by Steve Dunford
This morning, I realized the callinh for this stage of my life is to be a “newsman.” I have always been a news, weather, and sports hound, but English was my weak academic area in school, so journalism was not a high priority life choice for me. I have a long way to go, but I see improvement in my writing everyday.
I had a rough night physically. When I woke up this morning and looked at the clock and it said 9:21, I went into a panic. Half asleep still, I get online. The first few posts were about a bomb threat at the Franklin County Courthouse.
I began to piece a few things together. When there is an emergency situation like this, the first source I go to is WSIL-TV’s website. There was nothing as of yet. I troll around and piece some information together. I call the newsroom at Channel 3 and share the information that I have. I was talking to Kevin Hunspberger, and he then said we have crews heading to Marion and Benton. He told me there is something going on at the Williamson County Courthouse as well.
I began to piece information from other sources. One of the biggest surprises since I have started this is how media sources talk among ourselves. One of my favorite all time movies is Anchorman. I figured it would be like Ron Burgundy and Wes Mantooth trying to beat the other to the scene. Soon I will enter my third year of covering high school basketball. I was also amazed how much coaches talk among themselves.
During any type of emergency situation, there is a lot of adrenaline flowing in me. When there is loss of life, the sadness will crash upon you after all the information is shared . I have covered a few bomb threats now, and after the adrenaline wears off, I am flaming mad.
It was not as bad as the stormy Sunday night a few months ago the idiot called in a bomb threat at Franklin Hospital a few months ago, but when anytime taxpayer resources and manpower or wasted on stupidity, it gets under my skin. I know idiot and stupid are words that are not politically correct by some, but I have never had an accusation of being PC in my lifetime.
In situations like today, there is a greater than a 99% chance it is a hoax. The times when the chance is less than one percent is why you have to take things seriously.
Until the seriousness of the other allegations that were brought against the one that called the threats into Sesser-Valier School, I was thinking it would be someone that wanted to get out of going to school, work or in this instance today court.
The employees of every county office in two counties was affected today. From comments on social media, it sounds like both counties had court today.
Police, fire and EMS from several departments were tied up. The resources that were unnecessarily used went all the way up to the department of defense. There were several individuals that were tired from working a wreck on I 57 last night. What if there was another accident, a major fire, or some other type of emergency in the county? Resources would have been tied up by one caller’s needless nonsense.
When the local economy hurts, we all hurt. Consider the teller that works at Peoples National Bank that might have lost a few hours pay. What about the local businessmen and his employees that runs an antique shop on the square and his employees? What about the waitress at one of the three restaurants on the square that might have lost needed tip money today for their family?
I am sure businesses suffered in a few block perimeter of the square because of this. To the caller, or the ones on social media that made smart comments or hit the ha ha button on the posts, I have a sense of humor, and it is a warped one at times. I don’t think it is very funny. As one of the administrators of franklincounty-news.com’s Facebook page, that is a quick way to do a disappearing act.
I just hope the caller knows what type of fear he or she caused. I have pinch hit in the classroom over my life to supplement my income from a full time job, or there have been times even that was my only source of income. I have never been through a bomb threat in a leadership position, but I have been through severe weather events and lockdowns in the classroom.
You might be saying Steve, today it was adults. As a supervisor in past positions, I have been trough severe weather events and two minor fires in my places of employment. After the building was evacuated, I checked my employee roster over and over to make sure everyone was out. It is stressful to say the least.
When I found out the call was a 911 that came into the West Frankfort Police Department that caused the evacuations, I was thinking to myself, unbelievable. Then I thought of when the late Paul Harvey told a story about someone who held up a bank, and wrote the note on one of his deposit slips.
If it was someone that wanted to miss court today, I was thinking the charges you will be facing now will be much steeper.
This was one that I had to get off my chest. There was going to be some ramblings today on a different subject. You will have the opportunity to read them in a few days. It has been a busy day so far for me, and I have a long way to go. I have nine coaches to contact and some other things to do as well.
Thank you all for placing confidence in me as a source of information in events like today.