Man with Fox 2 Tattoo Says Dumping Not an FHC Issue

Man with Fox 2 Tattoo Says Dumping Not an FHC Issue
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Oct. 3, 2015)
Graham Emerson is no stranger to being on the news. In fact, he loves FOX 2 so much that he has their logo tattooed on his arm. “I’ve been on a few times. My friends really get a kick out of it,” he said. “I told them if they did any more stories about me I would get their name tattooed on my arm, so that’s what I did.”
The “grizzled Detroiter,” as reporter Randy Wimbley described him, appeared in an Oct.3 broadcast where he blasted the Ferndale Housing Commission for not retrieving documents that he found dumped in and around his garage in the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit.
Emerson found several garbage bags on Sept. 18, and opened them to find clues of the origin. He found mail with a woman’s address and went to her home himself to track her down. “I figured maybe she is dead or got evicted and someone dumped her stuff. But her family needs to come and clean it up. It ain’t my mess and I ain’t cleaning it up,” he said.
He also expressed concern for the personal information in the letters, which contained the name and address of a woman who apparently received assistance through the Ferndale Housing Commission from 2008 to at least 2013, and who resided in Detroit. The Ferndale Housing Commission is so named because of its location, but their programs serve people throughout SE Michigan.
He told Fox 2 that he drove to the address on the mail found in the garbage and got no answer. Wimbley did the same. The report ended with “Emerson is on a mission to get these documents back to who they belong.”  He said “no luck” when he called the FHC, which he later explained was not true.
The report focused on the Ferndale Housing Commission.  Although of the documents found in the trash, only six pages were FHC related, four documents in total: three routine letters and one blank application form.
The other documents were items that had been mailed to the woman from 2008 through 2013, including social security statements, insurance paperwork, and other mail.
The Ferndale Housing Commission letters did not contain any social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers, or other personal information that would normally be sought by thieves. Yet the report characterized the findings as “alarming” and focused on the Ferndale Housing Commission.
Emerson also spoke in plural during the interview, though the documents shared with oc115 were all addressed to the same woman. The Fox 2 reporter is shown visiting just one
When hearing on the news that FHC documents containing personal information had been dumped, FHC President Ann Heler had been “stunned.” Though the report focused on FHC she was not aware of any attempts by Fox 2 to contact the Commission for comment before airing the story.
The FHC had just gone through an investigation by HUD where years’ worth of malfeasance had taken place. With the former executive director now in jail for using her position to enter residents’ homes to steal prescription medications, and a laundry list of administrative and financial issues to tackle, Heler and the other commissioners have been working hard for months digging through the messes left behind by past leadership. News of dumped documents with personal information left Heler “concerned,” as well as the many in Ferndale who have been following the Housing Commission stories. Yet the Fox 2 report did not make clear what the documents were, what information they considered to be alarming, how many documents there were, or why Ferndale Housing Commission was singled out.  One look at he documents showed that FHC’s documents should not have been met with “alarm.”
It was also not in the report that Emmerson had been able to connect with someone at FHC who listened to his concerns and answered his questions. He said that the woman he spoke to was “nice,” but then went on to talk about his dislike for public housing and the people who us it in general.
Emerson told oc115 that he called the FHC to find out if the woman was still living there. He said he was told that they could not give out that information. When asked if he offered to return the documents to the FHC he said “Why would they need them back? It’s nothing important. I was just trying to see if she still lived there.”
When asked if he contacted other organizations about returning the mail, he said he tried a couple of the organizations as well. When asked why the Fox 2 report only focused on Ferndale, he said that everybody hates Ferndale. He expounded on that hate, using multiple slurs against the gay community. This sentiment was shared over and over though the visit.
Emerson grew up in Ferndale in the 50s and early 60s. He has many complaints about his hometown, including that it has been “overrun” by gay people, though of the many sexual-orientation-based slurs he used “gay” was not one. He recalled growing up on Withington, in a home that was torn down for development, and how Lincoln School was also demolished and the whole neighborhood changed. That is the same street where the Withington Apartments were constructed and where the Ferndale Housing Commissions office is.  Though disdainful of pubic housing, he said that he had been turned down for assistance, and expressed anger at those who received it.
The changes in Ferndale since the 50s bother Emerson greatly, who says that LGBT people forced him to move and destroyed the city, and that black people have moved in. This sentiment tied into his feelings about public housing.
“When I grew up Ferndale was normal. We had the greasers from Ferndale and the prepps from Pleasant Ridge, and maybe some of them were [LGBT slur], but if they were they kept it to themselves,” he said.
He spoke with open disdain about groups of people he disliked. His passion for Fox 2 was chilled after he realized the station had sent two people of color, but said he talked to them anyway because loves being on the news. He was also disappointed the reporter had him cover up his tattoos, including the one of Fox 2.
He said he’s been in several Fox 2 broadcasts, most recently in June 2014 when he was featured for a tree that was damaging his yard. The links to his previous articles no longer work, but a Google search comes up with two previous stories about Emmerson and his Brightmoor home.  He said he’s been on “four or five times,” but the search only came up with the three appearances. It is unclear if there have been more.
“Every time they have me I get people tracking me down that they saw me on the news,” he said.
Messages were left Saturday with Fox 2 reporter Wimbly, and have not yet been returned.  The ripple effect of the disingenuous reporting has been adding to the woes of a community in the midst of healing. And questions remain about why the station has the man with their tattoo on their program repeatedly without disclosing their history.
When asked why Fox 2 likes him so much he said “I’m a white guy trying to make it in Detroit. The news loves that shit.”
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

 

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