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A Few Minutes of Stardom

The past two days have certainly been days to remember!

A friend who is a Cooperative Observer for the National Weather Service in State College, reporting from Chandlers Valley PA, suggested that I send my storm pictures to JET 24, Attn: Tom Atkins. Tom A. is a meteorologist for JET 24/Fox 66. At 3:05 pm I forwarded my blog post about the “wind event” to him (sent a private message to his Facebook page). At 3:18 pm Tom A. wrote back stating “I’m forwarding this to news.” He asked for my telephone number, which I provided him at 3:21 pm.

At 3:37 pm my husband, Bob, telephoned. He needed me to come pick him up at Chestnut & 4th. He rode his bicycle into work. His back tire was flat. I left immediately.

At 3:41 pm my friend from Chandlers Valley messaged me “Jet Tv wants to come talk to you what is your #”. I was at a traffic light, stopped by a red light, when my friend messaged me. I hurriedly wrote back, giving her my telephone number, with an added note “but I am driving now”. My telephone rang perhaps a minute later. I figured that the call was from JET-TV but left the call go to voicemail because I was driving. A couple minutes passed, and my telephone chimed. Someone had sent me a Facebook message.

I arrive at Chestnut & 4th, park the car, and get out telling Bob that he is driving home that I have to call JET-TV. I noticed first that I had a Facebook message. Tom A. asked “can we post pictures from you on our Facebook page?” I responded immediately in the affirmative and told him that they should be able to share the pictures straight from my page, as it is a public album. I, then, checked voicemail. Leanne Stuck, news reporter with JET 24/Fox 66 in Erie, asked me to call her back. I returned Leanne’s call at 3:52 pm.

Next thing I know Leanne S. is on her way to Warren to interview ME. She will arrive at my house around 5:30 pm.

At 5:00 pm a JET-TV news broadcast, confirming that a tornado hit Warren County, showcased photographs that I had taken of storm damage. This news broadcast can be viewed via the link provided below. Click on the second video from the left below the video box.

My interview went well, I think. I was nervous. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe! The news story about Warren County’s tornado was broadcasted at 10:00 pm on Erie’s JET-TV (ABC) and at 11:00 pm on FOX 66. The news broadcasts were the same. They showed only a small portion of my interview, using only the part about screaming when I saw the tree falling down in front of our house and then seeing the fallen tree in our next-door neighbor’s yard. One other person was interviewed, Cindy Morrison, who is one of three Warren County Commissioners.

There you have it … my few minutes of stardom.

Wind Blows Roof Off House

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry

Bob and I drove by this house yesterday evening. I exclaimed “Look at that!”. You couldn’t miss seeing the roof lying on the ground in front of the house. We thought the owners had physically removed their metal roof. That was not the case. Today’s Warren Times Observer newspaper reports that “the wind just blew the whole roof right off…It started on the backside of the house, rolled right up over the roof. Rolled it up like a sardine can.” The roof was original, more than a century old. The owner expects to install another metal roof. If you would like to read the entire newspaper article, please click on the “Times Observer” link provided underneath the photograph.

Naked Hiking Day

Photograph obtained at Weird News on NBCNews.com

Today is Father’s Day. It is also the Summer Solstice, the first day of summer. Did you know today is also Naked Hiking Day? That was news to me! As you read the Naked Hiking Day article, note that Andrew Williams is from Warren, PA. My hometown certainly has a way lately of getting in the news, worldwide!

Unbelievable

You may have already heard about the personal ad that was posted this past Thursday in my local newspaper, the Warren Times Observer. News articles and blogs are posted are all over the Internet.

The personal ad reads:

“May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley & Kennedy!”

UNBELIEVABLE! I am appalled that my local newspaper (any newspaper for that matter) would publish a personal ad such as this.

On Friday, May 29th, the Warren Times Observer, published on page A-2 the following apology:

“An errant classified “personal” ad which appeared in Thursday’s Times Observer has drawn the attention of law enforcement officials.

A person from Warren placed the ad, which apparently alludes to the wish that President Obama meet an untimely end by linking him with four assassinated presidents. The ad representative didn’t make the connection among the four other presidents mentioned and mistakenly allowed the ad to run.

Upon realizing the mistake early Thursday morning, the ad was immediately discontinued and the identity of the person who placed the ad was turned over to Warren City Police as per newspaper policy. The local police department forwarded the information to federal authorities, as per department policy.

The Times Observer apologizes for the oversight.”

On the front page of today’s edition of the Warren Times Observer, the following article appears:

“A representative of the U.S. Secret Service was in Warren Friday, accompanied by a Warren City police officer to investigate the circumstances surrounding the placement of a classified ad in the Times Observer on Thursday.

An ad linking President Obama to four assassinated presidents inadvertently was printed in the paper because the employee who took the ad did not make the connection as to what tied those four presidents together. When the ad was brought to the attention of the newspaper management it was immediately pulled from the newspaper’s classified computer system so that it could not run again and local and federal law enforcement officials were notified.

Secret Service representatives, who interviewed the ad taker and the publisher, and indicated that they would also talk to the person who placed the ad, requested that the paper not publicly reveal the name of that person because it would hamper their investigation.

The Times Observer, in an effort to cooperate with those law enforcement officials, is honoring that request. It has also been the long-standing policy of this newspaper not to publish the names of people who are under investigation, but have not been either charged with a crime or named in criminal indictment.

If charges are filed in the case, and the federal authorities release the name, the Times Observer will provide that coverage.”

An Odd Statement

What follows is the first paragraph of an obituary that appeared in my local newspaper a few days ago.

“Lorraine Irene Baxter, 83, of 1144 North Main St., Russell, and formerly of Conewango Towers for the past 19 years, where she was evicted for smoking (as she couldn’t quit smoking after having smoked her whole life) after the housing authority enacted new rules, died at 11:55 a.m. Saturday, April 18, 2009 at Warren General Hospital.”

Does it strike you as odd that someone would insert information about being evicted for smoking in an obituary?

Disorderly Conduct

I read the following article in today’s Warren Times Observer’s On the Record.

“According to Warren-based state police, Brittany Sullivan, 19, of 1354 Brown Hill Rd., was outside her residence getting the mail at about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, when an unknown woman, described as being heavyset, in her 70s with gray shoulder-length hair and average height, pulled into the driveway in an older, dark green van, exited the vehicle and confronted her, calling her Sophie and telling her that she needed to get to school. After telling the woman that she was not Sophie, the woman grabbed Sullivan by the arm and directed her to the vehicle to be taken to school. Sullivan was able to get free and the woman left, traveling north on Brown Hill Rd., police said.”

That was certainly a strange occurrence!