Lawsuit: A Good Example

Consistent attribution, consistent use of allegedly and a lede/nut graf sequence that zeroes in on the main point:

Two parents are suing the Kennedy High School principal, superintendent, and East Lansing School District for $500,000 in Ingham County Circuit Court for the alleged faulty education of their son.

Parents Thaddeus and Laura Dowdell allege that their son James Dowdell has not learned enough to be graduated from high school and that this is the failure of Principal Marvin Ferrell, Superintendent Greg Hubbard and the school district.

James Dowdell, who has attended Kennedy High School for the past three years, has allegedly been told that he will graduate from the school on or around the beginning of next June, according to the lawsuit.

The problem is that James Dowdell’s parents allege that he can barely read or do simple arithmetic and has not learned enough to be graduated from high school or to successfully function in a society as complex as ours, according to the lawsuit. 

Thaddeus and Laura Dowdell allege that the fault does not lie with son James, who according to tests administered by guidance counselors at Kennedy High School has an average IQ of 94, according to the lawsuit. 

The Dowdells allege that it is the failure of the defendants to employ competent teachers, to maintain discipline, to provide remedial help and to provide an atmosphere in which learning might take place, according to the lawsuit.

Along with $500,000 in compensatory damages, the Dowdells are also demanding that James Dowdell be retained at the high school until he further masters the skills expected of a high school graduate, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are also demanding a trial by jury, according to the lawsuit.

Rescue: A Few Good Examples ...

... of doing this story well. First, this one:

Play fort-building with friends ended tragically yesterday at 4:40 p.m., after a tunnel four boys were digging suddenly collapsed and only three made it out alive. 

The victim has been identified as 11-year-old James Roger Lo after officers responded to a call at the west end of Liberty Avenue, located on the property of the Wagnor Development Corporation, according to an East Lansing Fire Department incident report. 

After the tunnel collapsed, witnesses at the scene said one boy ran for help while the others tried to free Lo from the dirt, according to the report. 

The report said when the fire department arrived on the scene there were approximately 20 adults trying to remove the boy with their hands and shovels.  The boy had been submerged for 12 minutes at this point, the report said. 

According to the report, the rescue was challenging as the walls of the tunnel continued to cave in with digging efforts.

 When Lo’s head was exposed from the dirt medics rushed to begin resuscitation efforts, however another collapse occurred before they were able to make any progress, the report said. 

The fire department was unable to use heavy equipment so as not to further injure the victim, the report said. 

The report said the body was recovered six feet from the opening of the tunnel at 5:24 p.m. and was taken to the Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead from an extensive lack of oxygen. 

Neighbors and witnesses were angry and said they had expressed to the property owner many times that the area was dangerous and needed a fence around the pond  so the neighborhood children could not have access to the land, according to the report. 

The report said the homeowner should be contacted as they may file a claim or have to be compensated for fence repairs. 

*****

Next up is this one: 

An 11-year-old East Lansing boy died yesterday evening after a tunnel he was digging with his friends collapsed on him.

James Roger Lo, a student at Lincoln Elementary School, and three of his friends were digging into the side of a hill near the pond on the west end of Liberty Avenue when, at 4:40 p.m., the tunnel collapsed, according to an incident report filed by Lt. Steven Chenn.

Also according to the report, the East Lansing Fire Department arrived onto the scene at 4:52 p.m., with some 20 adults already there, digging with their hands and a few shovels.

The bystanders expressed their anger at the property owner, Wagnor Development Corporation, for inaction on various warnings that the pond area was a popular but dangerous play area for children, according to the report.

Firefighters took over the work and manage to expose the boy’s head within ten minutes, but another collapse prevented medics from initiating resuscitation, the report said.

Heavy equipment was ruled out, as firefighters had to be careful not to further injure Lo, according to the report.

To expedite the rescue, the report said, firefighters tore sections from a fence at a nearby residence and used it as makeshift shoring to hold back the continually-collapsing dirt.

Lo was freed at 5:24 p.m., taken to East Lansing Regional Medical Center, and pronounced dead there from extensive lack of oxygen, the report said.

Police: Some Good Examples

Note a good lede that gets to what the latest news is, a strong nut graf that sums up what happened that brought us to the point of the lede, short paragraphs with each turn of events getting its own graf, and good and consistent attribution throughout: 

One man is in police custody and another is on the loose after the duo’s attempted robbery of a 24-hour convenience store went awry early this morning.

