While I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment, Lori, I have a major issue with what you've written.

First of all, I made a very similar comment about the same case last week at the Baltimore Crime blog. But I am a blogger, not a journalist. I don't get paid. Blogging is something I do when I'm not doing the work that pays my bills.

I assume (and please correct me if I'm incorrect) that you are a paid member of the "b" staff. As such, this is the work that pays your bills. So rather than sit at your desk and complain about the lack of coverage, why don't you write about the rape? And by "write about," I don't mean "write a snarky blog post." (That's my responsibility, and there's a reason why I don't get paid for it.) I mean pick up the phone, call the BPD or Dick Irwin, find out the details of the rape, walk out to your car, and drive the few blocks from Towson to Parkville so you can investigate. Talk to the woman. Talk to the precinct that is responsible. Find out what's going on. And tell us about it.

Regardless of whether the Sun pays you to be a blogger or a journalist, you're in a position to stir things up. Are you up to the challenge?

A "non-incident." Got that.

Next time you're alone in a small space (like a cell phone store) two feet away fr/ a stranger with a gun who seems ready to use it, be sure not to bother us about it -- because, by your own standards, that ain't nothin'.

What part of fear don't you understand? You also don't seem to realize a crime was committed when that gun was displayed to attempt a theft. Ask a real reporter to explain it -- if you can get one to talk to you.

To the fan: If you click on taotechuck's name, it links to his blog, http://baltimorecrime.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">http://baltimorecrime.blogspot.com/

To eo: I'm not saying that having a gun pointed at you is not scary or not a crime, but that woman seemed to be able to diffuse the situation and walked away unharmed. I am saying that being dragged into your house and raped is possibly scarier. I imagine downright frightening for residents of Parkville.

To taotechuck: I'll do my best with the forum I have as a blogger, although real investigative reporting is best left to the experts, I'm told.

To mismolly: What, in your eyes, are the points worth mentioning today? We do want our readers to help drive the conversation.

"I am saying that being dragged into your house and raped is possibly scarier."

Possibly? Don't take too hard a stance or anything.

Lori, I am afraid and sort of sorry to say you richly deserve the pummeling you are receiving in the comments. Only the Sun deserves a greater pummeling. Please reconsider your career path because being the stench that comes off the rotting bones of a dying newspaper is nothing to be proud of. "Gimme More" (& "It's Britney, b----") was just a horrible post, everything that is wrong with what you have been asked to do.

If you have the courage, march into your boss's office and say, "This job you have given me is the antithesis of the Sun's mission as a newspaper and I quit." Then call every news outlet you can and make a hero of yourself, which you will be almost certainly rewarded for with a plum entertainment job, preferably far away from a city like Baltimore that is in desperate need of hard-hitting, not glib, reporters to chronicle its myriad ailments and pleasures.

I agree with Taotechuck, so amend my comments that you should get out of Dodge if you want to make a genuine go of it.

Lori, I am enjoying your questions while you feel out your voice and your place in the local discussion stream.

Keep typing. I'll keep reading.