HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM: An all-nighter

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By Phillip Dudley, East Buchanan freshman

WINTHROP - Have you ever pulled an all-nighter working in the ?eld?

I have and it almost cost me my arm.

My day started at 8 a.m.and  didn't end until after midnight.

I was chopping all day. It was supposed to rain the next day, so I had to keep going. I had about half of the ?eld chopped already and the rest was going to take another day-and-a-half to get the job done.

We were thinking if we went hard and fast, we would get the ?eld done quicker. When it started getting dark, I was getting sleepy -  and it was only 7 p.m.. I stopped the tractor and got out to walk around to wake up.

I climbed back up and started chopping again, but when I looked back I noticed the chopper was jammed up.  I shut off the chopper, but the left the tractor running. As I was getting it unjammed, my arm got caught and stayed trapped for half an hour.

I ?nally moved it back and forth 20 to 30 times and got it out. I was very lucky that all that happened were four little cuts on my hand.

Now it's 9 p.m. and the chopper is unjammed and running again. I was chopping for three more hours and had to drink a lot of pop to stay awake for the last hour.

We ?nished for the night, but didn't ?nish the ?eld because of the big jam.