CMT, Here I Come !!!

Director Jonathan Barbee

Lights, Camera, Action

Finally, something cool not involving death and destruction to report. Nashville came to Guntersville today. A production crew was in Guntersville shooting a music video for the Wayne Mills Band at Rockingham's, a local bar. The song is called "That's What Dancers Do", and the video should be out by late January. Word is that American Idol winner Taylor Hicks will appear in the video, although he wasn't in town today. Over 200 extras dancing and partying are in the video, but sadly I must report Yours Truly will not be seen on CMT anytime soon. Still, kinda fun to see behind the scenes at just what goes on in the making of a music video. By the way, when you see the video and the singer Wayne Mills is shooting Jager shots, it's really just Coke. I guess you can't have the lead singer wasted.

There Isn't a Hell Hot Enough

The cute kid in the picture is Geontae Glass. G, as his family calls him, was 5 years old. Was, because G is dead, killed by his Mom and her boyfriend. It is actually pretty hard for me to type right now because I am just so angry. G was in kindergarten, a smart kid who loved hugs and going fishing. G is now having an autopsy done on him to determine the manner of his untimely death.

This story started out as a stolen car with a kid asleep in the backseat. An Amber Alert is issued, police all over the state on the lookout for the stolen car, helicopters are brought in to scour the area. But according to police, mom's story started breaking down as the day wore on. Then about 1am this morning, police find the car with G inside, hidden in the trunk, dead. Now, mom and boyfriend are in jail, charged in G's murder. Seems it was all a hoax, a story made up to hide the fact that the people meant to care for a child are actually the ones who killed him. And why did he die? Police say it looks like the boyfriend beat little G for bringing home a bad report card. A bad report card in kindergarten. Just how bad could it have been to merit this kind of punishment? Not coloring in the lines? Staying awake during nap time?

I'm sorry, but I have a 5 year old and this hits very close to home for me. This is the bad part of this job, that you get to see the nasty underbelly of our society. As the title reads, I just don't think there is a Hell hot enough for someone who could do this to a child. Right now I want to be home hugging my kids and thanking the Good Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful, loving family. Unfortunately I am still at work, staying late to put together a story for the 10pm news, my third package of the day. Rest in peace, G. You deserve it.

Shula Sacked

Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore

Interim Head Coach Joe Kines

My Monday started around 2:15am. That's when my cell phone went off with an incoming text message. Through eyes still half asleep I read these words: "Shula Fired!!". Not quite sure if I was dreaming, I checked my phone again and again. Those words still jumped out at me, "Shula Fired!!". Thanks again to the person that sent me that message, I'll keep your name a secret but you know who you are. So I call the TV station and tell the overnight producer the news. "Check it out, but my source is pretty darn good.", I say.

Fast forward several hours and lo and behold, I find myself in Tuscaloosa for the press conference officially announcing the firing of Mike Shula. Over the years, I have been lucky enough to be there for the hiring, firing or resigning of Alabama's coaches from Gene Stallings to Mr. Shula. So that's five coaches in my relatively short TV career. And this time, I'm not that upset by the leaving. From my last post I'm sure you were able to figure out I was not that big a Mike Shula fan. As everyone says, a nice guy, but not head coaching material. To those that say it looks bad for the university to run through this many coaches in such a short time: you are correct. But should we stay with a guy as coach just because he is nice? 'Fraid not. So, one short press conference later and I'm working on my 6th coach at Alabama. Can't wait until that presser.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Luckily, I am off work this Thanksgiving, so I will be home eating myself sick and watching football. Oh, and frying a turkey for the family so pray there is no need for the fire department at our festivities this year. Eat lots of turkey and see you Friday.

Iron Bowl 2006; or Man, This Stinks!!

Gotta love the thumb turkey!!!