Jiffy Foods employee Terry DaRoza managed to fend off two men with nothing more than his cane after one of the men pulled a knife on him in an attempt to rob the 24-hour convenience store in Okemos. 

According to the Ingham County Sherriff’s Department’s police report, DaRoza said the two men arrived at approximately 1:15 a.m. and asked to use the restroom at the store, located at 4010 Holbrook Drive.

According to the police report, DaRoza then went behind the counter to get the key to the bathroom but was followed by one of the suspects, local resident Timothy Keel, 19, who then allegedly pulled out a knife.

DaRoza, who was still wearing a cast due to an injury he had suffered recently, used his cane to bludgeon Keel, hitting him repeatedly in the face, according to the police report.  

The blows caused Keel to fall to the floor, which is when the suspect still at large attempted to grab the cane from DaRoza, who proceeded to beat him with it, causing the suspect to flee, according to the police report.

A customer then entered and helped DaRoza tie Keel up using their belts to secure him until police arrived, according to the police report. 

Keel is now in police custody and is suffering from a broken nose and jaw from the beating he took at the hands of DaRoza. Keel is being charged with armed robbery and resisting a merchant, according to the police report. 

The police also said to be on the lookout for a brown, ’94, two-door Toyota Celica which the second suspect fled in.  
**** 
Here's another one worth reviewing: 

**** 

This morning a store clerk in Okemos apprehended one of the men who tried to rob the 24-hour establishment.

Terry DaRoza a full-time clerk at the Jiffy Foods, 4010 Holbrook Drive, subdued an armed assailant at approximately 1:15 this morning and with the help of a customer tied him up until police arrived.

DaRoza stated that he was cleaning a popcorn machine when two men entered Jiffy Foods around 1:15 a.m., according to an Ingham County Sheriff's Department report. 

They asked to use the restroom, and when he went to get the key from behind the counter one of the men allegedly pulled a knife, the report said.

The man who allegedly pulled the knife has been identified as Timothy Keel, the report said.

DaRoza uses a cane due to his leg being in a cast from a recent injury he obtained at construction job accident, the report said

DaRoza said that he swung his cane multiple times as hard as he could at Keel's face, according to the report.

Paramedics said that Keel's jaw, nose, and other bones in his face were broken, according to the report. 

At this time the unidentified second suspect attempted to grab DaRoza's cane, at which point DaRoza began to hit the suspect with his cane, the report said.

As the second suspect fled, Stuart Adler entered Jiffy Foods and proceeded to help DaRoza bind Keel with their belts, the report said.

Officers from the Ingham County Sheriff's Department arrived on scene around 1:30 a.m., the report said.

  

DaRoza said he was not injured in the incident, according to the report.

Keel was charged with armed robbery and resisting a merchant, the report said.

Missing: Good Examples

... of this assignment. Great lede, solid story flow, liberal use of quotes, small grafs, frequent attribution, yadda yadda yadda.

Admittedly, this wasn't exactly what was turned in. The person was very close to having a perfect story, and I made the changes that I suggested in the graded version of this person's story. Still, do take a look at it, compare it to your own work, and think about how this person did the story, and how you could incorporate some of the concepts shown strongly here:

  

            Reports of missing persons may not be as criminal as the public thought.

            According to statistics by the U.S. Justice Department, Michigan had 57,152 women, men and children reported missing in the last year, but East Lansing police said no more than 100 are crime victims.

            “I’ve worked around missing persons for the past 10 years, and it’s rare finding someone after more than a year,” East Lansing City Police Sgt. Manual Cortez said. “We find a lot of people disappear because they’ve got troubles, want to leave them behind and start over again.”

            Last year, three-fourths of the missing persons in Michigan have been cases of runaway juveniles, according to the justice department.

 Among missing juveniles, Cortez said those missing are typically 11 to 17-years-old, girls exceeding boys 3 to 1.

            A 14-year-old girl, Sabrina, who has asked for her last name to be unidentified, said she ran away from her home in East Lansing because her stepfather was a drunk and hit her mom.

            “My parents got divorced,” Sabrina said. “I hated my stepfather.”

            Sabrina then convinced a man she met to take her to New York, she said.

She said after police caught her shoplifting and prostituting, she returned to East Lansing with her mother. 

“She’s dropped the jerk, so it’s better now, just the two of us,” Sabrina said.

             According to the justice department, there were 450,700 children nationwide who ran away from home and juvenile facilities last year and 127,100 whose parents would not allow them to return.

