Behind the Headlines

I just spoke with another person about possible dog-napping. Since the story ran two weeks ago - Lost but Not Forgotten - I’ve gotten tons of emails and calls. Some people were just curious about what was happening, if the police were investigating, if the woman found her dog, etc.
Others were reporting their own experiences. A few reported incidents with a blue van.

The call I just got was about a white van, following alongside a dog. An astute neighbor noticed the scene and asked the kid involved if the dog was his. He said it was, but she jotted down the license plate info anyway. It was a white van with black stripes trying to coax a small dog inside. She said it was likely nothing, that the dog was probably theirs, but just in case.

It’s fascinating to me that so many people have become involved in this. Have you been on the lookout for anything suspicious as a result of this? Have you more closely watched your dog? I’m just curious how others are reacting - if they are reacting. My advice to the woman who called, as well as anyone else who suspects something is amiss with their missing dog or a neighbor’s is to call animal control and the humane society and provide as much detail as possible. (Of course, also letting me know so I can stay on top of what’s happening!) If animal control or the state police get enough reports of suspecting dog-napping, they’ll launch an investigation.
So, what’s the word on the street?

This week I covered two really cool events.
The first was St. Patrick School in Carleton’s downtown scavenger hunt. The principal wanted the students to see the history and family-friendly places that are downtown Monroe.

For the whole day, students worked in groups visiting different locations throughout the downtown and around the city. Along the way, they had to find items corresponding to the alphabet.

They learned about Custer, how their school got started and even how pizzas were made.

The other event was Airport Community School’s Pioneer Day.

Once a year, fourth-grade students from around the district travel to Sterling Elementary to step back in time and learn what Michigan was like during pioneer times.

Some students really got into it and dressed in costumes.
I was impressed by the number of kids who told me they would much rather lived during those times because life was simpler.

Simpler? How could waking up at 4 a.m. and working until 9 p.m. every day from the time you were small until the day you can no longer work be any simpler than today?

I was even more impressed some of the boys said they preferred playing with the toys from that time than playing with some of the games nowadays — including video games.

Both events were very creative ways to learn about history. I’m continuously impressed how interactive schools have become in recent years.

I guess I’m a little jealous.

Because both looked like so much fun, I wished I was back in school. Well, almost.

At least 321 employees of the Pontiac School District will be laid off at the end of this year because of declining enrollment and an anticipated cut of nearly $125 per pupil in state funding, 100 are teachers.
Some local districts has announced layoffs of some teaching staff, bus drivers and maintenance workers.

Gov. Granholm is proposing an increase in taxes. What do you think the state should do to cut down on the lay-offs?

We’re getting a few calls at the newsroom from people who need our mailing address because they plan to mail - rather than hand-deliver - a press release because they’d rather not make a trip downtown.

Go ahead and mail your announcements. But please keep in mind that, even if you are mailing a letter from the city of Monroe, it can take two or three days for mail to get to our office and be delivered to the right person. So plan ahead for the extra lead time.

If you need quicker delivery, you can fax or e-mail the announcements. If you need to phone in an announcement, it may be hit and miss for contacting a specific reporter or editor, but generally there are people in and out of the newsroom during business hours Monday through Friday. (Weekend and holiday hours are limited.)
Contact numbers and e-mail addresses are listed at www.monroenews.com.

So my editor, Doug, comes over to my pod in the afternoon and sits all meet-the-press style across from me. He will be giving a presentation on one of our internal initiatives (saying it that way makes it sound covert and interesting…) later this week at a conference not in Hawaii.

It was strange. I was interviewed. I usually do the interviewing.

He began asking me several questions to which I promptly gave some babbling answer, afraid I wasn’t covering all the information, making it unclear, and/or misspeaking. I had to stop the questioning, gather my thoughts and then proceed. The process repeated itself several times as he asked more questions.

Afterward I was left feeling odd. I wanted to explain more. Did I mention that one thing that was really crucial to understanding everything else? Did I represent the information clearly? Did I sound like an idiot?

It really reversed the roles. I’ve been interviewed before, in particular about my job or some event. Having information, though, that someone else would be summarizing and presenting to a large audience was a little different. I’m always sympathetic about interviews, but doing something like this really was a reminder on the importance of being aware of the psychology behind being questioned.

And assuring the interviewee that they did not sound like an idiot.

Yeah, so this is quite gross - be warned. But anyone who’s been visited by the ticket fairy knows what place the impulse comes from.

A Minnesota guy apparently was ticked off by a parking ticket, sent in the payment and a little something extra that originated with his dog.

Read the article here.

Reporter on the phone:

“Yeah, I know he’s a maniac,” said reporter. “uh huh. yep. Wait, you mean he’s an actual psychopath? Well that’s different.”

It’s well known, yet somewhat boggling, that when we run an animal story it generates a lot of feedback. It’s understandable because many people feel passionately about their pets and furry animals in general, but slightly odd that we get more input on stories like this than say stories about tax increases or people in perilous situations.

So I shouldn’t have been surprised that the story I put together on the woman who thinks her dog was snatched kicked off a slew of emails and phone calls. As far as I know, she has not heard anything specific about her dog as off yesterday afternoon. She has, however, been consulting with two pet psychics to see if they could shed some light on the situation. She thinks one has given her a pretty strong tip.

