Email: robertg@patch.com
Phone: 978-473-0112 Hometown: Amherst, N.H. Current Residence: Beverly Birthday: Dec. 13 Bio(professional highlights, marital status, hobbies, etc) A career newspaperman who helped start his college's first online-only "newspaper" in the late 1990s, his career has come back around again to be involved in an operation that has quickly become a standard-bearer in the delivery of online-only news. Before Patch, Bobby was at the Community Newspaper Co. in Beverly, Mass., where he wrote for the Beverly Citizen and was later the editor of the North Andover Citizen. Before that, he was a writer and reporter at the Bennington Banner in Bennington, Vt. and the Keene Sentinel in Keene, N.H. A college internship also involved a summer at WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H. But Bobby is more than a writer. His life experiences have included summer camp leader and program director, taxi driver, emergency dispatcher, volunteer firefighter, antiques dealer, SAT test proctor and beer sample distributor. Robert took on the nickname Bobby from as young as he can remember and when he first began writing used it as his byline and never changed it. While many people call him Bobby, he also goes by Bob but doesn't like Rob and always tells people that "Robert is what my dad called me as a kid when I misbehaved." After growing in a delightful town in southern New Hampshire and attending college in northern Vermont, Bobby settled down in 2003 on the North Shore of Massachusetts. In addition to his work at Patch, Bobby enjoys alpine skiing, which was practically the first sport he knew as a child and remains a very important part of his life. He's also a Boston sports fan - especially the Red Sox - but also enjoys less popular spectator sports such as horse racing, English Premier League soccer and all forms of car racing, although he doesn't consider himself an expert in any of those sports. Your Beliefs At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know. Politics How would you describe your political beliefs? Are you registered with a certain party? I'm not (currently) registered with any political party and stay away from any act of political activity beyond voting and debating politics with family member and close friends. Religion How religious would you consider yourself? (casual, observant, devout, non religious) I was not raised as a religious person. My children are being raised Catholic, my wife's religion, which was an important part of her family and her upbringing. Local Hot-Button Issues What do you think are the most important issues facing the community? Where do you stand on each of these issues? The number one issue facing the two towns is the school budget and how much money is being spent of education to have excellent schools balanced with what every property owner can pay in taxes. On top of that, add the operational audit that is about to begin and concern that maybe taxpayers aren't getting the best bang for their buck.