Word: troy
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...Troy is indeed a rare man among Oklahoma journalists. He has scourged major state industries-oil, gas and insurance-for gaining influence through blatant lobbying. He has exposed corruption and conflicts of interest in state and local governments and relentlessly crusaded against inadequacies in state mental health programs and prisons...
...methods are not subtle. Troy hurls epithets like "moron," "featherbrain" and "cream puff" at his targets. A recent Troy article on graft in the awarding of state building contracts reeks with outrage: "Spending a weekend reading the transcript from the Oklahoma County grand jury is like being trapped in a sewer for two days. Pustules of corruption sear your senses and you search in vain for some escape from the smothering putrefaction...
Tangible Results. Troy's strength as a muckraker rests not in his prose but in his grasp of Oklahoma affairs and his vigor in finding new facts. He talks easily on such matters as the concentration of private wealth in the hands of relatively few Oklahomans and the amount of state tax paid by oil companies in 1973. While doing legwork in the state capital, Troy is a one-man information clearinghouse. He gets tips from other newsmen whose papers are cool to exposes. Legislators and their aides regularly quiz him on state issues...
...Troy's expertise has given his paper an impact well beyond its meager circulation (all but nine of Oklahoma's 149 legislators are paid subscribers; Troy sends the holdouts complimentary copies). Some of his crusades have brought tangible results. His story on the "shame of Oklahoma" prompted Governor Hall to end a barbarous solitary-confinement system at the Oklahoma state penitentiary. His demands for tax reform finally helped to produce legislation that included the state's first income tax on dividends paid by Oklahoma-based corporations. At the bill-signing ceremony, Governor Hall handed Troy...
...eleven children, Troy, 40 (whose real first name is Forrest), grew up in the poor, populist-leaning "Little Dixie" section of southeastern Oklahoma. He dropped out of college to become a newsman. After 17 years of experience, including two stints as the Tulsa Tribune's Washington bureau chief, Troy quit in 1970 and bought the Observer from a priest, who had earlier taken it over from its founder, the Oklahoma City Roman Catholic diocese. Troy readily paid the asking price of $1 for the money-losing enterprise...