Kudos to all you Aubies out there. You once again managed to ruin my Iron Bowl weekend. Although I can't give you all the credit or blame. I have to blame the coaching staff at the University of Alabama. Game after game I've been to this season, and I've been to almost all of them, I have watched the team fall apart. Yes, I know Bama is a young team, but I have to put this debacle of a season squarely on the shoulders of Mike Shula. Someone sent me these pictures and I thought I would share them with you. I especially like the one of Bear wearing a bag on his head, it kinda tells the whole story. Yes, I am an Alabama fan. Yes, I get to go to the games and stand on the sideline while covering the games for my station. Does that make me an expert on football? By no means, but I do think it gives me the ability to talk about this with some experience. Mike Shula may very well be a nice man, a good guy, but he appears to have about as much leadership ability as a rock. And unfortunately about the same amount of play calling talent as the aforementioned stone. Darby up the middle, again? And again? And again? The poor guy has 24 yards on 25 carries all day and you're giving it to him up the middle one the 2 yard line? With the other team in a goal line defense, 8 men on the line? Please. Their offense is way too vanilla, no imagination. None. Unfortunately, it's not just boring it hurts the team. Stalling's offense was boring, but he won a National Championship. Now I'm praying for the Liberty over the Independence Bowl. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Sandmtnphotog Hanging With the Big Dog

Know it's been a while since the last post, but honestly we just haven't had anything that exciting and blogworthy lately. But thanks to my friend John Chumley, I now have this great picture of Governor Bob Riley with Carson and myself. All political stuff aside, Governor Riley is a very nice man. He even gave me a pin and a coin to give to Forrest, which really tickled the kid. Now everytime a Riley commercial comes on he says "There is my friend Bob Riley". May have a future governor right there in my own house.

All I Want For Christmas.......

Now it's a fact of nature that we all get older. Every day. And there is nothing you can do about it. But if you really want to get older in a hurry just have children. Nothing is guaranteed to make you feel older than your children growing up. And this past week we took another step down that road when Jemma lost her first tooth. It had been loose for a couple of weeks, and it popped out while she was at school. Now as excited as she was about the prospects of a visit from the Tooth Fairy, ole Dad was kinda sad about the whole thing. Daddy's little girls is growing up. Today it was a tooth, what will tomorrow bring? Boys calling the house? Her first date? I don't think I'm ready for all this. And for the record boys, Jemma won't be available for dates until 2021. She will be 20 then and maybe I can handle it. Until then, I'm changing our phone number.

(Helmet and shoulder pads in a toilet)

Got a call Tuesday morning, "Why aren't you at Crossville? Did you hear what they did at the field house?". No, I hadn't heard. "Someone trashed it. Ruined all their equipment.".

So off we go to Crossville to see just what the damage was. And it's hard to put into words just what it looked like. Someone broke into the football field house, threw all the equipment out of the lockers, flooded the place with about 6 inches of water mixed with bleach and got knows what else, then sprayed the whole thing down with fire extingushers.

This is my school, I graduated from this school and played football at this school. For someone to do this to MY team and MY school really ticks me off. They have to order new helmets and shoulder pads and cleats and other equipment to have for the game on Friday. And not just any game, but THE game. Geraldine. Our biggest rivals, the Iron Bowl of Sand Mountain. Now in the past, there have been plenty of pranks pulled by each school on the other. Stealing mascots, spray painting buildings and the like. But this is much too big for a prank. Officials tell us they think it's someone from Crossville that did this damage. And I just can't comprehend that, that someone from MY school would do that to MY school.

As of this afternoon, they are expecting the equipment to arrive on Friday around 3pm. Kickoff is at 7pm. But the game will go on. I mean, after all its Geraldine.

Tecmo Bowl, or How I'm Still Living My Childhood

(Run 1, Run 2, Pass 1 or Pass 2)

(Pretty realistic, huh?)

