COLUMBIANA CORNER Is task force sending the wrong message?

Callers who reach the Columbiana County Drug Task Force's telephone answering machine might wonder if everything's all right at the agency.
The machine's message advises that the task force's agents can't come to the phone because they're "tied up."
Is it live or is it ...?
Salem police visited a home on the 500 block of East Third Street after neighbors reported hearing screams coming from the residence.
After investigating, the officer learned that the home's resident was watching a movie in which people were screaming. The volume was so loud that the screams seemed real to neighbors.
The policeman advised the resident to turn it down.
Birthday broadcast
Salem City Council meetings are broadcast on local cable television, so council members often use the time at the end of the meeting to send out personal greetings to friends and family.
At a recent meeting, however, Councilman Fred Vogel asked his fellow council members, Mayor Larry DeJane and others at the meeting to join him in singing "Happy Birthday" to City Law Director Brooke Zellers.
They did, in rather off-key fashion.
Councilwoman Nancy Cope was to then have her turn to speak, but apparently the council's rendition of "Happy Birthday" rendered her nearly speechless.
"I don't think there's any way to top that," she said.
"I think that's the first time I ever saw our esteemed law director blush," Councilman Walt Bezeredi added.
XCONTRIBUTORS: Norman Leigh and Nancy Tullis of the Salem Bureau.