Behind the Headlines

By Danielle Portteus

I will be monitoring the storm today and hope to hear from readers! Photos and updates will be posted throughout the day.
There are already links on the Evening News Web site sending folks to this blog. So send me info often. I’ll be checking my e-mail: danielleportteus@hotmail.com, so send me photos and anything you see from your neck of the woods.
To talk more about the winter storm, visit Monroe Talks under the “Monitoring the storm” thread.

As of right now, Bedford Public Schools, New Bedford Academy and Stateline Christine Schools has closed.
While driving in this morning, Secor Rd. was snow covered because of the blowing snow. Drivers were fairly cautious driving about 10 to 15 mph.
I’ll be checking back soon!

By Charles Slat

I could fill a book with the weird or odd coincidences that have characterized my many years of working at newspapers.
Today, one of those weird episodes happened.
I have been trying to connect with a source for the better part of three weeks. I don’t know this guy, but was told he could supply all the info I needed for an article. I made several calls to him over a period of a couple of weeks and left detailed messages. I left a message with his administrative assistant, just to make sure he still was alive.
About three days ago, he called me back — when I wasn’t in the office. He left a message that said I could contact him between certain hours the next day. The next day and the appointed hours came and I got his voicemail. I called back a bit later and got his voicemail again.
Today, I was in a day long meeting in the office. During a 10-minute break, I went to the bathroom, chatted with a co-worker for a few moments while there and then went briefly to my desk. The message light on my phone was blinking. I checked the voicemail and there was a message from another person I had call the day before. I hung up the phone, got out of my chair and started to walk down the hall back to my meeting. I heard my phone ring, stopped and turned around and answered it. It was the guy I had been trying to reach for three weeks. I got the info I needed. Only later did it occur to me that if we hadn’t had a meeting break at that particular time, if I had gone to the bathroom after checking my phone instead of before, if I had left my desk to return to the meeting 45 seconds sooner, I might once again have missed connecting with this guy. I mean, really, if you had tried to coreograph this ballet, it probably wouldn’t have been better timed. How weird.

By Paula Wethington

The Christmas Day attempted terrorist attack on an incoming airplane to Detroit Metropolitan Airport didn’t break within The Monroe Evening News local coverage area. Romulus is the next county over from Monroe.

But there were local residents on board that aircraft. My co-worker Danielle Portteus was able to report on the local connection for today’s paper.

There was some chatter on the MonroeTalks forums as to how the details were “not very clear” even several hours after the incident. I saw similar frustrations voiced elsewhere.

Count my family among those anxious people. As soon as my husband caught an Internet headline that this was an attempted terrorist attack, we’ve paid close attention to the developments on the story. After all, my daughter was preparing to leave on her flight out of DTW when we learned of the suspected terrorism angle.

Were the Detroit and national news media prepared to cover such an event on a holiday? After all, the media coverage on Friday night and early Saturday had limited information. Today, the newspapers, radio bulletins and TV shows have a lot more details.

My response to that question is: breaking national news on a holiday is a reporter’s nightmare.

Yes, most local and national news media DO have people in the newsroom or at least on call during holidays and holiday weekends. I’ve done my share of holiday shifts and on-call hours at the newspapers I’ve worked at in Ohio and Michigan. And on the national level, CNN’s news team did break into its Christmas afternoon holiday features to give news bulletins even while details were sketchy.

But there is no reason to fully staff any newsroom on major national holidays.

Reason: A lot of the sources that journalists rely on every day for news and feature sources are unavailable or out of town during holiday weekends. Specifically in late December, the government agencies, schools, and non-profit offices that reporters stay in contact with on a regular basis may be shut down for several days at a time.

As a result, the only tasks that holiday news teams can possibly handle are breaking news, special events or interviews that were booked in advance, and any details that HAVE to be done every day regardless of what is going on. That’s why you see so many Christmas and New Year’s week news pages and air time taken up with features that were produced days or weeks in advance.

A routine news item such as a house fire or weather emergency can be handled by a short-staffed holiday crew. I’ve done that myself.

But how many times has southeast Michigan been the location for a story that was an international incident from the start? I’m not talking about local stories that bubbled up through the wire services to get national attention a day or two later. How many Michigan headlines can you think of were IMMEDIATELY of interest well beyond our region?

Then on top of the logistical problems for short-staffed holiday newsrooms, the Christmas Day reporters were dealing with official sources who said very little, and civilian witnesses who scattered quickly to the care and concern of their families.

Could anything have been done better on the news coverage Friday? Personally, I would have liked to seen a headline earlier than I did that an incident happened at the airport.

But it looks to me that the Detroit and national news teams who were working, or on call, on Christmas Day did the best they could once they realized what was going on.