Anybody remember this? These are screenshots from Tecmo Bowl for the NES, or Nintendo game system. I know there are much more improved games out there now but I love Tecmo Bowl. This little game paved the way for the games of today. I must have spent hundreds of hours playing this game, and in college probably skipped a few classes because of important Tecmo Bowl tournaments going on. You just can't go to class when your playing for the championship you know. So I just found out my brothers both had this game and since I still had a NES lying around somewhere, I stole Dusty's and rushed home to play. I can't tell you how excited I was to get this game going. In case you want to play this game, be sure and pick either Chicago or Los Angeles. Chicago has Walter Payton and Los Angeles has Bo Jackson. Both are great runners, but I chose Chicago because of Kevin Butler as the kicker and Mike Singletary on defense. Sure the game is simple with only 9 players on each team, and only 4 plays to choose from. But man, is it fun!!! Really takes me back to those carefree days of the 80's and 90's.............

Bama Football, or Roll, Tide, Roll!!

(Huntsville's own Ramzee Robinson)

(John Parker Wilson under center)

(D.J. Hall scoring touchdown)

Lots of people ask me, or tell me I guess, that my job must be nice. Sometimes I think that what they are really saying is that it must be nice not to have a real job. Usually I explain to them that, yes, my job can be fun at times, but it also involves phone calls at 2am and holidays spent away from my family. But this time of year, meaning Saturdays in the Fall, is one of the fun times. I am lucky to be the guy who shoots Alabama football for WHNT. What this means is that I get to stand where 92,000 other people would love to be and watch my favorite team play football. And sometimes when I'm really lucky, I get to be on national TV when Bama scores right in front of me. Anyway, here are some shots from the Bama game this weekend against Louisiana Monroe. As a photographer, you always love it when the player breaks loose and runs right to where you're standing, like D.J. Hall in this shot from his TD catch. And in case you were wondering, I'm very impressed with John Parker Wilson as a quarterback. This guy will be one of the special ones, I think.

So, enjoy the pictures. Bama is on the road for a couple of weeks, so I think I'll catch up with the wife and kids this weekend. And watch the Tide play on TV, just like you.

September 11th

Like most Americans, I have my own memories of 9-11 and what I was doing. I had stopped to get gas that morning when a lady came in the store and told us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I got back in my truck and turned the radio on, trying to find news of what happened as I drove in to work. By the time I got there, the other plane had hit and we all knew it wasn't an accident. We decided to go to Guntersville High School and see if students were watching the coverage. A large group of students and teachers were in the library watching. Some students, like the girl in the top picture, were very upset by what they were seeing. Although we were there to do a story, we like everyone else couldn't stop watching the pictures on the TV. We watched the towers collapse. We heard all the stories of people jumping from the buildings, of firemen and police officers killed in the wreckage.
We did a story for the noon news about the kids and about local volunteer fire departments put on call by the President. Then we went to Anniston to the Anniston Army Depot, to check on what security they were putting in place to protect the chemical weapons stored there.
On the way back to Sand Mountain, we passed a gas station that had long lines of cars waiting to get gas, and joked they must be giving gas away today. Only later did we find out that gas prices had gone through the roof for no apparent reason.
We all worked a double shift that day, staying on to do the 10pm news as well. After getting home, I couldn't go to bed. I just couldn't quit watching the news reports.

Heatwave!!!

Unfortunately, I'm not referring to the weather outside, but to the temperature in our Bureau. As of right this minute, 3:25 on Friday afternoon, it is 89 degrees in the office. Yes, that's right, our air conditioning is out of commission. We think it has been slowly dying for the last few weeks, but today it decided to give up the ghost. So I sit here sweaty and praying for the H-AC man to please hurry up and fix our blessed air. How did TV people ever survive in the days before AC?

Photos from the Beach

Got away for a quick 3-day trip to the beach this weekend before school starts for the kids this week. Took a little stroll right around sunset and saw these pelicans chilling and thought to myself, "Wow, that would be a great picture.". Now I don't know if you can call this a great picture or not, but I like it. So I thought I would share it with you. Now it's back to moving pictures and breaking news this week, but I sure did enjoy my last little hurrah at the beach.

