The Denny Hecker Challenge

Denny Hecker

Earlier today, one of the people I follow put a challenge out over Twitter to journalists.  The challenge involves Denny Hecker and the use of a particular word.  More to the point, the challenge is to write a story about Denny Hecker not using a particular word.  Even though I am not an actual journalist I thought I would take this challenge.  After all, I am a blogger, and I am “newer than the new media”.  I figure Imight as well give this a shot.

Here is how the challenge was given out over Twitter and how I responded:

For those unfamiliar with the name Denny Hecker, he once was a big name in the Twin Cities area related to automotive sales. Back when he was still in business, Denny Hecker was featured in endless commercials in which he seemed to nearly prey on those with bad credit, slow credit or no credit. He sold new cars across the Twin Cities, he sold used cars, he rented cars via Advantage Rental and I think he even, at one time, dabbled in home financing.

Denny Hecker’s reign as the guy who gave credit to those with bad or no credit came to an end in 2009 when he filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for most of his businesses and Chapter 7 bankruptcy for himself. The bankruptcies were only the start of many more troubles to come for Hecker, who is literally in a world of legal trouble. Hecker has always insisted that the collapse of his business empire was due to the economy and problems with the domestic car industry. But the criminal case against him looks stronger and stronger by the day.  On March 30, Denny Hecker was jailed for failing to provide adequate financial information to the judge during his divorce hearing.

But really, anyone can read about Denny Hecker and his legal problems in the news.  I thought it might be interesting to see what my Tweeps (people I follow on Twitter) have been saying about Hecker.  I searched through the Tweets and here are some of my favorites:

Um … yeah, it’s probably best not to advertise for Denny Hecker with your car anymore.

I read her blog post on this topic.  It’s a weird story about how she helped Denny Hecker with his car so it didn’t get towed while he was in jail.  The strange thing is, she seems really happy that they are like besties now.  If you know anyone in jail who is looking for a friend or needs someone to run errands for them, you know, on the outside, you should totally call Esme.

No. He doesn’t think he is going to go to jail.  That is why he did all that bad stuff. And kept doing it.  Because he thinks he is above the law.  Like all criminals do.  Because that is what he is.  A criminal.

Great news Jason! And thanks to Lehman’s Garage for offering to de-Heckerize the rest of our cars! What a great public service.

Tags: Bob Collins, Denny Hecker, Jason DeRusha, News Cut, Twin Cities, Twitter

This entry was posted on April 6, 2010 at 12:19 pm and is filed under News, Twin Cities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.