Newscenter 11 Blog

Saturday, September 23

2006-09-23T17:15:00.000-05:00

Saturdays in the Fall are reserved for College Football...Sundays are for the NFL. But this weekend, I have virtually no football to watch. My Golden Eagles play Tuesday night and this is the bye week for the Chiefs. Tuesday night will be the first chance I've had to watch Southern Miss play this year. I will get to go to a couple of games, I'll be taking two Saturdays off next month.

I haven't watched a whole lot of football today, but one of the games I did see a little bit of was the Colorado/Georgia game. Colorado led the Bulldogs 13-0 going into the 4th quarter. But thanks to two late touchdowns, Georgia came out on top. That would have been quite the upset for the Buffs. UGA is ranked ninth and undefeated. Colorado came in oh-for-three (one of those losses was to Division 1-AA Montana State).

Now, for a little news:

One story that we're continuing to follow occurred early this morning at the Shell Gas Station on Highway 19 North. Around 2:30 am, Meridian Police found the clerk dead in the store. She had been shot once in the chest. The investigation is still in its early stages, so there is no photograph of the suspect available yet. Keep watching WTOK for the latest in this case.

Some other news I covered this morning...

A benefit Poker Run was held in honor of Jackie Abercrombie today. The Meridian Police Officer lost his battle with cancer a little over a month ago. After a few early morning showers, the weather cooperated with the bikers and they were able to get going around ten.

Lauderdale County Volunteer Firefighters were out at the Training Facility finishing up some training on the Jaws of Life. For many of the people out there it was the first time that they had used the equipment.

The Choctaw Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America are having a camporee at Bonita Lakes this weekend. It is something they do twice a year. Officials say it is a time for fun as well as learning. The theme for the camporee was "Pirates of the Bonita Lakes." Lots of water activities were available for the boys including kayaking, canoeing, and water balloon dodgeball.

There is a team roping event going on at the Lauderdale County Agri-Center. This is probably the largest event to ever be held there. More than 2,200 teams are competing for $85,000 and a brand new truck.

Check out Newscenter 11 at Six and Ten for these stories and more...

And on a personal note, just wanted to wish my sister a Happy Birthday!

Football Friday

2006-09-22T23:05:00.000-05:00

Another Football Friday has come and gone...

My travels took me to Clarke County this evening. I started out in Quitman, where the Panthers were taking on West Jones. Penalties were the name of the game...at least at the beginning. Before the first offensive play there were 4 penalty flags thrown. Quitman kicked off three seperate times to begin the game. It started out pretty slow, by the time I left with only a couple of minutes left in the first quarter there was no score. Both teams did eventually score, Quitman put up 8...but West Jones won it by scoring 26.

My next stop was at Enterprise. Coach Joel Speed has his Bulldogs off to a great start. Going into the Scott Central game tonight, my alma mater was 4 and 0. I got there with only a couple of minutes to go in the first half. The Rebels got deep into Enterprise territory, but the Dogs were able to stop them before as the clock ran out. Enterprise had the 14 to 6 halftime lead. Scott Central came out in the second half a different team, they were able to move the ball on Enterprise during the third quarter eventually scoring. Their two-point conversion attempt failed leaving the Bulldog lead at two. On the ensuing kickoff, Marquez Goodloe returned the kick for an apparant touchdown, but a penalty brought it back to midfield. The Rebels would not score again and Enterprise won. Looking ahead at their schedule, I think Enterprise could make a run at an undefeated season. And that's a good sign not only for this year, but for the future. Enterprise is a fairly young team...they will only lose two seniors this year.

Remembering September 11, 2001

2006-09-11T17:31:00.000-05:00

I think it goes without saying that September 11, 2001 is a day that none of us will ever forget. And with that in mind, the terrorist attacks on September 11 are obviously the subject of tonight's post.

In 2001, I was a Junior in my first year at The University of Southern Mississippi. On the morning of September 11, I was not in my Hattiesburg apartment. Instead, I was in Meridian because that morning I had a dentist appointment. I got in my truck around nine o'clock that morning to head to the dentist's office. After a commercial break, I heard on the radio that a second plane had hit the other tower of the World Trade Center. I continued to listen to the radio coverage and didn't want to turn it off when I got to my destination.

While the dentist was doing what dentists do, someone came in and told us that another plane had hit the Pentagon. By this point, I, much like everyone else, was wondering what was going on.

The first time that I was able to get to a television, I turned on one of the news channels just in time to see the first tower collapse. With the exception of having to go to one class, I spend the rest of the day watching the news coverage or listening on the radio while I was driving.

I think it's amazing that so many of us can remember exactly what we were doing on that day, when we can't even remember what we ate for breakfast last Thursday.

How do you remember September 11, 2001? I encourage you to leave comments on this blog with your thoughts and memories of that day.

A Week's Worth of Posts in One...

2006-08-30T19:02:00.000-05:00

OK, so it's been a couple of days (or more like a week) since I've put anything up here. Let's do a little catching up since the last post.

First let me address one of the comments that have been made...On the Newton Shooting / Kidnapping case. There have now been a total of 4 people arrested: Christopher McCune, Kafien Kidd, Jonathan Evans (aka Johathan Perilliat), and Anthony Arrington. And as far as the alleged kidnapping was concerned, no kidnapping charges will be filed according to Police Chief Curry.

Now, since my last post...

Wednesday - My story was about an ongoing project that Atmos Energy has going on. They are replacing all of the old gas lines in Meridian with plastic lines. They have already completed more than 160,000 feet of line. That puts the project at about 75 percent complete.

Thursday - My one day off last week. No details will be provided.

Friday - Ah, one of my favorite times of the year is Football Friday. Last week was the first show this year, and oh how much fun it was (surprisingly enough for anyone who knows the tone of voice that I often use, that is not sarcasm). I love Friday nights in the fall. My two games were Philadelphia/Neshoba Central and Union/Choctaw Central. Let's start with the one I shot first...Philly/Central...I probably should have gone to the other game first. It took both teams a little bit to get going in this one. Central came out looking like they were ready to dominate. And there's something to be said for a team that won only one game last year expecting to run all over a playoff team from the previous year. And Central proved they were ready...on the first drive Philly ended up with a 4th and 25. But then Philly's D did the same thing to the Rockets. After a couple of back and forth series', late in the first quarter Neshoba Central drove down the field and put up 7. The drive was highlighted by a couple of runs by QB Tyler McNeal (One went for 38 and the other for a 10 yard TD). As soon as the extra point was kicked, I was off to the reservation. As I'm driving up, I look at the scoreboard. Doh! only 4 minutes left in the first half. And being 45 minutes from the station, there's no way I can stay through half-time. I needed some luck. And I got it. I turned the camera on, and on the first play I shot...Touchdown! I finished out the first half and headed back. Just a reminder...don't forget to check out our Football Friday page on the website. You can get team schedules and on Friday nights we update the scores.

Saturday - The biggest thing that happened for me on Saturday was after the news. I went on a ride-along with the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department. It was a story for Sunday about the DUI crackdown. During the ride-along, there was also a car chase (that resulted in a DUI arrest) and an accident that we went to (car vs 2 horses - not a pretty sight). A passenger was pinned inside the car. He was freed after about 15 minutes and he and the driver were taken to a hospital.

Sunday - Pretty uneventful day, especially after the night before.

Monday - Conehatta. If you've never been there, I probably know why. It's way out in the middle of nowhere. But, now I can say I have been. My story was about a murder case that was solved. A 17-year-old was found shot on McDonald Road two years ago. Now three suspects have been arrested.

Tuesday - The one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I went to Neshoba County for a couple of stories, including a job fair. Ate at Peggy's. I had the only local, non-Katrina related story in our newscast.

Today - My story was about the role that faith-based organizations played in the hurricane recovery process. Dr. Raymon Leake, the pastor at First Baptist Church, told me that on the road to recovery, "...we'd be nowhere near where we are without faith-based organizations."

I know that some of these are kind of short, but if you want to know anymore about any of the stories that I have done this week, just shoot me an email... chris.brennaman@wtok.com.

Oh, and tomorrow is my off day, but I have to come in. And I'm really looking forward to my assignment. I am flying with the Air National Guard as they refuel some F-22 Raptors. If you're from Meridian, you know that in-air refueling was started in (or should I say above) the Queen City. I'll be taking a look at the history of air-to-air refueling as well as how it is done now. Look for this story sometime next week on Newscenter 11.

Tuesday, August 22

2006-08-22T18:51:00.000-05:00

After a long day yesterday, I was really looking forward to a long night of sleep. And here's the part where you would expect me to say something along the lines of "I got called in to work early" or "I didn't get to bed until late, because I was working." Well, that stuff didn't happen. By 10 last night, I was in bed and was able to sleep until 8. If my math is correct, that is roughly 10 hours of sleep. Happy me!

Newton County School District Shines:
And speaking of math...last year's Newton County Elementary School 2nd Graders were good at it. Every one of them scored at the proficient lever or better. More than half made it to the highest level. NCES was one of only 15 2nd grade classes to do that last year.

Also out in Decatur, a couple of Jordan's did pretty well for themselves on the state subject area tests. Jordan Clark is a Senior at NCHS. He made a 500 (out of 500) on the U.S. History test. It is the 2nd time that he has made a perfect score on a subject test. When he was in 9th grade, he did it on the Biology I test.

Not only do Jordan Clark and Jordan Hammons share the same first name, they also share a perfect score on the Bio test. Hammons, a sophomore, said on last year's test, there were some questions that he wasn't sure about, but it was pretty simple.

While I was in Newton County this afternoon, I stopped by the Newton Police Department to speak with Newton Police Chief Harvy Curry about the murder case from earlier this month. And when I pulled up, another story just kind of fell into my lap.

Tennessee Murder Suspects:
A detective from the Nashville PD was there picking up a couple of murder suspects (Tonya Jackson and Phillip Gregory). The two were wanted for the murder of 55-year-old Michael Nimmo of Nashville. According to Detective Brad Corcoran, Jackson and Nimmo were friends. She had been living with the victim for a couple of months. During (at least part of) that time, her boyfriend (Phillip Gregory) was in jail. When Gregory got out of jail, he went to live with Jackson and Nimmo. About three days later is when the homicide occurred. Corcoran said that police do not know if there was an argument or "some type of jealousy problem that they had."

As for how the city of Newton is involved...Jackson and Gregory were stopped for a traffic violation in the city early Sunday morning. The Newton PD found that Gregory and Jackson were in a vehicle stolen from the murder victim. The pair was arrested for the outstanding warrants for Motor Vehicle Theft and because they were wanted for murder.

As Phillip Gregory was being put in the car to be transported back to Tennessee, he asked if he was allowed to say anything to the camera. Of course, I accommodated his request. Click here to see what he had to say.

Government Official Arrested in Meridian

2006-08-15T18:39:00.000-05:00

A United States Government official was arrested in Meridian on Monday. Here's a little more about this strange story...

Several months ago, Paul David Bucher began making contact (via the internet and telephone) with an area teenager. The conversations were apparently regarding Bucher helping him start a modeling career. At some point recently after the young man's 18th birthday, Bucher wanted to meet with the teenager. The parents of the teen became concerned when Bucher said he wanted to meet the teen without his parents around. The parent then contacted the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department.

Through an investigation by the East Mississippi Drug Task Force, the Sheriff's Department arrested Bucher on Monday. He faces charges on two counts (both are misdemeanors):

* Contributing to the delinquency of a minor - This charge stems from the conversations that Bucher had with the teen prior to his 18th birthday.

* Possession of a scheduled drug - That drug was Xanax.

Now, for the government twist...An email that I received from the United States Department of Commerce reads "We confirm that Paul D. Bucher is a Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce." The appropriate officials could not be reached regarding Bucher's current employment status.

Bucher was released from the Lauderdale County Jail after posting a $726 bond. He will have his initial court appearance on September 16.

Newton Shooting / Kidnapping

2006-08-14T18:55:00.000-05:00

Alright, it looks like the last post finally decided to update. Sorry about the double.

The story that I did today was on the shooting/kidnapping in Newton over the weekend. This is really two separate stories in one. In my opinion this is a very complex case, so bear with me while I try to make sense of all of this for you.

I first heard about this story last night around 6 o'clock. We got most of the details from the Newton Police Department, then I headed out to where the incident happened.

Let me give you a little background as to what happened. Around 3 a.m. on Sunday morning J.J. Bolton was travelling west down Oak Street in Newton. At the intersection of Oak and Wilson Avenue an altercation took place. A gun was pulled and someone fired multiple shots into Bolton's Cadillac Escalade. At least three bullet holes are in the driver's side door of the Escalade. Bolton was later pronounced dead at the scene. There was a female passenger (who's identity was not released) also in his vehicle. Apparantly she was also shot at, but not injured. She fled from the scene during the incident. The two suspects in the shooting are Christopher McCune and Kafien Kidd.

