Tuesday Traffic

I think the Cal and the PE are cloning stories. They both have the same dancer story. The same Old Town Temecula story. Now it’s the same murder trial pimp story.

Let’s catch up on the past few days.

The CAL

A nice news analysis story by Aaron Claverie. I loved the topic and the person in the story, but I think it’s poorly written. The lede is cluttered and the more interesting bit is buried. The editor should have helped out. Too bad.

Nelsy Rodriguez wrote a story about Power Boxing. The story was needed as much as a story about toilet papering. I love the comments people wrote below this. Someone wrote it off as The Cal being The Cal. Here is the story.

The PE

So here is my rant for the day.

Where is my Murrieta reporter? It seems Julissa McKinnon is still kicking Perris around despite a rumor at City Hall that she was given the Murrieta/Wildomar beat.

I’m sorry to gripe but I have ties to Murrieta and Temecula and that is where I want most of my news. It seems to me that advertising dollars would be better in Murrieta and Temecula then Perris. So why am I getting this story? This is a problem across town.

At least McKinnon showed she could do some amazing stories if given time. This story scared the heebie jeebies out of me. I'm old so I hate taxes and this scares me.

On a side note, I saw former PE reporter Rocky Salmon has joined the PE exodus to the weekly Valley News. Weird that three former PE employees end up there, but it doesn’t seem like anything hard hitting.

Interesting illegal gun shipping story done by John Asbury over the weekend. The idea is a bit scary but after reading it it doesn’t shock me.

Wednesday fun

Am I missing something here? Did Rani Gupta and Michelle Klampe both completely drop the ball on this Antwone Fisher performance? Both focuses on Mr. Fisher speaking --- but I watched his movie, I know his story. Wouldn’t the right way to cover the event be to talk to students and teachers and find out how that ties into what Fisher is saying. At least Gupta’s was written in a more interesting manner.

PE's Version The Cal's

Clever way to write a lede for a story about a texting law by Doug Quan. It was an issue I was rolling my eyes about. Another one of the Press Enterprise trend stories but Quan wrote it in a fantastic manner and I couldn’t stop reading. OMFG

Does this Aaron Burgin guy have an editor? He continues to put out stories that are devoid of the actual public’s voice. This time it’s another important story about homebuilding. Seriously? Mr. Burgin is this why you got into journalism?

Here is one funny story from Rialto. Too bad the PE had to run something from the AP.

SHAME ON YOU PE

Tammy McCoy and PE editors meet Mr. John Hall. Apparently he is the only one yesterday who decided to do actual journalism.

John Hall went above and beyond in reporting a murder in Temecula. He got family members and the apartment owner. A better job overall than the PE.

The political attacks begin. But reporters need to be very wary Mr. Claverie. Is this story more important that the budget crisis or the real issues in town? No. This is a red herring that someone spoonfed reporters to detract attention. It’s getting way too much ink.

NOW FOR ANGER

Tammy McCoy tried to bring readers up to date on the Pimp N Hoes case. It’s a good effort but I don’t think Ms. McCoy has mastered these yet. The real attention should be turned on the families and the affects caused. She has written previews of murder trials but it’s a basic template. Where are the family voices? Where is the emotional tug?

McCoy didn’t have a great day. She was too busy forced to cover two breaking news stories and her court story. Does her editor not realize that other reporters should be able to step in and work on huge news stories?

Her story on the Temecula murder was short and said the police have no motives or suspects. That’s fine. But no one from the paper even went out into the community to ask people about the murder. THE APARTMENT COMPLEX IS TWO MILES FROM THE OFFICE.

I hate to say it but did the PE, including the editor, not cover this murder because it involved a Mexican. Sure seems like it.

When has there ever been a murder in town and the paper didn’t even send someone out to get quotes or dig for the story. If this is the way the PE will cover crime and major events in the future I plan to cancel.

Nine whopping paragraphs. Ms. McCoy if the person killed was a woman in a domestic dispute or a white man walking the streets of Murrieta are we only going to give them nine paragraphs in the future? That’s the precedent this paper set and it’s disgusting.

