Here’s my police blotter from 12-27-2001. Skip over the mundane and proceed to the final entry.
I submitted my blotter late that night to the SUN MESSENGER and didn’t give it another thought. I figured the editor would laugh and move on . . . but I heard nothing.
Someone over at the CLEVELAND FREE TIMES read the blotter entry and ran with it. Things escalated with heightened embellishment. Mass hysteria? Remember when almost everyone was on the hunt for Bin Ladin?
Mayfield Heights police said there was nothing reported on the day in question, but sightings were confirmed by a manager at TGIFriday’s . . . and my editor stood by the blotter item.
After I read the FREE TIMES that week, I didn’t pick up the phone! I laid low and stayed away from the windows . . . was I going to be fired?
