Rodney Monroe Gets a Free Pass Observer Crime Reporter Chris Kirkpatrick Laid Off

I've got to say this for the embattled Chief, he has the damn best luck when it comes to snaking his way out of trouble. Just when the heat was on about his spending the DSS and Harry Jones mess got the attention of the news media.

He hired Rob Trufono just when the water started to boil over about his phony degree and last week the Observer's top crime reporter was given the ax by the McClatchy Company just as the Marcus Jackson scandal gets interesting.

According to Greg Collard at WFAE Kirkpatrick got the ax in most recent round of Observer cutbacks. The Observer recruited him a few years ago after being a Pulitzer Prize finalist at the Toledo Blade. He was the Observer’s primary crime reporter had done a lot of work on the CMPD and Marcus Jackson scandal.

Kirkpatrick was also one of Cedar's contracts for vetting out fact from fiction and spin from reality. Much of what you read here comes from discussions and emails that help eliminate gossip and sift out fact and people like Chris are the bedrock of investigative journalism.

It wouldn't surprise me that Kirkpatrick started asking too many questions and the Observer was told to shut him down.