Cortez said more adult men than adult women disappear due to their troubles.

Jason Abare, 31, is a case of a missing person who ran away from his problems. Abare, who was ordered to pay alimony and child support for four children, said he left the state to avoid paying.

Abare, who is in construction, said he could find a job almost anywhere.

He said he moved around a lot, figuring that no one could catch him if he skipped town regularly.

“It was easy, real easy,” he said. “If I liked where I was I’d stay a couple months, even a year.”

Abare said he was caught after a drunk driving charge and returned to Michigan.

Among the total number of missing persons in Michigan, 9,000 have yet to be found, according to the justice department.

*****

I made similar fixes with this one, which used an alternative lede: an anecdotal lede, which was also a delayed lede, taking several grafs to get to the nut graf:


*****

 Divorced and ordered to pay child support for his four children, East Lansing resident Jason Abare said he decided to skip town to avoid his problems.

He said he could find jobs as a carpenter in construction “real easy” and that he figured no one could ever find him, so after divorcing his wife Anne Abare of nine years, he was supposed to pay alimony and $840 a month for child support, but he “wasn't going to give her a penny, not with the hell that woman put [him] through.”

“I got caught last month, charged with drunken driving and didn't have a driver's license anymore, so they checked my [finger]prints and found out who I really was and returned me here. Bad luck, that's what it was, just bad luck,” he said.

Upon his return to East Lansing, he was charged with nonsupport and put in the East Lansing County Jail.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, out of the 57,152 men, women and children who were reported missing last year in Michigan, 48,384 -- including Abare -- sooner or later reappeared, were found, or recovered. 

    Nearly 9,000 people in Michigan remain missing, and no more than a total of 100 of them, according to police, were true crime victims: people apparently kidnapped, robbed or murdered.

            Those 48,384 who reappeared were mostly people who ran away from their problems: deadbeat dads and moms, people running from debts, young men and women running away with lovers with whom they were deeply in love with.

           “We find a lot of people disappear because they've got troubles, want to leave them behind and start over again. A lot of people think about it, and some do more than think about it. Normally it's more men than women, except among juveniles,” East Lansing Police Department Sgt. Manuel Cortez said, who has worked around missing persons for the past 10 years.

           Some of the missing people each year are children who run away and others are very old people with Alzheimer’s disease who wander some distance away from their homes without noticing.

          Michigan State University Psychology Professor Alan Christopher said “most adults will stick around and handle their problems, but a lot of kids think it's easier to run away. Or they just don't think.”

           Three-fourths of the missing people last year were juveniles. Nearly 6,500 have not yet been found or located, according to the justice department.
“They see some place on television, and it looks good, so they try to go there,” Christopher said.

            Nationwide, 450,700 children and teenagers were reported to have fled their homes, juvenile facilities and other places they were supposed to be living last year, according to the justice department. 

          “Among juveniles, runaway girls outnumber boys 3-1. Kids, particularly those 11 to 17, flee in [large groups],” Cortez said.

           A teenage girl who is a East Lansing resident, who spoke on the condition her last name not be used, said she ran away when her parents got divorced.

            “I hated my stepfather. He's a jerk. He got drunk and hit my mom and expected us to wait on him like we were his slaves,” the girl said.

            “I met this guy who was moving to New York. He didn't want to take me, said I was too young, but I got him to change his mind,” she said. “I was there for two years, then got caught shoplifting and prostituting and the cops somehow they came up with my real name and my mom came and got me. She's dropped the jerk, so it's better now.”

        She now lives just with her mom, whom she said she could talk to now.

        The statistics also said another 127,100 children and teenagers were “thrown away,” meaning their parents, guardians or whoever cared for them would not let them come back.

         It becomes harder to find a missing person as time goes by.

         “It's rare finding someone after more than a year,” Cortez said.

Missing: Another Good Example

Upon hearing the term, “missing,” most people seem to connect it to kidnappings, robberies and murders, right?

In reality, a majority of missing individuals in Michigan choose to disappear on their own-leaving behind past conflicts and responsibilities in an attempt to start a new life for themselves. 

According to the U.S. Justice Department, out of the 57,152 men, women and children reported missing last year in Michigan, about 9,000 remain missing and were never found. 

Out of these roughly 9,000 individuals, police said that they believe less than 100 people account for victims of crimes; they said the number could be as low as 40 or 50. 

“We find a lot of people disappear because they’ve got troubles, want to leave them behind and start over again,” Sgt. Manuel Cortez from the East Lansing Police Department said. 