At some time after the shooting, the Newton Police received a call from Casonya Ellis' father, Rudolph Ellis. He told police that his daughter and granddaughter could not be found. Her car was later found in the Newton Wal-Mart parking lot. Surveillance video showed that around 6 a.m., her car pulled into the parking lot. The driver got out of that car and into another one. Authorities believe that the other vehicle could help lead to finding Ellis, her daughter and the kidnappers.

Now, you're probably wondering how these two cases are related. According to police, Casonya Ellis and her 10-month-old daughter were allegedly taken against their will from Ellis' apartment in Newton. Police believe that McCune and Kidd may be involved in this incident as well. McCune is said to be the boyfriend of Ellis.

"We (have) gained some information that the kidnap victim possibly may be with our homicide suspects," said Lt. Brian Kelly of the Newton Police Department.

I spoke with Rudolph Ellis this afternoon, he told me that he has been in contact with the kidnappers and with his daughter. He pleaded with them not to harm his daughter. Ellis told me that the kidnapper gave him his word that he would not. He went on to say that she would be returned safely sometime today (Monday).

According the NPD, the FBI and some other agencies are currently aiding with this investigation.

I talked with Newton Police Chief Harvey Curry a few minutes ago (around 7:00 p.m.) , he told me that Ellis was still missing. Keep watching Newscenter 11 for the latest details on these cases.

I apologize for the length of this post, but I hope that I have been able to clear up some of the details of this story. If you have any questions that I may be able to answer, shoot me an email...chris.brennaman@wtok.com.

Meridian Police Involved in Car Chase

2006-08-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

In the news business, a lot of times your day is constantly changing up to the last minute. Sometimes that change is a simple change in the angle of your story. And sometimes that change is a completely new story. And then again, sometimes both happen. Tuesday was one of those days.
It really started on Monday. As I was editing my story about the gas leaks in Meridian, I thought about the number of people who still had their gas cut off. So the next day, I was planning to try to find a house that did not have gas and possibly catch an Atmos technician turning it back on.

I decided to try to drive around and find an Atmos truck and follow it to its next stop. As I was about to make a left turn off of Royal Road onto 20th Street I saw one coming. I turned right instead and chose to follow it. A couple of blocks down the road, I saw several police cars ahead. Not knowing what was going on, it was decision time:

Follow the truck, which just made a left turn
Stay straight and find out what was going on

Curiosity obviously got the best of me. As I was pulling up, I noticed that there were a lot of police officers out of their cars in a space of a couple of blocks. I got out of the car with the camera and tried to find out what was going on. I was told that they were looking for a suspect that had been involved in a robbery in the North Hills Centre on 35th Avenue. More on that in a minute. While I was waiting and watching, I saw a couple of officers (with guns drawn) check a shed. After I had been waiting and watching for several minutes, it looked as if the police were stopping their search. They had been looking for more than a half-hour or so.

I went down a couple of blocks to where some more officers were and started to piece together the puzzle. What I've typed above is the timeline of what I actually saw. Now here's what happened before I arrived:

Around 12:30 pm a call came into police dispatch. There was a bit of miscommunication between the victim and the dispatcher. Police believed that there had been an armed robbery. What had actually happened was a much lesser crime. An attempted petit larceny. By definition that means is that the suspect tried to steal something that was valued at less than $500. This is a misdemeanor crime.

As I mentioned earlier, the crime took place in the North Hills Centre. I checked with several businesses in the shopping center and most of them knew nothing about what had happened. One person did tell me that they thought it was either at David's Hair Salon or at Cantey Paint. I had already checked with Cantey, so that narrowed it down pretty quickly. So my next stop was at the hair salon and I talked to the owner. He did not want to speak with us on camera, but did confirm that the incident took place at his business.

Near Royal Road, police began to pursue the suspect. When he did not pull over, a car chase began. That chase ended when he crashed his car at the intersection of 21st Street and 41st Avenue. The man then got out of his car and ran. Police were unable to catch him and began to search the area. Among other places, they searched a white shed in someone's back yard.

The only description of the suspect is that he is a black male and at the time was wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans. He is still on the run. Police believe they know the identity of the man, but are not releasing his name at this point.

When the suspect is arrested, he will be charged with felony eluding. Lt. Dean Harper of the Meridian Police Department says this proves that running from the police is never a good idea.

"The original crime--it turns out was an attempted petit larceny, which is a misdemeanor," said Harper. "If this individual would have pulled over when we first got behind him, he would have went to jail, but it would have been for a misdemeanor and he could have been allowed to make bond and be free right now."

Needless to say, this turned into my story instead. So today, I will be going out to Eastern Gardens. We got a call yesterday from someone saying that they still did not have gas service.

There were also three separate shootings that we covered on Tuesday. They all occurred in Meridian on Monday. For more on those, check out the story on our website. Be sure to click on the video link. Lt. Harper gives a little more information about those shootings.

Meridian Police Involved in Car Chase

2006-08-09T09:17:00.000-05:00

I decided to try to drive around and find an Atmos truck and follow it to its next stop. As I was about to make a left turn off of Royal Road onto 20th Street I saw one coming. I turned right instead and chose to follow it. A couple of blocks down the road, I saw several police cars ahead. Not knowing what was going on, it was decision time.

Follow the truck, which just made a left turn
Stay straight and find out what was going on.

Around 12:30 pm a call came into police dispatch. There was a bit of miscommunication between the victim and the dispatcher. Police believed that there had been an armed robbery. What had actually happened was a much lesser crime. An attempted petit larceny. By definition that means is that the suspect tried to steal something that was valued at less than $500. This is a misdemeanor crime.

When the suspect is arrested, he will be charged with felony eluding. Lt. Dean Harper of the Meridian Police Department says this proves that running from the police is never a good idea.

Needless to say, this turned into my story instead. So today, I will be going out to Eastern Gardens. We got a call yesterday from someone saying that they still did not have gas service.

Feast to Famine

2006-05-27T12:06:00.000-05:00

***Update on 08/09/06: Blogger (the program, not the user) is apparantly having some sort of issues. I have tried to update twice, but it is not coming up on the blog home page. Try clicking here for the latest entry.***

If you hang around WTOK long enough you'll hear a lot of things come out of Lindsey Hall's mouth. One of his favorite sayings has got to be "We're about to go from Feast to Famine." He is usually talking about the start of summer. In local sports there isn't a whole lot going on once schools let out for the summer. So, what had been a busy time becomes slow.

The famine also hit the news department this weekend. There are a couple of things happening, but for the most part it will be a long, slow weekend. Tonight, of course, is the big Travis Tritt concert over at the Ag-Center. We'll have more from this show on Newscenter 11 at Ten on Sunday.

But tonight, my story will be about the Shriners. This morning, they had a parade that was--as the Potentate of the Hamasa Shriners, Bill West, put it--their fun time. Lots of motorcycles, go karts, and clowns were parading through downtown Meridian. The Shriners are an organization that many people don't know a whole lot about. Tonight we'll look at why they have this parade and what the Shriners do.

On a personal note...The Royals won last night at the Yankess ending their 13-game losing streak. I keep hoping that the Royals will turn the corner and get back to the Royals-of-old. One thing that most Royals fans will agree needs to happen is for the general manager (Allard Baird) to be fired. It looks like that is about to happen. The Royals have offered the job to Dayton Moore. Moore is the assistant general manager for baseball operations for the Braves. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Braves' scouting and player development. This is an area where the Royals fail. Their farm system is not exactly high quality. Even if the Royals and Moore cannot reach an agreement soon, the team has a few other candidates waiting in the wings.

And it's good to see the Braves back in second place in the East. I didn't get to see yesterday's game, but from what I hear it was a great 9th inning. I was doing some grocery shopping and keeping up with the game on my cell phone. Well, the Braves and Cubs are about to play game 2 on Fox Meridian. I'm going to turn it on while I work. Enjoy your weekend.

Weekend Recap

2006-05-21T22:52:00.000-05:00

This weekend, like most for me, was a long one. I'll try to remember some of what happened:

In my last entry I mentioned that I was going to Atlanta to watch the Braves and Marlins. It was definitely a much better game than the last one I went to. We were running a little late, so by the time we got to our seats it was the second inning. Atlanta was already down by a run. The Braves turned it around though and won 9-1. This was the second Braves game I've been to this year and Jeff Francoeur has homered twice in both. If this happened every time I went, I think he might buy me some season tickets. And then he would set some sort of record. But I digress...This picture is the view from our seats. We were right above the Braves dugout.

Saturday meant back to work for me. It started out with a story about the 5th Annual Queen City Soap Box Derby. I met a couple of the kids competing, Garrett Slay and Logan Powell. The pair said they were best friends, but Logan said something that made me laugh. He said "We're friends off the track, but on the track, you don't have any friends." This kid already sounds like a NASCAR driver. Logan beat Garrett down the hill and eliminated his best friend from the competition en route to a second place finish. Grant Hill won the Super Stock Class. He has finished in second three times, but advanced to the National Finals this year. The finals take place in Akron, Ohio. He and Hayley Randall (Stock Class Winner) will be representing Meridian in Akron. Billy Jack Ethridge was the official starter for the races, he says that when the kids get up to Ohio they are treated like royalty. They are called Mr. or Ms. Champion during the week-long event.

After the races, I went to Enterprise for a celebration of Armed Forces Day. The Town of Enterprise put on an event to honor those who have served our country. Veterans from WWII and the Korean War were honored. This year marks the 53rd Anniversary of the Korean War. The veterans from that war that were in attendance each got a baseball cap recognizing their service. They also had a memorial tribute for fallen soldiers and also had a moment of silence for the late G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery.

On Sunday I didn't have to be in to work as early. Many Sunday mornings we go to shoot a church service, but this morning we did not. My story was in Livingston, Alabama at 5:00 pm instead. The Birmingham Southern College Concert Choir was performing at the First Presbyterian Church. They were attempting to raise some money for the churches that were damaged or destroyed by fire in February. Three suspects were arrested on arson charges for the fires. Two of the students Russell Debusk, Jr. and Ben Moseley were students at BSC. Ben was a member of the Concert Choir. In fact he had been at choir practice the morning that he was arrested. Members of the choir say they feel obligated to help out the churches that were damaged.

Well, that's about all I got for now. There is some more stuff that I'd like to get into, but I'm pretty tired. I'm going to head home now. I'll get something up tomorrow. I'm working nights right now, so it will probably be late again tomorrow when I get something posted. But in the meantime, I hope you have a good Monday (do those really exist?) and a great week!

TGIF

2006-05-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it's my Friday at least. Since I work the weekends I get Thursday and Friday off. Tomorrow, I will be heading over to Atlanta to watch the Braves take on the Marlins. Hopefully the Braves will have a better performance than they did when I went over there last month. In that game, Kyle Davies gave up five runs before anyone could breathe.

Today, my story was about an arrest that has been made. Linda Griffin allegedly poisoned her husband (Frankie) on February 1st (Wednesday). His death was originally ruled as natural causes. After investigating further, authorities found enough evidence to warrant an autopsy. The autopsy revealed that he did not die from natural causes, but instead from being poisoned.

I spoke with his family earlier this afternoon. They told me that they suspected Linda from the get-go. The two were going through a divorce and Frankie had visited his lawyer that Monday. According to his family, he was attempting to speed up the divorce. There were some other things that made Griffin's family suspicious. His sister, Beverly Griffin, said that on the night Frankie died Linda made three phone calls: to Linda's mom, to 911, and to the funeral home. Beverly said that Linda asked the funeral home to start the embalming process that night. I was told by the family that they asked for an autopsy to be performed, to which Linda replied that she didn't want one performed.

The case is definitely a bizarre one and the family has said that they just want justice. With the arrest of Linda Griffin, they believe that the wheels are starting to turn for justice to be served.

Sonny Montgomery's Funeral Service

2006-05-16T23:02:00.000-05:00

Well, I was hoping to get something on here earlier this afternoon but I just didn't have time. I got to work at 9 this morning. After our morning meeting, I headed up to St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Since the funeral service there was private, I was left to stand outside and wait. And wait I did...for three hours. A little before one the Color Guard brought Sonny Montgomery's casket out to the hearse. Once that motorcade made it's way down to the Temple Theater I came back to the station to edit that story.

