Hostage drama ensnares neighboring family, newspapermen; Arrogant Tabloid Media Alert

the columbian ^ | Thursday, July 19, 2007 | HOWARD BUCK

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The heavy knock on the front door came about 12:45 p.m.

Vicki Bergeron opened it to find a camouflage-wearing law officer, assault rifle slung over his shoulder, face smeared in green paint, ordering an evacuation.

That would be due to us.

Columbian photographer Mike Salsbury and I had just spent the past 90 minutes scuffling around the Cascade Highlands neighborhood. We were trying to gain a better vantage point, any vantage point, near a home where police surrounded someone who had taken hostages and fired shots.

We'd found it - in the backyard and a small, bathroom window in the residence of Kenneth Bergeron, 30, his wife and their son Dayton, almost 2.

A tactical police unit was visible barely 50 feet away, just beyond the neighbor's side fence, a snooping device propped against a sliding patio door.

But we'd been spotted. From the bushes behind us, a Vancouver police officer identified himself and ordered us inside, by now aware we were media. T he leaden knock came moments later.

"Go ahead, if you need to get some baby food," said one officer calmly, stationed in the narrow entry hallway.

**SCHNIPP**

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This is a report that ran on the front page of this morning's paper, along with color pictures of the SWAT officers who had to escort this idiot and company out to safety, along with the story of the 24 hour armed standoff, in my neighborhood six blocks away, after a Police Officer had been shot, and the suspect had taken a hostage who later turned out to also have been shot.

While the police are trying to get the situation under control, the columbian's reporter and cameraman are sneaking around inthe house next door to the hostage taker, playing peek-a-boo out the bathroom window hoping to catch some sort of tabloid picture.

I sent the following text to every police agency in the area who participated in this operation.

From: Me
To: vanpd@ci.vancouver.wa.us
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 11:36 AM
Subject: Thank You and an apology


Dear Chief Cook;

I am writing this morning to thank you personally, for the very heroic actions of the members of the Vancouver Police Department who took part in ending the hostage standoff in my neighborhood early this morning. I live about six blocks from where that standoff occured, and I am deeply grateful that your Officers were able to capture their suspect without loss of life, or any further injuries to Police Officers. My wife and I are relieved beyond words that the Officer who was shot will recover.
At the same time, I feel like I must apologise to you for the action of members of the newspaper staff of the columbian, whose irresponsible actions were documented on the front page of the morning paper. I consider the reported actions of the columbian reporter Howard Buck to be the height of irresponsibility, by risking the lives of himself, his crew, the homeowner, and the Police Officers who were actively trying to control a bad situation in a residential neighborhood.
Frankly Chief Cook, I am hard pressed to decide who was more irresponsible; the reporter who was playing peek-a-boo with an armed gunman, or the columbian's editorial staff for printing it on the front page along with pictures of the Officers who were trying to do their job.
I want you to know that as a citizen of Vancouver, and a grateful resident of the neighborhood your Officers protected over the last 24 hours, that I am outraged at the conduct of the columbian and their staff, and I am raising my concerns with all of my contacts in the City of Vancouver, and elsewhere. I am also urging my fellow citizens to do the same.
Again, you have the eternal gratitude of me and my neighbors for the bravery and consumate professionalism that was displayed here yesterday. Thank you so very much.

Sincerely;



I decided to share this here, because this behavior deserves every bit of derision that can be heaped upon it. This reporter ought to be on his knees thanking God that the meth head didn't have a loaded deer rifle, ready to pop whomever raised their head up in that window just one more time. Since all of the houses in question are plywood sheathed, it would have been simple to shoot him right through the walls, along with the residents he co-opted into this extremely risky stunt.

It's hard to decide who is more irresponsible; the cub reporter who pulls a stunt like this, or the dinosaur-media newspaper that gives him a platform to brag about how cool it is to ride in an armored car??

[SittinYonder]

mark