Weaver's Blog

Childbirth is a beautiful thing. I remember the days both of my children were born as clear as if it were yesterday. My boys are now 13 and 10 andi seems like they are growing up way too fast.



In the picture above is Felesha and her infant son Joshua. Felesha is 13 years old and was only 12 when she got pregnant. I met Felesha and her 14 year old boyfriend Damian (below) about a week before little Joshua was born but my kids have known Felesha and played on ball teams with Damian for years.

Damian and Felesha made a mistake in the name of having a good time and probably a little arrogance (read - unsafe sex) about life but they have a strong family behind them and they are learning how to be parents while still just barely teenagers.



I was there with my TV Camera when Felesha had the baby and I visited her after she had settled into mommyhood at home.

They seem to be doing well and the baby is a cute, happy little thing.

The 2 part series on Teen Pregnancy can be seen HERE(PART 1) and HERE(PART 2)

See Julie Luck's Blog about the story HERE

If you bought Skybus tickets I hope you used a credit card. 

With a credit card (NOT A BANK DEBIT OR CHECK CARD) you have rights that in most cases allow you to get your money back.

Consumer Guru Clark Howard advises that for any purchase with future delivery like tickets, furniture, valuables that you use a credit card.

You have 60 days from the date of purchase to issue a claim for a chargeback request.  

From Clark Howard's website...."The Fair Credit Billing Act requires that you make a chargeback request in writing no later than 60 days after receiving your statement showing the airline ticket charge. If you made a purchase more than 60 days in advance, and your airline ceases to operate, you may have no claim to a credit. Also, check with your credit card issuer to find out if they will permit these same chargeback rights if you purchase a ticket on an airline which has filed for bankruptcy - some issuers may not protect you should the airline cease operations."

More information HERE

It's always cool to do good school stories so when I headed out to Hasty Elementary this morning I was looking forward what I was about to document.

STARBASE NC was coming to the school for the week and they always enter in grand fashion, swooping in in a Blackhawk Helicopter putting the students, teachers and one goofy cameraman in awe.

All of the students of Hasty got an upclose and even inside look at the Army's loudest helicopter while the 5th graders had a lot of learning to do, but it's the fun kind.

Starbase is a federal program run by the NC National Guard that teaches 5th graders about Math and Science principles using real world examples and hands on activities, effectively tricking the kids into learning the principles of aviation.

Later this week the students will fly model rockets that they are building in class. 

So these 5th graders are going to have quite a week.

And the teachers got to play too.  The crew of the blackhawk took the 5th grade teachers on a 30 minute joy ride culminating with a little roller coaster action. (See the Story)

To put a little twist in the story it's noteworthy that the two pilots of the Blackhawk have very interesting stories themselves.

Major Michele Harper is the only female Blackhawk pilot in the North Carolina National Guard.  She has applied to be in NASA's astronaut program and she may have to go to Iraq in the near future.  Oh Yeah, she has a 5 month old baby! 

The other pilot Zane Zanenghi went to Hasty as an elementary student in the 80s and was glad to be back at the school today.  I first met Zane 4 or 5 years ago when he flew the Blackhawk to Southwood Elementary school when STARBASE came to that school.

Zane is also one of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Air Care Pilots.  He was in my AirCare story that aired almost 2 years ago.

But Zane's claim to fame may be ditching the Blackhawk while serving in Iraq in 2005 while he was flying the very same Blackhawk that he flew to Hasty today.  That day the chopper experienced transmission trouble and he had to quickly land the chopper before it became unflyable.

Luckily the Iraqi good guys were nearby and they protected the position until a Chanook CH-47 could airlift the Blackhawk back to to a safe location. (It's kind of llike that new Ford Commercial where the Chinook drops the load in the back of the pickup, except they picked up the Blackhawk and carried it away.)

The story of that ditching was national news for a few days and there's even video of it somewhere(I can't find it).

Like I said, it's cool to do good stories at schools. 

OK, so I just saw the newest surveillance photos for the first time and the guy in the store photo is NOT the guy in the ATM (in the car) photo in my opinion.

The guy in the ATM photo is wearing a greyish jacket, his skin tone looks lighter and he has a broad flat nose.

Now, look at the other picture from in the store...

The only thing that I think is similar is the ball of hair..on the side in the ATM photo, on the back in the store photo.  The basic shape of the face isn't even the same as I see it.  The store photo guy has a narrower face and this guy's nose is a little more pointy and narrow.

