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Our past-Historic village threatened
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Setting limits online
One of the more disturbing things to turn up since the recent church fires has surfaced on YouTube. It’s a video showing The Memmorial Baptist church as it burns with Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” playing as accompaniment.
Ordinarily, we would jump at the opportunity to provide our readers and users with a link that helps tell a story, and upsetting as this may be, it is part of the story. But providing that link wasn’t even a matter for discussion when it came up during our editors’ meeting this week.
Still, this illustrates how many traditional newsrooms have been swimming through a tidal wave of transition — and we’re no exception. With all the talk about convergence, those of us in the print media think it’s incredibly exciting to provide a video or break a story immediately rather than waiting for the presses to roll, hours hence. The Internet means we can give you access to material we’ve never been able to provide and, like most journalists, we want you to have any and all information available to help you understand a story.
But it also means we’re faced with a whole new set of ethical questions. Suddenly, we’re not only swimming in that tidal wave of new capabilities, we’re awash in new responsibilities.
This one was fairly easy. Others have not been as simple. Do we upload an autopsy file as we report on a controversial death? Do we provide e-mails obtained to illustrate the facts of an investigation? In cases like this, the potential for invasion of privacy is compounded in ways we never imagined.
In the past, none of this would’ve been considered. Now, it presents bothersome questions that disturb a print journalist’s comfort zone. We will continue to examine and re-examine our decision-making processes, but we’re finding that, when media capabilities grow at warp speed, it important to install a governor on our own accelerator.
What about the video? Given our belief in free speech, we won’t argue the producer’s right to put something like this online, but you can bet that we will argue our right not to endorse it by providing a link.
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Anniversary reflection
The Daily Reflector hasn’t used lead type to put ink to paper for decade, but a few of us still have pieces of it inside the newsroom.
We use the letters to spell our names or words that we think are cool and display them on our desks. I missed the hot type era, starting my journalism career in the 1980s as computers were being introduced into newsrooms here and elsewhere.
We wonder today how much longer the print era will continue, as technology has moved more of our focus to the Internet, away from paper that rubs black stains onto our fingers.
I like how the ink smudges my skin when I’ve been handling stacks of The Reflector, how it dirties soapy water in the sink and swirls down the drain when I wash it off.
Years worth of ink still blacken the lead type I keep on my desk. The shape of petite boxcars with capital letters shining on the front end, the six of them fit in the palm of my hand.
Their corners catch in the creases and folds of my skin, and their heft surprises me each time I hold them.
As the Reflector marks 125 years today, it moves still farther from the day when molten lead poured into type forms.
But the heavy old type will remind me from where we came.
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Answering the call Saturday night
It was a sound we hear countless times every night in the newsroom - the sound of the police scanner.
But Saturday night, it was very different. It was a time of shock as the first the call came of a fire at The Memorial Baptist Church in Greenville. Initial reports were heard to say smoke pouring from the building. Shortly there after, reports of flames showing. It didn’t take long to realize that a major event was playing out. Editors sprung to work. Reporters were sent to the scene, along with photographers.
Then the scanner again - motion alarm at Oakmont Baptist Church and smoke showing at Unity Free Will Baptist Church. More calls made and more people sent to cover the breaking stories around Greenville, all the while, the blaze roared at The Memorial. The newsroom buzzed with activity and the phones rang and rang and rang. There were rumors of other possible fires and break-ins. We were having trouble keeping up with all the activity.
As the evening grew late, details poured in as Greenville and other fire stations rained down water on The Memorial to try to control the blaze. A smaller fire was contained at Unity and the Oakmont situation investigated. Reporters, editors and photographers worked feverishly to report the news. All the while, worried about those churches already hit and wondering if others would be next.
Thoughts raced through my mind as I have worshiped at both Oakmont and The Memorial. I drive by Unity nearly every day on my way to work. I couldn’t help but be saddened by the events that were unfolding. All of us were stunned as the scanner continued to keep us abreast, and reporters and editors continued to call with live reports.
Finally, the newspaper was produced and we headed home. Each church I passed was well lit and often cars were seen in the parking lot. One could only imagine what these people thought as they rallied around their churches, hoping not to be next. I drove by The Memorial and saw the destruction and fire crews working to save part of the structure. I rode past Unity and saw several squad cars with lights still on in the parking lot.
