Cohen's change is at once radical and
logical -- propelled by a boyhood fascination with trucks and
necessitated by a career crisis. Cohen, who is 53, was the reporter who
during the 2000 presidential campaign learned of George W. Bush's
arrest for drunken driving in Kennebunkport 24 years earlier. He told
an editor at the newspaper of his find, he said, but the paper never
published the story. When the arrest was uncovered by a Portland
television station and a barrage of news reports followed three months
later, the Portland paper's decision to ignore the story became a story
unto itself. Cohen said the Press Herald made him the scapegoat in the
matter.In March of 2004, Cohen left the paper, by his account, after
being demoted and punished for a number of alleged infractions. Press
Herald editors, including the manager editor, Eric Conrad, declined to
comment. Out of work, Cohen came up with the idea to become a trucker.
Cohen might have stayed with reporting, but for the story that slipped
away -- the scoop that top political reporters at big papers had been
searching for and unable to uncover. ''I called the police chief and
asked if he had dirt on Bush," said Cohen, whose beat at the paper
included coverage of Kennebunkport. ''He said, 'Yes, we did, in 1976
for drunk driving.' Cohen told his supervisor what he had learned. The
supervisor, Andrew Russell, he said, told him to drop the matter. ''I
left it at that," he said, much to his chagrin. The story later
exploded, and when word got out that the Portland paper had known about
but not reported Bush's drunken-driving arrest, the matter became the
talk of political and journalistic circles. 'His decision to talk about it,
he said, provoked his demotion at the paper, followed by other punitive
measures, forcing his departure. Cohen threatened a lawsuit claiming
that the newspaper had violated his First Amendment rights. Last week,
the newspaper and Cohen agreed to an out-of-court settlement. [more]