Seems a few journalists as of late have been getting into trouble due to overblown tales from the past, so in the name of full disclosure I want to clear the air on a few things.

I’ve been on a couple of helicopter rides, but not during wartime as an embedded correspondent.

I’ve been up in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office helicopter twice. We were never shot at, but my oldest son, Josh, was with me the second time and he got airsick and threw up in my camera bag.

I did fly to the Four Peaks amethyst mine courtesy of Steph over at Sami Fine Jewelry, but I didn’t walk away with any crown jewels. It was still a cool trip.

I’ve never covered a hurricane live as it blew through Fountain Hills at 100 mph – though we have had remnants of one here – but I’ve snapped plenty of photos during and after monsoon storms. And wildfires. Snow on the mountains. Flooded washes. House fires. Vehicle accidents. Plenty of other stuff.

I’ve been to the White House, but I’ve never met a POTUS. I’ve certainly read enough letters to the editor the past 30 years about sitting and previous U.S. presidents, but I’ve never made up any quotes from those commanders-in-chief.

I’ve never covered a war in the Falkland Islands, but I have been to Jamaica on vacation. I’ve never rescued an injured photographer during combat, but I have suffered a few cuts and bruises while trying to get good pictures. I persevered up Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica while holding a 35 mm camera and not dropping it into the cascading stream.

I’ve never covered a war, but there has certainly been plenty of in-fighting I’ve covered over the decades between developers, environmentalists, Town Councils, Road Districts, Sanitary District, Committee of Architecture, property owners, neighbors, HOAs and the like.

I didn’t invent the Internet, but it definitely has changed the way we do things at the newspaper these days.

I haven’t been accosted by anyone with a gun while selling Christmas wreaths or firewood, but I remember one time back in college a really drunk guy smashed part of a cocktail glass on the sidewalk and threatened some of us with the jagged piece still clutched in his hand. Not sure what the fuss was all about, but my jugular wasn’t severed and I haven’t yet needed a flak jacket to cover the “news” in Fountain Hills.

I don’t have a Ph.D., but I do have a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Had a triple major, too, but journalism wasn’t one of them. I didn’t have a perfect 4.0 GPA.

I wrestled and played football in high school, but I’ve never been to the Olympics. Only watched them on TV.

I was on the town’s first Parks and Recreation Commission, but I did not single-handedly construct Golden Eagle Park. I was part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony, however.

I had a criminal background report done on me for Kiwanis. It indicates I have a misdemeanor on my record – barking dogs.

Those are all the disclosures I have this week for my exciting life and career. I know someone – somewhere – is looking into all this stuff in an attempt to discredit me, but I wanted to be proactive and get it all out there first.