Local Baby Vows to Give All Birthday Presents to Charity

ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Gordon Hewitt and his wife Lynda sure were surprised when they heard their son David say that he would like to give up his birthday presents, especially because the presents were for his very first birthday.

"I was shocked," said Gordon. "But then again he always has been the most caring little guy I've ever known."

David told his parents that he would like to give the presents to the American Red Cross and donate his birthday money to the Martins Ferry Presbyterian Church.

"I was a little sad to see him get rid of the new baseball and glove we got him," the boy's father said. "We were gonna go outside today and toss the ball around but I guess that will have to wait until next year."

His mother Lynda was still crying hysterically from being proud when we arrived for an interview, so we weren't able to get any decipherable statements from her. The family's relatives told us that they were a little skeptical of the claims made the Hewitts.

"I haven't even heard the kid talk yet," said Poderick Payne, the boy's grandfather. "I bought him a sawed-off shotgun so I could teach him how to hunt, not so he could give it away to some stupid dirtball kid."

The boy received an honorary citizens award from the St. Clairsville city council, but the boy gave that away to helpless children who didn't have the means to help other children.

WTOV9 Nominated for Lamest News Pulitzer

STEUBENVILLE - News 9 has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize once again for 'Lamest News Coverage'. The announcement came at about 4:00 ET for their coverage of a coyote running around in Steubenville (right). Residents commented that they weren't all that surprised to see a fairly common animal in a town like Steubenville.

"It really wasn't doing anything," said some guy we talked to. "It just sat there letting this dog bark at it. I hoped to see more action."

According to those in charge of handing out the Pulitzer, News 9 wasted valuable resources in order to cover the story. They also obstructed officials from the Ohio Division of Wildlife when they told them not to remove the animal until they got there "so they could watch." Reporter Aly Cohen told OVN that she feels like her skills would be better utilized elsewhere.

"I work too hard to waste my time covering the things WTOV considers newsworthy," said Cohen. "Last week they told me to sit down by the river and wait for this guy to catch a fish so I could interview him about it."
The Pulitzer Prize people say that the story reminded them of last year's winner, a Japanese news station's coverage of a giant lizard running amok in Tokyo. Columbia University professors (the people who do the Pulitzer thing we've been talking about) say that story won last year because they couldn't understand what the Japanese news anchors were trying to say, and that salamanders being spotted in cities is a pretty common thing.

"We're having a yard sale over on North Fourth street," said a woman in Steubenville when we asked her about the announcement.