writer [rahy-ter] : a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., especially as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist.
I just covered my first press conference ever.
This is so big for me.
It was exhilarating.
It was a county press conference unveiling the new taxi on patrol extension to the neighborhood watch program. Even the major news networks were there. I was so nervous but I didn’t want to come off as someone who was new at it so I just went with the flow, and I don’t think I did a bang-up job.
So proud of myself! Almost like the universe was giving me a belated birthday present. How sweet!
If you’ve turned on any device that can connect you to the news, you’ve heard of the tragic shooting at the Aurora, Colorado movie theater during the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.
I’ve been watching NPR’s coverage of it since they have been focusing on the events chronologically.
I came across this:
A Litany of Victims: Dispatch Tapes Reveal Chaos, Bloodshed of Mass Shooting: The Two-Way NPR
Absolutely horrifying, and I thank NPR for getting the dispatch tapes. It really gives insight to the intensity of the situation and the organization of the police during this horrible incident.
I will update this post with other coverage I find that is good.
A police and fire exercise I covered made page three of this weeks Valley Stream Herald.
Take a gander at it! It was really interesting to witness the drill and see how the firefighters practically demolished a scene to get out victims.
I hope this doesn’t happen to any of you.
Rescue workers train for real thing
Enjoy! and let me know what you think.
So tonight something interesting happened in this little college town. I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed and what do you know pops up?
Someone posted about heavy police activity in town.
Their post read as:
“On my way to the deli in town, I saw 4 police cars, 2 fire trucks, and the trailways on Main street. I think someone got hit!! :O:”
This was posted just around midnight. And I had seen it about 25 minutes after it was posted. So I decided to check Twitter and there were two tweets about it.
The most interesting Tweet was:
“What is happening in New Paltz? Helicopters, 7 police cars, and ambulance and a women screaming outside the middle school. WHAT’S GOING ON?”
So I decided to go into town to investigate. While I was putting on clothes (I was in pajamas at this time) I could hear a helicopter outside, to me that was a confirmation.
It took me about 15 minutes to walk into town. When I got to the area by the aforementioned Middle School and the Deli (Convenient Deli) it was bone quiet. Nothing was stirring. No police activity. Convenient is 24 hours, so I went inside and asked the cashier if he had seen or heard anything. He said someone either got hit by a bus or had a heart attack on it. Either way they were airlifted to a hospital. He also gave me the interesting fact that a drug sniffing dog was brought in.
Luckily, I had bumped into my roommate in the deli, who dropped me off back to the dorm. I proceeded to call the bus company but they shut they closed at midnight. I then called the town police. I explained what I heard about the activity and the officer on the end of the line, clearly annoyed and angered said, “We don’t give out that kind of information on the phone.” I didn’t want to deal with an irate officer so I hung up without pressing any further. You can bend my back but not break it.
So now what do I do? I’ve written down my timeline of events and what I know. I have to go to the bus station tomorrow anyway to take a bus home for the weekend and I plan on doing some more snooping.
What more could I have done?