Monthly Archives: September 2009

Book talks and signings

Posted on September 30, 2009 by hro50ta1

Sierra Club Members of the Sierra Club of Southeast Michigan will hear Detroit Free Press photographer Patricia Beck and retired Free Press reporter Joel Thurtell talk and show a video about their June 2005 canoe trip up the Rouge River … Continue reading →

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Matty’s muzzle

Posted on September 30, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell Finally, someone besides JOTR and National Public Radio is worried about billionaire Manuel “Maty” Moroun’s penchant for storing explosives under his Ambassador Bridge connecting the U.S. and Canada by way of Detroit and Windsor.   Last year, … Continue reading →

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Matty’s bomb

Posted on September 29, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell The owner of the Ambassador Bridge has filed a federal lawsuit in Detroit against the Federal Highway Administration seeking to prevent public disclosure of a 2007 safety and condition inspection report of the span, saying the report’s … Continue reading →

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Good for the goose, not the news

Posted on September 28, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell Should truckers use computers while driving our highways? The New York Times delved into that currently-hot issue in great detail on Page One of its September 28, 2009 issue and raised a bunch of disturbing questions. Truck-drivers … Continue reading →

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Rouge book talks and signings

Posted on September 27, 2009 by hro50ta1

Sierra Club Members of the Sierra Club of Southeast Michigan will hear Detroit Free Press photographer Patricia Beck and retired Free Press reporter Joel Thurtell talk and show a video about their June 2005 canoe trip up the Rouge River … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventures on the Rouge, Book signings/book events | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Hardalee Press

Posted on September 27, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell People were wondering what I was doing all summer. Notes came in from readers chiding me for letting weeks go by without a post. Living in a place with no phone or Internet can make it hard … Continue reading →

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Advice for Dan

Posted on September 26, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell I caught Ambassador bridge president Dan Stamper’s weird performance Friday, September 25, 2009 on WXYZ-TV-Channel 7. I have some advice for Dan: Prepare for these media interviews: Read joelontheroad.com. Channel 7 reporter Heather Catallo noted that bridge owner … Continue reading →

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Looking back…

Posted on September 25, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell My old friend, Francie VanderMolen of the Berrien Springs Journal Era, sent this item from the current issue of the weekly paper: 30 Years Ago September 26, 1979 Mr. and Mrs. John Gillette of Berrien Springs have … Continue reading →

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Matty: Still squattin’ on Riverside Park

Posted on September 22, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell A year ago today, I went looking for the public boat launch at Detroit’s Riverside Park and was run out of the park by a shotgun-totin’ goon employed by Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun. It soon … Continue reading →

Posted in Me & Matty | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Bullies of the newsroom

Posted on September 21, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell Normally, I don’t reply to comments people post on my blog. But now and then one of these letters-to-JOTR is just too obnoxious, too disingenuous to let pass. So it is with a reader’s response to my … Continue reading →

Posted in Arbitration, future of newspapers, Unions | Tagged , , | 2 Comments