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Police: Toddler bouncer, blower unit stolen from That Bounce Place

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The General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Pennsylvania sponsored an art contest

<p>Video games have been a passion of mine for over 20 years.</p><p>I was fortunate enough as a new reporter at &#8220;The Sentinel&#8221; in Carlisle to have my own video game blog, &#8220;High Score Gaming.&#8221; I&#8217;d do reviews and other articles whenever I found the time, and some companies would send copies of games for me to review.</p><p>It was essentially a pet project when I started my career; I had no idea it would land me on national television.</p><p><strong>Writing about a tragedy</strong></p><p>It was a couple of days after the Sandy Hook shooting and I was doing my laundry at a laundromat. I had my headphones in with Metallica jamming, and talking heads on Fox News were ranting about the cause of the shooting.</p><p>I took out one of my earbuds and heard reporters speculating that shooter Adam Lanza&#8217;s infatuation with violent video games somehow influenced him.</p><p>I knew instantly I wanted to write about the topic. A day or so later, the National Rifle Association sent a news release condemning the video game industry and its consumers.</p><p>That made it personal.</p><p>The last thing I wanted to do was come off as angry, offended or insulted by what was said, so I took my time with that blog. I spent about a week writing, rewriting and revising it so the message was clear &#8212; video games, even violent ones, are not to blame for violent behavior.</p><p>I finally submitted it for review, and it was posted online on Jan. 11, 2013. It got some good hits, and I thought that would be the end of it as I went about my day.</p><p>Later that day, I returned from an assignment and checked my email. In my inbox was an email from a producer for &#8220;The Willis Report &#8220; on Fox News &#8212; they wanted me on their show that evening to debate the issue with media psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman.</p><p>I was in awe as I forwarded that email to my mentor, George Spohr, (for whom I would work later at this paper) whose response was simple &#8212; &#8220;drop everything and go.&#8221;</p><p><strong>On the air</strong></p><p>After some emails back and forth, the producers sent a limousine to our office and I was whisked off to a production studio in Harrisburg.</p><p>I frantically called my dad, posted on Facebook and texted almost everybody I knew about what was happening.</p><p>I&#8217;ve always been good at public speaking and I wasn&#8217;t nervous until I was on the air.</p><p>I was alone in a room staring into a camera &#8212; I could hear the host and Lieberman on my headset &#8212; it felt like a conference call.</p><p>The last thing I wanted to do was get angry or have this discussion escalate into an argument. My strategy was to speak about my personal experiences and about research I conducted. I took the liberty of taking jabs at Fox News and the NRA in the blog, so I wanted to at least be ready in case things got nasty.</p><p>Lieberman made some offensive comments but, for the most part, I held up my argument fairly well. The host took the liberty of siding with me as the segment came to an end.</p><p><strong>Having a voice</strong></p><p>On the limo ride back to the office, my cell phone was blowing up.</p><p>I had dozens of notifications on Facebook, a ton of emails from colleagues and missed phone calls from family and friends.</p><p>I felt like a hotshot on that ride back. I was still a new journalist right out of college, but I had the opportunity of a lifetime to defend a passion on national television.</p><p>The brief national exposure was nice; having a voice on a larger issue is something I cherished from that experience.</p><p>As a journalist, one of the things that motivates me every day is knowing what I do makes a difference. I&#8217;d like to think that somehow and someway, I influenced someone out there that video games truly are not the problem.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Beyond the Byline: Debating violent video games on national television