Chapter 164 Section 13

In the same year, Mike Peterson was hired to chair the current affairs column of the Herald Sun.This "well-known writer" can be described as a "bold man of high skill", daring to attack everything he is not used to, from the public schools in Durham City, to the police station, to the Attorney General's Office, to the city government, etc. , none can escape his sharp pen.He criticized the school's administrative stipends for non-teaching staff as "tax abuse", saying "Now that I know where my tax dollars are being spent, I also know where my votes should go".He called the 13 members of the city government the "Thirteen Dwarfs" and said "Floy McKisek was the best of them all, and the best idea he could come up with was nothing more than growing some flowers." and shrubs to make our city look nicer. Oh, help!" in another comment saying "Our tax dollars are not wasted, they are stolen".

Durham police station was one of the most attacked.In his op-ed, Mike Peterson accused the police of not being able to control the drug problem and the frequent shootings in Durham, blaming the police for the low detection rate of only 5%, "a criminal is more likely to be caught by the police than a The odds of someone being struck by lightning are not much higher” and called for the resignation of Durham Police Chief Teresa Chambers by name: “As I’ve said repeatedly in this column—stupid It’s just stupid, and mistakes are mistakes. Whoever it is, he or she must get out!” Commissioner Chambers did not show weakness, she listed a series of statistical data, and hit back tit-for-tat, among other things, the Durham police The homicide detection rate in China is as high as 47%. "Should Mr. Peterson blush for his false report?"

In October 1998, Mayor Nick Tennyson suggested in an article published in the newspaper that October 23 of that year, Mike's 55th birthday, be named "Mike Peterson Day". I urge all citizens ... to thank Mr. Peterson for writing just one column a week, not more." On August 5, 1999, Mike Peterson paid a total of US$156.70 in registration fees and handling fees to the relevant departments, and became one of the five candidates for Mayor of Durham City that year. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, Mike Peterson no longer serves as a columnist for the "Herald Sun", he no longer writes, and no longer does anything else. He went all out to attract sponsorship, votes, and publicize his political platform and campaign objectives in various communities across the city.But Mr Peterson made two mistakes.One is on the cover of the brochure sent to voters, Mike put a photo of their family of seven, and the text below said: "I love Durhan, this is my home for 38 years, and it is also my home. The place where our children grew up.” This move was originally intended to connect with voters, but reporters soon discovered that the words were not true.However, this is not too serious.

The second is that Mike Peterson said that he had won two "Purple Hearts" in the Vietnam War, one of which was because his radio operator stepped on a landmine, and the flying shrapnel injured his leg.More serious reporters, after making inquiries all over the world, first reported in the newspaper that Mike's leg injury was caused by a car accident, and that it happened in Japan and had nothing to do with the Vietnam War.Then they launched an attack in public, saying that there was no record of Mr. Peterson being awarded the Purple Heart.Mike Peterson had to admit that none of this was true. At the end, he deliberately said humorously: "It seems that I have to go home and tell my wife the truth." There are people who are entangled with him about the "Purple Heart Medal".

As a result, in the October primary election, Mike Peterson only received 27% of the vote, ranking third, and was considered eliminated.The top two candidates went on to the formal ballot in November, where incumbent Mayor Nick Tennyson was re-elected. For more than a year since then, Mike Peterson has been in a bad mood.He is still the same as before, almost always sitting in front of the computer in the study, but rarely writes, and loses his temper at home from time to time—to his wife, to his children, to his dog.Soon, all three daughters were in college, and it was often just him and Catherine left in the family.Mike Peterson went quiet for a while, and came out again on July 31, 2001.This time, he ran for a seat in city government, but lost again in the November 6 ballot.

In order to cheer Mike up again, Catherine went to Florida with her husband during the four-day Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November. Sure enough, Mike seemed to be in a much better mood after returning. On Wednesday, December 5, Mike Peterson sent an e-mail to Catherine's office saying that Durham's Independent Weekly was having a party on Friday night, and while he hadn't received an invitation, if Catherine If Lin wants to go, he will definitely find a way. On Friday, December 7th, Catherine took a day off.That morning, the couple went to several stores to stock up on Christmas presents for the children.In the afternoon, a Christmas tree was erected in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room at home.Earlier in the evening, Mike Peterson's agent called to say that finally a director in Hollywood had taken an interest in one of Mike's novels and had agreed to "talk about it."For several years, the agent has been trying to help Mike break into Hollywood and bring his story to the silver screen.

The couple then joined the Independent Weekly party and played until 1am. On Saturday, December 8, Catherine went to work.She will go on a business trip to the Northern Telecom headquarters in Toronto, Canada on the morning of Monday, December 10th, and there are a lot of preparations to be done.Catherine left the office at 4pm and made a long distance call to her sister-in-law Cynthia Hunt on her mobile phone on the way home. Also at 4pm, Mike Peterson, as usual, headed out to work out at the nearby YMCA.When she called home at 6 p.m., Catherine complained that Mike wasn't there every time she got home from get off work.In the past, it was okay to have children, but now it is strange to be alone in such a large and empty house.Mike immediately comforted his wife, saying that he had already made up his mind, and that he would not go anywhere tonight, and the two of them would just stay at home and celebrate the good news from Hollywood.And offered to say that he would rent a videotape of the movie on the way home, very romantic.