Fishies Plus Virgin River Equals Fun on the Job

To make up for the dead body fiasco, a few days ago I had the opportunity to go gallivanting off into the wilderness and play along the river beds of the Virgin River. I even got in the river. It was awesome. The best part was I got to do this for work. I was working on a story about the Division of Wildlife Resources.

In case you don't know or remember the "dead body fiasco" a quick recap would be a dead body was found last week. My photographer and I tried to get out to the scene but were given wrong directions. We missed the whole thing.

Now, as much as I love the adrenaline rush of a good wild fire or homicide, going off on adventures seems to be grabbing my fascination more and more. Why you might ask? Maybe it's because I don't have to deal with all the red tape that comes with the breaking news or the devastated families.

Anyway, back on the subject. This summer DWR had five high school interns helping them sample fish in the Virgin River. The purpose? I found it to be most fascinating. One was to find out how healthy the native wildlife was and two was to find out how healthy the river was. For some reason I never realized how important it was to sample the fishies. But there I was, taking notes in the river then shooting photos of the kids catching these fish.

But, the highlight of the day was when the biologist from DWR told me the rule among the interns was the biggest fish they found for the day they had to kiss it. We were out there for an hour and still all we were getting was 2-inch fish. But then popped up an 8-inch flannelmouth sucker fish. One of the girls took that fish, looked it dead in the eyes and laid a big one on it.

After two hours of playing in the river I reluctantly decided it was time to leave. When I got back to the office I had dirty river pants, farmer's tan and an awesome story to show for my work that morning.

Yes, I could get used to doing fun stories. It not only keeps the job entertaining but they make for good stories for not only print but for memories.

The Great Wild Goose Chase

My editor turned to me Friday afternoon and asked me if I had time to look into something for her. I said sure. But now, I kinda wish there would've been someone else she could've passed the tip to.

There was a dead body found out in the wilderness earlier that afternoon and she wanted me to chase down the facts. So, I started to chase. When I found out where the cops were headed to I decided to follow after them, bringing along a photographer. Great idea right? Yes! It was! But even great ideas seem to fall to pieces.

I was obviously in a hurry to get to the scene of the body where police have termed it a "suspicious death," when I get pulled over for speeding. It was all bad from the get-go. When going 65 in a 45, there's not much else you can do but admit your guilt, which I promptly did. My honesty unfortunately didn't get me out of my ticket and it slowed me down in getting to the dead body.

My photographer and I met up after some horrendous traffic and went out to find the scene. Following every direction that was given to us, we drove on rocky roads for a half hour. Finally we came to two trail heads. We checked on both of them and no one was to be seen.

My photographer and I finally decided to give up. We went back by the main road when we ran into a couple of men coming off the dirt road we were just on. They worked for Bureau of Land Management and they were at the scene! Come to find out, we were given wrong directions and was one turn off from our dead body scene.

My photographer ended up going out to the scene to snap some photos even though the body was gone and I headed back to the office. From a few phone calls and a press release, I was squeeze out a few short paragraphs. In return for all my efforts for "gallivanting" out into the wilderness was a nearly flat tire and a speeding ticket.

The thing is, I'm not mad that I went out there, I'm just mad I didn't get the story I wanted, all because of one little error in directions.

Stories, What's Your Flavor?

Different stories we write as reporters carry different meanings for us, at least I know for me they do. But each story, whether it be lame or spectacular, it takes a piece of you with it. I've come up with the basic breakdown of the scale of less-desired stories to the amazing stories you fight for.

Number one: The Boss Story.

The Boss Story is one that's assigned to you. There's no way of getting out of it and it's something you just have to suck up and do. Sometimes if you're lucky (and good) you can pawn it off on to someone else. I usually don't feel too bad when I do that because I myself have been the pawn victim and I've taken a lot of Boss Stories for the team.

Number two: The Event Story.

The Event Story I especially hate. You see, in cities and especially in small communities there is always some annually event. Especially in the small towns in Utah. We've got Cotton Days, Swiss Days, the county fair, a marathon and the list just goes on and on and on. And of course, although we've covered these events since the dawn of time we still have to be there, beginning to end, because of course, it's the biggest news in town. I hate Event Stories. Because after you've written them twice, you've got to figure out a way to spice it up and make the story interesting. If not, it's basically the same story that's been done for the past however many years we've been covering the event.

Number three: The Followup Story.

Ah, The Followup Story. Sometimes these stories turn into two or three or four followups. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad. A lot of the time it has to deal with a breaking news story (which I'll talk about next) that we have to wait forever to get information back on. Other times it's a story you've written and a few months down the road you do another story to check up on it just to see how everything is doing.

Number four: The Breaking News Story.

A lot of the times these are my favorite stories. There is so much adrenaline involved because the story falls into your lap like a bomb, then you got to find ways to accurately tell the story as quickly as possible with the most information. It's a challenge, and most the time the stories aren't fun. But it this particular instance, I'd say it's more about the challenge of getting the story that makes these stories fun to write. Of course, you hate them on the days you don't want anything to fall out of the sky, but the news just doesn't happen that way.

Number five: The Bright Idea Story.

So many readers call in with a Bright Idea or a "scoop" or "scandal." Sometimes there really is something to the tips, other times there's nothing. It's very frustrating because on the stories you think are a bright idea you'll chase and there will be no light at the end of the tunnel. The story was a dud. And the scoops and scandals are turn out to be angry neighbors or wanna-be politicians who either want to get back at someone or just want a little ink space. So, the Bright Idea Story, not reliable.

Number six: The Enterprise Story.

These are the stories you take your time with, the end result is three or four stories that run making it a beautiful package. It's beautiful because you invested a lot of time into the story. You met the people. You know them, their problems and their successes. It's an accomplishment to finally see it in print. All the hard work has finally paid off and you have physical proof of it.

Number seven: My Baby Story.

Whether it be a story assigned to you or a story you found while working your beat, My Baby Story is the story you take under your wing and put everything you have into it. At the end of the day you think it's your best writing ever. Whether it's a good story or a bad story in reality, the public opinion usually doesn't matter, because you know how hard you worked on it and you know what it took to string the sentences together.

This is a very long explanation for what happened to me Thursday. You see, I encountered one of these said stories. It was a Boss Story, but also a Followup. It wasn't a bad story but the topic and how it was to be presented was tricky. I didn't want it to appear I was going on a witch hunt. I wanted to be fair and balanced. I told my editors this and I even told them I wasn't sure I wanted to write it. But of course they wanted the story.

I wrote it. It took me nearly an entire day to do it. I was staring at my computer screen till about 1 a.m. Friday morning. It was exhausting. But, I think I accomplished my goal and I think I made my editors happy at the same time.