The story behind the story with Foltin

Craig Foltin will not talk to us.
Now that he has announced he will not be seeking re-election, I think it is OK that I tell you that.
It isn't that he hangs up on us when we call or walks the other direction when he sees us coming. I mean he's pleasant enough. He just won't give us any news.
It's true; we have managed to cover the City of Lorain for years without the cooperation of the mayor and if you think that's an easy thing to do, I have to tell you that it's not.
You see, Mayor Foltin does not like what has been written about him on the editorial pages of The Chronicle.
But here's the thing, my staff in the newsroom has absolutely nothing to do with what is opined about on our editorial pages. Nothing.
We really do try our very best to just report the facts -- as objectively as humanly possible.
I have tried to explain that to Mayor Foltin many times. He does not seem to care.
Here is what happened this week. Mayor Foltin told our Lorain reporter, Adam Wright, that he wanted to apologize "in advance" because he would be giving The Other Paper -- but not us -- information for a good story later in the week.
What?!?!?!
Poor Adam. He spent the rest of that day on the phone calling everyone he knew in Lorain to ask what Foltin could be talking about. No one knew.
Then we found out.
On Wednesday, in huge type across the front of The Other Paper, the headline screamed, "Foltin says he won't run for re-election."
So, yes you read it there first. It pains me to say those words. We do not like to get beat by The Other Paper but, hey, they are spoon-fed, we are starved. What are we supposed to do?
When there was talk of putting an Indian casino in Lorain, we -- using our reporting ingenuity -- found out about a "secret" meeting between Lorain County movers and shakers and the folks from the Indian tribe. It was at the Holiday Inn in Elyria.
We attended and even though Mayor Foltin would not talk to us and hustled the casino people away whenever we got near them, we got a story.
We were so proud of ourselves. We thought we found out about a secret meeting that The Other Paper did not. No one from that paper was there.
Our excitement lasted about 12 hours.
The next morning, when we opened The Other Paper, we were shocked to see that their entire front page was taken up with a story about the casino plan, a much more thorough story than we were able to get.
It was immediately clear to us how it happened.
The photo that accompanied their story -- of Mayor Foltin and the casino people -- was clearly taken in The Other Paper's newsroom! In other words, The Other Paper wasn't at the secret meeting because it didn't have to be. It already had the story. The mayor had hand-delivered it to them earlier that day.
We felt as if we got punched in the gut.
Now that we know there will be a new mayor in Lorain (we know it because we read it in The Other Paper), we are keeping our fingers crossed he or she will treat us fairly.
That's really all we ask.

The worse the weather, the kinder the people

Julie Wallace, Chronicle assistant managing editor, gives some encouragement to her rescuers. Her car was stuck until Chronicle photographer Bruce Bishop (taking the photo) happened by -- with his tow rope.

The weather story for today is about what's left in the wake of the storm -- the bitterly cold wind and the drifts.
But perhaps the biggest story is the one about the kindness of people who are willing to help out those who are stuck or stranded.
Bruce Bishop, our chief photographer and videographer, drives some big old manly Ford SUV. I called him this morning when I couldn't get my Maxima out of the driveway.
"Bruce, please come get me," I asked him.
He was at my house in less than a half-hour.
That was Kindness No. 1.
As we were getting off I-90 at Route 57, we passed a car stuck in a drift on the off-ramp. Bruce backed up his man-car, rolled down the window and asked the young couple inside if they needed some help getting out.
"I have a tow rope," he told them.
"That would be great," the driver said.
Bruce climbed out into the cold and attached his tow rope to their back bumper and his front bumper. And then he backed up.
Voila. The car was out of the snow bank. Bruce undid the ropes and as the driver was saying thanks, Bruce was urging him to subscribe to The Chronicle. "Only $37 a year for new subscribers," he told him.
Kindness No. 2 -- and slick newspaper selling, also.
Later, cruising around looking for pictures of the storm on the city's north side, Bruce passed a house where a car was stuck in the driveway. He looked again. Hey, that's Julie Wallace, he realized. Julie is our assistant managing editor and she got stuck on her way into work.
Bruce pulled her out.
Kindness No. 3.
And he's the only guy I know out and about with a 4WD and a tow rope. I know there have to be many others out there.
Me and my Maxima, speaking for every other person who drives a not-so-good-in-the-snow-pretty-car, want to say, "Thank-you, 4WD and SUV owners with big hearts."
Where would we be without you?
Stuck, that's where we'd be.
Oh, and cold. Very cold.

