SEVEN missing snowboarders

[RFsponge]

SEVEN missing snowmobilers

MESA COUNTY – The sheriff's office searched for seven missing snowmobilers Saturday (1-26-08) night.


According to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, eight people were snowmobiling in the area of Leon Lake, which is south of Vega Reservoir and about an hour east of Powderhorn Ski Resort, Saturday when they became trapped in the snow.

One of those snowmobilers was able to call for help.

Of the seven missing snowmobilers, six are said to be adults and the seventh either a juvenile or child.

Mesa County Search and Rescue started searching for the missing snowmobilers around 7:30 p.m.

 

[RFsponge]

Rescue underway

9:45pm 1-26-08

...and now word from the Sheriff's Office that the parties have been located. Unknown if that means "found." Twenty to twenty-five search & rescue folks are going in to get them and should be out tonight. Staging is at Vega Reservoir. One snowmobiler was able to get out and call for help. He/she was able to give good directions as to where the rest of the party was.

 

[RFsponge]

Thanks to ScanDenver.net Mesa County feed for great monitoring on this! Hearing SAR teams being deployed, complaints about some "unregistered volunteers" complicating the rescue effort, and no contact yet with the missing parties...

 

[RodStrong]

All 7 of the snowmobilers were rescued and brought out by Mesa County SARC snowmobile team. No injuries. The Mesa County SARC Communications Team also participated. The mission ended around 0400.

 

[jimmnn]

By MIKE WIGGINS
The Daily Sentinel

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Seven snowmobilers stranded on Grand Mesa awaited rescue Saturday night.

Mesa County sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said at 9:45 p.m. that a Mesa County Search and Rescue team spotted the snowmobilers, who had built a fire on top of a ridge near Leon Lake. She said a second team headed for the snowmobilers and expected to bring them out of the area in a couple of hours.

Seven adults and a 6-year-old boy became stuck near the lake, which is south of Vega Reservoir. One of the adults was able to get out and call for help around 7:30 p.m., Benjamin said.

She said rescuers received reports that the snowmobilers had survival gear with them.

“They seemed to be pretty well prepared overall,” she said.

Benjamin said at least some of the snowmobilers are from the Grand Valley.

Roughly 20 Search and Rescue team members and two rural deputies participated in the search.

The snowmobilers were found hours before a powerful storm was expected to sweep into the area, carrying with it up to two feet of snow and 55 mph wind gusts.

 

[MMIC]

The first press release in this thread was lifed, again without credit, from an earlier release of this 9News story:

http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=85214

Just in case you missed the thread about this, this practice is not good:

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94066

 

[cstockmyer]

The first press release in this thread was lifed, again without credit, from an earlier release of this 9News story:

http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=85214

Just in case you missed the thread about this, this practice is not good:

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94066

I do believe that RFsponge does indeed work for a Denver Media outlet just FYI.

 

[RFsponge]

Actually...

The 9news story was lifted from a KJCT-TV (ABC affiliate in Grand Junction) story posted 40 minutes earlier and slightly re-written to exclude naming a Mesa County Sheriff's Office spokesperson which 9news didn't talk to directly. She was transmorgified into the "Sheriff's Office" The media is one big den of theives, I tell you!

However, your point about not crediting the source is well taken. I normally do so, but for some reason last night... didn't. My apologies.

Rob

 

[kc0kp]

The 9news story was lifted from a KJCT-TV (ABC affiliate in Grand Junction) story posted 40 minutes earlier and slightly re-written to exclude naming a Mesa County Sheriff's Office spokesperson which 9news didn't talk to directly. She was transmorgified into the "Sheriff's Office" The media is one big den of theives, I tell you!

However, your point about not crediting the source is well taken. I normally do so, but for some reason last night... didn't. My apologies.

Rob

Associated Press regularly lifts local stories and put them on the wire. That is their job. When you agree to be "associated" it means that everything that appears in your newspaper, on your radio station or on your TV station can be released on the wire for other news outlets to use. The using outlets do not have to attribute anything they get off the wire to the originating media outlet.
There are exceptions to this such as when usually a print medium takes the trouble to copywrite the exclusive work of their reporters. The AP will then usually start the report with "in a copywrited story, the Denver Post claims the mayor is a nerd." or whatever.
What is claimed my some to be plagiarism is in fact fair use of Associated Press reports.
Press releases are never copywrited as the whole concept of a release to disseminate information the entity wants released. You cannot. by definition, plagiarize a news release, it was not proprietary in the first place. It is bad journalism to not label it as a release so that the reader can judge whether the report contains biases, may not be complete or just their side of the story.

 

[RodStrong]

A couple of mission pics.

 

[RFsponge]

kc0kp-

You are absolutely correct. The only thing I'll add is that it is long established protocol that news organizations do not use other news organizations as sources. The AP and any other wire services are obvious exceptions as that is their reason to exist. Attribution of one news source by another is discouraged but not forbidden as in some cases the outlet has no other choice, but in no circumstance should a news writer call another news organization's work their own.