Reporter
I’ve done this job for 25 years and what keeps it fresh and interesting is the different people I meet during the course each day. I love to tell people’s stories. Every complex news item can be boiled down into simple to understand journalism by just telling the story through the eyes of the people who are living it.
I’ve watched people shoot deer from the back porch of their homes in West Virginia. I’ve interviewed everyone from the late conservative Senator from North Carolina Jesse Helms to Portland Mayor Sam Adams and I’ve found something to enjoy about all of them.
I’m a native Portlander. I grew up in Southwest Portland attended Riverdale Elementary School, Lake Oswego High School and then majored in Journalism at the University of Oregon.
After graduation from college in 1987, I took my first job reporting and anchoring at a very small television station in Eureka, California. The television station was housed in a building that was formerly an athletic facility. From Eureka, I took on anchoring and reporting jobs in Kennewick, Washington — Eugene, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Indianapolis.
I returned to Portland in 2004 to work for KOIN 6. I’m married and have three kids. My dog, Marti, is old but still kicking. Our cat is named Jessup — adopted from NE MLK & NE Jessup hence his name.
My mom and dad and my extended Harlan and Olson families all live in the Portland area. My great, great grandfather Thomas Harlan and later my great grandfather Newell Harlan were instrumental in starting newspapers in Vancouver, Skamania County and Medford around 1900. I owe all of them a great deal of gratitude and I’m thankful for it every day.
