tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37431669.post-10872354315000287202008-06-10T02:06:00.010-04:002008-06-10T17:25:47.111-04:00We were without electricity for a few hours Monday night after the storm knocked out power downtown and the newspaper's generator failed to kick on.<br />When we finally were able to get back on our computers, we hustled to get the paper out.<br />Sometime after midnight we got a tip that Middle Avenue near Value City and a portion of Russia Road had been barricaded and there were many police cars in the area.<br />We called the Elyria Police and were told that the sheriff's department was handling it.<br />The only question was: Handling what?<br />There were no reporters left in the newsroom at that hour to dispatch so I asked one of our copy editors -- Michael Baker -- to call the sheriff's department to find out what was going on.<br />Well, seems the dispatcher would give him absolutely no information. Nothing.<br />He came into my office.<br />"What am I supposed to do in a situation like this?" he asked.<br />"She wouldn't tell me anything."<br />I couldn't imagine that a dispatcher would not give us a general idea of what was going on.<br />So, I said, "Give me that number."<br />I called her. <br />"I don't have any information," she said.<br />"You don't know what the call was they went out on?" I asked.<br />"I don't have a press release," she said.<br /><em>She doesn't have a press release.</em><br />Now, come on.<br />"All I want to know is what was the call they went out on," I repeated.<br />She repeated similar stonewalling sentiments.<br />She would not tell me anything.<br />So, I pulled Michael away from his copy-editing job and sent him to the scene to check things out.<br />Then I left a message on Sheriff Stammitti's voicemail pleading for just a little cooperation.<br />When Michael got to the barricades, he was told by a law enforcement officer to wait in the Value City parking lot.<br />Michael asked him what was going on and he said he didn't know.<br /><em>He said he didn't know.</em><br />I was beginning to wonder if anybody <em>did</em> know.<br />Michael told me that Terry Costigan of TMC News was already there.<br />I told him to ask Terry what was going on.<br />And finally, we got our information: There's a hostage situation in a house.<br />Thanks, Terry.<br />You know, that's all we wanted to know.<br />Is that really too much to ask?Patti Ewaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11118539617989280234noreply@blogger.com