Kilroy Was Here!

For the Love of the Free Press

-or why I no longer open my door to strangers with cameras.

Lately, I've learned that answering the door can have strange result. Amid the package tossing UPS men and popcorn toting Boy Scouts, I found a TV news reporter on my doorstep one Fall day in 1999. He informed me that a truck carrying a hamburger sized brick of plutonium would be traveling down I-94. He decided, since I am blessed enough to live down the street from I-94, to ask my opinion of the situation. ...Actually, I was just the only poor soul on the street that was home that day.

Here are the rotten pictures from the occasion:

(Above L-R) This was really just a classic bad hair day... that's all I have to say about the first pic. The next shot is of a lovely map of the Plutonium truck's path. My city (Michigan City) is not listed on this map. The third pic is of the bustling traffic on I-94 and finally, the pic at left is of my nice, quiet and abandoned neighborhood.

Update: The plutonium was re-routed, so no Three Mile Island Revisited for me! Also, my hair does not look quite that hellish.

If you're really really brave..... you can hear the wav -of my pathetic pittance of an opinion, that is. It's right here @ 221kb!

TV Part Duex!

In July of 2001 I had a chance to redeem myself to TV viewers everywhere... Would you believe TV viewers that get TV Land? Starting in April, TV Land began airing Get Smart -actually, I liken the 47 hour marathon of the show on April fools day to a holiday! All my Christmases, however, were vested in the documentary Get Smart: Inside TV Land which TV Land aired at the end of July. For that, I provided footage from The Bill Dana Show and a copy of The Get Smart Files. 'Twas an excellent documentary -and I'm not just saying that because they put my name in the photo credits :-P

Above: Would you believe it's every corn-fed Hoosier's dream to see her name in the Get Smart end credits?

Fun with Cable TV!

This is A&E...and below are two screen caps from an episode of A&E's Biography. In November 2003 the Get Smart Gathering was held. During the dinner with the cast of Get Smart, A&E did some filming for the Don Adams Biography. So the question was asked months later, when was this show going to air and did any of us get in the picture? Finally in October 2004 the episode aired! Near the end of the program they showed a few shots from the Gathering --including the one below. I actually sat across from Don *squee* so....the back of my head and my shoulder was on A&E for like three seconds. WoW. I finally got around to making a screen cap --which was incredibly difficult to do since the thing flashed on so fast.

Okay, here's the footage they used from the dinner. Don't blink! Don Adams is at the center of the table... he's either sitting down or standing up. I'm the brunette at the lower right corner. The picture on the right is the same, of course, I've just labeled it as to who people are.

The CNN Incident

It's always a good idea to stick people you're interviewing directly in the sun. That way they look all squinty like Columbo. Yes, I was on CNN for three wild minutes. That's me looking shifty-eyed in the frame at right and CNN co-anchor Daryn Kagan is at left. This was not under good circumstances. In fact it was under very rotten circumstances so I'm not excited about it.

In April 2005 Jeff Ake, an area businessman, was reported being held hostage in Iraq. I had interviewed him in 2004. Once the news hit, media hit LaPorte County in flocks and droves. Since there was little information to report, they relied on interviewing other reporters -me being the other reporter. The transcript can be read here. They also shot another interview after this one, but it was never aired. There has been no news on Mr. Ake. Another reporter and I received an HSPA for our own coverage of this unfortunate event.