Plans always change, and news never stops.

It’s been my motto for nearly 13 years and it pretty much the slogan of any journalist.  We prepare to be surprised, but rarely does so much surprise happen in a single week.

On Tuesday, I was scheduled to go tour flooded areas of Warren County with Sheriff Martin Pace. That was no surprise. The river is up, and portions of the county between U.S. 61 and the Mississippi River are underwater. I knew the trip would take all afternoon and it did, especially after we were met with some unforeseen delays. First, I was later than scheduled because during my morning rounds — it takes me to the police station, jail and sometimes the court house. At the Vicksburg Police Department Capt. Sandra Williams told me of the 25 vehicles that were vandalized Monday.

Such fools. If the perpetrator of these malicious crimes is simply bored, I have plenty of work I could put them up to.

After a minor delay, lunch, a stalled boat motor and a blown out wheel bearing, we made it back to Vicksburg and I wrapped up my story on vandals well after my usual bedtime. Not even bedtime is certain when you’re a reporter.

Before bed I planned out my Wednesday — write the flooding story and attend a lunch meeting with Vicksburg Lions Club.

Yet Wednesday morning greeted me with more surprise. Fools struck again. The string of vandalism had continued, and I spent the better half of my day going from store to store talking to shop owners whose windows were shot out in a continuation of a brazen crime spree.

There’s still time to write the flood story, I thought, right after Lions Club. But plans always change. Wednesday afternoon, Harry Sharp used his time at the lectern to launch a citizen-led referendum for changing the city’s government. It was an unexpected move at an unexpected time, but I try to always be prepared.

I rushed back to the office and churned out a quick story, but that’s when the corn fungus hit.

Sometime while I was out and about, someone brought in a deformed ear of corn covered in a mushroom like greenish white fungus. It was bizarre to say the least. I’d never seen anything like it. I stopped what I was doing and took it to Warren County Extension Agent Anna McCain, who photographed the deformed ear and sent the photos off to the state’s top corn scientists.

As I was trying to sum up my day Wednesday afternoon, it occurred to me that I had chased around the destruction of fools, sat through a moment that could define Vicksburg’s history and had caused the deployment of an entire team of scientist.

It’s certainly never boring around here, and as for the flood story, there is always tomorrow.