But what really strikes me as telling is the jacket of the in the store guy...it's black....like the dark unkown figure in the ATM photo.  I kind of doubt that the guy from the ATM picture would have completely changed from one full coat to another...and lose the hat?  Especially with the dark shadow in the back seat of the ATM picture.

Of course I don't have the behind the scenes details like the time stamps from both of these photos, but it's something to consider as we try to help the cops look for a killer...or two.

 

The weather was the big news today so you might not have seen this one.  Reporter Caron Myers and I did an interview today that has me scratching my head and police in Alamance County high fiving all around.

The guy in the picture is Thomas Earl Newman Jr.  He found himself in an altercation Monday night and he ended up in Duke Hospital with multiple lacerations.  The other guy is in jail for the attack.

Both Burlington Police and Graham Police say the altercation was gang related and that both the attacker and the victim were gang members.  That got our attention and so we headed to Alamance County to see what was up.

While I was getting footage of the area where the fight happened, Caron did the obligatory 'knock and talk' at the address where we were told people involved in the scuffle lived.

What I heard in my earpiece gave me a chill.  It was Newman behind the apartment door....and he was willing to talk on camera.

You can watch the whole thing at this link:  WATCH RAW INTERVIEW, but to sum it up...Newman told us he is a a member of the GKB (Gang Killer Bloods) and a part of a cleanup crew.

The gang specialists in Alamance County tell us that a clean takes care of retaliation efforts.

The cops in Alamance County that saw the interview say it's some of the best interaction with a gang member they've ever seen.(hence the high fives)

Newman said he wouldn't seek revenge personally but that the 'crip' gang member that attacked him with what he called a "crocidile dundee knife", would get his.

 

In case you haven't noticed, and someone's sure to ask after a week or so, our daytime reporter Eric White has moved on to greener pasture.

As a young, single guy with the drive of a race horse and the passion for news of a teenager in love, Eric stuck with us for 4 years but it was inevitable in this business for him to move to a larger market with more news and, I didn't ask him but I'm guessing, more money.

Eric will be working in Nashville, TN at the WTVF Newschannel 5.  That's a great station and Eric will do well there.

I didn't work with Eric everyday or even a majority of the time he was here but the stories we did do together mattered.

 

Eric will be missed.

Here's a sample of the stories Eric and I did together (Video links highlighted)

We went to Yuma Arizona last April to show how the NC National Guard is helping protect our border.

We almost had a heat stroke finding out how hot it gets in race cars.

We showed you how police train to drive SUVs.

We showed you how those police protect school zones.

We won an EMMY for our story about the cover up of the advertising on the Greensboro Colliseum Cupholders when the NCAA tournament came to town.

We showed you how the city of Greensboro was watering their lawn at city hall in the middle of a drought.

There's more but those are the ones that offer the fondest memories.

  

 

It's kind of difficult sometimes to sum up a complicated story in less than 2 minutes on TV so I wanted to expand a bit on the story I produced today.

The Guilford County Department of Social Services is revamping their Foster Kid Program.  They are basically starting from scratch, reassigning caseworkers and implementing cutting edge ideas to help teenage Foster Children adapt to the adult world.

In the past Foster kids have grown up and aged out of the Foster Programs and joined the real world with little or no continuing support from the adults who raised them.  Alot of these young adults have had major trouble transitioning to successful adulthood.

This new program is going to provide mentoring, guidance and many of the personal relationships that are lost when these kids lose their real families.

It's going to take community involvment, however,  to make the program a success but it sounds like a very well laid out plan.

The young man I interiviewed for the story is one of the success stories of having a great case worker and positive interaction from caring adults.  He also spoke of the bad times in his life where he lost focus.  Luckily he found his way and is now in college planning to get a PhD and become a history Professor.

But he has seen his buddies go down the wrong path without proper guidance so he knows this program is a step in the right direction. 

 

 

I watched, I laughed, I liked. No, it may not the best idea to portray the inside baseball of a serious newsroom to your TV Audience, but I didn't see a single part of that show that hasn't happened to me in real life at some point, somewhere.

 

Several years ago here, a new weekend anchor/reporter was brought in, almost fresh off another reality show and other than the boobs, the blonde hair and mini-skirts, he wasn't much different than "Anchorwoman". Just like Lauren Jones, Jeff Varner had to learn news gathering from the ground up.

