I OWN THIS STREET!!!

Homicide. Another person shot on Cleveland's east side and I was sent to cover it. It was at East 90th and Harris and happened sometime around 3 a.m. on Thursday. I was sent around 7 a.m., after our morning show was over. I figured it was just another routine homicide, if you can classify homicides as routine.

When I turned on to E.90th and drove approximately 100 feet, a woman came running up the middle of the street waving her arms and yelling at me. "Ain't no m.....f...... news cameras going to come down my street and take pictures!!", she screamed. "I own this mf'ing street. I ain't letting you do shit here. I won't even let the mf'ing cops down here. They killed my n.....!!"

I cracked the window a little and asked, "The police killed your friend?"

"No, you dumb ass cracker!! Some n's did and I'm gonna get those mf'ing n's !! And I ain't letting you do take any mf'ing pictures...!!"

She then stood in front of my live van and crossed her arms. I shrugged and picked the phone off of my belt and started to call the desk to inform them of my predicament. That's when the loudmouth started up again.

"Go ahead and call the mf'ing cops, white boy! I won't let the cops down my street! I own this street!!"

Just as she was saying this, and the timing couldn't have been better, the Cleveland Police evidence van turned the corner behind her and started to come up the street, followed by two detective cars. I smiled and pointed for her to turn around.

The cops pulled up behind her and hit their radio horn notifying the lady to move. And I know this might be a shock but...she moved.

I let the police van pass and then I drove down the street a little and called the desk to let them know of the hostile enviroment that I was in. They told me to wait for the reporter to show up before shooting anything. Fine with me, I'll wait.

So when Bill, my reporter, showed up I let him know of what was going on with the owner of the street and the hostile environment, he told me he'd watch my back. I felt so much better.

We walked up the street and I began rolling as soon as I got the camera out of the van, just in case there needed to be a record of our untimely demise. And true to form, loudmouth came running down the street again, right at me screaming all about her n and those mf'ers that shot her n. She also reiterated her stance of the fact that she wasn't going to allow any cameras to take any pictures on her street. She actually did the old, "I'm going to stand in front of the camera lens and wherever you go I'm going to stand in front of you" routine. The detectives just laughed and rolled their eyes.

The tirade continued for another ten minutes but not before her friends came and pulled her out of my way. One of them actually made sense, telling her, "Let him do his job. They'll help catch the n that did it.."

Needless to say the yelling continued from the porch of her house but it was laced with the previous n-words, mf'ers and other sundry curse words.

Made for an interesting morning. I haven't had one that tense for a while.

Water Spouts!!

It's been very slow the past few weeks. The mildly cold spring/summer we've been having has put a slight damper on overnight news. The shootings that usually are numerous have slowed down to a trickle. Its good news for the police but it makes for a slow night for me.

This morning though we had a weather system move through and it brought about a rare event over Lake Erie. Water Spouts. They are more common in the fall but this cold air system that came in brought about these water spouts. I spotted one at Huntington Beach out in Bay Village, OH after driving along the lake shore for twenty minutes.

They didn't seem to reach the water but it was interesting to see them form, start to stretch down and then dissipate.

You can see the pics and the video here.

What's With All The Touching?

I'm currently watching the pre-show to the last leg of the triple crown. The cameras are following Big Brown live, to what I can assume is a walk to the racing paddock. Of course there is security all around this horse and I can say I understand that. What I can't seem to understand is why these security officials feel like they can put their hands upon the camera and try to push it out of the way. I'm speaking of Big Brown's exercise trainer and some woman official (at least it looks like a woman) in a sports jacket and sunglasses. The camera is the network camera that is showing the race. You'd at least think that the official would know that the camera is there for the network. The camera wasn't even that close to the darn horse! The cameraman wasn't rushing the people or the horse. Wow...that walking backwards is surely threatening.

The cameras just followed the jockeys from their room to the spot where the traditional jockey photos are taken. Nobody even blinked about the camera being close to them.

And then a couple of nights ago, during the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals game, Paul Pierce goes down with a supposed knee injury. After Pierce is put into a wheelchair, the camera, which is a network camera once again, follows Pierce being wheeled through the tunnel and back to the locker room. While Pierce is being wheeled back, a guy puts his hand up and tries to block the camera's view.

What kind of bullshit is this?

The cameras are there because of the desire to showcase the talents of the athletes love of money that TV broadcasts bring in. If you don't want the cameras to be there, then fine. Enjoy not getting all that revenue that these TV cameras and the networks provide. Go back to the days of life without TV revenue and the limelight that the cameras provide to the moneymaking athletes.

Nothing pisses me off more than seeing someone try and push a camera away from where they have the right to be. Especially when they're providing the coverage for the event.