Right now, a little background of our organization. We are the largest non-profit news gathering organization in New England. We have staff on, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Normally we monitor local and regional news, but we have also covered some of this country's biggest stories. We have over 250 members, all over New England, so our coverage in the region is extensive. Our mission? To be one of the first on the scene, report and relay information back to the dispatcher, who in turn relays the information back to the various news stations that are either members of ou! r organization, or are monitoring our communications. And you thought they did it all by themselves.

As of March 17th we've been monitoring every news source that we can get our hands on. My office has three televisions, on three different news channels, two AM/FM radios, tuned into different stations, three police scanners, with 100 channels each, and two, two-way radios, one VHF and one UHF, just so we don't miss anything. I also have direct communication with the local civil defense, in case of a local emergency situation.

Well, we've got it all covered. We're ready. Then, on March 19th, as the deadline was getting closer, and as 8pm approached, we held our breath. It wasn't just us, if you put on any news channel that night, you would have seen live pictures from Baghdad, just waiting for it to start. As I'm writing this, air raid sirens are blaring in Baghdad. Something tells me you won't need us to tell you what's happening over there. Just tune in to your favorite! news channel.

I pray that our troops will be protected, and will be home safe and soon.

Email Artie Kutsumitis: kpgnews@msn.com

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