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 Post subject: And could you tell the court what gave you that feeling?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 5:24 pm 
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Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2002 1:01 am
Posts: 27
Location: Midland, Mich.
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MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — Calvin Keller slipped into a daze when he heard the first two gunshots outside the Isabella County Courthouse.
“I had a bad feeling,” he said. Moments later he would find his daughter, granddaughter and daughter’s friend dead.
Keller was one of 15 witnesses called to the stand Tuesday during the first day of testimony in Thomas Howard Wendt’s murder trial.
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 Post subject: Re: And could you tell the court what gave you that feeling?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2002 6:34 pm 
I'd make some smartassed comment about the lameness of that lead ... but I've just slipped into a daze ....<p>Seriously, though "slip" is one of those awful catch-all verbs, like "held" and "tossed" that lazy writers use when they can't be bothered to take the nine seconds it might require to come up with a more suitable, accurate and less-cliched word. <p>Had I been the copy editor handling this story, I would have asked the writer (directly, or through the city editor) to write a lead that just contextually paraphrases the relevant impressions and observations of the fellow on the stand -- assuming that was the biggest news coming out of the trial that day.


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 Post subject: Re: And could you tell the court what gave you that feeling?
PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2002 9:48 am 
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Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 836
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
My reading on this lead is truly confusing.
The gunshots happen while Calvin is on the stand testifying in the murder trial of the man accused of firing the shots. The wheels of justice are spinning in warp speed here.


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