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the funeral service at the Temple Theater, but I did watch it on television. My job for today was to tell the story of the funeral service. I knew that once the service was over I would not have a lot of time to get ready for Live at Five. During the service, I kept notes on some of the things that were said about Mr. Montgomery. This made it easier to pick out the sound bites that I would use in my package (just a reminder that we have a television terminology glossary that defines some of the terms we use in the television business...the link is on the right side of the page).

Today was a day that doesn't come along very often for a city the size of Meridian. Anytime a former President is in town, it is a big deal. I thought it was great to see President Bush at the service. As you've probably heard, he and Sonny Montgomery were very good friends.

When I think about Sonny Montgomery, it is hard for me not to think about the only time I had the chance to be in the same room as him. It was July of 2003 and I was an intern in the News department at WTOK. If you remember, another big story that July cast the eyes of the country on Meridian. A few days after the Lockheed-Martin shooting, there was a memorial service that was held at First Baptist Church. Before that service started, I had an assignment to go shoot a VO/SOT at MSU-Meridian. Sonny Montgomery was there signing copies of his book. One story that Mr. Montgomery stuck out in my mind.

Montgomery was a freshman Congressman...as was the future President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush. The two were sitting next to each other and Montgomery asked Mr. Bush if he knew where a gym was located. The Texas Congressman said he knew where one was and that he would show the Democrat from Mississippi where it was. The two went to the gym and went on to become great friends and tennis partners.

Something about their friendship that sticks out is the fact that the two were on opposites sides of the aisle politically. During today's funeral service, Mrs. Barbara Bush said "That aisle never divided them on the way they voted and much more importantly never challenged their friendship."

The city of Meridian, the state of Mississippi, and the United States of America lost a great friend in Sonny Montgomery last week. Ask almost anyone and they'll likely tell you that not only did everyone love Sonny Montgomery, but Montgomery loved everybody.

2006-05-16T01:40:00.000-05:00

I'm attempting to post from my cell phone again. Hopefully
it will work this time. Also please forgive any typos.
Before I get into work-related stuff, a personal note: I
just finished watching the Prison Break season finale
(what would I do without Tivo?). I can't wait until this
fall when the show comes back on. This week is a big one
for Meridian. The funeral of Sonny Montgomery will be
attended by several very influential people including
former President Bush. I'd be lying if I said that I
wasn't looking forward to covering today's events. This is
by far the biggest story of my young career. I'll have
more once I get to work and actually have a computer to
type a blog entry on.

I'm back!

2006-05-13T23:15:00.000-05:00

OK, so it's been a while since I've updated this thing. Now my unofficial boycott of blogging is over. I'm going to try to get back into blogging at least a couple of times a week. I stay pretty busy, but there is always a time that I could blog. I usually just choose not to. But that's not fair to the readers of this blog. I know how frustrating it is to follow a blog and not have the author update.

I'm not going to get into a lot tonight since I am pretty tired. I got called in on my day off yesterday. I was called at 5:20 am and was at work an hour later. 12 hours after that I was able to go home. I imagine over the next couple of days all of us here at Newscenter 11 will be staying busy covering the events that lead up to the funeral of G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery.

That's it for now, I'll try to post again tomorrow.

2006-04-21T21:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I apparently didn't send that last blog entry right. I typed a lot more than the entry below. It appears to be lost foret fore

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

2006-04-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. I hope you have had a great week. I am spending this fine Friday evening at the rodeo. Tonight is WTOK night. ight.

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Up With The Sun

2006-04-16T09:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter!

Yesterday, the first thing I shot was the Easter Egg Hunt at Highland Park. Being out there watching the kids take off running for the eggs made me think back to my childhood and hunting for Easter eggs at community-wide events. My dad would always tell me just skip over all the eggs at the front of the field and go all the way to the back and start there. He said, no one will be back there because they will all be fighting over the eggs at the front. I'm not really sure if this strategy works or not because I didn't do it. You see, as a kid all you can think about is 'what can I get right now?' Delayed gratification is not something that a kid wants. And by skipping out on all the eggs at the front, you don't see that you can get all the eggs at the back. You see that you just missed some eggs. As I sit here, I'm not really sure if I had a point to posting that little snipet of my childhood. The only reason I can think of is that when the horn sounded and the kids took off yesterday, they were running over each other. They weren't trying to get to the back, they all wanted the eggs they could see from the starting point. Another reason why I may have posted that meaningless story is that I am extremely tired right now.

I'm sitting at my desk, something that usually doesn't happen until a little later in the day on Sundays. But this morning was not a typical Sunday morning. Sometime between 4:30 and 5:15, my alarm clock went off (it was too early for me to remember). And every nine minutes it did it again. I eventually dragged my sleepy self out of bed, jumped in the shower, got dressed, and drove in to work. I clocked in sometime just before 5:45 am. And when Renee' got here a few minutes after that we were on our way to Sunrise Service at Collinsville Beach on Okatibbee Lake.

We heard a good message, spoke with a couple of the pastors that were there, saw a great sunrise...And I had a story.

And now, I'm going to work on said story for a little bit and I think I'm going to take a little nap so that I'm not completely worthless for the rest of the day (some would argue that the nap won't help).

Have a Happy Easter and a great week.

2006-04-14T02:56:00.000-05:00

I just got home from the game and thought I'd post real quick. As I eluded to in my previous post, the Braves are struggling with their pitching. That problem continued tonight (or, last night). Kyle Davies put the Braves in an early hole by giving up 5 runs after facing 5 batters. That included three homeruns. To their credit, Atlanta fought back and actually had the go-ahead run on base when Philly got the 3rd out in the 9th. I am also trying to post a picture from the game. I don't know how good it will turn out. My cell phone doesn't have the best camera in it. Have a great Friday!

*EDIT: The picture did not post right, I'll try to get it up here later.

One Man Band

2006-04-12T22:50:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, and I don't really know why I haven't. Before you start thinking I'm about to post something controversial, insightful, or even meaningful...don't get your hopes up.

My job title is Reporter/Photographer. In the television business, we call this a One Man Band. There are reasons that anyone current or former OMB could argue for or against this job. The biggest positive is that you know exactly what video is shot. This makes it easier to edit your story. There are others. And there are many negative sides to the job.

Among the negatives are having to carry all of your equipment and having to be in the car alone for (sometimes) long periods of time. In the last two weeks, I have driven to Boligee, Alabama (1 hour), Hattiesburg (1:30), Tuscaloosa (1:30), Philadelphia (45 minutes), Carthage (1:30), and Scooba (1:00). By my count, that's 14 and a half hours in a car...alone...in two weeks. I don't know how NASCAR drivers do it.

I mentioned the carrying of the equipment. When I was in Tuscaloosa I had a tripod, the camera, a microphone (with a cable), and an extra battery. None of these are exactly light. Well, maybe the microphone. But you quickly run out of hands. Then throw in the 80 degree heat. It's not fun.

However, the positives of my job far outweigh the negatives. I do love my job and I have had a great time getting out and meeting new people every day.

Well, I've gotta run. I'm heading over to Atlanta tonight to watch the Braves take on the Phillies. Hopefully, the pitching for Atlanta can get a little better. Atlanta will be alright, it's just 9 games in. And, at least you don't have the Royals starting rotation.

Have a great finish to the week, I'll be back in Saturday morning for a glimpse into this weekend. Here's a bit of a hint. I'll be up bright and early Sunday morning....probably before the sun.

*I'm going to try something new. I'm going to try posting from my cell phone. That way I can update when I'm away from my computer. Let's hope it works.

A Lesson in Rolling Tapes

2006-04-10T18:59:00.000-05:00

This afternoon when I came into work, I immediately headed up to Philadelphia to check out a story that we first caught wind of over the weekend.

On Friday night, a teenager was allegedly jumped by a several other young men when he and his girlfriend were leaving the Canal Place Cinema. He was taken to the hospital for the injuries he sustained. According to his family, during the incident several people were standing around watching. One of the people was the father of one of the boys involved. The family also says that a video tape was made of the fight.

I spoke with Philadelphia Police Chief Richard Sistrunk this afternoon. He told me that an adult was arrested in relation to this incident. Sistrunk was told that the video tape was destroyed.

Other than that, it has been a pretty slow day for me. For the next month or so, my schedule has been changed, so I don't come in until 1:30pm during the week. That means that I usually cover a story in the afternoon and then help get everything ready for the 10pm news. I also have the responsibility of covering anything that happens between shows. Tonight that is nothing. When I get back from dinner, I will make sure that everything is edited for 10 and then during the show I roll tapes. What that means is this: we have three tape machines that we use during the show. I put the first three stories into the machines. When one story finishes, I rewind it to the beginning and take it out. I replace it with the next tape in the rundown. And repeat about 20 times. If it sounds easy to you, there is a reason. It is.

Yet Another Busy Saturday Ahead

2006-04-08T08:31:00.000-05:00

Hello all, hope everything is going good for you this weekend. With the roads still a little wet, drive carefully and remember to buckle up.

I'm going to take a few minutes before I start my day to tell you a little about what you can expect on Newscenter 11 tonight:

A group of women are selling Easter gifts and crafts at Oakland Heights United Methodist Church from 8 until noon. I'll be stopping by to see what they have to offer.
At ten, a Public Education Program will be held at the Post Building on Old Highway 80. This is a Child Predators Seminar. As you know if you keep up with the news, several arrests have been made recently in child porn or child solicitation cases. The most high-profile of these cases belongs to Brian Doyle, an official with the Homeland Security Department. He was arrested for having online sexual conversations with an undercover detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl.
Also at ten, to celebrate National Library Week, the Meridian/Lauderdale County public library will be having a Kid's Day Celebration until 2. Among other things, they will have a fun jump for the kids. It should be a fun time for the children. And it looks like the weather should cooperate.
At noon, Project ChildSafe will be distributing gun locks and will provide Firearm Safety Education for the public. This will take place at the Super Wal-Mart from 12-6pm both today and tomorrow. For more on Project ChildSafe, visit their website.
This morning at about 2:30 I got a call that there was a fire in Marion. I got out of bed, got dressed and headed up to check it out. When I got there the fire had already been put out. It happened at a local business, according to the owner the fire had an interesting cause, watch tonight and find out what it was.

Well, it looks like I have a pretty busy day. I'd better get started, but before I do I wanted to say thank you to those of you who have responded to my question about whether or not Arts in the Park should have been moved from Highland Park. If you haven't taken the opportunity to speak out on this feel free to leave a comment or send me an email (chris.brennaman@wtok.com). I look forward to hearing from more of you. Have a great day!

Opening Day: A Time for Optimism

2006-04-04T02:22:00.000-05:00

My story today (or yesterday...based on the time of this post) was on the end of the 2006 Legislative session that ended last week. I spoke with Terry Burton and Greg Snowden. One of the points stressed by both men was the fact that this was one of the most productive sessions that either has participated in. As far as East Mississippi is concerned, several bills impacted us directly. One of those was a $4 Million bond issue that will help fund the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center. The center will be located at the Bonita Lakes Park.

Speaking of the Bonita Lakes, the 35th Annual Arts in the Park was held there this weekend. It was the first time that it was not held at Highland Park. The Meridian Council of the Arts stands behind their decision to move the event, saying that it creates a more beautiful backdrop for the event. I spoke with a couple of the vendors (both were from Birmingham, Alabama) at the event who said that the site was a good choice. I have also heard from some people that thought that moving it from Highland Park was a bad idea. Some of the negative responses cited the long walk that had to be endured to reach the vendors. I am interested to hear what some of you guys think. Do you prefer Highland Park or Bonita Lakes Park for Arts in the Park? Either leave a comment or send me an email (chris.brennaman@wtok.com) and let me know.

Also this weekend, I had the chance to take in my first Stickball game in Choctaw, Mississippi. If you've never seen a game played, you should check it out. The perfect opportunity will come in July at the Choctaw Indian Fair. At 10pm each night (July 12-15) on the Choctaw Central football field, they will be hosting the World Series of Stickball Championships. A side note on the Choctaw Indian Fair...some of the entertainers that will be performing include Craig Morgan, Tracy Byrd, and Tracy Lawrence. For more details, check out the Choctaw Indian Fair website.

Back to Stickball for a moment...this is a game that has a very long history. The game goes back so far that no one really knows how long it has been played. Native Americans were playing the game well before any Europeans came to America. You probably know that Stickball was adapted by the French into the sport we know as Lacrosse. The Choctaw version of Stickball differs from Lacrosse in a couple of ways. The most obvious is that Lacrosse uses only one stick while Stickball players use two sticks. The ball is much smaller in the Indian version of the game (it's about the size of a golf ball as opposed to a lacrosse ball that is about the same size as a racquetball). A lacrosse goal is similar to a hockey goal except it's a little taller...in Stickball, points can be scored in a couple of ways. Players can either hit a post at the end of the field with the ball or they can touch the post with their sticks (while holding the ball in the basket of the sticks).

