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Jerry Davich

Jerry Davich has written thousands of stories, columns, and articles about myriad issues, people, and situations - including the last days of a woman with …Read More

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Jerry Davich: ‘Honor Flight’ movie premiering in region

Two years ago, I was privileged to attend a veterans event that gave me chills, goose bumps, and a lump in my throat, as it did for most every guest. This Tuesday evening, you will be able to experience a similar feeling, thanks to a …

Jerry Davich: We’re to blame for being a ‘fast food nation’

The fresh-faced McDonald’s drive-through worker paused to contemplate my seemingly unusual question. “Hmmm,” she thought to herself. “What’s the healthiest menu items we have?” “Well, we have wraps and salads and diet Coke,” she said proudly. I asked how popular those items are to most …

Jerry Davich: A dangerous rite of spring?

The Portage mother was still upset when she called me, claiming another high school student’s mother acted irresponsibly on prom night. “My son did wrong by drinking alcohol, but why didn’t the other mother call me when he was in no shape to drive?” asked …

Jerry Davich: ‘It’s easy for mothers to feel underappreciated’

Ivonne Anderson pulled a colorful blouse from a hanger and held it up high. “If you see anything you like, just grab it. It’s time you think just about yourself while you’re here. Happy Mother’s Day,” she told Denie Collazo, 34, of Merrillville. On Friday …

Jerry Davich: Misdeeds of Cleveland ‘hero’ grays a black and white situation

Is Charles Ramsey an accidental hero, an incidental liar, or a convicted abuser? All of the above, it seems. The no-name 43-year-old dishwasher from Cleveland is a perfect example of our society’s natural inclination to lionize an otherwise nondescript person. Ramsey also serves as a …

Jerry Davich: Underwater welding students make a splash

Dave Hass is a first-year instructor at Kankakee Valley High School so he figured he would go “all in” with his latest classroom project. All in the water, that is, introducing his vocational class students to underwater welding using the school’s swimming pool as a …

Jerry Davich: Hoarders are out of control

Jeannette Hamilton calls herself a “hoarder’s daughter.” The Lake Station woman’s mother was a hoarder of all things, including animals, a common aspect of the mental illness condition that compels people to compulsively collect items and refuse to discard them. “At one point, I could …

Jerry Davich: Merrillville aims to celebrate its diversity, not fear it

In late March, the shooting death of 14-year-old Depree Mims shook the Merrillville community and its school district. The promising Pierce Middle School student was shot in the head in his own home, allegedly by thugs during a misguided gang initiation. Soon after his death, …

Jerry Davich: Waffco’s business is towing for the big boys

Kevin Farthing parked his black tow truck at the end of a road that went nowhere, behind the Family Express, just off Indiana 249 in Portage. There, not one but two semi-trucks were stuck in sand, helpless to navigate their way out of the muck …

Jerry Davich: A different side of Gary, in three acts

The city of Gary has become stereotyped, pigeonholed and, too often, unfairly judged by its most “newsworthy” attributes — crime, poverty, and abandonment. But the tarnished steel city brims with productive, good-hearted, God-fearing people who strive for a better life, just like most everyone else …

Jerry Davich: Reminder to Little League parents: It’s for the kids

With Little League baseball back on our local fields of dreams, it’s the perfect time to remind parents of something they already know but often forget as the season progresses. It’s for the kids, not you. Wait a minute, I didn’t say that correctly. Let’s …

Jerry Davich: Did social media come of age in wake of Boston tragedy?

In the wake of the Boston Marathon attacks, city-lockdown manhunt, and hyper-intense news coverage, has social media finally come of age? Or is it still in its infancy, reflecting its owners’ knee-jerk hyperbole, fear-mongering, and gaper attitudes? “Many say that TV news came of age …

Jerry Davich: They call him ‘Mr. Piggee’

James Piggee was just a teenager when he left Gary to attend Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. His mother put him on a bus, gave him a $50 bill, and said simply, “Boy, go be something.” Fast forward several decades and the now 74-year-old retired …

Jerry Davich: ‘You’re never prepared enough for this’

Before leaving Bartholomew Funeral Home in downtown Valparaiso, I felt compelled to ask one last haunting question that had been on mind for many years. Has any customer ever asked to lie down inside a casket, to see what it would feel like? “No,” replied …

Jerry Davich: When being a quitter is a good thing

Michael Russell’s 51-year-old lungs are shot from four decades of smoking thousands of packs of cigarettes. “I started at 11,” said Russell, who lives in Calumet Township. He suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, possibly emphysema, too, his mother died of lung cancer, and his …

Anonymous comments encourage ‘verbal vandalism’

The email I recently received was scathing in anger, racial bigotry and inflammatory name-calling. Prompted by a column I wrote regarding gun rights, its spineless author signed off his lengthy diatribe with “Sincerely, Anonymous.” Obviously, the knucklehead wasn’t aware that his full name appeared in …

Davich: Soliday backs off incendiary email demands; real issue is hotel tax funds

Indiana state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, would rather have not responded to me, and Lorelei Weimer, executive director of Indiana Dunes Tourism, chose not to respond at all. But something needs to be cleared up publicly, I believe, involving Soliday, Weimer, and the lingering feud …

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