The story was in and the newspaper on the press, but the event was still - and is still - unfolding. As journalists, we will continue to cover this story. And our thoughts are with those who were affected by Saturday night’s events.
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We are Marshall, too
On Nov. 11, 2006, Marshall University made a trip to Greenville to face East Carolina in a football game. The significance? Well, unless you have been out of the country for the past eight or nine months, you have heard of the movie, “We Are Marshall.”
It was Nov. 14, 1970, when the Thundering Herd football team left the airport after a hard-fought 17-14 loss to the Pirates. The chartered flight never reached its destination, as it crashed outside the Tri-State Airport in Ceredo, W.V., killing all 75 people on board.
East Carolina commemorated this event by unveiling of a plaque at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium honoring the 1970 team during Marshall’s visit to ECU last year. Many hours were spent in the newsroom prior to this game to report on the events leading up to the presentation and the game, with a great deal of cooperation between features, sports and the news departments. We believe we did a solid job of helping people see the important link between these two universities.
Recently, I had the opportunity to see the movie, “We Are Marshall.” I was moved throughout the film by the pain and suffering the people of Marshall and Huntington, W.V., endured following the deaths of their sons, husbands, fathers and family members. I was touched by the assistance given to the rebuilding Marshall program by then West Virginia University head coach Bobby Bowden.
Many times bringing you the news means we, as journalists, have to make calculated decisions about what is important and what isn’t. The object is to be unbiased and professional in our judgement. This means, at times, we need to separate ourselves from the human emotions that can surround a story.
It is good to be reminded that the stories in the paper each day involve real people with real emotions. Our coverage of Marshall’s trip to Greenville in November was well done and insightful. It also reminded many of you, and us, that it was a time to reflect on the great loss many families suffered. The movie brought that home for me. Covering the news is a job, but it is a job that impacts real people. And that is a lesson we will never forget.
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One streak ends, another begins
On Jan. 2, a remarkable streak came to an end.
Since Aug. 30, 2003, the Reflector has published at least two letters to the editor each weekday (except Saturdays, when State Views is included instead). That means that we received at least 12 publishable letters from readers a week for more than three years.
When I attend editorial writers conferences, other editors ask for strategies to duplicate our success. The trouble is, I have few answers for them.
We strive to provide a place for an open exchange of ideas, and the editorials themselves occasionally motivate responses. But more than anything, the level of interest among the readership drives the vitality of the Public Forum. People want to write, and readers devour that section of the page.
Over the holidays, people write with less frequency, depleting the store of letters and forcing us to substitute with other material.
Readers witnessed this over the weekend, when we did not publish any letters because we lacked a pair fit for publication (our layout demands we run at least two at a time).
And that was only days after the three-year run had ended, making it a rare extended drought for the Forum.
I expect that activity will pick up in the coming days, as government turns its focus to the next year and readers again look to participate in the public discourse.
But the end of that streak — and the contributions it represents — is noteworthy, even as we look to begin a new one.
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Saddam’s hanging
Where were you when?
It’s a question we pose often in discussions about historical events. I can still remember being in The Galley below Jones Dorm at East Carolina University when the first images of the space shuttle Challenger disaster aired on television.
I can remember vividly the looks of horror on the faces of my co-workers as we watched with rapt attention the pictures from New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. I still can hear the announcers’ words echoing through my head with the sobs of co-workers in the background.
Events like these are logged into our memories often for a lifetime. And these moments are times of great decision for a newsroom. One such moment happened Friday, Dec. 29 as the world waited for word from Iraq that former dictator Saddam Hussein had been executed.
We had our normal budget meeting at 4:30 Friday afternoon and discussed how we would handle the event. Then, like the rest of the world, we waited. Alerts came throughout the evening that the execution was imminent. We discussed what we were going to do with the story and pictures if they became available. And we waited.
Then, shortly after 10 p.m., the first word came in that the newly-formed Iraqi government had executed Saddam for crimes against humanity. History had been made, a historic moment in the war in Iraq. Stories began to move, many of which certainly had been written in advance awaiting this day.
Pictures moved slowly, but many images were celebratory in nature.
We had a duty to report on this historic event. And we wanted to do so with integrity and respect to all those involved. Thousands of U.S. soldiers died in part to bring this man to justice. Many in the Middle East had suffered under Saddam, while others were staunch followers. Only time will tell how this historic event will impact the world.
