Why I cover tough stories

It has been a tough few weeks when it comes to news stories I’ve covered.

It started with the Sheriff Sullivan story. No matter how I look at it, I feel badly for all involved. Think of the Sullivan’s family. They must be embarrassed.

The young men who are meth addicts and interacted with Sullivan can’t have easy lives. I’ve been able to get know several of the men. They are much like the rest of us. They worry about the same things as all of us. They wanted a place to spend Christmas. They worried about buying gifts for the people they love. They want to make New Year’s resolutions.

I could only pray my voice didn’t quit while going live

If you can’t tell, I’m sick. And by sick, I mean really sick. But it’s also the holiday season. That means calling in sick to work is impossible. There’s just no one else to do the work.

I wasn’t planning to be on TV Tuesday. After all, I sounded terrible. But my news director thought we should give it a try. Here’s the result. All I hoped for with every word was that my voice didn’t quit. It had been doing that for most of the day after every few words.

I saved up all day to be able to say this much clearly.

Everyone seems to be getting this junk.

Denver grandfather out $24,000 in “grandson scam.” These scams make me mad. I can imagine it happening to my grandfather.

John is an 88-year-old Denver man who lives by himself. He received a call Nov. 18 from his authorities in Spain who told him his grandson was in jail. His grandson has committed an indiscretion and needed money.

The authorities allowed John’s grandson say a few words over the phone.

“Hi Grandpa,” said a voice on the other line.

Then the authorities demanded John wire them $24,000. John went to his bank account and did just that. No one at his bank questioned the odd transfer.

As it turns out, John’s grandson is safe in Boulder with his family. He hasn’t traveled to Spain. It was a scam.

The mother who worries #SheriffArrested Sullivan lied about helping her son with addiction, wrote a letter to viewers

When I interviewed the Wiley family about meeting Pat Sullivan, I extended an opportunity for them to write directly to our viewers. I offered to post it on my blog. Here is what Katherine Wiley wrote:

If there are families out there who for a moment may think that Mr. Sullivan might have had an untoward relationship with their child, I implore them to please, please sit down and talk to their children about this in a loving and supportive way.

I knew doing today’s #SheriffArrested interview would be tough, but the weather made it almost impossible

And it’s not because roads were bad, they weren’t.

We make the 40-minute commute from 9NEWS to Highlands Ranch. When we tried to unlock the back of the SUV to get out our camera, tripod, TV lights, etc., the door wouldn’t open.