This is the biggest news in the community besides the fire and the PE passes on it.

I will not place the blame on McCoy. It seems like the editors messed up big time.

Let’s look at the stories that should have chopped so a reporter could be sent to the scene of the crime:

Jeff Horseman wrote about adding $39,000 to an annexation study. Are you serious? What a shame. What a disservice to this community and a blow to the PE’s integrity.

Burgin wrote about a council meeting and a budget. Nothing new. Nothing he hasn’t reported on. Then again I have never seen Mr. Burgin tied to any breaking news case at this paper.

Something better change in this Temecula section because I know Paul LaRocco or John Asbury would be all over that apartment unit trying to get to the bottom of this murder and actually do some real reporting.

Cute story by Sarah Burge on someone stealing a daycare’s Peanut's Gang. Once again, couldn’t this hold for a murder?

Sunday morning

Nelsy Rodriguez might be months late in this story about sewers in Murrieta but give her credit – at least she wrote about it and had a nice lede. The Sewer issue was done by the PE as centerpieces probably three times over the past two years. I know because I know people in the area who keep close tabs on this. Ms. Rodriguez got beat on this issue but she knew that it was worth a story so she sucked up her pride and wrote about it. Thank you.

Nice color and emotional funeral coverage of a US Coast Guard who died in a training exercise. The man was from San Bernardino and Mark Petix wrote beautifully. Good read Mr. Petix. Where was the PE by the way?

Sad story in the LA Times about the housing and economic woes affecting senior citizens.

How many times is the PE going to write about these massage parlors? You could even say these repetitive Jeff Horseman stories rub me the wrong way. I think this is the third or fourth in the past six months. That is a ridiculous amount of ink to give to something most could care less about. This better be the last massage story because let’s face it, there will be no happy ending.

The Dreadful Thursdays

Great story from Mark Walker at the NC Times about a Marine who threw himself on a grenade to save his buddies losing out on a Medal of Honor. Those who are upset can read this and get further upset.

As for Nelsy Rodriguez, was it worth covering this park plans meeting. It was the last meeting in a number of meetings that she already covered. How many times will I read a story about someone saying, “I want a BMX park”, or, “More soccer fields”. What happened to hard hitting in-depth journalism or taking a more critical look at things. There is a better way to cover this master park’s plan. This is not It.

I have read these Aaron Claverie story and I just can’t grasp the importance. Something about a Redevelopment Agency asking for money from the City Council and the council agreeing in principal. I guess if you like conspiracies and these type of stories than you must be interested. I am not.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/09/17/news/californian/wildomar/zfcf3a393216c9764882574c8000f8194.txt

Finally, something did make me smile beside’s Mr. Walker’s story out of the Times. Nicole Sack came back with some of her old-fashioned gems. I could care less about a Temecula commission meeting but this lede grabbed me.

At times, Wednesday evening's Planning Commission meeting had the tone of a murder trial.
The tension, the passion, the graphics, the scenarios ---- the underlying current of life versus possible death ---- arose during the nearly four-hour long meeting.
And in the end there was at least one angry man.

Who cares if I didn’t get the point until later. I was hooked. Kudos to you Ms. Sack for entertaining me.

The PE must be smarting. They got scooped by the Times and are running their own follow up on the MetroLink engineer. The guy lived in Menifee and Crestline at one time. This is the type of the story the PE was great at. Nothing got by this paper and the reporters and you could bet if the Times had it the PE had it. When downsizing hits, papers lose what made it special. Here is the PE’s story but it’s a day late and a dollar

short.

Paul LaRocco was made for Cops Reporting. Here is the perfect lede to get me to read a story I normally would pass up:

The image of a menacing-looking man driving a dirty Ford Bronco toward a remote Yucaipa wash stuck with the witness.

It was February 2000, days before the bodies of a Los Angeles accountant and his wife were found buried in the same wash.

Nearly a decade later, the description is the first notable lead in a case that had turned cold.

