Chapter 2/Courts of last resort

Dear Mr. Loyd:

Thanks to you we got action. It's nice to know that we have someone like you to turn to, when nobody else will listen.

Jacob Schlothauer
Two Rivers, WI

Reporters like me are often the courts of last resort for desperate people such as Corrine Kaczmarek and consumers who have been wronged.

During my 40-year career, I've had the honor of helping thousands of people and telling their fascinating stories via TV, radio, magazines, newspapers and speeches.

Along with the satisfaction that comes with this kind of reporting has been concern about people like Rickman retaliating in some manner.

A Northeast Wisconsin man who allegedly stole dogs to sell to research labs threatened me with a gun when I confronted him with a news camera. He pointed his rifle directly at me and held it there. He didn't pull the trigger but I died a thousand deaths anyway. On another occasion, he hit and bloodied a news photographer.

I was physically assaulted twice. The first time by two bearded and bare-chested brothers in Wisconsin who were allegedly mistreating migrant farm workers. They ripped the microphone out of my hand and wrestled me to the ground.

More recently, I was assaulted by a coat-and-tie conman holding a get-rich-quick meeting in a Madison, Wisconsin hotel. He objected to me standing outside and warning people.

I have been unsuccessfully sued six times for more than 14 million dollars!

Among the many lawyers who have disagreed with my stories:

F. Lee Bailey
Melvin Belli
Leonard Garment (advisor to President Nixon)
Former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson who plays the district attorney on the Law and Order TV show