One thing is certain, I will always remember, as I am sure others will as well, where I was the night Saddam was hung by the government seeking to bring democracy to the country he once ruled with an iron fist. Where were you when you heard about the hanging of Saddam Hussein? I, and others, were there trying to make sure the story made it to you.
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Full circle
On Easter, children and their parents gather on the White House lawn to roll eggs in a race, often in their Sunday best.
Kids with spoons in their hands stoop to move them forward with a great pageantry of chaos.
I have faint memories of my turn with spoon in hand. The sunshine and excitement helped me forget the discomfort of my little suit. The certificate signed by Patricia Nixon acknowledging my participation still sits in a box in my attic.
I look back on it as a connection with history. In the midst of a celebratory affair that harkened wholesome innocence, I stood in the center of a world where the Vietnam War raged and the presidency soon would fall.
Those tumultuous times caught up to us last Tuesday inside the newsroom.
We were ready to finish the paper about 11:30 p.m. when one of our copy editors, Shannon Hodges, glanced up and asked, “Why is Gerald Ford on the television.” A check of the newswires confirmed the 38th president had died, as stories, most of which had been written in advance, quickly began to move.
Honestly, we had been waiting for it.
In a recent push to meet earlier deadlines, we joked and worried he would die late one night and our paper would not note it the next day. Indeed, we would have missed the story had Ford died 30 minutes later.
Adrenaline surged, as this is one of those stop-the-presses moments for which newspaper people live. A big story breaks and you are among the point people to tell it.
In a race against the clock, we pulled one story off the front and replaced it with a Ford package cobbled together from several sources on the wire.
We had the story for the next day. Many of papers did not.
The seven days since then have offered great opportunities to reflect on that time when I was a child and America was evolving, with the speeches, columns and stories reminding us what Ford did and what that meant to the nation.
It’s also made me think deeply about the times we live in today.
It made me glad I am still standing in a good spot to live them.
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Food for thought
Tuesday’s wind blowing in the trees brought Thanksgiving to mind.
Leaves skipped across the yard. We always raked leaves on Thanksgiving to work up an appetite.
I had to rake on Tuesday. While the wind blew and the leaves skipped, I thought of Miss Lula.
She feeds people on Thanksgiving; other days, too.
She visited with me often inside the newsroom in Williamston, where I worked before I came here.
A tall woman with caramel skin and graying hair usually pulled back in a bun, her squeaky voice belies her size. Her smile and the twinkle in her eye reveal her heart.
Every year she asked me to take pictures at her Feed the 5,000 Thanksgiving feast for the poor and hungry and write a story about it for The Enterprise. Every year I complied.
Sometimes it seemed like more people showed up to help cook and serve the meal than to eat it.
Same thing happens here.
Each Thanksgiving, just about, we cover the dinner at the J.O.Y. Soup Kitchen in Greenville. Sometimes we worry the story, told so many times, is as uninteresting as turkey leftovers for the fourth straight day.
Lula never agreed with that.
She and her husband, Columbus, returned to Williamston after working as domestics up North. They started a furniture business, but knew that wasn’t their purpose.
They began a ministry that preaches love and service to their fellow man.
Columbus’ health declined, and he died about 10 years ago. Lula carries on with the church and its outreach.
She promoted her cause tirelessly, largely with phone calls or by meeting with us at the office, where she brought in long, hand-written stories for me to edit and publish. The encounters often ended with “I love you.”
And on Thanksgiving, “No” was not an acceptable answer to requests for coverage.
I’m glad, because they are stories worth telling.
They remind us about the good in people, the importance of reaching out and that somebody loves us.
And we can never be reminded too much of that.
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Medicine and megabytes
My elderly mother has been in and out of — mostly in — the hospital since just before Labor Day. As fast as we would get her home, she would have another episode with her heart, and the ambulance would move again.
Throughout her travels, from home to the doctor to Heritage Hospital in Tarboro, Pitt County Memorial Hospital, and back to Heritage again, one thing remained constant: her medical record. Because they all are on the same network, up-to-the-moment decisions about her health were logged in and available for health-care providers throughout the region.
