Quickies: Tom Paine, Dial-a-Ride, bartender licensing
Slow weekend. Got done with my weekend story but it's been held. Making statistics sing is an art and I'm no artist.
So more quickies:
* Goody, another proposed ordinance goes before the Grand Forks City Council: Requiring bartenders to get training so they don't serve minors, which means they need to pay $10 for a license. Download document and go to page 20.
* The city merges Dial-a-Ride with Senior Rider and gets fewer riders.
DAR is a subsidized taxi service for the disabled and SR is a subsidized bus service for seniors. Last year, the city abolished SR, extended DAR to seniors and gave the whole thing to the lowest bidder, Grand Forks Taxi. Seniors approved while the disabled fumed, saying the old system had two taxi companies and therefore twice as much service.
The city staff report doesn't speculate why but the number of rides provided to the disabled has dropped by 10.5 percent while rides for seniors increased 13.8 percent. It might be related to the budget crisis down at the North Dakota Association for the Disabled, whose bingo parlors have been devastated by the smoking ban. Or it might be that the disabled aren't getting the service they want.
Update 3:31 p.m., 5/22/06: For a different perspective on Dial-a-Ride, click here. It's the city bus service Web site.
* A city official passed on a favorite quote by Thomas Paine this weekend: "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."
Paine, a pamphleteer during the American Revolution, was referring to British governance of the colonies. More pithy quotes here.
"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
"That government is best which governs least."
"The greatest remedy for anger is delay."
"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man."
"Character is much easier kept than recovered."
"If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately."
And the ever popular: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
* Here's a little something for you bloggers. When your readers are out to get ya and you feel like flaming them, The American Prospect says don't. Blog wars don't usually end in your favor.
So more quickies:
* Goody, another proposed ordinance goes before the Grand Forks City Council: Requiring bartenders to get training so they don't serve minors, which means they need to pay $10 for a license. Download document and go to page 20.
* The city merges Dial-a-Ride with Senior Rider and gets fewer riders.
DAR is a subsidized taxi service for the disabled and SR is a subsidized bus service for seniors. Last year, the city abolished SR, extended DAR to seniors and gave the whole thing to the lowest bidder, Grand Forks Taxi. Seniors approved while the disabled fumed, saying the old system had two taxi companies and therefore twice as much service.
The city staff report doesn't speculate why but the number of rides provided to the disabled has dropped by 10.5 percent while rides for seniors increased 13.8 percent. It might be related to the budget crisis down at the North Dakota Association for the Disabled, whose bingo parlors have been devastated by the smoking ban. Or it might be that the disabled aren't getting the service they want.
Update 3:31 p.m., 5/22/06: For a different perspective on Dial-a-Ride, click here. It's the city bus service Web site.
* A city official passed on a favorite quote by Thomas Paine this weekend: "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."
Paine, a pamphleteer during the American Revolution, was referring to British governance of the colonies. More pithy quotes here."Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
"That government is best which governs least."
"The greatest remedy for anger is delay."
"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man."
"Character is much easier kept than recovered."
"If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately."
And the ever popular: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
* Here's a little something for you bloggers. When your readers are out to get ya and you feel like flaming them, The American Prospect says don't. Blog wars don't usually end in your favor.
posted by Tu-Uyen at 6:01 PM
8 Comments:
Tu-Uyen,
I know this is not the best place to bring this up, but I was reading the Herald on-line this morning, and noticed that they reported "robberies" at the Bun and McMenamie's. Please inform those who write these reports that a robbery is when someone is robbed face-to-face, and that a burglary is when someone enters or remains in an unoccupied building and steals something or commits some other crime inside. The headline is very misleading for people who know the difference between the two. There is a huge difference, and it should be noted by the Herald staff. I have noticed that the Herald has done this before - but that was before I could complain to you on this blog :) Thanks for your help...I know you will attempt to fix it.
Dave,
To answer the first question, DAR is a city program that is contracted out to a private company, in this case Grand Forks Taxi. It's a subsidized program so the city pays for most of the rides though individual riders have to put in a few dollars for each ride.
As for the second, I wouldn't know if the PD has the manpower. I would think "yes" because the police chief was in on the discussion. That's probably what the $10 pays for.
As for the need, well, I suppose a case can be made that whatever fines are being levied right now aren't working. A licensing regime allows the authorities to go one step further and ban bartenders who serve minors too often.
Ben,
Just checked the story. You'll notice that the story says "burglary" while the headline said "robberies." That's because the story was written by someone who knows the law while the headline was written by someone who didn't. I've forwarded your note to the appropriate people. Heads will roll! Thanks.
Tu-Uyen, is it a common practice in the newspaper business for the headlines to be written by someone other than the writer of the article? Is that how it always goes at the Herald?
Yup. The people doing the layouts think up the headlines because they're the ones who know how the headlines will fit on the page.
Reporters sometimes suggest headlines. But sometimes we don't have time.
In defense of the layout people, they're often working on tighter deadlines than reporters. When a reporter turns in a story late, who do you think has to rush to put it on the page?
While I enjoy and appreciate the Herald, I have long thought that the headline writing is often terrible! While it may fit on the page, the grammar, spelling, etc. are frequently enough to set my teeth on edge. Even more important, the headline often does not give a true picture of the story [as the robbery/burglary example shows], but in fact sometimes contradicts the facts in the story. Is it asking too much [even with deadlines] for the headline writer to READ the story?
I would agree that layout staff has a tough job, and that they work under tight deadlines. I would also agree that headlines are laughably bad in the Herald too often... to the point where it undermines the story and impairs usability of the paper.
Reporters may not "have the time" to suggest headlines, but when it is making them (and the paper as a whole) look bad, and is undermining the facts of the story, they need to make time. Or, there should be someone whose job it is to make sure headlines are accurate, and accurately represent the facts of the story.... hmmm.
You're probably right. I should try and put in a headline suggestion more often. I did today.
The one on the casino says "GF Council seeks casino update."
The one on the bartender licensing says "Bartender licensing law questioned."
The one on the Minnesota bonding bill says "Bonding bill to help pay for flood control."
I didn't see what they did with the other headlines but the last one came out "Bill pays for flood control." Not bad, huh?
If I had more time to think, I woulda said "Finally: State funds dikes." But maybe that's too snotty.
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