Story carries message of consequences

Several readers have called or e-mailed The Enterprise to express various levels of outrage about a front-page story in Sunday's paper that provided additional information on Willie James McCray, the man charged with intoxication manslaughter in connection with the death of Beaumont Police Officer Lisa Beaulieu.

The story and a photo of McCray with his girlfriend and their child ran alongside a story about the fallen officer. More than 3,000 people have accessed the story on-line in the approximately 36-hours it has been posted. Those expressing outrage have characterized the story about McCray as "glorifying" a man responsible for the death of a public servant doing her duty.

Although some have acknowledged the newspaper's responsibility to tell both sides of the story, none have expressed support of The Enterprise's efforts to do so.

The story, in addition to quoting a family member about McCray drinking that evening, also lists his criminal history and previous arrests. His friends and family shared their stories and their own sense of loss, but the facts presented supported some less-than-glorious life choices.

Through both images and words the story sent a very clear message: There are consequences to your actions. I don't know how any person could look at a happy photo of a couple and their young child on the front page of the paper and not realize that the man in the photo – through his own actions – has radically changed his own life and the future of his daughter and her mother.

I think it sends a very clear message of the potential devastation of drinking and driving – for both the victim and the perpetrator.

As the season for proms and graduations approaches, I think the timing of the message couldn't be more appropriate.

Darryl Ieans, 32, described in the story as McCray's neighbor and longtime friend, probably offered the most accurate summarization of the situation: "Her life is over, and his life is going to be damn near over, too."

Lisa Renee Ligda Beaulieu's death is a tragedy that has touched many, including those of us at The Enterprise. It is a horrible, senseless loss of someone, who by all accounts was a beautiful, wonderful, caring, giving person. By sharing the story of Willie McCray's actions that night, we can hope that others will not make the same tragic decisions he made.

I can't think of a more fitting tribute to Beaulieu than that – to know that her death was not in vain and that it might keep others from making that same choice by recognizing the terrible consequences it could render.

View a video of the funeral procession and read about final tributes to her here.

Prom: Who's in charge here?

Sunday’s feature section included an article about high school proms http://beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18238107&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512551&rfi=6

Part of the package was both a print and on-line poll about what is hot and what is not for proms. Here's the poll:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18236910&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=597374&rfi=6

As a parent of a daughter who will attend her high school prom in a few weeks, I don’t care who matches whom or if anyone looks like a princess. There are only three aspects of the poll to which I would like to respond.

None of them are “Hot” all of them are “Not.” Call it hard-nosed, uncool or whatever you like, I certainly hope my daughter feels the same way.

Making out on the dance floor . . . that’s an easy one. That’s what chaperones (and self-respect) are for. Eeeewwwww, gross. Think about it this way kids: Would you want to watch your PARENTS doing that?

Getting a room, really, how disgusting. I don’t know who, in this instance I would be more offended by: The parents who might finance such a “perk” or the hotels that actually would allow teenagers – high school students – to do this. Draw a line and don’t cross it. Please, don’t even go there.

Alcohol, likewise. It is, after all a law. Underage, under arrest.

Parents who send any other message or allow their underage high schoolers to partake are risking much more than those of us who risk not being the “cool” parents. Unfortunately, when they allow such behavior they aren’t the only ones who risk getting a phone call or knock on the door in the middle of the night telling them their children have been killed – or have killed someone else while drinking and driving.

Consuming alcohol requires a certain amount of maturity and a fairly controlled situation. Neither exist at proms. Before you even consider this, think about how much pizza teenage boys consume when they get together. Now, put that into terms of alcohol consumption and the potential disaster comes clearly into focus.

Teenagers, by their very nature, think they are indestructible. It’s up to the parents to set, and enforce, the rules they expect their children to abide by.

My son, now a very grown up 25, followed these very strict rules while he was in high school and still living at home, though he’s certainly attended his fair share of college parties in the years since he’s been on his own (and I’ve seen the pictures to prove it.) He survived. So will his sister. So will your kids. Drinking and sex do not beget popularity (though the two combined certainly have a high potential to beget other problems.)

Said son now sometimes drives a limousine in another city as a way of making extra money (in addition to his full-time job) while he’s finishing up college. Last weekend he drove a group of high school prom goers, who coincidentally were students at the high school where his fiancée is a teacher.

I asked him, because I was curious, if the students were getting drunk in the limousine while he drove. He assured me, absolutely not, that, in fact, they were sipping bottled water from champagne flutes. He offered to stop and let them buy soft drinks or sparkling grape juice, but nothing else.

So, to you parents out there teetering on the fence and trying to be cool, please, have a talk and take a stand. These kids have years to grow up and do adult things like rent hotel rooms and drink. Let’s make sure they survive prom night unscathed, so they can do that.

Action stalled by fear of overreaction

Addendum (4/20/07): As more and more news about Cho Seng-Hui emerges, it becomes apparent that many teachers and others in authority were aware of Cho’s disturbing behavior and made multiple efforts to get him help. My original posting stands, but now with the acknowledgement that some of my statements failed to recognize that likelihood.

In addition to being Reader Representative and associate managing editor at The Enterprise, I’m a mom. That means I know how to react and I certainly know how to overreact. It’s a mom thing. I think it’s also a woman thing.

While we are perfectly capable of being intelligent, analytical creatures, we’re also intuitive and more open with our emotions. If something offends us or scares us, we’re probably going to tell someone. If something offends, scares or threatens our children, we’re going to turn into raging, ripping lionesses annihilating whatever gets in the way of our mission.

Most of that behavior is biological. Unfortunately in some cases, civilization has tempered that biological imperative making us so concerned about societal reaction that we fail to do what our gut tells us to.

Cho Seng-Hui seems to be a fine example of that phenomenon. Here’s our story:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/VIRGINIA_TECH_SHOOTING?SITE=TXBEA&SECTION=HOME

He was weird, odd, strange, withdrawn. His writings were disturbing if not down right frightening. Someone, a woman, noticed and referred him to counseling. I’m betting, hindsight not a factor, that she wanted to do much more than that, but was limited by school guidelines and basic professional pressure.

In the course of my years as a newspaper employee, I’ve been called upon to work with students in a variety of venues. I’ve coached, I’ve edited, I’ve read, I’ve judged. I can tell when a student is creative and has some writing potential. I can tell when a student is angry and frustrated. I can tell when I need to wave my arms and stomp my feet and point and shout – “Hey, teacher, over here, this kid has a problem!”

Some kids are just creative. They can visualize blood and guts and gore and horror and it’s just what they like and they want to put it on paper. Some kids are just so filled with teenage angst that every emotion seems extreme, good and bad, love and hate, life and death. Some kids are much more than that.

I have, more than once, read a work by a local student that disturbed me. Did I pass it on, smooth it over or simply ignore what really isn’t my problem?

No way. I’m a mom.

Disturbing writing, as Cho so vividly illustrates, can mean a disturbed kid. Pay attention. Fix it. Do something. Better to overreact than to fail to act at all.

It's a muffin kind of weekend

Last week’s “Asked and Answered” column, a regular feature on The Enterprise’s Saturday region page, included a nice story by Amy Pearson, who writes the column on a free-lance basis in addition to contributing her writing skills to several other Enterprise products.

Her story about Morning Glory muffins http://beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18153166&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512589&rfi=6 took me back to my early days at The Enterprise (and Journal at the time) when I held the title of Food Editor and was charged with filling up two fairly substantial traditional food sections a week.

Among the cookbooks I acquired during the more than seven years I played that role was a favorite, "Muffin Mania," by Joan Pauli and Cathy Prange (1984, Liberty Publishing Company, Cockeysville, Maryland.) It contains, not only a scrumptious sounding recipe for Morning Glory Muffins, but one of my favorites, Lemonade Muffins.

With the Easter holiday upon us and the promise of a somewhat chilly, wet celebration, these are a good choice for a morning brunch – or an afternoon snack.

Morning Glory Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrot
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup coconut
1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
3 eggs
1 cup cooking oil
2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Stir in carrot, raisins, nuts, coconut and apple. Set aside. In separate bowl, combine eggs, oil and vanilla. Stir liquids into flour mixture until batter is just combined.

Spoon into well-greased muffin cups, filling to the top. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes about 14 large muffins.

Lemonade Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
One 6-ounce can (2/3 cup) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed, divided
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In separate bowl, combine egg, 1/2 cup of the thawed lemonade, milk and oil.

Add liquids to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Gently stir in nuts.

Fill greased muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until done.

While muffins are still hot, brush with remaining lemonade and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Makes about a dozen large muffins.

Good headlines sometimes break rules

Journalism, like other professions, has its share of professional jargon and traditional ways of doing things that might seem a mystery to the general public.

Among the poorly hidden “secrets” that a relatively few “outsiders” might know about is that reporters don’t write headlines.

As I tell school groups that visit and tour The Enterprise, there is a whole group of highly devoted and hard-working people called copy editors who work in a group called the copy desk. They take all the stories, photos, graphics and other elements that come from various sources and put them into one cohesive, attractively packaged product that becomes your daily newspaper.

They also write the headlines.

One of their jobs is to take what sometimes is a very complicated story and put it into four or five words. They are supposed to be words that will attract the readers’ attention; words that properly summarize the story; words that will fit in the space that they have designed --- and above all they have to be spelled right. Oh, and it helps if they are very clever and well-thought out. And they do this on a very tight, very high-pressure deadline.

Needless to say, headline writing is a highly-developed talent. The Enterprise has several very good headline writers. We also have one who is among the best, having won multiple national and statewide awards for his clever headlines – most recently a first place in Texas Associated Press Managing Editors competition.

That said, readers also need to know that headline writing is an evolving art.

A glance at historic newspapers will show any reader that most headlines from early in the last century were one column wide and three (or four) lines deep. They required several short words.

In the 1970s when I got my formalized journalism education, headline writing included a lot of rules, like every headline had to have a verb -- a present-tense active verb. And, above all, no headline – not even any single line of a multiple-line headline could end with a preposition. Never, ever.

Of course then, we also typed headlines on small slips of paper and counted each one of them (literally, counted the letters with assigned values for various letters depending on if they were thick – as in a capital M – or thin as in a lower case l).

Journalists of the time like myself also were taught that our stories were to be written using words and sentence structure that was easily understood by someone with an eighth grade education.

That’s important because I, like everyone in and out of journalism, have to recognize that times have changed. Journalism, though presented in an educated form, reflects the habits and the language of the everyday reader.

Several years ago we ran a headline, in huge type across the front page. The headline had the word “who” used as an object rather than a subject. In short, had the headline been grammatically correct, it would have said “whom” rather than “who.” Using whom, however, would also have made the headline sound forced and rigid. Instead of drawing a reader into the story, it would have made them stop and diagram the headline to think about if we had used the word properly or not.

So, we CHOSE to run a grammatically incorrect headline that would sound more conversational and best serve its intended purpose: to get the reader to read the story.

A few teachers, one young student and some others we sometimes refer to as "the grammar police” objected to our choice. We made it anyway.

That’s one of the new rules of journalism – you’re allowed to break the rules, but only if you know the rules you are breaking and make a conscious decision to break them – and if it is in the best interest of the reader.

So, to those of you who find grammatical mistakes in headlines, including an offending preposition at the end -- feel free to call. You might catch us in an error, which we will gladly correct, but there’s also a chance you are merely witnessing the evolution of journalism as we continue to serve our readers.