uncompleted Amtrak story

Two Old Orchard Beach locals are heroes after saving an 80-year-old Quebec tourist from a speeding train a mere 30-seconds before the Amtrak Downeaster crossed where his car was stuck on the tracks.

James Laboke, 17, was on his daily 4-mile walk to his waitering job at the Eezy Breezy restaurant on East Grand Street when he spotted a 1987 pink Cadillac Seville on the train tracks. The man inside was elderly Francois Truffaut, who had falling unconscious. The idling car was locked and Laboke pounded on the windows to try to wake Truffaut. Laboke, who does not own a cell phone, knew time was short, so he quickly ran to the police station 100-meters away, where he alerted the police what had happened.

Janet Paradiso is the captain on the police force and was approximately a mile away when she received the call about the incident. She arrived at the train tracks at about 6:05 a.m. just to hear the approaching trains whistle. Desperate to help, she thought quickly and drove her cruiser into the back of Truffaut’s vehicle, pushing it off the tracks before the Amtrak Downeaster, on its way through from Portland, crossed the location where Truffaut had been only 30-seconds before.

“I knew there was no time. I had to do something,” Paradiso said later that day. Laboke continued on his way to work and punched in on time and made no mention of the incident. It was only until a reporter called the restaurant owner and Laboke’s boss, Charles Champaigne learned about the traumatic experience.

Laboke

Captain police officer Janet Paradiso drove her cruiser into a car that had stalled on the train tracks this morning in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The driver was Francois Truffaut, a tourist from Quebec City, Canada. James Laboke, 17, was walking to work at the Eezy Breezy restaurant when he saw the 1987 pink Cadillac Seville idling on the tracks at 6 a.m. Laboke ran to the nearby police station after trying to open the locked vehicle to wake the unconscious man. Paradiso received the call and drove to the railroad crossing just in time to hear the trains whistle, and slammed her car into Truffaut’s vehicle, pushing it off the tracks. The Amtrak Downeaster on its way from Portland, Maine, passed the location about 30-seconds later. Laboke reported to work at time and made no mention of the traumatic incident, the owner of the restaurant said that “he’s just a great kid.”

4.3: notes / improving

notes to self, things i need to improve on (stat) after conference:

•paraphrasing - i need to focus on this primarily. use quotes only to capture emotions! otherwise, put their words into my own.

•breaking up quotes - it makes a paragraph well-rounded and weaves in the quotes better by not being so abrupt. it also makes it easier for the reader to follow. 

•don't try to find alternative verbs for "said" - it distracts the reader and can really ruin the "flow" of a story by throwing in random words that don't fit in with the style otherwise. 

4.1: different types of leads

Anecdotal lead
Used best when you have to use several profiles of people - like if you wrote a story about kindergarten classes, you could begin but exemplifying one of the students you interviewed. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/garden/jared-handelsman-and-portia-munson-make-their-own-museum-at-home.html

Delayed lead
I'm not sure if it would be ideal for a breaking news story but I think you could probably use this in almost every situation. This lead is cool to use because as the writer you can begin anywhere in the span of time - 2, 20, 200 years ago if it relates. Probably most seen when you're writing a more "profile-esque" story though.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/us/dont-ask-dont-tell-anniversary-passes-with-little-note.html
(I had a hard time finding an overt "delayed lead" - I supposed this would work?)

Direct Address lead
Ideally used if your audience is broad or the topic is easily related too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/technology/personaltech/apples-iphone-5-scores-well-with-a-quibble-review.html

Personal lead
I think this edges on "creative" news writing, because you really aren't supposed to voice your opinion, et cetera. Likely seen used by a column writer or something written for a magazine.  http://theater.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/theater/reviews/job-at-the-flea-theater.html

4.2: challenges of locating a story

My group and I decided that our "beat" should be downtown. We definitely focused on the student aspect of it, though. I was originally thinking about how UNH and Durham interact, which is something I always find interesting.However, once we got going, I was greatly surprised at how enthusiastic people got once I started talking to them. I usually introduced myself, and said that I was in a Newswriting class, and wanted to do a story on X. They either agreed - or had another idea, which were always great to hear. I think this was very helpful in our search and I plan on trying that tact a bit more often to get some ideas going.
The most interesting news story I've been following lately is the Apple-Samsung lawsuit case. I adore Apple - I have a MacBook, and iPad and an iPhone - but I am angered by their behavior. Exactly as this article (below) discusses, what Apple has done is cripple a whole creative process. What if, for example, fashion designers took this tact? and Ralph Lauren sued J Crew for also producing sparkly cardigans with big buttons? It would completely change the industry. Maybe it's not as apparent in the technology industry as it would be with clothing design, but I think it gets at the same idea.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/miyoung-kim-can-samsung-stung-by-apple-lawsuit-change-from-being-a-fast-follower-to-quick-innovator-3217616.html

3.3

I don't think I feel like a journalist yet. I really want too, though. I am trying (learning, I suppose) to think about the world (and my various topics for articles) objectively and differently. I love the challenge of this type of writing. It forces me to cut out all of the BS fluff (that I secretly love) and get down to more of the nitty-gritty. It's very refreshing, honestly. Different than what I'm used to but I'm very eager to improve. I find laying the outline of a new story fairly easy. Unlike creative writing, there is a more formulaic way to go about it. Less options, which can be limiting I guess, but also so straightforward. I am surprised always at how much difficulty I have gathering information. I never know what is a better tact: Figure out my point/outline for the story before researching/interviewing (which seems wrong and artificial) OR "wing" the interviews with no real motive or point and write my article based on that. The latter seems more authentic but I feel that I need to find a better balance between the two. Again, I think that will come it's just not something I'm very skilled at yet. I'm curious how most journalists navigate this? How do they walk the line of not having an underlying motive/direction of their article but also not waste time with unrelated information while they figure it out?

3.2

I stole this idea from your post on the class blog to the other Newswriting class, I hope that's alright.
I thought your "News Diet" idea was really cool - so I decided that I am going to try it, too.
I want to go to law school, and at a seminar i attended about preparing for the LSAT, the speaker suggested that we read, or at least skim, the current news. ever since then, I changed my homepage to the new york times. every time I open my browser, I click through the headlines. what initially felt like homework of sorts, quickly changed to being enjoyable. a lot of the topics I find interesting and I (obviously) love to read.
however, this isn't always very thorough. my parents are avid new york times readers, so not only do they get the paper delivered 7 days a week, we also have the online subscription. i already try to spend some time on the app on my iphone walking to class but i definitely want to make it more routine.
one of my favorite memories is driving up to go skiing at Wildcat Mountain with my younger brother, listening to the early morning National Public Radio station in our Volvo wagon. i am a runner, and usually i listen to a pandora station of sorts but i switched over to listening to the NPR app as of this afternoon. I also downloaded Pulse, which allows a constant stream of news to be right there from multiple sources.
lastly, i am going to make a habit of picking up a copy of the new york times every time i am in ham smith (which is frequently) because i still love reading a paper-paper; the smell, how it feels, the ritual of it, etc.

3.1

I love finding story ideas. I walk around all day going to class, getting lunch, doing homework, seeing my friends, et cetera and I try to think of my life as differently as possible when I have to come up with a story idea. I treat it like a game almost, but I also find it really enjoyable to force myself to take such an objective or different view on my day-to-day, mundane activities. Because it is hard to find news on campus, if thats what you're looking for. So I try to mix it up and put an interesting spin on my life. In my opinion, it's a lot easier and more enjoyable to write about something you know.