 

 His first few times in front of the prompter were rough, his news gathering and writing in the field were raw, but his ambition and willingness to learn the craft outshined other reporters who came and went while he was still here. There were certainly some awkward moments just like in this show.

But by the time he left back in April, Jeff was a polished pro, reading his weekend news like a machine, and chasing other offers that were bound to come with his matured style. But on day one, we were all rolling our eyes at the 'Survivor' just like the the CBS19 employees in the first episode of "Anchorwoman".

Another colleague of mine came to mind watching "Anchorwoman". When Caron Myers started here in 2002 she had been out of TV for a while and her TV experience was mostly NASCAR related. She had to learn news gathering 101 from yours truely and when I saw Wilton take Lauren out for her first solo story I had to chuckle. The very first story that I took Caron out on when she started was to High Rock lake.

Caron was in high heels, we had to walk crazy distances to get the shots, and Caron got a taste of what real news gathering was all about.

It was tough at first for Caron but she did exactly what the Photog in "Anchorwoman" said. She listened and watched and learned, though I can remember Caron doing some of the same silly, "newsy" things that Lauren did on here first two stories.

But Caron learned quickly and today not too many reporters in the piedmont can hold a candle to her news gathering prowess.

Caron and Jeff are two anomolies of jumping into this market as rookies, but both also had the required credentials for the job.

I think it's fair that the other Anchor in the show is all worried about integrity, but in real reality this is how most young prospective reporter/anchors get in the business when they finish college.

It's usually just behind the scenes, in really small markets, there aren't ordinarly cameras following your every move and they aren't usually supermodels.

 

That usually trumps being a news anchor.

Today was Garfield's Birthday. Not the cat in the cartoon, but the kitty at the clinic.



Garfield arrived, abandoned actually, at the Guil-Rand Animal Clinic about 6 years ago. He was suffering from a BB Shot wound to his back and suffered nuerological injuries that kept him from being able to stand up without falling over.



Whoever left Garfield at the Clinic never came back for him and Garfield became the new King of the Clinic. It must have been fate because the previous clinic cat "pee'd on everything" and so he went to a new home.



Somehow the birthday party tradition was started and grew bigger everyear, with Garfields favorite humans coming to celebrate with him and while he get's trippy on the catnip and feather toys, the people have pizza, cake, chips, drinks and other snacks.



Garfield did rack up on the toys and treats. And the good news....all of his old toys, cushions and beds get donated to the rescue cats that call the clinic their temporary home.

Watch the Garfield Story HERE

You'll see this video on the Fox 8 News Satuday at 10..... Usually it's our assignment desk calling to let me know that there's a fire for me to roll to.

This time, however, it was my 12 year old step son (the one who wants to grow up and be a TV Photog too) who made the announcement.

He saw the heavy black smoke across the woods and came running in the house, out of breath and trying to spit out the pertinent information. I ran to get a look and I knew I'd better drive first and ask questions later..(I called the station on the way)

The smoke was billowing black before I arrived so I knew the fire department hadn't had time to put much water on it yet. What I didn't know was what was on fire.

I arrived to the scene in just 4 minutes. The fire was closer to my house than the roads I had to use to get there but the flames were at their peak when I arrived.

Another Fox 8 Photojournalist arrived at the same time I did. Joe Avery had just finished his shift and saw the same smoke I did on his way to his house.

Since he was still in work mode and I was just sitting at home enjoying my weekend I let him take the lead, but I popped off these pix for his posterity and because it was a heckuva fire.

 

Preliminary reports are that it's an unnoccupied dwelling and by the looks of it, quite old as well. The tax value on the house and the 6 acres it sits on is listed by Randolph County as only 99-thousand dollars.

It's only about 150 miles up the road to Lynchburg, Virginia so when I heard that Jerry Falwell had passed away yesterday I knew I better be ready to head that way. It wasn't long after that thought passed through my head that I got the call to pack a bag.

Bob Buckley and I met up with our Satellite Truck and our co-workers on the scene just 15 minutes before the start of the 5 o'clock news.

Reporter Leah Beno and photojournalist Brad Ingram had a half hour jump start on us and had a package ready for air at 5 about a local guy changing a marquee to reflect the moment.

 

To help Brad out while he finished up the edit I jumped in, set up and shot the live shot at 5 for Leah and then for Bob at 5:30.

Bob and I also had extra duties besides just turning stories for our station. We were charged with providing our sister stations across the nation with Live reports at 5, 6 and 10 on Tuesday night. (Our 10 PM Story Tuesday)

After doing live shots until 11:05 (the last one was for WTTG) our plan was for Bob and I to get to the hotel and sleep so we could also do the morning lives for our station and our affiliates.