Cortez said that men account for more adult runaways than women do. 

Among such individuals is Jason Abare, a 31-year-old man from East Lansing. Abare said that he left the state in order to escape paying $840 every month to his ex-wife for alimony and child support for his four children.

“I wasn’t going to give her a penny, not with the hell that woman put me through,” Abare said. 

Abare said that as a carpenter, he was able to find a job wherever he traveled. He said that he “drifted” from job to job, and sometimes he would only stay a few weeks before leaving again.  

Abare said that he thought no one would ever find him if he frequently changed his location. 

“It was easy, real easy,” Abare said during a jailhouse interview. 

Abare said he is currently in the county jail for charges of nonsupport because the police discovered his real identity after they charged him for drunken driving and he failed to present a drivers license last month.

Squirrels: A Story I Liked

With each of these lede/nut graf sequences, the writers followed by offering the fact/quote sequences that we talked about earlier. So does this story -- which I will show you in its complete form -- that starts with an alternative lede, then goes to two nut grafs, then launches into the compartmentalized individual examples. This is a good structure which to aspire to:

       In Lansing, there is a new addition to the squirrel’s diet — electrical wires.

       The squirrels on Lansing Community College’s campus have been making homes and feeding on the electrical wires in cars on campus.

       The damage from the squirrels is costing students and staff money to replace ruined wires.

       LCC dietitian Linda Kasparov said an attendant at a service station found a squirrel’s nest as the cause of broken a oil-pressure gauge, speedometer and headlights on Kasparov’s car.

        “The attendant put up the hood and then jumped back exclaiming, ‘My God, what have you got in there!’” Kasparov said.

       Kasparov said the attendant found three baby squirrels in a nest built of string, sticks and plastic bags. 

       Kasparov said the damage cost her more than $400.

       Laura Ruffenboch, a wildlife professor at LCC, said the soybean-based insulation on many electrical wires may be appealing to the squirrels.

        Ruffenboch said squirrels building nests in a car which is used regularly is an uncommon phenomenon.

       Oliver Brookes, an associate professor of English at LCC, also said he found a squirrel’s nest under the hood of his car.

       “There was a big squirrels nest in the corner where the light wires were,” Brookes said.

       Brookes said the squirrels chewed through the headlight wiring in his car, which cost more than $180 to replace.

Robbery: Some Strong Examples ...

... of what a properly-sourced story with a good lede looked like, via one of youze.

The lede goes to end result and ultimate outcome, not only in that a man was shot, but the victim also lost his job as a result.


There's a strong nut graf, that helps explain the lede in greater detail: WHO was shot, WHO did the shooting.


In the narrative body of the story, there is frequent attribution, so the reader knows exactly where the reporter got his or her information from.

Is the story perfect? No. For example, it lacks a specific address for where the robbery took place.

Still, it is a decent example to look at and consider against your own work. Here we go:

A convenience store robbery late yesterday resulted in one man lifeless, and one clerk jobless after an act of self-defense. 

Twenty-two-year-old Michael Layoux was working alone at the O-Mart in Haslett last night when he shot Robert A. Wiess three in the chest and side.

Wiess walked into the convenience store just after 11 p.m. asking for a pack of Winston cigarettes when he then pulled out a gun and asked for the money in the register, said Layoux. 

Layoux said he gave the robber the money, but was then motioned to move toward the cooler.

“The only thing I could figure was that he wanted to shoot me, and he wanted to do it in some place where no one could see what was happening,” Layoux said. 

Being shoved towards the cooler, Layoux said he was scared.  He then shot the robber with the .25-caliber pistol he kept under the counter.

Layoux started carrying a gun to work after two clerks at another convenience store in the city were robbed and killed last year, he said. 

“Carrying a gun is against company policy, but I figured I had to protect myself,” Layoux said. 

The robber ran straight through the glass of the front door after the shootings. Police officers of the Meridian Township Police Department found Wiess dead in a field 200 yards away, Layoux said. 

The Ingham County District Attorney, Ramone Hernandez, confirmed that the shooting was self-defense, and Layoux would not be prosecuted. 

Because it is against company policy to carry a gun in the store, the district manager called and fired Layoux from his job, Layoux said. 

Layoux says he can understand the company rules. “He was dead, and now I’ve lost my job. But I wouldn’t do it any different,” said Layoux. 

