Long week. Actually, it felt like one long day. I left for the Missouri Bootheel Monday morning to shoot a follow up story on the ice storm for KOMU. I traveled with a crew from Boone Electric Co-op; they've sent linemen to the area for the past two weeks. We headed out at 9am and didn't arrive until after 4pm. It was almost 300 miles! I didn't know what to expect on my way down. When I was about 15 miles outside Sikeston I started to notice the damage. The crew stopped in Sikeston to eat and I walked around to take pictures and talk to residents. As I made my way further south the damage became worse.
Finally, I arrived in Portageville. The Boone Electric crew that I followed met up with another crew that was already there. That evening I went out with the crew to start shooting my story. When I was talking with the crew I also found out about another story. The MU Delta Center was helping feed linemen, at least 500 of them. I headed over to Rone Hall, the place where all the linemen ate. It was really a sight to see; all the electric trucks were parked outside and inside all the linemen were eating. Everyone was extremely nice. I met people from MU Extension, Charles Crawford (the manager of the Pemiscot-Dunklin Co-op) and "Shorty" (the owner of a local restaurant who was cooking all the food).
I ended up staying overnight in Portageville, I actually got the last room at the New Orleans Inn. Jake Fisher from MU said I should stay there, he called and booked the room. Everyone in the town knew each other and I'm guessing he knew the owner. When I arrived, funny story, I went to go check in and there was a note on the door that said, "Go to the bar next door." Well, I went to the bar and sure enough the owner was there and he gave me my key.
The next morning I was up at 4:30. I went over to get video of the linemen eating breakfast and did a phoner for the morning show. After breakfast I followed Shorty to his restaurant to get b-roll over there. I decided to do a story about Shorty and the fact that he was feeding around 500 men three meals a day.
After I got video at Shorty's Restaurant I met up with the Boone Electric crew to get more b-roll with them. They were setting poles all day and it was really interesting to see just how an electric pole is put in the ground. I followed the crew around for a while and then decided to head back before it got too late. When I got back to Columbia just before 11pm I uploaded all my video so I could put together my stories the next day.
My thoughts on the trip: I really learned a lot over those two days. Both of the stories I shot came out very well. And I hope I was able to convey the sense of service that I experienced with every person I met.
Links to my Stories:
Recovery and Restoration
Shorty's Service
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment