends instead of asking them over the weekend to read the newspaper clipping you have makes them much more willing to read and share what you have to say.

Journalism is socializing. So why not use social media to your advantage? I recommend it!

Thanks for stopping by and taking advantage of this blog, brought to you by Google's outstanding capabilities. Catch ya later, Internet World :)

“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?” – Seth Godin, Seth’s Blog

This time last year a story came out of Trenton that shocked the nation. Cyber-bullying was a newer thing to talk about, but when a 33-year-old woman tormented a terminally ill 7-year-old girl it was taken to a whole new level.

The story came out after Jennifer Petkov posted two photos on her Facebook. One of a dying little girl in a skull and crossbones and one of the girl's deceased mother in the arms of the Grim Reaper.

The cause of Laura Edward's death at age 24 was Huntington's disease, the same disease killing young Kathleen Edwards.

Read about the disease here.

The story went national. The News-Herald covered it. Local television stations covered it. In fact, Petkov told WJBK-TV (Fox 2 News) on camera that she did post the pictures and did it because it hurts Kathleen's grandmother, Rebecca Rose. Petkov, her husband the Rose's family have had issues for years.

The photo of Kathleen posted on Facebok

Neighborhood disputes happen. Naturally some people won't like their neighbors. But to let a 7-year-old girl, who is terminally ill at that, to suffer because of it just seems absurd. I think most of you will agree.

Deal with the issues, don't make them worse. I can almost guarantee Kathleen never did anything to another family. Did her mother? Perhaps. Did her grandmother? It's possible. This little girl was given a death wish because her relatives have an ongoing dispute with neighbors.

The photo of Laura Edward posted on Facebook

Perhaps one of the most disturbing parts of this ordeal is the fact that it hasn't stopped. Here we are, one year after this story was picked up by CNN and the Drudge Report (two national media outlets), and there is still an issue. Things are still posted on Facebook. The families still live across the street from each other.. They still exchange hate messages. The police are still called. There are still court appearances, several at that.

This whole thing started on Myspace in 2008 and merged into Facebook when it became the bigger social media outlet. In fact, one of the parties involved had this conversation with me:

Q: If there wasn't Facebook anymore, would there still be a conflict?
R: Well yes, we would use some other internet connection.
Q: Ok, if there wasn't social media would there still be a conflict?
R: No, probably not

So why let social media run the world? Why let the advancements of Internet affect this little girl?

I get letters from people complaining about where Scott Petkov (Jennifer's husband) works. I get emails from distant relatives telling me "secrets" about those involved. I have residents asking why there is still stuff going on.

Trust me, I don't understand how this could carry on more than anyone else. It's a disturbing story.

Petkov was forced to move out of her home after she was charged with assault and battery on a different neighbor. She admitted that she tried to run a woman over. She was originally sentenced to 18 months probation in February, meaning she couldn't return to her home (or be within five blocks of it) in the north end of Trenton until August 2012.

Last month she was told she could return home because she was following all orders. Rose and her family are still being tormented by someone on Facebook and they swear it's Petkov, but the court said she doesn't have an account to do it from. Petkov has kids of her own. At one point two of her children were sent to live with their father. 

Want to know how things blew up after that court date? It was big on Detroit Street. Things get big there often. On the two-year anniversary of Laura's death, several vulgar messages were sent to Rose on Facebook. They held a vigil and had the police called on them. This was just three months ago.

On another note, Kathleen is having several seizures a day. She goes through bad days then has some good days. She's in a wheelchair, but just last week attended her first Detroit Red Wings game.

I am compiling a story of these family's disputes over the last several years and what it has all come to. It'll be online this weekend and in The News-Herald Oct. 2. I'll keep posting about what's happening and I'll also post about the time I went to Detroit Street and was rampaged by neighbors. I promise, it's an interesting story. 


On that note, I hope you'll come back and read. I also hope you read the article. And please, please share your feedback! 


Catch ya later, Internet World.

"The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom." - Jon Stewart

I interviewed a dentist this week. His story will be online tomorrow and in the paper Sunday. He's a resident of Farmington Hills and works in Trenton. Oh, and he also saved a man's life at a University of Michigan football game. The most impressive part? He couldn't be more modest about it.

Marvin Sonne, sporting his UofM gear of course

I love a lot about being a journalist. I get to meet a lot of interesting people. Some are unhappy people complaining and some are those amazing people who just want to help others. Marvin Sonne put everything aside to give a stranger CPR in Ann Arbor a few weeks ago. He's one of those amazing people.

