Facebook reaction to treehouse story

One of the stories that has really captured the public’s attention this week is the story of a little girl her treehouse in Selinsgrove.

Here’s a synopsis:

John “J.C.” Carlson was preparing to finish building a tree house for his daughter, Samantha, last Saturday when he received a notice from the borough zoning office informing him the structure is illegal.

He began building the eight-foot, by six-foot wood structure on a tree stump in the front yard of his 701 W. Spruce St. home a few weeks ago for his daughter’s 11th birthday.

Carlson didn’t give zoning regulations a second thought when he began construction.

“A tree house is a tree house,” he said. “What possible harm can it do to build one for an 11-year-old.”

Carlson’s tree house violates the zoning ordinance because it is located on his front lawn on a lot that doesn’t accommodate its large size, said deputy zoning officer Janet Powers.

When that story hit social media, it really took off, with people overwhelmingly on the side of the family wanting to build the treehouse.

It appears the borough is going to be receiving some phone calls and letters now that this story has gotten out.

I understand both sides of the issue: You have to enforce laws uniformly, no matter what a person’s intentions are. You can’t make exceptions for one person then refuse to help another.

But it’s really hard to stand up against a little girl and her treehouse. It’s going to be unpopular, no matter what she wants – which is, after all, only a treehouse.

What do you think about this situation? Which side are you on?

Would you tour the Northumberland County Prison?

This week, it came up that the public can tour the Northumberland County Prison whenever they want to. After all, tax dollars pay for the prison.

But would you want to tour it, even if you could? We posed the question on our Facebook page:

My take: I want to tour the prison, I think.

I mean, I think it would be cool to see what the inside of a prison looks like. I haven’t seen one yet and hopefully won’t as an inmate anytime in the future.

But at the same time, prisons are miserable places. They’re designed that way and they should be that way – so why would you want to go into them voluntarily, as Judy points out above?

What do you think – would you tour a prison if you got the chance?

Facebook feedback: What do you think about new TSA guidelines?

There was some good Facebook discussion on the Daily Item’s page yesterday regarding the new TSA regulations which would allow for small pocket knives on planes.

Here’s some more info:

TSA Administrator John Pistole announced Tuesday that airline passengers will be able to carry pocketknives with blades less than 2.36 inches long and less than half an inch wide. Souvenir baseball bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment also will be permitted starting next month.

The agency said the policy aligns the U.S. with international standards and allows the TSA to concentrate on more serious safety threats.

Check out part of the discussion:

I really don’t know which way I lean, but I do know this: why can’t I keep my iPod on during takeoff yet? Even in airplane mode?! And why is my shampoo still considered a security risk?!?

Maybe those are the questions we need to be focused on, rather than whether or not knives should be allowed on planes.

Story goes Facebook viral

If there’s one thing I know about the news, it’s that people love restaurant news – what’s opening, what’s closing, what’s even thinking about opening a new location.

And now with social media, it’s even easier to get people the news they’re dying to know about.

Take, for example, a story that broke this week, that Texas Roadhouse is planning to take over the former Ruby Tuesday site in Hummels Wharf. I posted the story on Facebook, and it exploded. It got something like 150 likes.

But that’s not the most impressive stat.

Facebook metrics tracks a stat that indicates how many “shares” a story has. It shares this data on your newsfeed when you like a page to give you an idea of what people with similar interests are talking about. If there’s a really exciting story, sometimes it will have 200 shares.

Here’s the stats that popped up on my newsfeed Friday:

847?! Amazing!

Just goes to show you – sometimes it’s not the investigative, hard-hitting news people want to read…..it’s just as simple as checking zoning applications.

 

Super Bowl ads: The best of the best

An informal Facebook post let me know what were the Valley’s favorite Super Bowl commercials.

Here’s everyone’s favorites

The overall winner was definitely “God made a farmer” from Dodge:

Next was the Clydesdale one that had me tearing up:

“Bubble Gun” story goes viral

An incident first reported in the Daily Item has officially gone viral.

Numerous news outlets – including The Huffington Post, the New York Daily News, ABCNews (and GMA) and FOX News just to name a few – picked up on the story of a young girl suspended after “threatening” her friends with a Hello Kitty bubble gun (similar to the one pictured).

[Note: The Huffington Post article cites and links to the Daily Item coverage too!]

The school says she made legitimate threats; her mother and lawyer say she’s just a 5-year-old girl saying things that she doesn’t fully understand.

The story has attracted numerous reactions, both in support of the young girl and the school, with both sides citing recent events – some saying that school shootings have left the public oversensitive, while others say you can’t be too careful these days.

A Facebook post we did on the subject got 94 comments.

So now, the question is, what do you think?

Oh, Lance.

I’ve spent the past couple of days talking to people about the saga that has become of Lance Armstrong’s life.

The conversation has raised some really interesting questions:

• Does his doping negate his good work with cancer research?
• Should we punish athletes for using PEDs?
• If everyone’s doing it, how do you punish just the people you catch?

Here’s a sampling of the conversation from a Facebook post we had:

What’s your take? Let me know in the comments!

It’s Farm Show time!

I went to the Pennsylvania Farm Show for the first time last year. Twitter immortalized that experience for me:

I’m at Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex (2300 N Cameron St, Harrisburg) w/ 3 others 4sq.com/zkVbkt

— Ashley Wislock (@wisashl) January 9, 2012

And it was quite an experience.

I tried to hit everything I could and take in as much as possible, but it was hard to know what to do and see! Luckily, in case I go this year, Valley-ers have my back.

Here’s there recommendations via Facebook. Add yours in the comments!:

Snow days!

Image from http://miriadna.com/preview/1305

It’s supposed to snow big here in the Valley today, so make sure to send me your snow pictures – I’ll post them here!

As I’ve previously discussed, I’m not a huge fan of snow – but I’m excited to see what it looks like across the area when the two to four inches hits us this afternoon.

And apparently a lot of people in the area are big fans of snow:

Keep checking at  dailyitem.com for updates on snow conditions and any road closings, and I’ll let you know what I’m seeing out and about tomorrow.

 

Gun control – What’s the answer?

Much like the debate over the  financial backing of firearms manufacturers, the debate about gun control is raging, with some people advocating for stricter gun controls, while others are saying that it’s not the guns that are the problem – it’s about treating mental illness and how entertainment glorifies violence.

Read more of my local coverage of the issue at dailyitem.com.

I posted the question on Facebook yesterday and got a bunch of responses. Here are a few:

What’s your take? Should we get tougher on guns or focus on other factors?