About the Book
"Tenacious Bulldogs" is the story of two young reporters, who work together to expose a highly unlikely, but truly disturbing, covert operation by the Central Intelligence Agency. When their puzzling and often obstacle-laden investigative journey begins, Nicole Robins, a young, general assignments reporter for a daily newspaper in Savannah, Georgia, and Rick Scott, the newest Pentagon correspondent for one of the national television networks, are working on two, seemingly-unrelated news stories. Nicole, who looks like a beauty queen but pursues news like a bulldog, tries to write a story about a routine emergency landing of a civilian cargo plane at the local airport. When she does, she discovers that the Army, Air Force, and the CIA are trying to cover up the incident. At the same time, working on an investigative report about government wrongdoing in Washington, Rick finds that there could be a connection between their two stories. At that point, they decide to join forces and use their reporting skills, instincts, and tenacity to find out what the government is hiding. As they begin to peel back the layers of a covert operation, the two reporters meet a number of interesting characters along the way - an unlikely CIA operative, guided by the spirit of his dead grandmother to do the right thing; the Sheik of a newly founded country in the Middle East, who unknowingly may have helped arm terrorists in the region; and a managing editor who's spent most of her life believing she is Nellie Bly incarnate. By connecting a myriad of seemingly unrelated pieces of information and refusing to be stonewalled, Nicole and Rick ultimately uncover a plot by the CIA to take over American businesses. The novel is a dogged reportorial journey that gives readers an in-depth and realistic look into the worlds of both print and broadcast investigative journalism. As you watch the two young reporters turn their local stories into a national media frenzy, you're left asking a troubling question, "Can we ever fully trust the people who run our government?
About the Author: Jim Hipps is a product of the Deep South. Born in Helena, Arkansas, as a child he lived in five different Southern states, and most of his early education was in the public school system in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Memphis State University and the University of Tennessee, before joining the Army during the Vietnam War. While in the military, he was a reporter for, and editor of, two different Army newspapers, as well as a correspondent for the "Stars & Stripes - Pacific." After his tour of duty, he began a successful 40-year career in both print and broadcast journalism. By the time he retired in 2006, he had been the owner and publisher of: PMT: Pulmonary Medicine & Technology, a national medical trade journal, and had held almost every position in a radio or television newsroom. He served as a News Director, Assignments Manager, Anchor, Reporter, Photographer, and Talk Show Host for WREC-AM-FM-TV (now WREG) in Memphis, Tennessee; WAEV-FM and WSAV-TV in Savannah, Georgia; KETK-TV in Tyler, Texas, and WFAA-TV in Dallas. Jim has one son, Alan, who lives in Florida pursuing a pro-golf career. Both Jim and Alan are rabid fans of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Cowboys. (Jim's wife, Amelia, says she becomes a basketball widow while the Mavericks are playing.) In 2006, Jim retired and joined Amelia at their home in Lebanon, Tenn., where she was the managing editor of the local daily newspaper. In 2011, Jim and Amelia co-founded Capitol Newswatch, LLC, a news service that provides coverage of the Tennessee General Assembly for small, rural newspapers across the state, as well as for professional associations and organizations. They are the proud parents of four, four-legged children - Trixie Anne, John Coal, Onyx Jasmine, and Sir Robert Redbone.
