I don't know if anybody noticed, but there was a blurb on Anne Holiday's news blog about the "first reports" of that fight on St James Place involving a "dragging by a car" being wrong.

APPARENTLY both the Era and WESB got the first run of the story wrong, but it may have been the fault of the police reporting it wrong.

What they all reported was a dragging by a car ... more specifically a black Cadillac. But the dragging was not "by" a car, but rather "in close proximity" to a car or BY a car.

Here is the WESB blurb if you missed it:
http://1490newsblog.blogspot.com/2012/1 ... fight.html

BUT they still have the story a bit confused.

First they say "one man suffered minor injuries", but then they say "the person was unconscious and being dragged to a car".

Which is it? "Minor injury" or beaten so bad as to be rendered unconscious? You wouldn't have to drag a lifeless, unconscious person to a car if they only suffered "minor injuries".

Sounds to me like *somebody* trying to minimize the severity of the incident. Beaten unconscious with a baseball bat is not minor in my book. Nor is a fight involving "fifteen to twenty" people (as reported by the police, ERA, and WESB).

Next time somebody thinks about taking the posters on BT to task for minor inaccuracies, just remember that the police, WESB, and the ERA don't always get it totally right!

Being dragged to a car and being dragged by a car is a big difference. Minor injury and unconcious is another big difference. So I guess we just reguard what we read in the ERA as Hearsay?

Well, to be fair, both the Era and WESB ran inaccurate articles, but they may have gotten their inaccurate and biased information from the police report or from the police department.

And on another topic (but still shoddy reporting) nobody ever came out and told what the now infamous shooting incident was all about.

Nobody, the police, the city, the Era or WESB told the public what triggered the shooting (pun intended).
We only have a statement from the police chief insisting it was not related to narcotics.

Maybe not, but what did push this guy over the edge enough to take a gun after another guy?

The public may need to know this so that any of us don't cause somebody to empty a handgun in our direction!

Why is it, here in Bradford, we have people who consider themselves to be "journalists" and/or "reporters" for the various news outlets, who continually drop the ball, and don't bother asking or getting answers to basic, important, questions that relate to the story at hand?

How can the Era and WESB report about a shooting and never disclose what the shooting was about?

Only to report "it had nothing to do with narcotics"?

Oh, and what happened to the gun used in the shooting? Did the police recover it? Was it thrown into a creek near the projects? Is it still on the streets of Bradford somewhere in the hands of other Buffalo thugs? What happened to the gun?

Thanks, Stony, for your careful reasoning. You fleshed out the questions that the rest of us only intuited. YOU should be a reporter!

And here's an understatement from today's Era, in the City Beat column: "a report of use of firearms on Bushnell Street". Did the guy with the gun come back to finish the job? What did the investigators find here?

Rough neighborhood!

Apparently shootings are becoming more routine out that way!

Funny that the queer Asian looking, well lit, bridge hasn't done nothing to quell violent crimes in Bradford ..... yet! LOL!

Stony is a reporter in the true sense of the word, mainly because he has no boss to screen or edit his articles, no advertisers he might offend (he offends everyone equally, LOL!) and no particular allegiance to a politician, brother mason, fellow Bradford club member, co-worker etc. The only difference here on BT, is that there may be a little opinion sprinkled in, (i think that is still legal...)

Stony, I agree with some of the other posts on this site. You are an excellent reporter and you don't pick sides, but what I like most about you is the research you do before posting. Stony really cares about Bradford and the people that call Bradford home.

When I post on this site, I am not trying to hide my real identity. I was a landlord long before a township supervisor. Some of the elected officials who claim they do not read "Bradford Today" should start telling the truth about reading this forum. We know you read it. I even heard about the Frankinstorm in the back room in Foster Township. (lol) I don't recall anything being in the Era?

So Stony, keep doing what you do best, telling it like it is. You set me straight on the slumlords a long time ago, and our Landlord's Association has grown even stronger.

Thanks Citizen, thanks Landlord!

Back to my pissin and moanin about the local media!

Yesterday somebody was hit by a "vehicle" on East Main near St Francis.

The radio and paper ran a little blurb about the police asking for help locating the hit and run vehicle.

The WESB story is here:
http://1490newsblog.blogspot.com/2012/1 ... o-hit.html

The title is, and I quote: "City Police looking for driver that hit pedestrian". BUT then they say "the person was hit by a blue vehicle".

And in the paper today, THAT is all they say about the vehicle .... That it's blue! .... I chit you not! A "blue vehicle"!

They want the publics help .... but then they give insufficient information! .... Just that it was a blue vehicle! Small car? Large car? SUV? Truck? Tractor Trailer? Bus? Train? Low flying airplane? Helicopter?

We don't get any more hints other than it was blue?
Bicycle? Skateboard?

Don't the police think that even a vague description of the vehicle might help? Did it have two or four wheels? A blue Segway perhaps? A blue motorcycle?

Why would the police and/or the paper and the radio NOT provide at the very least a general or vague description of what kind of vehicle hit the pedestrian?

Ask the public for help but just give "blue" as the only detail? Why?

Surely we can do better than this?

Come on people .... be serious!

I lost all faith in the era when they reserved the front page, above the fold, article on Mother's Day for an ad for Lisa's hair port. What a rag! That and anything that is or my be construed as against UPB is left out of the era. EG kellen rouff sex offenses. Atleast they were reported on here. Era is misinformation at its best.

Well, this is a prime example of stuff that makes Bradford look stupid to those outside the area.

Here, they are asking for the publics help to find someone who struck a pedestrian, a hit and run, and all they can tell us they are looking for is something blue! No other details, just "blue". This kind of thing is just pathetic.

But so far we don't know at this point if it was just piss poor reporting where the reporter didn't bother asking what the vehicle *may have been* or looked like, or if the police, for whatever reason, may be withholding information (as they so often do).

Bradford deserves better and more reliable news reporting!

...... And, on the topic of investigative reporting ..... When will the promised meeting about the houses exploding take place? We were promised "soon", what was it, three Decembers ago! Typical Bradford!

The era is so slanted the words fall off of the pages.

Well, that would explain the lack of pertinent information in a lot of their articles! LOL!