Bob Norman, Good-Bye!

​My old buddy Bob Norman is shipping outta New Times Broward Palm Beach and heading for the TV news.

Bob has been the franchise player at that paper for years -- ably assisted by the likes of a staff that has included stars like Sam Eifling, Ed Newton, Tony Ortega, Mike Mooney, Lisa Rab, Trevor Aaronson, Ashley Harrell, Miche Ratto, and, of course, the current editors Deirdra Funcheon and Eric Barton -- among many others.

I promoted Bob to columnist more years ago than I care to remember. He kicked ass, winning a Livingston Award for Young Journalists by writing about bad immigration practices and the 9/11 bombers. Better than any journalist in America, he chronicled the decline of American newspapers in the last decade.

When it came to writing about Bernie Madoff and the gutter scum that was Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, no one did it better.

And hey, Bob nailed more Broward politicians as a New Times columnist than I can count. There were several mayors, a passel of commissioners, and a very short sheriff, just to name a few. All of those miscreants who now sit in jail... including members of a school board labeled as corrupt, can thank the Norman-meister for their fate. Or maybe we regular citizens should thank the guy.

In any case. I am gonna miss Bob. Actually, I look forward to competing with him for stories. My buddy has now become a worthy opponent.

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