The rest of the story is just as magical.

Aaron Burgin continues to write about the mundane aspects of Lake Elsinore. At least he tried to expand on an economy lecture by John Husing but city officials nor developers wanted to talk to Mr. Burgin.

Jeff Horseman gets my reporter tip for the day. Here is his lede on the Temecula Film Festival.

The next Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese might be in Temecula the next few days.

I doubt that. But it could happen. I could write: The next Willie Mays or Babe Ruth might be playing in Little League the next few days. Or. Aliens with thirteen eyes might be in Temecula the next few days. They might be. But I really doubt it.

Sept. 16 and 17

The Cal is scooping the PE left and right this week. Rani Gupta ran a story about criticism of the registrar’s election process. Finally, the PE had something in today’s paper. The PE seems to be scrambling and chasing other papers. Then again, that happens when a staffer leaves the paper and no one immediately steps in to cover that area.
Here is the PE’s follow
Here is the Cal’s story.

Rani Gupta has been running circles around the PE in education coverage. I’m sure it stems from Claudia Bustamante leaving but the PE is missing important stories. Here is one that Gupta has been following closely: the formation of a lacrosse team.

Murrieta is implementing a new economic development plan. Sure sounds like the same plan that has been in place for years.

Meanwhile, new Murrieta reporter Julissa McKinnon decided her first story would be about hotel taxes. Please don’t become the next Burgin Ms. McKinnon. This isn’t and wasn’t the most exciting thing happening at that meeting.

Jeff Horseman did a story on how much it will cost to protect our lovely hillsides.

Good community reporting on this little turf war going on in Menifee. Cathy Redfern does a good job of unearthing these gems.

Aaron Claverie and Aaron Burgin thought it was the perfect time to bore readers with their planning commission coverage of the general plan. There are better ways to cover a city and this is not the way.

Mr. Burgin also did a recap story previewing the week to come. He had a chance to use this piece for an analysis piece but it read like a quick, thrown together news story story.

At the UT Tanya Sierra wrote a story about the City Manager of Chula Vista getting canned for visiting Pam Anderson Web Sites. She puts it in context by stating the city spent a lot of money and time to hire this guy.

Sunday takes

The CAL didn’t have anything that stood out. Cathy Redfern did a nice little write up on a tractor museum but nothing worth linking to.

The PE

Rocky Salmon left the paper with a bang. His Sunday’s piece on Warnie Enochs will leave the community talking and was well-written despite being a confusing topic. Many in the community will question why this story came out now. Is it the liberal media attacking a politician? The real question is why it took so long to get this story out. Read it here.

The LA Times leapt into the Inland Empire with this really interesting story about a Moreno Valley man who has lost his house twice to foreclosure. Really good read but I still am wondering how he bought a $100,000 home and lost it. Did he take all the equity out? Here is the story

I try to read all the papers and sometimes it’s physically impossible. I do scan the most read on the sun site. Here is something by Wes Hughes I thought was good journalism. It’s a story on a dumped dog. Doesn’t sound too interesting does it? This story is though.

Sunday QB Edition

The CAL
Nicole Sack did a half-hearted effort at the Temecula massage ordinance. Her story lacks a personal voice and even lacks Ms. Sack’s usual flair. Here is the link

Aaron Claverie continues his run of run-of-the-mill stories on Wildomar. It’s a new city – there has to be something more exciting than a story about the city hiring an insurance company. He doesn’t even tell me why I should care of what it means. If it doesn’t deserve a story then don’t write it.

Nelsy Rodriguez wrote about hotels, or lodging fees, or amenities. It was a doozy that I still can’t wrap my arms around. This story belongs with Claverie, in a heap of stories that must have been written to meet a story quota. There has to be more interesting things happening in these two cities. Here is the hotel story

The PE

Sandra Stokely wrote this scary story of a mother fighting a school district for allowing students to read “The Kite Runner”. If the mother doesn’t want her child to learn how to live in the real world and rationalize then she should be home schooling her. The fact the woman is trying to get her Master’s Degree in Education and she is fighting the use of this book is shocking. Wait. Wait. That degree is from Cal State Baptist. The photo by Bill Lewis is fantastic.
I love this story because it is a great talker. During my morning walk I griped about this woman with my wife. Someone overhead us and joined in.
If this woman is getting her Master’s and is such a concerned parent she should use this to talk about societal issues not play the blame game. Shame on you Kolb. Thanks Stokely for the talked read it here.


