It was a typical afternoon in the newsroom, when my story suddenly changed. We rushed out to some breaking news in Monroe County where a man was dangling about 100 feet off the ground. He was trying to set up a zip line in the woods when he got stuck. Our chopper arrived and caught the story from the air, but firefighters wouldn't allow us close enough to get video on the ground. Fortunately, a passerby had a video camera and arrived early enough to shoot video of the scene. Unfortunately, just as firefighters were pulling the man to safety that eyewitness was asked to leave. I don't understand why some responders get so upset when they see a camera. The Valmeyer fire chief asked us if we could provide him with our video, afterall it would be a great learning tool. The chief understood the importance of capturing the incident for future training, but not everyone on the scene shared that same idea. I have great respect for firefighters and police officers, I just wish some would understand the camera is not the enemy, but in situations like this it could be a good friend.

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