I just got back from the studio for a taping of The Editors, to be broadcast on the local PBS affiliates this weekend. The host was Marilou Johanek, a former television newscaster who switched to print journalism and The Blade years ago. She was very smooth and asked some good questions. I think it went well. I'm getting more comfortable on camera and am trying to be a little more animated than I was when I first started doing television shows. Not that I'm a Robin Williams or anything, but just want to be myself and not fall into a stationary pose and a monotone voice when the camera's rolling.
WGTE's facility is the nicest I've seen, of all the Toledo TV channels. The studio is as good as any and the production rooms are world-class. They even have a portable studio like the one Court TV had when covering the Robinson trial -- the only Toledo station with such gear. Odd, isn't it, that the finest facility in the area belongs not to a commercial station but to the local public broadcasting channel. Those fund-raising drives must do pretty well!
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I passed Sgt. Steve Forrester today on the street and we spoke briefly. I need to sit down and talk to him at length. He said he read the book and thought it was good but that it was difficult for him because he was so involved in the case and knows every nuance. I'm thinking he was being polite...I look forward to finding out more.
I also spoke today with Father Stephen Stanbery, one of the courageous diocesan priests who refuses to let the church slide on its mishandling of abuse cases. He met with Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair and pressed him about whether the diocese abided by the cooperation agreement it signed in 2002 with the Lucas County prosecutor's office. The first meeting went too long and the bishop ended it without directly answering the question. Father Stanbery asked for a new meeting and the bishop is refusing, saying that he doesn't want their conversation to get back to me. He cited in a letter a quote in my book that Father Stanbery had given me about the bishop saying "with a smug smile" that he gave the prosecutors what they asked for. Bishop Blair's Nov. 6, 2006 letter to Fr. Stanbery states: "I have no intention of subjecting myself to further communications of this nature. Our conversation about these matters is over."
Bishops have so much control over priests' lives, it's extremely rare for a priest to publicly criticize his bishop. Father Tom Leyland (Tigers' manager Jim Leyland's brother) is being punished for speaking to the press about his displeasure that the diocese cut his parish in half without consulting him. A different priest I will not name here told me he is being forced to retire against his will. Father Stanbery is already serving in a remote area of the diocese, in the small towns of New Bavaria and Holgate, so what more could they do to punish the priest, who is already out in the boondocks and is about as welcome in headquarters as a leper? Thinking this over, I realized the Toledo diocese has a "sister diocese" in Africa. Will Father Stanbery's next pastoral assignment be in Dodoma, Tanzania? Stay tuned.

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It's official, Continuum has ordered a second printing of Sin, Shame & Secrets. The first printing is sold out, which is good, I suppose. But it's also bad, because people who want to buy it cannot get a copy. I warned Continuum early on that they were underestimating the market for this book. But I understand why they would be cautious, with a first-time author. Still, I knew what I was talking about even though I didn't have the clout to persuade them.

Toledo, Ohio, Nov. 15, 2006