Sandmtnphotg On The Job

Here is a picture of me shooting a live shot with Jerry Hayes during our coverage of the firetruck wreck. Carson took this during the 6pm show.

Firefighter Killed in Wreck

Wednesday night I was home when I got a call about a firetruck from one of our local volunteer departments going off of a bridge. I called the station and jumped in my truck and headed for the scene. Normally when I get called out on breaking news I'm busy listening to the scanner, making calls trying to figure out what's going on and exactly where it is. This time was different. Being a photographer in a bureau means you get to know the fire departments, police and other emergency workers pretty well. And this was the Asbury Fire Department and I knew a bunch of their guys really well. So not only was I trying to get to the scene as quickly as possible, but I was also worrying about the people in the accident. Once I get to the wreck I find out one of the firefighters in the truck has died and 2 of the others are very seriously hurt. It turns out I didn't know any of the people in the truck, but that really doesn't matter. All of the volunteer firefighters out there put there life on the line everytime they go out to fight a fire, and they do it for little or no money. They do it because they love to do it. The lady who died in the wreck was a 17 year old whose brother and daddy were both in the department, and she would become a full member when she turned 18. Her brother was in the truck with her and he is in UAB fighting for his life. Firefighting was in her blood, and her friends said it was something she loved to do. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family in their time of loss.
Check out www.asburyfire.com for more information.

Alabama Alligator

Took off to Cherokee County today for a story about an alligator in a swamp there. Now, for those of you who might not know, Cherokee County is in Northeast Alabama which isn't typically gator country. Locals think someone brought him home and then released him in this swampy area. Seems people gather around in the evenings and bring chicken, hot dogs, pretty much anything they think a gator might eat, and then toss food to the gator. Well, now the Authorities are involved and are thinking about removing our celebrity alligator to an area more out of the limelight. Unfortunately today we had no gator sightings, but that log in the one picture fooled me for a little while.

No Tents For You!

After a morning shoot on a story about avian flu and how Marshall County can prepare for it coming to our area, Carson and I rode out to beautiful DeKalb County Lake in Sylvania. No, not for a morning of fishing but for a story on how tents aren't allowed in the campgrounds. Seems a state law outlaws tents in the campgrounds of state owned lakes. The law has been loosely enforced in the past but now has some people upset because they don't have a RV. According to the state, the issue is that folks in tents don't have the means to dispose of their "gray water", which is water used in washing dishes and cleaning up. Now, I don't know about you, but when I go camping, in a tent, I don't spend a whole lot of time washing dishes. That's what Chinette is for. But that's their reason and now folks are upset and that's why I'm out here at this beautiful lake not fishing but working. Oh the things I do for you the viewers.

Here We Go Again

Breaking news from DeKalb County this afternoon. Got a call from the Sheriff saying they were digging up a body just outside of Crossville. We got to the scene to find investigators from DeKalb and Marshall county there. Seems an informant told them a body had been buried in a shed behind a house outside Crossville. After digging down a couple of feet, they hit concrete which had been poured on top of the body. So a backhoe was called in to unearth the concrete and get to the body. Right now, authorities aren't saying much about the circumstances surrounding the murder. But sources tell us that the dead man was a drug dealer robbed and killed for his money and drugs, then dismembered and buried here. In the past, DeKalb county has been the dumping site for people killed in other places and brought here to get rid of them. It hasn't happened in a long time. Until today.

Sunset

Sunset, Lake Guntersville.

The Great, or Not So Great, Escape

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Tony Lee Zimmer. Mr Zimmer held a homemade dagger to a Marshall County Correctional Facility jailer last night after playing sick. He then got into the Control Room and took another jailer's uniform before making his way out of the jail. His brief tast of freedom only lasted about 6 hours though. Deputies caught up with him and he is back in the comfortable confines of the jail. By the way, if you look close you can see the tatoos on his neck and head. Those are horns on his head. No surprise there, I guess.

