Small Town News
I've all but lost my voice (which has only happened to me once three years ago) but that may go at any minute so writing is my best means of communication at the moment.
I don't know how many of you live in small towns or have in the past, but I'm from a VERY small village. The population of the two townships that make it up is less than 800. There are less than 400 kids pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in our school, we have the smallest hospital in NYS, but the largest school district by land since our students have to travel long distances to get their education. There are no stop lights, no buildings over two stories high, even the twenty-four hour convenience store closes at midnight. There are plenty of bars, a handful of restaurants, and one store where the produce is always wilted. We have a hardware store, a golf course, an ice rink, a bank, a post office, and a fire hall that was newly rebuilt after it burned down. That's about the jist of it.
The closest mall or movie theatre is an hour away and is located in the same 'city' where we get our broadcast news each seven, twelve, six, and eleven o'clock. Often times a good ten minute portion of the news is about the new air conditioning unit they're using in that farm on Route 11 or five minutes on a locket found outside a polling location and does anyone know who it belongs to? A few years ago I happened to be home for one of the murders that takes place every decade or so and there was a confusion as to whether or not the weapon was found and was a murderer still out there? It turned out that the gun was found right next to the body and the guy killed someone and then himself, but the other made for a better story.
This weekend I happened to be home for the year's big breaking story, a bank robbery, where the thief made out with 221K (the second robbery in a year, the last 210K). The follies that unfolded I'm blaming on the investigators, it was just the poor newscasters that had to lay out the scene. The robbery happened on Friday night and by Saturday a photo from a surveillance camera in the bank had been released to the public. 'The suspect is considered to be a white man in his forties...' The picture was grainy at best of a person in a dark hoodie, dark pants, and a black bag. There is absolutely nothing distinguishing about the image. The next day another photo was released, this time of the getaway car that had been waiting in a store parking lot. The investigators were unable to tell the make or model of the car from the photo, but here was the best quote on the news, ‘Police say the car was red, or that could just be the reflection from the P&C store sign on the side of the car.’ It’s obvious to me that the first thing to try would be putting different color cars in the same spot and taking pictures and finding the match, but let's not be logical or anything. Monday the headline in the paper was ‘Police say robbery suspect was wearing yellow boots’ and the article laid out how they assume they were sized 8 to 10 and would be checking with all local stores about any recent purchases, since they appeared new in the picture. We laughed so hard at all of the ‘clues,’ that my mom almost peed herself. Next I’m sure that we’ll find out that he spoke English and was right handed, I’m sure those will also be helpful pieces of the puzzle. CSI investigators they’re not. OY!
News story and pictures
I don't know how many of you live in small towns or have in the past, but I'm from a VERY small village. The population of the two townships that make it up is less than 800. There are less than 400 kids pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in our school, we have the smallest hospital in NYS, but the largest school district by land since our students have to travel long distances to get their education. There are no stop lights, no buildings over two stories high, even the twenty-four hour convenience store closes at midnight. There are plenty of bars, a handful of restaurants, and one store where the produce is always wilted. We have a hardware store, a golf course, an ice rink, a bank, a post office, and a fire hall that was newly rebuilt after it burned down. That's about the jist of it.
The closest mall or movie theatre is an hour away and is located in the same 'city' where we get our broadcast news each seven, twelve, six, and eleven o'clock. Often times a good ten minute portion of the news is about the new air conditioning unit they're using in that farm on Route 11 or five minutes on a locket found outside a polling location and does anyone know who it belongs to? A few years ago I happened to be home for one of the murders that takes place every decade or so and there was a confusion as to whether or not the weapon was found and was a murderer still out there? It turned out that the gun was found right next to the body and the guy killed someone and then himself, but the other made for a better story.
This weekend I happened to be home for the year's big breaking story, a bank robbery, where the thief made out with 221K (the second robbery in a year, the last 210K). The follies that unfolded I'm blaming on the investigators, it was just the poor newscasters that had to lay out the scene. The robbery happened on Friday night and by Saturday a photo from a surveillance camera in the bank had been released to the public. 'The suspect is considered to be a white man in his forties...' The picture was grainy at best of a person in a dark hoodie, dark pants, and a black bag. There is absolutely nothing distinguishing about the image. The next day another photo was released, this time of the getaway car that had been waiting in a store parking lot. The investigators were unable to tell the make or model of the car from the photo, but here was the best quote on the news, ‘Police say the car was red, or that could just be the reflection from the P&C store sign on the side of the car.’ It’s obvious to me that the first thing to try would be putting different color cars in the same spot and taking pictures and finding the match, but let's not be logical or anything. Monday the headline in the paper was ‘Police say robbery suspect was wearing yellow boots’ and the article laid out how they assume they were sized 8 to 10 and would be checking with all local stores about any recent purchases, since they appeared new in the picture. We laughed so hard at all of the ‘clues,’ that my mom almost peed herself. Next I’m sure that we’ll find out that he spoke English and was right handed, I’m sure those will also be helpful pieces of the puzzle. CSI investigators they’re not. OY!
News story and pictures