BishopAccountability.org
	One of the Most Difficult Stories I'Ve Ever Covered By Shelley Walcott TMJ4 November 20, 2011 http://www.todaystmj4.com/blogs/shellywalcott/134220643.html Thursday was a tough day for me professionally. My assignment: To do a follow up story on Joel Hochmuth, the (now former) communications director for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, who was charged with possessing and distributing child porn. The problem: Joel and I know each other. We worked side-by-side years ago at CNN, producing segments on a show called "CNN Student News". Fate led us both to Milwaukee. It also forced our paths to cross in the worst possible way. I believe child porn is one of the worst things that happens in this world. I think people who want to see a child victimized in this way is sick, and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. In the criminal complaint detailing the charges against Joel, he admitted to "struggling" with an addiction to child porn. He apparently also told police that his wife caught him looking at porn on his home computer and he ended up going into counseling. This is so different from the Joel I knew at CNN. I always knew him to be "the straight guy" ---a by-the-book type, devoted to his wife and son. Now I'm wondering if it's possible to really "know" anyone at all. As a reporter, I've always believed there are three sides to a person: The public side, the private side, and the secret side. And some people's secrets are very dark. I don't know what will happen to Joel Hochmuth. I just hope the truth to come out, and justice prevails. But mostly I hope investigators continue to track people suspected of viewing child porn and shine a burning spotlight on them. Because as long as they continue to be the audience to this kind of perversion, untold numbers of children will continue to suffer.
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