In-depth reporting

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 4:46 am

A Maryville man spent his 23rd birthday in custody after police said they found him early Sunday running nude from the John Sevier pool snack bar with a box of stolen snacks.Authorities said the man had apparently scaled an 8-foot tall fence while naked and covered in nacho cheese and was seen running toward a Jeep in which officers found clothing and an open bottle of vodka.According to Maryville police, Michael P. Monn, born July 18, 1981, of McCall Road, Maryville, was arrested by officer Scott Spicer at 5 a.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the pool at John Sevier School, Sequoyah Avenue. Monn was charged with burglary, theft of property less than $500, vandalism less than $500 and public intoxication. He was also cited with indecent exposure. Monn was held at the Blount County Jail in lieu of $9,300 bond pending a 9 a.m. Aug. 3 General Sessions Court hearing.Spicer reported at 3:38 a.m. Sunday he saw a Jeep CJ-7 in the parking lot of the pool and saw an open bottle of vodka in the console along with various articles of clothing. Minutes later, a nude man carrying a cardboard box ran toward the Jeep before Spicer stopped him and found the box filled with Frito Lay snacks and a container of nacho cheese.``In addition, the male had nacho cheese in his hair, on his face and on his shoulders,'' Spicer reported. ``The nude male had a strong odor of alcohol and was semi-incoherent.''An official with Maryville Alcoa Blount County Parks and Recreation was called to the scene and together with police, they searched the facility. They found someone had climbed an 8 foot fence, broke into the snack bar through a window, ransacked the facility, left the freezer door open and caused $100 damage by ripping the water heater from the wall, according to a report.Authorities reported someone also defecated in a garbage can, threw nacho cheese on the exterior wall of the snack bar and scattered chips on the ground outside the facility. About $40 in chips and $7 in nacho cheese were stolen from the snack bar, police said. (The Daily Times of Maryville, Tenn.)***Tomorrow: Friends and neighbors comment.***[ July 22, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]

KfitzR · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 9:16 am

Inexcusable that there is no description of the various articles of clothing found in the vehicle. I'll lie awake nights wondering about that, I will.

majorbabs · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 11:39 am

And STILL we don't know the color and year of the Jeep. Perhaps that's yet to come; interviews with car dealers who might have sold the Jeep. Followed by the report of the guy who stocks the snack bar, relating what kind of nacho cheese it was.This could be better than Donald Trump's reality show.

Gatekeeper · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 12:49 pm

What about the weather? What was the weather like during this horrible, horrible incident?Gatekeeper-30-

majorbabs · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:16 pm

Perhaps, in the reporter's defense, he was told by the design desk to "pad it, we need eight more inches." But I wish he hadn't.

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 1:45 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by majorbabs:
Perhaps, in the reporter's defense, he was told by the design desk to "pad it, we need eight more inches." But I wish he hadn't.<hr></blockquote>I learned that lesson in j-school:Before i joined the school paper i'd occasionally report a story as a favor to the editors.I covered a tennis match and wrote 12 inches. The sports editor called, frantic, to say the story needed to be padded. I wrote 8 more inches, detailing the effect of the sun and wind's effects, the condition of the deteriorating courts, and tossing in weak quotes.Not enough, i was told.
That's all i have, i said, and left.
Story ended up 40 inches long -- a huge gray blight upon the section front.I submitted the 12-inch version for a class assignment. The instructor was the paper's adviser. He rubbed the extra 28 inches in the faces of the sports editor and his assistant. Some journalism instructors know their stuff.

Gatekeeper · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:11 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by majorbabs:
Perhaps, in the reporter's defense, he was told by the design desk to "pad it, we need eight more inches." But I wish he hadn't.<hr></blockquote>True. I've heard our sports editor sometimes ask for an extra three to four inches, but nothing like the 12-inch story being bloated to a 40-inch monstrosity as recounted above.Gatekeeper-30-

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Thu Jul 22, 2004 10:05 pm

It always seems to me sharing the fact that the offender was Michael P. Monn, born July 18, 1981 is somehat unnecessary. This isn't first degree murder, it's just a youthful exploit that seemed like a good idea at the time
I don't object so much if a paper names evryome who goes through court, as the evening daily in the city I grew up in used to do. But it seems unfair when we single people out because it's weird and wacky.
Public interest to me is a matter of civics rather than just what the public is interested in.

redpenman · **Joined:** Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:01 am **Posts:** 65

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
[i]"... ransacked the facility, left the freezer door open and caused $100 damage ..."
[ July 22, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]<hr></blockquote>Left the freezer door open? That bastard![ July 23, 2004: Message edited by: redpenman ]

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:03 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by redpenman:
Left the freezer door open? That bastard!
[ July 23, 2004: Message edited by: redpenman ]<hr></blockquote>The reporter was also remiss in not telling us the value of the food lost to spoilage or whether the freezer had an EnergyStar label. Oh, and what color was it?

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