Behind the Headlines

By Charles Slat
Part of the national press corps following the Obama campaign is Monroe native and my old pal, Don Gonyea, 52, the White House correspondent for National Public Radio.
A 1974 graduate of St. Mary Catholic Central, Don and I used to cover the Monroe County Board of Commissioners together back in the late 1970s when he worked for the local radio station and I worked for, well, the local newspaper.
Don subsequently went to work for WDET, public radio in Detroit and later Michigan Public Radio before joining NPR.
Don said he believed that this was his first return to Monroe “on business” since joining NPR.
He arranged with the Obama campaign staff to make sure some of his Monroe family members could attend the rally at the Monroe campaign stop.
Samantha Tubman, an Obama staffer, accommodated and Don took the opportunity to introduce her to his relatives at the rally. They included Dan and Linda Staelgraeve and their son, Michael, and Greg and Mary Ann Applin.
It was Ms. Tubman who, when the press corps buses pulled up at the Plumbers & Pipe Fitters hall on Detroit Ave., told the reporters that they were in Monroe, Mich., the hometown of NPR’s Don Gonyea.
The bus erupted in a cheer, Mr. Gonyea reported.