People are passionate about their sports teams and get highly offended when you talk negatively about them - trust me, I know (talk down on the Red Wings or Tigers and you've got yourself a fight!). And you can tell this guy is a sports man when you walk into his office in Trenton. Sports memorabilia is flaunted all over the large lobby and his office.

The story about Sonne saving a man has a lot of irony to it (you can check it out on our website to read all about it).

The group of men sitting behind him were badmouthing Michigan football, big time. Sonne said he was getting frustrated at some points, as we all naturally would.

However, that never crossed his mind when the Notre Dam fan behind him collapsed from a heart attack.

Now, CPR isn't something a dentist commonly performs. He is required to be trained in it because of his profession. I contacted Sonne and asked him to do an interview with me. His response was, "Only if this is about how important it is for people to learn CPR."

He doesn't consider himself a hero; he wants more people to learn CPR. He didn't boast about his bravery; he said it was fate for him to be connected with this man to remind people to learn how to handle emergency situations.

It's always nice to meet people like that. I know they are out there everywhere. That's the point of this blog post. Despite all of the negative stories journalists write and all of the bad people we meet, journalists are honored to meet people with amazing stories who we otherwise probably wouldn't meet.

Sonne said that when he talked to the man he saved and that man's family, they told him they could never again badmouth Michigan. While they will always root for Notre Dame, they won't root negatively for Michigan because of the care the man received from the fans and the hospital. Now, that's a statement.

The dentist told me over and over that he was just really glad that he was able to do what he could to keep the man alive until paramedics around. The paramedics' equipment is what finally brought the man back. But even the victim said that in a press release that he knows it was the fans around him who kept him alive long enough. That small act of chest compressions saved a life. I hope if something so tragic ever happens to me, that a good person is around to help.

Sonne told me, "If you save one person, you've saved the world."

Thanks to the good people in the world, you're making this a better place!

Be sure to check my facebook, twitter or website for the full story this weekend! Catch 'ya later, Internet World. :)

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can." - Sydney Smith

Continuing from yesterday's blog "Truth is stranger than fiction; the arrest of a man who dismembered a woman's body (which continued from Tuesday's blog "Reporting as a diagnosis; the search for a woman's dismembered body parts."

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The arraignment of James Bommer was expected to be on a Friday afternoon, but the paperwork didn't go through on time. I didn't even know his name because police didn't want to release the information. Through some chatting with neighbors I got the name and called the court. They didn't have an arraignment set.

Bommer was arraigned on Saturday, August 27 on one count of dismembering and mutilating a dead body and one count of obstruction of justice.

The judge told Bommer good luck because he said he would need it.

The preliminary hearing was at 9 a.m. the morning after Labor Day. It was 11:30 before Wayne County Jail  brought Bommer into the court room.

The media was sitting in the jury box. The detective told us that Bommer would be coming out soon and pointed to the door he would be walking in from. We all got our cameras ready.

I had seen a picture of Bommer from 2005. I thought I knew what he would look like, in a general sense at least. It was nothing like that...

An officer wearing blue latex gloves walked him in. Bommer kept his head down. His hair was long and tangled. His face was wrinkled and his eyes were droopy. 

A long-time freelance photographer for The News-Herald was there with me to take photos. He started at the camera. He started into the video cameras that were there. Prpich's mother held her head high and looked at his back while the judge addressed him.

View a slideshow of photos from the preliminary hearing here. 

His lawyer had to tell him when to speak. Previous felonies of his were mentioned, none anywhere near the extent of this. However, the intention of making his past known became apparent to us. Someone wants him put away for a long, long time.

His lawyer asked for a competency and criminal responsibility exam because he doubts Bommer's level of sanity after interviewing him.

Afterward, everyone was saying things like, "Well obviously he's not competent, look what he did." It wasn't clear whether anyone was supportive or non-supportive of the decision.

The lawyer made Bommer tell the judge that he had agreed to take the exams. Bommer said he had alredy agreed. The judge ordered the exams.

Bommer was hunched over the whole time, with his hands still cuffed behind his back. He looked far beyond the age of 52. The took him back through the door that he entered from. The judge told the media bye and we walked out behind Prpich's mother.

We talked with Prpich's mother. She discussed her now-deceased daughter's ambitions and how she was turning her life around. No one claimed she was murdered. But it's apparent that the dismemberment bothers the family, as it should.