***** 

Here's another strong example that offers a solid lede, a strong nut graf, and good attribution throughout. The big miss here? The exact time the incident took place:

****** 

Michael Layoux, an employee of the O-Mart convenience store in Haslett, was forced to act in self-defense when he was robbed late last night, according to the Meridian Township Police Department. 

The 22-year-old college student shot and killed the armed intruder, who has been identified as Robert Wiess. Layoux says Wiess came into the store asking for a pack of cigarettes. 

“I handed him a pack and then he pulled a gun and says, ‘you see what I got?’ He had a pistol and he held it low, level with his hip, so no one outside the store could look in and see it,” Layoux said. 

After handing him the money from the cash register, Layoux says Wiess started to shove him towards the beer and soda cooler located in the back of the store. 

“The only thing I could figure was that he wanted to shoot me and he wanted to do it in some place where no one could see what was happening,” Layoux said. “That’s where the two other clerks were shot last year, in a cooler in their store.”

Layoux said the 24-hour store has a history of holdups, particularly late at night when no one is around. Consequently he keeps a .25-caliber pistol under the counter to protect himself, which he utilized last night. 

“I shot him three times in the chest and side but I didn’t know right away that I hit him,” Layoux said. 

According to police, the body was found in a field 200 yards away after Wiess broke through the glass door of the store. 

Although District Attorney Ramone Hernandez confirmed that his office considered the shooting self-defense, Layoux still faces termination from his job. 

“I got a call at home from my district manager and he said I’m fired because it’s against company policy to have a gun at the store,” Layoux said. “It’s a real shame because I’m still a college student and I need the job.”

Regardless of losing his job, Layoux says he wouldn’t have acted any differently.    

Controversial: A Roundup

Here's a quick roundup of some key points to learn from the "controversial" assignment:

1. Watch your facts! We had some fatals. Be sure to double-check names, titles and any word spellings where a misspelling can change the meaning of a sentence.

It's always the so-called simple stuff, so don't skimp on proofreading after you finish writing and before you send in your story. Do check against what's in the book to make sure what you write was what you intended to write and that it's actually correct.

In journalism, there is no such thing as a small mistake. The audience is right to ask themselves, if you can't get the small things right, why would they trust you with the big things? 

2. Write in many small paragraphs. In journalism, we generally try to write in very short paragraphs. What we try to do is limit a paragraph to one main idea OR one supporting idea OR one fact to support an idea. Not all of the above.

In general, that means many paragraphs will be just one or two sentences; the exact opposite of English comp writing styles that encourage massive paragraphs.

3. Forget the satisfying ending. In traditional English comp we write what is called a satisfying ending; that is, a closing statement that wraps everything up. Happily ever after, and so on.

But in journalistic writing we start with the ending in the lede -- end result and ultimate outcome, right? -- and then backtrack to let people know how we got to that ending and what facts support it.

That means in many journalistic stories, the ending will seem kind of abrupt. But that's okay. Just let the story end where it ends. Don't essentially repeat the lede by adding a satisfying ending.

4. Add attribution, and use it liberally. Let the reader know how you know what you know. Every paragraph after the lede should have attribution to whoever said whatever you're citing. 

5. Just use "said" for attribution. It's not so-and-so explained. It's so-and-so said.

It's not so-and-so commented. It's so-and-so said.

It's not so-and-so continued. It's so-and-so said.

It's not so-and-so described or told or stated or exclaimed.

It's so-and-so said. No need to find another word saying the same thing.

You cannot say said enough. It cannot be overused. I know in English comp you're taught to mix it up; someone said, then exclaimed, then stated, and whatever.

In journalistic writing, we strive for simplicity. And attributing statements are simple tags, so we try to keep the language simple and direct and consistent. So, if someone said something, just say said.

I know it's gonna look weird to you, having graf after graf that says so-and-so said this, and said that, and said some more. But again, we're striving for simplicity and consistency, not creativity in a word that's nothing more than a simple label.

6. Don't forget your articles. Not written articles. I'm talking about grammatical articles, like a, and, the.

Read your work out loud. If it sounds choppy and robotic-like and not like a complete sentence, then it's probably missing an article.

7. Don't forget AP Style! Be sure you're following the rules by looking up AP style usage for your work and making needed changes. And be sure that you're picking up AP style points as you go along, and use those lessons going forward.


