Going Downtown

The Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce has been on a roll lately. We set out to showcase some the successes of downtown Winston-Salem today and it gave me the opportunity to snap off a couple of nice pics.



Above is the Nissen Building. It's an old office building that's been refurbished into luxury apartments. They tell us they've rented half the available units.



This is the Winston Tower. I've talked about this building before, it's got our microwave repeater on the top. It used to be home to Wachovia Bank. Now, after years of sitting empty, it's nearly half full.

With the layoffs of folks working in furniture, textile and tobacco still happening every day, maybe downtown businesses will spark a future for Winston-Salem. Only time will tell.

Senseless

I never really understood the Beavis and Butthead series on MTV, but I do remember hearing them say, "fire, fire, hehehehe." Maybe that's what was on the minds of some Clemmons teens accused of 135 counts of various lawless acts. They're charged with blowing up mailboxes, burning port-a-jons, breaking into churches and spraying cars and people with fire extinguishers, among other things. They'll have plenty of time to think about what they've done as the felony counts against them will stay with them the rest of their lives.

Brent and I must've been placed on arson duty this week as we broke this story Wednesday night, followed up on it Thursday and then today...

I found myself gettin' down and dirty in some burned out houses and barns. It seems Stokes and Forsyth counties are working together to find some arsonists. A person, or persons, is going around setting abandoned houses and outbuildings on fire. Why anyone would find pleasure in something so juvenile is beyond me. I don't know if someone's out there watching the fire department come and put out the fires but if that's the case, I'm sure the volunteers could use some help. Maybe this person could do some good and help out.

After Brent and I interviewed the Stokes County Fire Marshal we headed to one more house that had been torched. It used to be a big old country farm house. All that remained were the two tall chimneys soaring above the ruins.

As I started shooting, something jumped out at Brent and I. What was that noise? Ding, ding, ding. The old tin roof was banging against itself in the breeze. If there's one thing that gets television journalists fired up it's nat sound. You know, the little breaks in the story where you just hear something coming from the background and all of a sudden it jumps out and grabs you. That's a nat sound break. Here's how we captured this one...


I had to lean out there and put the mic up close to the sound because it just wasn't quite loud enough for the nat mic on my camera to pick it up. Ahhh, the things we go through to bring the story home.

Reminiscing About the Gridiron

As I wind down for the evening watching the 2-time defending Super Bowl champs fall to the Denver Broncos, I can't help but think about past times of my own on the football field. And, how I became so interested in this sport.

That's Moose. My dad. Bobby Cravens. He was arguably the BEST football player in the country coming out of Owensboro High School in 1955. Yep, he was MVP of a national all-star game in Memphis that year. He signed with the University of Kentucky (hence my love of the Wildcats), and is currently somewhere among the top 20 rushers in UK history. He's just recently fallen out of the top 15 and was number 2 when he was in school. People say you could hear him coming because he sounded like a train when he was running. He also played a few years for the Ottawa Roughriders. Yes, that's Canadian Football. But, with family in Kentucky, including a wife and daughter, he came back to Owensboro to serve the public. He became a police officer and retired after 25 years of service.

Pictures like the one above no doubt influenced my decision to lace 'em up and don the uniform of the Red Devils of OHS. Or was it the fact that my oldest brother, Rob, played for the Devils. It was during his championship team of 1975 that I remember traveling to the games, sitting in some pretty hostile environments, cheering on the red and black. Or maybe it was Terry, my other older brother who played in the early 80's and could hit like no other 180 pound linebacker you've ever seen. Of course there are the ladies of the family, starting with mom. Yep, you guessed it; Jane was a cheerleader during Moose's years on the gridiron. Oldest sister Joni, and my other sister Judy also carried the pom-pons for Owensboro Senior.