The competency exam has not yet been set, meaning it could be months before Bommer is back in court. Until then, he is being held on a $500,000 cash bond.

It's a weird thing, seeing someone who has the capabilities to chop up a body - whether it be dead or not. It's still someone he knew. And there are still so many questions. How did he do it? Where did he do it? Why was that the decision he made to hide her death? Why hide the parts is several places? How was such a frail man capable of doing this so discretely? Did he feel guilty? Is he competent...?

The picture of him staring at the camera is creepy. Just knowing what he is capable of. No matter who you are, the story will stop you in your tracks for a second...



Well, I'll keep you updated on this whole case. Thanks for tuning in.

Catch 'ya later, Internet World.

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." - Mark Twain.

Continuing from yesterday's blog: Reporting as a diagnosis; the search for a woman's dismembered body parts

_____________________________________________________________________________________

That Friday was exhausting. I went home around 5:30 p.m. to go to the Tiger's game and honestly, the whole night I couldn't get this story off of my mind. My friends could tell it was driving me crazy. I wanted so badly to know what happened to that woman's body.

The following Saturday morning I was at Borders buying some clearance-rack books when I got a call from someone I used to work with with interesting information.

Police and the family of Pamela Prpich were convinced it was her body parts inside the suitcase. That was made clear Friday. Even without the DNA test results, that's what it looked like. The person who called me said Prpich went to the same high school as me. Although she was older than I, she graduated the year before several of my very good friends. I was with one of those friends at Borders.

I got off the phone and turned to my friend and asked if he knew the name. He said "yes, she was a very smart girl. I think she had a brother who went there, too."

I called another friend of mine who seems to always know everyone. She knew Pamela Prpich and both of her brothers. They all went to the same high school as me. It was a strange feeling. I didn't know her, I had never met her even. But, there was still this small, ironic connection. It was a little eerie. I talked to people all weekend about what could have possibly happened. Talking to people who know someone who has just fallen victim to a tragedy isn't anything you ever want to do.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday passed. I was bugging the Gibraltar police beyond belief asking if there were ANY updates. Before the end of Wednesday, I spoke on the phone to Prpich's brother, Michael. Michael was the one who found the suitcase and discovered his sister's body parts inside.

He was distraught but calm. I was the most careful I've even been when interviewing. I kept quiet and let him talk. I couldn't imagine being in his place. Discovering that sort of thing. It's almost too terrible to be true.When he was just about finished talking I sent my condolences and thanked him for speaking to me. He told me he just hopes that they find who did this to his sister and get them arrested. That was three hours before police took someone into custody.

Thursday morning I woke up to emails that someone had been arrested! The press conference was in Gibraltar at 9 a.m. I was out the door.

The police chief explained that they had arrested a 52-year-old man who lived in the apartment complex next to the condos where Prpich lived. I realized that I parked in front of his apartment the day we were out there searching. Holy crap! That's creepy.

I also learned police had interviewed this man and he lied to them, telling them he had talked to Prpich but hadn't seen her before she went missing. So, he was one of the many neighbors outside that day we were all out there? Another "holy crap!" moment.

I will never forget the descriptions of the arrest.

Police took James Thomas Bommer in for questioning. Within 30 seconds he confessed to dismembering her body. He said she overdosed when they were doing drugs together and he panicked. So he chopped her up. Police had searched his apartment and didn't find any of her body parts. He told them they were in there in a concealed container. Anything not in the container, he said, was put in the large trash bin outside the complex over a week ago.

He wasn't lying. They found more of her dismembered body parts inside. All of us (the journalists and cameramen) gasped. There were really more body parts that had been sitting in his apartment this whole time. Police said his apartment was so clean it was almost creepy. 

The part that got me - even in my most journalistic state, I was how shocked at how shocked the detectives said they were. A few quotes were:

“What are the chances of finding half a body in a suitcase and (during an interrogation) finding out the other body parts are in the (suspect’s) closet?”
“I didn’t see that coming. I had to stop for a minute.”
"This is the most bizarre crime I've ever seen."

Those are police detectives, some with over 20 years in the field, saying those things. I still get the shivers when I recall how stunned police were at this guy's clean crime.

Nothing gave the shiver-factor more, though, than seeing him walk into the courtroom. I'll describe that in detail tomorrow. The way he looked around. The way the family looked at him. How fragile his voice sounded.

Come back tomorrow for that...

Catch 'ya later, Internet World.