Menifee will incorporate on Oct. 1. So why write a party preview two weeks before? Space-filler. Read it here.

Claudia Bustamante left the paper with one last good read. A nice, up-lifting story about a new program at Temecula Unified. The lede is short, emotional and anecdotal:
Gabbi Pleasant had the brains but always ended up failing classes in eighth grade.
Enter the Delta Academy. The school-within-a-school at Temecula Valley High School is for select freshmen at risk of failing, not for lack of aptitude, but rather motivation.
"The only reason I didn't get held back is because I turned in extra-credit assignments," she said about eighth grade. Gabbi, 14, now a sophomore, finished her first year in high school with a 3.3 grade-point average.
This is what Education reporters should do. Bye Ms. Bustamante and thank you for stories like this.

The Cal

A few days after scolding Jennifer Kabbany she redeems herself. Suicide is a touchy subject for all, especially newspapers. But this story is pegged to an actual event and brings the subject out to the front. The photo is typical and not deserving of this story.

Thanks Kabbany for proving my criticism of you wrong. Read it here.

Aaron Claverie had a nice story about a new trail going into Lake Elsinore. But someone needs to tell the reporters that longer is usually never better. This story is about five paragraphs too long.

The PE

Amanda Strindberg makes it on the list today with her story on animals getting wheelchairs. While it’s nothing new, you still can’t beat seeing pictures of dogs in wheelchairs motoring about. It put a smile on my face and apparently that’s hard to do.

Lake Elsinore quit making the valley look bad. This story made the news, radio and bogs across the world. The nerve of a thief stealing an Olympians shotgun while she shopped for wedding shoes at the Lake Elsinore Outlet. I bet the thief recently purchased something at Pottery Barn and saw this shotgun lying around and thought, “It would match my new armoire perfectly.”

I personally didn’t care for the lede by Tammy McCoy:

A two-time Olympic gold medalist is hoping for a small miracle.

The Perazzi 12-gauge shot gun Kimberly Rhode, 29, used in the past four Olympic games was stolen Thursday from her father's pickup truck at the outlet mall in Lake Elsinore.

"I'm just devastated. The gun is really (pause); it's priceless to me," she said by phone from a competition in Colorado Springs. "I need the gun back ... no questions asked."

The quote is fantastic but the lede left me wondering. Why a small miracle? Why was that the best phrase that Ms. McCoy could have used?

Jeff Horseman did an update on that Temecula waterpark and once again the lede left me bored.

Developers of a Temecula water park are looking into building their project at a location once seen as a higher education haven.

I’m tired of reading stories that start with developers, proponents – step outside the box and try something new. What about something as stupid as – Temecula’s attempts at a higher learning complex are about to get wet.

Seriously do people really still care about this beef recall in Chino? Did anyone care when it happened? Well, the PE still does and Julia Glick gives us the update. I will give the PE one thing – when the editors get their minds on a story they milk it for all its worth. Get it – cows, milk it.

This story was never a talker and the amount of print that was dedicated to it shocked me. Please stop. Besides PETA, no one cares.

Mr. Aaron Burgin continues to bore us with Lake Elsinore stories that no one cares about. Planning commissions, car wash developers, down size standards. It’s not why people get the paper Mr. Burgin. Spend more time in your community finding the interesting stories then at public meetings. In this latest one about planning standards being relaxed to allow smaller homes the point of the story isn’t made until the 7^th graf. Here is the link if someone has minutes of their life to waste.

Tuesday and Wednesday

The Cal

I understand Murrieta reporter Rocky Salmon is heading to the Poconos after this week but that is not excuse for the editors to blow off the approval of a new hospital.

