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me…Mrs. Carpenter said
it was true…
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Stars and Stripes News May 22, 2004
Patient given appointment...in 192 years
A hospital patient has been told he'll have to wait 192
years for a minor operation.
Robert Smith has been sent a letter by Dewsbury District
Hospital saying the waiting time is 9,999 weeks.
The Mirror says bosses at the Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals
NHS Trust have apologized for the gaffe, blaming an
admin error.
A Trust spokesman said: "We are happy to confirm no
one has ever had to wait 9,999 weeks."
Mr. Smith, 48, has now been told the waiting time for the
operation to have a spot removed from beside his eye is
actually 17 weeks.
Switch: EBay allows auction of Virgin Mary grilled
cheese MIAMI (AP) — The Internet auction house
eBay Inc. reversed itself Tuesday and is allowing bids
for half of a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich that
its owner says bears the image of the Virgin Mary.
Diana Duyser, of Hollywood, put the sandwich up for
sale last week, drawing bids as high as $22,000 before
eBay pulled the item Sunday night. The page was
viewed almost 100,000 times before being taken
down.
An e-mail Duyser received from eBay said the
sandwich broke its policy, which "does not allow
listings that are intended as jokes."
But Duyser, a work-from-home jewelry designer who has bought and sold items on eBay for
two years, said the grilled cheese wasn't a joke. The auction was back on Tuesday afternoon
with a top bid of $5,100. The winning bidder also has to pay $9.95 for shipping.
Duyser thought eBay would be the best place to show off the sandwich, made on plain
white bread and American cheese and cooked with no oil or butter. She said she took a bite
after making it 10 years ago and saw a face staring back at her from the bread.
Duyser, 52, put the sandwich in a clear plastic box with cotton balls and kept it on her night
stand. At first, she was scared by the image, "but now that I realize how unique it is, I
wanted to share it with the world," Duyser told The Miami Herald.
Is this the whole
She said the sandwich has never sprouted a spore of mold.
story? Accurate?
USA Today Newspaper – November 18, 2004
Your Challenge
1. Pick a current news story. Use a credible online
newspaper or news site. (CBS, MSN, ABC, a major
city newspaper)
2. Find the same story written and published by three
different news sources. (so three of the above)
3. Complete the chart comparing the stories.
Write a reflection on the activity where you draw a
conclusion from what you found, make an inference,
and offer your opinion.
Girl, 10, handcuffed for bringing scissors to school December 12, 2004
PHILADELPHIA -- A 10-year-old girl was placed in handcuffs and taken to a police
station because she took a pair of scissors to her elementary school. School district
officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten anyone with the 8-inch shears, but
violated a rule that considers scissors to be potential weapons.
Administrators said they were following state law when they called police Thursday,
and police said they were following department rules when they handcuffed Porsche
Brown and took her away in a patrol wagon. ''My daughter cried and cried,'' said her
mother, Rose Jackson. ''She had no idea what she did was wrong. I think that was way too
harsh.'' Police officers decided the girl hadn't committed a crime and let her go.
However, school officials suspended her for five days. Administrators will decide at a
hearing whether she may return to class, or be expelled to a special disciplinary school.
The scissors were discovered while students' belongings were being searched for property
missing from a teacher's desk.
School district officials have promised a crackdown on unruly students this year, and
new policies give administrators the power to expel students for infractions as minor as
violating the dress code, chronic tardiness or habitual swearing.
Administrators say the steps are needed to regain control over a notoriously unruly
school system, but some parents have complained that discipline has been overly harsh
and that school officials have been too quick to call police about minor problems.
AP
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-scissors12.html
Chicago Sun Times newspaper
Officials apologize for scissors arrest
Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Philadelphia officials have apologized for the
arrest of a 10-year-old girl who was taken to jail for having a pair of scissors in her
book bag at school. The head of Philadelphia's public schools and the city police
commissioner called the child's mother Monday to apologize, the Philadelphia
Inquirer reported Tuesday. Porsche Brown, a fourth-grader, was handcuffed and taken
to a local police precinct. Schools leader Paul Vallas termed the incident an
"overreaction."
The girl was suspended Thursday from Philadelphia's Thomas Holme Elementary
School when a pair of 8-inch scissors were found in her book bag. Students are banned
from taking scissors, which are considered potential weapons under state law, to
school, the Inquirer reported. The school principal said she was following district
procedures in calling police about the incident.
