Reaching new heights

Two weeks ago - July 22 to be exact - I was faced with the challenge of illustrating a story about Morris' new municipal building, now under construction.

I visited the site the day prior, but with no workers and a fence surrounding the property the shots I took weren't going to do at all. It was then I got the idea of an arial view. I put in a call to Scott Breslar, owner of Chapin's, and the next day I was scheduled for a trip to the roof of the neighboring building.

From the second floor of the structure, the trip is pretty easy - you just climb through a small window and climb two stories up a wobbling ladder. Looking down, you can see into the restaurant itself through a skylight - which, if you fall, would be the only thing to fall onto.

But I'm the adventurous type, and wasn't dismayed. From the roof I was able to get some nice shots of the work being done I would have been unable to achieve from the ground.

Perhaps the most fortuitous occurance, however, was that while perched atop this building, a group of dress-shirt clad men in hard hats approached the site.

"Is that the mayor?" I asked Scott as I zoomed in on the group with my lens.

"Hey Dick!" he yelled down. "Smile for the Morris Herald!"

I got the group to wave to me, and within minutes I had access to the site and accomanied the mayor on his tour of the progress.

That just goes to show you what you get when you refuse to accept the easy way out.