April 10, 2006
Montgomery Advertiser
Wanda Lloyd

In the years immediately following the teamwork of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post duo whose dogged reporting exposed the foibles of Richard Nixon's administration and brought down a presidency, young journalists - sometimes referred to as "Watergate Babies" -- came into the news business with plans to make a difference in communities.

This was the generation in the 1970s that caused university journalism programs to swell with idealistic students who hoped they could help change the world. Some probably did.

That doesn't mean all journalists look for is dirt and deception. Sometimes, the goal is to bring about simple change in communities to help people solve everyday problems. Unfortunately, we hear less and less of that idealistic "make-a-difference" determination from younger journalists these days. We need more of them.

One who recently made a difference in this community was a Montgomery Advertiser reporter who covers Montgomery city and county government. Sebastian Kitchen, a young man who has a penchant for attending live music events and hanging out with his girlfriend, has a reputation among local government officials and staff as a reporter who does a good job because he knows his topics well.

That expertise showed late last year when Sebastian, who came to work in Montgomery in August 2004, started writing stories about the lack of a landlord-tenant law in Alabama. One of his stories started this way: "When someone used Lottie Manner's bathroom upstairs, water gushed through the ceiling and drenched her living room below. Flush the toilet or unplug the tub, and water would come pouring down. . . . Her property management company knew about the problems and . . . . said it tried to fix them. But it really didn't have to because there's no state landlord-tenant law requiring it to."

In December when Sebastian started reporting on this issue, Alabama was the only state without a law defining the relationship between landlords and tenants.

Over the years in Alabama, dozens of landlord-tenant bills were introduced, but most didn't make it out of committee. According to Sebastian's reporting, this may have something to do with the fact that many Alabama legislators - almost 42 percent in 2002 - disclosed that they owned or had interest in rental property, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

In another December story, Sebastian reported the situation this way: "Janet Smith lived in a mobile home . . . . when she was forced out . . . . Smith was never told why she was being evicted, but the five-day notice came after she refused to pay $28.21 for a faucet that was replaced. Today she's living with family. Renters like Smith have no legal recourse because Alabama has no landlord-tenant law."

These are but two examples that probably helped Alabama legislators understand the need to change this law. The Montgomery City Council's Planning Development and Transportation Committee, chaired by Councilwoman Janet May, held hearings with dozens of landlords. The push for a state bill was also supported by Alabama Arise, Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Advertiser followed Sebastian's reporting with editorials that continued to bring home the point - Alabama's need for a law to protect landlords and tenants. Letters to the editor were also published in favor of this legislation.

Sebastian is not a Watergate baby. In fact, as a graduate with a journalism major and English minor from Texas Tech University, he's barely been out of school five years. Before coming to Montgomery, he was a reporter at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal where he covered city hall and politics. In Lubbock Sebastian also led a team of newsroom colleagues covering a breaking news event where a police officer was killed. The effort won first place for breaking news in the 2002 New Mexico Associated Press Managing Editors awards and another award from colleagues in Texas for breaking news and team effort.

Last month, after passing unanimously in both the House and the Senate, the Alabama Legislature sent a landlord-tenant bill to Gov. Bob Riley to consider. The fate of this bill is now in Riley's hands.

Sebastian, meanwhile, moves on to other topics, ever vigilant to the needs of local citizens, but not without some pride. That pride showed in a recent note Sebastian shared with his editors. He said "I received this e-mail from an employee of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Thought y'all would be interested to know they believe our work helped lead to the passage of critical statewide legislation."

The note included these words: "He (Sebastian) was so instrumental in getting the issue out there. . . . (groups) finally came together to reach a compromise and get a bill both could live with. This is truly a good day in Alabama history!"

Sebastian is not a "Watergate baby," but through his reporting and writing, he sure acts like one.