Threlkeld's was a life cut short, but only because this talented newsman and devoted family guy had so much life still to live. He left when he still had years of reporting ahead of him when he was in his early 60s because, well, because he could. He wanted to travel, again, to the far-flung places he went as a reporter but this time as a visitor, able to drink it all in, again.
His wife and fellow traveler, veteran ABC and CNN reporter Betsy Aarons, gave a moving tribute to her husband and ended up comforting Richard's many colleagues. So strong.
For anyone over, say, 40, Richard Threlkeld's reporting stands out. It did for me, as a young newspaper reporter with both a slight disdain and immense curiosity for how TV reporters plied their craft.
Threlkeld captivated me because he was one of the few who did it right. His writing was crisp and simple, but layered at the same time. He told the story without getting himself in the way.
Good lessons for all of us to remember.
Now, on to our 11 p.m. newscast.
We'll have the latest on the school shooting in Ohio. One student is dead, four others wounded and the suspected gunman, a student, is in custody. There was at least one report that he tweeted he would bring a gun to school today. No one apparently believed them.
And let the debates continue over gun control. Yes, if everyone were carrying guns someone could have/would have shot the gunman. That's what pro-gun peeps will say. But if guns were outlawed, maybe the kid wouldn't have been able to bring a gun on campus. That's what anti-gun peeps will argue.
Also at 11, a blistering indictment narratively not yet criminally tonight of the elevator maintenance company in that deadly elevator accident in Midtown Manhattan back in December. And advertising executive was killed seconds after she stepped into the elevator and it suddenly started moving, trapping and crushing her as two other people in the elevator looked on.
The New York City Dept. of Investigations found that "elevator safety protocols were ignored." Worse, workers with Transel Elevator, which maintains 2,500 elevator units in New York City, did not enable a safety circuit that would have prevented the door from shutting. They failed to do this moments before the office worker was killed.
We take so many things as a leap of faith including that the elevators millions of people use every day will work. It would drive us nuts if we thought of the worst-case scenario every time we went into an elevator.
So it was the trust that was violated, after of course the loss of life.
We have reaction and more on the findings, at 11.
And our investigative reporter Sarah Wallace tonight has a remarkable interview with the woman whose face and hands was mauled by her friend's chimpanzee. Remember that story?
Now, Charla Nash is talking not just about her rare face transplant, but also about her challenges for the future. And wait till you hear what Ms. Nash has discovered about what Connecticut officials knew about the Chimp – but did nothing about it.
We're also keeping close tabs on the growing tensions in Afghanistan. Security there seems to be disintegrating with more violence after the burning of Korans by a couple of U.S. soldiers last week.
Oy.
Today, Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, with his own take on foreign policy, offered that the U.S. should tell the Afghans "you're going to have to figure out how to live your own miserable life…."
Charming.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
Subscribe to my page on Facebook at facebook.com/billritter.wabc.