NC Times reporter Nelsy Rodriguez was there and got the scoop.

That story redeems her for Tuesday’s mistake. I glimpsed the Murrieta City Council agenda and saw an array of interesting options for stories. PE reporter Rocky Salmon did a quick take on new projects coming to town. Not a bad story because it is news.
Instead of writing about that or doing a bigger take on the hospital in Murrieta, Rodriguez did this feature on a glasses and hearing aid drive.

I have never been a Jennifer Kabbany fan. This stems from my problem with Kabbany once quoting “a person at a meeting” during a school district hearing on the high school’s new mascot. She didn’t name the person who was quoted. After asking some of the district officials I learned why. Kabbany was quoting John Hunneman who is a columnist at the Cal. Disturbing. Hunneman also serves on a Murrieta commission. This should not be happening people. Why doesn’t the PE do a story about this?
But I digress. The Cal finally came back at the Bobcats in the home story --- why? It’s too late and the lede is stale.
As officials work to scare away a family of bobcats that has taken a liking to the backyard of an abandoned home in the Tuscany Hills neighborhood, several residents said they aren't too worried ---- yet.
She kind of writes like me doesn’t she ---yet?
Here is the actual story.

I really missed Nicole Sack. I know, I know, Ms. Sack has been covering Temecula but she has tucked away her feisty and creative ledes that she used to write when she first started. She was back in form Tuesday with this story about the Temecula Children’s Museum getting some money to improve. I’m not saying this is the perfect lede but you can’t help but read it can’t you. It’s like a terrible car wreck – you want to look away but you can’t. Thank you Ms. Sack.

Part of the lore at the Temecula Children's Museum is that, among the three-dimensional and touchable exhibits, lives the illusive Professor Phineas T. Pennypickel.

The professor is so reclusive ---- not to mention fictional ---- that he can't do his own shopping. Luckily, he's got friends.

And those friends will receive $15,000 as the City Council agreed Tuesday to help spruce up the quirky museum.

Newspapers carry weight in this world because the good ones provide in-depth analysis and also emotional stories that can leave a grown man near tears. Teri Figueroa writes a gem.
The lede is poetic and perfect:
The body that made Scott Eveland a varsity linebacker a year ago now holds him captive. Much of the time, it will not respond.

It's through his eyes that he lives now. Eyes that serve as his primary means to communicate, to answer questions.

Three blinks means yes. No blinks, no.
Read this reporters to remember why you got into this business. Now go change the world.


The PE

Julissa McKinnon has been a busy reporter and the local section was plugged with her work. If this is what readers have to look forward to when the next week hits then it’s not too bad. McKinnon seems to do a good job balancing news stories and feature stories and mining the community for interesting bits, including her story on Perris using high schools kids from an alternative school. Nice little centerpiece to pass my time while munching my Frosted Flakes.

Tammy McCoy is good about getting the minutae correct in her stories. But her short story on a Perris mother sentenced in the death of her kid left me with the simple question: What type of injury did the child have that the parents ignored?

Laurie Lucas had an interesting story about one of LBJ’s descendants buried in a Riverside graveyard. Not earth shattering because many people could give a grape’s raisin about LBJ but it makes a cute read. The lede is too convoluted though. “Unbeknownst” is not a great word to start any story off with.

John Asbury must be racing with McKinnon and LaRocco for hardest working reporter. He digs up a horrifying tale of a body found in concrete. Good details and interesting read.

Reporter Tip of the Day
Stop using “But” at the top. Quit taking readers one way then flipping them another. Sometimes it works, as with Doug Quan’s outrageously funny story on $35 a ticket movie theaters.
But Alicia Robinson uses but in the first sentence and I shut down. I couldn’t keep reading.
Norco could build a plant to turn its horse manure into energy, but the city might have to scramble to meet a federal deadline for an energy loan program, according to preliminary results of a study.
Speaking of Ms. Robinson but what does it say about society when one of the most popular stories is that stupid deal with the two dogs. And Ms. Robinson’s follow up doesn’t help much. Just read the lede and tell me what you think because when I started reading the story it was “In the trash at first graf.”
It was love at first lick when shelter dogs Yogi and Boo Boo met their new family, Riverside couple Sandy and Keanon Alderson.

