Editors' Corner

Rain, rain, go away - already

BILL BRODERICK

The prep spring season is starting with a whimper with rain and snow and rain again.
The Enquirer sports is trying to get the prep sports preview stories in the paper, but we need some photos to go with them and nobody has been able to play any games.
Our best efforts were shot down again on Monday. We had wanted to shoot the Pennfield vs. Lakeview softball and baseball games, plus the Gull Lake vs. Lakeview tennis match - all in the name of getting some photos for previews. All were called off.
We will continue to look for opportunities the rest of the week, but Mother Nature hasn't helped us out much.
We know the prep previews are something people always look forward to - so we will continue to try and get some photos and continue to look for an opportunity to start running these stories.
Stay tuned.

You can hear that it's spring

BILL MILLER

I don't care if we have snowstorms ahead — I know it's finally spring because Nature has told me so. The wetlands along 7-Mile Road and K Drive South that I pass on my way to work, last night gave up their icy caps and let loose the joyous cacophony of spring frog song. Download sounds_of_spring.mp3

You know what I'm talking about if you drive the county roads — you hear it for only a few days as you drive by swamps, ponds, wetlands — the din of what seem like hundreds of tiny amphibians.

I've always called them spring peepers, and chances are that's correct, but there also could be chorus frogs. That's according to this Signs of Spring page at www.learner.org.

This year, they even precede the tiniest flush of green. That's next, and then the first leaf buds, and life renews once more.

Gone but not forgotten

STEVE SMITH

News this week that the Michigan Department of Transportation plans to begin work next month on a $3.6 million project to rebuild the I-94 Business Loop caught my attention. It was back in 1994 that houses first began being demolished along East Michigan Avenue in preparation for the much-anticipated thoroughfare from the I-194/M-66 intersection to the eastern city limits.

But then I started to read the details and my heart sank.

Sherwood remembers Clarke

BILL MILLER

Older readers may remember John C. Sherwood, a longtime Enquirer writer and editor, who left Battle Creek some years ago to work at the Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal.

The Marshall-area native, thespian, magician, local historian, and all-around Renaissance man had a long relationship with the legendary science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, who died last week at his home in Sri Lanka.

Clarke, if you don't recognize the name, authored "2001: A Space Odyssey" and the sci-fi classic "Childhood's End" among other works.

John, a good friend, messaged me about a remembrance he put together that appears on the News-Journal Web site, delawareonline.com.

I commend it to you — I think you'll find it fascinating reading.

Waiting for the Spartans

BILL BRODERICK

Proving that we are all college basketball fans  this time of year, the Enquirer made the decision to wait for results for the Michigan State vs. Pitt basketball game in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. The 9:10 start meant the result of the game would push up against our usual 11:30 p.m. Saturday night deadline. But we decided ahead of time that deadline would have to wait for the final buzzer of the MSU game. Turns out the game finished right about 11:30 and we were able to put the MSU story in the paper close to 11:45, not holding up the press too much.
Well, the NCAA Tournament will push the Enquirer's willingness to be basketball fans once again this week. MSU won't play until 9:50 p.m. on Friday night in its Sweet 16 game against Memphis.
We have already decided we will wait to put the results in the paper - which may not be until 12:30 - about an hour after deadline.
Only proving the March Madness can mean one thing to basketball fans and quite another to sports editors.

Hands-on history lesson

STEVE SMITH

Ryan Holland's article today about Dudley School third-graders creating their own book on Battle Creek's history is a great example of creative teaching and effective learning. Rather than simply reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, the students have become actively engaged in putting together stories from Battle Creek's past. That makes it far more likely that they will remember what they've learned.

Swonk's video; Art and Judy Rhan

JOHN GRAP

The front page of today's Enquirer had a nice story by Stephanie Rutherford, with photos by Kevin Hare, about the people at Swonk's flower shop. Battle Creek is blessed to have many great flower shops like Swonk's.

Andy Fitzpatrick's excellent video shows how a story can be told like only videos can. Check it out.

Earlier this week I had the privilege of sitting down with Art and Judy Rhan to talk about their 50-year marriage. I met the good reverend shortly after coming to town 15 years ago. He is recovering from knee surgery and they most graciously agreed to meet with me in his room at Southwest Rehab Hospital. What a blessed couple!

Fill Out Those Brackets

BILL BRODERICK

Do you have your bracket filled out yet?
March Madness is here with the NCAA Tournament field being decided Sunday night.
For the first time the Enquirer produced a special section devoted to March Madness with all the information you need on all the teams in the field of 65 - it is in Monday's edition (copies are still available at your C-Store (ha, ha)).
Most bigger papers will have a team of 4-5 people producing such a section on deadline on Selection Sunday. But our team consisted of me, so I hope you appreciate the section for what it is.
I think it turned out fine and most importantly, it has the essentials - information on the local teams (in this case MSU is the only team around here in the tournament - what happened WMU), it is eye-catching with the cover featuring the top four seeds, and, most importantly, it has a bracket you can fill out.
Make sure to make good use of that bracket when you get to your office pool - because we all know the office pool is really what the tournament is all about.

On the verge of spring

BILL MILLER

Is it? Could it be? Honestly, is this the end of winter/beginning of spring?

It's March 14 (Saturday is the IDES, Brutus!) and the thermometer says 55. Sure feels good after what seems like a neverending stretch of days in the teens, 20s and 30s since Thanksgiving.

Sure, there are still a lot of ugly grayish mounds of dirty snow laying around, and the landscape looks more like something from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" than the lush greenness it will become in a matter of weeks. I mean, on my drive to the office earlier this week, along county roads and country fields, I could detect virtually no colors other than white, brown, shade of gray and black.

It's like Nature's last punch to see if you deserve spring. A tough go, but oh the payoff! By the way, if you spot any early spring color like crocuses or even daffodils on a sunny slope, take a picture and put it on our GetPublished photo gallery.

Sticking to the issues

STEVE SMITH

In blogging about Roses & Raspberries last week and how we try to avoid publishing “raspberries” that are personal attacks, a reader responded, “I understand your position and it makes good sense. I wonder why, though, that same policy isn’t used for the Readers’ Views. I notice a quite personal back-and-forth between two letter-writers a couple of weeks back. Calling one another’s views ‘foolish’ and the like.”

The reader raises a good point, and I’ll try to explain.