How did we get here?

April 28th, 2008 at 01:25pm Wally Haas

This 180-degree project came out of a lightly attended Editorial Board meeting. Linda Cunningham, Judy Emerson and I were the only ones who met that day.

Judy mentioned she had talked to an attorney who said he could set up an interview with Karl Fort, the leader of the Gangster Disciples in the early ’90s.

Fort’s name had us reminiscing about the “Rout at dawn” headline that led the newspaper on July 29, 1993 and how a similar arrest a few years ago hardly grabbed our attention and didn’t even make it to Page 1.

Linda talked about Fort’s influence on the drug trade, gangs and crime in general. We talked about how much Rockford has changed over the years.  Linda said it’s time we took a look at how Winnebago County came to have the highest crime rate in the state. The seed for the project was planted and started to take root over the next few weeks.

Since then there has been a lot of conversation, brainstorming and hard work by Judy and others on the reporting staff. We started talking about crime, but the project has grown to envelop all aspects of life in the Rock River Valley.

The project ties in closely to our Editorial Agenda. Lots of work needs to be done yet, but stories should be available soon.

We eagerly await your reaction and suggestions.

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