My earliest memory

I was probably three or four years old. My family and I lived in Elgin, MN. We had a big blue house at the end of the road. There was a huge backyard, with a huge hill inclining towards the woods. Near the top of that hill is where my sister and I kept our rabbits, and one had just had bunnies.

So, my sister and I, inpatient as we were, decided to play with the new bunnies before we should have. It was a great time, until I accidentally put one of the bunnies into the wrong cage. The cage I accidentally put the bunny is was much higher than the other cages. And my sister or myself could not get the bunny out. So my sister frantically sent me for our mom.

I went running full speed, down the steep hill towards the house, yelling for my mom. Until I gained to much speed and started falling, I rolled down the hill and bumped into our deck.

While my mom was tending to my cuts and bruises, my dad saved the lone bunny.

Family mourning once again

Pregnant mother of three was in a head-on-collision with a pick-up truck on a winding highway. The car was found emerged in four feet of water, with mother and two of her sons inside dead. This family had experienced three deaths in July after a vehicle rollover.

From startribune.com

Second Story

A disagreement arose Thursday afternoon between the county sheriff and a handful of county commissioners.

Sheriff Dicesari stated that he was upset about not being allocated money to purchase new equipment. It is the first in Dicesari’s 27 years that the county has denied giving money to the sheriff’s department for equipment.

The money Dicesari is requesting is needed to buy eight new police cruisers. Replacing the eight in the squad with over 150,000 miles,

“It is getting too costly to maintain the older vehicles and they spend too much time in the repair shop. You commissioners eliminated the equipment budgets for my department this year and now I can’t buy anything,” Dicesari pointed out.

Dicesari says that he too needs the money hire five new deputies. “You’re putting the lives of the people of this county in jeopardy,” Dicesari said the to commissioners.

Sheriff Dicesari said at the meeting more money should be used for sheriff’s departments and law enforcement, instead of spending money on programs for migrant workers.

In opposition, Commission President Anne Chenn, denied that immigrants are the problem for the budget cut in the sheriff’s department. Chenn states, the county ran short of money this year due to higher fuel prices and spending $30 million to build a new prison to avoid over crowding.

Chenn had a few suggestions on how the sheriff’s department could save money, including not allowing deputies to drive their cruisers home each day as they do currently.

The commissioners voted five to two against Sheriff Dicesari’s requests.

My next step in life

With summer winding down in a faster speed than I thought possible, I began to realize that I was unprepared. I was late to register for my classes, and didn't know what classes I wanted to take. But, once I got that all figure out, I made sure to order my books online for pick up; so I wouldn't have to deal with finding the right book, along with the crowded bookstore.

My first class was a night class, if I remember correctly it was ethics. I had to go to the campus a few hours early to make it to the bookstore before they closed. I nervously, trying to remember the campus map in my head, made way to the bookstore. I successfully got my books, and wandered around campus. There was many new things to check out, I also found where all of my other classes were. Then, finally after my hour plus of wandering ended I headed for my class.

To my surprise, there was one of my high school friends sitting alone at a table and set my things down to endure my first class as a college student. Overall, a harmless experience.

Employment rates are rising

Although the numbers of unemployed persons are still very high, things seem to be turning around. August is the second month in a row to have a decreasing unemployment rate nationally. Hopefully this trend continues, leading to a better economy.

From the article "Job market looking up", in the Badger Herald.

Deadly Accident on Interstate 790

An accident started by two tractor-trailers led to a 22-car pile up. This accident involved a total of 4 tractor-trailers and 14 cars. Leaving two dead and 14 others injured, four of which were seriously hurt.

When crews began arriving to the scene there was a lot of commotion. Officials said that there was a problem identifying which driver came from each vehicle, along with which cars had passengers. Fire Chief Tony Sullivan stated the crash scene looked like a “war zone.”

All five of the Fire Department’s ambulances were on the scene along with a “Life Line” helicopter from Memorial Hospital. Every crewmember worked frantically to help those involved in the crash. The Fire Department needed to cut the roof off of three cars in order to free the drivers and passengers.

After the accident, both north and southbound lanes of Interstate 790 were closed. The closure is creating major delays on the alternate route, Interstate 690; this morning traffic was backed up three hours. Sgt. Albert Wei commented that it is still undetermined when the lanes will reopen.

Reducing the Number of Flu Cases

With flu season coming just around the corner many state officials are suggesting businesses ease up on sick leave for employees. These changes of policies will hopefully reduce the number of contagious employees in the work area, reducing the number of flu cases.

Do's and Don'ts

I have learned many things about writing a good lead, along with things that you shouldn't have in a lead.

I believe that the most helpful information was found in the book talking about answering one of the six basic questions... And of course you would want to answer the question that is most beneficial to your story.

One thing that I found that is a don't includes adding all of the detailed information on the lead.

Lastly, in the book it says how important it is to remember your readers. If your writing for a high school news paper, remember you're writing for the teenage reader.

Two senior citizen men killed in an automobile accident involving a semi. With higher volumes of traffic in the Hugo area police say it is important to pay attention to the numerous traffic crossing vehicles.