One of the stories that has haunted me for years involves a reporter who took the time to get to know a family who became victims of a terrible crime.  In the fall of 1997, Doug Holtam took a hammer to his pregnant wife as she slept.  His 7 year old daughter heard something and came into the room. He hit her three times in the head with the hammer.  He did the same to his 8 year old son who was in the stairwell.  Holtam's wife and daughter died.  But Cody survived after spending weeks in a coma.  He went to live with a maternal aunt and uncle during his rehabilitation.  Eventually he went back to school.  There kids teased him about the scars on his head.  So he asked the teacher if he could tell the class what happened.  This brave little boy stood at the front of his class and told everyone that his father had tried to kill him.  The reporter who covered the murder and the trial forged a relationship with the maternal grandmother and when the trial ended she told this story.  She used a home video of these children playing in the snow that was so heartbreaking that I have never forgotten them.  I don't know if it was because I had recently become a parent, but that is one of the stories that to this day still brings tears to my eyes.

As a producer, one of my daily challenges is to encourage reporters to tell stories with heart and humanity.  It is truly what makes a reporter great and memorable.  It is what makes any story teller memorable.  Connect to me, with words and expression and I will remember your story.