When, some time back, I heard of this capability, it gave me pause. Despite all the legal restraints put in place to protect my records, it seemed like they would be far too public. But when my mother went back to Heritage Hospital just days after leaving PCMH, I took great comfort in the fact that doctors could check her treatment, her drugs, her history by hitting one button. The left hand did, for a change, know what the right hand was doing.
Database technology can be overwhelming at times, making us feel, very literally, like we, as persons, don’t exist. It seems like our Social Security numbers are more important than our names (and, indeed they are, if creditors told me the truth when I changed my last name).
We appreciate the occasional opportunity to save money with our store-issued customer cards, we love database retrieval when we use Google or want information about county property taxes. We just get a little queasy when we start talking about shared personal information — and who could blame us?
Here, though, is a perfect example of how it helps. Thanks to all the visits, one fairly risky procedure and a little tinkering with her medicines, my mother is in pretty darned good shape. In my opinion, that wide-area network of medical information saved her life.
That’s a database I can live with.
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We missed it
On Friday evening, I was listening to a radio broadcast that was accepting comments about Gerald Levert. Everyone was talking about him the past tense. It didn’t take long to figure out that he had died, even though that seemed so unlikely.
Finally, the disc jockey updated those of us who were just tuning in on the program. Levert, the fiery singer of passionate R&B love songs and the son of O’Jays singer Eddie Levert, died on Friday at his home in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 40. There have no been further details about his death, but the radio report said it likely caused by a heart attack.
I was so struck by the news that I immediately called my husband to tell him. Pearless and I had been to several Levert concerts at the amphitheater in Raleigh, and we both were heart-broken and in disbelief.
And, we weren’t the only ones. His death was mentioned at two events I attended on Saturday, and a friend and I talked about it at church on Sunday. The odd part was that even though he sold millions of albums and had numerous hits over his two-decade music career, his death went unnoticed in the mainstream media I read and watched, including The Daily Reflector.
I never saw it on a network newscast Friday or over the weekend, and it wasn’t in the Reflector on Saturday or Sunday or Monday. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one looking for it.
Levert’s death is a good example of the disconnect the media can have with members of its audience, whether readers or viewers. Limited by time, space and resources, we sometimes miss what many we’re trying to inform think is important.
There’s where you come in.
When something like that happens, and you can’t find it in The Daily Reflector, give us a call. Tell us what we missed, so we can do as we did Tuesday, and get the information in the paper.
As we sort through all that’s going on in the world, we may miss the news you’re looking for, something important. Something like Gerald Levert dying at 40.
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Election letters and the Forum
I mentioned it in a brief note in the Nov. 5 edition of The Daily Reflector, but I want to extend my gratitude to our readership for their participation in the election through our Public Forum. We received a tremendous number of letters and did our very best to publish as many as we could. Layout of that letters page on Sunday posed a particular challenge but, as always, we made it through.
I also wish to mention the editorial I wrote on Nov. 8 following the election, and its relation to the Public Forum. Following the election cycle and some difficult campaigns, it is important that we all come together to embrace our commonality and to do so in the spirit of civility. Too often we see letters that are calling complete strangers names or offering snide remarks that fail to serve the public interest. There is simply no reason for such nonsense.
As some point in the near future, we hope to recast the Public Forum by limiting the length of letters, perhaps limiting the frequency of letters from each author, setting forth a comprehensive list of rules and policies and so on. A key part of this will be to reject, return or request editing of letters that shun a civil tone in favor of name-calling, personal attacks and other worthless remarks. We do not need writers lowering the level of debate by attacking a person rather than thoughtfully critiquing an idea or viewpoint.
I hope that if writers embrace this principle early it will allow for a better product and less work on my side. But I just don’t see how personal attacks serve a greater purpose and I believe letter writers and Forum readers believe the same thing. I hope that the result will continue to be a lively place for public debate, but one that a greater number feel comfortable participating in.
A weekend of news
THIS PAST WEEKEND was a healthy one in news and sports, but there was a lot of planning involved and just a little STAR excitement.
Staff writer Jane Hudson worked early in the week to put together stories about Saturday's return to Ficklen Stadium of Marshall's Thundering Herd. Their team had been decimated in a 1970 plane crash after losing to ECU here in Greenville.
Jane's stories looked at the new movie We Are Marshall, which depicts the school's return to football greatness after the crash, and she wrote about how ECU players in that game felt about events. There was much speculation early in the week that movie star Matthew McConaughey would be here for the game, but he didn't make it. Some were likely disappointed about that.