While in Choctaw on Sunday, I learned a lot about the game from Dr. Kennith York, but I know that there is still a lot more that I don't know. It certainly is an interesting game to explore. One last thing about Stickball and then I'll change gears just a bit...one thing that Dr. York told me that I thought was amazing was how the game has changed over the years. A long time ago, when the Indians would play sometimes the posts would be a mile apart.

OK, as promised, here's a different topic. And this one's a little off topic...but it is officially baseball season. Opening Day means different things to different people. For me, I have the unfortunate curse of being a Kansas City Royals fan. Every year when Spring rolls around I (like fans of any team) am filled with optimism. It is, afterall, a new season. Every fan knows that you can't win them all. And Royals fans know that you won't win them all. Actually, we know that we probably won't win half of them. But, still I am optimistic that the Royals will have a great season. Realisticaly I'm guessing they'll finish with about 65 wins...that's only three more than they need to avoid the dreaded 100-loss season, but still few enough to leave them in fifth place in the AL Central.

But my optimism--which is partially spawned from the Royals having the best record in the Cactus League this spring (is there a trophy for that?)--tells me that despite showing very little offense in a 3-1 loss to the Tigers today, the Royals could still finish 161-1. So no matter what I'll keep cheering for the Royals because that's what fans do. Ask any Braves fan who kept believing in the late 80s. Whoever your team is...whatever their record is...don't give up on them. Another side note: the Royals have optioned (former MCC and Alabama player) Paul Phillips to their triple-A ballclub in Omaha. But I'm sure we'll see him in Kansas City for some games this year. According to Royals management, Phillips is essential the number 2 catcher, but they want him to play everyday in the Minors rather than sit on the bench in the Majors.

Alabama Churches Receive Donations

2006-03-27T20:15:00.000-06:00

A couple of churches over in West Alabama got a big boost in getting back to normal. As you probably know, seven weeks ago, two churches were burned to the ground (Galillee Baptist Church in Panola and Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Boligee) and two others were damaged. The fires were eventually ruled arson and three men were arrested in connection with the fires.

Today, the aforementioned churches were given a donation of $2,700 that will go toward rebuilding their churches. The money came from Alabama Gubernatorial Candidate Jim Phipps (Independant). He says that he hopes to be able to donate more in the months to come. In his words..."a half a million dollars to a million dollars in the next 30 to 60 to 90 days."

Pastor Bob Little of Galillee says his new building will cost approximately $125,000. He told me that they are about halfway to meeting that goal. Galillee is currently holding its services in a temporary trailer that was provided by the Southern Baptist Convention. He said he hopes that his church is rebuilt soon so that the trailer can be returned for other churches that are in need.

Morning Star received their temporary trailer this afternoon. A deacon of the church, Willie Wallace, told me that he hopes that their church will be rebuilt in about six months.

---

Here's a glimpse into what you can expect tomorrow on Newscenter 11:
* I will be hitting I-59 South to Hattiesburg in order to bring back a story about Ageless Heroes. Two residents of our area will be honored as Mississippi Ageless Heroes at a luncheon tomorrow. Check out our news to find out who they are. I'll have more tomorrow on the blog about what the Ageless Heroes program is.
* There will be more. I promise. But I don't know too much more at this point in time. Be sure to watch at 5, 6, and 10.

Have a good night (or if you read this on Tuesday...Have a good day).

Vacation

2006-03-25T23:01:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been on vacation since Monday. I just got my home computer up and running yesterday, so now I'm able to post from home. I will be back at work on Monday, March 27. You can expect more then.

Stressful Slow Saturday

2006-03-18T23:05:00.000-06:00

As promised earlier, here's my second update of the day. Today was a pretty slow day for us here at Newscenter 11. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't a bit stressful. It started off easy enough. As I mentioned earlier, I met with Walton Moore at the Rose Hill Cemetary. That story got put off because of the weather. Then I came back to work to begin working on what was supposed to become my story for the evening. Kourtney Clemons is an area soldier that is featured on the cover of a magazine right now. I was planning on talking with his family. Unfortunately, they weren't able to meet with us today. We will be doing the story tomorrow. At the mall, there were two stories that I was covering. A pet adoption and a blood drive. When I got back to the station to edit those, my tape was messing up. Nothing that I shot at the mall could be used. I went back out for the blood drive, but the pet adoption was already over by the time I got back.

Here's a glimpse into what we will be working on tomorrow:
* As I mentioned we will be talking with Kourtney Clemons' parents about him being on the cover of the magazine.
* The Jackson State Choir will be performing at St. Patrick's Catholic Church at 4 pm. We'll have some of their performance for you.
* It's day four of March Madness (day 5 if you count the play-in game). The field will be whittled down to the Sweet Sixteen. Speaking of the NCAA Tourney, my brackets aren't doing so hot. Right now I'm 26-16 and one of my final four teams is gone. I really thought that Hampton was going to not only win the play-in game, but really go deep in the Tournament. Just kidding. My final four: Duke, North Carolina, Boston College, and the now eliminated Kansas Jayhawks.

Wet Weekend Ahead

2006-03-18T10:33:00.000-06:00

Well, it looks as if it will be a wet one. Hope you are still able to find something to keep your weekend fun.

The rain has already started to affect my day. I was planning to go out to the Rose Hill Cemetary in Meridian and do a story about the recent beautification project there. Three thousand flower bulbs have been planted and are now blooming. When I got there a little before ten, the rain was just starting to fall. We decided that we will put the story off for a couple of days until the rain goes away. You can expect to see that story on Newscenter 11 a little later in the week.

As for the rest of the day, it looks a little slow. I'm working on pulling together another story. Check out our 6 o'clock show tonight to find out if I was able to get a story finished.

I'll try to get another update on here later tonight. If you need to keep up with the weather, check out the Newscenter 11 Weather Blog or the Weather page on our website.

Stay dry and have a great weekend.

Coming up tonight

2006-03-14T15:50:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone, I'm in with a quick update on what we're working on for tonight's newscast.
Mad Cow Disease and the Bird Flu are on the minds of a lot of people. Mad Cow is especially high priorities in light of the annoucement yesterday that it has been found in Alabama. There are a lot of cattle farmers in west Alabama, so this is a matter of high importance to them.

ABC News has just finished an investigative piece into the Bird Flu, and it appears that it is just a matter before that comes to our area. That's especially important for a lot of people in East and Central Mississippi. That's really the center of the poultry industry in the state, specifically places like Scott, Newton, and Neshoba Counties. Poultry farmers in those counties are having to take extra precautions to try to prevent the flu from hitting their farms. We have a couple of stories on that subject tonight.

We also have a story that has just come into to us from the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department about the arrest of a couple of people on child molestation charges.

We're working on those stories, plus some news from the legislature. Should be an interesting couple of shows.

Kia Not Coming

2006-03-14T09:09:00.000-06:00

It's been about a week since our last update. Yesterday, Meridian and Lauderdale County received some bad news. As expected, Kia announced that they were not going to build their plant at the Kewanee site. Instead, it will be located in West Point, Georgia. The president of the Lauderdale County Supervisors told me yesterday that the county is disappointed to not get the plant. However, he also said that he believes that the Kewanee site is still a good site for someone else to locate. He said that if nothing else, the fact that Kia said that Meridian was the front-runner (at least for a while), got Meridian's name out there for other future plants. Hitt says that the county is already promoting the Kewanee site for other prospective industries.

We are about to have our morning meeting. Wade will have an update a little later on about what you can expect on our newscasts tonight.

Church Arson Arrests

2006-03-08T22:49:00.000-06:00

It's been a pretty long week, but it's my Friday so I'm off for the next couple of days. Of course I won't be able to do much on Thursday with the possible severe weather. Make sure you keep informed Thursday. There are a couple of very good ways to always have the most up-to-date information. Obviously, the best way is to keep watching WTOK. Additionally, check out the Newscenter 11 Weather Blog. Josh and his crew do a great job of keeping all the latest weather information on there, especially during times of severe weather.

If you haven't heard (which I highly doubt), three suspects have been taken into custody in the case of the Alabama Church Fires. Again this is one of those stories where we have more information than will fit in a minute and a half on television. I attended a press conference in Tuscaloosa this afternoon where Alabama Governor Bob Riley, ATF Agent in Charge Jim Cavanaugh, and others involved informed us of the latest in this case.

Let's start with the basics, some of this stuff has already been on the air. The three men are Benjamin N. Moseley (19, Birmingham), Russell L. DeBusk, Jr. (19, Hoover), and Matthew L. Cloyd (20, Indian Springs). Moseley and DeBusk were students at Birmingham-Southern and Cloyd attended UAB. They are charged in the following fires:

2/3/06 Rehobeth Baptist (Bibb County)
2/3/06 Ashby Baptist (Bibb County)
2/3/06 Old Union Baptist (Bibb County)
2/3/06 Pleasant Sabine Baptist (Bibb County)
2/3/06 Antioch Baptist (Bibb County)
2/7/06 Dancy Baptist (Pickens County)
2/7/06 Morning Star Missionary Baptist (Greene County)
2/7/06 Spring Valley Baptist (Sumter County)
2/7/06 Galillee Baptist (Sumter County)

A witness stated that he spoke with Cloyd on March 7. Cloyd told the witness that he and Moseley had done something stupid. He also told the witness that Moseley set a church on fire as a joke and it got out of hand. Investigators say that they started the fires in West Alabama to create a diversion.

One of the big breaks in the case came in the form of tire tracks. The imprints matched the tires on Cloyd's 4Runner. The tracks were found at six of the churches including the four in West Alabama. The early reports stated that a dark colored SUV (like a Pathfinder) was involved. The 4Runner that Cloyd was driving was dark green. It appears that these three were the only ones involved in the fires.

If you have any questions about the arrests or anything else regarding these church fires, send me an email or leave a comment. I'll do my best to answer any questions based on the information that I have.

Loose Caboose Festival

2006-03-04T22:53:00.000-06:00

It's been several days since we've posted. I'll tell you just a little bit about my day. I started out heading West on I-20. Something I did a couple of times this week, this time I didn't go all the way to Jackson (a little about that in a minute). I stopped at exit 109 - Newton. The third annual Loose Caboose festival had taken over downtown. When I first saw this assignment, I didn't know what to think. I could only assume that it was a downtown festival similar to those in surrounding communities, but the name...it's just so...interesting. Well, when I finally caught up with Angie Burks from the Chamber of Commerce, I just had to know...Where did the name come from? Her answer: Outside of the old train depot (which is now the Chamber office), there is a lone caboose car sitting on the tracks. Makes sense to me.

Upon returning to the Queen City, I headed up to the public meeting regarding the building of a new low-income housing development. There has been a lot of opposition to the new developments, but none have met more conflict than the Meridale property just outside of the city limits. Hundreds of people showed up to voice their concern with this development.

Now, back to Jackson...On Tuesday and Thursday I went over to the Big House to take in a few games (oh, and work). Tuesday saw Newton take an easy win. Everything went pretty smooth in getting the highlights back. Thursday was a much different story. Let me preface this story by explaining how we get our highlights back from Jackson. I think Wade has touched on this to some extent. Most of the television stations in the state have a system to send video to other stations across a T1 line. It's pretty much like a video email and usually the quality is pretty good. It is called Clipmail. Well, we have been teaming up with WLBT to clipmail our highlights back.

Ok, now back to Thursday...It started out very well, until I got to the I-20/59 split. There was an electronic MDOT sign that read "I-20 closed at Jackson, expect long delays." Well, I was already running a little late, but I thought 'I can still make it by tip-off or shortly thereafter.' Nope. At the airport exit (in Brandon), I was forced to exit with no idea of where to go. I took Highway 80 into Jackson and found my way to the Coliseum. Just in time for Halftime. No problem, plenty of basketball to play. Well, I got my highlights shot, interviews done. Now I'm ready to edit. Well, almost...I stayed for the first quarter of the next game (Ripley vs. Collins). Those two teams aren't in our viewing area, but I shot it to send to WTVA and WDAM.

