Thursday, December 22, 2011

Reading the daily police blotter

Hackensack, New Jersey
Image via Wikipedia
Hackensack in the 1890s, around the time The Bergen Evening Record was founded in River City.


Page 1 of The Record today carries an update of the fiery plane crash that killed five, but I've already lost interest in what caused the accident on Tuesday. 


And I see nothing about the hubris or machismo that drove Jeffrey F. Buckalew, a 45-year-old investment banker from Manhattan, to fly his own plane and sacrifice the lives of his wife, children, a family dog and a colleague, himself the father of three.


In fact, today's story conflicts with a witness quoted in Wednesday's scatter-shot account that a wing broke off and the plane "went down like a rock" -- words that formed the basis of the banger headline on that day's front page.


Now, the consensus of witnesses is that the plane "spiraled out of control" and exploded when it hit Route 287.


The plane truth


Buckalew's multimillion dollar turbo-prop apparently was brought down by ice build-up. The plane was based at Teterboro, meaning long-suffering Hackensack homeowners will have one less noisy aircraft to worry about.


Readers looking at Pages A-4 and A-5 today can be forgiven if they think they have a copy of The Star-Ledger, which contributed four stories on those pages.


The photo on A-7 -- two female sailors kissing -- gives new meaning to the old salt's boast of having "a woman in every port."


On A-19, a wire-service story reports North Korean madman Kim Jong Il died in bed -- not while working -- but doesn't say whether a young woman was involved.


Crimes against readers


The front of head Assigment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section looks like a police blotter come to life -- every story involves police or court news or an indictment.


Seven more police or court stories appear on L-2 and L-3, and more police news is on L-5 and L-6.


Too bad they don't lock up Sykes and interim Editor Douglas Clancy and throw away the key for crimes against readers looking for local news in the Woodland Park daily.




See previous post, 
Ex-editor says he's landed on his feet



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