Email: Adam.Townsend@patch.com
Phone: 949-436-3050
Hometown: Steubenville, Ohio
Birthday: July, 1983
Bio: I grew up in a small town in the greater Pittsburgh metro-area.
I attended journalism school at the Ohio University Scripps School of Journalism; I also studied studio art and Spanish at that school.
I've been a full-time newspaper and multimedia reporter for more than a decade. I started as a general assignment reporter at a small-town paper in the Ohio Valley and moved up through the ranks at that company as I completed my degree, doing piecework for other papers and magazines while classes were in session.
In September of 2006, I started as a reporter covering various cities in north Orange County at the Orange County Register. There I also administered the AroundDisney blog, shot hundreds of photographs, created feature and courtroom illustrations and designed informational graphics.
During my time at Patch, I've led local and national media on dozens of news stories, many of which have made national headlines. I cover everything from local business features to crime to elections and technology. I've been an occasional guest on KPBS Midday's Roundtable, speaking as an media expert on the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
I've always had a fascination with journalism – the excitement of the process, the leap into the vortex of events as they happen, the sociability of meeting and interviewing sources, the exposure of crime and malfeasance.
I'm also a practicing artist, completing large paintings and illustrations in my spare time. I'm involved in musical pursuits; I play a few instruments to varying degrees of proficiency, but the piano is my first love.
I'm a voracious reader, preferring smutty mystery novels as pleasure reading, literature and history if I'm looking for something meatier. I've become something of a World War I buff lately.
I do some skim boarding out on North Beach – near where I've lived in San Clemente since 2006. I also train at the local MMA gym, Finish Strong.
Growing up near Pittsburgh, I'm a rabid Steelers fan. Sorry, Chargers.
My wife, Laura Lee Townsend, and I were married at the Ole Hanson Beach Club in May 2009.
Laura Lee, who also has a background in journalism, now is a certified health and fitness coach and manages San Clemente Boot Camp. You'll be seeing her maiden-name byline -- Laura Lee Bloor -- on San Clemente Patch as a health and wellness blogger.
We're both involved in charitable causes, raising money especially for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which fights breast cancer. We also put on a production of the Vagina Monologues at Knuckleheads in 2011. Sponsored by Patch, Knuckleheads and Buds Famous Hot Dogs, we raised more than $5,000 for Laura's House network of domestic violence shelters in south Orange County.
As San Clemente Patch editor, I am here to cover San Clemente and all that goes on here. My writers and I produce breaking local stories, feature pieces, profiles of locals, high school sports news, and whatever else affects our community.
My Beliefs
I believe in democracy, fairness and hard-nosed journalism that is vital, useful and relevant. I believe in God and Jesus Christ, but I am respectful of those with other beliefs.
I believe the First Amendment is the most crucial part of the Constitution and the best means of preserving our nation.
Politics
As a journalist, I'm not a member of any political party or organization. I lean toward candidates I believe offer the best path to good governance – independent of their political philosophy. I do not vote in the San Clemente City Council races or on San Clemente ballot measures because I am covering them and strive to maintain objectivity.
Religion
I'm a Christian who was raised as a Presbyterian, but I am not currently a member of any sect or church.
Local Hot-Button Issues
Planned development at North Beach is a subject of much controversy in town, as is the Marblehead development and outlet mall and the troubled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Marine and military issues are also at the forefront, considering our proximity to Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base.
The city will soon post signs in parks all over the city banning smoking, though will rely on park monitors and education to enforce the ban, rather than law enforcement personnel.
Three new ordinances will add restrictions on tobacco in parks, pickets in residential neighborhoods and "unruly gatherings."
The Cousineaus will donate $20,000 to name the lobby the Evan Cousineau Reception area.
Patch examines our country's economic realities with stories from nearly 900 different neighborhoods across the U.S.
The Daily Patchcast is a video roundup of some of the major news developments in the region.
This week's competition, featuring motocross racers who surf and surfers who ride will air on NBC Sunday.
Police and FBI are on the lookout for an Asian man who escaped in a gray and black Jeep Cherokee.
As part of the San Clemente Fishing History exhibit, three fishermen tell stories of catching huge marlin and sea bass and other adventures from six decades of fishing off San Clemente and around the world.
The agency is contributing $56,500 to the $113,000 project that will remove litter and pollution from runoff at Linda Lane.
Organizers will hold a September golf tournament to help raise money, and the project is up for several grants.
The seizure was just one in a busy week—the Border Patrol throughout San Diego County snagged $850,000 worth of meth, coke and marijuana in the first week of August.
The Planning Commission recommends that the planned Chipotle in the Albertsons Plaza near the high school get a full liquor license.
The all-access playground at the new sports park in San Clemente could receive thousands from Pepsi's philanthropic project.
Posters promoting a website purportedly set up by anti-Establishment group Anonymous appear along Del Mar over the weekend.
Police dispatch reports say the man was trying to break into cars early Tuesday morning.
Coastal Commission staffers recommend the approval of a four-story building that was involved in a number of lawsuits after the San Clemente Council approved it in 2010.
Posters promoting a website purportedly set up by anti-Establishment group Anonymous appear along Del Mar in San Clemente over the weekend.
Posters promoting a website purportedly set up by anti-Establishment group Anonymous appear along Del Mar over the weekend.
Ng says the Mexican Navy isn't doing enough.
The Daily Patchcast is a video rundown of the day's news developments in the region.