Mr. President: I was impeached, too, for running an underground newspaper

On this day that the president is set to be exonerated after his impeachment trial, I stumbled on to a memory that I didn’t even recall until now.

Mr. Trump, I want you to know that I’ve been impeached, too.

I was elected president of my sophomore class at C.D. Hylton High School back in 1997. I very much enjoyed being class president and attending the student council meetings. My fellow students would talk to me about what they would like to see changed in the school.

And, now looking back on it, it was also an ego trip, as many called me — yes — Mr. President.

However, as busy as I was with the student council, I also was the publisher and ringleader of a group of guys that published an underground newspaper that we circulated around the school. I’m sure that job title doesn’t come as a surprise to many, as I founded the online news website you’re reading now.

The underground newspaper was a mix of legitimate school news, like sports, and local news — much of it was stories I rewrote from the Potomac News, the old daily newspaper of Prince William County.

In addition to the news, lunch menu, upcoming concert dates for shows at Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club and the old Jaxx club in Springfield, we had some humor in there, too, in the form of a parody of an advice column.

If I recall correctly, school administrators didn’t like our use of the phrase “pansy boy” written in the fake column, in a response to a fake letter from a fake person who wrote to the fake advice columnist, stating that they were afraid to attend school football games by themselves, without a large group of friends.

Looking back, it’s the kind of humor only a 15-year-old boy would find funny. The school principal wasn’t laughing, for sure.

After he forced me to shut down the newspaper, I was made to sit in front of a student review panel who asked me things like, why in the world would I produce such a newspaper? Did I think this was becoming of a student council president? And, given the choice to do it all over again, would I continue the print the newspaper?

While I don’t recall how I answered the first two questions, I do remember my response to the third.

“If there is another opportunity to inform students in a meaningful, constructive way, then yes, I would do it again,” I said.

That, apparently, wasn’t what they wanted to hear. I was removed from office shortly thereafter.

You can see a copy of the letter noting my impeachment and removal. I went by my middle name Alexander back then — Alex for short. With a first name that starts with “U,” I assure you, school children can make up some cruel nicknames. It wasn’t until I got a job as a reporter the old Stafford County Sun newspaper, about 10 years later, I embraced my first name again.

I don’t know why I’ve kept the letter all these years. Maybe because it’s a reminder that when we mess up, as long as you’re willing to work hard enough, you can get back on top doing what you love.

Doing the news is all I’ve ever wanted to do in life. I was 13-years-old when I got my first internship at a small NBC TV station in West Virginia. I fell in love with the idea of informing the community, telling the stories that really matter.

I’m honored that, all these years later, and after my bombshell impeachment (a term I use lightly), I’m still able to do what I love and have so many subscribers and advertisers that support this passion.