Reading Buddies

Before I became Sand Mountain Bureau Chief, Trace Trylko was the guy. He and Brad started doing celebrity reading across Marshall County. It helps promote the Reading Buddy program. They get people to volunteer to read to kids in area schools.

So when I came along I took over. It's one of the best parts of this job. This morning we started a new year with Sloman Primary in Douglas.
I'm not sure why I've got that look on my face.

Katrina Hits Hard

It looks like our neighbors to the south have been hit hard by Katrina. It looks much worse than Ivan last year.

We did have a tornado warning for Marshall County last night around midnight. I called in and talked with Dan on the air. That's about it for us. We seem to have been spared, unlike those folks down on the gulf. Maybe this is the last Hurricane of the season.

A Big Task, Can Anyone Help???

I talked below about the planning of our ten year reunion. The meeting went well. I saw two people I haven't seen in a long time, Eddie Alley and Gary Knotts. Eddie is an assistant DA in Tuscaloosa. Gary is a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers.

We were all given cards with the names of classmates on them, with the job of tracking them down. I thought some of you might possibly know where these people are located. Here is the list of people I can't seem to find.

Kristy Maxim
Kathy Mintz
Shanna Napier
Chris Whited
Sterlin Woods
Karen Brown
Shannon Fortenberry
Donnie Green

If you know where these people are, send me an email at carson.clark@whnt.com

The Brewer Alumni Page is at http://www.apbrewer.com/?PageName='Alumni'

Coming Up Tonight

Never Mind The Post Below- Maybe Tomorrow

I've seen a lot of storm damage. I've seen tornado damage, straight line wind damage, microburst damage, flood damage, hurricane damage, hail damage, but never what I saw today.

You will see it tonight at 6, a house destroyed by a lightning strike. It didn't catch on fire, it was actually damaged by the strike itself. It hit a tree in the backyard, causing the tree to explode. Big pieces of the tree are lodged in walls inside the house. The VCR exploded. The gutters on the house blew apart. There's a door frame inside the house blown out. The house will have to be gutted, because all of the wiring in the house is toast. It also blew out all of the plumbing underneath the house.

So be sure to watch at 6.

Katrina On the Way

Well, Katrina is on her way and there's nothing that can be done about it. It's something so destructive, yet it's just nature. Hurricanes have been hitting the gulf coast since the beginning of time. The only difference, we decided to build cities and buildings in places where we probably shouldn't.

Katrina will probably be felt here in North Alabama. I'm sure we'll be live out in the blowing wind and rain. Let's hope and pray we're all spared the worst, including our friends to the south.

Class of 95 Revisited

I found out this week, that my class will have a reunion this year. It's scheduled for October 14th and 15th. At first, we didn't think there would be one and then at the last minute it's all kind of come together. Cole Mahan, who was the president of our class and Karla Russell who was the treasurer are now married. So they're getting it all together. They've asked me to help them round up everybody. But to be honest, with our class of 200 plus, I know where very few are now. And I've actually seen even fewer in the past couple of years. But it should be fun to see everyone, if I get to go. October 14th is a Football Friday night and October 15th I volunteered to work for Amber Moody, because she's getting married. I may have to sit this one out.

There are bonus points if you can tell which person in the picture is me.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Tomorrow night FOOTBALL RETURNS. The two best things about this job are reading to kids with the Reading Buddies program and Football Friday. We have a lot of fun doing that show and I think it shows. We are alll over the place. Sand Mountain, Decatur, the Shoals. The Sand Mountain Locker Room set you see above will look much better once it gets on TV.

Lord I Hope This Day is Good

Today I bought two new CD's. I bought Don Williams. He sings songs like Lord I Hope This Day is Good and Good Ole Boys Like Me.

I also bought a Rob Thomas CD. I wish I had saved my money on that one.

Don Williams and Rob Thomas are a stange combination I guess. But they didn't have any Clay Aiken, dang it.

The Fight To Get Your Stuff on the Tube

Yesterday I did a story about Skyline getting a football team and how most of their gear came from Ebay. That story ended up as the very last story in the 6pm show.

Today, my story didn't make it into the 5, the 6 or the 10. Which means it will be held. It could run tomorrow, it could run next week. It's hard to say. The other stories of the day were just more compelling than mine.

But, that's the way it goes.

Edit: Well, the 10 producer Patrick, just called and wanted to know where the package is? He is using it for the 10. Well, sorry to say we didn't feed it over. I thought it was being held for tomorrow. Will it make it into the 10 tonight. I guess you and I will have to watch to see.

