Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
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I’ve sure spent a lot of time in the car the last two days. One thing I like about my job is being able to be out of the office. I can’t stand being inside all day. I’ve never had a full time inside job in my life. I don’t think I could do it. Sometimes it’s nice to take a drive out to some random place on a story. However it also means that I better hurry up and get the interviews quick and get on to the next story.
On Tuesday, my first story was up in Ogden. So as I’m leaving the station at 10:20 a.m. I start to think to myself, “Self, if I can get there by 11 a.m. and find the place and get an interview it will work out just great.” The only thing is I’m going to do one of those drop in on the people unannounced and see if they are there and will talk to me. This was the Molotov cocktail story and I had done a similar one just a little while ago in Salt Lake City.
I get up there a little after 11 a.m. and the front door to the house is open so I’m thinking no one is home which means I’m in trouble without an interview. I knock on the door and peak inside and I hear someone in another room say, “That can’t be someone at the door.” The homeowner then walked up to the door and allowed me in to her house. She then ripped on the people who threw the Molotov cocktails in to her house.
So that story worked out and then I drove to the other end of Ogden to try and locate the daughter of the man who went missing in to the Weber River while camping. I called ahead and no one answered so I decided to just drop in and no one was home. This meant a trip out to Morgan. I had the number for the Chief Deputy and asked if I could swing by (like it was next door). After I hung up I had to get on my computer and actually look up where Morgan was located because I honestly had no idea. That’s kind of a nice drive through the canyon. So now I can say I’ve officially been to Morgan, Utah.
Many times when you go out to a Sheriff’s office you have to go through several levels of security to actually get to where you want to go for the interview. Out in Morgan you just walk in the building down the hall, ask the secretary where the folks are and she just says, “They’re right across the hall with the open door.” That was nice and easy.
Another thing they are investigating out in Morgan is a prank text by a 23 year old over the weekend. Apparently the guy said he was kidnapped and sent a text to other friends telling them he was in trouble. Well search and rescue and a life flight helicopter were sent out. Come to find out that allegedly the guy made it up. After all if he could send a text for help, why didn’t he call police for help? So now the county folks are looking in to possible charges and recuperation of funds for that situation. The county attorney says he’s investigating and they’ll probably know by next week if they have enough to charge him. So other radio folk there’s something to follow up on next week. I’d do it but I’ll be sitting in Yankee stadium watching the Yankees and Red Sox and not even thinking about work, only about why A-Rod can’t hit when the game is on the line and why did we ever sign that Johnny Damon guy.
After the quick trip to Morgan I was off for a longer drive back to Midvale. I looked up on the computer again to find the quickest way back in to the Salt Lake valley. I figured it couldn’t be going back up the canyon and then down but according to the map that was the quickest way. I made it out to the funeral of the Midvale detective who died from cancer. There was an amazing amount of law enforcement there. They had a huge line up of motorcycles in a perfect row. They had one officer go down the row just to make sure they were in a perfect line. Everyone had small black ribbons over their shields. They even brought in the swat truck and draped it with black.
So in all I figure I drove somewhere between 150 and 200 miles that day. Everyone at the station has done that before and probably a lot more. Sometimes you have to cover a story in Ogden and then go to Provo which can be tough with deadlines.
Today I drove clear out nearly to Kennecott. Every time I head that direction I feel it would be faster to go through Nevada and drive back in to Utah. I was out there for a press conference about the new water source being provided for West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton and Herriman.
Before it started something was really bugging me and I couldn’t figure out what it was until it started and then it hit me. The press conference was set up with a podium and in the background was a cemetery. In my previous jobs I’ve been a reporter/photographer for TV stations and would shoot video for my stories and so the background on an interview is very important. So if I was shooting video for this press conference I would have had someone talking about all the new clean water and the background would make it look like they were standing in the middle of a cemetery. That gave me a good chuckle and I took some pictures of the situation but it’s kind of hard to see the cemetery in the background on the wide shots.
Oh and just a heads up to everyone out there. This is pretty random but it’s happening a lot lately. Many times I am writing and editing my stories in the news car. Sometimes I’m in the back seat trying to edit on my lap top and someone will come up and start checking their make up in the reflection on the window and I’m on the other side wondering what they are doing and if they can see me. Often I have the windows down and I’ll hear someone walk by and make a comment about the station and I’ll have to lean out and say, “Hey I’m right here you know!” (You know who you are guy in his mid-50’s in the red shirt today in Salt Lake City) Or sometimes someone leans up against the car or puts their foot on the bumper and just hangs out talking with someone. It’s really interesting to see what goes on with your car when no one thinks there is any one around.