With wakeup time at 3-30 AM we made the most of getting to bed just before midnight and getting up was just as tough as you might think.

We went on the air at 5AM and did 19 Live Shots right up to 9 AM.

After the morning show we found the man who spent time with Jerry Falwell in his last living Moments. Ronald Godwin had breakfast with Rev. Falwell on Tuesday morning.

For the noon news we did a Live Shot with Godwin's thoughts. (That Story Here)

Leah and Brad worked the dayside part of this gig staying in Lynchburg through at leastthe 6 and possibly the 10 tonight.

Major Kudos to our two Satellite operators Danny Spillane and Joe McCloskey for making all the things happen that must happen (including getting other sat trucks off our designated satellite at the last minute) for these liveshots to be coordinated for each TV Station down the line. As of 6 O'Clock Wednesday the live shot count was up to more than 30.

 

And of Course we weren't alone in Lynchburg.

 

TV Stations from across Virginia filed in one after another and all of the Networks were present and accounted for.

This was one network Setup.

The Fox Truck from DC came down.

NBC was set up next to us but there shots were cancelled unexplainably.

CBN made an appearance and we watched some of their coverage. They captured some good elements but it was shot a little sloppy for my tastes.

I will say that the staff, students, members, mourners and everyone we came across while we gathered all of our video and sound were extremely cordial and inviting. That can be tough under such circumstances.

It's not too often that an out of town trip for the purposes of gathering a news story isn't accompanied by a Hurricane, a sporting event, or a massacre at a...well you get it.



But it was none of the above that took reporter Eric White and I 90 percent of the way across the country to Yuma, Arizona to investigate some suspicious activity on the US Mexico Border.



The Stories about what's going on at the border will start Sunday night but for now I can tell you that it was a fantastic trip, although we almost thought we were going to have to come home as sone as we hit the ground in Phoenix.



We were traveling out on Monday the 16th and as soon as we landed at Sky Harbor International in Phoenix we got word of the Virginia Tech Massacre.



But the bosses insisted that we press on and put VT out of our minds. So Eric and I spent the 4 days, 65 hours and 9 hours of XD Disc trying to flesh out as many goods stories as we could find.

The title of this post means exaclty what it says. I was the local TV Pool Photographer selected to travel with the President's motorcade to all of his stops as he visited Greensboro and Randolph County today.

My day started just about 45 minutes before the gigantic 747 named Air Force One arrived with President George W. Bush onboard.

I went through all of the security checks with the rest of the media, bomb sniffing dogs, metal dectectors, and a thourough hand inspection fo all our gadgets.

As the plane taxied up to the staging area and parked the local media pool was joined with the national press as they came off the plane.

President Bush didn't waste any time getting out either and we were quickly off to 4 stops in the next 7 hours.

There were 6 of us with the local media pool.

I was there to provide video, photographer Joe Rodriguez and reporter Morgan Josey with the News and Record, photographer Paul Church and a reporter with the Asheboro Courier-Tribune, and Ria Matthews with WSJS Radio.

Our ride was a white rental van called PRESS 2 and were were given strict directions to not to fall behind when the group was leaving, to run to the van if neccessary or we would be left. Once the motorcade was rolling the driver was not allowed to stop and pick up stragglers.

Our first stop after leaving the airport was listed on the press advisory as a "lunch with community leaders". As you may know by now the lunch stop was at Stamey's BBQ resturant on High Point Road across from the Greensboro Colliseum.

We were allowed about 5 minutes inside the restaurant as the President surprised the patrons with his presence, stopping to shake hands and talk to the people, even talking to one guys wife on the other end of a cell phone call.

Soon we rejoined our van driver, also a local, Kernersville resident Darrell Davis. Davis is a friend of Jake Cashion who helps arrange the local help for the stops.

Darrell kept the conversation going and was just as excited as us to be able to follow the President so closely. He especially like being able to just drive right through all those red lights.

From Stamey's the motorcade made its way to the East side of the city to Waldo C. Falkener Elmentary School. The President visited with 2 classes wowing the kids with his presence.

The students were able to show him how what they were learning about and told him they had spent the week learning about the office of the President.

In another part of the school the media and school and local dignitaries filled an auditorium to listen to the President talk about the No Child Left Behind Legislation that he would like to see continiued.

