Friday happy hour
by Lori Barrett | April 11, 2008 at 8:34 am
Posted in happy hour
Sometimes the Baltimore area is indistinguishable from the Seventh Circle of Hell, at least as reported in the media.
Take the top-ten local headlines on the Baltimore Sun’s website as I’m writing this paragraph: 4 are about murders, 1 shooting, 1 drug ring, 1 prostitution ring, 1 child pornography ring, 1 kidnapping, and 1 fatal fire. It’s grim, to say the least. So I’ve decided to start a new weekly feature: the Friday Happy Hour.
If it takes every moment of my free time (and hopefully it won’t), I will find something positive in the week’s news to tell you about. Although this story of goodwill happened all the way out in Cumberland and begins with something negative, it was my inspiration for the series and thus is my inaugural entry. I’ll move closer to home and true positivity in the future. So without further ado…
A Cumberland woman saved a homeless man from being beaten to death yesterday. After hearing his screams for help at 4 am, the woman ran to a nearby gas station to call 911. Police arrived to find three young men equipped with a baseball bat, knives, and a steel bar. All three were arrested; the two adults of the group are charged with attempted first-degree murder. The juvenile faces the same if charged as an adult.
The homeless man is now hospitalized and is expected to recover. If not for the woman’s action, he would likely be dead. Cheers to her.
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April 11th, 2008 at 2:47 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
That seems to me to be a rather bad hour with a good last five minutes. But thanks. Shoot for ten minutes of happy next week and we can build our way out of this existential malaise.
That's the plan. Although right now a whole hour seems rather ambitious. --LB
April 11th, 2008 at 5:21 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
See my note on Country Folk and the see me smiling at this story/idea.
B...positive! B...More!
See, I do try to appease the readers. --LB
April 14th, 2008 at 6:45 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Perhaps the issue is with the Sun's choices about what to cover. It used to be you had to watch local tv news for non-stop crime reporting. It's easy to find and cover, interns can handle most of it, and it doesn't usually require a complicated follow-up.
Now, sadly, print journalism is following suit. Is crime a major issue in the region? Yes. Is it largely confined to several commnities and not reflective of what's going on in the city and surrounding counties? Also yes.
I'm not suggesting that Polyanna should edit the A section. But even your post above seems to point out the focus on crime reporting to the exclusion of other stories.