The Marshall stories were completed by the end of the day Thursday, which helped us put together the photos and other illustrations needed for that front-page package. That involved getting old clips from former ECU player Jimmy Creech who went to great lengths to gather them and bring them down to the newspaper. We also had photographer Jason Frizzelle go out to Ficklen Stadium Friday morning to shoot a background shot of the field and scoreboard which required some special effort.
By contrast, our Sunday stories on the Marshall plaque unveiling and Veteran's Day material were put together on deadline, although those stories, too, made for good reading.
It's always amazing how much planning and work goes into these strories, and then, in moments, it's on to the next thing.
Come to think of it, what's on tap for tomorrow? I better check.
Newspaper veteran Tom Baines retiring
It seems like a horrible trick that my friend and co-worker Tom Baines is retiring on Halloween, but perhaps it is only fitting. Tom has calmed my fears many times in the last 15 years. Working with Tom, I didn’t have to be afraid of printing local stories that were missing key information or leaving out important national stories moving on the news wires. Back in 1991, when I was a copy editor with only a few months’ experience on a daily news desk, it was Tom who worked the Sunday night shift with me. I often wondered how the new girl managed to get the coveted Sunday-Thursday shift. The truth was the editors put me with Tom on Sundays because they knew that if I bombed, Tom could put out the entire Monday paper alone. He had done it before. Legend has it that Tom was working as the lone copy editor on a Saturday night when former ECU Chancellor Leo Jenkins died, and Tom put out a fine paper that day. Tom is a newsman and a gentleman. He once saved me from writing the single worst headline in the history of print media. Tom could spot a missing comma at 40 paces. And I can’t think of a night when I worked on the desk that he didn’t walk me to my car to make sure I was safe. Today, we’ll wish Tom well, and ask him (in vain) to reconsider. Tom has fish to catch, golf balls to hit and a granddaughter to spoil. But we’ll miss him. It’s been a real treat working with him.
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Retirement, odds and ends
A few notes today on several things happening inside the newsroom.
First, Tom Baines retires on Tuesday. He’s been a reporter and editor at the paper for 40 years. Hard to believe it’s that long because Tom is very young at 62.
Not long after I started here in 1998, Tom took a trip to St. Louis to visit a friend he had not seen since Vietnam. I gathered it was going to be a special trip.
I lived in St. Louis from the age of 12 until I went to college, and my mother still lived there when Tom was making his trip.
Tom asked for Mother’s telephone number so he could call her. A bit dumbfounded, I scribbled down the info for him. Why does he want to talk to a complete stranger, I wondered.
Sometime later, Mother told me that Tom called to say she had a fine son who was an asset to the paper and that he enjoyed working with him.
People used to do that sort of thing, Mom said. A courtesy call, if you will.
I’ll miss Tom’s courtesies, not to mention how quickly he can lay out a page, his sharp eye and wisdom.
But I’m happy for him, and suspect he’ll give us a call from time to time.
• Election season is upon us. The stories and ads fill the paper and the airwaves. Please pay attention to them and make informed decisions when you vote. Hopefully you’ve gone beyond what you’ve seen here and elsewhere. Perhaps you have even met the candidates face-to-face. I’ve met most of them off the campaign trail, when they were not trying to get my vote. Trust me, their demeanor might change your mind.
• Football, basketball and other sports dominate the television when my father is around. Growing up, my brother and I often had no choice but to watch golf or find other things to do. Maybe because of that sports don’t glue me to the set.
That doesn’t mean I don’t like athletics. Living in St. Louis in the 80s, when the Cards visited the World series three times, made me a fan of the Red Birds. (I also pull for the lowly football Cardinals, even though they moved to Arizona.)
Dad taught us that you should always adopt the team in the place you live. To that end, I try to follow the Pirates, and I’m a Panther’s fan, in part because I was born in Charlotte and consider them my “hometown” team.
It’s always great to read about the teams’ performances in the next day’s paper, even though you usually know the outcome already. Somehow, it makes it real.
I coach a group of 7- to 9-year-old girls in the Pitt County Community Schools and Recreation Soccer league. The guys in sports put in the scores from our games every week. It’s a lot of work for them, too, with the number of leagues, teams and players.
But for all of us out there on the field every Saturday, it’s nice to know no sport is too small for the paper to cover.
