Of Storro, Harris and Bittner

It’s been a frenetic few days in The Columbian newsroom. I mean rock ’n’ roll frenetic.

And through it all, I give high marks to the dedicated journalists who hang their hats here.

To be sure, there are far fewer of us in mainstream newsrooms than there used to be. The Depression-like economy that won’t go away and the Web information age has seen to that.

But when this tight-knit group smelled a big story here, they were focused and tenacious.

The largest story — which went international — was that of Bethany Storro. She’s the 28-year-old Vancouver woman who said a “pretty black woman” threw acid in her face in downtown Vancouver.

The evidence slowly began moving in the direction that it might have been self-inflicted.

Then on Sept. 17, we received a tip: The police were about to announce that it — indeed — was a hoax. The tip was solid. But one never really knows for certain, right? I decided to take a calculated risk and put our neck on the line. We put it onto our website:

“Sources tell The Columbian the police will say the acid attack was a hoax.”

We rarely say we’re “first” at anything nowadays because there is so much chatter on the Internet, you really never know. But in this case, we were pretty sure we had it before anyone else.

The police then called a press conference.

Portland TV got wind of our Web story and began quoting The Columbian’s website.

Would the police say what we expected them to say? We waited.

Another editor came over to me with eyebrows raised.

“I hope we’re right,” he said.

“So do I,” I mumbled.

We turned the TVs on in the newsroom and waited to watch the press conference. Folks in the newsroom stood up to watch. The police chief began to speak.

Anxious moments.

Then he said it: “Self-inflicted.”

One reporter raised both hands as he heard it. I decided it was time to breathe. The gamble paid off.

And the story continues.

o o o

The crazy story of Vancouver City Councilwoman Jeanne Harris has gone national. Her outburst at a citizen who was speaking to the council was classic. Sure to be a video soon. Something like “Council Members Gone Wild!” I could also see some rap video on the horizon putting her words to music. The possibilities are endless.

Of course, another possibility is the city council will take action against her.

One thing that happens when a big local story goes global is the national TV networks look for an “authority” to speak to their large audience.

And daily local newspapers are almost always where they go. I did a few national news shows on the Storro story. In the Harris story, MSNBC called our city hall reporter, Andrea Damewood.

She was authoritative and smooth on the air! Sure hope TV doesn’t steal her from us. Great job, Andrea!

o o o

Then there was this clean-cut, suit-wearing, publicity-grabbing high school kid who decided to run for political office. It was all the rage here and elsewhere. It was a made-for-TV news story: This young gentleman, running on a conservative platform, hoping to end up in Olympia, representing us older types.

Not so much.

Turns out 18-year-old Anthony Bittner is being investigated for allegedly being part of a major organized crime ring.

Like I said: It’s been a crazy few days in the newsroom.

Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor. Reach him at 360-735-4505 or lou.brancaccio@columbian.com.