Email bob.pepalis@patch.com    
Phone 678-451-8995
Hometown Cicero, Illinois
Birthday Oct. 6
Bio Bob got bit by the journalism bug reading Woodward and Bernstein's work on Watergate in the Washington Post his dad brought back from the Atlanta airport to their rural Georgia home. He joined Patch in October 2010 after 14 years as a reporter and business editor for Appen Newpapers, publishers of four community weekly newspapers - The Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Forsyth Herald and Milton Herald. There he covered municipal and county government, business and community issues. An occasional column on gadgets brought business tech into the newspaper columns. He helped manage the northfulton.com Web site. He graduated from West Virginia University's Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism. After freelancing for a year in the midst of a recession, he landed a job at a five-day daily in southern West Virignia, the Welch Daily News. His career continued at small daily newspapers in West Virginia, Kentucky and South Carolina, culminating in working at community newspapers in suburbs of Atlanta. This work in the community reinforced his passion for hyper local coverage, in which he can see immediate response and interaction. Bob lives in Alpharetta, halfway between Alpharetta and Milton's city halls. When he's not reporting, he spends time with friends and working on projects for the Windward Rotary Club.

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
I'm a registered Republican and tend to be conservative fiscally, expecting government to follow at least one tenet of the Hippocratic Oath: Do no harm. But that extends to inaction, and I expect government to fill a role in the community, which is where my flexibility in social issues is seen. 

Religion

I grew up Catholic and although I am not attending church at this time, I'm thankful for the strength it added to my morals and convictions developed under my parents' tutelage. I'm accepting of all faiths, and feel it is important to have at least a knowledge of other people's faith and values, even if understanding seems impossible.


Local Hot-Button Issues

Alpharetta wants to continue controlling how development happens in the few undeveloped parcels remain. In Milton, preserving the rural character can override the need for a stronger commercial tax base. Both communities are struggling with the economic downturn caused with the housing industry's decline, with more than a few "green pipe farms" and many empty storefronts in each city. In Alpharetta, the failure of Prospect Park at Old Milton Parkway and Ga. 400 not only left a sea of clay or a big mud pile, depending on the weather. It also stopped completion of Westside Parkway as Wells Fargo tries to sort out the legal difficulties in foreclosing on the property to gain clear title to the land. Transportation remains a big issue for all residents, but at least the two cities and their fellow North Fulton leaders are united in finding regional solutions to a regional problem.