• Tuesday is Halloween. We’ve had a bit about that in the paper and you can expect to see more, considering the traditions here in Greenville.
I have a few frightful Halloween stories, and many fond memories, like my brother stringing wire to stereo speakers that blared spooky sounds through the woods that draped our driveway in Jacksonville, Fla.
I hope you all have a happy Halloween. Keep it safe, of course, but don’t be afraid to let your wild side show.
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Learning about the kindness of others
My 12-year-old daughter, a middle-school student, recently learned about the kindness of others in our community. Here’s her story in her words:
Recently, I was blessed. I’m a good person but I can never keep up with anything. So, when I started my fundraising project, guess what happened? I lost the money my customers had given.
Well, it just so happened a lady walking her dog found the money near the parking lot of my church. She turned it over to the people in the dentist office close by. Using information on a check, the office employees made calls to find out who lost the money. I got it back.
I am very grateful for the lady walking her dog and for the dentist office workers who helped me get the money back. I am so fortunate there are people in the world like them.
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No more fright-day the 13th
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies, titles like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning” are at the box office. “The Grudge 2” opens today (Friday, the 13th), and “Saw III” will be out before Halloween.
Every October, it’s the same thing: Horror movies come crawling out of the woodwork. No matter how many times the bad guy is shot, stabbed or thrown off a building at the end of the movie, this genre never dies. It just lies in wait until the next generation is ready to scream the scream.
I know this because a few decades ago, I was one of them. I was in the theater for the original “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th.” There’s a reason I don’t claim to have actually “seen” those films. It’s hard to see much when you have both eyes shut.
Truthfully, I was scared of scary movies. I sat through nearly all of them with my fingers wedged into both ears and my head between my knees. Worse yet, I was scared my friends wouldn’t hang out with me anymore if I told them I didn’t want to go. Even in college, I sometimes chose a frightening film over my fear of being alone.
But a few months working the police beat at my first job cured me of that. After I’d been assigned to write about murder in the real world, I could never again look at it as “entertainment,” no matter how ridiculous the plot. I made up my mind that I would never pay to be scared again. It was finally safe to go back to the movies.
And if I ever get the urge to scream the scream, I’ll pay for a ticket — to an amusement park.
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Doing it the hard way
Long, stressful hours laboring in front of a computer screen chip away at vertebrae and wear on discs.
Multiply those hours by years inside this newsroom and others and the result is minimally invasive back surgery.
The surgery in 2000 burned off errant cartilage between lumbar 3 and lumbar 4.
Normality doesn’t return after that. Pain no longer is acute, but discomfort is routine.
People will try to sell you a lot of remedies, but exercise and weight management keep discomfort at bay better than anything.
Problem is, exercise and counting calories aren’t easy.
My Uncle Norvel is unconventional. He doesn’t have a bad back, but he earns a little extra cash participating in studies that aid in the advancement of medical science.
As a human guinea pig he’s helped test a variety of medicines — he gets paid and gets medications for free.
Recently, he lived in a dormitory with other men for a couple of weeks while researchers tested their reactions to a Viagra-like drug.
It was his biggest payday yet, he said.
So when my wife sent me an email about a fat metabolism study through ECU’s Biology Department I thought it might be the ticket I needed to lose some weight and shore up my anemic bank account — not to mention advance medical science.
Today is the last day of a five-week period where I ate less, ate smarter, for a time didn’t eat anything but meat and cheese, and was poked and prodded in between.
The details might be boring, but results so far are positive. I lost more than 15 pounds and get 160 bucks to boot.
It wasn’t easy, though. It was hard.
No surprise. Not much that’s good comes easy.
Unless you’re Norvel.
The study needs more subjects. Contact me if you want to know more. Or call Harold “Trey” Howe III, the aspiring medical student who’s conducting the research, at (704) 651-2823.
MOUSE UPDATE
The traps I wrote about earlier seem to be working, by the way.
Squeaky and his family are dying by the thwack.
It remains to be seen if the mice in number are mightier than humanity’s efforts to o’ertake them.
I suspect in the long run, the mice will win.
Or it will be a tie, at least.
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Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As the pink ribbons fly high to remind us to have physical examinations and mammograms regularly, there also are several events planned in the community.
