• Hometown: Odessa, TX
• Email: michael.woyton@patch.com
• Phone: 914-262-8013
• Birthday: April 20

Bio: Prior to signing on with Patch, I spent eight years with the Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal, as a municipal and schools reporter. My sub-beats included health care, aging issues, the environment and pets. Prior to working for a newspaper, I was a graphic designer, specializing in designing books and education-related materials. I have a bachelor's degree from Eastern New Mexico University and a master's from New York University. The degrees were in music performance—I'm a former cellist—so, needless to say, my experience is varied.

Your Beliefs

At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable.

This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics

    * How would you describe your political beliefs? Liberal.

    * Are you registered with a certain party? I wish I could come up with something as clever as Will Rogers, so I will quote him here: "I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat."

Local Hot Button Issues

    * What do you think are the most important issues facing the community? Most communities face the same things, year in and year out: taxes, quality of life, aging in place, making the community one in which young people can thrive.