Wednesday, July 25, 2007

A1: "SWAT team terminates search, does not find gunman"

I read right through this piece wondering when the unfortunately named Joanne Twaddell would get around to telling the story that rates half the front page, only to find no story other than a bunch of PVPD guys got up in jackboot mufti made a big show of trying to arrest an empty motel.

Then, at the very end, comes the clue: all this happened next door to the Courier operation in PV, and during the search police placed the offices "in lock-down" (oooh, how dramatic). Courier employees were involved, so we get a simple failure to maintain proper perspective on what amounts to nothing.

Joanne doesn't tell us who reported the shots in the first place -- a Courier employee, perhaps?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK Steve -- lay off Joanne's name. Not cool. And besides, you wouldnt let me call gun-toting NRA freaks pansies the other day. jared

Steven Ayres said...

I think I've been remarkably restrained on that subject. A feature writer named Twaddell could be a character out of Dickens. It positively invites satire, especially given the assignments she tends to get.