• The Leo Jenkins Cancer Center will present a breast cancer survivor story at 10 a.m. Oct. 11 at the Hope Lodge, 930A Wellness Drive. Kathy Dutton, the trauma administrator at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, will be the speaker. In addition the center will offer free breast cancer screening from 8-11 a.m. Oct. 21. An appointment is required. Call 847-6018.
And throughout October, Panera Bread will offer pink ribbon bagels and will donate 25 cents from each sale to the center.
• The third edition of the Breast Cancer Resource Directory has been updated through funding through the Pitt Memorial Hospital Foundation. The directory presents medical and personal information for women living with the disease, including details specific to ethnicity and age. State and national resources, from nonprofit agencies to products designed to improve quality of life, are presented in addition to contact information for more than 50 women from across the state who have lived through the disease, and who have made themselves available to share their experiences and offer support. To order a free copy of the directory, call (800) 514-4860. It also is available at www.bcresourcedirectory.org.
• Free breast cancer screening exams will be offered at Washington Women’s Care, 1204 Brown St., Washington. The screenings are from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 11 and Oct. 26 and from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Oct. 14 and Oct. 21. Participants will receive educational information, a risk assessment, a clinical breast exam and instructions on performing monthly self-exams. Refreshments and general health care information also will be provided. To schedule an appointment, call 975-4236.
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Of mice and us: an update
Apparently some folks don’t enjoy our rodent friend as much as I do.
A day after the story about Squeaky appeared on the site, some real mean Victor mousetraps appeared inside the newsroom.
They are the kind you see in cartoons with the cheese and the springs and the big “snap” when the mouse takes the bait. Only in the cartoons, the mouse always outsmarts the trap and gets away with the cheese.
We used peanut butter on our traps. The peanut butter was gone on one of the traps this morning, and half gone on the other, but no other sign of Squeaky remained on either.
I think about my cat George Lewis. He’d leave a little something behind to let us know he did the job.
Then I think about another cartoon, the one where the cat starts off chasing a mouse and ends up tangling with a young kangaroo.
Sufferin’ succotash, I think George Lewis might get the better of that kangaroo.
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A few sports notes
Just a few thoughts from the Reflector sports desk:
1) It looks like East Carolina fans will have plenty to look forward to this winter and spring. The ECU women’s basketball team begins practice Oct. 13 and will return its top five scorers from last season. Leading the charge will be senior center Cherie Mills, who averaged 16.1 points and 7.6 rebounds last year, and sophomore point guard Jasmine Young (13.0 points, 5.3 assists).
And the Pirate baseball team will have a loaded schedule this fall. Along with home and away games with North Carolina and N.C. State, the Pirates also will welcome Cal State Fullerton to Clark-LeClair Stadium. ECU also has a three-game road swing at UCLA.
2) The J.H. Rose varsity football team is on a run that has been rarely seen. With three state titles in the books, the Rampants now have won 26 straight games — the second longest active streak in the state. If you get a chance, go see this team play. Rose has been the most dominant football team on this side of the state for more than three years.
3) And don’t forget to check out the PrepWeek page that runs in every Thursday edition of the Reflector throughout the school year. Sportswriter Brock Letchworth has put together an amazing amount of information on Pitt County high school athletics for this page. This week, we feature South Central soccer player Ali Adbi, a Kenya native who has give the Falcons a huge boost this season.
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Latest comments
Brian, it would have been nice if liberal Democrats had remembered those words of yours back in 2000:
“Following the election cycle and some difficult campaigns, it is important that we all come together to embrace our commonality and to do
... read the full comment by Cynthia | Comment on Election letters and the Forum Read Election letters and the Forum
The story was well done and enlightening for those of us who may not have been in Greenville during the 1970’s. I am sure there were more of the Reflectors staff, who worked long hours and brought their talents to the task, to get this story completed
... read the full comment by Dave | Comment on A weekend of news Read A weekend of news
Yes, isn’t it nice that the Daily Reflector acts as an open window with no blinds nor hardship for people that are essentially Peeping Toms?
Before, the public where that interested and/or in need of such information for valid business practices
... read the full comment by WK5 | Comment on It's all in the stacks of papers Read It's all in the stacks of papers
hey, im glad we started things out ok for you, we had a great time too and we plan on making it back down to greenville. -the lowlands
... read the full comment by Caleb Caudle | Comment on RiverRock Read RiverRock