Some basics from this assignment include:

• Use first and last names on all references when you have more than one person with the same last name in the same story.
• When there are no last name conflicts, the regular rule is we use first and last names on all first references, and the last name only on all subsequent references.
• Punctuation goes inside of quote marks, like this: "Hi," Omar said. Then he said, "bye."
• Titles are only capitalized when directly in front of a title holder's name: King Omar Sofradzija; the king is Omar Sofradzija; Omar Sofradzija is the king.
• The general AP style number rule is this: spell out numbers one through nine; use numerals for 10 and above. There are many exceptions, though, so please review the AP style section for numerals and numbers.

Controversial: Some Okay Examples

This first one is pretty good. Please note the contextual lede that goes to end result and ultimate outcome and small paragraphs that allow each turn of the story to physically stand out:

This years “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” did not end as smooth for the father and daughter duo when the father, Joseph Murphy, was unexpectedly removed from his position after 18 years of service in front of his daughter, Jennifer Murphy, and co-workers.

Soon after lunch with Jennifer Murphy in the cafeteria, Joseph Murphy was called in to speak with the directer of personnel to be fired immediately as a result of the financial problems that the company were experiencing.

“The company was eliminating a number of middle managers in the company and his position was one that was being eliminated,” said Marilyn Quentin, the personnel director.

He was then escorted by security back to his office to pack up his belongs.

“They shouldn't have fired me yesterday when my daughter was there,” Joseph Murphy said.

Joseph Murphy was the only employee being let go that did not receive an email or a notice from the Office of Human Resources or the company.

As a result, Joseph Murphy’s wife plans to sue the company for the emotional distress caused on their daughter and for the way the dismissal was handled.

********* 

In all fairness, I did clean this one up a bit to confirm with AP style rules and other minor matters. Same with this next one ...

Joseph Murphy thought it was going to be a fun day at work with his daughter, until he got fired that day from a company he's been working with for 18 years.

Yesterday was “Take Our Daughters to Work Day,” so, like any other father, Joseph Murphy brought his 14-year-old daughter Jennifer Murphy to Collins Industries. 

Joseph Murphy is the director of research at Collins Industries where he specializes in making and selling health care products and medical equipment. All employees at Collins Industries got an email, sent by the Office of Human Resources, that encouraged them to bring their daughters.

After lunch, around 2 p.m., Marilyn Quentin, the personnel director, called him in to fire him. The company was having financial issues and they were letting go of 8 mid-lever mangers that day to help cut costs. 

Quentin said,“The timing of the dismissal of Mr. Murphy was regrettable.”

Joseph Murphy, who got the job straight out of college, had to say,“It’s not me I worry about. It’s my daughter. It’s not right. They shouldn’t have fired me yesterday when I had my daughter there."

"I can’t believe they couldn’t have waited one damn day. It was too traumatic for Jennifer, seeing me treated like that, and I think we’ll have to get help for her, professional help,” he said.

The company is helping Joseph Murphy find a new job and is giving him 3 months of severance pay. Murphy’s wife Kathleen Murphy does not think they are doing enough and wants to sue the company for the way they fired him. 

No comment from the president of Collins Industries has been made at this time.

******

Here's one more ...

“Take Our Daughters to Work Day” wound up being last day of work for employee of 18 years after he was fired in front of his daughter. 

Yesterday morning, Joseph Murphy, 40, decided that he would take his 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer Murphy, to work with him at Collins Industries, where he held the position of director of research. 

Collins Industries hired Joseph Murphy after he graduated from college as a research assistant. He received two promotions in his 18 years with the company and was now managing a staff of 14.  

Joseph and JenniferMurphy arrived at work at his normal starting time of 8 a.m., and for the next six hours, Jennifer was able to observe her dad go about a seemingly normal workday. 

That was until 2 p.m., when her dad was called in to the personnel director Marilyn Quentin’s office. 

Joseph Murphy was being informed that, as a result of financial troubles for the company, he would be fired. He was then escorted back to his office by security and given one hour to leave. 

Joseph Murphy was upset about losing his job, but seemed more concerned about the impact it would have on Jennifer Murphy.

“It’s not right. They shouldn’t have fired me yesterday when I had my daughter there.” Joseph Murphy said. “It was too traumatic for Jennifer, seeing me treated like that, and I think we’ll have to get help for her, professional help.” 

Joseph Murphy was given severance, but his wife, Kathleen Murphy, thinks they should sue for the way he was terminated.

Joseph Murphy was one of eight people Collins Industries fired yesterday, a cost-cutting measure the company claims was necessary. 

“The timing of the dismissal of Mr. Murphy was regrettable,” said Quentin. Collins Industries’ president was unable to be reached for comment.

*******