Yep, the more I think about it, I really had no choice, even though my dad always told me, "you don't have to play if you don't want to." You see, I was ALWAYS the smallest guy on the field. Hard to believe when you look at me now but it's true. I can remember the first time I went out for Pop Warner, the folks behind the desk said to my mom, "ma'am, you'll have to sign this special waiver saying it's OK for him to play because he doesn't weigh 60 pounds." I never let that stop me from laying it all on the line to make sure the coaches saw me. Moose always told me, when the coach wants someone to do something in practice always step forward. I kept on stepping forward even in high school when I must've been the smallest lineman voted to the All-Conference team at 165 pounds soaking wet!

It's that kind of advice that I believe makes sports so valuable in life. I think without football, without sports, I'd be a different person. Oh sure, I wouldn't spend Sunday afternoons on the sofa watching the NFL, and that might be a good thing. But, I know I certainly did better in school with the motivation that came from sports. I think coaches can be some of the most influential people there are. I've volunteered for my daughter's soccer team because I think it can make a difference in a child's life. A difference that can last a lifetime.

I'll leave you with this final picture. It's from the time Moose scored a couple of TD's against Tennessee to down the Volunteers. If you know anything about Kentucky football, anything about Tennessee football, you'll know that was a big deal.

Going Live

I don't have much to write about tonight, but since Lenslinger linked to my blog I feel obligated to show something. I'll just post a few pics I took the other night as Brent and I went live outside the Forsyth County Sheriff's Department.

Here, Brent rehearses for the ever-important live shot.


In downtown Winston-Salem, we have a receive site on top of Winston Tower, still known by many in town as the old Wachovia building. I use a bouce shot off the new Wachovia building, known my many in town as the big.... well, I'll let you fill in the blank.

I Like Propane

Any Hank Hill fans out there? Hank surely would have a perfect explanation for my trip to Mt. Airy today. It all started when my cell phone about vibrated off my hip as I took a bite of my chicken salad sandwich. On the other end, "hey Ken, this is Jonathon at Surry 911." I knew something was up, he usually doesn't call just to say hey. "We need you guys to get some info on the air immediately," he rattled off without breathing, "we've got a couple of 30,000 gallon propane tanks leaking in Mount Airy. We need to let people know not to go out of their houses in the area around Newsome Street and Highway 52." I just said, "OK," and "we're on the way."

Of course things had settled down by the time we got there but it was still a good package opportunity. After talking with Surry County EMS Director John Shelton we had a pretty good idea what happened and what would be going on at news time, you know 5 and 6 O'clock.

My good buddy Danny Spillane soon pulled in with the newly painted sat truck and we were in business. Brent started logging interviews at about 10 minutes after 4 for our 5 O'clock lead package but we weren't worried. As he tracked his audio shortly after 4:30 I knew we'd be OK. Of course, we also had a 6 O'clock package but we'd tackle that after we got done with the 5.

For those of you wondering, yes we got the six O'clock package on the air, as well. Here's Brent getting ready for the live shot. Ain't life grand?

In the Presence of Greatness

Today, I made a rare trip to High Point where our main studios sit. As I mentioned last night, I'm right at home in the bureau. But while making the rounds at El Ocho (that's Lenslinger terminology) I had a chance to talk a while with the inspiration for this blog and many more others. Yep, Lenslinger was in the house and I snapped this pic of him. Then he laid a hand on my shoulder and gave a wry little smile, then went straight to the parking lot to start covering the miles. He peeled out of a parking spot, ere he drove his news carriage. Saying, "I've got a vosot to cover, or was it a package?"

Sorry Stew, that's the best I could do this late at night.

Bureau Life

Life in a newsroom is not for everyone. It can be loud, rude, crude and sometimes downright obscene. That said, bureau life is not for most TV news types. You see, that same brash, uncivilized behavior that goes on in most TV newsrooms is nowhere to be found in a bureau, if only for the simple fact that there are usually only two or three people in a bureau. Today, in our Winston-Salem bureau, my home base, we had a full house.

Nico Belha and photojournalist Ken DeVanney came by to share our facilities and make a little TV magic.

