Pete Geiger's recollections of Paul Facinelli during Elyria exit

I got this email from former BJ reporter Pete Geiger after he read the BJ Alums blog post about Paul Facinelli being fired over his pursuit of justice in his Head Start convictions investigation (the convictions were overturned this year after two people spent 14 years in jail):

John,
A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and Paula. I surely hope you're as hale and hearty as you look in your occasional BJ Alums blog photos.

A little on Paul that Andrew Putz couldn't know:

Facinelli was instrumental in getting me my one-year job at the Chronicle-Telegram when Sandy and I were on sabbatical from Mongolia in the 1997-'98 school year. He told former managing editor Rudy Dicks, "What? Pete Geiger's available? Snap him up!" Dicks did.

Facinelli was in-line for an award (Cleveland Press Club? I don't recall.) for his columns insisting on the innocence of Smith and Allen. A Lorain County bulldog assistant prosecutor named Jonathan E. Rosenbaum wrote to the award committee, telling them Facinelli wasn't worth their consideration because he, Rosenbaum, after all had won convictions. Facinelli was incensed; who wouldn't be?

Unfortunately, Paul went to a putatively hungry lawyer who urged him to sue Rosenburg. When the suit was filed, editor Andy Young fired Paul.

Paul (who was cleaning out his desk) came to me when I showed up early the next morning for work.

"Pete, did I do the wrong thing?" he asked. I told him I was a strong admirer of his writing and of his championing of Smith and Allen. I was also in his debt for helping me to get my sabbatical gig, I said. But, yes, I told him, he was wrong. He should have talked to Young or to the rest of us in the newsroom before listening to the lawyer.

His face fell and he turned back to his boxes.

There were no happy faces at the C-T for weeks because of Facinelli's departure. It was the saddest damn thing in the year before Sandy and I returned to Asia.
Pete

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Pete & wife Sandy live in the St. Augustine, Florida area, where they settled after returning to the USA because of Sandy's health problems.

To see the original story about Facinelli, click on the headline.