Sean M. Cooley

First Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Cooley) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:04:00 +0000

Here is the link to the first podcast

First Post from Microsoft Word

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Cooley) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:45:00 +0000

I'm trying to be social in my media diet and regurgitations. Hope never really got me anywhere, so here's looking at you kid.

Journalism Clip #4 - Feature Story

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Cooley) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:07:00 +0000

The Fight of Her Life

By Sean Cooley
Essex Reporter Staff

Peggy Mattes could have fallen apart back in 1995 when her 12-year-old daughter Caitlin was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer found mostly in children that attacks the nervous system. Caitlin’s cancer had advanced to stage four and she was given less than six months to live with a 95% mortality rate.

Peggy could have fallen apart after nine chemotherapy treatments and two stem cell transplants over the next year and a half couldn’t send Caitlin’s cancer into remission.

Peggy could have also fallen apart when Caitlin eventually lost her battle with cancer on Dec. 20, 1996 with a funeral on Christmas Eve.

“When she died, I just lost it and didn’t know what to do, I had difficulty even getting up in the morning or taking a breath because I felt like my heart was going to break,” Peggy said.

But 12 years later on June 20th,Caitlin’s birthday, Peggy wasn’t mourning another year not seeing both of her daughters growing up. She was instead celebrating Caitlin’s life, walking in the Relay for Life in Essex Junction and speaking to thousands during the opening ceremony to share her memory.

Peggy makes sure no one forgets the friendly and energetic 13-year-old girl who aspired to be a lawyer and one day live in Montana amongst her horses and dogs and is now the shining symbol for the Mattes relay team Caitlin’s Crew. The team including Peggy, Caitlin’s father Keith and sister Kristin, has walked each year since Caitlin’s death with members competing to fundraise, raising $33,254.00 for the 2008 relay.

“When she died, I just lost it and didn’t know what to do, I had difficulty even getting up in the morning or taking a breath because I felt like my heart was going to break,” Peggy Mattes.

As this year’s relay coincides with Caitlin’s 25th birthday, it’s a time for the Mattes family to reflect, laugh, cry and move through another stage in the healing process. The event is another opportunity to continue Caitlin’s fight by promoting cancer awareness and challenging others to give to the cause.

Peggy is now a co-chair for the American Cancer Society educational committee and makes it her mission to keep the rest of us informed of the simple ways we can help others – by donating blood or bone marrow, volunteering for events like the Relay for Life – and help ourselves – by quitting smoking, getting routine checkups.

After being diagnosed Caitlin sought two promises from her mother – to never leave her alone and not to cry. While Peggy can’t help but tear up when traveling back to the days she lost her daughter, the Mattes family still holds to that second promise, never leaving Caitlin out of their thoughts and hearts.

“I know that she’s there,” said Kristin Mattes, 23, of her sister Caitlin. “Whenever I’m scared or I don’t know what to do, I think about the pain that she went through and how much she did and its just amazing.”

On Friday the Mattes’s once again set up camp alongside a community that knows all-too-well the heartbreak that cancer brings. Campsites are lined with thousands of luminaries, each representing a story just like Caitlin’s, another unextinguished glimmer of hope.

Journalism Clip #1 - Sports Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Cooley) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Tom O' Connor of Essex, Vt. built Little Fenway in 2001 to combine
his favorite baseball park and childhood activity, Whiffle Ball.
(Photos by Sean Cooley)

Essex Ballpark is Miniature in Size, but Monstrous in Spirit

By Sean Cooley
Essex Reporter Staff

Sawmill Road is not Lansdowne Street, no one sells baseball jerseys or Fenway Franks on this country dirt road in Essex. While Tom Fratto, a stringy bucket-hatted high schooler from Braintree, Mass. can buckle hitters as he pitches in a championship-clinching game, he is not Josh Beckett.

But make no mistake Essex is home to Fenway Park, albeit one-forth the size and the venue for the Travis Roy Foundation Wiffle Ball Tournament where 24 teams raised money for medical research and competed to have their name engraved on the rock of champions.

At Little Fenway, there’s a miniature green monster wall in left field, complete with a manually operated scoreboard. The right field bullpen was occupied by children working on their best fastball. The crack of maple bats may have been replaced with a hollow plastic “whoosh,” but big hits elicit reactions typically reserved for the likes of David Ortiz and “Sweet Caroline” still chimes in at intermission.

Tom O’ Connor, a software development manager at IBM, built Little Fenway in 2001 to combine his favorite baseball park and childhood pastime. “Some people don’t understand why someone would do something like this, but a lot of people think it’s the greatest thing they’ve ever seen,” he said.

Nite Feeders outfielders Curtis Esden (below) and
Joe Kendrigan collide to make a diving catch in
the semifinals of the 2008 Travis Roy Foundation
Wiffle Ball Tournament at Little Fenway.

