Police report lede

A Spokane bishop is thought to be a person of interest in the Green River killings after a male prostitute said he was allegedly strangled by the bishop during an oral sex act in Chicago on Aug. 8, 1986.

"When asked if he put his hands on the victims throat he said that he had put his hands all over the victims body. He said that he would NEVER deliberately do anything to hurt anybody and that he did not think he did anything to hurt this individual," according to the Spokane Police report.

Police report story

Gang members are suspected to be involved in a fatal shooting in Pullman on March 28 at approximately 11:45 p.m..

Pullman Police Officers arrived at the scene where they found three individuals with gunshot wounds resulting from a alleged argument. Donald James Connelly, a 21-year-old male, was found dead at the scene located at the 2400 block of S.E. 19th Avenue.

The two other victims were transported to area hospitals, one was critically injured in the face. The other was shot in the leg. Witnesses report that two men sped away from the scene in a blue Honda Civic.

 

"The shooter jumped into the car, and the driver gunned it. I got a good look at the shooter but the driver was wearing a black mask," Karen Potts an artist who lives in the area of the shooting said.

The police investigation is ongoing, and they do not have any suspects in custody at this time.

"We raided a home in south Pullman and recovered the gun that we believe was used in the shooting. However, the suspect was not home," Det. Calvin Anderson said.

Police Activity Log

Provide a sentence describing the incident; the names of anyone arrested; the address; and the date and time.

Staff members of the Avalon Care Center reported receiving harassing phone calls on March 26 at 2:15 pm.

AVALON CARE CENTER 

1310 NW Deane St PULLMAN WA 99163

Call Received By: Susan Waltz

Ethics Questions 1

News Value: knowing if public officials are taking bribes is highly news worthy. They are people who are supposed to be serving our community and doing so ethically, if they are not the public will want to know about it. 

Concerns: There is a line between getting the information for a story and going too far. Making up an entire bar to test the limits of the police, is a far stretch to go to. 

Consequences: Police officers and building inspectors will be angry when they discover that they have been deceived. 

Alternatives: Finding another way to interview an ex-police officer who cant lose his job, or find a witness of these crimes, some way to prove what has been going on without creating this undercover operation.

Explanation: the journalist wouldnt be violating any aspects of libel, but it is deception. Its an ethical issue, not a legal issue. it is legal

Story 4

What began as a typical evening of college partying quickly turned into a nightmare for Washington State University sophomore Gretchen Kramer. She set her drink down on a table for what she felt like was a mere moment during a pre-party for a greek chapter function. After finishing that second drink, Kramer remembers nothing but waking up in the hospital the next morning.

“All I can remember is the nurse saying stay with us, stay with us. Don’t fight the tube, it will help you breathe,” Kramer said tearfully as she described what she could remember of the night she was taken to Pullman Regional Hospital for alcohol detoxification.

“I’m over six-feet-tall and 180 pounds, two drinks shouldn’t have affected me like that,” Kramer said.

Her friends quickly realized that she needed immediate medical attention when she began puking excessively, sweating and became unresponsive. Kramer was rushed to Pullman Regional Hospital.

The next morning, an emergency room doctor told her that because of her symptoms she was likely drugged the night before. Kramer and her friends believe out-of-town visitors are responsible for her drugging at the party. She never pressed charges against the alleged perpetrators because she didn’t want to cause a scene within the WSU greek community.

Kramer is only one of the many college students whom have experienced the nightmare of alcohol detoxification. The rate of alcohol detoxifications in Pullman has increased by more than 22% since 2007, according to the Pullman Police Department annual incident report. The police department took 22 individuals to detox in 2009, according to the incident report.

Commander Chris Tennant of the Pullman Police Department witnesses cases similar to Kramer’s on a weekly basis. Kramer believes that dangerous situations like her's happen more often than college students would like to believe.

“Its normally about two to three times a week that we take students into detox. Way too often if you ask me,” Tennant said.

The annual rate of alcohol detoxifications has been a growing problem in Pullman over the past decade. The rate of individuals being taken to the hospital for alcohol detox by the police department has skyrocketed since 1997, jumping from a total of three in a year to over 20 cases every year.

As the rates of detox continue to rise, Tennant and his fellow officers don’t believe that there is much they can do to stop it. They say that the responsibility is resting on the shoulders of the students. In Pullman, most cases of detox are not from drugging incidents like Kramer’s but rather drinking irresponsibly, Tennant said.

“I don’t subscribe to the Nancy Reagan ‘just say no’ approach. The best advice I can give is to drink responsibly and make alcohol a topic of discussion at the beginning of the night before you go out, not at the end of the night when we’re scooping you off the sidewalk somewhere,” Tennant said.

Contacts for Story

Gretchen Kramer (face-to-face interview)- 406.570.3328

Commander Chris Tennant- 509.334.0802

Police department records- http://www.pullman-wa.gov/Departments/Police/

Ethics 3

I would not run the name of the accuser. Running the woman's name would only hurt the victim and any future individuals who are victims of rape. This woman may still feel that she was violated, despite the courts decision stating that the men are not guilty. Other women who are raped and considering pressing charges may choose to not speak out in fear they will be publicly known as a liar. I do not believe the readers would benefit any from knowing the woman's name, it is better for all involved that she remain anonymous.  

About my story

I'm looking at the trend of an increasing rate of alcohol detoxification and general dangers of alcohol use in Pullman.

10-minute feature

After three years at Washington State University, student Eric Stewart is left feeling unprepared for the real world and bogged down by his thousands of dollars of debt.

"College puts students into a la-la land. WSU isn't like reality," Stewart said.

