May 11
...serving up your daily dish.
Update: CBS news identified the victim of this story as Carolyn Everson and has an exclusive interview with her here
A tipster heard about a Montclair mom being taken to the hospital on the 11 o'clock news last night, and we found a report of the the scary events buried in today's NY Times:
An object that fell off a highway overpass broke the windshield of a car on a highway in Orange last night, slightly injuring the driver, the New Jersey State Police said. Investigators have not determined whether the object, which was not recovered, was thrown or if it fell off the overpass of Interstate 280. The victim, who lives in Montclair, was driving her Volkswagen Jetta near Exit 11B around 8:45 p.m. when the object pierced the windshield, and pieces of glass cut her face. The woman who was able to stop the car safely, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston. While reports of objectos falling off overpasses are now rare, a State Police spokesman said that officers had received them daily before fences were put up on the overpasses a few years ago.
Tell me please. Which A-1 or metro front page story would you prefer not having run so that this brief could have run there? It was hardly buried. It was in metro briefs where similar stories usually run.
Posted by: wondering | May 11, 2006 2:44:46 PM
As its the seventh item listed (out of nine)in the Metro Briefing Section, I think buried is the appropriate terminology...
Posted by: ellen h. | May 11, 2006 2:54:56 PM
We have incidents out this way where objects have been noted hanging off the overpasses (usually sheet metal or pieces of fence), but so far, they have been reported in time to police, who have a special hotline number they call at NJDOT for quick repairs. (Local DPW is not allowed to work on DOT property.)
Posted by: John Smith | May 11, 2006 2:56:58 PM
Uh, it was the first brief in the N.J. section. Would you rather it have been posted in the Manhattan or Connecticut section? I'm confused, and not being contentious. I'm just trying to figure out, of all the stories, that received play in today's NYT, that a brief is considered being buried when it is the lead story in the N.J. brief section. I grow tired of reading "breathless" posts that hint at conspiracy when it usually is just what it is...in this case, a brief. Perhaps the NYT is planning a follow up story, which could provide more context...or, more appropriately, the Montclair Times could give it more play. But, see, the Montclair Times won't do that. Remember a few years ago, when a MHS student named Tony was run over by a car after being hit by a train and falling onto Valley Road (he had pushed his friend to safety before being himself hit)? The driver of the car that ran over this kid - who could more than likely been unable to prevent the tragedy - left the scene of the accident. She did not report to police her part in the accident until hours later. This was a major story for Montclair and the entire area. Yet, the driver of the car was never named in any news reports....She/he also was never cited for leaving the scene of an accident. Just wondering......
Posted by: wondering | May 11, 2006 4:06:37 PM
Whatever the "journalistic issues" let's hope Carolyn Everson is ok.
Posted by: Right of Center™ | May 11, 2006 4:11:33 PM
Gosh, school's not even out for summer yet and kids are bored already?
Posted by: Assuming Kids Did It | May 11, 2006 4:21:39 PM
Regarding accidents, does anyone happen know what happened in front Montclair State University on Valley Rd? There seems to be a PT-cruiser covered in black mud or maybe even tar?
Posted by: towanda | May 11, 2006 4:43:51 PM
Because they learned their geography in public schools.
Posted by: Bill The Cat | May 12, 2006 12:29:50 PM
Every time I drive west on 280 through Newark, then East Orange and Orange, until I exit in West Orange, I have wondered if the barriers were sufficient to keep knuckleheads from getting their kicks with this kind of activity. I actually know someone this same thing happened to on the LIE in Queens. She recalled seeing two kids actually do the dirty deed, and because of the rate of speed, she literally couldn't do anything about it, but run right into it. She suffered a few cuts, but her car got messed up.
I have worked at local newspapers before, and Briefs are sometimes filed in the order you get them. When I would set up a page, I was taught to make every attempt to make the Briefs fit in the space provided. As a result, I read the Briefs beforehand, just in case I had more Briefs than the space would fit. The lesser Briefs would then be excised for the next day, and they would be at the top of the next day's Briefs. "Buried" in this case might not be reality, it might just look like that.
Posted by: Lee Blair | May 12, 2006 2:27:21 PM
