Maryland Fire Queen

This girl was next to impossible to get in touch with. I started the story Thursday but then didn't finish it until Sunday, and it ran today.

The girl was very nice, though. Super busy! I don't see how she does all of those things. Makes me feel like I need to be more ambitious.



Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/29/news/local_news/newsstory5_manchester_maryland_fire_queen.txt
Photo courtesy of Erin Drumheller

A Story to Which I Contributed

I interviewed Sgt. Michael Blair for this story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/27/news/local_news/1_police_auxiliaries.txt

And here's the response I received:
Alisha:

After 43 years of working with news reporters, I had reservations about being on the "other end" of an interview. After reading the article that you contributed to in today's edition, my trepidations proved to be unfounded!

I was most impressed with your professionalism during the interview process, and after seeing the story in print, I was even more impressed with the accurate reproduction of our interview.

Keep up the great work. At a time when newspapers are not valued by a large portion of the population, you are an asset to the Carroll County Times and "media" in general!

In the future, any Opportunity which I have to work with you will be most welcome!

Thank You!

Sgt. Mike Blair
Sykesville Auxiliary Police

What a nice man! Police officers in this county are really great.

What We'd Do Without Phones and Internet!

So, these guys will save us if there's a national emergency (we hope).

Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/26/news/local_news/7_carroll_contesters.txt

Junior CSI Camp

Middle Schoolers are so lucky. I wish I could partipate in a CSI camp!

I reported on their class and their final exam, which they investigated three crime scenes. So cute. I was a bit of a failure, though, because I didn't write my article in a timely fashion. I went down there at 4, was done at 615, got home a little before 7, then should have had my article written by 8. Instead, I got home and typed an interview for my co-worker. I should have done that after I wrote my story. Then, I didn't send my story in until 9:15, and I don't think my editor was too happy with me. I've got to work on making deadlines.

Here is a picture of me, writing about what the CSI camp was doing:

Photo courtesy of Sykesville Police Department

I didn't think the administrative assistant for the Sykesville Police Department was actually going to take a picture, but then I received an e-mail with an album of the kids looking at the mock crime scenes and to my surprise, I was in a picture in the album.

Here are the kids at work:

Photo courtesy of Sykesville Police Department

Photo by Dylan Slagle

Read my story:

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/25/news/local_news/2junior_csi_academy.txt

Carroll County Sheriff's Office Website

They added some sweet crime reporting things to the CC Sheriff's office website. I'm on the cop beat, it seems. Tomorrow I'm writing about a CSI class for Middle Schoolers that is taught by cops.

Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/23/news/local_news/2sheriffswebsite.txt

A response...

So, I got an email about the Road-eo story. I've gotten some email and phone call responses that have been positive, but I've never gotten anything like this.
See, in the actual paper, there was a picture of two men laughing about the competition below the picture you see with the story in this blog. The two men were Chris and Tim. Here is the email I received after the story came out.

Hi I am writing on behalf of my Mother & myself. The C.C. rodeo with the picture of Chris laughing made us SICK. 5 years ago he cut a tree limb that fell on my Brother and KILLED him. Now Chris can laugh but he took that away from us, we don't laugh anymore. He tore our world apart. My Mom said that if you need t out his picture in the paper please put a PAPER BAG on his head so we don't have to look at it. It is very hard to see his face, to us it's like 5 years all over again, everyday. We just had to let you know how we felt.
Thank-you
Doris and Deanna

That's so sad, they are just so hurt. I almost feel bad for Chris because it sounds like it was an accident. Wow, what a complicated situation. I didn't even take the picture...

Oh, the dangers of reporting.

Watch out this year for Mosquitoes!

So with all the rain we've been getting, chances are the mosquito population is going to be worse than in previous years. So load up on the bug spray!

Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/20/news/local_news/3_mosquito_population.txt

Carroll County Busts out the Snowplows in June

So the people who drive around the snowplows during the winter and those who work for the Carroll County Government's Risk Management division got to practice and show off their skills in a friendly way.
They had to do a lot- back up the dump truck snow plow into tight spaces, get within 12 inches of signs, put their tires between tennis balls, plow cones (simulated snow) between narrow cones (simulated parked cars). And some of these people were not even roads workers, but maybe just people who work in shops that hardly practice! But they did all have commerical vehicle licenses.
They also had a backhoe competition (which you see in the picture above) and a sobriety driving course.
It was cute- a lot of their families came out and were really supportive. It was seriously the nicest competition I've ever seen. I think everyone was just happy to get a sunny day off of work!
This was fun for me because I also got to shoot video for it, and interviewing was easy because they were so nice.

Read my story:
www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/19/news/local_news/2carroll_county_roadeo.txt
Photo by Kyle Nosal

No Fireworks?

