Another news article about storm "tourists"

[Aaron Kennedy]

Amen Jon. A good portion of the chaser crowd are paranoid whiners that think every article could spell the loss of chasing rights. As long as we keep "doing our thing" in the field, we have nothing to worry about. I have yet to talk to any locals that look at us as if we are some kind of outlaws.

Aaron

 

[Dan Robinson]

An editorial piece of very similar tone about May 29 from the Hutchinson paper specifically targeted "storm chasers", not locals, as the problem.

Quote from the Hutchinson article:

"A string of tornadoes tore through the county May 29. Emergency crews received a report of people trapped and possibly hurt in a home near Attica. Storm chasers clogged the roads and wouldn't pull over, slowing responders by six precious minutes."

In fact, the title of that editorial was:

"Out of the way -
Storm chasers slowed emergency response "

Stormtrack thread on this article:
http://stormtrack.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2402

My first picture of the term 'tourist' is a traveler who has come from afar, not someone local. Also, the Hutchinson article discussed how the said chasers come from all over the world and that there are many tour companies.

It's possible that the latest article didn't intend to cast chasers (as opposed to locals) in a bad light, but considering the content of that last editorial piece, and the fact that quotes were used from the same people in both articles, would only lead many chasers to believe that this article is taking the same stance against chasers.

I don't think the Eagle article alone is the cause for this latest reaction by chasers, but rather the trend we've been seeing with other articles seems to lead up to this one.

Just an opinion.

 

[Sheila_Ward]

From article: http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/9076360.htm

"This severe weather season seems to be bringing out even more gawkers and storm chasers."

Well it wasn't clear to me that the article was only targeting "locals" since "storm chasers" were mentioned in the sub-title. If they want to get the message out that locals that don't know what they are doing are causing a problem, then why don't they just write the article that way? Stop being so damn vague about it.

I don't think anybody is being "overly sensitive" about anything. Just tired of all this negative crap and NONE of the positive. If your passionate about something you don't want to see it projected in a negative light when it distorts the truth. Sure, storm chasers will screw up just like anyone else. But every traffic jam is not "all these storm chasers" faults.

If I'm a "paranoid whiner" then so be it. I'd rather take a stand than roll over.

 

[fplowman]

Changing conversation back to last page.. Sorry got in late.. My buddy (non chaser) went to Walmart in Warsaw Missouri during vacation and there was a tornado warning.. They locked them in the store.. gathered them up in the middle of the store and physically employee to employee made a chain grabbing each others arms in a circle around the crowd of shoppers they had gathered up.. My friend says he wanted to leave and exressed his anger and concern and was forced to stay there.. He said his only option to leave was to physically walk over a lil' old lady in her lil blue vest who wasnt going to take no for an answer..

No question there is a circus on these big chase days.. I wonder and Im sure its so the fact it was Memorial day weekend that brought out soooo many frickin people..

 

[Amos Magliocco]

If I'm a "paranoid whiner" then so be it. I'd rather take a stand than roll over.

Sheila, I'll join you in the "paranoid whiner" parade. LOL! Like Aaron said, we're a small portion. Another segment would be the "oblivious morons." Diversity is great!

A

 

[Bill Tabor]

Riders On The Storm by The Doors

Riders On The Storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out alone
Riders on the storm

There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road, yeah

Girl ya gotta love your man
Girl ya gotta love your man
Take him by the hand
Make him understand
The world on you depends
Our life will never end
Gotta love your man, yeah

Wow!

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out alone
Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm

 

[Bill Tabor]

The Storm Warrior

Lately we've been focusing on discussing the merits of the Wichita Kansas article entitled 'Tornado Tourists Hamper Rescue Efforts', and other such recent potentially anti-chaser publications.

Anyway, the old line that I used to see (I believe as part of someone's signature comment) was 'When Chasing is Illegal all Chaser's Will Be Criminals'. Something got me thinking about that and our discussion and it sounded a bit dramatic so I decided to attempt to be creative.

I previously posted the lyrics to 'Riders on the Storm' by The Doors. Take a look over those lyrics because it is appropriate for my character in the short story entitled 'The Storm Warrior'. This title possibly inspired by one of my old fav 'B' grade movies with Mel Gibson of 'The Road Warrior'. I suppose our chaser is a similar type folk.

Anyway this is a fictional narrative. All names, places, events, relationships, etc are all fictional and made up for this story. Any resemblance to any place, or event, or people you know is just that - a resemblance and does not represent actual fact.

I tried to keep it interesting, but I don't write much anymore. Please forgive the punctuation particularly regarding quotes, etc cause it's along time since college English and I've forgotten the exact syntax and mannerisms of use. Hopefully it is still readable.

I provide this for your entertainment, thought, and consideration. Hopefully no one will be offended by it. I could type it all in, but I think it would be too long. So instead I provide for you the URL as I have posted it to my webpage.

http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/Chase_Inspira...rm_warrior.html

 

[Larry J. Kosch]

Lincoln Journal Star

This morning I picked up the Saturday issue of the Lincoln Journal Star paper in Lincoln NE. And I was much surprised to see that story by Stan Finger regarding "Tornado Tourists" was reprinted.

After reading the story in its entirety and reading the reactions of other StormTrack readers, I will not add all that much more to what was already said. The story was well written in a even-handed manner to avoid slamming the true storm chasers and stayed away from lumping the storm chasers with the rest of the "Yahoo!" groupies. Still I wished a clearer distinction could have been made between the two groups.

I did note with some interest that the story was printed on the inside of the back page of the front section of the Lincoln Journal-Star. The front section had Front Page, Nation/World, Business/Stocks and News Extra pages. The "Tornado Tourists" story was reprinted on the News Extra page.

This tells me the Lincoln Journal Star had no opinions in the story matter. They did not splash it all over the front page like a sensational tabloid would do. It was probably just a page filler for that News Extra page. Other stories on that page included candidates using children in campaigns, game night popularity, Arizona firefighters getting weather break in wildfires and a people section.

Another thing I noticed that the photo that was run with the story did not show any obvious storm chasing vehicles or recognizable storm chasers. The two vehicles in the photo were parked on the shoulders and well off the road. One guy was standing within 10 feet of a barbed wire fence. That would be "shocking" :shock: if a lightning hit the fence down the road!

I do want to add my voice to the chorus that is asking the Wichita paper to run a story interview with a group of experienced storm chasers so that we can get our side of the story out. 8)

 

[Charles Kuster]

article

I agree with what everyone else is saying. Whenever we are out storm chasing we always pull off of the road and we always drive safely. All of the other dedicated storm chasers that I have seen have also pulled off of the road and they drive safely. I have seen locals who are crazy. When we saw a tornado near Big Springs Nebraska, we pulled off of the road and started to take video. Then some local person who obviously had no idea what they were doing drove, at high speeds on a dirt road, right towards the tornado. I agree, locals usually cause the problems not the storm chasers.

 

[Dan Robinson]

This story has ran in papers nationwide, from big cities to small towns everywhere. It was in the Charleston, WV Daily Mail this week. My grandmother saw the article and clipped it out for me when I visited this weekend.

For those of you that have websites, there is an easy way to get your point of view and 'the rest of the story' on this subject read. Many of you have a storm chasing FAQ as part of your site. You might address this issue in your own opinion on your FAQ page. In your sentences, try to include key words and phrases like 'tornado tourists', 'Wichita Eagle', 'blocking roads', Mulvane, Kansas, etc. This way, if someone (especially a reporter) is using a search engine to look for information on this subject, your page is more likely to show up in the results page and get read. Putting a little blurb or 'teaser' on your home page with a link to your FAQ page will help the page get indexed faster.