Richard Gootee

www.twitter.com/richard_gootee

10 Years Experience

Professional Experience

A former newspaper reporter, I relocated to the West Lafayette area in the summer of 2017 and am within walking distance of Purdue University. I cut my teeth as a breaking news and crime reporter but am ready for any project you have. Some of my best work has been about the current heroin epidemic, and I would love to continue to have a platform to help educate the public on addiction and other mental health issues. I also have experience covering the state Legislature and would relish the chance to be a reporter during the Republican Indiana Senate primary, which will undoubtedly get nationwide attention. Since leaving my newspaper job, I have also started editing/ghostwriting a book, and my client is very happy with my work so far. I am also a reluctant runner who loves food and sports. Passionate about causes involving children and mental health. Wouldn't turn down a Purdue, Chicago or Indianapolis sports story. Very familiar with Southwestern Indiana and the Indianapolis and Louisville, Ky.,

Expertise

Reporter 10 YearsSocial Media 5 YearsEditor 3 Years

Specialty

Crime 5 YearsHealth 4 YearsSports & Recreation

Industries

Newspaper - Local/Regional 7 Years

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Ike Newton LLC (3-5)

Other Work History

Staff reporter at the Evansville Courier & Press for seven years (2010-2017), Pulliam Fellow at the Indianapolis Star in 2010, Currently editing/ghostwriting a 50,000 autobiography

Computer Skills

Social media marketing (mainly Facebook, Twitter), Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Office.

Equipment

Laptop computer. iPhone, digital camera.

References

Available upon request

General

He used to be a meth addict; now he runs a treatment center

(Evansville Courier & Press 4/7/2017)

As part of my continuing coverage of the opioid epidemic, I sat down with a man who opened a recovery clinic in the spring of 2017. Nate Boyett is a recovery addict himself. We talked about the stigma of addiction, his own struggles and how, unlike some addicts, he never stopped having the support of his family.

Teen murder suspect released from juvenile facility weeks before 2015 shooting

(Evansville Courier & Press 7/2/2016)

This was a piece on one of Evansville's youngest accused murderers and his past. I spent months looking into the history of Carltez Taylor after seeing him in the booking records for a new felony case. I also tried to tie his background into the answer of why Evansville was seeing more gun violence among its black youths.

Family, community fuel injured firefighter's recovery

(Evansville Courier & Press 1/13/2017)

This is the recovery story of Beth Csukas. I spent an afternoon with Beth and her family close to the one-year anniversary of her car crash on some slick ice on Interstate 69. Beth, a city of Evansville firefighter, was not supposed to ever walk again, if she survived the crash at all. She obviously was not going to let that happen. Her story was dear to me because days after the crash I had spent time with her firefighter brothers, and they were convinced that she was either going to die or be brain-dead and let me tell their stories. I also went after the Indiana Department of Transportation after the crash because the slide-off happened in what was called a "low salt" zone. Officials, at first, were unclear what such a designation was until I published stories telling readers that they did not have a good answer to what those zones were.

Monday is the first Leap Day since 2012 Illinois tornado

(Evansville Courier & Press 2/29/2016)

On Leap Day morning of 2012, a powerful tornado tore through the Southern Illinois city of Harrisburg. This was my first large-scale disaster as a reporter. I spent every day for about a week there and then would periodically visit. Here is one of two stories I wrote on the next Leap Day -- four years later.

King: Monday night's golden win was 'for Mel'

(Evansville Courier & Press 8/9/2016)

To show that I didn't just write about heavy stuff, here is my piece I did on gold medal winner, Lilly King. King, if you remember, was the darling of the 2016 Summer Games, because of her finger wag and subsequent performance. Well, she is also from Evansville so we were all about her for weeks. I saw that her website on her Twitter account was (and still is) a website dedicated to high school classmate, Melanie Richmond. So, with the help of Mel's mother, I told Richmond's story.