By Dan Pecchia

On Friday, July 3, shortly after the first trickle of news on the Mill Creek MetroParks water story, Vindicator reporter Pete Milliken happened to go kayaking on Lake Newport.

Shortly after putting in, he realized that the fish kill he had heard about on a recent news broadcast was far more extensive than he realized.

“I saw the massive, uncountable number of dead fish lining the lake shoreline,” he recalled.

That’s when Milliken started diving into the story himself. For the past three weeks, his coverage of the issue has reached depths rarely seen in today’s hurry-up-and-get-it-out journalism.

Milliken has been digging deep at The Vindicator since 1981.

Milliken, 63, a Cornersburg resident and Vindicator reporter since 1981, is widely known as one of the area’s most thorough news professionals. He holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from New York University and a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio State.

He recently shared some of his thoughts on the biggest news story of the summer (read it all on the Vindicator’s story on Storify).

What makes the fish kill story important to Mahoning Valley residents? 

The fish kill was a wakeup call regarding the poor water in Lake Newport and the need to remedy that problem by eliminating combined sewer overflows and controlling other runoff into the lake.

Can you identify some major decisions you’ve made in reporting on this development?

Obtaining the city’s long-term CSO elimination plan and city, county and state water testing results, the Ohio EPA’s initial pollution incident report from June 29, and e-mails among public officials concerning the fish kill and water quality test results.

Can you identify anything the park and/or city could have done better with regard to addressing the media and/or public on the fish kill?

City, county and state officials should have conducted a joint news conference and issued news releases and background fact sheets explaining the Lake Newport water quality problem and its causes in lay terms without using scientific jargon.

Why is it important for government records to be accessible to the public?

To hold public officials accountable for their action or inaction.

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Milliken has been a Mill Creek Park enthusiast for more than 30 years. He hikes and bicycles there regularly and had kayaked regularly before park officials recently suspended activity on the lakes.

His take on being the one to chronicle news of this nature reveals the way many journalists still think.

“This hasn’t been a happy story,” he said. “But maybe it will cause some good to occur soon or when I’m no longer around.”

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Media Glimpse is written by Dan Pecchia, president of Pecchia Communications and a former daily newspaper reporter and business editor.