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.