date.
That’s was a pretty disgusting story out of Fortuna in this morning’s Times-Standard. According to reporter Sean Garmire, the district attorney’s office has filed charges against Robert Newell, former curator of the Fortuna Depot Museum, for allegedly swiping museum exhibits and hawking them on eBay. Garmire writes that Newell fessed up to the Fortuna Police Department, which found several missing items and sales receipts totaling in the thousands of dollars. The thefts allegedly took place between February and April of this year.
So it is with some amazement that we turn back to Jessie Faulkner’s glowing profile of Newell in the March 8 Times-Standard. The profile itself is fine — even better than fine, in retrospect. Because with hindsight we can see that Faulkner the kind of innate, subconscious reportorial instinct that we hacks kill for.
Take the lead paragraph:
If anyone has a grasp of Fortuna’s early history, it’s likely to be new Fortuna Depot Museum Curator Bob Newell, whose family first came to the area in the 1850s.
Yes indeed! His grasp on Fortuna’s early history was stronger than anyone could have imagined.
Faulkner continues:
Newell is also addressing the needs of the museum’s youngest visitors. Realizing that a shelf full of antique typewriters whose hard-to-push keys are within reach is just too much temptation, Newell set up a hands-on site.
Can this be coincidence? I maintain that there was some tiny voice whispering inside Faulkner’s head that led her to this particular anecdote and phraseology. Bravo! Trust your gut, Jessie!
Now imagine Newell reading this story on the day it came out. Did he see it as a sign that the world was onto him? Did he start looking over his shoulder?
This article appears in State of Panic.
Snarky, but funny. Too bad for Fortuna historians, though.
I was pretty shocked, yo say the least, when I read the headline. I met Bob when he first came to Willow Creek. He is very soft-spoken, almost child-like. I don’t think I ever saw him raise his voice. I really believe that he should be checked by a neurologist. I read his "ME" section on Ebay, and it was disjointed, and unusual. Unless he hid his handicap very well when he lived in Willow Creek, (he could have because he was so quiet), something has changed in that man’s brain. I also ran his email address and came up with his profile in Viral Networks, an online site for business owners. He is gullible, falling for get rich quick schemes, and his syntax and grammar is that of an English second language student. Anyone that knew Bob will realize that something isn’t right. It would be a shame to just assume he’s a thief. Maybe it’s dementia.