In Clinton, Ill., a farming hamlet 150 miles southwest of Chicago, a reporter for the weekly DeWitt County Observer (circ. 3,150) got a tip last October on the biggest story of her life. In a five-hour taped interview, a source spilled out a tale of corruption and brutality involving County Sheriff Keith V. Long, 57, whose gruff manner and thick downstate drawl seem right out of In the Heat of the Night. Trouble was, Reporter Charlene Hettinger, 39, and a colleague, Edith Brady, 22, kept running into brick walls as they tried to check...
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