Jack Hammers pitcher Tom Fratto blasts a
first-inning home run against the Nite Feeders.

Eric Frank unloads a pitch for the Nite Feeders.

Sunday’s rain-soaked championship game pitted the local Nite Feeders of Essex against the Jack Hammers of Braintree, Mass. in a non-stop battle of slow motion screwballs and wall-clearing 90-foot homers. Winning takes sure hands, a quick bat and a pitcher with the best “junk,” making the ball dance like a bottled bee.

With all of the elements of a fall classic in summer, Nite Feeders fielder Abe Guillen lead off the bottom of the seventh and final inning with a solo shot to cut the Jack Hammers lead to 6-5. But three outs later the boys from Braintree High School claimed victory and huddled around the pitcher’s mound, beaming with excitement.

“I never thought we’d make it this far,” said Fratto, the Jack Hammer’s pitcher who attributed the victory to his team’s chemistry.

Jack Shadduck earned the Most Valuable Player Award of the tournament not by making a diving catch or key hit, but by inspiring his teammates and raising funds in the fight against debilitating spinal cord injury. “Travis [Roy] has helped so many other people in our situation, just being able to raise some money for this wonderful foundation that gives hope to so many of us, it’s the best feeling in the world” said Shadduck.

At age 13 Shadduck was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis, neurological disorder caused by spinal cord inflammation that has cost him the use of his limbs and kept him wheelchair bound for seven years since. It was at a physical therapy program in Boston where Shadduck met Travis Roy, who fractured two vertebrae in 1995 while playing hockey for Boston University, also a quadriplegic. The relationship brought Shadduck to form a team with his brother Craig for the 2003 Wiffle Ball tournament and eventually hoist the championship trophy in 2008.

“It is so fun to watch first-timers come,” said Roy, “because they put on the biggest smile and for the duration they are here that smile is on their face.” Roy, who spends his summers in Mallets Bay, has seen the event grow in size and fundraising power, tallying $167,000 for this year’s seventh annual tournament and nearly a half-million dollars since it’s inception. “It’s the biggest fundraiser we do all year and it’s the most fun fundraiser I’ve ever been a part of” he said.

By the end of the tournament, the swamped grounds at Little Fenway and neighboring Little Wrigley bare closer resemblance to a Phish concert than a ballpark. An irrigation system is one of the next improvements that O’ Connor plans to make to his storied fields. While he regularly gives advice to other potential miniature park builders, O’ Connor next idea is to construct a golf course on his 11-acre plot. Golf fans can only hope for a par-3 version of St. Andrews or Winged Foot.

As muddied volunteers and players cleared the field, some still couldn’t get enough Wiffle Ball action. “When we lose, its disappointing for ten minutes, then we realize all the good we’ve done and the fun we’ve had” said Mario Fontana of Allston, Mass., a pitcher on semifinalist team Hot Dam “The only thing we’re bummed about is having to wait 52 weeks for it to happen again.”

This feature article appeared in the August 13, 2008 edition of The Essex Reporter in Essex, Vt.

Journalism Clip #2 - Editorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Cooley) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:19:00 +0000

Tyrant Walker, S.A. President

By Sean Cooley
Executive Editor

Student Association President Tyronne Walker has gone too far. He has barred campus media from what should be public Executive Board meetings and apparently forbidden E-Board members from talking with reporters. So much for democracy.

During a Sept. 19 meeting, told me and Jeff Morton of The Echo that E-Board meetings, where major decisions about the S.A. are made, had always been closed to the public. When asked to point to the S.A. Procedure Manual passage allowing that, Walker replied, "I know that it doesn't say anywhere in the handbook that the meetings are closed, but it doesn't say anywhere that they are open, either."

Walker's answer left me to wonder exactly what the E-Board, elected by the student body, discusses in its closed meeting. Red flags go up anytime a government body is operating behind closed doors. I asked him a few more times why E-Board meeting are closed. Walker arrived at the conclusion that "these are my damn meetings and I don't want The Defender or The Echo in my damn meetings."

In a second meeting that Monday afternoon, Walker became more vocal with Morton and me about keeping "his" E-Board meetings private. "Can you go into the ... U.S. Cabinet meeting when you want to?" he asked, using a profanity The Defender won't print. He insisted we could not and that E-Board meetings were no different.

Further claiming ownership of the E-Board, Walker has asked other members not to talk with representatives from The Echo, spurred by an Echo article about the fall concert that Walker did not want published. He said that by investigating the issue, both The Defender and The Echo were "trying to spark controversy instead of reporting facts." "This shit is lazy journalism ... trash journalism ... you make up shit," Walker said.

