April 22, 2009
Vol: 16 No: 20

Special Feature

The Man Who Stood on the Bridge: A three-part series

via: Real Change Archives

Rosette Royale has won the Society of Professional Journalist’s Sigma Delta Chi award for feature writing, for his three-part series "The Man Who Stood on the Bridge." Read all three parts here.

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Comments

Thank you for the excellent telling of Bret Winch’s story.  I am a mental health counselor at the prison where Bret was during his sentence.  Bret so very obviously suffered the effects of fetal alcohol sprectrum disorder however since it is not in the DSM, it is unable to be diagnosed, either before or after the commission of his “crime”.  Bret was a child who would so or say whatever he thought was okay or others want to hear.  I would suggest you contact the Fetal Alcohol Institute at the UW to learn more about why Brets life took the turn it did.  Until our system changes the thousands like Bret will continue to suffer for their entire life.

Vicki C. Decker | submitted on 04/19/2009, 11:30am

Congratulations on winning the award for feature writing.  Journalism par excellence, and the win is well deserved.

Mark Maurin | submitted on 04/19/2009, 12:32pm

Many congratulations for winning an award for this fine piece of writing.  This made me cry when I read the series the first time through, it made me cry when I read it the second time through, and it still has that power.  Thank you, Real Change, for being the last newspaper in this city that still runs great work.

Janet Detwiler

Janet Detwiler | submitted on 04/20/2009, 6:22am

A tragic story eloquently written.  It brought tears to my eyes and galvanized me to advocate harder for better mental illness care within our prison system as well as our country.

Jennifer Williams | submitted on 06/12/2009, 6:44pm

I’m Bret’s cousin and see some errors to this “portrayal” of Bret’s life. Yes, he was a loner and his mother and step-dad were constantly drinking. His step-dad in fact went a little overboard with corporal punishment…a lot. In fact that’s what led him to begin his criminal history. He once told me “Juvy is a lot better than Andrew.” He was referencing his step-dad at the time. He would rather go to jail than spend any physical time around his step-dad who abused him. His mother, my aunt, refused to believe her sons accusations against her husband. The two things that ever kept him going were 1]Our grandmother visiting him as much as she could and 2]His own mother visiting him. I was the cousin being referenced in the articles about him spending a “grip load of time” with as he would say. But that was back when we both lived out in Cowlitz County. We never sat and watched playboy together…I may have let him borrow a few dirty magazines though. All this stuff about demons sounds just like Bret’s imagination running wild to get attention from others because one thing he hated/feared was being alone. Try getting locked in a room for several hours and see if you don’t have “hallucinations”. Bret had told me about his past to how he ended up in juvy so many times. We were close…“were” being the operative word. It was my niece that he molested and it was I who picked up the phone that night in Cowlitz County. After he ran from my house on his bike, he called to apologize. I can forgive people for a lot, but hurting children is not something that is forgivable. In case you are curious here is what I told him that night, “I don’t fucking want to hear an apology. That is unforgivable, and if I ever see or hear from you again I will kick your ass or even kill you.” and I hung up the phone after that. He like most of our family is very intellectual and manipulative. That’s one reason you see different accounts of his intellectual level as well as his demeanor. On a level, I could actually see this happening before anyone ever considered him to be suicidal. He was in and out of correctional facilities most of his life and that was structured for him. In all reality, I can’t honestly say that I am deeply depressed about his death. Sure, if he never touched any children in such a manner, I might feel differently today. But, sorry to say, based on my personal interactions with my cousin, I don’t feel sad. I kind of feel relieved to know that no other children will be affected by him in such a negative manner. I do apologize for this entire add-on. I don’t mean to still the author’s thunder, but just seeing this inclined me to add actual facts about Bret Hugh Winch. And, yes I do realize that I’m adding facts some considerable time after everything, but keep in mind that I had no contact with Bret since Cowlitz County, so I didn’t exactly keep tabs on his day to day life to find out about his death. [Side Note: Your writing is very intense with great visual descriptions. Congrats on winning an award.]

KW-Bret's Cousin | submitted on 06/12/2009, 10:50pm

Great article. I used to live next to Seattle‘s Aurora bridge and used to bike every day on it. Thank you, Real Change, for being the last newspaper in this city that still runs great work.

Ryan | submitted on 10/26/2009, 5:31am

The Society of Professional Journalists has honored Rosette Royale of Real Change with an excellence in journalism testking 646-976 award for a feature he wrote last year on a man who jumped to his death from Seattle’s Aurora Bridge testking 70-297. Rosette did more than seven months of research for the three-part series, “The Man Who Stood on the Bridge.” He talked to Street Roots about testking 70-624 the story last July.

jack skellington | submitted on 12/29/2009, 12:54am

Many congratulations for winning an award for this fine piece of writing.  This made me cry when I read the series the first time through, it made me cry when I read it the second time through, and it still has that power.  Thank you, Real Change, for being the last newspaper in this city that still runs great work.
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