Roads were best in Elyria Township

This is how I found the roads after I left The Chronicle office in downtown Elyria at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, heading to my house in the northwest corner of Lorain.
Downtown Elyria: The roads were bad despite having the buildings to block the wind. It was hard to make turns around corners, especially at Third and East avenues because there was so much snow piled up there.
Gateway Boulevard: Not quite as much snow piled up as downtown but it was still hard to see where the lanes of the road were.
Route 57: The Worst! I had to try to find the "ruts" in the snow to make my way.
Midway Boulevard and Griswold Road: The snow blowing across made them tough to navigate.
Lake Avenue: The best stretch of my travels. If this is Elyria Township's responsibility, I give it the Golden Snowflake for great work in an impossible situation.
Route 254: Not as good as Lake Avenue but not bad.
Route 2: Pretty deserted in that stretch between Route 58 and Oak Point Road. I didn't have to navigate in the ruts as on Route 57 but it was difficult to see the edge of the road -- and the blowing snow didn't help.
Oak Point Road: The Worst II! -- The snow was halfway up my tires in spots. Good thing my car has some oomph or I'd still be stuck there.
The best part of the evening is I lived to tell you about it -- and, in case you haven't been out to see for yourself, take it from me: Stay inside.

Anna Nicole Smith is dead

Click here to see the video blog

... and then send your comments.

Doggin' the groundhog

I trudged into the newsroom yesterday morning and, as soon as I rounded the corner toward my office, Bruce Bishop, our chief photographer/Internet trailblazer, said, "Hey, Patti, I have an idea.
"I want to go to Gobbler's Knob."
I just looked at him.
"Punxsutawny," he said.
For the uninitiated -- or those of you who don't like Bill Murray -- that's the Pennsylvania town where the groundhog Phil is asked every year on Feb. 2 to predict the end of winter.
"Sure," I said. "You don't have anything else to do?"
He assured me he had everything under control -- and Bruce is one of the good ones. When he tells me he has everything under control, I know I can believe him.
"Well, shoot, get going," I told him.
By about 4 yesterday afternoon, Bruce was trolling the town, located in the hills of Pennsylvania about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, looking for something he could write about on the eve of Phil's appearance.
He called at regular intervals as he was driving and once he got there to keep us posted.
One time, he said, "EVERYTHING is groundhog ... Groundhog Car Wash, Groundhog Plaza. The basketball team is the Woodchucks."
And then, just after 5 p.m. came the breathless call. "You would not believe what I have! I found Phil's handler and he's making an appearance for a bunch of people from Ohio. I'm going to go. It is very cool. I'll send back pictures and write a story."
And that's how we ended up with Groundhog Day coverage in the paper today -- ON Groundhog Day. Most other papers won't have anything about it until tomorrow.
Hope you liked our coverage. Please excuse us if we overdid it -- we were just SO excited, we couldn't help ourselves. Plus, it was just plain fun.
Oh, by the way, Punxsutawny Phil did NOT see his shadow. That means spring can't be too far away. Hmmm, perhaps that was Phil's gift to his new buddy, Bruce ...

Is there a doctor in the house?

The words "I was sick" are kind of like the words "it got lost in the mail."
No one believes you.
Well, except your mom, of course.
But I'm going to try it anyway: The reason I didn't write a column this week is that I was sick.
I really was.
That's one nasty bug that's going around.
As I sit here Day 3 of this flu trying to get my act together enough to go to the office, I was wondering if there is something I could be doing, could have done to get better faster.
Anybody have any surefire remedies? (All they have to do is work half the time to be considered "surefire" by me!)
Thanks.
Also, are a lot of people out there sick?

