JEERS to New York State Police for faking quotes in news releases. We recently received a release that included this and other quotes attributed to Troop B Commander Maj. Richard Smith: "As the summer season comes to an end, thousands of children will be boarding buses and walking to and from school, some of them for the first time. Everyone who drives has a responsibility to be especially careful during this busy time and the 'School's Open - Drive Safely' bumper stickers will help remind motorists to be alert for these youngsters." Innocent enough and a good message. But Smith didn't say it or write it. All the releases for every troop in the state included the exact same quote, with each troop commander's name plugged in. We don't run fake quotes when we catch them, so we rewrote the release to paraphrase the information and attribute it to State Police in general. We know Maj. Smith — he's an intelligent man who could come up with something eloquent without headquarters spoon-feeding it.
CHEERS to Akwesasne Mohawk Ray Cook for being recognized as a longtime force in Native American journalism. The Native American Journalists Association cited Cook for being one of the founders of the association and for his long-time support for Native American journalism. The recognition ceremony took place at the association's annual conference, held this year in Albuquerque, N.M. Cook has long been active in the field of journalism and has numerous associations with Native American broadcasting and journalism organizations, including the Indigenous Peoples Information Network, Akwesasne Freedom Radio and the Indigenous Communications Association. He produces and edits audio podcasts for Indian Country Today and 12 Indian radio stations nationwide.
JEERS to the City Recreation Department for the paucity of trash cans and portable toilets at the athletic fields on the Oval at PARC. At last week's opening day for PAL football games, where hundreds of people attended throughout the day and a couple of hundred kids from Clinton and Essex counties played flag and tackle football, the few garbage cans one could find spread out over the fields were overflowing before the 12:30 games, and the two portable toilets were hardly adequate. In the ensuing weeks, the Oval will host any number of soccer and football practices and games, attracting large followings. We'd suggest more of the receptacles.
JEERS for the U.S. Army Reserve Center on U.S. Avenue in Plattsburgh for the lack of attention to the lawn. The grass is far longer than one is used to seeing at military facilities, where neatness is not only the order of the day but an obsession. We know that, in years past, units assigned to the center were almost transfixed on police calls, as the military calls them, around the grounds to remove anything out of place. (Sometimes, for lack of anything better to do, GIs were required to spend time throwing stones from the riverfront into the river.) A ragged-looking lawn is not what you expect to see from any military installation, even a reserve center.