I get to WLBT and am ready to edit, so I patiently wait for an edit booth. I have five things to edit:

Southeast highlights (for us)
Southeast post-game (for us)
Southeast highlights (a different set for WTVA)
Ripley/Collins highlights (for WTVA)
Ripley/Collins highlights (a different set for WDAM)

I get our SE highlights cut pretty quick. This is going to be a breeze. I get the tape out so that I can put down another countdown. And then the trouble started. My tape broke. Long story short: an engineer at WLBT was able to salvage my tape and tape it back together (ironically enough), after some clipmail problems I finally got everything sent by 6:00 or so, and time to head home. I-20 was still closed (an overturned tanker truck was the culprit), so my alternate route (and rush hour traffic) took me about 30-45 minutes out of the way.

Sorry for the long post, but it was hopefully a good one. That's for you to decide. I'm tired and ready to go home, so I'm not going to read back over this. Please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors. Thanks and have a great weekend.

(A few terms in this post will make their way into the TV News Glossary when I have a chance to update it...Just a reminder to check it out periodically as we try to keep it up to date by adding new terms when we think of new ones.)

Plant Impact

2006-02-28T15:53:00.000-06:00

For several days now, we've been reporting on and looking into the probability of a modular home plant coming to Meridian. As we've told you before, it would employ about 300 people, and it now looks like those jobs would pay $12-14 an hour.

Today, we're taking a closer look at just how big the economic impact of such a plant would be. It stretches far beyond just what the plant would bring.

I found a study online, done a few years ago by Mississippi State University, that analyzes the total economic impact of a 100 worker plant. You can see the findings in their entirety here.
But here are some of the highlights.

156 more people
52 more households
44 more school children
$3,885,648 more personal income per year
130 more passenger cars registered
189 more workers employed
$2,370,245 more retail sales per year
75 more residential telephones
189 more total jobs

And again, that's just for a 100 worker plant. The modular home plant, again, would employ about 300 people.

This area has had a pretty successful few months in landing new, relatively well paying jobs. Here's a look at the numbers.

Tower Automotive - 200 jobs
Loblolly Industries - 140 jobs
Teikuro Industries - 35 jobs

Now, we wait to see for sure whether or not All-American Homes will locate here. As we've said before, officials hope to have an announcement in about two weeks.

One note about how this came out. Dr. Randy Nance, who is the driving force behind this new company, is not your every day businessman. He of course, is a doctor by trade, and he's doesn't really act like the average businessperson looking to locate in a given town. Most of the time, news like this is kept very quiet. For the obvious reasons, economic developers are nervous about saying anything to soon, for fear that something might fall through at the last minute. Dr. Nance has not been nearly so secretive. That's why we've known about this business much earlier than we normally know anything concrete about a potential business.

In the case of Tower Automotive, we heard rumors for several months, but no one would ever confirm anything. We didn't find out anything for sure until the day before when that company announced their decision to locate here. Not that we didn't try, of course.

Another note about Tower. They've already begun advertising for some of the management level jobs. They haven't told us yet when they will advertise for the other jobs. It will have to be soon, because they want to open in just a few months. We're waiting on a call from them to find out exactly when.

That's all for now. Back with more later.

New Gulf Homes

2006-02-27T17:40:00.000-06:00

We have said it before on this blog...sometimes there is more information that you want to pass along than you can do in minute and a half package. Tonight my story is one of those.

For the time being, I will assume that you have seen the story that we ran on Newscenter 11 at Six. I will try not to repeat too much of the information that was in that story. Here's the link to this story (it will only be active for a couple of days) or you can look on our website it will be updated in a little bit (if it's not already updated).

On a medical mission trip to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Randy Nance (who practices in Collinsville) saw the need for better housing for hurricane victims. While FEMA was supplying trailers, he said that permanant housing was needed. He founded the New Gulf Homes company. His company will be building modular homes. This means that the house is built off-site, in pieces...then sent to it's location and put together. Nance says that there are three reasons why modular homes are the perfect choice for those building on the coast.

Quality - He says that these homes are much better quality than trailers. In fact, they are built to withstand winds up to 150 mph.
Affordability - These modular homes cost between $80 and $120 per square foot to build.
Time - This is probably the biggest factor. The homes are inhabitable in four to eight weeks. Site-built homes often take between nine months and a year to build.

The first modular home was erected on the Gulf Coast last week. It is currently on a temporary foundation at the Prime Outlets of Gulfport. New Gulf Homes will hold an open house when they get a couple more models down there. There are currently five designs of the modular homes. They were all designed by Meridian architect B.B. Archer.

These modular homes aren't just for hurricane victims on the coast. Nance says that his company will be here even after all the homes on the coast are rebuilt. "We're just Mississippians helping fellow Mississippians," he said. "We were here before the storm, during the storm, and we'll be here long after the storm."

If you would like to know anything else about New Gulf Homes or All American Building Systems, leave a comment or send me an email (chris.brennaman@wtok.com). I'll try to answer any questions that I am able.

Rainouts Aren't Just for Baseball

2006-02-25T22:41:00.000-06:00

The story of the day was obviously weather. Today's wet weather put a damper on several events. The most notable was the Meridian Downtown Association's Little Mardi Gras. Officials will decide this week when the events will be rescheduled. Other events that were postponed include MCC's baseball game with Pensacola. The Eagles will play a doubleheader Sunday beginning at 1pm. A blood drive planned for The Rib House will be rescheduled.

Check out tomorrow's show. We'll take you to the Oak Grove Baptist Church and introduce you to Ruth Adkins has been teaching Sunday School for 73 years. Bishop Hope Morgan Ward will be at Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church. We'll have that story as well. And as usual on Sunday nights, Walt Grayson will take us along as he takes a Look Around Mississippi. Heather will have highlights from MCC's games with Pensacola, and of course your fish and game forecast.

Congratulations go out to the Philadelphia, Choctaw Central, Wayne County, and Meridian High girls teams. All four won their respective South State Championships. Our area teams that will be going to the big house:
Class 2A: Newton (G), Bay Springs (B), Philadelphia (G)
Class 3A: Southeast (G), Choctaw Central (G)
Class 4A: Wayne County (G)
Class 5A: Meridian (B & G)

New Manufacturing Plant

2006-02-24T11:17:00.000-06:00

We ran a story yesterday about a company building modular homes on the coast thinking about building a plant here in Meridian. I want to give you a little more information than we knew or were able to give yesterday.

The business is the brainchild of a local doctor, Randy Nance. He spent several weeks on the coast after Hurricane Katrina, setting up a clinic and helping people down there who needed it. While there, he realized the desperate need for homes there. Thus, an idea was born.

Nance and local architect B.B. Archer are partnering with a company called All-American homes in Indiana to start building those modular homes for Gulf residents. The plant that puts them together is apparently going to be here in Meridian, though that has not yet been finalized yet. The plant will build homes for Katrina victims, but also for others across the South who need or want homes like they build. The homes are better built than mobile homes, but less expensive than regularly built homes. They're also quicker to build, like six weeks instead of a year.

Here's the bottom line for Meridian. It appears that very soon an official announcement about a plant will be coming. That plant will probably employ about 300 people, and pay about $10 an hour. All-American homes had already been planning to build a plant in the Southeast anyway, but the hurricane, and then the partnership with the two Meridianites were the driving force in getting it located here. The fact that Meridian is kind of a center point for New Orleans, Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville, and Birmingham was a big factor too. The Gulf Zone Opportunity Act also helped. As I mentioned in a previous post, it will provide tax incentives for businesses looking to locate in Mississippi.

No word yet on how long it will be before that plant opens, but it will have to be relatively quickly, if they're going to meet the needs of the people on the coast. We hope to know something more definate within a couple of weeks, maybe sooner.

I think that's everything I know about the company. If you have any questions, you can ask, but I can't promise I'll know the answer.

March of Dimes

2006-02-22T23:02:00.000-06:00

Just a quick update. I'm having to stay late at work tonight because I will be off, but have a story that will air tomorrow. Thursday's Healtwatch is what I'm working on. I will be talking with Dr. Robert Blubaugh from Rush Foundation Hospital. He is the Medical Director for the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. We will be talking about the problems associated with premature births and how the March of Dimes is helping to reduce the occurances of preterm births.

You can catch the story at 5pm and 10pm on Thursday. But here's a sneak peak:

Some stats regarding preterm births:

Full Term pregnancy is 37 to 40 weeks.
Nationwide about 10 - 12 % of babies are born premature (born before 37 weeks of pregnancy). That's roughly 1 in 8 births.
Each year, more than 460,000 babies are born too soon.
In our area about 15 % of babies are born early.
In our area about 95 % of preterm babies survive (that's above the national average).
Babies born preterm face a greater risk of serious health problems including death, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, lung and gastrointestinal problems, and vision and hearing loss.
The cause of about half of premature births is unkown.

For more information on the March of Dimes, check out their website. I have put the link on the right side of the page.

Natalee Holloway

2006-02-22T16:18:00.000-06:00

The Natalee Hollway case is again in the news. The main suspect in the case, Joran Van der Sloot, just did an interview, his first, with ABC News. You may have seen part of it on Good Morning Meridian this morning. We'll also be running part of it at 5:00 and 10:00 tonight. In that interview, he basically denies any involvement in Natalee's disappearance, though he admits he was with her that night. He says he dropped her off at the beach, alive, and that was the last time he ever saw her.

There is also new surveillance video from that night, showing Joran, Natalee, and several of her friends, playing blackjack in an Aruban casino. The interview will be shown in its entirety tomorrow evening on PrimeTime Live.

We spoke with Dave Holloway, Natalee's dad, this afternoon, and plan to interview him in-depth tomorrow morning about what he thinks about what Van der Sloot had to say. Holloway is currently writing a book, "ARUBA: The Untold Story of Natalee Holloway and Corruption in Paradise." It should be on shelves in April. Since this began, Dave has been a fairly calm presence in this storm, and he's talked extensively to me about how important his faith has been to him while dealing with the loss of his daughter. I know he's very interested to here what Joran Van der Sloot has to say. We'll let you know what Dave Holloway has to say, tomorrow night at 5, 6 and 10.

Gulf Zone Oppurtunity Act

2006-02-21T15:21:00.000-06:00

"The durndest construction boom in my lifetime." That's what Meridian businessman Gil Carmichael predicts the Gulf Zone Oppurtunity Act will do for this area. That would certainly be interesting.

Here's what that act is. It was passed by Congress last year, and signed by the President in December. It gives businesses who want to rebuild, renovate, or locate in areas hit by the hurricane major incentives to do so. Meridian is among the areas in the hurricane zone, so it could definately benefit from said incentives.

For a complete summary of what the act does, go to this link. Gulf Zone Oppurtunity Act of 2005.

But here's the bottom line. If a new business wants to locate in Meridian, or any other part of the hurricane zone for that matter, the incentives to do so, depending on it's size, could be huge. Say for instance, Kia decided it wanted to build it's plant in Meridian after all. The total incentives it could rake in from the act alone, for building that $1.5 billion facility, would be about $200 million. Combine that with the $200 million in other incentives that is has been reported Mississippi would be willing to offer Kia for coming, and you have a package that it would be hard for any other state to beat.

One of Meridian's main competitors for the Kia project, Columbus, is also in the Hurricane Zone, so they would have the same incentives Meridian has. Of course, Columbus is already in the process of taking bonds to buy land, in case Kia or some other car maker decides to build there.

Now, the incentives are not just for new businesses. Some of the same tax incentives that can be used to entice new business to build could also be used to help exisiting business expand or renovate. That's why Gil Carmichael believes there could be a building boom.

That is obviously one of the story's we're working on tonight. Here are some of the others.

Cigarette/Grocery Tax - A new bill before the legislature that would cut the grocery tax while raising the cigarette tax.

Law Enforcement Awards - The top officers in this area are honored by the Exchange Club.

Prescription Drug Help - Ways to help seniors who need help understanding the new prescription drug plan.

Cholesterol Problems - Renee' Lasalle begins the first of a three part look at the problems.

Severe Weather Week - Charles continues his look at severe weather awareness.

The Meridian City Council and Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors also meet tonight. We'll update you on what happened at 10:00.

We've begun to see an uptick in the number of people visiting the blog, so we'd like to say thanks for that. And tell your friends. Have a great day.

Vienna Choir Boys in Meridian

2006-02-20T22:48:00.000-06:00

First, let me bring your attention to the links on the right side of the page. There are two sections. One is just general links for WTOK-related websites. The other is for websites that we have mentioned on the air. Anytime we do a story that gives a website for more information, we will try to get it added to that section. Today I have added the Partnership for Prescription Assistance. Wendy Suares brought us the story tonight from Jackson about the PPA and the "Help is Here" bus. The PPA works with low-income participants to get name-brand and generic drugs for little or no cost. You can apply for PPA enrollment by calling 1-888-4-PPA-NOW (1-888-477-2669).

