Bob CollinsOnce again I rise to the defense of the newspaper carrier!
The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls reports that one of its newspaper carriers was arrested for burglary. Apparently, the carrier took note of the “stops” that subscribers phoned in for their vacations, and broke into their homes.
That tidbit comes from the Poynter organization which also relayed the story of a scam run by a guy who would leave Christmas tip notes (I talked about those here). He wasn’t actually a carrier, but he collected the money.
It was the way Poynter led into that story which caught my attention:
In another crime that won’t help newspaper circulation,
Funny stuff. Don’t subscribe to the newspaper because you might become the victim of a crime. You know how newspaper carriers are.
Here’s how newspaper carriers are, with some stories that Poynter missed:
Greg Blackburn was delivering newspapers early in the morning the day after Christmas in Cloquet when he saw smoke coming from an apartment house. Three people are alive because of him – Marlen Salo, 80, and his two adult sons, Mark and Michael – all of whom had been sleeping at the time the fire started.
Coincidentally, a carrier saved a family the next day down in Austin, Texas when a fire broke out. Oscar Hernandez alerted the family, then helped put the fire out.
Poynter also missed the story of Laurie Lambertz, who delivers papers for the Argus Leader. Last week she celebrated 25 years doing so. “A woman with South Dakota pride and values,” one reader said.