She’s refusing to give up. I just came across this in our paper, in the lost and found classified section:

“TO THE PERSONS - Who picked up the black & tan female miniature dachshund on Thurs. afternoon, 4/19, on Dunbar Rd., We have offered you a $500 reward to return our little girl. Is she OK? Please don’t hurt her. We want her to come home to us, we miss her very much. Why won’t you return her to us? Have we done something to you that you feel we should be punished for? Do you want to hurt her for some reason? I am trying to understand what would motivate you to keep my little dog from her home. You knew when you picked her up she belonged to someone; she has a family that loves her. It is like losing a child or another valued member of the family, there is a void only their return will fill. Please do the right thing & return her to us. I pray you never have to feel the loss we feel. Sincerely, Bill & Cheryl, 734-384-1315.”

Many people out there are cheering her on. Do you think an ad like this will be effective? Is she going about this in the right way?

To prevent school shootings, some South Carolina legislators want more guns on campuses.

A House subcommittee approved a measure today that would allow concealed weapon permit holders to carry guns onto public school campuses, from elementary schools to universities.

I remember seeing an interview with some of the Virginia Tech students after the shootings last month who said they would have felt safer if guns would have been allowed on campus. Those same students said less people would have been killed if concealed permit holders would have been allowed to have their guns at hand.
Do you think this is a good idea or is it going to cause more problems?

I covered and judge the Monroe County Intermediate School District’s Spelling Bee last night.

The winner, Marc Schwartz, an eighth-grader from Cantrick Middle School easily won the competition after spelling “perdition” and “motley” correctly.

After receiving his trophy and medal, I asked him what he thought about beating out 38 other participants.

He shrugged his shoulders and said he didn’t try all that hard to win and he thought the majority of his 14 words were easy to spell.

I am surprised how little he seemed to care about winning. Although, I should not have been so surprised. Every time he went to the microphone to spell a word, he looked really bored.
Looking back, I should have asked him if he would have rather been someplace else last night. I’m sure he would have been more enthusiastic about that.

My daughter is graduating this year from Monroe High School. Our church has a breakfast and recognition program every year to honor the graduates from our parish, but as it turns out, our family has a schedule conflict with that date. So after some discussion, my daughter and I decided to attend the community baccalaureate service held Tuesday night at MHS and sponsored by the Monroe Evangelical Association.

Inter-denominational events such as this are tricky to script out and program. There is such diversity of tradition, ritual and music among the Christian churches that what one congregation considers completely normal and expected for a special event could easily seem odd or strange to another.

But from our perspective as a Catholic family, the event was very well done.

Yes, the program followed a different format from what I have seen at Catholic high school graduations and parish baccalaureates. And the hymn I jokingly call “the graduation hymn” because having heard it so often at such events in my faith tradition, “Gather Us In,” wasn’t on the program.

But I did recognize and sang along with “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art.” And my daughter knew some of the praise and worship songs, which are popular among her friends.

The best thing about the music is that most of the performers were themselves talented high school seniors - some of them wearing cap and tassel as they sang into a microphone.

The sermon message focused on how important it is to be a good influence on someone else. You never know who will be that influence in your life, or how you will influence others. The preacher’s story, based on his own family’s experiences, was encouraging for both parents and students.

Something new that was added to the program this year was a scholarship drawing for two students who attended the event.

Thanks to the congregations that sponsored this event - and those who will hold similar programs in area churches or schools during graduation season. A baccalaureate is a nice send-off from the faith community to the graduates!

It’s 88 degrees in Monroe County right now. That’s just crazy talk. Checking out www.wunderground.com, the storms everyone has been talking about are heading our way in about an hour.

I don’t think I’m particularly ready for 88 degrees. Is anyone else thrown off by this?

On a side note: gas is now about $3.39 a gallon in Monroe town proper. Off N. Dixie near the freeway gas is still in the $3.19 range. Judging from the line up of cars and trucks, the great gas off that was making its rounds on the internet and via e-mail, has not been a big deal. The idea was to band together in a boycott of gas with no one buying it today.

Nola Ochs is entering the world record books for being the oldest person to receive a college degree.

Mrs. Ochs, 95, graduated last weekend from Fort Hays State University with a bachelor’s degree. But she’s not done yet. She said she wants to pursue a master’s.

I know my grandpa is talking about going back to college when he retires in a few years and getting his bachelor’s degree. He is only 9 credits shy. I think his age of 74 isn’t too bad considering Mrs. Ochs’ age.

Do you know of anyone who returned to school later in life to complete their college degrees?

I was passed along this food-for-thought quote from a co-worker:

“If (children) are appalled by what they read, they can close the book at the bottom of page one; if they read further, they will learn what is in the world and in its people, and no parents who have been discerning with their children need fear the outcome.”

– Curtis Bok, former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice, 1949.

I just came back from a weekend trip to Dallas. Interesting, to say the least.

They say it’s like a whole different country down there, and I think I’m inclined to think the same. Aside from the differences with ideas on gun control, I’m shocked at the prosperity there.

In the area between Fort Worth and Dallas, the towns are bursting at the seams. From the pastures around H. Ross Perot’s old Circle T ranch have popped up endless restaurants, stores and roads.

The thing that shocked me the most is their schools. All the buildings are expansive, new centers that look more like a college campus than elementary and high schools. Each of the schools have their own football stadiums and auditoriums.
I hear they pay through the nose for the best, but they also have only 18 students per classroom.

They don’t, however, have snow in April and October.

By the way, if you’re ever in Dallas, Dealey Plaza is a must see. It’s a very surreal view from the Sixth Floor Museum in the old book depository building.