Patriot-News carrier uses raft to reach flooded subscribers; is arrested. 

By the Associated Press

A plucky newspaper carrier and her father used a rubber raft to reach flooded subscribers -- and both wound up in trouble with the law. 

Betsey Patrick, a carrier for The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, delighted six stranded subscribers along the rain-swollen Conodoguinet Creek in Middlesex Township on Sunday when she and her father floated down Clemson Drive in the raft. 

"The people were so excited," Patrick said Monday. "They couldn't leave their houses. It made their day." 

But police and a state Fish and Boat Commission officer weren't amused, and cited her father, Rick Patrick, for negligent operation of a water craft. Betsey Patrick said she was arrested for disorderly conduct after arguing about the $220 citation. 

Patrick, of Silver Spring Township, said she will fight the charge. 

"There was no problem with what we did," she said. "We both had life vests on. We had signaling whistles." 

A Patriot-News carrier since 2001, Patrick said she took to the raft because she didn't want the remnants of Hurricane Ivan to mar her perfect delivery record. 

Police involved in the case could not be reached for comment, but Roger Kohr, spokesman for the Cumberland County Office of Emergency Preparedness, said officials barred access to many flooded areas. 

"We need people to use common sense," Kohr said. "They're putting themselves in peril, and they're putting the people who would have to go in and rescue them in peril." 

Danny Diego, the Patriot-News' circulation director, said that because carriers are independent contractors and not employees, the company would not help her fight the charge. 

But he praised Patrick's gumption just the same. 

"I believe she was demonstrating her commitment to excellent customer service," Diego said.