09 10

20 September 2008

Gas, Grammar, and Good Content

Keeley is in an area of Tennessee that's having gas shortages. She wrote about it here. She also asked me what I thought of this article's grammar & content, so I thought I'd give it a good work-over.

Panic Grips Area During Gas Shortage

from Nashville's WSMV.com

Many communities gripped by a gas shortage were in panic mode over the weekend, and bad news from AAA did not help to calm them.

AAA said Saturday that supplies may not return to normal until late next week, but until then, they said everyone needs to deal with the crisis in a reasonable manner.

The latest updated comes the day after Gov. Phil Bredesen stated that the colonial pipeline that provides much of the area's supply was at 100 percent capacity.

AAA stated that the pipeline is still experiencing interruptions due to power problems caused by Hurricane Ike.

They said they do not expect normal service to be restored until next Friday.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said that supplies are running as normal, but do to the higher demand, reserve tanks were drained.

TEMA referred to the short supply as a temporary pinch point.


This should all be a single paragraph. Any 4th grade English teacher worth their salt would be getting crazy with the red pen right about now.

Ike caused power problems, which interrupted gas distribution to parts of Tennessee. Predictably enough, folks disagree on who is at fault and how long the problem will last. The Governor (who probably doesn't even do his own gas shopping) says there is not a problem. AAA has been to the pump and seen the lines.

Many rumors surfaced during the shortage about gas trucks being held up at the border and shut downs occurring at stations. None of the rumors has any truth to it.

Officials said rumors can cause panic in an already tense environment and can cause more problems in the long run.

Officials said they wanted to stress to the communities that no one should be hording gasoline, cars should only be refilled when they are close to empty and drivers should not top off tanks when they are half full or more.


The usual government line when there's trouble: Don't Panic. As far as I'm concerned, any time They feel the need to say that there's Something Seriously Wrong. Not that panic is productive at any point.

Channel Fours' Cynthia Williams spent Saturday traveling from different Tennessee communities.

Williams reported that in the Music City, chaos broke out close to midnight at a Pilot station on Trinity Lane.

Many at the station had to push their cars to the pump, adding another annoyance to a stressful day.

Franklin had a similar situation, Williams reported.

Police were called for gasoline deliveries, as drivers crammed the station looking for fuel.


People are panicking. Please tell me you're not surprised.


In parts of Franklin only one or two gas stations had fuel.

In some cases, people were given limits on how much gas they could pump.

The manager at one "Daily" gas station said that her bosses sent out a companywide e-mail promising that trucks were on the way with gas and would arrive either Saturday or Sunday. She said she later heard that there were more issues with a pipeline, which she knew meant more long lines.

One man waiting at a gas station stood in line and filled up a gas can, saying that his vehicle was stuck at "E" in his driveway.


Nobody has any gas. Gee. This is a very reassuring article. I'm sure that after reading it I'll be sure to act normal. No panic here. Nope. None.

Officials said a barge arrived Friday with more than 1 million gallons of unleaded fuel and 3 million gallons of diesel.

They said, however, that demand will suck that up faster than the next delivery will arrive.


We have gas. But not enough. So you probably won't get what you need. But don't worry, your government is On the Job.

Actually, other than it needs to be re-paragraphed (Is that a word? Is there a technical term for that?), this article is lots better than the one I did on Obama. For all that I poke at them for the "don't panic" stuff, there is some cause for alarm if you are not prepared. And the fact of the matter is, while I'd be fine for a while, maybe even longer than most since I don't drive much, I haven't got a bike (yet), and my husband's job isn't one that you could ride a bike to anyway. We'd be in serious trouble if gas shortages came to our neck of the woods and I really don't know how you'd go about preparing for it!

2 comments:

Anne Chovies said...

"but DUE to the higher demand, reserve tanks were drained." Looks like they struggle with spelling, too.

Ritsumei said...

Yeah, Keeley pointed that out too, but as I was posting this at about 1am I still managed to miss it. But you're absolutely right. Don't these guys hire editors anymore? J. Jonah Jameson (Peter Parker's boss at the paper) would never have accepted this sort of shoddy work!

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