DaleRussell's Blog

When researching a story we often get differing opinions on a topic. But, when we set out to find why large transit busses would sit and idle for hours, there was no debate: shouldn’t be done and doesn’t need to be done.

Today’s diesel and Natural Gas buses run too well to need to idle for long periods before starting. And, doing so wastes valuable fuel and taxpayer’s money as well as pollutes the environment.

So, when a resident tipped us off to MARTA idling hundreds of buses over night most of the night, we set out to prove it.

We stayed up, watched, recorded, and talked to residents who did their own investigation.

What does MARTA say? They say that doesn’t happen. Must be a misunderstanding.

Tonight at six and ten and on myfoxatlanta.com you can see the evidence yourself and tell us if you hear what we hear.

I can remember when I thought all this new technology would bring a little extra time and efficiency to my life.

Boy, was I wrong.

I wake up to my office email on my home computer. Wow. I thought when I first got it. That’s cool. Now, I realize, no, it means I’m at work before the coffee has even brewed.

My cell phone rings constantly. Morning. Noon. Night. I get voice messages, call backs, and text inquiries. I talk while I drive and drive while I eat, so I’m now working during my lunch break. 

We have this new web page with streaming video and non stop blogs. Cool, I thought, when I first saw it. Now, I research a blog, while working on a story, writing the story and the blog, keeping the facts separate but equal. (Isn’t there a law against this?)

When a story airs, people post responses, and I respond to the responses, while sitting at my desk, listening to my cell phone and desk phone ring in harmony.  I’d go home, but there are too many posts to read and responses to craft.  I’ll put off going home, stay at work longer, answer the cell phone calls, the desk calls, the viewers questions, and on my way home, I’ll drive and talk, and get home in time to check last minute messages on the home computer, and get a few hours sleep so I can wake up and look for tips on my office computer that now sits on my desk.

I’m 53 and too old for this.

I’m Linked in and My Spaced out. I’ve got a new face on my Facebook and an old face in the mirror.  I’ve been digged, farked, and breitbarted all week long and didn’t even know anyone cared.   I haven’t a clue how an RSS works or why it works and if it did work, what it does.  I get emails warning me about excessive emails. My spam is spoon-fed and PR people leave loving messages all day long.  My analog life is feeling like a digital dinosaur.  I’m a 16 bit employee in a 32 bit world. My bandwidth is not big enough.  My cache is cloudy. I can Google but not Gateway.  My caffeine intake is up. My bottom line is down. I spend money on cell phones and ink ribbons and save money on ties because I don’t have time to put one on. How can I?  I’m too busy tracking my links and linking to my title bar.  My downloads are up and my uploads are down.  I’m a nanosecond away from a head crash.  Frankly, I’m ready to drag and drop.

I need a break. A vacation. Not a virtual trip, but a real time, real world, sun baking, margarita sipping, stroll down a beach.

I’ll do it.  Maybe post some pictures in my blog and write a restaurant review of the little shack on the coastline.  And a live phone report on the hurricane for the News Edge. Feel free to email with questions, because I’ll answer and…..oh, hell, here I go again.

So, Boston Celtic Paul Pierce makes a menacing gesture at the Hawks bench and the NBA fines him $25,000.

The gesture (seen on YouTube) was an odd little, finger roll with the thumb and index finger forming a circle, and three fingers pointing upward.

What did it mean?

The NBA’s operation czar Stu Jackson said: “We don’t know,” but he went on to say the NBA won’t allow taunting, gesturing or doing anything to incite an altercation.

A $25,000 fine for a “we don’t know?” Seemed odd to me. Seemed downright unfair.

After all Celtic Boss Danny Ainge said Pierce did it all the time and it meant blood, sweet, and tears – symbol used by the team.

So I did a little digging. It seems the gesture is similar to gang hand signals that can be found on law enforcement sites all over the internet.    Here are excerpts from one local Sheriff’s office:

GANG HAND SIGNS “Gangs use hand signs as a means of communication. Most often, hand signs are a way to issue a challenge or to throw out an insult. Many gang assaults start with the exchange of gang hand signs between rival gangs. This is sometimes referred to as "flashing" or "throwing" signs.”

 Now, remember the sign Pierce flashed toward the Hawk’s bench. It looked a lot like the one seen in the web site.  (Gang Hand Signs)

 “A hand sign can be a direct threat such as "BK" (Blood Killer) or "CK" (Crip Killer). A Crip gang member would use the "BK" hand sign to mean "Kill a Blood." The small "o" formed by the thumb and index finger and the middle finger are supposed to resemble a lowercase letter "b." The last three fingers spread out and form the "k."