Tonight, my stories were regarding the Vienna Choir Boys performing in Meridian. At 6 o'clock I did a live shot from backstage at the Temple Theater. I talked with Tania Jastrebov (that's one name that you don't want to say on live television without consulting the person about how to pronounce it) about the performance. She is the touring manager for this group of boys. The 100-boy Choir is actually made up of four groups. This helps them be able to make more tour stops throughout the world.

They say that you learn something everyday. I've found that in this business, that's definitely true. For most stories that I do, I have to do at least a little bit of research. Today's research found that the Vienna Choir Boys have been around since 1498 (I'm pretty sure that it is just the name that's been around for that long, not the actual boys).

Between my live shot and the concert, I went out to Meridian Community College to shoot the women's game. By the time I got there, East Central had already jumped out to commanding 30-8 lead. By halftime, the Eagles had made it a bit closer, but ECCC was still in control. I didn't get to see any of the second half, but that must have been a great half of basketball. MCC came back to win 76-73. And despite not being in the hunt for a playoff spot, the MCC men haven't given up on the season yet. They beat ECCC by four points. After the concert (the media was only allowed to stay for a few minutes), I headed out to Southeast Lauderdale with Heather. The Lady Tigers rolled past Wilkinson County to secure home-court advantage for the South State Tournament that starts Thursday. For a complete roundup of the prep playoff schedule for our area teams, check out the link to the right.

Wade and I have both received feedback from readers of this blog. Your feedback will ensure that this blog will stay fresh and not become boring. As we've said here before, if you have any questions about television news, any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment here or send us an email.

wade.phillips@wtok.com
chris.brennaman@wtok.com

Have a great week!

TV News Glossary

2006-02-20T17:40:00.000-06:00

Weather is the main story of the day today, and since Josh covers that pretty well on his blog, I'm really at a bit of a loss as to exactly what I'm going to blog about. I guess I'll veer from my normal course of action to talk a little about the inner workings of this business. Since we do talk shop here from time to time, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to give you a quick lesson on what some of the terms we use on a daily basis are. So what follows is a simple glossary of television news terms. We'll link to this so you can reference it from time to time if you don't understand something we're talking about.

TV News Glossary
Reader - a story that is read by an anchor without video.
VO - A story, read by an anchor, with video shown over the anchor's voice.
SOT or Sound Byte (or Byte) - A short clip of an interview. Usually between 8-15 seconds long.
VO/SOT or VOSB or VOB - a story that includes an anchor reading with vo over his voice, and includes a sound byte.
Package - A story voiced by a reporter, with that reporter's voice on tape, including both video and sound bytes.
Rundown - The order and timing of a newscast, indicating which stories, segments and commercials will run when, and how long they will run.
Live Shot - A story by a reporter, done live, not on tape, from a different location than the studio.
Tease - A preview of a story, that runs, most of the time just before a commercial.
Cold Open - Beginning a show or a segment with vo and or a sound byte.
Toss - When on anchor or reporter turns over a portion of the show to another anchor or reporter.
Assignment Sheet - The list of stories to be covered for the day.
Wire - Stories sent to different news outlets from around the state and country, via computer.
OTS - Over the shoulder graphic, usually seen over one of the anchor's shoulders as he reads the story. Also called a box.
Lower third graphic - Graphic shown on the bottom of the screen, usually identifying a person or place.
Full Screen Graphic - Graphic taking up the full screen, usually giving information related to the story being told.
Sweeps - Four months out of the year, February, May, July, and November, Neilson surveys viewers in our area to find out who is watching what.

Okay, that's a start. We'll update this as more terms come to mind. Meanwhile, if you have any questions about any of the things we do, or about what any of these things mean, feel free to leave a message. Or if there are any other things you'd like to know about how the news business works, you can feel free to leave a message about that too. Have a great day.

Mardi Gras Begins & Sunday Preview

2006-02-18T22:34:00.001-06:00

Mardi Gras in Meridian has officially kicked off. The inaugural Mardi Gras Ball sponsored by the Downtown Association and WZKR was held at the Temple Theater (or is it Theatre). Al Brown says that it was a huge success, but they are already looking ahead to next year. They plan to make it bigger and better.

Little Mardi Gras continues next weekend. Events are scheduled all day Saturday:
10:00 am Krewe of Barkus Pet Parade
11:30 am Krewe of Kids Parade
1:00 pm Jazz Dance Competition
3:00 pm Krewe of Trucks Parade
4:30 pm Bubba Gump Cook-off
6:00 pm Krewe of Midas Parade

Make sure you check out Newscenter 11 tomorrow night at Ten. Here's some of the stories we're working on:

Gallilee Baptist Church in Panola, Alabama will be holding a service at North Sumter Junior High School. They had originally planned to hold this service on the church grounds. Pastor Bob Little was going to deliver his message from the front steps of the church. The steps were among the few remaining parts of the church after it was destroyed by fire a couple of weeks ago.
Last week, we brought you the story of community colleges seeking more funding from the state. Lawmakers are still working on the budget, in fact it is something that will take another month or so. We'll hear from Representative Greg Snowden about Mississippi's budget and how community colleges and the rest of the education system fit in.
Representative Eric Robinson says that East Mississippi is on the verge of an economic boom. We'll see how he feels Kia fits in.

These are just a few of the stories we'll feature tomorrow night. Thanks for watching WTOK and for reading this blog.

Friday stories

2006-02-17T14:48:00.000-06:00

A quick afternoon update, so you can know some of the stories we're working on.

1. Natalee Holloway Lawsuit - Holloway's parents, including her father Dave here in Meridian, have filed lawsuit in a New York Court against the guy they believe is responsible for her death in Aruba last year. Renee Lasalle is working on the story.
2. Jail Controversy Latest - Clarke County has decided it will not be housing any of Meridian's inmates. The city had hoped to use that jail to put some of their inmates, while they decided on a permanent solution since they can't work out a contract with Lauderdale County. Andrea Williams will have the latest.
3. Charles Daniel has a neat feature on kids and poetry. It's a story about a reading at a local junior high.
4. Church burnings - A few bits of new information on those fires in west and central Alabama.
5. We have several stories on Hurricane Katrina recovery, including the Governor commenting on a House report detailing the problems.

There are several other things we're working on that we hope to have for you tonight at 5,6 and 10.

Kia Conundrum

2006-02-16T15:45:00.000-06:00

Now here is a story that has what we in the news business call legs, for many different reasons. If there is anything more important to people in this area than jobs, I'd be hard pressed to guess what it would be. And when it comes to jobs, Kia is the biggest of big fish out there. And everyone wants it.

In the last couple of days, we've seen a couple of other Mississippi cities throwing their names in the hat to try to land the plant. Yesterday, supervisors in Lowndes county voted on several million dollars in bonds to secure a site that a plant like Kia could be located on near Columbus. Today, Senator Trent Lott announced that the Tunica area had asked him to help market a tract of land they have as a possible Kia site. Earlier this year, Tupelo asked the legislature to help them buy land in that area on which and auto plant could be built. Sites in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas have also at one time been mentioned as possible sites for the plant.

Of course, that was all after the saga that was the courtship of Meridian by Kia. Where the Queen City stands right now is really anyone's guess. No one we've talked to thinks this area is out of the running by any stretch of the imagination, but the excitement that was there several months ago when it first came out that Kia was interested in this area is no longer there either.

Here's what we know. Kia isn't sure Meridian has the workforce to support a 2500 worker plant. Meridian officials say they have studies that show they could do just that. Winning that argument will probably be a key in trying to get the plant here.

Here are a couple of other keys we've been told will play a role.

1. Proximity - Kia wants to use their parent company Hyundai's supplier base that is already in place. That puts anyone close to Montgomery in the running. That certainly helps Meridian, but West Point, Georgia, is actually a little closer.

2. Incentives - This is what most experts really believe this is all going to come down to; who is willing to offer Kia the most money to come. Some believe that because Georgia has yet to land an auto plant, they might be willing to offer more than anyone else, so they can have that feather in their hat. But with incentives available to businesses in the hurricane zone because of the Gulf opportunity Act, it's likely Mississippi would be able to match anything Georgia was willing to offer. Both Meridian and Columbus are in the area considered the "hurricane zone."

Kia has been strangely quiet the last couple of months, especially so after they were so talkative about their plans last year. Right now, most experts believe they're laying low, checking out their options, and looking for the best deal. All indications are they'll have to make some kind of decision soon. Kia officials have seen the Kewanee site and talked to local economic development people, and that's something some of the other cities in the running have had trouble getting them to do. So that seems to be a good thing for this area.

If you're interesting in keeping up with the very latest information on this, I'll give you two places to look. Every morning when I get in, one of the first things I do is a google search for "Kia Plant Meridian." Often, especially when you search news, there will be new information from different parts of the country.

Another good source for information, one that google won't get, is the Korea Times. They are the newspaper that first broke the news of Kia's interest in Mississippi, and from time to time have news on the Korean owned company. They have an English-language site, so don't install the Korean language program.

We'll keep watching the story, and keep you updated as soon as we know something new.

That of course, is one of the stories we're working on tonight. Here are a couple of others.

1. Riley Center Update - Charles got a tour of the ongoing construction today. He'll show us what it looks like.
2. FEMA Trailers in Meridian - Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith requested 100 of those trailers for this area, but FEMA says they're not needed here.
3. Childhood obesity - A seminar today trying to combat this growing problem.
4. Diabetes - Andrea will have the final part of her series on this growing disease.

I can't promise I'll be able to update tomorrow. I have to go to Ellisville for a story with former federal Judge Charles Pickering tomorrow, so I may not have time. If I do, I'll drop a few lines, so check in.

All-Scholastic Sports Team

2006-02-15T22:47:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday, Newscenter 11 Sports began assembling it's annual All-Scholastic Sports Team. Every Thursday we will introduce you to one of the best and brightest student-athletes from our area. The first member of this exclusive team was Sarah-Millicent Mitchell from Lamar. She is a member of the Raider Basketball and Softball teams.

I won't tell you who they are, but today we finished up shooting the next two All-Scholastic features. One was at Clarkdale and one at Enterprise. A couple more will be shot tomorrow. Shooting stories in advance is something that we try to do whenever we are able to. We call this process getting a story "in the can." In news, getting a story in the can is not typical. The reason is pretty simple, most stories are time-sensitive so as soon as we finish up the story we air it. Also, as Wade eluded to earlier, manpower is an issue.

I always enjoy helping the Sports Department when this time of year rolls around. The All-Scholastic Sports Team is something that is near and dear to me. As a Senior at Enterprise High School, I was honored by being included on the 1999 All-Scholastic Sports Team. Looking back at some of the members since I've been at the station, I realize that I was not that deserving of this award. I was the member of the team that proved that academics were more important than athletics. Yep, I was on the football team at EHS, but didn't play too much. I must've been one of the worst high school athletes in the state of Mississippi. I recently watched my interview from 1999...it was the first time I'd seen it since it aired. Wow, times have really changed. I look and sound totally different. Thankfully, I'm also a little more comfortable on camera now. Boy was I nervous when Brett Newtson came to do the interview.

Hope you enjoy the All-Scholastic Sports Team as we bring you these great stories of outstanding student-athletes in our area.

I'll be off for the next couple of days, so I'll be leaving this blog in the (hopefully responsible) hands of Wade Phillips. I'll be enjoying this great weather we've been having lately out at Lakeview Golf Course before trying to finish getting our stuff moved into our new house.

Sweeps Time

2006-02-15T14:27:00.000-06:00

I have a few minutes of slow time today, so I thought I'd go ahead and try to update a little earlier than usual today. Our news director John Johnson and news manager Sheila Mclain are in Jackson today, in a meeting for our statewide network. That's how we get the nightly reports you see from Jackson, specifically the state legislature. Anyway, since they're both out of town, I'm off my reporting duties and running the assignment desk. Therefore, I have a little more time today.

A few words about our product as of late. You may have noticed over the last couple of weeks, we've been spending a little more time on some special series. Last week, I had a three part series on the growing deer population. This week, Andrea Williams has a three-parter on the growing problem of diabetes in Mississippi and Alabama. Next week, Renee' Lasalle will have a special report on cholesterol, and the problems associated with it.

There are a couple of reasons why we're doing those series now, when we don't normally do them. This is one of the periods of the year known as sweeps. Four months out of the year, February, May, July, and November, Neilson surveys viewers in our area to find out who is watching what. For that reason, we try to do some special things that will bring more viewers in. The obvious question is, why not just do series like that all year? It's a simple matter of manpower. Because of everything that goes on on a daily basis, it's difficult to give reporters the time needed to work on a multi-part series. We can only afford to do that sporadically, so we choose to do it during sweeps months.

