A small-town paper takes on the county sheriff. The sheriff told staffers that anyone who spoke to the Gazette would be fired.
It is a long, complicated, and interesting story of a small town newspaper busting political corruption. Briefly, here is one of the methods used...
Two of the three commissioners—Robert Beck and Mark Jennings, the chairman—were present, along with the board’s executive assistant, Heather Carter. As they neared the end of the listed agenda, Bruce slipped a recording device disguised as a pen into a cup holder at the center of the conference table. “Right in front of ’em,” he bragged. He left, circling the block for the next several hours as he waited for the commissioners to clear out. When they did, he went back inside, pretended to review some old paperwork, and retrieved the recording device.
That night, after Gwen went to bed, Bruce listened to the audio, which went on for three hours and thirty-seven minutes. He heard other county officials enter the room, one by one—“Like, ‘Now is your time to see the king.’ ”
Maybe he got the pen in cup idea from here. Or, maybe this is an intuitively obvious spy trick. Would it have fooled you? more