Wes Barrett, a bureau hound like myself was also on hand, editing and feeding to our lifeline in High Point.


I was stuck in "The Hole" this morning in the Surry County Courthouse in Dobson. The hole is what we call the room in the back of the courtroom with a little window for shooting video. I waited all morning for a few seconds of video of seven accused of stealing furniture from Bassett.

Brent sits at his computer turning thoughts into a first-hand account of the courtroom events.

Once I have the script I begin the editing process.

As Ken DeVanney waits his turn at the keyboard. That's him in the background and this is what he wants to get his hands on.

Our bureau is located in the building of our partner, the Winston-Salem Journal. This is food editor Michael Hastings getting ready, with Brent's help, for a live shot in our 5 O'clock show.

After Michael is done, it's Brent's turn to front the package we've worked on today.

Tragedy

We've all seen the pictures, the video, the heart-wrenching sadness and anger in the faces of family members in West Virginia. I don't really know who to blame for the miscommunication of facts in the mining town of Tallmansville, WV but it's a tragic turn of events none-the-less. In this business you learn very quickly to check your facts before airing them. But, in this day and age of internet immediacy and closing deadlines maybe someone forgot about Journalism 101. Then again, the more I read, it seems the timing was the major factor in all of this. Newspaper's deadlines are typically just after midnight and sometimes earlier so they can begin printing. It seems the family and media were not informed of the correct information until around 2:30am. No matter the blame, the thoughts and prayers should go out to the family members and friends of those involved. Nothing can be done about the mistakes in those excruciating final hours but now the families need help.

Back on the home front, I trecked up the side of a mountain in Wilkes County to document the MOST dangerous job. According to U.S. Labor Statistics, loggers have a death rate of nearly 120 killed on the job out of every 100,000. This puts them at the top of the list for the most dangerous jobs. Brent Campbell and I set out to find some loggers and several phone calls later we were on the road to the woods of Wilkes County.

We met up with Sonny Greene, owner of Greene Land and Timber. Sonny's been logging for over 25 years and his son is part of his team. After an interview with Sonny, it was time for me to make it to the top of the hill where the cutting was taking place. A quick ride on a skidder and I found myself watching tree after tree fall at the hands of one man with a very sharp chainsaw.

As the trees fell they were dragged down a makeshift road by aforementioned skidder.

At the base of the mountain, Sonny worked a loader as he placed the logs on a truck to be taken to the mill.

Now, I just want to know when photojournalist will be added to the list of 10 most dangerous jobs. Just kidding.... well, kinda.

Munchies Anyone?

A recent e-mail from dad, better known as "Moose," directed my attention to a news item in Middle Tennessee. WTVF in Nashville published these pictures of a cave in Trousdale County that reminded me of a story I once covered in Kentucky.

My co-hort of many years, Lilla Marigza, and I were dispatched to Clinton County to cover what authorities had un-earthed. It seems a man and some of his closest buds extended a basement to form an underground growing facility that stretched several hundred feet and included all the necessities of a modern greenhouse. Grow lights, generator, exhaust fans, scales, you name it. Needless to say, this was bound to attract some attention.

Interestingly enough, State Police found the underground bunker when they were doing a fly-over with FLIR, a device used to sense hot spots on the ground. They noticed an unusual amount of heat coming from an outhouse. Either those beans that Paulie Avery had eaten for dinner were coming back to haunt him, or there was an exhaust fan under the, ahem, toilet.

We were there to cover the demolition of said bunker. A rather anti-climatic event as we were stationed about a quarter mile away and heard nothing more than a loud rumble as they detonated explosives underground. There was a rather large hole in the ground after we made our way back to the scene. We also took a tour of the house. Strange indeed. One thing that stands out in my memory, red fixtures in a downstairs bathroom, from a red shower stall and a red sink to a red, yep, toilet.

Oh, the things people will do for a few bucks. OK, so even though these chuckle heads were making several million bucks a year, I still don't think it's worth it.