That having been said, it's our goal to put out the best possible product every single night, sweeps or not. We know that the way to get the most people to watch during sweeps is to win them over the other eight months of the year. So that's what we strive to do. The sweeps series are just a little icing on the cake.

A few words on what you can expect tonight:

Chris is working on a story about community college funding. The state legislature is currently working on it's budget, and the state's two year colleges feel they've been getting the short shrift for several years. They will be lobbying for more money this year.

Stan Torgerson is working on a story about police and sheriff's deputies in Meridian and Lauderdale County getting new vehicles. The vehicles are funded with money seized during drug busts, so that makes for an interesting angle.

Charles Daniel has put together a story about the possibility of teenage drivers having to wait another year to get their full driving privelages. The legislature is looking at a bill that would do that.

Of course, Andrea will have the second part of her series tonight. Tonight, she'll be focusing on people learning to live with diabetes, and the problems associated with it.

Those are just the highlights. Also expect reports on what Columbus is doing to land Kia, whether legislation allowing deer hunting over baited fields will actually become law, and a report out today detailing problems in responding to Hurricane Katrina.

Thanks for reading. See you on the news.

Jason Foundation

2006-02-14T17:45:00.000-06:00

First of all, my thanks to Wade for joining this blog. Hopefully, we can also get a few other members on board. Our goal is to be able to bring you as much additional information as possible. We are also working on getting a link from the WTOK home page to this blog. In the meantime, we need your help to spread the word.

Wade mentioned in a previous post about my wake up call this morning. So, I won't spend any additional time discussing that. What I will talk about is the other story that I worked on today. Alliance Health Center in Meridian has teamed up with the Jason Foundation in an effort to help prevent teen suicide. The foundation was started by Clark Flatt, whose son took his own life. Check out their website for more information about this program and for the story of Jason Flatt.

Teenage Suicide is a very serious topic. According to stats provided by the Jason Foundation, more than 5,000 young people take their own lives. It is the second leading cause of death for college age youth and the third leading cause for those age 15-24. Their stats also show that 4 out of 5 young people who attempt suicide have given clear warnings. Which brings up another point...signs of concern:

Depression
Abrupt Changes in Behavior
Mood Swings
Crying Spells
Recent Grief or Losses
Changes in School Performances
Giving Away Treasured Belongings
Suicidal Thoughts
Hopelessness

If you know someone that needs help, contact the Jason Foundation, 1-877-778-CARL or locally you can call (601) 483-6211.

Church Fires

2006-02-14T15:21:00.000-06:00

We began this day by thinking there was a major break in the investigation of those ten church fires in Alabama. I got a call from John about 7:15 this morning saying there were reports of a black SUV wrecking after a high speed chase near a church in Choctaw County. For the obvious reasons, we quickly dispatched Chris and photographer Christian Monsour down there to check it out.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be almost all rumor. There was a report of a suspicious vehicle near a church in Choctaw County around daybreak, but sheriff's deputies never saw it. Later that morning, there was a car accident there. Several people apparently listening to scanner traffic put two and two together and came up with six, and the rumors started. We're reporting on it tonight, just because of the stir it caused, not just in Choctaw County, but all over the twin states.

We've been following these fire stories very closely over the last week and a half for a number of reasons: chief among them, the fact that four of them happened right here in our back yard. We've given them especially big play for a number of other reasons:
1. They're part of a big statewide trend that is getting a lot of national attention.
2. Serial arsonists, while fairly common, are not that common at all where churches are specific targets, or where so many of them happen in so short a time.
3. Churches play such an integral role in the lives of so many people in our area that it is the kind of story that affects many, many people. I know I had several people at my own church wanting to talk about the fires Sunday.
4. The mystery of the situation also plays a big part. Someone is going through some major planning before hitting these churches. Most crimes are spur of the moment, with very little planning, so these are especially unusual. Watching investigators try to put the pieces together is intriguing.

On a personal note, I also have to say that these fires have impacted me too, for a couple of reasons. I grew up in a small country church like these churches are. My grandad was the pastor at the Steam Mill Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Sebastopol, Mississippi, for almost 40 years. And my father-in-law is currently a pastor at one of these small country churches, the Oakes Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Vernon, Alabama. That church is in Lamar County, the county where the last fire happened.

Anyway, we'll keep watching these fires, and the latest on the investigation into them, very closely. Investigators seem pretty confident they'll be able to track down the arsonists, so we'll wait and see.

First Blog

2006-02-13T16:16:00.000-06:00

So here I go, a blogger for the first time ever. I'm Wade Phillips, anchor and producer of Live at Five, reporter, and executive producer of Newscenter Eleven at Six and Ten on weekends. I hope you've enjoyed Chris and the way he's been able to bring you some of the behind the scenes goings ons here at Newscenter 11. I'll be joining him from time to time, so we can have as much information for you as possible, and so he can get an occasional break. He is a busy man.

I think this is going to be the best time for me to post; right after Live at Five. Most days, I've finished my work by that time, and things have slowed down considerably before I leave at 6:00.

Here's my average day:
I arrive at 9:00, and prepare for the morning meeting. During the meeting, we'll discuss the story ideas for the day, and decide which ones will get the biggest play for the day. We also decide which reporter will cover which story at that time. Things certainly change sometimes, because this is the news business, but this gives us an idea of the direction we'll be going for the day.

After the morning meeting, we'll begin shooting our stories for the day. I will usually shoot whatever my story for the day is between 9:30 and 11:00, depending on what is going on. I pretty much have to get what I'll be doing out of the way early so I can beging to prepare for Live at Five.

After lunch, things usually get pretty busy for me. I produce Live at Five, which means I decide which stories are placed where in the newscast, how they'll be written, and what the overall look of the show will be. It's my goal to make the newscast interesting, informative, and tell a cohesive story. Because of many of the more featury (is that a word) things we do at 5:00, I try to make the first segment of the newscast hard hitting and full of information.

Around 1:30 every afternoon, Tom Daniels, John Johnson, and myself will meet to decide which of the stories that we've been able to pull together are the most important. We'll decide which will lead Live at Five, and which will lead Newscenter Eleven at Six. We'll also decide how we want to tell the stories so they will be as interesting and informative as possible, using video, graphics, interviews, and the reporters themselves to do it.

It is also my job to produce at least one major story for the 6:00 news. It's what we call a package, which means you hear the reporter's voice, along with video and parts of interviews mixed in. It's how we tell most of our major stories. I'm usually done with that story by mid-afternoon.

I usually finish up producing Live at Five by about 4:30, so I get dressed and get ready for the show. I'll go to the set about 4:45, and the show starts at 4:59. It ends, of course, at 5:30. That's when down time begins for me.

So that's how it works. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to, as often as possible, tell you some of the stories behind the stories, tell you why we decided to do the stories we decided to do, and maybe some other things we don't always have time to tell you during the rush of a thirty minute newscast. I look forward to communicating with you.

The End of a Long Week

2006-02-08T22:53:00.000-06:00

It's been a couple of days since I last posted. This has been a long week. I have had more deadline pressure this week than I've had since I started this job three and a half months ago.

Before I get started, let me explain that every day, there are a couple of different versions of the stories that we do. One (the shorter version) is read by the anchor and the longer version has the reporter's voice on it.

On Monday, my story was about the MCC not allowing high schools to use their track for meets. One of their major concerns is safety, since the net that separates the baseball field from the track has been taken down. I did not get started on this story until 3:30. Of course, I had to be back with a story for Live at Five and also a longer story for 6pm. I arrived back at work around 4:30 and successfully got my stories on the air.

Overnight Monday, there were four churches in West Alabama that were either damaged or destroyed by fire. On Tuesday, we had two crews out to cover these four churches. Renee' and I went to the two churches that were farthest away (62 miles). Her story was shot, so we headed to Panola to find Gallilee Baptist Church. If you don't know where this church is, it's pretty hard to find. We stopped for directions and arrived to find that the road was blocked. The Alabama Bureau of Investigation was conducting part of their investigation on a one-lane bridge. The church sits another quarter-mile or so down the road. We, along with other members of the media, were forced to wait. With our deadline approaching, we decided that we couldn't wait any longer. We got back to the station at 4:00. I had just under one hour to finish the longer version of my story. Thankfully, I finished it about 4:50.

With my stories done, I settled in to watch Newscenter 11 at 6. I would be going home after the show. Yeah, right. The phone in our Newsroom rang about 6:10. The caller advised us that a Jasper County inmate had escaped. I called the Sheriff's Department to verify this and found that it was actually three inmates that had escaped. After writing a quick story for the anchors to read, I headed to Bay Springs with a photographer. We talked with Sheriff Kenneth Cross and found that the inmates had been spotted in a wooded area. Some tracking dogs were headed to try to get them out. Around 9:45, the dogs arrived and went to work. By 10:30 the inmates were back in custody. A quick call back to work and we were able to get that bit of information on the 10pm news. We got back to the station around 11:45, I wrote and edited a story for Good Morning Meridian and headed home.

7:45 am, Wednesday: My alarm goes off and it's time to do it all again. After lunch, Renee' and I head back to West Alabama. After shooting her story, we went to Gallilee Baptist Church to wait for Governor Bob Riley. He was scheduled to arrive at 2:40 pm. About an hour later, he showed up. After taking a look at the damage and speaking with the pastor, he spoke with the media. This time we made it back to the station at 4:30. Both of us wrote the short version of our stories in the car. We called in the scripts so that they could be typed in the computer. I got finished editing and started working on the longer version of my story. I finished it up about 5 minutes before the start of the show.

Now, I'm ready to go home. I'm off the next two days. Unfortunately, like most of you, on my days off I still have a lot to do. So, I'll be off of work, but still won't get to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Have a great rest of the week!

Sports and Evening Wear

2006-02-04T22:42:00.000-06:00

High School Basketball:
Newton High School held its Newton Challenge today. I shot the early game, Newton County vs. Lake. The scores for all the games are below:
Newton Co. 72 (Girls)
Lake 42

Newton Co. 78 (Boys)
Lake 58

McAdams 61 (G)
Scott Central 44

McAdams 82 (B)
Scott Central 78 (2OT)

Philadelphia 37 (G)
Bay Springs 46

SE Lauderdale 42 (B)
Bay Springs 58

Meridian 58 (G)
Newton 54

Super Bowl:
It's that time of the year. The Super Bowl will be played tomorrow. We went to talk to a couple of different bars today about what they will be doing. Crescent City will be having a big party, starting with a tailgate party early in the afternoon. The Midtown Grille will be the place to go if you don't want to be around quite as many people. They are expecting between 50 and 75 people.

Prom:
The Parents Circle Support Group chaperoned a prom for roughly twenty special needs kids. All of the kids were at least 15. Parents say that they had a great time watching their kids. The kids also had a great time. Officials told us that this prom allowed some of the kids to come out of their shell while dancing and having fun.

Junior Miss:
Congratulations to Maggie Forester and Jennie Scrivner, Meridian and Lauderdale County's Junior Misses, respectively.

Cracking the Case & Recruiting

2006-02-02T09:26:00.000-06:00

It was another long day Wednesday. That seems to be the norm for this business. As usual, my work day started at 9am. It ended after the 10pm news. Yesterday was another one of those days where I started out thinking I would be doing one thing and then I ended up doing a completely different story. After our morning meeting, we found out that a suspect had been identified in an old murder investigation. We had to wait for more information to come in before I could begin pulling the story together. In the meantime, I helped the Sports department with a couple of Signing Day shoots.

Heather and I headed out to the USM East Central Eagle Club meeting. They talked about some of the stadium improvements that they are making down in Hattiesburg. Southern Miss fans are excited about getting the South End Zone project completed at M.M. Roberts Stadium. Stay tuned to Newscenter 11 Sports over the next few days for more information about when this project will be completed. Also, we'll let you know about some of the other improvements being made. We also spoke with USM Offensive Coordinator Jay Johnson. He said that he was impressed with the talent level in our area. Southern Miss signed four from around here...Roshaad Byrd and Brandon Davis from Meridian High, Alex Michael from Southeast, and Anthony Gray from Philadelphia. Next we were off to Collinsville. Four Knights inked with Junior Colleges.

While we were out, the information that we needed came in from the Meridian Police Department. The murder case was one from six years ago. On May 18, 2000 Jeanetta Young was found burned in a ditch off of 49th Avenue near Interstate 20. Young had been doused with gasoline and burned alive. She was alive when she was found, but later died from her injuries at the Greenville Burn Center. For a while after the murder, it seemed that the police had very few clues to work with. According to the MPD, some new evidence came to light which led to them issuing a warrant for their suspect. The 28-year-old male is already in custody in Mississippi on an unrelated crime.

Southeast / Choctaw Central

2006-02-01T10:42:00.000-06:00

I didn't get a chance to post last night because after getting my story done, we went to shoot the Southeast Lauderdale/Choctaw Central girls game. Being in the television business with constant deadlines, it is not very often that I get to watch an entire game. Whether it's football, baseball, or basketball season when I shoot sports I usually stay for only a few minutes. Last night I was fortunate enough to watch the game from the tip-off to the last buzzer. And what a game it was. Southeast managed to maintain the tight lead for much of the first quarter. In the second, the Warriors came alive. Southeast did keep it close, in fact it was a three point game at the half. Then in the third, Choctaw Central took as much as a 12 point lead. Well, Southeast fought back and took the lead for good with only a few minutes left in the game. Like I said, I don't watch a lot of High School games. But that was one of the best games I've seen at any level.

FEMA Deadline

2006-01-30T22:15:00.000-06:00

Following Hurricane Katrina, several of us spent a few nights sleeping on the floor here at the station. We had it good. I met Steven Portis today. He spent three nights sleeping on a neighbor's roof when flood waters rose in the city of New Orleans. He was rescued by a boat that had a Senator and a television crew. He has been living in a few different Meridian hotels since that time. FEMA has been paying for his hotel room. Now FEMA says it's time for evacuees to find permanent housing. Portis has decided to make Meridian his new home. He's got a job now and he's looking for an apartment.

Now, for an update on a story we first brought you on Saturday. Kenyata Shadwick has turned himself in. You can read A Busy Day for more details.

I encourage you to leave comments. Your feedback will help make this blog better. Feel free to ask questions, give suggestions, etc.

Sunday Morning Church

2006-01-29T22:39:00.000-06:00

From feast to famine. Saturday's are typically busy, Sunday's not so much. Today was pretty much a typical Sunday for me.

We went to a couple of different church services this morning. First service started at 10:30 just a block away. First Presbyterian was celebrating their 150th Anniversary. First Presbyterian is one of the oldest churches in Meridian. The interesting thing about this celebration is the fact that the city of Meridian is not even 150 years old. The city of Meridian was incorporated on February 10, 1860. According to the pastor, Rhett Payne, the church membership is not as large as it has been in the past. Other churches in Meridian have been started through First Presbyterian. Trinity is one of those churches. Payne also mentioned some other interesting facts about the church. Several improvements have recently been made. He told us that the mortar in the stones had recently been redone and a new roof put on in order to eliminate some leaks. The church is a registered landmark.

After leaving First Presbyterian, we headed across town to the New Vision House of God Faith Center. They were having a service that was geared toward the youth. They have these services every fifth Sunday. One way that they do to reach young people in the community is encouraging those who come to their service to wear jerseys. Michael Vick, Roy Williams, and Michael Jordan were all represented at this morning's service. There is more on this story on our website.

I mentioned the Child Identification story last night. Tonight we talked more about the importance of participating in this program. Check out our website for more about this story.

And before I go, here's something a little bit off-topic:

Congratulations to Heather Cook.
She has a sno-globe on her desk. Inside it there is a golf ball and a tee. You've probably seen these before. The object of the "game" is to get the ball on the tee. Well, after weeks of trying, she finally did it. And here's the proof:

Have a great week, and keep watching Newscenter 11. Don't forget to check out our website. The link is on the right side of the page.

A Busy Day

2006-01-28T22:43:00.000-06:00

Saturdays are always one of my busiest days, even without breaking news. Today, like most Saturdays began early and ended late. Here's a quick rundown of my day:

9:30 am - HOSA Competition at Meridian Community College.
More than 400 high school students from across central Mississippi gathered for several health competitions ranging from Medical Spelling to CPR.

10:15 am - Junior High Basketball Tournament.
The Conference Championship was held at Meridian High. Kate Griffin, Northwest, and Hattiesburg's 8th and 9th grade girls and boys participated in the single-elimination tournament. The first game of the day was the 8th grade girls game between KG and Hattiesburg. Hattiesburg jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the first quarter and held on to win 29-22. I've listed the tournament champs below:
8th Grade Girls - Northwest
8th Grade Boys - Kate Griffin
9th Grade Girls - Either Hattiesburg or KG...We did not get the score called in.
9th Grade Boys - Same as girls no score called in for the Northwest/Kate Griffin game.

11:00 am - Child Identification, Marion Police Department
The Marion Police Department sponsored a Child Identification Program. Below is a question that the Child ID program asks:

If you had an occassion that resulted in you, your family, or friends being separated, how much information could you provide to expedite the identification of the missing party?

This is something that no one wants to think about, but if you child was missing how would you describe your child to authorities? Through this program, the answers to all the questions that police will ask are in a packet. Fingerprints, Video Identification, and a DNA swab. According to officials, the DNA sample is good for 80 years. The video documents hair and eye color, scars, birthmarks and more.

We will have more on this program Sunday night on Newscenter 11 at Ten.

12:00 pm - Burlington Plant Fire, Stonewall

Click here to view this story from Saturday's News (This link will only be active for a few days)

Around noon, the call came in that the historic Burlington plant in Stonewall was on fire. Firefighters found a fire that started on the third floor and spread downward to the basement. From the outside of the building, no flames were visible by the time we got to the building shortly after 12:30. While the cause is under investigation, officials believe that the fire started on the third floor. Some demolition work had occurred last week. They believe that a spark from some pipe cutting is to blame. There was significant damage to the inside, but the Clarke County Fire Investigator says that it could have been a lot worse. No one was inside when the fire started, so there were no injuries reported. As many of you know the Burlington plant has a long history in Stonewall. In late 2001, Burlington filed bankruptcy then a few months later the plant closed it's doors. When the plant closed down, many thought that the city of Stonewall would virtually do the same. While there was a high unemployment rate for a while in Clarke County, Stonewall is still there.

3:00 pm - Special Delivery Birthday Party, Riley Hospital

The WomanCare Birth Place at Riley Hopital celebrated all the babies that have been born since it's inception. 5,173 babies have been born in the past ten years at Riley. The party was open to all kids and adults that were born at Riley. A cake, clown, and facepainting were all part of the fun.

3:30 pm - FEMA Office Closed, Meridian

The Disaster Recovery Center in Meridian is now closed. However, Meridian residents can still be assisted by FEMA. There are still 15 centers still open in Meridian. The closest offices that remain open are in Laurel and in Jackson. If you need the address of any of the FEMA offices in Meridian, send me an email (chris.brennaman@wtok.com). I'll be happy to send you the information.

Other Stories:

Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department needs your help to locate Kenyata Shadwich, a 28-year-old black male. His picture is posted below. The vehicle Shadwich was driving is wanted in a Drive-By Shooting in Kemper County. Deputies attempted to stop Shadwich this morning in Lauderdale. He fle North on Old Highway 45, struck another vehicle and abandoned the vehicle he was driving. After a brief struggle with the deputy, Shadwich fled on foot. He is being charged with seveal felonies. If you have any information on his whereabouts, call the Crimestopper line (601) 917-8888.

An Early Start

2006-01-25T17:47:00.000-06:00

If this is your first time reading this blog, take a quick look at my first post: A Little Background.

WAL-MART
Wow, today started early...at least for me. It may not seem early to you, but my alarm clock went off at 5:15 this morning! I had to be in Demopolis by 7:30 for the grand opening of the Super Wal-Mart. For me, that was about an hour and a half drive from home. I made it to Demopolis and waited for the Grand Opening Ceremony to begin. This new Wal-Mart will be a great asset to West Alabama. I talked with the Store Manager after the ceremony. He told me that, until now, the closest Supercenter was about 45 miles away. 240 new jobs were created with the opening of this store. For me, it's always exciting to go to Demopolis. I have only had a couple of chances to go. The last couple of times that we have had "Our Town: Demopolis," I had the pleasure of going. We always eat at Mr. G's when we leave. Unfortunately, I was unable to eat there on this trip. I left for Livingston around 9. Once in Livingston, I had to run by the Wal-Mart that had just closed to get some video.

BODY WALK
I mentioned the Body Walk yesterday. Make sure you check out Newscenter 11 at Six and Ten for our Children First segment tomorrow.

Well, it's been a long day for me and I'm about to head home. I'll be back on Saturday, and I'll have some more to say then. Have a good night and keep watching.

Lots of Law & Walking through the body

2006-01-24T18:45:00.000-06:00

If this is your first time reading this blog, take a quick look at my first post: A Little Background.

Well, another day has come to an end for me. Newscenter 11 at 6 just ended and I'm about to head home. But before I do, I'll give you an update on some of what went on in my world today.

AMTRAK ERROR:
If you watched Live at Five last night, you saw a graphic that stated that more than 600 people had died as a result of Amtrak accidents. We were incorrect in reporting that number. In fact only 7 passengers and crew members have died since 2000. The number that we reported was actually the number of people killed at railroad crossings. Hopefully, with a new graphic on tonight's Live at Five and the updated story on our website this has been cleared up. We at WTOK certainly regret the error.

LAW CLERKS:
My work day started at 9am with our morning meeting. After the meeting, Wade Phillips and I took to Interstate 20 and headed to Decatur. We had two stories to cover while in Newton County. The first one was his story, about law clerks. I met Judge Marcus Gordon and his clerk Philip Smith. There was a big story that we covered in June, the trial of Edgar Ray Killen. If you remember, Judge Gordon was the judge that presided over that trial. Philip Smith told us that the first case he ever took part in was the Killen Trial. That's about as high-profile as trials get around here.

BODY WALK:
Leaving Decatur we took Highway 15 into Newton. The Mississippi State University Extension Service was hosting a Body Walk. This was a pretty neat thing for the kids at Newton Elementary School. They got to take a tour of a 40 foot x 40 foot exhibit representing a human body. Make sure you tune in to Newscenter 11 at 6 and 10 on Thursday. This will be our Children First Segment.

JUDGE SHORTAGE:
After lunch (a ham and cheese sandwich and some chips, if you were wondering), I left the station for MSU-Meridian. Judge Larry Roberts was sworn in to his new position on the State Court of Appeals. With Judge Roberts heading to Jackson, there is now only one judge to handle the large caseload of the Tenth District (Kemper, Lauderdale, Clarke, and Wayne Counties) Circuit Court. I spoke with Judge Robert Bailey about what it will be like for him being the only Judge in the district. He said that he believes that Governor Barbour will make an appointment within the next month to get him some help. But will that be enough help? Some people believe that a third judge is needed. Check out my story on Newscenter 11 at Ten tonight or check our website for the answer.

Hope you all have a good night. And keep watching Newscenter 11.

A Little Background

2006-01-22T14:53:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Newscenter 11 blog. Thanks for stopping by. I know that many of you have been enjoying the Newscenter 11 Weather Blog. Josh and the rest of the Weather Team do a great job with it.

Let me start out by giving you an idea of what I plan to do here. I assume that most of you know what a blog is. For those of you who don't, this is pretty much just an online diary or journal. I will be try to post everyday, or at least the days that I work (my schedule is Saturday through Wednesday). It will not be very likely that I will update on my days off.

The purpose of this blog is just to give you an insight into what I do when I come to work. For those of you who don't know me, let me give you a little introduction. My name is Chris Brennaman and I am a Reporter for WTOK. I am originally from Kansas City, Missouri but I have lived in Meridian for more than half my life. I started working at WTOK in 1999, right after I started college. I began as a production assistant, worked my way up to director, and now have made the move to Reporter.

Today's Story:
Today, my story was about Amtrak getting back to normal here in Meridian. Click here to read it. If you've been keeping up with the news over the last week, you know that there were two train accidents in Alabama. One of those, a derailment, occurred in Cuba, Alabama. That was also a story that I covered. Because the stretch of track that was damaged is used by Amtrak, their service was disrupted. Just as it was about to get going again, there was a train collision in Lincoln, Alabama. Amtrak finally got "back on track" today. I met a couple of guys that were both headed to New Jersey. One had planned to leave on Friday and the other on Saturday. Neither of them seemed to mind that they would be travelling over a newly repaired stretch of track because of the accidents. I don't think that I would have had any problem boarding the train either.

Well, that was my story today. I will be back in tomorrow for another exciting day of work. And then, I'll let you know about it. A lot of times it is hard to fit all the information into our stories, I will occasionally post some extra background information for some stories. I will also try to give you a little insight into what it takes to get a story on the air.

I hope you enjoy reading. In the meantime, check out all of our news stories on our website.