The pilots seem to have gotten bored and decided that a month was enough time to spend circling over little ole' Lodi for hours on end. However, my investigation got enough interest that it was time for me to write another story (printer-friendly link) that was published today.
Also, stay tuned for another pretty cool thing related to the planes.
As I blogged in the not-so-distant past, I got a subpoena to appear as a witness in a criminal trial. That issue went away nicely because my boss called the defendant (who was acting as his own attorney) and got him to agree to drop the subpoena. A judge soon quashed a bunch of other subpoenas he'd sent out to a rather extraordinary list of people. The case has been postponed because the guy supposedly has an attorney now, and I'm almost positive that I won't be subpoenaed in that case again.
Yesterday rolled around, and a new subpoena arrived. This one didn't name me, but instead just wanted bunches of articles about certain crimes. It was broad and was apparently sent to other media; I know our main competition got it, and it was generic enough to include TV people, too.
Issuing a subpoena to a newspaper, asking for articles printed, is extremely stupid and shows just how lazy the attorney is -- especially since our archives are online and can be searched easily. There are reasons attorneys get paid well, and there are reasons they hire investigators. Since when did attorneys start demanding things that are already public? They might as well subpoena the library, which also keeps newspaper archives.
I won't say the attorney's name, but suffice it to say that I feel sorry for the defendant, because he's obviously got insufficient counsel. It doesn't help that the case against him comes with a very stiff penalty, and that he's also facing even heavier charges in another county when he gets done with this trial.
Someone told me today that I need to get comments fixed on my blog. I agree. It's been nagging at me for quite a while, and it's the reason I don't post as frequently. Clearly, I need to force myself to sit down and study Movable Type help files until my eyes bleed. Or I could just switch to something like WordPress, which I've heard is pretty good.
I guess my problem is that I want the best of both worlds: No spam and open comments. The thing with Movable Type is that you have to get a key-thing in order to post comments. This is both good and bad: On the good side, if I ever become rich and famous (rich without fame would be perfectly fine by me), I'll see comments before they're posted. I do know the hazards of being a public figure -- something I learned the hard way. But on the other side, I don't really like the idea of having to approve comments before they appear on the site. What's the point of commenting if it doesn't appear instantly?
So I guess I need to sit down, consider my options and face the beast. But now it's past midnight and I still have two things to write for personal projects of mine.
As promised, here's the link (after seven days, see this link, though it's more confusing) to see to my article on last night's Nighline show about Lodi. Since the show ends when everything is basically going to press, I'll let you wonder how we pulled that off, especially since we got reactions (archived link) to the show in the paper, too. Yes, it was a late night. It was also pretty cool.
I won't be on TV this time, but if you want to see a half-hour show about the terror-related drama in my town, watching Nightline on ABC tonight at 11:35 p.m. Then watch here (or lodinews.com) tomorrow for a link to a story I wrote about the show. I watched the filming and have been in touch with the guy who did most of the work on the show, and I'd been waiting until Nightline decided to air the Lodi story. Suddenly, they decided this afternoon that this would be the night.
For years, I've said that I want to write a will -- simply because I think I'd have a blast doing so. I don't have a lot of valuable earthly possessions (sure, I like my car, but it comes with a loan), so that makes it easier. I can think about whom to bequeath certain books and shoes to, and I won't have a bit of guilt. I also have certain ideas about any funeral/memorial services people want to hold in my honor.
That brings me to the next step: an obituary. For some reason, the idea of writing a will has always appealed to me much more than an obit. However, this obituary made me think twice. Perhaps I should write one of those, too.
I watched the news wire today and learned that, yes, Pullitzer Prize winner Judith Miller was being hauled off to jail. Interestingly enough, her Pullitzer was for explanatory writing, but this legal saga can't always be easily explained. (It's also interesting that I quoted her article four years ago when writing a story about a college student who was sentenced to death for terrorism.)
Anyway, I'm not going to give you a bunch of links. I figure that if you don't know reporters are being jailed for keeping promises while sexual predators are being released so they can reoffend, you probably won't click my links. I will, however, provide one link that puts a bit of humor in the situation. It's true, too.
Planes again
The pilots seem to have gotten bored and decided that a month was enough time to spend circling over little ole' Lodi for hours on end. However, my investigation got enough interest that it was time for me to write another story (printer-friendly link) that was published today.Also, stay tuned for another pretty cool thing related to the planes.
Posted by Layla at 10:44 AM, July 27, 2005. Comments (0)