Sit down (and don't kick my seat)

Click here for a video introduction to this story.

I can't believe that the parents who were kicked off a plane because their out-of-control 3-year-old was throwing a tantrum and wouldn't sit in her seat are actually ANGRY at the airline.
Talk about entitlement. Have you ever sat on a plane next to an out-of-control toddler or had one kick the back of your seat for hours?
Hey, I'm a mom. I know kids. I would never get angry if it was an infant crying. Little babies don't know any better; all they know is that they are miserable.
But, come on, a 3-year-old should be able to be told she has to sit in her seat or the airplane can't take off.
Do you know the story I'm talking about? A Boston couple was headed home from Fort Myers on AirTran Airways Jan. 14.
The plane sat at the gate for 15 minutes while the parents tried to get little Elly to stop climbing under the seat and pounding on them.
Finally, enough was enough.
"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.
The parents wanted to hold their daughter but were told no because FAA rules specify children age 2 and older must have their own seat and be strapped in before takeoff.
Even though the airline made the family get off that particular flight, it reimbursed the cost of their tickets AND offered them three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies.
Know that the parents' response was? They said they are never flying AirTran again.
I say now that we know little Elly won't be on board, AirTran is definitely the way to go.

Decisions, decisions

We learned about a woman who fell into the cold lake water from a pier in Sandusky.
The woman just happened to be from Elyria.
AND, she just happened to be trying to go to the bathroom when she fell in (her companion told police).
We also had her name.
We thought we had two choices: Either use her name and not the fact that she was trying to pee when she went in OR tell the gory details and leave out her name.
We opted for the name and not the details.
Did we make the right decision?
(We did say it was 2:40 a.m. so readers could probably figure out that she most likely was not returning from the grocery store when she fell in.)

An angel with a stop sign

Oakwood Elementary crossing guard Frances Glinsey helps Rod Pereyra, 12, Derrick Stephenson, 12, and his brother Tyler, 12, across the street. Glinsey has been a crossing guard at the school for years and has become a favorite of the students.

I was walking out the back door of the newspaper office this afternoon when I saw an SUV pull into and out of a handicapped parking spot.
A woman climbed out and shut the door.
"He got a ticket for parking in a handicapped spot and he'll never do it again," the woman told me as she pointed to the man in the SUV.
Then she turned her attention back to me. She held up a piece of paper she had in her hand, "Where do I take a write-up?"
"A write-up? What kind of a write-up?"I asked her.
"They told me to bring it here," she said.
Here we go.
"They? They who?" By this time I knew she was the kind of person I could tease and she wouldn't get angry about it.
So we danced around the English language a little longer and I finally figured out who she was and at whose behest she was bringing us a "write-up."
Her name is Frances Glinsey and she has been a crossing guard at Oakwood School for years. She's not just a crossing guard, she's a beloved crossing guard and she was here to deliver a hand-written note signed "Parents and Kids and Oakwood Staff." It said in part:

"All the kids feel loved and safe going to school. We feel the Lord has sent Mrs. G our way and we are not going to give her up. Mrs. G is the nicest, friendliest and has gloves for kids who need them and gives out surprises throughout the year. We love the peace she brings to all of us and the love and care to our kids. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

In the short time I spoke with Mrs. Glinsey, it was easy to see why she would move parents to write such a heartfelt note. She was just a sweet, unassuming woman with a great sense of humor.

Be an editor -- how to follow Buckeyes

Every once in a while I scrunch up my forehead and shake my head -- whenever I think about the show put on by the Buckeyes last night. What WAS that? Sheesh. Troy the Timid couldn't get the ball to a receiver if his life depended on it.
Anyway, what is there left to say or to tell readers in tomorrow's paper? What would you like to read about the game -- or have you had enough?

One more sports question (Yes, I know this isn't a sports blurb but I can't help myself ... I live in an all-male, er, all-sportsfan household) ... Do you think Mark McGwire belongs in the baseball hall of fame? Was his refusal to answer steroid question enough to keep him out? Maybe that wasn't an admission of guilt, maybe he just didn't want to implicate his buds.

