Back on Election Day, I told you about the problem I had when I went to vote..

I’m just glad I didn’t need my voter registration card, which arrived in the mail on Friday, November 16.

Now, I can’t blame the Postal Service for late delivery, because the postage wasn’t printed on the card until November 15.  Take a look for yourself…

The weather was crisp and clear for “Celebrate Hope”, an annual, elegant fundraiser for the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute.  There was plenty of food for those who came out for the evening, and plenty of live music to go along with it.

The event grossed in the neighborhood of $450,000, which will be used to improve the health of those along the Gulf Coast.

Here’s a link to the story on the 9pm news…

I was talking to a college administrator this week and asked him to look into his crystal ball to predict the future of American higher education, post-election.

It became a lesson on the ”lesser of two evils”.

The Republicans, he told me, tend to favor “for profit” institutions, which most liberal arts schools are not.

The Democrats, he said, would like to see an expansion of the two-year community college system, which would impact the enrollment (and cash flow) of four-year traditional institutions.

With research showing that 1 in 5 households faces student loan debt, can graduates of 4 year schools pay off their ever growing debt while earning entry-level salaries–providing they can find work at all?

I got a shock when I handed over my driver’s license to election officials this morning, only to find out I had already voted.

Except I hadn’t.

My wife did vote by absentee ballot and someone working for the court wrote the information for my wife, next to my name.

That’s when was sent to the corner to enter the World of the Provisional Ballot.

I had to give information dating back to where I was born (I was tempted to write “next to my mother”, but didn’t), when I was born, etc., then seal that in an envelope, and seal that envelope in another envelope before inserting my now, double-sealed ballot in a yellow cardboard box with a slit in the side.

But at least I did get a lot of personal attention and an “I Voted!” sticker.

I just watched a young man die.

A number of reporters and photographers gathered at the Mobile County Sheriff’s office to watch the silent, surveillance video of the last few moments of Gil Collar’s life, the USA student who was shot and killed by a campus police officer.

According to the time code on the video we saw, at 1:23:15, Collar, who was naked, walked up to the front door of the USA Campus Police station.  He pulled on the locked door and then walked out of frame.

At 1:23:38 he is back in frame, pounding at least 6 times on the window on the front of the police station.

At 1:24:01, an officer comes out of the door of the police station, weapon drawn, looking left and right and seeing Collar in front of him.

Collar started chasing after the officer, forcing him to run backward.  Collar drops onto his knees at one point, and quickly moves toward the officer, apparently taunting him.

They run around the front of the police station to a grassy area and that’s where you can see Collar drop to his knees.  Sheriff Sam Cochran, who was narrating some of the video explained that was the point where Collar was hit by one shot.  I did not see any flash accompanying the shot.

A dispatcher who was inside the police station rushes out, sees what it happening and runs back inside.

A second officer arrives.  Collar gets up and starts running again.  He then runs away from the officers, falls to his knees again, tries to get up, then collapses at 1:25:05 on the tape.

A third officer arrives after Collar is down.

You can watch my report by clicking here.

These are some of my favorite pictures from Bayfest 2012 (thanks to a great photographer, Kyle Claude!)

The Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council sponsored “Worlds of Opportunity” for Mobile County eighth graders at the Mobile Civic Center.  It gave students a chance to choose from a buffet of businesses to see what interested them.  Matt Barrentine and I signed a lot of hard hats!

We get a lot of e-mails addressed to our newsroom, but one in particular caught my eye and tugged at my heart.

It was from the VFW in northwest Florida, looking for some publicity about its “Voice of Democracy” and ‘The Patriot’s Pen” essay programs.

I can honestly say if it hadn’t been for the encouragement of my parents and some kind words from some folks at a local radio station, I might have done something completely different with my life.

My dad was a World War II veteran who served in the 94th Division and was a member of VFW Post 511 in my hometown.  When he heard his Post was sponsoring its “Voice of Democracy” oratory contest for high school students, he encouraged me to enter, so I did.

Part of the competition involved the contestants making a professional recording of our speeches on an afternoon after school.  For that, all of us visited a small radio station on the edge of town.  In my case it was WRYM 840AM.  It was in a tiny brick building set in a swamp.  I remember going down into the basement, sitting in a soundproof booth and watching as an engineer gave me a cue to start talking.  I recorded my short speech in one take as I remember, and when I came out, the engineer asked me if I had ever considered a career in radio.  At that age, I hadn’t considered a career in anything, but it sounded like fun.  He gave us a quick tour of the studios and I was fascinated by the AP Teletype machine, a kind of automated typewriter that banged out the news, letter by letter.  As we were watching, bells started ringing from the machine, and I watched as it printed the news that a long retired baseball player had just died.  I was watching news as it happened.  I was hooked!

Recording the speeches allowed them to be judged on their merit, and while I didn’t win, let’s say I finished in the top 3, enough to receive a Savings Bond and a certificate presented by Senator Thomas Dodd (the father of former Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd), who autographed the certificate for me.  I remember him laughing at how much I was smiling on the way to the front of the auditorium.

Seeing that e-mail today brought back many pleasant memories of my first, big break, thanks to the VFW.

NHC Forecast

Isaac Models

We now under a HURRICANE WARNING from Destin to New Orleans as Isaac tracks past the Florida Keys. Most models have a landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Tuesday night, with tropical storm conditions possible during the day on Tuesday out ahead of the system. As far as the track is concerned, it’s an either/or scenario. Two reliable European models continue to forecast the storm will be picked up by a trough over the SE and pull the storm into South Alabama. All of the other reliable models have the trough missing Isaac and the storm continuing it’s northwestward path towards SE LA. If you look at the NHC official track it’s a compromise between those two scenarios witha landfall in Mississippi. At this point, it’s too early to tell which one of these scenarios might be right so we need be getting ready!

The intensity forecast is always more problamatic, but most models continue to trend towards a Category 1 (75-95 mph) or a Category 2 (96-110 mph). A lot of that depends on the exact track of the storm over the Gulf.

The weather will stay nice through Monday night giving us a window of time to prepare.

This morning, I asked Sue Sperry of AT&T about the availability of cell phone service and home phone service for U-Verse customers should our part of the Gulf Coast lose power. (I remember after a past storm, cell phone service died about 24 hours after the main power did).

This is some what she sent in reply:

“We should not lose power to cell sites – most are on generators, which have been topped off, and we have a staging area in Mobile where we will have tankers brought in to refuel any sites that get low.

· All sites have additional battery backup as well.

· The issue with wireless service is when everyone is trying to make calls, and the towers can’t handle that amount of traffic. Best bet is to plan in advance where everyone will be, use text messaging because it uses much less bandwith, and limit calls to necessary ones. During the height of the storm, we all need to help keep the system open so that first responders can get through.

· U-verse uses the landline system to connect to the video hub, so U-verse customers will be fine as long as they have power and there isn’t damage to the landline system. HOWEVER high winds can destroy aerial cables, and that can cause a service outage.”

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