I have worked at Today's TMJ4 for 8 years now.

I wouldn't have remembered the exact date, had it not been on the company's website under anniversaries. My first official day on the payroll here at TMJ4 was April 22, 2000.

That got me all nostalgic. I started thinking back about what got me here, and what was going on when I started.

That date, specifically, was the day the Elian Gonzales story took it's most memorable turn. Remember that whole deal? The child who had defected to America with his mother, who didn't survive the trip. He was "rescued" by armed military and that moment occurred shortly before I was to report for my first day of work.

Summer of 2000 brought a series of stories on "outrageous" gas prices. In spring... prices were nearing the... gasp... 2 dollars a gallon mark!

Midwest Airlines was still Midwest Express, and still served steak, with red wine for an in-flight meal. It was served on china, with real forks and knives.

The Milwaukee Brewers had begun playing their final season at County Stadium.

The Milwaukee Bucks would lose in game 5 of the first round of the NBA playoffs. Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson had sent a message that this team under George Karl was on the rise.

Arthur Jones was Chief of Police, and had yet to accuse the Mayor of Milwaukee of being a racist. He had also yet to sue the taxpayers for discrimination. He had also yet to cost the taxpayers... because his former cops sued him for discrimination and won. 

Mayor John Norquist had already begun an affair with a City Hall aid that would tarnish his legacy and end his reign at Water and Kilbourn. The affair would not surface until he was re-elected one final time. 

While we're on politics, Tom Ament was the Milwaukee County Executive. His top cabinet members were master minding an elaborate pension scheme, and pitching it to Supervisors who approve it later that year. It would come to light the following year, that the "pension scandal" would nearly bankrupt the County. We feel its effects to this day.

Tommy Thompson was Governor of the Great State of Wisconsin. He didn't know it yet, but he was less than a year away from leaving the job he loved, and becoming a Washington insider. He would accept the appointment to Secretary of Health and Human Services under soon to be elected George W. Bush.

At 26 years old, I quit my anchor job in Green Bay to come home and work for Today's TMJ4. I came here for a part time job as a reporter. My boss at the time said he could promise me three days of work per week. My wife and I had been married less than a year, and certainly couldn't afford to take a financial loss, but we took a chance that things would work out.

Months later I signed a full time deal. The rest, as they say, is history.

emails: vvitrano@todaystmj4.com