War Story Wednesday: Halloween Tragedy

My first night in the Public Information Bureau (a unit located at the front desk of Headquarters; liaison between the department and the media, among many other functions) was October 31, 1989. Even if it hadn't been Halloween night, I would always remember my first tour after transferring from patrol.

This four-to-twelve tour remains memorable for two particular reasons.

It rained something awful -- which cut down on the 911 calls as far the "usual" Halloween pranks, such as egg-throwing, shaving cream spraying, and toilet-papering. I was answering the media phone calls, which was every hour on the hour as they prepared their Halloween stories for the evening news and the following day's papers. The officers training me that night said I should respond, "Nothing's going on" when asked by reporters, since nothing was going on. One particular reporter kept pushing, though. After he asked several times, I said something like "the weather must be doing it in" as the reason for such a quiet Halloween night.

It appeared in the paper the next day. I learned my very first lesson in PIB (although Public Info is widely known in agencies as PIO, Public Information Office or Officer): whatever I say better be printable. I certainly would have said something more intelligent had I known he was going to QUOTE me. Can you imagine, I actually expected the reporter to warn me? (Lesson #2).

Back to Halloween night:

Anyway, before the tour was over, something DID happen.

I responded with Officer Randy Jaret to my first scene while assigned to PIB -- and it was tragic.

I listened as Randy gave interviews to reporters near the train tracks in Shirley as we all stood in the rain with our umbrellas.

When the railroad crossing gate had lowered, a 20-year-old male driver stopped to wait for the train to pass.

Meanwhile, a 17-year-old driver, speeding on the wet pavement, couldn't stop his car in time. He plowed into the back of that waiting car and pushed it right into the path of the oncoming train.

The driver of the crushed vehicle was injured, but survived.

His passenger, however, was killed.

His 61-year-old mother.

Two Sentence Tuesday

Today is Two Sentence Tuesday at Women of Mystery -- if you're unfamiliar with this weekly event, here's how it works: Either on your own blog or in the comment section at WoM, post two sentences you've read, and two sentences you've written. It's that easy!

Two from the 2010 Best Mystery Novel Macavity Award winner, TOWER by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman:

Grayness burned away by the sun like a match through dark acetate. Still cold as an icehouse, but to feel the sun on my face was redemption, if only temporary.

Two from my true crime memoir, A Perfect Night for Murder -- still a W-I-P!

Throughout dozens of interviews, a single thread pierced the fabric of every conversation concerning communication between family members, spouses, children, friends, and neighbors of the historic harbor enclave in the 1950s: residents simply avoided talking about unpleasant or uncomfortable things — as if they didn’t exist.

I also learned that infidelity, spousal and child abuse, and alcoholism was rampant; these painful experiences created silent suffering for its victims.

Join us ~ share 2 + 2, this and every Tuesday. If you've been been meaning to write, this gives you a great excuse to get to it -- at the very least, two sentences -- and you never know where that might lead!

My Chat with Author M.M. Gornell

I'd like to thank M.M. Gornell, the award-winning California author for inviting me to chat with her today on her blog. I had the pleasure of meeting Madeline at the Public Safety Writers Conference in Las Vegas in 2009 and 2010 (Photographer Sherman Lee caught us chatting at the 2009 conference - see photo below). BTW, the 2011 PSWA conference is scheduled at the Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, July 14-17. There's a break on the cost if you register before March 31.

If you're not familiar with PSWA, here's some background info, as found on their website:

Founded in 1997 as the Police Writers Club, the Public Safety Writers Association is open to both new and experienced, published and not yet published writers. Members include police officers, civilian police personnel, firefighters, fire support personnel, emergency personnel, security personnel and others in the public safety field. Also represented are those who write about public safety including mystery writers, magazine writers, journalists and those who are simply interested in the genre. The association also welcomes publishers, editors, agents and others who help writers realize their writing goals.

Authors M.M. Gornell & Kathleen A. Ryan, Las Vegas, 2009

photo taken by Sherman Lee

If you have a moment, please stop by and visit and say hello to Madeline. She's the author of Uncle Si's Secret, Death of a Perfect Man, and Reticence of Ravens, published by Aberdeen Bay. You can also find Madeline, (a member of Sisters in Crime in L.A. and Nevada, and the California Writers Club) on Facebook. You can read more about Madeline in The Examiner, in a lovely "Spotlight" interview with Morgan St. James.

Memoir Contest

Memoir (and) is holding a contest for memoir writing in either prose up to 10,000 words or poetry, up to five poems. This contest also includes graphic memoir and narrative photography.

There is no entry fee.

Read the submission guidelines here. The deadline is August 16, 2010.

The prizes for prose or poetry is: Grand Prize: $500; Second Prize: $250; Third Prize: $100.

The Grand Prize for Graphic Memoir is $100.

The Grand Prize for Narrative Photography is $100.