August 19, 2009

Juuuuust A Bit Outside

I noted an ABC story that popped up on Google-Nooz this morning that began:

An unexpected tornado tore through the southwestern Texas town of Beaumont Tuesday, destroying the roof of a department store, flipping cars and stunning residents.

The storm touched down at around 2 p.m., hitting a local shopping center. Winds topped 110 miles per hour, leaving a trail of destruction half a mile long. Cars were thrown on top of each other, bricks were stripped from exterior wall, and chunks of metal and debris were littered around the parking lot.

And so on.

The by-line lists Ryan Owens, Joshua Gaynor and Lindsay Goldwert as the authors of the story. A hat-trick of reporters and none of them realized that Beaumont is, in fact, in the extreme southeastern part of the state. And in Texas, that's an error of a solid 500+ miles.

Just thought I'd mention it.

Posted by Robert at August 19, 2009 08:48 AM | TrackBack
Comments

When I read this earlier this morning, the initial headline still said southwestern, but the copy of the article said southeastern. Does no one proofread anymore?

Posted by: Diane at August 19, 2009 10:56 AM

I guess not. BTW, check out the comments to the story - some of them are hy-larious.

I used to get aggravated by the MSM constantly referring to Dubya's ranch as being located near the "West Texas" town of Crawford. In fact, Crawford is no great way from Waco and is firmly in the east-central part of the state. Again, you're talking about a difference of 300-400 miles.

What is it about Texas geography that trips people?

Posted by: Robbo the LB at August 19, 2009 11:21 AM

"What is it about Texas geography that trips people?"

It's flyover country that's populated by Republicans. I have read some turn of last century literature in which not only do they spell it G_d d_mn, but also l_usy (for lousy). Apparently some things are to be touched on as little as possible in polite society. And T_xas is now on that list.

Posted by: rbj at August 19, 2009 01:09 PM