He talked about the virtues of No Child Left Behind and touted this schools extreme success using Federal money from the program.

As the local TV Pool Photographer I had a front row speeh to the 40 minute speech.

And since all of the other media were privy to this scene I had plenty of time to watch, listen, and pop off a bunch of still pictures that you can find in my photos.

My cohorts of the newsroom were stuck at the back of the room but were no less intent on catching every syllable for their efforts for our 5, 6 and 10 o'clock news.

Remember that I wrote that once the motorcade was moving it wouldn't stop for stragglers?

One of our group was left behind after the stop at Falkener School.

Ria Matthews with WSJS Radio dropped her recorder under the media riser and was delayed while retrieving it. She never made it to the next stop. She ended up back at the airport where she retrieved her bag from the van.

Meanwhile the rest of us were with the President on to the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Level Cross.

The President met NASCAR King Richard Petty and drivers Kyle Petty, Michael Waltrip and Jimmie Johnson were also on hand to greet the President and show off the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos got some exclusive private time with the President while the rest of the media waited, sequestered in a building where we could only peep out while they walked the grounds.

After the ABC Crew went inside to do the sit down portion of their work the rest of us had some play time while we waited.

The camp had a race car, pit jack and lug wrenches staged in front of Adam's Garage for showing off pit stops.

The mostly non-NASCAR educated group wanted to call this CARJACKING. While correct as a joining of two words, it was funny to think about it as a CARJACKING.

Several of the national media tried their hand at using the pit jack and some of the Secret Service guys also gave the pitjack a look...some trying it, others not.

The President also tried his hand at a pit crew job, you may have seen it on TV in the video. He used an electric lug wrench to remove the lug nuts from a race wheel setup, but the kid from the camp was a lot faster.

After the stop at Victory Junction we road back up Highway 220 to the Irving Park Community of Greesboro where the President held a $1000 dollar per plate fundraiser at the largest home in Greensboro. Since that was closed to the press we were taken to the Greensboro Country Club and where a BBQ dinner and desert were waiting.

Around 8 we jumped back in the van and it was back to the airport, the 747 and as quickly as Air Force One landed it was in the air again.

I think it was about a week ago that my second favorite Consumer Reporter, Melissa Painter, who I work with all the time told me about a special interview scheduled for today. I had to get this assignment. It may not be a once in a lifetime, but it was a must get and I put in my dibs and and was assigned to work with her to shoot this interview.

The interview was just happend to with my favorite Consumer Reporter(no offense MP), advocate, and personal finance wizard Clark Howard

Clark has his own popular syndicated radio show, does TV Consumer Reporting, writes a column for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and has 3 books out and 1 on the way.

The interview with Clark was set up in conjunction with his visit to Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem for WZTK, the local radio station that he's on here in the Triad.

But my assignment with Clark got even cooler when he came to the station for the noon news. We interviewed him for our consumer segment after the noon segment and then we went over to Hanes Mall where he was going to sign books and do an hour of his radio show LIVE with an audience.

But before the stop at Hanes Mall, I actually had the pleasure of helping Clark save a little money. He mentioned that he wanted to get a pair of the popular new Starbury shoes. The only place to get them is as Steve and Barry's department store, which, from the station, is only a 4 mile drive, and on the way to Hanes Mall. Clark said there's no Steve and Barry's near Atlanta, so Clark followed me to Oak Hollow Mall and got himself a $9 pair of Starburys.

An hour or so later we met up with Clark again while he pre- signed more than a hundred books all while talking to anyone who wanted to chat.

He gave us great sound both during the studio interview and during the book signing.

But he came out of his seat and paused the book signings when another big fan of his came by to say hi! The man, who you can see in the picture in my photos, has also had his time on our airwaves, but only because of his own legendary status.

You probably won't Guess Who so I'll tell you. The man is Garry Peterson, the drummer of legendary rock band "The Guess Who."

Garry lives in Greensboro and Bob Buckley did a Buckley Report on Peterson about a year ago.

Garry and Clark exchanged a few stories but Clark had a bunch of books to autograph and his executive producer Christa kept prodding him to get a move on.

With 30 second to live on the air Clark rushed down a back corridor of the mall and took the stage to a standing ovation from an audience of a couple of hundred eager, inquisitive fans of his consumer advocacy.

I have always been impressed with Clark as I knew him on the radio, but even more so after spending some time watching him work in person.

He offered to carry my sticks twice...
..I bought all three of his books!