Ain't It Pretty!!!

Thought I would share a little of my work as a still photographer with you today. I snapped this in Guntersville about a month ago. I thought it came out pretty nice. So, just thought I would share with you how well rounded I am, it's not all about moving pictures with me. Actually, things have been pretty quiet around here lately, nothing too exciting to talk about. So enjoy the pretty flower, may it make your day brighter.

Anybody Remember This Guy??

Hello and welcome back. Anybody out there remember this guy?? That's right, the one and only Slim Goodbody. Carson and I were talking yesterday and Slim(or is it Mr. Goodbody?) came up in conversation. A quick Google search later and there he is. Slim (or Mr. Body) came on the Captain Kangaroo show in the 1970's and taught kids about health and eating good foods. But I always wondered if Slim had no skin or if the organs were painted on his body. Looking back on it now, the Bodman is a little funky looking, maybe even scary. Can you imagine the guts (no pun intended) it took to put on this suit and get on national TV?? Anyway, hope you enjoyed this blast from the past.

My Poor, Poor Car!

First of all, thanks for checking in. I know it's been a while since I've posted, so if you're reading this I want you to know I appreciate it. Well, lets talk about these pictures. After church on Sunday, my family and I stopped by the bureau and found this waiting for us in the parking lot. It was a 1990 Camaro RS, was being the key word here. After calling the police, we found out that sometime during the night Saturday or early Sunday, firefighters were called to the bureau for a buring car. Right now we are still not sure what happened, we're supposed to talk to the fire marshall Monday morning. But in my experience, cars don't just burst into flames. This was actually my Dad's car, I had borrowed it while off a couple of days and had left it parked at the office when I got back to work. The bureau isn't in a bad part of town so I just don't know what happened. I promise to update you as soon as I get more information.

Hispanic March

"Sweet Home Alabama!" That seemed to be the theme of yesterday's Hispanic march through Albertville. Estimates put the crowd at close to 5,000 people, possibly more. Believe it or not, not that many people showed up to protest the march. Everything went off without a hitch, and you can see the size of the crowd from the photo taken from the roof of a building in downtown. And believe it or not, the marchers actually stretched about twice what you can see in the picture. The purpose was to show the strength of the Hispanic population here, one by just the sheer number of marchers, and also by their pledge not to spend any money on Monday to show just what an economic impact they have on the community. Where numbers and money go, pretty soon politics will follow.

Yes, That's My Son!!

Friday night was quite a night, tornadoes everywhere and baseball size hail falling from the sky. But I want to talk about something really important today. Last Saturday was Opening Day(big capital letters) for Little League baseball in Crossville. And suiting up for the Gold team this year, playing centerfield and wearing #10, is none other than Forrest Hood. This is his first year to play baseball and his Dad was quite excited. So what happens when ole #10 comes to the plate for his first at-bat ever?? He hits a homerun! That's right, a homerun!!! Now, I will admit that if the play was scored officially, it would be a single followed by two or three throwing errors which allowed the batter to score. But in the mind of a 7 year old playing ball for the first time, it was a homerun. And in the mind of a VERY proud Dad, it was a moment that I wouldn't trade for a winning lotto ticket!!
By the way, his team went on to win 8-2 over the dreaded and much hated Skins team, with a re-match coming up this Tuesday night. If you need me for anything, just head to the ballpark. That's where I will be living this summer.

Fyffe Bomb Scare

Headed out to Fyffe around 6pm last night after getting calls about police blocking the highway running through town. Turns out they had a suspicious package left near a gas station. So, after blocking off downtown and calling in the bomb squad from Anniston, what does our package turn out to be? A toolbox full of old electrical parts. So police want to know now if it was a prank or just an accident. But that's kind of the way this news business works. You get on a scene, wait and wait some more, only to find out that the bomb was really a toolbox.