"It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense." - Mark Twain

In this blog I discuss the search for a woman's body parts. If this is something you find offending to blog about, please skip this one and come back to read my next post!
___________________________________________________________________________________
Taking a step back to last month ...

On Friday, Aug. 19 I walked into work carrying my purse, two bags of paperwork, my laptop, a travel coffee mug and two cakes. We were having a going away party for a few employees and I had baked two chocolate cakes and decorated one as a hockey puck and one as a car wheel. On my agenda for the day: write a few quick stories, proof some pages, tell the leaving-employees bye and eat cake with them before they were off on new endeavors...

Anyone in journalism knows the spontaneous level that work occurs. Things always happen when you're on deadline and least ready to cover breaking news.

Well, this was one of those days. My most memorable day as a journalist so far. I believe it's a day I'll remember clearly for my entire life.

By 10 a.m., I was out in Gibraltar behind an apartment complex watching police search a creek from behind the yellow tape. All I knew was that a suitcase was found with some body parts inside.

Reporters from local television and radio stations were showing up on scene as I was. Many of them were reporters who I had previously met. The police chief addressed all of us with little information, as police usually do before they know much.

By 11 a.m. I had called the office and was telling the online coordinator at the time everything I knew so she could put something on our website.

"About 15 people are here investigating. The Michigan State Police Crime Lab was here. Neighbors are wandering around. The skin had been removed from some of the body parts in the suitcase. The alleged victim's brother found the suitcase by the Frank and Poet Drain."

And that was all I knew. It was hot. I was crawling around in murky, muddy grass. I hadn't eaten. I hadn't had my morning dose of coffee. I was frustrated that no one knew anything for certain.

Then more firefighters and police officers came to help search. Then I was searching. I was wandering through the tall grass looking for evidence, clues, something. I knew the victim's head was missing, along with a lot of the other body parts.

Questions were flying around left and right. A freelance photographer for our paper met me at some point in the late morning to take photos of the crime scene. He and I discussed what could have happened. Neighbors told me what they knew.

A paramedic told me the best bet they had of discovering anything at that time was for the cadaver dogs to pick up on some sort of scent. That comment hit me. Really? There are body parts somewhere and no clues to any of it? It's scary. Who did this? Who had police questioned?

I called the office again.

"Still haven't found anything. They said this water is only 15 feet deep at its deepest and they've searched it up and down. There's no DNA done on the victim, but an ID card was found inside. The guy who found it said he knows for a fact the body is his sister's. She lives in the condos right here, right next to the apartment complex where I parked. She's been missing for a week now. Her name is Pamela Prpich ... yes, the spelling is correct P-R-P-I-C-H. She is ... she was 32 ... no, we can't say it's her. There are no results. Police and the family just, they just kinda know."

I stood for a second. There were engines roaring from the fire truck lifting its bucket ladder next to me. People were yelling back and forth. I watched rafts with search teams float by. I watched the dogs smell around and not react to anything. I saw the look on the police chief's face. I had never met him before, but I could tell he was distraught. What a terribly sad situation ... 

Around 2 p.m. I left and came back to work. I needed to write a full story. Deadline was quickly approaching for the Sunday paper (I'm telling you, breaking news only happens on deadlines).

This was the first full story I wrote with what I knew. I included videos and pictures from the intense, grotesque morning I had.

I knew a torso and skinned parts of legs were found inside a blue suitcase. I knew the man who found them thought they belonged to his sister. I knew police also thought so, but couldn't confirm without DNA test results. I knew neighbors saw police examine the suitcase. I also knew that after hours and hours of searching for something, nothing was found. Why did I know? Because I was there. I was part of it. It was my job to be there. To report this search play-by-play.

Coworkers and friends asked me when I was done writing what I would have done had I have found something disturbing that day. I didn't have an answer, which bothered me. Do I not have morals? Are journalists really as bad as people say we are? Of course I have morals. Of course I'm a good person. It's my job to do this.

It's a difficult concept to explain. But at that point I was busy writing and putting everything together. It wasn't until the next day that I found out I knew people who knew the woman. Once you start talking to people who know a victim of such an alleged assault ... you start to feel a little differently about coverage of the story.

There is plenty more to this story. That's what this week's blog posts will be about. Wednesday I will discuss the arrest of a suspect in this case and how everyone reacted at the press conference when the man was arrested.
Thursday, I'll discuss seeing the man who confessed to dismembering this body and what is expected to happen to him.