The scissors were found when school staff searched students' belongings for an
item missing from a teacher's desk. Porsche told school officials she had used the
scissors to open a compact disc package. The girl's mother, Rose Jackson, told the
Inquirer she "felt good" about the apologies but, "My main concern right now it to get
my daughter back in school and back to a normal childhood.“
United Press International
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041214-082954-5592r.htm
Vallas, cops apologize for girl's arrest
By MENSAH M. DEAN
The top officials from Philadelphia's Police Department and school district yesterday
apologized to the mother of a 10-year-old girl who was handcuffed and arrested last
week for taking a pair of 8-inch scissors to school. But some said the apologies are
unusual in a city where each year, hundreds of students who are caught with weapons get
arrested and expelled to disciplinary schools, in accordance with state law.
Scissors are considered a weapon in schools across the state.
"As a parent, and grandparent, I do understand that the use of physical restraints on
young people, especially pre-teens, can be distressing," Police Commissioner Sylvester
Johnson said in a statement. Calling in "local police to address such a matter involving a
10-year-old criminalized the young student who apparently meant no ill intent by her
actions," read a school district statement, which also noted that schools CEO Paul Vallas
had apologized to the girl's mother.
"I'm glad that they apologized, and that just supports my theory that this was not
handled appropriately," Rose Jackson, mother of the child, said last night.
Jackson had complained to the news media over the weekend that her daughter, Porsche
Brown, had been the victim of excessive force. Jackson has hired Philadelphia attorney
Pat McKinney to possibly sue the district, but she hasn't made a final decision yet.
A state law bans all cutting instruments from schools, as does the city school district's
own code of student conduct. State law also requires that local police be called when
students are found with weapons and that students be expelled for at least one year.
"This is a child. You use common sense. The hell with the law," said Jackson. "She didn't
threaten anyone. She didn't show the scissors to anyone at all."
Jackson said Porsche was using the scissors to work on a school project at home. She
believes her daughter inadvertently scooped up the scissors with other materials and put
them in her bag. Jackson said her daughter was suspended twice last year for disciplinary
problems but has had no trouble this year. Jackson said she passed up an opportunity to
tell her story on ABC's "Good Morning America" this morning to instead go to Porsche's
school to get her reinstated from suspension.
"You try to better these children and have them turn around from the anger that they
had, and then you have them arrested?" said Jackson, who was upset that she wasn't
notified until eight hours after the arrest. "To turn around and do this is a slap in the face.“
Others said the school district would be wise to follow the law - or work to change it.
"Look at the flip side. What if a child did hurt another child with a pair of scissors. Then
people would be outraged that a pair of scissors was allowed to get into the school," said
Harvey Rice, a state-appointed official known as the safe schools advocate.
He is now probing cases in which principals did not follow state law in reporting weapon
cases to see if the practice is widespread. "I don't think the law is crazy. There are going to
be some instances, but we have to err on the side of caution and safety," Rice said.
"A cutting instrument is a cutting instrument. In a fit of anger, in a lot of situations, you use
it, you lunge at a person," said Michael Lodise, president of the school police officers'
union.
"If you don't like the law change the law, but don't break the law," he said.
But in its statement, the school district appeared to be taking exception with the state
law: "[I]t is the School District of Philadelphia's position that school administrators can
exercise reasonable judgment and rely on school police to adequately address most
situations on the primary school level."
The statement also said calling local police off "their beats to manage the vast
majority of primary-level incidents is a waste of vital law enforcement resources."
State Rep. John Taylor, however, said "discretion has proven to be flawed in the past...
I'd rather see them have a strict adherence to the law. It's not left up to anyone's
discretion," said the Philadelphia Republican.
Police Commissioner Johnson said the officers who responded to Holme Elementary,
in the Northeast, acted in accordance with department policy in handcuffing and
transporting the girl. But Johnson noted that the department is evaluating "the
feasibility of having a police supervisor consulted in instances where arrest and
transport of elementary school students are involved to determine whether or not it is
in the best interest of all concerned to handcuff juvenile suspects being transported."
From Sept. 1 through Nov. 30, there were 461 student arrests, according to the school
district. Some 111 arrests were made in incidents involving cutting instruments.
Philidelphia Daily News
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/10411547.htm?1c
News Article Comparison Worksheet
Name ____________________________________________________ Section __________
News Story Title/Topic/Event: ___________________________________________________________________
Article 1 Article 2 Article 3
1.
Presents the story in the exact same way
2.
Story very similar
3.
Left out important details
4.
Changed the story entirely
5.
Added extra details
6.
Added extra unrelated details
7.
Well-written and tells the true story in your opinion
Article 1 Source: (name of newspaper, city published)____________________________________________________
Specifics from above:
Article 2 Source: (name of newspaper, city published)____________________________________________________
Specifics from above:
Article 3 Source: (name of newspaper, city published)____________________________________________________
Specifics from above: