Snapshots

Today I was in the woods in Vermilion taking pictures of a cemetery that dates to the 1800s. The cemetery is almost invisible from the busy Route 6 highway, and the scale of the site isn’t clear until you step through the trees and enter the grounds.

Scattered among the poison ivy, mosquitoes, and a tick that decided to try and eat me were dozens of markers for a graveyard that’s rising from the dead.

Recently a cadaver dog canvassed the site to help the volunteers locate grave sites. Little orange flags were placed in the ground where the dog alerted to the presence of a body. Nature has done its share to reclaim the land, but at one time, the graveyard also served as a pasture for sheep and cows. The amount of damage done by grazing cows brushing against the headstones contributed to the place nearly disappearing.

But now, an ambitious project is underway to clear the weeds and trees off the half acre plot of ground that is the eternal home for up to 200 people. The Vermilion Area Archival Society has been working on the project, and the city has been helping out by mulching the branches and tree limbs cleared by the group. In turn, the volunteers are using the mulch to create a pathway through the cemetery.

It’s assignments like this one that make me realize the best part of my job is getting to meet interesting people. Talk about dedication – none of these folks had to be out there on a hot day, clearing brush and weeds and working hard to reclaim a small slice of our county’s history. I’d say that at least once a week, I meet someone who is doing something worthwhile with their life to make it better for those around them.

In this particular case, every one of the volunteers is working to reclaim the dignity of the first settlers in this area.

We will be running the full story online and in the print edition of the paper so be sure to check it out.

Yesterday when the afternoon storms came rolling in, I was at home and my family was scattered around the county. Before the first dark clouds came through Elyria, my wife Laurie sent me a photo from her phone of some really nasty looking storm clouds over Amherst.

As it turns out, that storm was blowing right over the house where my stepsons were hunkered down as trees were being torn out of the ground and powerlines were being pulled from the poles. As soon as the storm passed, my junior photojournalist Ben was outside on his porch shooting pictures of a huge tree that slammed down on his neighbor’s house. He sent me the photos from his phone and — I have to say — for a 12 year-old he did a really good job.

Meanwhile, my son Dylan is on the east side of town sending me text messages as he watches for a tornado. He sent me a picture of the dark sky with the words “Isn’t it pretty?”

When my kids act like photojournalists, it’s not because I taught them to do it. They are doing what all teens are doing — they record every aspect of their lives on these cameras. They are essentially self- taught journalists.

The cameras in cell phones are making things so much more immediate. Nowadays, everybody from kids to little old ladies are taking pictures of breaking news events.

Now I am admittedly a technology geek, and I did think it would come to this at some point. But I have to confess that pervasiveness of photography in everyday lives has surprised even someone whose life revolves around pictures.

I think it is great that we are all being connected by pictures. My only regret? That the quality of many camera phones remains so poor. I know that will change in time, though, as we are only at the beginning of the mobile digital photography era.

Jim Onderko of North Ridgeville sent me a super cool video of a ball girl for a minor league baseball team making a super catch.

My buddy Jimmy O sends me videos and photos all the time, and I take great pleasure in ruining his email chains and debunking his video mailings as fake. It’s sort of game between us.

To pull the plug on Jimmy O, I usually go straight to snopes.com, one of the best debunking sites on the net. But this time around, a quick search didn’t show anything. Could this video of a girl leaping super-human high be real?

I wasn’t yet convinced, so I turned to Option B – Google.

Four clicks later, I had the answer.

It turns out that the Las Vegas Review Jounal posted a story on its Web site Tuesday morning telling the tale of the tape, as it were.

According to LVJR.com the video is from an unreleased commercial.

“Gatorade, which has been airing a series of commercials of athletes doing extraordinary things, has a yet-to-air spot in which a ball girl at a minor league baseball game makes a catch that would make Torii Hunter and Jim Edmonds proud.”

Hah hah, Jimmy O. I won again!

The latest incarnation of the Firefox Browser has been available for a couple of days now and it boasts 15,000 upgrades. That is a pretty huge number for a browser that a lot of people already view as superior to Internet Explorer.

The new browser is 2-3 times faster than the last edition and offers a host of other features that make life on the net safer, faster, and more convenient.

Our Metro Editor, Julie Wallace is a true Mozilla fan and refuses to use Internet Explorer. I’m not as in love with Firefox as she is, but I do think Firefox is much more stable and really does handle video better.

Give the new browser a shot. You’re too late to be part of the 24-hour download record but you can join the nearly 12,000,000 people who have downloaded the browser in the last two days.
Get your Mozilla Firefox Browser here

First there was Myspace. It was all right, just a little too young for my 40ish self. Then I tried Facebook. Better, but still missing something.

Finally, I think I may have found a site that gives me the community aspect I am seeking along with offering the fun of sharing my passion for photography.

Flickr is hardly a new site, and I have been to it a few times in the past looking at photos from all over the world. I never really gave it a chance until I bumped into Flickr member Paul Csizmadia while shooting a feature photo of a freighter in Lorain. He got me interested by telling me about the local community of photographers who post literally thousands of images on the site.

I used my free membership to try it out, but quickly upgraded to a Pro membership level because it offers a stats package. (Why, you may ask? Well, there’s just something fun about knowing what people are looking at, and that’s what the stats package offers.)

Aside from the stats package, there are a few other really cool features Flickr offers. One of them is safe viewing. Depending on the viewing level you select, images that might be considered offensive are blocked out. If you choose to view them, you have to click on the image and choose to look at it.

There are also varying levels of copyright protection. You can put pictures out there for people to take and use as they see fit, or you can completely lock them down and protest your copyright.

Finally, the upload process is drag and drop. You don’t have to have a degree in computer science to put the photos online.

Give it a shot, and add me to your contact list so I can see what you are doing, too.

Vincent Jackson Jr. was arraigned this morning for allegedly murdering Qiana Walton. The video arraignment was projected onto a large screen in a nearly empty courtroom. It was the first quiet step in a legal process that moves him closer to standing trial for his alleged crimes.

The entire afternoon editors and reporters have been trying to piece together the story behind the story. It’s our job to dig into the case and find out who the people are and what exactly happened.

Jackson was identified by three people as the man in the store, what brought him there? Why the decision to take a quantum leap forward to a capital crime, when police say he shot Walton execution style. What do the neighbors think? Is it time to shutter the Gas USA once and for all?

There are a dozen more questions, and not very many answers yet.

Looking through the comment section of our web site you can tell readers are searching for answers also. Online that takes the form of posters who wonder about some of the same things we do. It also provides a venue for people who have their own agendas, political and otherwise. Writers blame the mayor, the police department, society, the county. As these things go there is plenty of blame and a few plans that are mostly reactionary and not likely to happen in the real world.

Several writers call for the demolition of Gas USA. It’s not the first time we have heard that refrain. I for one have a hard time with that. I don’t blame the neighbors for wanting it gone, they have to deal with the direct effects from the problems surrounding the place.

But on the other hand the business has had a string of owners who have been trying to turn it around. They have made an investment in a part of the community that needs business. As long as the business owners are trying and making progress It’s hard to justify closing a business and driving a bulldozer across the property because a person who doesn’t even live in the community committed a heinous crime there.

If the gas station is demolished, police will be called for all the same crimes in an empty lot. Or, they will move to a new location where we will see the same cycle all over again.

When it’s all said and done who would ever try and open a business when you stand a chance of having it closed and or torn down? How would that benefit the south side of Elyria?

Once again please indulge me while I share my rather sad obsession with cool phones.

If you are a tech geek or one of the really cool people who dress well and hang out at Starbucks with your wireless laptop, the announcement about the new iphone is no surprise. There have been plenty of leaks and bloggers chatting about the newest version of the record setting phone.

Personally I gave up my quest for the iPhone because my carrier, Verizon doesn’t sell it. For the time being it’s an AT&T exclusive. While I survived round one it’s going to be way harder this time because the new phone sounds pretty cool.

The inventory of the first generation phone is dwindling, and today Steve Jobs came to Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco to tell the geeks, and cool kids of the world that the new phone will go on sale July 11.

The phone uses the 3G network, that means the internet will be very fast and the phone is cheaper than the first, prices are starting at $199. The Apple website shows of the new sleeker phone with the phrase “Twice as fast. Half the price.”

To help you get in touch with your inner geek here are a couple links for you to check out.

Apples iPhone page

The new Mobile Me Application

This morning I covered the sentencing of Pamela Carrasquillo, who was found guilty of trying to kill her estranged husband. Despite wounds that probably should have killed him, Herminio Carrasquillo survived to identify his shooter.

During the sentencing Judge James Burge said that he had grown close to the Carraquillo family, and he appreciated their kindness and behavior during the trial phase.

It seemed to me that the judge clearly felt bad about what he was about to do, but he did it: He sentenced Pamela Carrasquillo to 13 years in jail for her crimes.

I have seen a lot of posts on Chroniclet.com that are critical of the judge. I have to admit that I haven’t always known what to make of his decisions. Today, I feel like I have seen him in action enough to get a feel for where he is coming from. I really believe the judge is doing his best to provide punishment as the law dictates while also allowing for human failings. I have seen the posts that say he was a defense attorney and is soft on crime. Let’s be real and acknowledge that if the judge believed his clients were all innocents, he wouldn’t have the mental acuity to tie his own shoes. I think his time as a defense attorney gives him a different perspective, and if it weren’t a welcomed perspective than the law would only allow prosecutors to be judicial candidates, right?

I’m willing to bet that he has heard every sob story out there — he probably knows how to spot the con-job better than most people.

During the sentencing hearing, he mentioned that before the trial even started, he allowed for a break in the case so Pamela Carrasquillo could consider accepting a plea bargain in the case that the judge described as beneficial to her. His reason for allowing that option was that even after all he went through, Herminio Carrasquillo wanted to try and heal his family and put this sordid chapter in the past.

It’s unusual for me to see a judge who lays out his internal struggles for all to see. He has shared his battle with alcohol during a previous sentencing, and just today he expressed his concern that the sentence he handed down would only further divide a family that has been torn between defending one side or the other.

Other judges surely go through the same things, they just seem to be more stoic and more inclined to keep it hidden than Burge. I guess what I am saying is that as an observer, there is something comforting about knowing the judge wrung his hands a bit before sending somebody to prison.

We cover a lot of tragic events at The Chronicle. You can’t possibly do this job for any length of time without deciding that you can’t allow every story to inhabit a recess of your mind. We just see too much sadness.

Photographers come up with a lot of ways to insulate themselves from the things they photograph. If somebody crashes his or her car as a result of drinking and driving it’s easier to accept the tragedy, I justify it as a choice that person made.

Yesterday I had to photograph the immediate aftermath of an accident where Amber Johnson, 13, was critically injured when she made the mistake of crossing under a bridge and running in front of a pickup truck. I came back to the office and was telling co-workers about the scene and I could not adequately describe the sound of the poor child crying out in pain. The EMS, fire and police did a great job of getting her off the scene and on the way to the hospital. In fact, before I even left the scene, a big yellow LifeFlight chopper was passing over the scene for a landing on the roof of EMH. The good news is that after surgery she is making good progress.

The other part of this traumatic story is Craig Davis of Wakeman. He is the driver of the truck that struck Amber. It’s not surprising that he was having trouble even standing upright after the accident. By all accounts, Davis had no way of avoiding Amber and he was not speeding.

It’s hard to forget about this accident, as a parent and a human, I can’t really find fault with a teenager who made a bad decision. There is no doubt it was her fault but still … she’s a kid, and all kids think they are invincible. I came home last night and told each of my kids about the accident. I was trying to put the thought into their head that they are not invincible, that a split second could change their life and destroy mine, too.

I only hope they heard me, but I really don’t think they can. After all, they are kids.

I shot an accident today involving a young girl that was hit by a truck. She was seriously injured and in no condition to provide information to the rescuers who came to her aid. In this case, police found out who she was because she happened to have a school identification card on her.

The reality is bad things happen to kids, and most of them do not have an ID card on them. Most kids do carry cell phones. And that phone could be your only link to a child if they are injured.

So what’s the solution? Enter ICE as a contact on your cell phone.

ICE stands for `In case of emergency’ and it would give medical personnel a fast and easy way to contact someone important who can provide needed medical information as well as a link to loved ones at such a critical time.

I checked with a friend who works for LifeCare and was told that paramedics in the field really don’t have the time to search through an individual’s phone – they are too busy trying to stabilize the patient and get them to the hospital. But once they do that, they’ll look to see if ICE is in there.

Hopefully, neither you nor I will ever have a need for that contact. But if a few free keystrokes can provide some peace of mind, aren’t they worth the effort?