I wrote this story (Mickey Thompson Was a Road Burning Man) when I worked for the LA Times View section. It's a good story, very readable, professionally done. But the editor of the View Section, John Brownell, begged off on it though. He said that since the police had not yet labeled Mike Goodwin as a "suspect" or "person of interest" we couldn't write about him without risking a libel suit. I was so stunned I didn't even protest (big mistake). Mike Goodwin fled the country for several years, living on a yacht in the Carribean. Later he was arrested on bank fraud charges and spent several years in jail. Now that he's out the police still periodically arrest him on one thing or another, hoping to prove that he was beind the Thompson killings. This is a story that should be done again, and this time with the full smegella. John Brownell has since died of AIDS and, while I hope he rests in peace, I wouldn't mind if every once on a while his conscience gives a little ping--"Damn, I wish I would have published Paul's story when I had the chance."

While this would make a great great story if one could get access to Mike Goodwin, it's never going to happen. He's laying down the horse puckythick and deep his entire life. He still steadfastly maintains his innocence. Until that changes there will be no way to get the kind of access one needs to make a story great.