More Pictures I'm Sure Only I Care About

I've been scanning some of the pictures from childhood into the computer. I can't imagine why any of you would care, but I thought I would share them here. That's my dad standing there in front of the horse. What a stupid looking hat.

Things on My Desk

I was looking at the stuff that's on my desk here at the bureau.















This is the overall view. This is actually desk number two. Under the blue pouch is a passport application I've been meaning to fill out for the past year. On the right is a bottle from the Riley innaguaration which I covered back in 2003. In the back right is a Fyffe Red Devil that the Fyffe cheerleaders gave me and a 7Up Bottle from 1976, the year I was born. Back on the left is a picture of the Space Shuttle Columbia as it was lifting off on its and the shuttle program's maiden voyage in 1981. I got that picture at the 20th Anniversary party out at Marshall.
















This is a picture of the Carson Clark Gallery. It's real place in Scotland. A former teacher of mine took that picture for me.

I Should Explain

The post I made below titled An Interesting Encounter seems to have thrown people a loop. What am I talking about? Where am I going?

Well, rest easy. What I'm talking about is this: possibly joining the Air Force Reserve. It's something I've wanted to do and something I've regretted not doing. I went and talked to a recruiter. I would be ready to sign on the dotted line, if it weren't for the long initial training. I found out that while basic training is 7 weeks, I would go straight from there to tech school. So he told me I would be gone from 4 to 5 months.

4 to 5 months is a long time to be gone. I could understand if I were called to active duty to be sent somewhere. But 4 or 5 months at a tech school in Texas or Oklahoma is more than I can handle right now I'm afraid. I've gotten in touch with a Reserve Officer recruiter in Montgomery. She's supposed to call me back. I'll try to post what happens, if anything.

Up Up and Away

Today we got to scratch off one of those things you always want to do. We rode in a hot air balloon at the Fyffe UFO Festival.

How About Cutting Out Those Brewskies Kid?

I found this picture of me tonight. I'm not sure if I should look at it and think, "well, there's a cute kid with a birthday hat on, pretending to talk on the phone." Or, "dang, there's a two-year-old who looks like he's got a beer belly." That was back in my blond hair days. I wonder what happened to it?

Under the Weather

For the first time since I started this blog in March, I took a sick day today. I went to the doctor and I have to say, that I like this guy. You're in, he sees you and you're out. He gave me some medicine and hopes that I'm feeling better in two to three weeks. I've got to go back in a month.

An Interesting Encounter

Today Brad and I went to Albertville High School to do a story. We interviewed principal Paul McAbee. As we were leaving his office, he said, "Carson come here for a second." He looked at me and said, "you've got to find what you want to do and go do it. And do what you have to do to make it happen."

I'm not sure why he decided to tell me this. But I do have something in mind that I've always wanted to do and regretted not doing sooner. Maybe now is the time to "Cross Into the Blue". I guess time will tell.

Real World P.E.

For more pictures head over to Brad's blog at http://www.photogsandmtn.blogspot.com/

I bought a basketball goal today. Brad put it together. In addition to our lunch break, the company gives us two 15 minute breaks a day. So instead of just sitting around, we decided we should have some fun on our breaks.

I think more offices and more people would probably be in better shape, if the employees could go out and play a game of horse during their break. Why do you need P.E. through school, but not after?

Atlanta Braves

Saturday I went to my first Atlanta Braves game. Turner Field is nice. The seats were good, right up behind home plate and underneath the awning. So there was no hot sun beating down, but still hot. The Braves won, so that was also good.

While I was in Atlanta I was watching Fox 5. They showed a cow stuck in a septic tank. It turns out it was the story and video Brad shot on Friday. It's kind of cool to see video you know was shot in your neck of the woods on another station, in another town.

Here is to the Week

I only worked three days this week. Monday and Tuesday I was off. Sometimes the abbreviated weeks seem to go by slower than the 5 day weeks.

This is another one I'll be glad to see behind me. Come on Football.

I wonder how many of you who read this blog have ever had a yellow meated watermelon? They are hard to find and usually expensive. I've always liked them. I had one tonight. 

My cousins Avery and Ali. 

That Time of Year Again

Brad is getting all the schedules worked out for Football Friday. It starts two weeks from Friday.

Thundercats Are on the Loose

I just saw where the first season of Thundercats is on DVD. I loved the Thundercats. It used to come on everday at 4pm on WZDX. I loved that show. I might have to fork over the 50 bucks for that. Ummm, probably not.