Edit Your Peers

1. Another issues with these beverages is the way they are marketed in stores.

 

2. The team won its first sweep of USC in 11 years.

 

3. If the committee passes the bill, it will open up approximately 1,000 internships for students in Washington state.

 

4. “Police guilds have a duty to defend their fellow officers, whether they are found being dishonest or not.”  Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, said. 

 

5. “We're not requiring high-quality wine, but if you’re going to put Washington on the label 95 percent of the grapes must be grown within the region,” Lacey Hulbert, 21-year-old enology major said.

 

6. The wine-tasting endorsement will be available to stores in September, Culinary Coordinator for Metropolitan Market Jane Westman said.

Local government data exercise

I. State and local

Using the online resource www.census.gov, answer the following questions:

1. What’s the population of Washington state?-6,664,195

a. What's the percent change since 2000?- 11.56%

b. Go back to the main page. Now look at 'Washington' under the 'Area Profile with QuickFacts.' What's the median household income?- 58,081

2. Now look at Whitman County.

a. What's the population?- 41,664

b. Percent white?- 86.6%

c. Percent with bachelor’s degree?-44%

d. Median household income?- $39,691

e. Persons below poverty?- 23.7%

3. Let's go deeper. Click on 'Browse data sets for Whitman County.' You'll find a slew of entry points into the U.S. Census Bureau database. This is a great area if you're interested in finding a particular fact (how much federal $ came into the county last year), as well as if you're just browsing, looking for a little light reading.

Click on the 'Building Permits 2009.'

a. Find the annual construction costs for building permits for Pullman from 2004 to 2008. Report it for each individual year.

2004-26,250,489

2005-46,479,544

2006-40,499,193

2007- 38,770,838

2008-20,019,498

b. What’s the most current construction cost for 2009? (Obviously the annual report isn’t yet available, but we can look at the December 2009 report to get the cumulative construction cost.)- 10,398,856

c. Write a lede based on this information.

Annual construction costs for building permits in Pullman, Wa. have dropped by about $30 million since 2006.

4. Let’s take another big national issue: Health insurance. Return to census.gov.

Click on the QuickFacts page, and then Washington state. Click on 'Browse data sets for Whitman County.'

a. Under People Quick Links, locate “2005 Health Insurance Coverage.

b. Choose Washington and then ‘Submit.’

1. Which two counties have the highest percent of uninsured people?- king and pierce

2. What’s the percentage in Whitman County?-9,118

II. Federal grants and insurance

Who needs government? Well, Whitman County certainly received some federal help last year. But we want to know how much.

But fumbling through this site can be cumbersome. Plus, the Census Bureau isn't the only government site with information on Whitman County. If only there were an easier way to search all these sites at once (ah, but there is!)

Google/unclesam is a powerful tool that let’s us search all “.gov” Web sites. Go to the search bar and type “Whitman County Consolidated Federal Funds Report.”

a. Click on the first two links and try to find the the report. Any luck? Let's try the third, which takes us to the Office of Financial Management, which overseas $ going into and out of the state of Washington.

b. Click or search for 'Consolidated Federal Funds Report.' At the top of the page, click on 'Online Query System.'

c. Under ‘Available Data,’ choose 2008 and Geography (Federal data almost always lags a year behind). Click ‘Submit.’

d. On the next page, choose ‘Washington’ and ‘Yes’ on County. We want ‘All Fund Types.’

e. On the next page, choose Whitman County.

1. How much did Whitman County farmers receive in Crop Insurance?

5,191,477

2. How much did Whitman County receive in grants (block, formula, project,

etc.)? - 122,982,596

3. Name three of the grants.- FORMULA, PROJECT, AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS

III. Population

Is Whitman County’s population growing? Let’s look at population trends.

1. Type “Whitman County population" into Google Uncle Sam. We've looked at the Census data so let's try the second link, the Office of Financial Management.

2. On the top, click on the 'Population' tab, then 'County GMA Projections.' (That's Growth Management Act.)

3. We want 2007 projections, which are the most recent. On the next page, we want projections by 'Single Year After 2010.'

a. What’s the 2010 project population for Whitman County?- 51,349

b. What’s the 2030 projection?-67,031

c. What's the projected state population in 2030?- 10,026,660

d. What's the percent increase for Washington state from 2000 to 2030? What's the increase in Whitman County during that same time period? WA- 41.22% Whitman- 39.23%

Spokane City Council Agenda

1. The city of Spokane provides all its City Council information online. Google “Spokane City Council.” Choose the first Google result, which will take us directly to the Council’s home page.

2. Let’s look at the Sept. 14 agenda. Under ‘Current Agendas,’ choose Sept. 14.

3. What’s the number of the ordinance that would create a new alcohol-impact area?- ORD C34475

4. We want to know more about this ordinance. In fact, we want to see the actual document. Under the ‘Services’ tab at the top of the page, scroll down to ‘Documents and Forms.’ Navigate to ‘City Clerk Records.’

5. Type in the keyword ‘alcohol.’ That will bring up the actual ordinance. We have several different listings for the same ordinance. So, under ‘Sub Type,’ find the ordinance designated ‘SMC.’

6. Click ‘View’ and open with Adobe Acrobat.

7. What will the ordinance do? Write a lede based on the City Council’s approval of this ordinance.

Further restrictions of the sale of alcohol are soon to come in Spokane if the city council approves ordinance C34475.

8. Google 'alcohol-impact area.' Are other Washington cities enacting similar ordinances. Why?

Tacoma and Seattle are also looking to put an ordinance like this in place due to stats and surveys that show a high level of unsafety when it comes to the sale of alcohol.