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SUNNY Temp: 57 °F Wind: S at 3 mph Saturday, September 27, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine Joy Magazine Tempo A & E RogueValleyAutoFinder RogueValleyHomeFinder Real Estate Showcase Wellness Connection Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Employment Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend August 16, 2003 Medford retailer fills void for New Yorker by e-mail By GREG STILES Mail Tribune E-mails from the other side of the continent aren’t unusual for Janice Weathers, who works in the preferred account division at specialty gift retailer Harry and David. She wasn’t expecting to get many calls or messages Thursday afternoon from the East Coast as a massive power failure left 30 million people without electricity. But at 2:23 p.m., the Medford grandmother received a terse cyber SOS from one of her accounts working at a large pharmaceutical company in New York City. "Any word on what is happening in New York, we’re at 44th and Madison." Advertisement "Evidently," Winters said, "she e-mailed to me on her laptop and it looked like it was not just to me, but whoever she could get ahold of." Winters went on the Internet, copied a dispatch from The Associated Press and e-mailed it to New York. A short while later, her client messaged that she was on a bus headed for the Bronx. "She asked if I could contact her baby-sitter and gave me a phone number," Winters said. "She thanked me and said it was pretty frightening." An answering machine took the call at the baby-sitter’s. She left a message that her client was on the way, but the going was slow. Winters then e-mailed her client that she only got voice-mail. "I could only imagine how she was feeling at that point," Winters said. The return message quickly produced two more numbers. Winters’ next round of calls produced another automated message machine and silence. "I told her I’d keep trying for the next couple of hours," Winters said "She e-mailed back and said ‘Thanks for trying.’ " Winters repeated her calls in 15-minute intervals and finally heard a voice saying "Hello, hello. ..." "I told her who was calling and she told me she had just walked in the door, there had been no ring and she was just checking to see if there was a dial tone." That woman lived 15 minutes away from the client’s house and said she would go check on her friend’s house as soon as she fed her own kids." Winters updated the client at 3:50 p.m. PST and told her she needed a three-day weekend. "She said she thought I was right," Winters said. "I could sense the fear and panic — she was worried about her kids." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times