Stop and Smell the People

Five big stories and a milestone…

SASTP is coming up on  a milestone. 150,000 readers. I’m told that’s a lot for a blog.

If you’ve been counting, I’m three “contest winners” behind. The two who tied for 130,000, Nic and Donna, and the winner at 140,000, Don. I’m not sure what to do about it. It’s been a weird, WEIRD busy time for me and the WDBJ news team.

In the last 45 days in this sleepy little part of Virginia we have had no less than 5 national news stories. They were of the nature that we all work extra hours and days to cover them. And whatever time I’ve had left I devoted to Anna and baby Crowley. I thank the dear lord that Anna is a journalist. She fully understands.

It started Dec 18, 19 & 20 –Friday, Saturday & Sunday– with a snowstorm the likes of which they haven’t seen around here in almost 15 years. We got 18 inches in Roanoke and along the Blue Ridge. Up to two-feet fell on the western slopes of the Allegheny Mountains just to the north of the city. (Roanoke sites in a valley between those two mountain ranges.) An estimated 1000 drivers were stranded on a ten-mile stretch of Interstate 81 north of the city. We were the only media outlet to get there and tell the story.

A couple days later on December 23, a man hops in his car in Bristol, Tennessee, and drives to Virginia and waltzes into a small town post office on the far western edge of our TV station’s viewing area. He has four guns and claims to have a bomb. Says he’s going to blow the place up. He shoots three bullets through the front window of the Wytheville post office for emphasis and takes three people hostage. It was a long day and night here. It ended with no bloodshed.

In the second week of January a Roaonake man told police three men forced their way into his home, knocked him out, tied up his 3-year-old and kidnapped his 2-year-old stepson, Aveione Lewis. The whole state was on the manhunt and Nancy Grace turned it into a national story… Continue reading ‘Five big stories and a milestone…’

Rebecca gave her word…

Many of them gave her hugs and thanked her for being there. Some soldiers got off the bus and avoided her. They had been in Iraq for many months but when they stepped off the bus in North Carolina they didn’t say a word to Rebecca.

Later a few sent her e-mails or left voice mails explaining. It was guilt. They felt they had failed her. One said, “I promised you I’d bring Carlos back and I didn’t. I couldn’t face you.” Of course Rebecca feels none of that. She is only grateful to these men and women who stood next to Carlos on the wall. The wall between us and chaos.

When Rebecca arrived earlier in the day it wasn’t until she parked the car at the armory when her heart started pounding. That’s when it became real. She said a silent prayer to Carlos and asked for strength. She talks to him frequently.

It was Wednesday evening and Rebecca Baldeosingh was standing behind a group of military families waving banners and signs welcoming home their husbands and wives from Iraq. The NC National Guard 1/120^th Infantry left for Iraq nearly a year ago. In the middle of their deployment four of them were blown up by and IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in Baghdad. Carlos Baldeosingh was one of those four.

I’ve written at length about Carlos’ tragic death (just hours after he told Rebecca by phone from Iraq that he felt nervous about his mission that day)… and how Rebecca found out what happened to him and what would come of her three young girls in the aftermath.

But Wednesday was six months after Carlos was killed on the streets of Baghdad. Rebecca was supposed to be standing here in a cold February rain with butterflies in her stomach waiting to catch the first glimpse of her soul mate and husband stepping off that bus. On a dark chilly evening all these families will go home happier than they have been for a long, long time. But one wife will go home alone tonight.

She put on a brave face through it all. She was there because she had given her word. Come hell or high water Rebecca would go and welcome home Carlos’ brothers and sisters. She hugged and talked to whomever greeted her. Patiently waiting for each soldier to grab his family and head home.

Then after it quieted down, she found an empty room, sat down alone… and cried.

This is war… MR

New Snow Storm on the way!

Thank goodness between the two snow storms we’ve had, Crowley has acquired a taste for his snowsuit! The first time I put it on him, he just cried… couldn’t move and cried! 30 days of strength training later and he can at least move his arms (more like a weak wave), though sitting up for long in the stiff quilted outfit… not so much!

So another foot or so is coming which is fine with me. I love it! Even though I have lived in frozen tundras of Syracuse and Utica, NY, along with some time served in Boston… I still love the snow. LOVE IT! Raised in the Carolinas, the little girl in me jumps for joy every singe time a flake falls from the sky… especially now that I am not rushing out the door to cover it for the news!

Mike is.  Hee hee… Anna