Welcome to Tom's clippings file.


Features

Some of my favorite features were the Tie Guy, the Hat Lady, the Bamboo Man and, of course, the Squirrel Lady:

Sparky [the squirrel] got her own room,

complete with a big pile of branches, twigs

and leaves. Sparky also had a TV. Ann has pictures

and videotape of Sparky watching MacNeihl/Lehrer

and other PBS shows. She said she is very

grateful to have proof of this, because no

one would ever believe her otherwise.

News

My continuing coverage of a nasty annexation war between a school district and a township ended with a story which won Best News Story of 1995 among my company's ten weekly papers.

"I'll see you in court," said Freedom Township

Trustee Adrian Stefanish to Garfield Board

President Mike Cooper last February.

More than a year later, that statement

is about to come true. The trustees and the

school board will meet in Portage County Common

Pleas Court March 9. Both sides are confident of victory.

School coverage

Education stories are a joy to write. It's amazing to learn of all the different activities and pilot programs going on, but furthermore its important to let readers know what their money is being spent on.

You say you haven't heard of the AlphaSmart Pro?

It's the low-tech, compact, underdog of a computer that

is having a major impact on the Streetsboro, Garfield and

Crestwood schools. What's so special about it? Nothing.

It doesn't have great graphics or great programs. It doesn't

run Windows 95 and it doesnŐt even play solitaire. It's little

more than a keyboard that runs on two AA batteries.

But everybody is talking about it.

The Rural Beat

Some might have turned their noses up at the rural beat, but I found it endlessly fascinating. Pumpkin stories became a specialty, partially because of my award-winning headline "Gourd Have Mercy." But, I spent my share of time in dairy barns, berry fields, tree farms and, yes, even crawling inside a turkey coop to get a close-up photo.

Any old turkey will do for the other 364 days of the year.

The basic white, domestic turkey will do just fine.

But at Thanksgiving, one starts to think about a genuine,

Norman Rockwell, God-Bless-America bronze gobbler.

It should be a regal, dignified bird both on the farm and

on the table. Before its untimely demise it should

have looked just like the turkey on the centerpiece.

Such turkeys do exist, but you may not find them in the supermarket...

Business features

Some people may think a business feature has no room for creativity or good writing, but some of my favorite stories have fallen into this category, including this trip to observe surgery on a horse:

In addition to being able to diagnose

medical problems and perform surgery, these

doctors must be able to handle horses. This can

include affectionate pats, friendly nicknames and

even kissy noises. Dr. Aaron Horch proved to be

especially good at the kissy noises as he and technician

Mindey Maley and grounds supervisor Nate Meadows

prepared a trotter from Northfield Racetrack for leg

surgery. A ligament problem was causing a build-up

of fluids in the right front leg. The patient needed

a lot of cajoling as Horch shaved and cleaned the leg

prior to an operation by Dr. Arthur Segedy.


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