| Drug suspect’s pants help score double play
Author: Brian Cooper
Published: May 27, 1998
Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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The write stuff
The Double Play Award, for the best combination headline and lead goes
to The Elkhart (Ind.) Truth. When authorities found a bag with cocaine
sticking out of a suspect’s pants, the Indiana paper presented:
Police zip into action to make drug arrest
"A suspected felon was caught on the fly — so to speak — Wednesday."
(Headline by Trevor Wendzonka, lead by Tom Dolan.)
In Goshen, Ind., the city council planned to hear elementary school
students’ presentation on a proposed city song. Wendzonka came up with
the headline:
Council to see a true song and dance
The Truth had some other gems, including this lead by Arden Erickson:
"Chip Lienhart has a new slogan for United Airlines. ‘They got me here
in twice the time with half my luggage.’ "
California smokers are rebels without a pause
(By Melinda Lantz, on a wire story about another anti-smoking law
in that state.)
On the business page of The Truth, this headline drew readers’ attention
to a story about some effects of the Asian market crisis:
Thais in a bind
(By Bill Wilson)
***
Here’s a headline I was proud to see in my newspaper, the Telegraph
Herald, Dubuque, Iowa:
Masters O’Meara-cle
(By Jim Leitner, after golfer Mark O’Meara, who never led the Masters
until his birdie putt on the 72nd hole hit the bottom of the cup, claimed
the famed green jacket.)
***
Couple proves a kiss is still a kiss, no matter how much time goes
by
(By Eric Linton, The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J., on a longest-kissing
contest in New York.)
***
Sugar Land elated ‘Tara-tory’
(By Dianne Beirne, also of Houston, after the Texas community’s most
famous resident, 15-year-old figure skater Tara Lipinsky, became
the youngest Winter Olympics gold medalist ever.)
***
"Florida bakers got a pop quiz on their knowledge of Federal Deposit
Insurance and came away with a big fat ‘F.’ "
(By Rex Henderson, The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, reporting results of
a survey conducted by the Florida Public Interest Research Group.)
***
Scrabble casts its spell
Popular game marks 50th anniversary
(By Renee Kientz, Houston Chronicle.)
Here’s a conversation deck from Houston’s front page:
At the Sankey Rodeo School in Rose Hill, Kan., (OUCH!) novices learn
that bull riding is a test (OUCH!) of nerves, strength, tenacity and (OUCH)
sanity, all of which are measured in...
EIGHT SECONDS
(By Emily Kelley.)
***
Ed McMahon! You are newest subpoena winner
(By Sandy Ingham, Asbury Park Press, Neptune, N.J., after the celebrity
was among those named in a lawsuit claiming that people were duped into
believing they had won $11 million.)
***
Writing a headline for a story about an entrepreneurs convention, George
Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, created:
Necessity is the mother of convention
Cooper is executive editor of the Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa.
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