Weekend Wrap Up

The Cal

The School News CP was terrible editing. The first graf doesn’t even make sense and it’s on the school news section. Shouldn’t the grammar be right? Wait, my grammar is terrible too. But I’m not a newspaper with copy editors.
LAKE ELSINORE ---- Annette Tarnowski's path to becoming the Lake Elsinore High School band director was fueled by her passion for music and the desire to help inspire that same passion in young people.

Despite what my comments may say, I do appreciate the work of Ms. Rani Gupta. I do think, she needs a firmer editing hand to tighten up her stories. Here is her lede on busing issues:
Last year, Forrest Allen had an uneventful 25-minute bus ride to school. Now, the seventh-grader navigates narrow roads and dodges reckless drivers on his daily bike ride to Menifee Valley Middle School.

"Half the time, people try to hit us," said Forrest, 13, who bikes to school with his friend, Ryan Vasquez.

Part of his route to school has only a narrow paved shoulder, with no sidewalk to separate the boys from motorists.Forrest said teenage drivers will step on the gas, pelting him with rocks, or cross lanes to try to scare him.

"People speed up and they go in the wrong lane and go at us," he said. "They just try to make us go off the road."

Here is the actual reason for the story – six grafs down: Forrest and Ryan are two of hundreds of Southwest County students who lost transportation this year as some school districts eliminated some bus service by increasing the distance around schools within which students must walk or find their own transportation.

I don’t mind anecdotal ledes. In fact, they work well if done right, which means they better be tight and to the point. This story isn’t about people trying to run Forrest down. If it was that lede might work. No this story is about bus service being eliminated.
Ms. Gupta has led us down a dusty trail to a different story then flipped it on us at the last second.

Ms. Gupta redeemed herself with this story about the school district talking about selling bonds to pay for retiree benefits. It’s not earth shattering writing but it’s the perfect writing for this story that brings important information to readers.

Can someone tell me why this belongs on A-1?

Lastly, it’s not all bad. Mr. Dave Downey did a great story on the terrible week that was for SDG&E. As a one-time customer they deserve every come-uppance that heads their way.

The UT
Thanks Mr. Mike Lee for this interesting story on bisons at Camp Pendleton. Who would have thunk it? Certainly not me. Something about bombs, training, gun fire and furry wooly beasts made Sunday breakfast a little easier.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080907/news_1n7bison.html

The PE
Good story about how cargo affects the Inland area by a slew of reporters. Did it deserve to be such a big project with so much type dedicated to it? Nope. Too long and the graphics of what is in my house isn’t needed.
Also a tip for the PE –- we don’t care about Riverside in Temecula Valley. We have a ton of truck traffic coming up from San Diego and Mexico. Shouldn’t our version focus on that? Tell your transportation reporters to take a glimpse south because I think we have a lot of advertising dollars in our area and most of us are San Diego-lites not Riverside lovers. We don’t spend our weekends in Riverside. We don’t drive up there for festivals. We go to San Diego.

Mr Begley was a busy man. He also wrote about vacationers staying closer to home for the summer. Um, Mr. Begley and editors who pitched this tripe: the summer is almost over and quit writing non-trend stories.
What’s next a trend story on the rise in popularity of people driving green colored cars on Mondays?

Reporter Michelle Klampe had another trend story about teachers using high-tech devices. Not only has that story been done by every media outlet in America, the PE did that same story less than a year ago. How hard is it for reporters to check the paper library to see if the story has been done?

