Wise County on the Web

A tongue in cheek review of the news published this week regarding Wise County.
Normally posted every Sunday around 10:00 p.m.
(Note: To make sure you are receiving the most recent update, hold down the "Shift" key while you click on reload/refresh).
For the week ending 08/24/02:

The Story	A big ol' tanker truck crashes on 287 in Decatur on Friday causing Interstate 287 to be shut down. Northbound traffic was rerouted through downtown Decatur.
News worthiness (on a scale of 0 to 5)	**
The Spin	Coincidentally, the wreck occurred just in time to catch the traffic headed to Wichita Falls for the Hotter N' Hell 100 bicycle rally.

The Story	The Boyd School Board approves a 3% pay raise even though a budget deficit of $248,758 exists. School Board member Winston Dennis, Jr. said, "We've got kids here who can't even read or write and we're going to give these teachers raises."
News worthiness	*
The Spin	Local radar detects a cold front blowing out of the BISD in the direction of Mr. Dennis.

The Story	Three persons were arrested in yet another "Nazi lab" where methamphetamine was allegedly manufactured. Law enforcement officials claimed the property was so contaminated that "birds were observed falling from trees around the house."
News worthiness	*
The Spin	We seriously doubt that but, if true, the heck with the Nazi Lab: West Nile Virus Alert! West Nile Virus Alert!

The Story	A group of local doctors announce that they intend to build a new hospital in Bridgeport. Wise Regional Health System [the Decatur Hospital] Administrator Steven Summers said "a new hospital may not necessarily be the best thing for Wise County patients. In general, I think it would result in the duplication of services in the same market area, and that will drive up the cost of health care."
News worthiness	*******
The Spin	We're not economics geniuses, but if we need a widget, we'd rather have two people trying to sell it to us than just one.

The Story	*In the Messenger's Thursday edition, the headline of "Friends, lovers, teammates" appeared under a very large photo of a high school football scrimmage.*
News worthiness	*
The Spin	That one stopped us in our tracks - at least for a moment. (The headline actually belonged to another story involving husband-wife coed softball teams).

**Special Highly Technical Research Project to be Conducted Throughout 2002:**
	New This Week	Year To Date
Number of new births announced in the Wise County Messenger	5	349
Number of new births announced by parents with different surnames (or no father identified):	2 (40%)	113 (32%)

See something in the local papers that struck you funny? Then suggest a topic for The Spin.

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