Southern Sign

When I was growing up, I always heard people say that astrology was straight from Satan himself. And if you read the horoscope in the newspaper, they could be written for just about anyone. Although, I have to admit, the description of a Libra, pretty much fits me.

Today, I ran across the Southern Signs. Libra's are Boiled Peanuts in the Southern Signs. Here is my description: You have a passionate desire to help your fellow man. Unfortunately, those who know you best, your friends and loved ones, may find that your personality is much too salty, and their criticism will affect you deeply because you are really much softer than you appear. You should go right ahead and marry anybody you want to because in a certain way, yours is a charmed life. On the road of life, you can be sure that people will always pull over and stop for you.
To find yours, go here: http://www.southernconnoisseur.com/soutzodsigwh.html

A word of warning, if your birthday is between March 21 and April 20, it's not good.

No Suit For Me

Beware if you ever see a reporter come up to you with a mic and he's wearing a suit. He might not be the real thing.

Well, that's probably a little too much. But I got to thinking that I couldn't wear a suit to work everyday if I wanted to. I guess I could, but I'm fairly certain that within a week or two, I'd be out of suits.

I never know when I'm going to have to walk across a field, through the woods or mud to get to a story. I've had to climb through barbed wire fences, walk through chicken "stuff", and jump across creeks. How could anyone wear a suit and do this job?

Just Saturday covering the 200th Birthday event in downtown Huntsville, I came back to the station with mud all over my shoes and pants. So if you see me out, I'll probably just be in some khaki pants and some regular shoes. Please don't expect a suit, I'm a real reporter.

Goodbye Summer

With Summer vacation coming to an end this week for most kids, I got to thinking about my summers.
My cousin Matthew Abercrombie who was one year younger than me, lived right across the road. So we spent our summers playing with each other. Behind his house were pine trees. They were all over the place. We would spend hours playing in there. I still don't know how we kept from getting a snake bite. They say the Lord looks after fools and kids.

There were trails cut through these woods. We had them named. There was Matthew Avenue and Carson Drive. We also had this little trail that would dip down, back up, and down again. We called it Roller Coaster Road. Then, somewhere, we found an old piece of would that looked like a Rocket. So we changed the name of the road to Rocket Road.

The centerpiece of our little play world was our tree house. You can see what's left of it in the picture. It used to stand about 20 feet in the air, until the legs rotted out from under it. We had a cable that ran from the top of the front porch down to a pine tree. The cable had a pulley on it, which had a rope and a handle tied to it. So we could stand at the front porch of the tree house and slide down this cable to the ground. We had hours of fun on that thing. The tree house had electricity run to it. There was a bed inside and a poster of Big Foot.

As sad as it is, the tree house has fallen and the trees have all been cut down. But I still have memories of a time when there were no worries, no cares. I sure do miss those days.

This is the pond where we fished and I'm ashamed to say, swam. Cows used the pond and I don't know how we kept from getting some disease. 

I forgot this picture I should have included below. We won the game and I had the winning shot. It was nothing dramatic, I was just the last person to score. Which to me counts as the winning shot. 

On October 2, 2002 (my birthday) a group of us went up to DAR School, for a charity basketball game. I found the pictures tonight and thought I would share them. I look like I was really helping out there.

I look like I had given up. I probably had. 

Hey, it's Tom Perkins. 

Robert is a mean basketball playing machine. 

Run Forrest, Run!!! 

Friday Night Blues

Friday Night Blues, that's a country song by the way. John Conlee sings it. Well, that's me. I've got to work tomorrow, Saturday. And it's an early shift on top of that. I will be working in Huntsville, covering the big birthday bash for the city of Huntsville.

Those Friday Night Blues, they get in your shoes and they work to get you down.

Roll Tide

Ten years ago this week, I left home for the University of Alabama. I went down early, because Football practice started several weeks before classes. I was working with the athletic department, taping practice.

It was a big change. It was also lonely. Tuscaloosa was a ghost town. The summer semester had ended and the fall hadn't yet begun. I just remember how quiet everything was, especially at night. And here I was an 18-year-old, away from home for the first time.

The summer of '95 was a hot one. We had two practices a day. One around 10 in the morning and another around 3pm. Sometimes the 10am would be hotter. Man we would get hot. Of course no where near as hot as the players. That first week of practice, there was a lot throwing up.

