
"Dateline Saigon" will be followed by a Q&A with Jim Sterba and Francis Fitzgerald at Norfolk Library Nov. 8
Provided
"Dateline Saigon" will be followed by a Q&A with Jim Sterba and Francis Fitzgerald at Norfolk Library Nov. 8
In commemoration of Veterans Day, the Norfolk Library is hosting a short series of documentary films called “Covering Conflict – Journalists on the Ground”. The first film, "Dateline Saigon," will be shown on Friday, Nov. 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. with an introduction and Q&A by Mark Erder.
Directed by Thomas D. Herman and narrated by Sam Waterston, the film tells the inspiring story of a small group of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists including David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan, Malcolm Browne, Peter Arnett, and the photojournalist Horst Faas, who fought to report a truth that was vastly different from the rosy White House version during the early years of the Vietnam War.
Dateline-Saigon is Herman’s directorial debut. Previously, Herman was a co-producer of the Emmy-award winning feature film Live From Baghdad starring Michael Keaton and Helena Bonham-Carter. Before that, Herman was a freelance producer for CNN as well as a correspondent for National Public Radio.
Herman received a BA with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and continued his education at Harvard, Oxford, and Northeastern Universities.
When he’s in between films, Herman practices law in Boston. “Being a lawyer helps me pay the bills while I pursue my passion, filmmaking,” he says.
Co-producer of Dateline Saigon Bestor Cram, served as a Marine Lieutenant in Vietnam from 1968-69. What Cram witnessed stood in contrast to the official White House account.
“The White House lie that the war was going well was part of ever-increasing propaganda. Military officials believed I had become a traitor by joining the anti-war movement, both while I was in the military and after I had been honorably discharged, and for my work with VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against The War). They expressed concerns that I was abetting the enemy. I represented a fundamental challenge to their belief structure,” Cram says.
An established producer, director, and cinematographer of non-fiction films for television and museums, Cram helped Herman develop the story line for Dateline Saigon.
“Tom Herman and I worked together in shaping the narrative structure and editorial approach that shaped what the film is today. We worked on keeping the focus on the early reporting of the war as it became a foundational lens in which the press continued to reveal the ‘ground truth’. The archival material reflects the ideas and stories the journalists offered in their interviews. Although they are recollections, the eloquent capacity of each of the journalists reveals their intimate experience of bearing witness,” Cram says.
Dateline Saigon will be followed by a Q & A with Jim Sterba and Francis Fitzgerald, moderated by Mark Erder. Sterba has been a war and national correspondent for more than four decades, first for The New York Times and then for The Wall Street Journal. As a 26 year old journalist covering the war in Vietnam in 1969, he realized he was witnessing a reality greatly from the official US military narrative.
“As the newest of four New York Times reporters, I attended daily briefings and wrote the daily war story. I attributed to US and South Vietnam briefers what they told us. I also reported what dissidents in the military and elsewhere told me,” he says.
“Gradually, as I got to spend more time in the field, my skepticism grew. Nixon’s ‘Vietnamization’ program was kicking in, turning the war over to South Vietnamese units, but hundreds of US troops were dying weekly, mostly draftees,” he adds.
After two years covering the war on the ground, Sterba grew more skeptical of US foreign policy. He reflects on how press coverage affected public opinion and how that contrasts from the access journalists are granted today.
“Reporters had great freedom in Vietnam. We could go anywhere, unescorted, hitchhike on helicopters and airplanes, and were welcomed, especially by combat troops, to see for ourselves. No censorship whatsoever. The military would try to shape stories by putting out their versions, often sanitized, but that didn’t stop us. After Vietnam the Pentagon clamped down, restricting access, requiring escorts, delaying sending stories out of the war zone,” Sterba says.
Francis Fitzgerald, who is married to Sterba, received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Bancroft Prize for her first book "Fire in the Lake: the Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam" (1972).
At the age of 25, Fitzgerald went to Vietnam in 1966 and returned twice in the early 1970s. As a freelance writer, she did not have to adhere to official briefings, known as “the five o’clock follies” for their overly positive tone.
“Having read Bernard Fall, Jean Lacouture and other French writers, I began as a skeptic. Witnessing the destruction of the villages and the horrifying casualties at Vietnamese civilian hospitals, I ended up passionately anti-war,” Fitzgerald says.
"Fire in the Lake" was the first major history of Vietnam and American involvement by an American author. It explores Vietnamese history and culture and argues that the lack of understanding by the U.S. military ultimately doomed American efforts.
“I never understood why Johnson et al put such faith in the domino theory, except they seemed to know nothing about the different cultures and world-views in Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia,” Fitzgerald says.
In her book, Fitzgerald argued that American values were incompatible with Vietnam’s values, culture, agrarian economy, and long history of warfare with France and China.
Regarding the role of journalists and the resurgence of authoritarianism today, Fitzgerald says, “Journalists shape opinion as much now as in Vietnam, but the Middle East is much more difficult for them to cover. Many have died since the U.S.-Iraq war began, and some are dying now in the Gaza strip and in Lebanon. Demagogues and ‘fake news’ have always existed. The task for journalists has always been how to counter them.”
To register, go to: norfolklibrary.org/events
Board members from the Amenia Garden Club were at work on Saturday, May 10, planting a new native pollinator garden in front of the Amenia Free Library.
AMENIA — Trowels in hand, board members of the Amenia Garden Club set about planting a native garden of pollinator plants, its gift to the Amenia Free Library on Saturday, May 10, the plant choices to be an attraction for bees, insects and birds common to this area.
