Out-of-Class #1: A Good Example ...

... from one of youze. Please note the use of first-hand sources, frequent quotes, steady attribution and a strong lede. Be sure that you are using the lessons learned from our practice stories and applying them to your out-of-class stories. 

That's the whole point we're doing practice stories in the first place; it's not busy work, it's intended to give you a structure to use to write news stories structured in a journalistic fashion, instead of term paper-like reports done in an academic way.

June 29, 2016

Out-of-Class Story #1

            An increasing heroin epidemic has been going on in Westchester County in the state of New York.   People ranging from high school students to young adults are being caught in possession of heroin or even worse, dead because it is extremely addictive and dangerous.   

            Heroin is an opioid pain killer.  While weed and cocaine are mentally addictive, heroin is physically addictive and takes a while to get over COMMA HERE said Hope Angarola. 

Angarola is the resource coordinator for the Yonkers and White Plains Drug Treatment Courts.  She deals with drug addicts on a daily basis, and tries to keep them on the right path by finding them help, jobs and shelter.

Angarola said, “It is physically hard to stop using heroin.  Because people are physically addicted, their bodies go through withdrawals.  These are periods of shaking, sweating profusely, seizures, diarrhea, upset stomachs, headaches, and vomiting.”

“A heroin addict’s body craves and desires the drug.  It will begin to shut down without it, as they become dependent on it,” said Angarola.

Angarola said, “In 2013, two people died of an overdose every day.  They were all under the age of 35.  The problem is only getting worse” 

“Now there are overdose rescue kits or nasal naloxone kits.  These are opiate blockers that you spray up a person’s nose.  It will cause an automatic detox, which I heard is painful for the victim, but it will save their life.” SHE SAID. ATTRIBUTE!

Spencer Guerrero, a case technician for the Yonkers City Drug Treatment Court, works alongside Angarola. 

Guerrero said, “People start out by taking medications which are often pain killers.  The pills get expensive, but they have now become addicted.  As a result, the addicts resort to heroin, which is now the cheapest drug out there.”

Guerrero also said, “Insurance companies stop paying for peoples’ medications too soon, which causes people to search for another alternative they can afford such as heroin.

“Once an addict goes to rehab, insurance companies again stop supporting the addict too early, forcing them to fall right back into their drug habit,” Guerrero said.

WE COULD USE A SET-UP PARAGRAPH HERE THAT BETTER SEGWAYS FROM GUERRERO’S COMMENTS TO THIOSE OF DORAN

“Westchester County is comprised mostly of upper middle-class citizens. A little more than half the population is also White,” WHITE IS LOWER CASE, PER AP STYLE said Arthur Doran III.

Doran III JUST DORAN; USE LAST NAME ONLY AND NO FIRST NAMES, TITLES, ETC. IN SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT REFERENCES, PER AP STYLE is a judge who works primarily at Yonkers City Court, but handles drug court cases around Westchester County.

Doran III JUST DORAN; USE LAST NAME ONLY AND NO FIRST NAMES, TITLES, ETC. IN SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT REFERENCES, PER AP STYLE said, “In this court I used to only see a majority of minorities who were young males and unfortunately had a drug addiction they couldn’t afford.  Nowadays the tables have turned.  I mostly see young, White males who are medium to high class.  About 90 percent of them are in their 20’s and actually come from good families.”

“Can I pinpoint a reason as to why Westchester County has an increasing heroin epidemic? Not really.  But I can easily assume it is because it is cheap, addictive, and it gives addicts the high they are looking for,” said Doran III. JUST DORAN; USE LAST NAME ONLY AND NO FIRST NAMES, TITLES, ETC. IN SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT REFERENCES, PER AP STYLE

Karen Shabman, the community service director at Yonkers City Court, said that the state of New York is trying to cut down on the number of arrests made for drug users, especially heroin users. 

“Instead of arresting drug addicts, court systems in New York are trying to find these addicts help by putting them in patient programs, rehabilitation centers, pairing them with resource coordinators who can get them help financially and physically, or by making these law offenders do community service,” said Shabman.

            Shabman said, “Most of the guys I look over in the community service program are drug addicts.  It’s sad to see such young people throw away their lives, but I never judge them.  I would never understand how it feels to need a drug as dangerous as heroin.  I just want to help them.”

In the community service program, there are many recovering heroin addicts.  One of them being 18-year-old Joe Magarelli from New Rochelle. 

Magarelli said, “I used to be a football star. I had my whole life ahead of me.  But I was still a shy guy.  Talking to people used to give me anxiety.”

“Anyways, one day I was playing quarterback and I got tackled super hard.  I will never forget what it was like to stare at my shoulder blade that was completely out of place,” said Magarelli.

“Damage was so bad I had to get surgery.  Once I woke up, I was in so much pain I didn’t know what to do with myself.  Doctors just kept giving me pain killers.  They worked though.  I couldn’t feel a thing, I just felt at peace,” said Magarelli.

Magarelli then said, “I left the hospital pretty early and doctors said the shoulder surgery wasn’t such a big procedure that I would need a prescription of pain killers.  I knew the second I left that I didn’t need pain killers anymore, I wanted them.”

“I got home and starting acting weird.  I had headaches and I was always sweating.  Sometimes I would yell at my mom when I didn’t even mean to.  So I turned to heroin,” said Magarelli.

“It wasn’t hard to get.  A lot of people in high school are starting to use it.  I immediately felt back at peace.  Heroin brought me out of my shell.  It made me more social.  It also killed all my emotions.  I felt like I never had any problems.”

“I guess the joke was on me,” said Magarelli. “I never finished high school and I never played football again.  It’s hard to even get a job now.  I started stealing from my mom just so I could buy some more drugs.  When I didn’t have heroin, I turned violent.”

“I knew I had to stop.  I cried at night while my body was going through withdrawals.  I didn’t know what to do.  But, one day my mom reported me to the cops.  Most people would be angry, but when I got to court, I was thankful,” said Magarelli.

“They changed my life.  I was sent to a rehab upstate.  I got help. I was free,” said Magarelli.

Magarelli now has to do community service, but he said he doesn’t mind it.  He found friends he can connect with.   

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Resources List

Karen Shabman

-Community service director at Yonkers City Court

-kshabman@nycourts.gov

-(914) 831-6926

Arthur Doran III

-City Court Judge

-ajdoran@nycourts.gov

-(914) 831-6960

Hope Angarola

-Resource Coordinator at Yonkers and White Plains City Courts

-hangarol@nycourts.gov

-(914) 824-5854

Spencer Guerrero

-Case Technician at Yonkers City Court

-sguerr@nycourts.gov

-(914) 824-5853

Joe Magarelli

-Recovering addict

ASSIGNMENT GRADE: (REDACTED)

INSTRUCTOR COMMENTS: VERY SOLID FIRST OUTING! THE ONLY THING I THINK NEEDS ADDING IS A MORE NEUTRAL NEUTRAL EXPERT, LIKE A DOCTOR WHO SPECIALIZES IN DRUG ADDICTION AND TREATMENT, WHO ISN’T AFFILIATED WITH THE COURT. OTHERWISE, YOU DID A GREAT JOB OF GETTING A WIDE RANGE OF PEOPLE TO TALK, WHICH IS KEY TO THIS JOB.