Well, they're safe this year. But this story really bugged the Carroll County Born-and-Raised child inside of me!
So I just always assumed the fireworks at the Carroll County Farm Museum were just a given, but apparently they struggle to raise the funds each year (read more in the link below). I know this is a hard economic time, but we need entertainment and tradition to stay to keep morale high. I just can't imagine not having the fireworks one year. My brother, who his autistic, would probably die from shock and disappointment.
I know it's more important for someone to eat and have a home then to go to the fireworks show in July, but people going out as a community to celebrate our history is a very important thing, also. We cannot forget our past.
Lets hope it can continue.

Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/14/news/local_news/4fireworks_show_carroll_county.txt

Mrs. Tweedle's Retirement

I really enjoyed this story. She's been teaching for 40 years in the Carroll County School Systems (at every level, from Elementary, to High School, to Middle- which is where she is now)and she was a really nice person. She said she thought she recognized me, haha. I guess someone she taught one of those years probably looked like me. It was very difficult to keep the story to about 8-10 inches like my editor wanted-she had a lot of say that was interesting and worthwhile. I hope Mrs. Tweedle has a happy retirement!

Read my story:

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/13/news/local_news/2oklahoma_road_middle_school_teacher.txt

Photo by Dylan Slagle

Elder Abuse Video

I swear, this story got sent back to me 8 times. I don't know what made it so tricky...
I worked on that for like a week. That's crazy!
It's a really important topic and I'm glad to be covering things that matter. I feel like I have a special olympics/elder concentration here at the paper... haha.

Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/12/news/local_news/3_elder_abuse_612.txt

Analog to Digital TV Transition

This is kind of sad because I feel like its really unfair to poor people. The coupon doesn't cover the entire cost of the box, and definitely not the antenna...
But people need tv for local news! No one has radio anymore.
The day it came out I had this poor old man call me up and ask me about the coupons. I gave him the number and I was sad because the coupons won't come for 9 days and the switch is friday. Also, its really hard for old people to install things like that. So sad, I hope the help number I gave him is useful.

Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/11/news/local_news/3digital_tv_transition.txt

Taneytown Carnival

So, I thought I pretty much had off monday! I mean, I go straight to the carnival, and carnivals don't really start until like 9 pm, right?
Wrong.
I was laying by the pool when I got a call.
"Hey Alisha, its Wayne (my boss). Here's the people you have to call, do that soon, then go there before 5 to get an angle, and get it to us by 8pm. Okay, thanks."
!!
Taneytown is not just around the corner, first of all. It's like half and hour away. So I got that call at about 2:30pm, and I was shocked. I should have assumed the article would need to be in tomorrow but that's crazy!
Then, I learned the rides don't even start until 7. What was I supposed to do until 7? How do I write my story in 20 minutes or less, after interviews and the drive home?
So, needless to say, I called the people he told me back then I called him back.
He said I didn't need to get there so early, then, and I could email it by 9. I hate to be crazy, but I am not yet THAT good at writing stories!
I did end up writing it by 830, and it needed little editing (yay!) but it had me very worried. But I had a delicious crabcake, so that's all that really matters.


Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/09/news/local_news/1taneytowncarnival.txt
Photo by Ken Koons

D-Day Expose

So I've ran into the major difficulties of writing with a strict deadline...
The D-Day article came together, but it definitely could have been better. I should have gotten started earlier! It was my fault.
So I called the VFW's in the county on Thursday, but I only could get in touch with one, who promised me there would be plenty of WWII veterans to interview.
The others, I assumed, I could stop by and find someone...
I was mostly wrong.
I called two veterans on the phone before I left to travel the county, one of which was nice and talked a lot about his experiences. The other man, however, kept screaming at me, yelling, "What do you want me to say?"
Both of them didn't storm the beaches of Normandy, but still had amazing stories. One, the man who talked a lot, was a messanger and dodged shells to stay alive while running notes back and forth between troops. He once almost was injured by scrap metal to the head but luckily was wearing a helmet at the time. He was also in the Battle of the Bulge.
The man who was more hesitate to talk, and I learned later was in his mid 90's, said "I was in the battle of the bulge, some other battles, than I came home." I also got out of him that he was injured during the battle of the bulge- a bullet wounded his leg and hurt a major nerve- and was treated for frozen hands and feet.
This is where journalism gets dangerous- it's important for people to know what happened and remember, but it is hard to interview those people, who many times don't want to relive those horrible memories, and make them tell you there story.
So I then went to the VFW in Westminster, where I found a veteran who served in the Pacific. He was also kind of agressive, but luckily his wife was also there to help with the interview. And also I'm thrilled I'm less than two months from being 21 but I still can't sit at a bar. (Instead, this old man and his wife had to get up and move because of my age.)
An actual D-Day survivor was at the bar, but he refused to talk to me. Thus more of the dilemma.
After not being able to snap a picture of the veteran, I went on to the VFW in Taneytown. It took me forever to get there because of construction and it was in the middle of NOWHERE, (more so than is typical for Carroll County) and it was closed. Sigh.
Then, from there, I went to the VFW in Mt. Airy. This is the man who told me there would be WWII veterans there. I went in and found out he was confused-there were only two men there, and one was a Korean War Veteran and the other was a Vietnam Veteran. I interviewed them and put them into my article, but their quotes got cut. That's probably because they said that the veterans they knew, like their dads, had a lot of problems. I guess that may not be appropriate in a remembrance article.
The Vietnam Veteran said I should go to the American Legion, but the people there said the only veteran they knew wasn't there.
"They're all dying off," the man said.
After that, I traveled back to the office to find an email from my boss, sent around the time I left, saying he received a call and found the perfect veteran for me to talk to. This man said he's in a nursing home, but he would go with me. I TRAVELED FOR NOTHING AND I HAD THE PERFECT STORY RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE!
I knew I should have connected my Carroll County Times email address with my blackberry, too. I'M SO STUPID.
So I call this man, and he tells me all about this guy. Apparently, he was one of the elite men who wore a ranger outfit and climbed the cliffs of Normandy (while being shot down at my german soldiers) on D-Day. He was one of the few survivors. He also had other stories, but was very hard of hearing, etc.
So, then this man kept saying, "I wish you would have called earlier. It's just too late for me now."
I felt sick to my stomach. How did I miss this!
I didn't give up yet, though! I called the nursing home and asked if I would be able to speak with him even without his friend, and they told me he was sleeping so no, but I would also need someone to help with translation since he was so hard of hearing. So, it was a no go. I just wanted to die.
But, as you can see, the article happpened and it was nice, I think. I should have done a lot of things differently, but now I know!
Tomorrow, I go to the carnival in Taneytown. Trying to drag a friend along, but in Carroll County, you're pretty carnival-ed out by my age (there's one every week in a different town in CC).

Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/06/news/local_news/6_vets_remember_dday.txt

Quick Updates...

I'm covering D-Day for the 65th anniversairy this saturday, after I get finished my article about an elder abuse awareness campaign being shown at movie theaters. They finally published the boring fire truck story, and I had to report about this poor old man has to close down his lcoal 75 year old business because of all his debt. Lousy Economy :(. And continuing with my Special Olympics coverage, I taped and wrote about the torch run that the police do every year in order to raise money for the Special Olympics. It's super nice of them, and it was weird chasing the police through Westminster! haha nice change of pace

Read my stories:
www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/03/news/local_news/5carroll_gardens_closing.txt
Photo by Ken Koons
www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/04/news/local_news/7reese_fire_company_truck.txt
Photo by Dylan Slagle
www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/04/news/local_news/5special_olympics_torch_run.txt
Photo by Ken Koons
When I filmed the video for this (which you can see if you click on the link above), I was attacked by a spider in the middle of someones lawn. NO WORRIES, THOUGH! I stayed still as to not mess up the footage. And it wasn't poisonous, because I'm still alive. Phew.

I have to write about cars?!

That's what went through my head when I got my assignment today- I had to write about the local repercussions of the GM bankruptcy. And it's due by deadline again TODAY!
Ugh.
I ended up being in the office until 7pm- I was the last one there! I know my supervisor probably hates me because he has to stay later because of me often. Today, he had to read it and edit from home. I'm such a pain.
It was good to write that, though, because it definitely got me out of my comfort zone. I had to do a lot of background research and it was torn apart in the editing process, and for good reason. Even after the research, I still had no idea what I was talking about!
First, I had to call a lot of car salesman, and despite the economy, apparently they're doing better than ever! Can I call bullshit?
Then, my supervisor made me go to the car dealerships and ask customers really awkward questions, like "Aren't you afraid the warranty will be void if you buy this GM product?" Uh, I'm sure the salesmen loved me after that. Despite not wanting to do it, I made myself do it and felt accomplished afterward, but I couldn't even use the quotes I got!
The people I interviewed refused to give me their last name, so we couldn't use it. Thanks a lot, Lloyd and Kay.
But mostly what I learned is that we'll learn more later. Though people know this is going to be bad, no one had yet felt how bad it will be. I talked to a representative from Roscoe Bartlett's office and she said he's protesting the government involvement in the closing of car dealerships along with the Maryland Automobile Association. Apparently, the people who are responsible for making those decisions were Obama appointed and have no automobile background, besides probably driving their porches. She said Bartlett doesn't support the government running small businesses (it's too socialist) and it's going to result in 150,000 lost jobs in the nation. PLUS, she said, it will not help GM but instead directly result in losses for them because dealerships make up 90% of GM's revenue stream so if you take away dealerships, you obviously take away profits. All of that does make sense, but what else are they supposed to do? I asked her what other solutions she had, and she went quiet. I guess we're in the age of politics where we can disagree with everyone else, but the discussion ends there. That doesn't seem very useful.
But all in all, we have to realize that in these hard economic times, things are pretty much lose lose. And, I'm afraid, it's going to get worse.

Read my story:
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/06/02/12959160.txt