In the cold and rain

I'm triple layered

I’m tripled layered to protect against the cold and light rain during the Tartan 5K and 10K Trot.    I’m doing the shorter distance.  The St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church of Dunwoody, Georgia stages the runs to benefit their missions.

There was at least one runner wearing a ski mask.    Now 34 degrees isn’t all that cold, but I think we had been affected psychologically by the dire weather forecasts for North Georgia.  The snow and ice that fell  in the north never made it south to Metro Atlanta.  Nevertheless, the extra clothing felt good…especially when the winds blew.   Back inside the church recreation center, a group of musicians treated us with a performance that fit the theme of the Tartan Run.

THE GROUP IS THE GREAT HIGHLAND BAGPIPERS BASED IN MARIETTA, GEORGIA..LIKE DUNWOODY..ANOTHER SMALL CITY JUST OUTSIDE ATLANTA.

Chips for pets

The chips in the following story are now widely used.   When we first aired this piece, ID chips for pets were relatively new.  DON’T YOU JUST LOVE HAPPY ENDINGS!

Pernell Roberts

The death this week of Bonanza star Pernell Roberts at the age of 81 reminds me of the time WSB assigned me to be his companion for the 1978 or 1979 Peachtree Road Race.  It had been more than a dozen years since Roberts had left “Bonanza”, but he’d appeared in other TV series and was about to launch “Trapper John, M.D.”    WSB Promotions Director Jean Hendrix was able to bring several national celebrities to Atlanta for WSB-Television’s annual “Salute to America”
parade.      The parade was in the afternoon.   The Waycross, Georgia native-former Georgia Tech student told Jean he would like to run in the” Peachtree” that morning.    My recollection is that I met him at WSB.  Roberts was easy to know…not swelled up with a sense of his stardom.    I liked him.   We drove to the then starting line at the old Sears store in Buckhead.   We did some warm-ups and stretches in the streets near the start.   In shorts, Roberts looked a little heavier than the typical runner, but he ran well. I stayed with him throughout most of the race.  I was surprised that more people didn’t recognize the Bonanza star without his cowboy gear.   He seemed to like the relative anonymity before taking on his star status in the afternoon during the parade.

Holocaust UGA..1992

The year was 1992.   A controversy revolved around an ad about the “Holocaust”  in the “Red and Black”, the student newspaper at the University of Georgia.  DON’T YOU JUST LOVE ACADEMIC DEBATE?!

You can go home again

I grew up in East Tennessee.   A few years ago, I went home again…to a house where I had lived during my teenage years.    It was a nostalgic look back that is recorded on the following video.MAY YOU SOON GO HOME AGAIN!

Late snows…late cold

There’s a saying that if you don’t like the weather in Atlanta, “stick around..it often changes…and you’ll soon get what you like…”     We also seem to be in area where there are often late snows and late cold.   You’re about to see a report from 1992…. what was then was then a record cold day for late March in Atlanta.  The cold temp was short lived.  It rose to 65 degrees just 2 days later.

Braves Fever 1991

Can it be 19 years ago that Georgia first contracted Braves fever?  It would be the beginning of a record number of division titles.   From a story we did in 1991, you can see the way it was.During the record run of division championships, General manager John Schuerholz and manager Bobby Cox led them.   Perhaps the most notable players are a trio of future hall of fame pitchers:  Maddox, Glavine and Smoltz.

The kids shine..Anika too

Her mom is pointing where her daughter should run in this scene from Saturday’s Polar Bear run.  It’s at the Johnson Ferry Road Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia.  This event is for the 3 and under children.  

The race for this age group is the length of the basketball court…one time.  They were marvelous.

The getting-thinner every- day Anika Bozeman, my next door neighbor, set a recent personal record in the 5K.    She had been shooting for a sub 30 minutes, but shattered that goal with a time of 27+.    We should report that Race Director Gary Jenkins says the course was short by a little less than the length of a football field …87 yards.    But still that would probably have added only about 20 seconds to her time.

Anika and I may never tell anyone but you that the course was short.  We’ll simply report our times!

Tractor driving dog

Some of my happiest assignments over the years involve unusual animal stories.   A farmer living near Cleveland, Georgia called us to say he had a dog that could drive a tractor.    Its name was “Little Man”.  The following is the story of the dog and the farmer.  The two anchors are Don Farmer and his spouse, Chris Curle.  Both are now retired and living in Florida.   Don’s son (Chris’ stepson), Justin, is now anchoring channel 2’s 5 p.m. news

An honorary geek

My long-time friend, Ray Moore, called me because he needed help with his computers.  He’d had a young fee-based expert this week to come to his home to solve the problems, but things had gone south on Ray again.  My knowledge of computers is pretty much limited to what I need to know to do what I do.  But Ray lives only 5 minutes from me…so I was quickly on the way.     Somehow, we managed to get his desk top working again (neither of us is sure what we did).    Then came the major project, Ray’s new laptop.    Ray tells me his primary motive in buying it was to be able to read the Atlanta Journal Constitution  on his laptop in the comfort of his living room.  Without getting too techy, Ray has a router that directs traffic on his wireless system.  After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to make a connection, I called my computer Guru, Jim Nealand.   Jim gave me a couple of hints and miracle of miracles…we had a connection.     Jim helped me help Ray solve a couple of other problems.   For example,we increased  the length of time before the computer automatically goes to sleep.  After less than 2 hours with Ray, both of his computers were working well.   Jim says because of my superior performance, he is bestowing upon me the title of “Honorary Geek”!    Just call me “Geek”!