Catch ya' later, Internet World.

Being a reporter is as much a diagnosis as a job description.  - Anna Quindlen

Residents become attached to parts of communities. When government takes a building away, it will cause a ruckus - which has proven true in Trenton.

There are some stories you just expect to hear complaints about. This one was no different, however, the complaints coming through to me are not what I thought they would be. And there's a lot more.

I was going to write my post today about an event that happened a few weeks ago, but after the amount of feedback I've had on this story I just have to share. The story ran in The News-Herald last week and is on the website.

About three weeks ago I received a phone call from a woman with the Trenton Cooperation Preschool. She said the school's building was closed and they were having a farewell gathering.

Little did I know the anger residents in the area were feeling.

The building, Haas Park community building, has been in the city for over a half-century. Not only was it home to the preschool, it was also rented for indoor parties.

The City Council took a bus tour of several buildings in the city to inspect them. When they got to Haas Park they were not pleased with their inspection. They were unaware of how severe the building's issues were.


My thoughts on the building?

I parked and started walking up. It became obvious very quick that the porch isn't the sturdiest. It appears to have not been painted or tended to in years. I kept walking. The sides have graffiti sprayed all over. I continued.

Then, I stopped in my tracks. The back of the building has gaping holes. Gross, gaping holes. The building looks like it's rotting away.

I was taken aback by it.

Residents near the building are upset with the City Council for voting to close and eventually demolish the building and they're taking it out on me. I understand their concern. For over 50 years this was the community building that they had birthday parties and family reunions in. No one wants to lose the building holding those memories.

However, there's no way that this building is safe for anyone - especially children - to be in. There are asbestos-containing materials, holes big enough for mice and other rodents to crawl in and out of and the building is flat-out rotting.

How the state of Michigan approved the Trenton Co-Op to have a preschool there is beyond me. And it scares me.

Of course, I've received my fair share of angry emails, phone calls and comments at the park about the coverage. Residents feel like they are being ignored and that I may be siding with the Council for closing the building.

Well, I do side with the idea of closing the building. I would not want anyone I care for to be inside the Haas Park building.

HOWEVER, I do not side with the city officials - because it should have never gotten to that point. City owned property should not look like that.

Last week, I went back for some video. A resident across the street yelled, "Hey look, that News-Herald (insert inappropriate word beginning with a B) is over here again."

I had a voice mail at work telling me I'm "as snobby as the council" and another that I don't "understand or care about North Trenton." (North Trenton is the area the park is at).

I worked for the parks and recreation department of a city for many years before working at The News-Herald. Whether or not I'm from Downriver, Trenton (or the north part of the city for that matter) or from another country, I don't want to see a nice building close. It would devastate me if the community building I grew up with closed.

But under these conditions, it's just not safe. And it's no longer a nice building.  So yes, today I'm the evil reporter. It's a common thing to hear. People don't like us; we get it. In all honesty though, I do care. I would rather do a story about the building closing than a story about children becoming ill because of the unsafe conditions of their preschool.

(On a side note, last week when I went to take these photos I was standing on a jungle-gym in my high heels to get a good angle for the picture and some people walking by looked at me like I'm a psycho. I think one of them may have taken a picture of me so if you see a photo floating around of a blond girl in high heels standing on a  playscape with a camera - let me know!)

Catch ya later, Internet world! :)

"Optimist: someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha." - Robert Brault

According to Webster's dictionary, journalism is "the work of gathering, writing, editing and publishing or disseminating news, as through newspapers or by radio and television."

No insult to Webster - but in all honesty, journalism is a hell of a lot more involved than just gathering, writing, editing and publishing.

I graduated in May 2011 with my bachelor's degree in journalism. I knew in middle school that I wanted to write for a newspaper. (Although that has transitioned into newspapers, magazines, websites, websites and websites). I've never changed my mind.

Journalism is one of the most exciting and unique fields of work. The things one gets to partake in and witness as a journalist are astonishing. I've been a full-time staff writer for The News-Herald for four months. In that short amount of time I have already experienced so many new things.

This blog will be about the life of a young, fresh-out-of-college journalist who is experiencing new things and learning not only about the communities I cover, but the nation and the world as a whole every day.

It'll be exciting, I promise. My first posts to come include: shooting guns with ATF special agents, searching with police for body remains and covering stories about several bodies being found in the Detroit River.

Catch ya later, Internet world! :)

"Journalism, is in fact, history on the run." - Thomas Griffith