Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Crocker Stephenson never liked clowns until he met Ron Schroeder, a part-time local entertainer who goes by the name “Silly the Clown.” In a February 10 column on why clowns are often hated or even feared, Stephenson had this to say: “Ron Schroeder, I like.” It wasn’t until after the column hit newsstands that Stephenson learned that Silly the Clown has a criminal record.
Seems Stephenson didn’t do a background check on Schroeder before he profiled him as a model clown, and the bizarre story behind this story is alternately chilling, puzzling and absurdly comical.
On New Year’s Eve at Edwardo’s restaurant in Wauwatosa, a Journal Sentinel copy editor had dinner with his family, and Schroeder’s family happened to be at the next table. Schroeder made a balloon sculpture for the copy editor’s daughter and later handed him a Silly the Clown business card. Impressed by this “perfectly pleasant encounter,” the copy editor said he gave the card to Stephenson as a tip for his “Snapshots” column.
“I was more shocked than anybody when all that stuff came out,” said the copy editor, requesting anonymity to keep his family out of this mess.
Stephenson then interviewed Schroeder and used him as the only source for his column – a big no-no in journalism. “Adults who are afraid of clowns,” Schroeder suggested, “might have had an unpleasant childhood encounter with one,” Stephenson wrote.
“There is a psychology in being a clown,” Schroeder was quoted, “a list of dos and don’ts that good clowns follow.”
Right away, Stephenson started getting angry phone calls from a network of people who know Schroeder and warn potential clients of his clown business. Two callers agreed to speak to us only if we protected their identities.
“He told me he had received over 30 phone calls. I suggested he should do a little research before he writes about someone,” one caller said. Said another: “It’s like the newspaper was endorsing and promoting Silly the Clown. I was afraid somebody would hire him.”
In an interview, Stephenson admitted he didn’t do a background check on Schroeder using the state’s court system database called Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP). “He was so nice, so soft-spoken and appeared to be such a devoted family man,” says Stephenson, one of the paper’s star reporters. “There were no warning bells at all.”
Rather than admit the mistake, correct it and apologize, editors deleted the column from the newspaper’s Web site (www.jsonline.com) and Stephenson worked overtime on a follow-up column.
Senior Editor Paul Sevart, in charge of Stephenson’s column, responded to our interview request. “I’m not going to talk to you,” he said, and hung up. A far darker column on Schroe-der appeared February 18.
This time, Stephenson revealed that Schroeder is still a suspect in the 1991 homicide of his baby daughter, a former girlfriend filed two restraining orders against him and authorities twice removed children from his home due to a risk of abuse or neglect.
Some of Stephenson’s angry callers praised him for the second column. “It was appropriate. He did a very good job of just presenting the facts,” one said.
And several Journal Sentinelreporters said journalists routinely skip criminal background checks for fluffy profiles. “It’s understandable how this happened,” said a veteran reporter.
However, Stephenson’s lack of humility has many colleagues crying foul. “People can’t believe he won’t admit he made a mistake,” said one dumbstruck peer.
Was it a mistake not to do a CCAP background check? Stephenson claimed CCAP was no help even when he did try it for the second column. “Looking at CCAP, there was nothing we could write about,” he said.
Actually, CCAP raises plenty of red flags if you bother to look at the case files for Schroeder, who did not respond to our interview request.
How about Schroeder’s 1992 battery conviction and jail sentence for Macing a 9-year-old boy three times in the face and putting him in the hospital? Or his disorderly conduct conviction in 2000 for lying about his record and jail sentence? Or the restraining orders filed by his former girlfriend, Brenda -Marie Stoehr, in 2000 and 2003?
Perhaps that would have been enough to steer him away from writing about Schroeder in the first place.
Making no apologies, Stephenson instead boasted about his follow-up. “To be honest, I’ve never done a more thorough job of reporting,” he said.
Told that some co-workers believe he embarrassed himself and the newspaper, he responded: “No, not at all. I would think those reporters either aren’t very experienced or are too easily embarrassed by their co-workers’ foibles.”
Answered a prominent reporter: “I’m a 20-year veteran and I think it’s a major embarrassment.”