The new perennial garden measuring 6 feet by 12 feet replaces old rhododendron bushes and a patch of wild strawberries, adding a colorful native display throughout the growing season for all to enjoy.
Butterflies and birds will soon be seen flocking to the Amenia Library to take advantage of a newly planted native pollinator garden. The entire board of the Amenia Garden Club gathered on Saturday, May 10 to do the planting using a Homegrown National Park/Ecoplantia kit. Left to right are Ryan Bagley, Nina Peek, Michael Peek, Ken Monteiro and Paul Arcario.
A program offered through the Homegrown National Park organization, cooperating with Ecoplantia of Frederick, MD, provided 25 live plant plugs that will bloom throughout the growing season from spring to fall, attracting and nourishing pollinator species. The planting kit includes a kraft paper biodegradable template to spread over the prepared soil, showing precise placement for each plant. A bit of fertilizer and a cover of mulch completed the task.
Ken Monteiro, president of the Garden Club, provided details, describing the various plants, all native to the region and therefore of interest to pollinating insects and birds that search for these specific plant species.
Visitors to the library during summer will delight in purple coneflower attracting a variety of butterflies and later, goldfinches. Then Black-Eyed Susans will appear in summer, along with Beardtongue, irresistible to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Ornamental purple Lovegrass will also appear along the way, as will a profusion of Coreopsis and Aster.
Michael Jarvis
NORTH EAST — A Dutchess County Deputy Sheriff conducted a traffic stop on May 4 related to a minor traffic infraction that led to the arrest of a North East man on drug charges involvingquantities of fentanyl and cocaine.
Michael Jarvis, 49, of Cooper Road in the Town of North East, was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd Degree, intent to sell, a class B Felony, and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance, third degree, (weight), a class B Felony.
The arrest of Jarvis followed an investigation begun by theDutchess County District Attorney’s Office Drug Task Force after information was obtained from the community aboutalleged significant drug activity in the area of Cooper Road.
Drug Task Force Agents provided intelligence to the Dutchess Sheriff’s Office Patrol Bureau regarding a specific area on Cooper Road and requested traffic enforcement in that area and surrounding areas to identify the person or persons involved.
Deputies allegedly found Jarvis in possession of over 150 bags of fentanyl and more than an ounce of crack cocaine.Photo provided
Deputy Sheriff Dylan Merritt conducted the May 4 traffic stop of a vehicle for minor traffic infractions.While conducting an investigation, the deputy allegedly found Jarvis to be in possession of more than 150 bags of fentanyl packaged for sale as well as over an ounce of crack cocaine packaged and ready for sale.
Drug Task Force Agents responded to the scene to assist in the investigation.
Jarvis was arraigned in the Town of North East Court and remanded to the Dutchess County Jail.
If anyone has information regarding this case or about any other individuals selling drugs in Dutchess County, you are urged to contact the Drug Task Force confidential tip line at 845-463-6040 or by emailing your tips to Drugtaskforcetips@gmail.com.
Please join us for a Celebration of Life to honor Michael R. Tesoro M.D. (May 20, 1941-—Dec. 25, 2024) whose vibrant spirit touched so many. We will gather on May 17 at 11:30 a.,m. at Trinity Lime Rock to remember Michael’s life with love and laughter.
A light fare reception to immediately follow at the church’s Walker Hall.
Trinity Lime Rock, 484 Lime Rock Rd., Lakeville. In lieu of flowers please direct donations to: Malta House of Care, Inc.,136 Farmington Avenue,Hartford, CT 06105 www.maltahouseofcare.org
SHARON — Keith Raven Johnson, a long-time resident of Sharon, died on April 26, 2025, a month after his 90th birthday, at Geer Rehabilitation and Long -Term Care facility in Canaan.
He was born on March 21, 1935, in Ithaca, New York, the son of John Raven Johnson and Hope Anderson Johnson.
Keith was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Cornell University where he was editor-in-chief of the Cornell Daily Sun and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
After serving his active duty in the New York National Guard, he joined the New York Herald Tribune as a reporter in 1957. Four years later he moved to Time magazine where he served as a writer and editor in New York and as a correspondent based in Los Angeles, Washington, Paris and London, with temporary assignments in Africa, Germany, and Vietnam. He was executive editor of Money magazine and later of Discover magazine. He retired as a member of the board of editors of Fortune magazine in 1993.
Before his retirement, Keith served on the vestry at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City where he was also chair of the Choir School. He later became a member of the Lime Rock Episcopal Church.
After retirement, Keith served on the executive committee of the Lakeville Journal where he also contributed a column called “Cars” reflecting a life-long interest in performance automobiles. He also served as a trustee and treasurer of the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon and was on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. He was a member of the Cornell University Council and at one time chaired the Advisory Council of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell.
Keith is survived by his brother, Leonard Johnson, and his wife, Patricia, his son, Stephen Main, his niece, Paige Johnson Roth, his nephew, Keith Raven Johnson II, and his niece, Heide Novado Johnson. He was predeceased by his parents and his nephew, Eric Anderson Johnson.
Donations may be made in Keith’s memory to ACLU of Connecticut, 765 Asylum Avenue, Hartford CT 06015, or Keith Johnson ’52 and Leonard Johnson ’56 Scholarship Fund, Phillips Exeter Academy, 20 Main Street, Exeter NH 03833.
A celebration of Keith’s life will be held on Saturday, July 12 at 11 am at the Lime Rock Episcopal Church, followed by a reception in the parish hall.