Hot on the trail of Brown and the Buckeyes

We're like CNN here today. We have correspondents all over the country. Reporter Joe Medici and photographer Jason Miller are in Wash., D.C., to watch Sherrod Brown turn from a congressman into a senator. Joe and Jason rode along with Sherrod Brown supporters who left on a bus from LCCC this morning. On tap tonight -- the eve of Sherrod's oath-taking -- is an intimate dinner party replete with fine china and linen tablecloths -- for, oh, about 650 people. We'll be there until Sherrod's people kick us out. (We've already been warned that the "Media" won't be welcome the whole evening.) Tomorrow, we'll be there for the swearing-in of Senator Brown. I told Joe to give us all the details, take us all to Washington with him. (That's when he told me about the fine china and the linen tablecloths.) I can't wait to see what he turns up.
While Joe and Jason keep an eye on Sherrod in Washington, Chris Assenheimer is keeping an eye on those unbeaten Buckeyes in Arizona. Chris will be sending back dispatches starting the moment he gets off the plane -- whenever that is. Chris, like everyone else I know who has flown in the last few weeks, has been delayed. He was delayed in Cleveland, then he was delayed on his connector out of Houston. But he promises to send us at least a glimpse of the Buckeye party-in-the-desert tonight.
Please let me know if there is anything this genuine (sheepskinned) Ohio State Buckeye can have her roving reporters -- in either camp -- find out for you. I can't guarantee they'll get an audience with Coach Tressel, but, hey, anything's possible.

Be an editor Part II

You have probably heard that the cartoonist who does Fox Trot is stopping production of his daily comic -- he'll continue to do Sunday strips.
Anyway, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO PUT IN THERE.
Of course, it's too late for you guys to help me with this particular strip (I wish I would have thought to ask you earlier) because it ends tomorrow.
However, the comics pages are pretty fluid. I can remove and replace strips at will -- IF I'm ready to be pummeled. Because, you see, every strip has its fans -- and even if I think it is lame or has run its course, I get letters of complaint if anything changes on those pages.
So, you comic junkies, are there any strips you read elsewhere, you'd like to see in The Chronicle?
Let me know.

Merry Christmas everyone

So, I know the "just settled in for a long winter's nap" line is about Christmas Eve but -- at least at our house -- the line is so much more appropriate for Christmas Day. We ate and then laid around watching "Cars." I bought it for my little boy (who's 20!). Now it's time for a snooze. What do most people do when Mass is over, the presents are opened and the leftovers are all in the fridge? Are we the only lazy people?
By the way, if you saw the bizarre weather map in the Chronicle today -- sorry about that. Someone (ME) should have called Accuweather and told them we had an early deadline last night. It didn't come in time for our deadline.
The resourceful news editor, Dan Shortridge, (who found a weather map to get in there) tried to cheer me up. After I apologized for failing to make sure he would get the weather map by Christmas Eve deadline, he said, "It wasn't that bad ... the forecast was just the same old yada yada it's been, rain and above-average temps."
It is great to have smart people in the newsroom who can punt when they are up against it. I appreciate them every day.
Have a good night. Hope everyone got everything they wished for from Santa.

What will they build at Ford?

Has anyone heard what they plan to put on the Lorain Ford site?
Can it possibly be another industrial park? They can't fill the ones they have, can they?

I think it would be a great place for an OUTLET MALL. That site seems like exactly the kind of place they put those outlet malls ... right off a highway but sort of in the middle of nowhere.
They seem to do pretty good business although I don't know if that would translate to revenue for the city.

In trouble again

How about what happened with Michael Ross?!?!

