Rescued miner's no-show disappoints student journalists

When student correspondents for the weekly "Falcon Report" TV show got a tip from their principal at Valley Stream South High School that rescued Chilean miner Edison Peña would be visiting a nearby restaurant Friday, they high-tailed it over.

Senior Zack Thomas, 17, wanted to ask Peña - in the New York metropolitan area to run in Sunday's New York City Marathon - what went through his mind when he was unsure if anyone would find him.

But Thomas wouldn't get his interview.

As he and the other students waited with their video camera for Peña, Ruben Guzman, who owns the Chilean San Antonio Bakery and Restaurant, got bad news. A Chilean consulate official serving as Peña's tour guide said they had run out of time and wouldn't be able to make it to Long Island given the traffic. "They canceled. I'm so sorry," Guzman said. The consulate was trying to reschedule for Saturday, he said.

Guzman said the consulate contacted him to host the celebrity miner; Guzman worked with the consulate after the earthquake in his native country this year, he said. Consulate officials weren't available for comment.

The gathered Chileans were disappointed but understanding. The miner has had a busy schedule since arriving Thursday. He held a news conference and appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman," getting up to perform a chorus of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" because Presley tunes had kept him energized underground.

"What are you going to do?" said Franklin Carrasco, one of 10 members of the Chileans of the Delaware Valley social group who had journeyed to the eatery, driving four hours Friday from southern New Jersey.

But they made the best of it. "We got a really good lunch out of it . . . a lot of laughs," said Jim DeMalo, who grew up in Dix Hills and whose wife is Chilean.

As for "The Falcon Report," the students said they will have to find another story. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet someone who's experienced what they've experienced," said Dhruv Sehgal, 15. Said Joseph Schmidt, 17: "It would have been an exciting interview."