So there I am… sitting along the chain link fence in the cargo area of RDU airport. It’s cold, windy and there’s not another person anywhere to be found. On the up side, I can sit in the car, listen to NPR, read a few pages of my book. On the down side, it’s still waiting and waiting and waiting.
Earlier that morning, I hadn’t got sixteen feet east of my driveway before the text message came on my phone. “Head for the airport. You’re on stake-out duty. Call Steve.”

I call Steve; he tells me we are waiting on the federal Marshal’s to bring Allison Quets back to Raleigh to face federal kidnapping charges. Quest is accused of kidnapping her two children she gave up for adoption. She fled to Canada and it became an international news event.

The Marshals are nice guys, but they won’t tell us when or exactly where, they’ll fly Quests in to the Raleigh-Durham Airport. So it’s stake-out...

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I’m not a big “awards” guy, although I’ll admit to having a few under my belt. But some awards are better than others… and one award in particular is better than most.

The duPont-Columbia award is the 800 pound gorilla of broadcast journalism awards. According to their web site; “The purpose of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards is to bring the best in television and radio journalism to professional and public attention and to honor those who produce it.” Think about that… words like “best”, “attention” and “honor”. It says they not only celebrate great work, but tout it to others so they may follow in the example.

At the risk of sounding a tad bit conceited, I’ll mention that Stuart Watson and I share the DuPont-Columbia award for a series of reports on military medicine in 1999.

Now a couple more folks from the big 5 have a Silver Baton as...

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Friday January 5th. Retirement date of Fast Freddie Taylor.

"Its the first day I haven't had a job since I was a sophomore in high school and that was in 1957," Taylor explained. "I don't know how it's going to feel not to have a job. I'm going to try to enjoy it."

As of the 2nd week of 2007 he will be on permanent vacation.

It's hard to believe he's actually leaving the big 5. He's taken the television station through many a milestone. According to his colleagues he's paved the way for many of the operations we do today without thinking. Fred Taylor was the first reporter to begin doing reports from the field. Taylor was the first reporter to work out of our satellite truck. He covered new laws taking hold in our state legislature, he sent crews to stories, he anchored newscasts. He's an icon of all that we are today.

Deborah Morgan recalled her first impression of the television station, "Fred was there and

...

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Don Ingle is one of the good guys. You just can’t describe him any better than that. He’s an even-tempered, polite and creative guy… and he’s getting out of the news business.

Don is getting out of the fast-paced, high stress life as a TV News Photographer for the quiet, relaxing and seemingly simple life as an 8th grade math teacher. I’m guessing he’s in for a bit of a surprise. But I’m not writing about what’s next for Don, this is simply to celebrate his time with us at the big 5.

Don’s earned a few awards for his photography, but beyond that, he’s earned the respect of his peers. That’s an award that’s tough to get, and even tougher to hang on the wall.

Don has worked with Reporter Julia Lewis in Durham for most of his tenure here; I’ll let her explain what makes him so special;

“Don always refers to me as his second wife. And, ya know-...

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Some artists paint with oils, other prefer to pencil sketch. Many can do both, but choose one over the other. While most prefer to use canvas, here in the south it’s not unusual to find a beautiful landscape painted across an old saw blade.

I’ve known plumbers good with wiring and dump truck drivers who can easily operate a Grade-all. The point is, just because you choose one aspect of an artistic endeavor to concentrate your talent, it doesn’t mean you don’t occasionally branch out and produce work outside your norm.

The same is true for TV News. I’m a “News Photographer”. I prefer to use my lens and editing talents to tell my part of the story. But occasionally I write news stories, and I’m pretty good at that. If it wasn’t for my southern accent and my status as “attractively challenged” I might just appear on camera too.

I know some reporters who are pretty...

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