As a reporter you work on hundreds of stories in any given year.
So usually when December comes around, and you look back on the ones that were the most meaningful or had the most significant impact it’s a difficult decision.
This year, however, I had the opportunity to spend three months straight working almost exclusively on one story on the court beat. To say the least it was both impactful and meaningful to me and, from what I’ve heard, to the community at large.
Beginning March 8 this year, Travis Edward Vader’s three-month trial for the murder of St. Albert couple Lyle and Marie McCann was a test of both my journalistic abilities and my personal fortitude.
Often in the community news business, we have the opportunity to digest interviews we’ve done at least overnight before sitting down at the keyboard – not so while I was filing daily from the courthouse in Edmonton. Likewise, you often get the opportunity to break up your routine with a fun feature story here or there, or even any story on another topic, which was not the case this spring.
But while I relished the challenge on that front, covering that trial did take a toll on me as well. While I refrained from presupposing the outcome of the trial – in his wisdom Justice Denny Thomas had to make that difficult determination – it was impossible to ignore the effect the whole process had on those involved.
On most days during the trial, a dozen family members and friends of the McCanns watched the process, hoping they would see justice served. And in listening to the testimony of those family members and friends who took the stand, it was painfully obvious that these people were really and truly hurting.
Of course, in my effort to cover the trial in as unbiased a way as possible, I also spent a great deal of time thinking of the other side of the story – the impact this whole process had on Vader and his own family. With a guilty verdict that sympathy is now significantly muted, one can’t help but feel for a mother, sister and children who must be wondering how their loved one came to this point.
In June, however, things took a sharp right turn and my perspective shifted entirely as Victoria Paterson shuffled into the assistant editor’s chair and I shuffled into her former seat in the press gallery at City Hall, leaving Michelle Ferguson to pick up the Vader trial.
While some of the discussion in council chambers can be dry and far from memorable, there has been no shortage of interesting stories there, either. Before I took over, the big story was likely the dismissal of former city manager Patrick Draper in the spring, but things didn’t get much less interesting since then.
On the first meeting I covered, for example, council members voted to ask the Minister of Municipal Affairs to conduct an inspection of the city – a move that followed years of disagreements and infighting on council.
The tone in council chambers has for the most part been civil since then, but some interesting debates stand out above the rest including building a new branch library, implementing a backyard hen pilot project, and a controversial decision to fence a much-loved dog park in the city. And it would be difficult to ignore the accusations that Mayor Nolan Crouse breached the Municipal Government Act when he allegedly voted on matters in which he is accused of having a pecuniary interest.
Despite all the ups and downs, though, I’m happy to have the continued opportunity to help tell the stories that matter to St. Albertans. I look forward to another year in this wonderful community.
