Slice of Life

There are many things to do on a Friday evening in the south bay. But why would anyone in their right mind choose a three hour wait standing in line? Well that’s exactly what I and some fellow hockey fans did. A local store at the mall hosted a fan day. Now let us reevaluate this picture. After a busy work and family week Friday night approached. The idea of relaxation and decompression put my mind at ease. Then my sister Tania calls, “My favorite player Ryan Clowe is going to be at the mall, want to come?” Sounds fun enough. But the wild card here is my two year old. I rarely take him to the mall unless I know it’s for him to play vs. me having adult time. The line formed and we anxiously awaited our turn. Two and a half hours later our player was stuck in traffic in San Francisco, apparently some baseball game was on. My son had reached his melting point along with every fan whose eager smile had turned to frustrated frown. Then from a distance cheering and clapping, and there he was. At this point the fans went wild. My son who was waiting to see “The Shark” literally, was disappointed by seeing a man walk in. My sister made it to the front of the line; she was beyond excited, on the verge of tears. The picture of her and “The Shark” made it to face book within seconds. My reward? Another exciting Friday night!

Libel Exercise

2) Libel Exercise: Here's your chance to play editor. Read the following draft of a college newspaper story and determine if it contains any passages that are libelous. If you believe you have found a libelous passage, describe it and say why you believe it is libelous. Then briefly explain what you would need to do to fix it (or whether you would need to omit it) before you could run the story.

Here's the news story draft to review for libel:
A sophomore at Springfield University claims a chemistry professor has sexually harassed her.

Karen Hart, 123 Hill Hall, says the professor, George O.T. Jungle, has touched her during tutoring sessions in his office and has invited her to his apartment several times. She said she declined his invitations. (I Find this passage to be extremely libelous. According to Harrower pg 140, “If people are likely to be damaged by a story, give them a chance to defend themselves. This passage is only one side to the supposed story and offense. This statement needs to be re-written.)

"I am having trouble in the class and I have to go see him to get help with my papers and projects," Hart said. "But I am scared to go in his office now."

Jungle denied having an improper contact with the student and threatened this newspaper with a libel suit if it published the story.
Hart said she is thinking of filing a formal complaint with the university. (No formal complaint has been made so there is no evidence or in essence any proven crime.)

"I don't know how to do that," she said. "I don't know what to do."

(This whole story needs to be re-written and should possibly not be printed until a formal complaint has been made by the student) Right now it is libelous to run the story because there is no proven evidence it is just hearsay. Jungle cannot even claim he is innocent or make a proper response because right now the statement. His name should not be used in the story either. The whole story is incomplete because there are not two sides and the statements are not verifiable, nor are they in the process of being verified by a judicious authority.)

News Story Gas Line Break

A gas line ruptured today in San Francisco during a sewer line repair. Four streets in the vicinity of Folsom and 11th came to a standstill, when a private construction company working on a sewer line, ruptured a two-inch underground gas pipe with a backhoe. A little before 12:30 p.m.; today residents, business owners, and lunchtime diners in the south of market area were forced to leave their food and work behind while PG & E began to make repairs. Police were involved in cordoning off streets and keeping traffic flow to a minimum in the surrounding area. Crocker’s Lockers located on Folsom near 10th tried to keep customers moving by walking outside the police perimeter to offer service. Cariann Lauria the manager of Crocker’s Lockers didn’t voice her personal frustration but said, “Ask my customers, they were pretty irate.” PG & E said that the gas was turned back on by 5:09 pm.

Fact Set #2 An Alarming Event

Ninety-five candles, five fire engines, two ladder companies, and one birthday cake. Firefighters responding to a fire alarm and cloud of smoke were instead offered carrot cake by ninety-five-year-old birthday girl Mabel McCullough. Ok, so they didn’t stay for cake, but they were quite surprised to find a celebration ensuing instead of a five-alarm blaze. “In my twenty-three years on the job, I’ve seen a lot of things set off a fire alarm, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one going off because of a birthday cake,” said Fire Chief Lonnie Lamb. The birthday to remember was planned by Mabel’s’ First United Church women’s group who decided to light all ninety-five candles. “There wasn’t an inch to spare. By the time we had them all lit, it looked like a torch,” said Eddie Carlin one of the party goers. Tulsa, Oklahoma would like to wish Mabel a blazing birthday but cautions that next years she uses one simple candle, a number ninety-six.

Fact Set #1 A Squirrelly Situation

If only the squirrel had chosen to board the train using the front door, forty-seven thousand rail commuters would not have been stranded Monday afternoon in New York. The squirrels’ power line ballet caused an electrical surge that not only electrocuted the commuting squirrel but set a domino effect of problems in motion for the Metro-North commuter railroad. When the power surge occurred it weakened some overhead power brackets on the rail line, this loosened some wires which then fell onto the tracks, and become entangled under a passing train. Metro-North spokeswoman Donna Evans reported that commuters waited for hours. No one could get out of Manhattan. Even though power was restored by Tuesday morning commuters have learned a valuable lesson, whether animal or human, always use the door.

News Story #3 Firefighters

A San Jose man is in grave condition today after being burned in a house kitchen fire yesterday. The victim fifty-year-old Robert Kent lives in the single story house on Annapolis Way.
According to San Jose Fire Captain Rob Piper the fire was reported at around 3 p.m. The cause of the fire is being investigated but it was stated that there was no smoke detector in the house. The fire started in the kitchen and spread to the attic causing the entire house to be engulfed in smoke. The man was already surrounded by flames when the firefighters reached him, and suffered second and third degree burns on over fifty-percent of his body. Kent is listed in grave condition at Valley Medical Center in San Jose.

Fact Set #2 Devil’s Slide Crash

A man traveling on Highway 1 today drove off Devils Slide and plummeted 150-feet of off a cliff. The 24-year-old motorist, whose name has not been released suffered minor injuries and was taken to San Francisco General Hospital.
The man was driving his Mazda sedan north towards San Francisco at 4:10a.m.; in very dense fog when he missed a turn and drove over the side of the cliff. The car landed on its wheels and the man was able to dial 911.
The road was closed for two hours in both directions while rescue crews worked to locate the man. The dense fog did not help the rescue efforts which were already difficult because of the precarious position of the vehicle. CHP and Cal Fire worked together during the rescue which involved rappelling off the side of the cliff to reach the vehicle and bringing the man back up the cliff in a protective cage.
Although the day started out badly for the man things could have been worse, the only visible injury he sustained was a bump on the head. CHP Sgt. Trent Ross said, “He did what he was supposed to do, he wore his seat belt, there is no doubt it would have been fatal.”