EDITOR OF TIMES ARGUS IS DISMISSED

BARRE Barre-Montpelier Times Argus Editor Scott Fletcher was
discharged Monday in connection with his reporting of an article that
was published with a series on heroin use in Central Vermont.

The paper began an investigation when members of the community
questioned the Sept. 15 story involving an alleged 16-year-old heroin
addict named Dee Dee, according to Publisher R. John Mitchell. None of
the details provided by Fletcher, including name, date of birth and
arrest record, checked out, Mitchell said.

"In following up on the leads he gave us, we have found no record of
such a person," said Mitchell. "He failed to produce any evidence that
she exists."

"I regret that this happened," Mitchell added. "The readers have an
expectation of the truth when they read the Times Argus. I certainly
do. Our credibility is sacred. Not being able to prove your story is
one of the cardinal sins of journalism."

The heroin series was a project that involved several reporters,
according to Mitchell. "We believe their work to be solid. No other
part of the series is in question," he said. In an interview with The
Associated Press, Fletcher, author of the story that led off the
five-part series, said he stood by it even though he could not provide
the evidence that he said was demanded of him.

The story described an encounter with a teenager identified only as
Dee Dee in a small park in downtown Montpelier. The story suggests,
although doesn't say, that the girl was propositioning men for sex to
pay for heroin. In an interview Monday, Fletcher said the girl was a
prostitute.

"Everything that's in that story is verifiable from the notes that I
took on our interview," Fletcher said. But beyond the notes, no one
has been able to find the girl who was featured at the top of a story
detailing the rise of heroin addiction in the region.

"Just the nature of this young woman and her chosen profession makes
it practically impossible," Fletcher said.

Fletcher said he conducted interviews and determined that the park
adjacent to a church was the "hot spot" for local heroin users. "What
I was looking for was a local person who was involved with heroin," he
said. "In the course of interviewing eight, nine, 10 people, I met
this young woman."

Fletcher said he "had difficulty tracking down her last name" and
therefore was "purposely vague" in the story.

"There was no doubt that she had some heroin problems and she was in a
sort of proposition type of mode," he said. "If she can't get it,
she's a hooker and she uses that to feed her habit."

Questions arose after the story was published and Fletcher said he did
some more investigating. "I've found out subsequently her given name
was Deirdre," he said.

He said he initially thought the girl's last name was Osborne, though
he could not verify the spelling. He said he also was told that she
might have "an Irish name, McIlhenny or MacGregor."

None of the information could be confirmed, though. "I heard
anecdotally as soon as the story came out she moved on," Fletcher
said, and he concluded she's "back in Montreal."

Mitchell said the heroin series "created a dialogue in the community"
and that's what brought allegations that the 16-year-old didn't exist
to managers' attention.

The paper will begin a search to replace Fletcher, who came to the
Times Argus as city editor in 1996, and was named editor in 1999.

The Times Argus and the Rutland Herald are both owned by the Mitchell
family and John Mitchell serves as publisher of both newspapers. The
story in question did not appear in the Rutland Herald.