Six (five and a half, really) shopping days left

OK, this is it -- coming down the stretch before Christmas.
I have about 25 percent of my Christmas shopping done.
Of course, I have hard-to-find items on wish-lists from my boys, things like a throwback Browns hooded jersey. Type those four words into Google and you always get three out of four. Know what I mean? Like I found lots of 1.Throwback 2. Browns 3. Sweatshirts -- minus the hood. Or I found lots of 1. Browns 2. Hooded 3. Sweatshirts -- minus the throwback.
It's like a huge game this Internet shopping but I guess it beats walking around store after store and mall after mall.
I know, I know, that's the "fun" of Christmas. Well, maybe it would be IF THERE WERE 30 HOURS IN EVERY DAY or if I didn't have to do time-wasting things like ... ummm, SLEEPING!
Wonder how others are making out finding what they need -- at a fair price -- this year.
Oh, BTW, I DID find eventually find my 1. Throwback 2. Browns 3. Hooded 4. Sweatshirt! It has a picture of the elf guy on it. That was almost as thrilling as a Browns win!

He's caving a little

We were out with Keith McGuckin today as he was putting up Part II of his holiday window display in Wellington -- a gay snowman -- and he said that if he gets a lot of negative feedback about the gingerbread Nazi display over the weekend, he may take it down. He says he doesn't understand the flap. You can listen to him in his own words in a video on the ct newsroom blog

Cookie monsters or not?

They kicked Keith McGuckin and his swastika-swathed gingerbread man out of Oberlin so McGuckin took his show down the road -- to Wellington -- where a won't-give-us-his-name storefront owner allowed him to set up his display.
Did you see the picture of the display in the paper? If not, here it is.
Do you think McGuckin is doing this for publicity or is he truly an artist in search of artistic freedom? Boy, try to write that sentence in an unbiased way! Seriously, I don't know the answer to the question myself. I really don't want you to think I'm trying to persuade you one way or the other.
All I know is that when his cookie creatures got booted out of Oberlin, the story was all over the world -- literally. I found it on U.K. and Australian newspaper Web sites. I guess that means the story is news ... or does it?
We had a newsroom battle at the Chronicle last night (wish you could have been there) about where to put the story in the paper. The opinion in the newsroom was HEAVILY in favor of putting in on the front page -- but it wasn't to be.
Maybe, Mr. McGuckin, if you are reading this ... you can tell us yourself just exactly what you are up to.

Smoking in the bars

So what's with all this smokin' in the bars?
It's i-l-l-e-g-a-l. Don't people know that?
Ohio voters banned smoking in just about every place except the far corner of your basement and yet, go into just about any bar and chances are good you'll be able to bum a cigarette from the guy (or girl) sitting next to you.
Conscious objectors, that's what the bar owners are.
A guy who owns a bar in Cleveland was on NPR this morning and he said there is no way he's putting away his ashtrays because in the bar a couple doors down, people are smoking.
I'll lose business, he said.
So, the deal is: There's this law but there are no enforcers.
Hmmm. Think about that ... if no one was going to nail you for speeding, would you obey the posted limit? Shoot, I wouldn't.
Are they smoking in the bars you've been in since the law went into effect?
Is that OK with you?
Let me know.

Be an editor

Friday night, Julie Wallace, our new assistant managing editor, was editing stories when she swiveled around in her chair and said to me, "Patti, did you see this Off-the-Beat item? The one about the girl standing in the cold? I think you oughta take a look at it."
Off-the-Beat is a column that we run Saturdays in the print edition of The Chronicle. It's a spot where reporters can tell readers about the fun, funny or bizarre things they ran across during their week covering the mean streets of Lorain County.
Well, it seems some of those streets are a little meaner than others for what Julie wanted me to see was the report of a 15-year-old girl made to stand out in the cold wearing a reindeer nose and antlers AND a placard around her neck that said, "I'm a liar."
The teen told our reporter (her quote was in the story), "I'm embarassed. I want to go in the house. I need to stop lying and behave myself."
Her father told our reporter (his quote also was in the story), "I want the attention for people to see her so maybe next time she'll know better."
Well, we decided not to run it.
We really didn't see the news value of heaping more humiliation on an already humiliated teenage girl. It just didn't feel right to us.
What do you think?
Is it news? Would you have run the story? The picture?
And, why or why not?