Inside the Newsroom @ Chelsea, Dexter

The official blog for The Chelsea Standard and Dexter Leader


Friday, March 30, 2012

You're famous(er) Dexter!

While the tornado earlier this month drew a lot of local news crews to Huron Farms and other parts of Dexter to report on the damage and how people's lives have been affected, some of our cousins in the mainstream blogging world took notice of one piece of coverage - Comcast has been charging displaced residents "vacation fees."

Yesterday someone at the Consumerist picked up the story on Comcast's initial handling of cable customers in the village, particularly Huron Farms subdivision.

The venerable, and sometimes venereal, Fark.com followed suit with a posting of their own.

Hopefully some good comes of Internet humorists taking note of this situation.

I know it's easy to hate the big dog, but to Comcast's credit, they're in the process of reaching out to the affected village residents. As someone who once worked in a call center, there's not much the low-level phone bank people can do that isn't handed down to them by their supervisors.

It would have been nice for someone at Comcast corporate to parachute into the upper management levels of whatever company handles their phone support (if they farm it out to a call center company) with printed out manuals and verbal guidance detailing how to properly deal with tornado victims.

It would have been nice days, rather than a week or two after, but it is what it is. Hopefully I'll be able to write a detailed followup about the cable giant reaching down to the village folks with a fair handed response.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

This week's print edition is going to be really special

I haven't been this excited to hold a newspaper in my hand in a long time.

It's been incredible working as a team covering the situation going on in Dexter. Virtually our entire staff was phasing and shifting in and out of field reporting and telecommuting for nearly five days.

We produced over 40 stories, hundreds of photos and more than a dozen videos; and somehow it still doesn't feel like we captured enough of what has happened.

This has been an exciting time to be a reporter. At our best we are chroniclers of local history as it happens, and never has this felt more poignant that it has over the past couple of days.

Please let us know how the print edition looks and how our coverage online turned out. Also keep your eyes opened for a documentary video that our staff is working on as I type this. The team collectively took an amazing amount of video since Thursday.

Reporter James Dickson has a lot of great material to work with, so when it's done it should be something to behold.

Monday, March 12, 2012

TIME notes Chelsea's chicken advocates


A Chelsea Standard reader recently posted on Facebook that TIME Magazine name dropped Chelsea, Mich.
The short article, which was online and in the March 12 print edition, was about urban chicken coops and the "ultra-locavores'" fight to change zoning laws.
It appears Chelsea is not alone as the article notes that Tampa and Appleton, Wis. are also considering changing the local rules. Appleton, Wis. boasts a population of about 78,000 people, while Tampa has about 335,000 people.

If you're at your local grocery store or a bookstore within the next week, check it out. Also, please note that TIME has a paywall and the article cannot be viewed online if you are not a subscriber.

Dexter Cider Mill a contestant on Pure Michigan's version of "March Madness"

This blogger enjoying a cup of cider in Dexter last fall. He does not
have one of him enjoying a chicken dinner in Frankenmuth. Case closed.


The Dexter Cider Mill is going to need our help.

The Pure Michigan campaign is launching its own version of March Madness, pitting area recreational activities against one another. On the campaign's Facebook page, it plans to pit activities against each other, and its fans will vote on their favorites.

The Dexter Cider Mill is one of the first contestants in this challenge, and it faces a daunting opponent in the "food and drink" category: eating a Bavarian Inn or Zehnders chicken dinner in Frankenmuth.

It's safe to say the cider mill is facing a tough road, but what if local residents could push it through? Once the poll is open, let's all vote for the cider mill in Dexter, which many of us can agree has some of the best cider every fall (I know I can).

Voting should happen sometime this week on the Pure Michigan page, which you can find here. Be sure to keep an eye out for the poll!

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