Colin Flaherty

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Colin Flaherty
220px-Colinwdel.jpg
Colin Flaherty at WDEL
Born Colin Patrick Flaherty
(1955-06-25)June 25, 1955
Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Occupation Author, commentator, owner of Flaherty Communications
Website www.colinflaherty.com

Colin Patrick Flaherty (June 25, 1955 – January 11, 2022) was an American writer, talk show host and business owner. His by-line appeared in dozens of languages around the world, and he was a guest on numerous local and national TV and radio programs on NPR, ABC, CBS, Fox and other networks, and in Bloomberg BusinessWeek after he submitted a business tip to "Today's Tip".[1]

He is best known for doing a story for the San Diego Reader that secured the release of Kelvin Wiley after showing that he was unjustly convicted for assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Flaherty was the owner of Flaherty Communications, a public relations, marketing communications and online advertising company. He resided in San Diego, California and Wilmington, Delaware. He had two children, but was single at the time of his death.

Early life

Colin Flaherty was born in Wilmington, Delaware, where he attended grade school at Christ Our King. In 1967, his brother Kevin was Killed in Action in Vietnam.

While attending Salesianum School for Boys, he was recognized with Letter of Commendation in the National Merit Scholarship Program. He also served as president of his parish, then diocesan Catholic Youth Organization.

In the summer of 1972, he was arrested while protesting the re-nomination of Richard Nixon as President of the United States. The picture of his arrest appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and on the inside of Hunter Thompson’s book on the 1972 campaign. In 1996, he wrote about his two days in jail with poet Alan Ginsburg, and subsequent conversion to the Republican Party, for San Diego Magazine.

He attended the University of Delaware in 1974, and was elected to be the Student Representative to the Faculty Senate. He left the University to join the James E. Strates Shows, a carnival that traveled to state and country fairs up and down the Eastern seaboard of the United States.

After living and working in the Florida Keys for two years, he traveled around the country on a motorcycle for six months, landing back in Wilmington in the Fall of 1976. Three months later, he hitchhiked to California, arriving Thanksgiving Day.

Books

In 2011, Flaherty published Redwood to Deadwood: A 53-year Old Dude Hitchhikes Around America Again. He wrote the book after remembering that lots of people used to hitchhike, but few do now. "Before I tucked my thumb in for the final time, I’d almost get murdered, run with wild horses, visit a pot plantation, get into crazy family feuds with my own and other families, restart my business, ride in cop cars, hunt big game, poach big game, get chased by a helicopter, reconnect with old friends, make new ones, get tired and exhilarated and lost and found and scorned and accepted, kicked out and invited in. That and a lot more. I now know how to cook muskrat, squirrel and rochchuks."

In June 2011, he won First Place in the Washington Post Spy Novel Writer's Contest. The contest was judged by Washington Post editor and best selling author David Ignatius, who said Flaherty's work was his "strong favorite," and it "advances the story and twists it in a new and interesting direction, very deftly."[2] His winning entry was the subject of a radio show on WDEL,[3] a small radio station in Wilmington, Delaware.

In 2012, Flaherty published White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It, regarding race and crime. It was met with critical acclaim by Thomas Sowell and John Derbyshire; however, it was criticized by, in the words of Flaherty's supporters, media apologists for Black on White violence.[4]

In 2014, Flaherty published Knockout game a Lie?: Awww, Hell No!, disputing the mainstream media's claims that the knockout game is a lie or a myth.

In 2015, Flaherty published Don't Make the Black Kids Angry: The hoax of black victimization and those who enable it about how "the traditional excuses -- jobs, poverty, schooling, whatever -- for black crime and mayhem were not working any longer" and new excuses were needed.

Business and professional career

Colin Flaherty and his brother Kevin

Colin Flaherty attended the University of California, San Diego, where he was awarded the Regents Scholarship, "the most distinguished recognition the Board of Regents can offer a student." After attending school and working on a number of political campaigns, Flaherty was hired to be a council representative to San Diego City Councilman Uvaldo Martinez in 1982.[5]

Four years later, he was hired to cover city hall for the San Diego Business Journal.[6] After less than one year on the job, the San Diego Press Club named Flaherty their top political reporter and the Best of Show.[7] He also covered San Diego for United Press International, the San Diego Reader and San Diego Magazine. He was a frequent guest and guest host on local TV and radio shows.

Over the next ten years, he would win more than 50 journalism awards. In 1992, he was recognized for writing a story that resulted in the release of Kelvin Wiley from state prison because he showed Wiley was unjustly convicted. The story was also the subject of a feature on Court TV.[8]

He also represented heavyweight boxing champ Evander Holyfield when someone stole the champ's boxing shorts after his successful bout with Larry Holmes. Holyfield considered the shorts his lucky charm.

He started Flaherty Communications in 1992, where he represented some of the biggest companies in San Diego during difficult public relations battles, especially regarding land use.

He occasionally taught a class at the University of California on Interviewing and Researching techniques for journalists. He was also a guest lecturer at San Diego State University and Point Loma Nazarene College.

He commuted between California and the East Coast, where he was a frequent co-host of a talk radio show on WDEL in Wilmington, Delaware. Archives of his show can be found at WeBuildTheSun.com.

Colin Flaherty died of cancer on January 11, 2022. He was 66 years old.[9]

YouTube Video Channel

Fhaherty also had a large number of videos on YouTube that dealt with many of the same subjects in his books. They are still available on other video-sharing websites.[10]

Bibliography

Books

Articles

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/tips/archives/2011/04/draw_more_attention_to_your_business.html
  2. ↑ "Summer Spy Serial". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/conversations/summer-spy-serial/sweets-for-the-sweet.html.
  3. ↑ http://webuildthesun.com/Welcome_to_the_Podcasts/Entries/2011/6/24_WDEL_62411_Contest_win.html
  4. ↑ http://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/white-girl-bleed-a-lot/
  5. ↑ Jones, Lanie (1985-05-25). "Growth-Limiting Initiative Gains Steam for Fall Ballot". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1985-05-25/local/me-15504_1.
  6. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AColin%20Flaherty&field-author=Colin%20Flaherty
  7. ↑ Romney, Lee (1992-10-02). "Times Takes 3 First-Place Prizes in Press Club Awards". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1992-10-02/local/me-273_1_times-reporter.
  8. ↑ http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/media/San-Diego-Magazine/October-1995/Who-Are-We-AND-WHERE-ARE-WE-GOING/
  9. ↑ https://www.dohertyfh.com/obituary/Colin-Flaherty
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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