| the writing life |
Behind the scenes of my day job at the newspaper.
Wow - the past two days have been pretty hectic. On Monday night, we got a tip that a local police agency was working with Dateline to do a "To catch a predator" sting. Our city netted 21 arrests, which seemed kinda' low compared to the number you normally see arrested on the show. Most of the arrests were out of the area people who drove to meet what they thought would be an underage child.
Interestingly, one was a police officer from Alabama, who allegedly was found to have the following items in his car: rope, duct tape, automatic weapons, and... possibly an anchor.
I asked the police chief during a press conference if he thought the cop planned to kill the child he thought he was going to meet. He gave me a "no comment." The Dateline episode will air in February on NBC. With an arrest that shocking, I'm sure it will have lots of people talking. I'm shocked that NBC hasn't started a weekly "To Catch a Predator" TV show. Certainly, they'd never run out of "stars."
Tonight, I went to two city meetings, one which was packed to the rim with angry residents opposing a developer's plans to build a three story apartment complex and possibly put an emergency road right in their back yard.
There is a certain buzz in the air in a packed room full of angry people.
It's interesting to watch the chemistry in the room as events like this unfold. If you look around, you will see quite an array of different personalities in the room. You may see a guy chomping at the bit, struggling to control himself until given a chance to talk during the public speaking portion. You might see someone very very sure of their position, smiling arrogantly and muttering angrily under their breaths. Then there are the silent ones, who really seem like they want to speak out, but won't. Either out of shyness or out of frustration. Sometimes people get so beaten down by things never going their way that they just sit silently, not thinking that their voice will matter.
One thing I've learned in the year of covering my city beat is that nothing changes unless people take part in government. There are so many ways to get screwed. Whether it be an unsavory business setting up in your neighborhood, a developer destroying land, a government passing an ordinance which will affect you, or just the daily spending habits of your government which you, the taxpayer will ultimately pay for. When people pay attention, they can oftentimes come together and prevail against such things.
It just takes involvement.
However, given that most people are too busy just working and trying to live their lives, they find it hard to stay informed and vigil. A good newspaper, in my opinion, helps to inform people of the important things.
Well, that's enough for tonight. I just finished and posted both of my comic strips. It was difficult to finish them on a night I'm so tired. I hope it isn't evident in the final product.Labels: writing life |
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You know its just sickening what these people do. There is a site, www.catchaperve.com , where he discusses how he finds and uncovers internet predators and posts the conversations and a photo of the sickos. Before a conversation is over he manages to doop them into showing themselves via webcam.
I sincerly, belive that there needs to a nation wide internet safty education program started. Not just for kids but for their parents as well. The more ppl know, God will, the less ppl will be hurt by internet predators.
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Name: Blogger Dad
Home: Florida, United States
About Me: I was a reporter at a Florida newspaper, where I covered city politics and draw editorial comics. Now, I'm a Blogger Dad (click the link for my webpage - the blog on the bottom is for Todd and Penguin) in search of a job and attempting to write a book or four.
I'm also a cartoonist, how most of you know me, who draws Todd and Penguin, Taking Up Space and the occasional other titles, featured on KeenSpot.com.
I'm married (sorry, all you ladies interested in overweight guys who spend too much time drawing) and have a one year old son and two cats. Three of the above mentioned poop way too much!
See my profile...
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posted by Blogger Dad at 
You know its just sickening what these people do. There is a site, www.catchaperve.com , where he discusses how he finds and uncovers internet predators and posts the conversations and a photo of the sickos. Before a conversation is over he manages to doop them into showing themselves via webcam.
I sincerly, belive that there needs to a nation wide internet safty education program started. Not just for kids but for their parents as well. The more ppl know, God will, the less ppl will be hurt by internet predators.