Mr. Sean Nealon did a tubers story. It was much better than the tuber Olympics in the Cal a week ago, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. How is that for some bad writing? Why do I need two large grafs of color when the third graf is the lede:
A truck loaded with 50,000 pounds of Chieftain potatoes coated in dirt from an Anza field arrives at the San Jacinto packing shed. Immediately, the red potatoes get a bath and, dripping, ride a conveyer belt inside.
Several dozen workers pick out dried grass and discard misshapen and rotten potatoes. Machines sort the potatoes by size and drop them into 50-pound boxes.
A year ago, Agri-Empire, a 63-year-old company in San Jacinto that farms 4,000 acres of potatoes in Southern California, sold those boxes for $20. Today, it is getting twice that.
That’s called being too cutesy and an editor should have caught that.

When I opened the local section I thought Mr. Aaron Burgin had done the story of weekend. The photo by Kurt Miller was classic with a lady straddling a small flood ditch and looming apartments in the background.
Then I started reading the story:
Lake Elsinore's failure to completely address runoff issues plaguing neighbors on a street in an unincorporated pocket could spoil its plans to annex the land.
I would have went with color or a story from one of the people in the neighborhood about the run off. This lede fails the photo and fails the story. It’s boring and it could be used for anything. It’s a template lede.
“Hollywood’s failure to completely address spiderman shooting webs on a street in town could spoil its plans to create Spider Land.”

Kudos to Jeff Horseman for doing a short overview on hospital construction in the area. I think the story needed people who would be affected because that would have brought the story home. At least it was a good idea.

September 6

I was sick but now I’m back and angrier than ever.
Also Friday’s coverage was all about school test scores. While the stories are needed they bore me. Although credit to Shirin Parsavand for her look at a school that had a huge increase in scores but still couldn’t make the cut.

The Cal
Here is a lesson I have heard from writing experts and noticed over the years. Try not to start off a story then two paragraphs in put the word “but”. It’s like taking a reader along for a ride then abruptly doing a 180. As a passenger you say “Well why did I just go along in the first place”.
Prime example:
They won't be there to see the smiles. They probably won't see the drawings or stories produced with the school supplies that they carefully packed into the colorful backpacks.But parishioners at the Shepherd of Life Lutheran Church in Lake Elsinore said they know their work will be greatly appreciated.

Rani Gupta had an interested story about school districts having more students than they expected. Nice read for the community.

The PE
Mr. Aaron Burgin is on a rampage – taking down Lake Elsinore City Council members right and left. This is a story about how Thomas Buckley spent campaign money on renting a car. I think Mr. Buckley got caught so used the old tried and true excuse: I lost my receipts.

I see Mr. Jeff Horseman did not read my scathing critique of Mr. Burgin’s pan handle ordinance. The No. 1 rule of an ordinance story is you lead off with the people affected. Don’t start off with the phrase “under the ordinance” or police and city officials said. Who cares what they say. Tell me how it affects my massage parlor.

Sean Nealon has a nice trend story about the decline of pianos. Rather than solely focus on the decline in sales he talks about the decline of status symbol for pianos. Great quotes involved and it makes me glad I ditched the piano for the harpsichord.
Here is the quote of the day
"Do I prefer Beethoven to rock? Absolutely," he said. "But it doesn't matter what I think. In a capitalist society, it's what people want. They want Bono and U2. Roll over, Beethoven."

Alicia Robinson did a story about two dogs who must be adopted together. Why? I read the entire thing looking for one reason that belonged on my newspaper. If it ran shouldn’t it belong smack dab on the middle of Local Plus. Where is the news value in this story?

The UT
Great story on how once beautiful trees are now looked at as fire traps.
The lede drew me in and I stayed with the story.
Eucalyptuses are nothing more than multistory matchsticks ready to burst into flames when Santa Ana winds strike.
The neighbor's pine? Pretty. Pretty dangerous, that is. And that sycamore sucks up a zillion gallons of costly water.
In fire-and drought-ravaged San Diego County, such half-truths and myths have put formerly revered trees in a new light.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080906-9999-1n6trees.html

Go by a home in SD now!!! Interesting story showing that SD homes are too undervalued. I agree. It’s a beautiful city with a strong economy. So go buy now.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080905-9999-1b5housing.html?imw=Y&lid=mostpopular