Author: Jonathan Blundell

I'm a husband, father of three, blogger, podcaster, author and media geek who is hoping to live a simple life and follow The Way.

Sick of the Texas Legislature Day

The Lone Star Iconoclast, the only paper in Texas to endorse Kerry president writes, “It is time for a job action. Texas teachers should declare, ‘I’m Sick Of The Texas Legislature’ Day on Sept. 12.
Call in sick.
Stay home.
No strike, no protest.”
I don’t agree with the entire editorial, but seriously, the house has wasted time debating cheerleaders dance moves and has brought a telecommunications bill to the table numerous times, that would give phone companies a statewide franchise and would steal money from cities and allow them to provide whatever service wherever they wanted and deny service wherever they wanted anywhere in the state.
Pete Sessions is trying to pass a country-wide bill in the U.S. House.
What if we all called in sick on the 12th?
I think someone might get a hint that we’re fed up.

Prayer


God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Oh – and a home on the range would be nice too.

Peter Jennings Aftermath

The NY Times has an interesting piece on the vacancy left by Jennings at ABC News.
If Charles Gibson is left in his place on Good Morning America, does that signify a shift in the network belief that the morning news program is their most valuable news program? Or is it a move to place a younger anchor in Jennings place who can have a long lustrious career like Jennings?

Random survey

Found this while researching something on the web – totally random – but so am I.
Ok, so I usually think stuff like this is annoying, but Hey, I was bored….

1. Pick a band and answer only using the band’s song titles: U2 (as if there is another band)
2. Are you male or female: Stories for Boys
3. Describe how you feel about yourself: Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of or Staring at the Sun
4. Your best piece of advice: Walk On
5. Describe your last relationship: Lady With the Spinning Head or Salome
6. Describe your current crush: Babyface or The Sweetest Thing or Hallelujah Here She Comes
7. Say something to someone you have a crush on: All I Want is You or I Will Follow
8. Say something to an ex: Exit or So Cruel
9. Say something to someone who you hurt severely: Is That All?
10. How do you feel right now: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

Aight, your turn. Send me a link to the answers on your blog or in my comment section.

Seriously… read this book

Seriously… you have to read this book: This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.
I finally finished it last night. It took me a couple weeks because I never had/took the time to actually sit down and read, it was more of a chapter or two here and a chapter or two there.
But last night I read from around 9 to midnight and finished it all up. Wow. Good stuff.
It’s fiction of course, but I think based a lot on reality. I don’t think we really have any idea of the things going on around us in the spiritual realm. It’s opened my eyes and I tend to be a lot more aware of things going on around me now.
I can’t really put a finger on it or describe it – but there is a battle going on over souls all around us.
Well time to head back to the salt mines.

Reporting death

The Iraq memorial from Basra

I’m never a huge fan of writing stories about death, but yet at the same time I’m intrigued by them.

I’ve written several in my short journalism career and it’s never been easy to do, but I don’t shy away from them either.

My first story was about two students murdered from my University. It was an odd story, because like most murders there wasn’t much information about it. And as a reporter for a college newspaper it was difficult to get local authorities to give me much information. But I was out to get every ounce I could and probably annoyed some people along the way.

The second story was about the first soldier from Belton killed in Iraq.

I also wrote a brief story about a soldier who named Belton as home, but lived in Kentucky with his family at the time of his death.

Today I discovered a former Harker Heights resident and Fort Hood soldier was killed in a plane crash Saturday.

I debated on telling the story. It ran on the AP wire, but neither of the local papers apparently noticed or cared to run it.

But I felt differently. Here is a man who served his country and likely died of a mechanical failure in his plane.

I was sure he had some sort of ties to Harker Heights and I’m sure people would appreciate knowing. So I write…

Former Heights resident killed in Georgia plane accident
Jonathan Blundell
Editor

Former Harker Heights resident and Fort Hood officer, Col. William Powell (Ret. US Army) was killed Saturday afternoon at approximately 3:39, when his single-engine, Beechcraft 35 Bonanza went down in a field outside Trinity, Ala.

Powell was killed on impact, while the passenger on-board was seriously injured and rushed to Huntsville Hospital by helicopter.

According to witnesses, the plan was coasting at a low altitude and no engine noise was heard shortly before the accident.

“You could tell something was wrong,” witness Danny Moore of Prattville, Al told The Decatur Daily News. “The plane rolled over and went nose down, tail up. It went straight to the ground.”

Powell’s wife, Patricia, who lived with Powell in Harker Heights between 1990 and 1992, while Powell was stationed at Fort Hood, said she wasn’t sure where William may have been headed, but assumed he was taking the plane for a test flight.

“Each year he takes the plane to Decatur for its annual inspection,” Patricia said. “When he went to pick it up earlier in the week, they had found something wrong with it and he waited till Saturday morning to pick up the plane. I believe something went wrong mechanically during the test flight and that caused the accident.”

Patricia did not know the passenger, but said she was sure he was a mechanic who may have worked on the plane.

Patricia also said she believed William found something wrong after take off and turned it around to head back to the airport.

According to initial reports by the Federal Aviation Administration, the plan crashed shortly after takeoff but no cause of the accident has been released.

Butch Wilson, an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board told The Decatur Daily News that the plan was still in good condition after the crash.

“The cockpit and engine area are crushed. But there was no fire and it didn’t hit any trees coming in.”

Wilson was unaware of any flight plan and also noted that the plane’s fule tanks were empty.

Investigation into the crash by the FAA and NTSB could take six months before a final report is complete.

The accident was one of eight fatal airplane related accidents in the U.S. over the weekend, including one accident Sunday in Houston.

—

I’m waiting to hear more from the NTSB and FAA hopefully, but the little information I pulled off the web is likely all I’ll get.

I also hope I can find Powell’s obit to give more of the human side of the tragedy.

What do you think? Should newspapers report death and accidents? Should local papers who normally focus on happy chearful tea parties give the same coverage to death and accidents? What do you think makes news and who should decide?