Just went down there one day, unannounced, and walked into a place called Dakota Cottage. Well, the cottages are actually large buildings. And our tip was certainly correct. Just dozens of severely and profoundly retarded men lying around in various states of undress and in various states of activity. It was a shocking scene, and there wasn't a single staff person around.

So Earl just began snapping pictures at will and I began taking notes at will, and finally somebody appeared and in so many words said "what are you doing here?" and we told them but the damage, if you want to call it that, had been done. But it turned out that it was just shocking enough that it created a lot of attention around the state and at the legislature. So that was the very first significant story, I think, that I did. I previously had covered the legislation that dealt with the expansion of what was then called the day activity centers and that sort of thing, but nothing that had the impact of this Faribault story.