REAL PEOPLE/Get Me Rewrite!
He’s Got the Scoop
How former entrepreneur John Foley went from man of leisure to muckraking reporter
UNCOVERING small-town corruption was not in my retirement plan, but I’m finding that it suits me.
I started out my working years in Minnesota and also lived in Massachusetts, New York City and Carmel, California. Early on, I’d been a writer and editor for publications about Broadway, about fashion models, about cars—lots of different things. Eventually I turned to other lines of work, mainly owning restaurants and grocery stores.
When it was time to sell our businesses and retire, my wife and I wanted a simpler life. Carmel’s covelike setting had been magical for us, but we’d had enough of Northern California’s high prices and wildfires. We looked for another town like it: a quaint, seaside, historic town with a diverse makeup and a strong sense of community. That’s how we discovered Edenton, North Carolina. In 2021, we moved there.
I’d planned to remodel our new house, maybe write a book. But before long, I got restless. When I spotted the offices of The Chowan Herald, a weekly publication in downtown Edenton, I walked in and said to the only person there, “I’m an old reporter. Are you looking for volunteers?” She said, “We don’t take volunteers.” But I left my number.
A week later, I got a call to cover a local Cub Scout breakfast. They paid me $40. And then I covered two more. The newspaper chain that owns the Herald asked me to do other stories. For The Bertie Ledger-Advance, I wrote about the Bertie County Department of Social Services being taken over by the state after the director resigned—she had been placing children in foster homes without a judge’s consent. That paper hired me full-time and asked me to also write for The Martin Enterprise in the neighboring county. For the Enterprise, I discovered that, without properly notifying the public, the county manager had given himself exorbitant raises. Those raises have been rescinded, the manager has resigned and the state is investigating.
At this point, I’m an enterprise reporter—I cover whatever I want, writing 10 to 14 stories a week. I earn a little more than a Starbucks barista, but it’s enough for me.
I was apprehensive as a Californian moving to an unfamiliar town back East, but Southern hospitality is real. Everyone in town has been incredibly welcoming and encouraging about my reporting. I feel more sure of my skills than I ever did before. I really feel like I am making a contribution.
Besides, I’m having a wonderful time. I wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to go to work. Sometimes I even wake up in the middle of the night and go to work. —As told to Andrea Atkins
Retired businessman John Foley, 72, reports on town and county boards for the Adams Publishing Group. He is working on a memoir.