April, What a Month!!

Carson, the intrepid Sand Mtn. Bureau Chief, informed me that today was his 5th anniversary here in the bureau. Congratulations, Carson!! I can't believe he has survived 5 years putting up with me, ha ha! That being said, April is quite a big month for me. This year I will have been married to my beautiful wife Wende for 10 years, and my son Forrest will turn 8 the end of the month. Throw in my Mom's birthday, my sister-in-law's b'day, a brother-in-law's b'day, and my niece is also celebrating her 9th birthday. I'm sorry now if I forgot anyone in my family who is celebrating a significant event this month. Looks like I need to take out a loan to pay for all the presents.

Rock Climbing, Part 2

Just a couple more pictures of the kids climbing rocks at Cherokee Rock Village.

Meet The P2

Ladies and gentlemen, we have entered a new world here in the Sand Mtn Bureau. Say hello to the new camera. Officially, its a Panasonic SPX800P with a P2 drive. But all you need to know is the P2 part. For the first time in my career as a, ahem, videojournalist, I go out each day and don't shoot on tape. Everything is all on the little P2 card like in the top photo. Each card, at $650 a pop none the less, holds about 16 minutes of video. The camera has no moving parts to break down, its all electronic, which I quess means I'm really not shooting video anymore, I'm shooting 0's and 1's. The station bought 3 of these new camera systems, one for me, one for Carter Watkins in the Shoals, and one for Gregg our chief photog. Shot everything for the last couple of days on the P2 and have packed up the old tape camera and got it ready to send to Hunts-Vegas(Huntsville) for another photog there. Anyway, I just wanted to let you meet the new camera, hopefully we will all get to know him better in the coming weeks.

Edge Of The World

Here they are again, the Dynamic Duo of Forrest and Jemma, this time after a hard day of rock climbing. Friday we took off to Lookout Mountain in Cherokee County to a little place called Cherokee Rock Village. It's a mecca for rock climbers, nothing but big ole rocks as far as the eye can see. They even filmed part of a movie there last year, "Failure To Launch" with Matthew Mac-whatever-ahey and Sara Jessica Parker. Anyway, this rock was the location for one of the scenes in the movie, overlooking scenic Weiss Lake far below. Kids look kind of nervous because it is literally on the edge of the mountain. Anyway, it is kinda in the middle of nowhere and there are no facilities other than rocks and bushes, but if you are into rock climbing there aren't many better places to go.

Has It Really Been Almost a Month??

My how time flies. I'm sorry it has been so long since I last updated this blog-thing, but you know me. I'm a very busy man. Anyway, been on vacation for the last week and took a quick little trip to Florida to visit the in-laws. The weather didn't want to play along for our earlier than normal trip to the beach, so no beautiful sunset photos or kids playing in the sand. Instead I went to the other extreme, looking for driftwood and that sort of thing to express my artistic side. So here you go, one picture of a tree stump looking weathered and worn with the Sound as a backdrop. Coming up in the next couple of posts, photos from our trip to Cherokee Rock Village for some rock climbing, and a photo of the Sand Mountain Bureau camera. That's right, we have a brand new camera here in the office, and I will brief you on the new technology of the P2 card and the tapeless camera. See you soon!

State Parks Re-Visited

Seems that the voice of the people is heard sometimes by our state government. After many complaints by people, state legislators complained to the head of Alabama's State Parks about the $3 usage fee about to be implemented. And what happens? A press release late yesterday afternoon announced that the fee idea has been dropped. In defense of those who run the parks, they do not receive any tax money for the day to day operation of the parks, and the money raised by the fee would have given them some much needed funds. But I think the idea of having to pay to take your kids or grandkids out to the park to hike trails or look for deer was just the wrong way to do it. As it is, those who camp, play golf or stay at the lodge(when it finally re-opens) fund the park. And no one wants those costs to rise. No easy answers here, but at least one wrong answer has gone away.