Rachel Abbey McCafferty, Patch Staff

Rachel has known she wanted to be a writer since she was 3 years old—seriously. She joined her hometown paper's teen page as a freshman in high school, and she's been a reporter ever since. After high school, Rachel went on to Kent State University, where she received a bachelor's degree in newspaper journalism and worked in various capacities at the student newspaper, The Daily Kent Stater, including a semester as editor-in-chief.

After graduation, Rachel began working for Catalyst Ohio, a Cleveland-based nonprofit magazine on urban education, where she wrote in-depth articles on topics like the achievement gap and the importance of quality early education. Rachel's collegiate and professional work has earned her awards from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, the Press Club of Cleveland, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and the Association for Women in Communications.

When she's not reporting, Rachel loves reading, jogging and spending time with her friends and family. She lives in nearby Parma and enjoys exploring Brecksville's parks, especially during the warmer months.

<b><i>Your Beliefs </i></b><i> </i>

<i>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. </i>

<b>Politics </b><b> </b>

<b>How would you describe your political beliefs? Are you registered with a certain party? </b>

I&#39;m not registered with any party, and I feel that it&#39;s important to be an educated voter, looking at all sides of an issue or candidate before casting a ballot. That being said, my core beliefs on most issues are pretty liberal.

<b>Religion</b><b> </b>

<b>How religious would you consider yourself? (casual, observant, devout, non religious) </b>

I&#39;m a practicing Catholic, but I don&#39;t think there&#39;s any one right way to believe (or not). As long as you treat others well, I think you&#39;re doing just fine.

<b>Local Hot-Button Issues</b>

<b> What do you think are the most important issues facing the community?
 Where do you stand on each of these issues? </b>

Brecksville&#39;s economic development is an important issue to residents and business owners, and it&#39;s one I&#39;ll cover closely. The vacancies that will be left by the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and Giant Eagle are especially of interest to the community.

The city&#39;s efforts to control flooding is also an important one that will be covered closely in 2012.