Mere pros do prose, dogged reporters do doggerel

A tip o’ the pressman’s paper hat to Review-Journal reporters Brian Haynes and Francis McCabe for turning a routine MITS and WITS (man on the street-woman on the street) reportage about the rare snowfall on the Strip into a delightful bit of doggerel reminiscent of Clement Clarke Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas," which was first printed in a newspaper, of course, the Troy (New York) Sentinel in 1823.

Our online crew created a pdf file for those who might want to print it out and read it aloud at your next Christmas party, preferably after a couple of drinks by both reader and audience.

The tourists were bundled, their cheeks rosy red
While visions of jackpots danced in their heads.
Those hoping for sunshine could do nothing but mourn
As Las Vegas was hit with a rare winter storm.

U.S. Highway 95 closed at cold Railroad Pass
And at Interstate 15 in Primm, no cars could go past.
Atop Mount Charleston snow tires were a must
While the road to Pahrump was closed by snow dust.

This news in quatrain continues, with a neat twist, the long-standing tradition of newspapers printing Moore’s poem, usually under the title of "The Night Before Christmas." It popularized the exchange of gifts on Christmas Day and retailers latched onto the idea and soon filled the newspapers with advertising for their holiday goods and gifts.

We could use some more of that today.

Next week, maybe we can get Brian and Francis to explain to Virginia that, yes, there is a Santa Claus, “as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist … how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus … as if there were no Virginias."