While Walker firmly denies that he requested the E-Board not speak with The Echo, six of the eight other members say otherwise. (Vice President Dave O' Connor and Secretary of Student Life Jon Holdsworth could not be reached.) We asked: Did Tyronne Walker tell you not to talk with The Echo or The Defender?

Greg Tobey: "Yes, he did."

Liz Steele: "Yes, we were told that nothing is allowed to leave the E-Board unless it goes through the E-Board first."

Arly Scully: "I'm going to have to say 'no comment' for right now. I'd be more comfortable talking to Tyronne first before talking to anyone. It's a touchy subject."

Michelle Kayser: "I don't know what's going on. Talk to Tyronne. I don't know what you're talking about."

Gabe Gladding: "I really can't talk right now."

Walker has abused his power. Rather than opening the lines of communication between campus government and students, he has chosen to censor anyone who might criticize the S.A. Through his words and actions, Walker has proven he treats the S.A. less like a democracy than a dictatorship. Is this really the person our student body elected as S.A. president? More important, do we want to keep him?

This editorial appeared in the Sept. 21, 2005 edition of The Defender, St. Michael's College student newspaper. Jeff Morton, co-executive editor of The Echo, contributed to this editorial.

Journalism Clip #3 - Crime Report

noreply@blogger.com (Sean Cooley) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:32:00 +0000

.
Drugs, lies and large sums of money

Convictions on drug charges have cost
two St. Michael's students in court and college

By Sean Cooley
News Editor

It was supposed to be an ordinary drug deal fro St. Michael's student John Mahoney on Jan. 26. A buyer came to his 300s townhouse just after 9 p.m. for an ounce of marijuana.

Three minutes later that same buyer was sitting in a surveillance vehicle with three police officers as part of an on-campus investigation with the Northern Vermont Drug Task Force.

This was one of four undercover investigations involving two St. Michael's seniors, Mahoney and his housemate, Stephen Pettus, last semester. Investigators bought marijuana from Mahoney four times and once from Pettus.

The buyer, an informant working undercover for the task force, emptied a plastic bag of marijuana weighing 28 grams, just under an ounce. The informant also took off a wire that had been recording the drug transaction with Mahoney the entire time. The wire recorded Mahoney's saying he owed a friend from high school $30,000 and discussing his going rate for a half pound of marijuana, $1,650. The informant also gave police a sworn statement.

Based on the investigation, Vermont State Police Detective Matthew Birmingham obtained a search warrant from Chittenden County Court to search and seize items from Mahoney and Pettus.

Search and seizure at Townhouse 334

According to Vermont State Police affidavits written by Birmingham, the search was conducted Feb. 12.

At 7:40 p.m. Birmingham, accompanied by five other police officers, knocked on the front door of Mahoney's townhouse, no. 334. After a few seconds there was no answer. Birmingham turned the handle of the unlocked door to find five St. Michael's seniors inside: Mahoney, Pettus, housemates Vladimir Kraev and Joseph Russe, and a friend, Lindsey Nickerson.

The police told all the students but Mahoney and Pettus to leave and searched their rooms. They found 3.5 pounds of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, packaging material, a money ledger in addition to $8,682 in bundles under Mahoney's mattress.

To the police station for questioning

After the search, Birmingham took Mahoney and Pettus to the Colchester Police Department, where they were taken into custody.

Pettus waived his right to remain silent and told Birmingham he had bought marijuana from Mahoney in the past. He said he began selling marijuana for Mahoney because he was tired of people coming over to their house to buy when Mahoney was gone.

Mahoney told police he'd been selling marijuana on campus for two years. He revealed his marijuana source as former St. Michael's student Michael Philbin.

Philbin, a 2002 graduate and former hockey player, has been charged with possession of marijuana and bribery in September 2000. He pleaded no contest in November 2000 to one charge of bribery and one charge of possession of marijuana.

Mahoney said Philbin would stop by his room every couple of weeks to drop off five to 10 pounds of marijuana for him. He claimed to owe Philbin about $40,000. He also told Birmingham he sold marijuana to his roommates in the past, but he was the primary seller in their townhouse.

Mahoney and Pettus were processed and ordered to appear in court March 23. Mahoney was charged with four counts of sale of marijuana and one count possession of marijuana. Pettus was charged with one count of sale of marijuana.

Trying to catch 'bigger fish'

Mahoney agreed to cooperate with Birmingham on Feb. 19 and held a recorded conversation with Philbin, his alleged marijuana supplier. In the conversation, Mahoney asked if he could pick up some more marijuana, but Philbin said he wanted some of his debt repaid first. Philbin told Mahoney he owed $70,000, but after reviewing a drug ledger found in Mahoney's room, Mahoney confirmed the amount owed was $55,000.

