A Reporter's Time Off

Jim Snyder, The News Director who risked his career by giving me a job in Washington once told me "Reporters don't punch a clock". The comment came after he looked at my time sheet and discovered that I was working fifty five and sixty hours per week on average when I first got here. Jim didn't want to pay the overtime; but what he said has proven true many times.

I was off the clock when a 76 year old man died on board an Amtrak train last Friday.

I happened to be on that train with my wife headed to New York. I was able to get a few pictures via my cellphone back to the web page along with a warning to Amtrak passengers that there could be delays because our train was stopped on the northeast tracks for a couple hours north of Baltimore while Police boarded with a medical examiner.

The train conductor was great..last name was Lopez. He used an on board defibrillator in a valiant effort to revive the man. One passenger said he was noticeably ill and had struggled just to board the train. It was clear there was no foul play involved. Still the covered body was placed in the aisle for what seemed like an eternity with the poor man's wife being comforted by passengers, some of them praying.

The entire train was eventually evacuated, except for the body and police and ME. In two groups we were placed on two trains that had also come from DC for the remaining trip to NW York.