Long-time Monroe County Clerk Warren J. LaBeau died Dec. 21, but for most who knew him, memories of him will live on for a long time.
Warren was a Democrat but, as county clerk, always strove to be fair and even-handed when discharging the duties of his office.
My association with him goes back to the late 1970s when I reported on the doings of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. I clearly recall being unwillingly pressed into service by Warren one year when the county board was choosing its chairman and vice chairman. If I recall correctly, there was a lot of maneuvering and lobbying going on behind the scenes for the vice chairmanship. The position was to be decided by secret ballot during a county board organizational meeting. All the commissioners wrote the name of their preferred candidate on scraps of paper.
Warren dutifully collected all the folded scraps, turned to me and announced that I would tally the results and determine the winner.
I knew Warren didn’t even want to see the handwriting on the scraps and that he also wanted to assure the new commissioners that his politics would have no bearing in the matter.
Reluctantly, I sifted through the ballots, realizing that I could call out any name and that person would be the vice chairman. I played fair, determined the winner, and gave Warren one of the slips with the winner’s name on it.
As I suspected, Warren read the winner’s name and then crumpled and discarded all the ballots without looking at them.
As a public servant, he was beyond reproach.
–Charles Slat

Engineers DO have a sense of humor.
Martin Klein, an engineer for Compact Power Inc., which makes lithium ion automotive batteries, was a speaker at the recent SAE Detroit chapter meeting at Monroe County Community College.
Commenting on a fellow speaker’s remark that nowadays batteries are “sexy,” Mr. Klein said it didn’t seem so when he told his dad he was getting into the field.
Then he told this “story” about a subsequent encounter with his dad:
“He said I got a new battery for my hearing aid and it’s one of your competitor’s.
“I said, Oh really. What kind is it?
“About 3:30,” his dad reportedly replied.

–Charles Slat

The only complaint I heard from any of the fans who gathered for the Peter Facinelli’s meet and greet Saturday at The Mall of Monroe were from those who didn’t know that photos or autographs would cost them some cash.

Autographs were available for $25 and photos for $40, with partial proceeds benefiting Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a charity that supports childhood cancer research.

After I heard one fan fussing, I asked her where she got her information because that detail was well publicized locally. It turns out she lives out of town, and heard about the event second-hand.

Another fan also didn’t want to spend that much money on a meet and greet, so she and the granddaughter just stood by to the side to catch a glimpse of the movie star and then went home.

As I explained to them, fees for autographs (or the requirement to purchase a specific item to get the autograph) are common practice in the celebrity world. I’ve seen that procedure as I sought out autographs from authors and actors I enjoy, and some of my relatives and friends have seen that at comic book events.

But it is also common practice to donate at least part of those proceeds to charity, and Peter’s benefit was for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

– Paula Wethington

Peter Facinelli, one of the stars of the “Twilight” movies, tweets.

He tweeted in advance about his appearance today at Frenchtown Square mall, now known as Mall of Monroe.

So if you are wondering why there were people in line from other cities and therefore would not have seen the local advance coverage, the reason is some of them found out about the event from the actor’s own publicity.

Here’s his twitter.

Here’s his fan web site.

– Paula Wethington

The Monroe County Health Department has been sending out fliers with the H1N1 vaccination clinic schedule.

Details at monroenews.com.

– Paula Wethington

The Monroe Evening News has set up a special page on its web site for local links and headlines on h1n1 influenza.

In the meantime, here are some of the national and regional headlines this weekend on h1n1 influenza:

• CNN: Obama declares h1n1 emergency.
• CNN: Hand sanitizer in short supply as flu hits (hint: look around your medicine chest, disaster supplies and school supplies before you go shopping – you may already have plenty for your family).
• Detroit Free Press: Long lines await flu shots.
• Toledo Blade: Flu scare boosts calls to janitorial firms.

– Paula Wethington

Did you see the GetMommed.com by Kleenex advertisement in the Sunday coupon books? It’s part of the Kleenex marketing campaign during cold and flu season.

This is a fun site! Go check it out.

I got matched with Lisa as my “mom.” She’s the crafty mom.

– Paula Wethington

The Monroe County Health Department currently has a notice on its web site that the agency is temporarily out of seasonal flu vaccine.

The Health Check expo that was held Wednesday at Monroe County Community College announced a couple of days in advance that the seasonal flu vaccine would not be available.

We’re also getting word of mouth reports that many of the area pharmacy and drugstore supplies are out, or nearly so.

If you are still looking for the seasonal flu vaccine, the best thing to do is watch for updated announcements from the Monroe County Health Department.

In the meantime, the first H1N1 vaccines are starting to arrive in the area, and the Monroe County Health Department is posting those clinic schedules on its web site.

– Paula Wethington

Are you wondering how to handle out-of-pocket expenses for cold and flu medications, unexpected school closings, sick leave policies and doctor visits when your family is on a budget … but someone got sick with “flu-like symptoms”?

Check out the H1N1 influenza archives at Monroe on a Budget.

– Paula Wethington

The Monroe County Health Department in Monroe, Mich., has announced its flu clinic schedule for H1H1 virus.

You’ll find the pdf at the health department site.

– Paula Wethington

New Bedford Academy in Lambertville, Mich., has closed for the week because of high numbers of students reporting illness.

Report from The Monroe Evening News.

– Paula Wethington

News media across the country are picking up on this headline – and it was reported on page 10A of Wednesday’s edition of The Monroe Evening News.

There is now an interactive web site designed to help influenza patients determine whether it is time to call your doctor or stick with home remedies.

It’s at H1N1responsecenter.com.

– Paula Wethington