I shot video from a tower above the practice field. You would haul your camera, beta recorder and gear out to the tower. You would put it in a metal basket, climb the tower and then turn a crank to get it to the top. There was one tower that had no basket. So you tied a rope around a very expensive piece of equipment and brought it up. I always knew it was going to break and fall, but it never did.

My job was to shoot offense wide. A guy in the tower with me, Jason Lamb, would shoot offense tight. There were two guys on the Defensive practice field who did the same thing, Matt Roper and Norm Love III. I can't leave out the III part. The last I heard of Matt Roper, he was working at the CNN Airport channel. His job, to edit out any news that might be negative about air travel. I'm not kidding. I haven't heard from Jason or Norm in awhile.

There were three fields at the practice field facility. The Red, the White and the Blue fields. The red field was Defense, the White Offense and the Blue kicking. I always thought the kickers had the best job on the team. They would kick at the beginning of practice, go inside and play wiffle ball, then come back out and kick at the end of practice.

When I got to work everyday, our boss would have a little slip of paper that told us what parts of practice we shot that day. I'm sorry to say that I can't remember exactly what those pieces of paper would say exactly. I probably have one saved somewhere.

So we shot practice. I also helped out at home games. It was pretty nice. I would help set up the shooting equipment and then spend the rest of the game on the sidelines. I've actually tossed around a football inside Bryant-Denny Stadium and Legion Field. You got to have a pregame meal in the field house. Then at half-time, you went back and had a hotdog or some popcorn. After the game, I'd help take everything back down.

I also got two pairs of new Nikes. I got two pairs of UA shorts and two UA shirts that were to be used at practice. We also had a game day uniform, that consisted of shorts and a golf shirt. For colder or wet weather, we had UA sweats and a UA rain suit. I still have all those clothes.

After the season ended, which was after the Auburn game, (The Tide was on probation) we still got paid. We got paid until the following April. We did have to shoot Spring practice and a gymnastics tournament

I hate that there is not a single picture of me working for UA. I've thought about going to the Bryant Museum and looking through their pictures to see if I could find one.

The 1995 Season wasn't a good one for the Tide. We went 8 and 3. (Hey, that dont' sound half bad right now.) As I said, we were on probation. We also lost to Tennessee for the first time in 10 years. We were told to be very careful leaving the field. They told us not to make eye contact with the Tennessee fans in the stadium. We went into the locker room under a storm of oranges, cups and popcorn. I just kept thinking, "Dang, you won. Why are you throwing things at us?" We also lost to Auburn that year. But that was back in the days when we were taking turns with the Tigers. We would win one, and then they would win one. We had won in 1994 and would again in 1996. So 1995 was their year.

By the way, I only had one meeting with Coach Stallings. One day I passed him on the stairs at the football complex. I said, "hi coach." He never looked up at me and all he could seem to do was muster a grunt. I couldn't wait to tell my dad; Coach Stallings had grunted at me.

The Forgotten Soldier

With the news that 14 Marines have been killed in Iraq, I got to thinking about another situation there. How many of you knew that there is a missing soldier in Iraq? His name is Matt Maupin. He's been missing since April of 2004. Yet you never hear anything about him anymore. He's the only missing American service member in Iraq. It seems that would make a very compelling story, but for some reason it doesn't.

Here is a link to some of the background on the story.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/11/09/maupin_late.html

Nothing New Today

There will be no post for August 2nd.

I spent some time this afternoon on my Dad's 4 wheeler. That's always fun. 

The ground beneath my feet. 

One Year Ago

Tomorrow will mark one year since my grandmother, Ruth Garrett, passed away. I lost both my grandmothers last year. The first in March (the moon rock grandmother) and then my Mom's Mom August 2nd.

In the picture, which isn't of very good quality, is my grandmother's family; My grandpaw, my uncles, aunts, cousins everyone one of us. She's on the right side in the denim jacket and red shirt. That picture was taken in August of 2001, right before my grandmother became very sick. She had been diagnosed with cancer right before Christmas. She seemed to bounce back, but all the chemo seemed to hurt her even more. She slowly slipped away. She fought a tough battle for four years. I miss her and my other grandmother a lot. I plan on seeing them again someday.

VJ Days Ahead

Brad is off this week (again!) He's spending some time with his kids before they head back to school next week.

So all this week I will be a VJ(video journalist). So I dress in a hybrid style. During the day, I dress like a photog, with shorts and short sleeve shirts. TV time, the long sleeve shirt and tie comes on.