Philbin asked Mahoney about his Feb. 12 arrest. Mahoney denied the existence of a search warrant. According to police affidavits, Birmingham said if Philbin gained access to the affidavit of the search warrant for Mahoney, it would be "a dangerous situation" for both Mahoney and undercover police officers on the case.

Birmingham said the drug task force was continuing the investigation into others who might be distributing marijuana in Chittenden County.

He believed other potential criminals might have had information pertaining to the arrest of Mahoney. To stop such individuals, Birmingham asked the court to seal the affidavit for Mahoney's search warrant.

Suspension

Michael Samara, dean of students at St. Michael's, would not comment on the Mahoney case, but said that in similar cases "if there are quantities, large quantities of alcohol and marijuana or other drugs that we run across, we often work with local authorities, call them in and ask for their expertise." He said most of the time when police come on campus, "we're well aware of it."

The Mahoney investigation was not one of those cases.

"Normally, we don't notify anybody of an investigation, especially if it's criminal," Birmingham said of the task force. He said in the Mahoney case, the drug task force was not brought in by the college or local police. "We conduct investigations independently of everybody," he said.

St. Michael's imposed no punishment on Mahoney or Pettus until May 5, when a Vermont District Court citation ordered the students to appear in Chittenden County Court on May 17.

"Once there's some documented indication that there's been an illegal drug transaction that's gone on and we're aware of it," Samara said, "we act immediately and swiftly, and generally through the President's Office, for immediate suspension from St. Michael's."

The next day, during finals week, Mahoney and Pettus were suspended from St. Michael's. They were forced to move out of their townhouse and didn't graduate with the Class of 2004. According to an e-mail sent out to St. Michael's students and employees on May 6, it was that morning that college authorities were informed about the seniors' citations for sale and possession of marijuana.

Neither Mahoney nor Pettus returned calls seeking comment.

The gavel drops

Stephen Pettus pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana on Sept. 14. The charges were reduced from his original charge of sale of marijuana. His sentence was six to 12 months suspended, meaning he will not serve jail time, 20 days of service on a work crew and 50 hours of community service to be completed in his home state of Massachusetts.

Mahoney appeared in Chittenden Superior Court on Nov. 18. He received a deferred sentence and pleaded guilty to four amended misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana. He was convicted of one possession charge, which will remain on his permanent criminal record, and was sentenced to 90 days of work camp beginning Jan. 3. The other three charges were deferred and can be wiped from his record if he completes his probation.

Mahoney is likely to serve his jail time at Caledonia Community Work Camp in St. Johnsbury, the primary work camp used by Vermont's Department of Corrections, according to Robert Simpson, Chittenden County state's attorney.

Work camp is a correctional institution with a 50-bed, all-male dorm and is intended for nonviolent offenders. It is meant to emulate prison.

"They lock the doors ... and you can work off your time," Simpson said. "They have fences. You can't leave ... you live like you would in jail."

Mahoney will be on probation for three years, ending Nov. 17, 2007. Terms of his probation state he can't purchase, use or possess any drugs and must participate in drug screening, counseling, treatment and rehabilitation as directed by his probation officer.

The sentence for one of the original charges against Mahoney, possessing a pound or more of marijuana, was up to five years in prison and up to $100,000 in fines.

Simpson said deferred sentences and lesser penalties are commonly allotted to young offenders who have an otherwise clean record and might have made a mistake, committing a fairly serious crime. "We want to try and preserve their future for them. We want to have productive people. It makes some sense to give them a break," Simpson said.

Just credits shy of graduation

For his court sentencing, Mahoney had his blond hair slicked and parted. He wore a grey suit. The judge read off his drug charges and ruling as if he were reading from the phone book. The courtroom, no bigger that a classroom, had an empty jury booth and three rows of spectators who seemed more concerned with their own trials than listening to a college student plead his guilt to charges of possessing marijuana.

In an open statement in court, Mahoney said, "I recognize my actions were not right and realize the great chance I have been given that I can change, and I hope to use this chance to finish my college degree and finish what I started.:

Mahoney's attorney, Jeffrey Behm, said his client was suspended on the day of his last exam and was just three credits short of graduation.

Since Pettus and Mahoney have been tried in court, the college has several options: End their suspensions with reinstatement into the college, expel them or extend their suspensions.

To determine the academic fate of Mahoney and Pettus, their cases will be heard by the Judicial Review Board, unless President Marc vanderHeyden makes a decision on his own.

The Judicial Review Board consists of seven members appointed annually: three students chosen by the S.A. president, two faculty members and two administrators selected by vanderHeyden. The board would examine each student’s case individually, but as recently as Dec. 6, a decision about their future with the college had "yet to be determined," said Samara.

This news article appeared in the Dec. 8, 2004 edition of The Defender, St. Michael's College student newspaper