But, things are never that easy.  I found several sites (see sign here)  that had the same sign listed as a symbol representing a gang called “Bounty Hunters”

They are apparently out of Los Angeles.  (See history)   Pierce, by the way, grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles.  

I even found a Bounty Hunter Gang Theme Song on YouTube (listen to the song)

Check out the hand signals from the guys in the background during the chorus.

So, there you have it.  If you were wondering what all the fuss was about, my guess is - and I am only guessing - the NBA has the same kind of information you are reading here.

Probably a lot more detailed and in depth information from law enforcement and gang experts.

I’d guess David Stern wanted to put an end to something before it began.   And a $25,000 fine is a sure way to get someone's attention.

Well, the state DOT is making news across the country.

We may not have the freeways repaved, or any coherent traffic plan for the city but we did make it in the New York Times.

Thought you might enjoy a New Yorker's take on Georgia politics:

ATLANTA — Gena L. Abraham, Georgia’s state transportation commissioner, started her day on Tuesday by making a routine announcement via news release: $75 million would be spent to resurface roads and build bridges around a medical center in Augusta.
It is likely that Ms. Abraham, 39, the first woman to run what is one of the most powerful government agencies in the state, has never been so eager to build bridges.
In the last week, the department has been shaken by two sex scandals that have forced the resignations of the transportation board chairman and his interim replacement and that nearly cost Ms. Abraham her job.
“I said, ‘My God, what’s next?’ ” David Doss, a board member from Rome, Ga., said in an interview Tuesday. “I was afraid to get out of bed this morning because you just don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Last Thursday evening, the transportation board chairman, Mike Evans, shocked members in an executive session with the news that he was involved in a romantic relationship with Ms. Abraham. Department policy forbids intimate relationships between subordinates and their superiors.
Both Ms. Abraham and Mr. Evans, 47, are single.
Mr. Evans, a developer from Cumming, Ga., who had recently won a bitter re-election battle for the board, resigned his post and his seat on the board. The board announced that he would be replaced by the vice chairman, Garland Pinholster, until a new chairman could be elected in May.
By Monday, however, Mr. Pinholster had also stepped down as chairman as news spread of a sexual harassment complaint filed against him by two department employees.
Ms. Abraham had said on Friday that she would resign. But she backed away from that position after Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle raced to the department’s offices and called her into a meeting in a stairwell there, with a guard posted outside the door.
On Monday, the board voted 8 to 3 to reprimand Ms. Abraham for failing to report the romantic relationship in a timely manner, but not to dismiss her.
The revelations about Ms. Abraham and Mr. Evans surfaced just three weeks after she sent a memorandum to all department employees saying she would not tolerate misconduct or violations of department policy.
“The sheer number of offenses that we are discovering is staggering and embarrassing to the department,” she wrote in the memorandum, which was dated March 31, and she added that she would not hesitate to fire employees for unethical or unlawful behavior.
Ms. Abraham later admitted that when she sent the memorandum she was already romantically involved with Mr. Evans.
Ms. Abraham, an engineer who led the Georgia Building Authority, had been praised as someone who could bring change to an agency that had suffered for decades under mismanagement, corruption and political pandering.
“On the scandal meter, this doesn’t make my needle stand up too much,” said Randy Lewis, a political analyst who runs the Web site GeorgiaPoliticalDigest.com. “Because it’s nothing compared to the rest of the sludge at D.O.T. and what has to be done there.”
Ms. Abraham has been struggling with a budget that may be billions of dollars in the red and a culture that has been tolerant of employee abuses of department credit cards, theft and sexual harassment. When she took the helm, she held news conferences reporting that staff members had been unable to tell her how many projects were on the department’s books, what they cost or what their status was.
“I was very hopeful for Gena Abraham, and I still am,” Mr. Lewis said. “It won’t be easy for her to come out of this, but before everyone found out she was falling in love with the chairman of the board, it wasn’t going to be easy either.”
But others believe that Ms. Abraham’s days at the department may be numbered.
“It’s another cloud, another black eye, another headline for the department when we certainly don’t need another headline,” Mr. Doss said.
Still, other longtime employees were philosophical about the drama surrounding the department.
“It’s a little surreal, obviously,” said David Spear, a department spokesman. “But I’ve been around for a long time, and affairs of the heart have their own agenda.”

We did a story in February about DOT Board Chairman Mike Evans and what some called a sweetheart deal he got from the director of the EPD. 

Environmental Protection Director, Dr. Carol Couch, overruled her own staff, failed to follow her own EPD policy,  and gave Evans and his developer partners a certificate saying they could build a Wal Mart on top of what her staff called state protected waters.

A Chattahoochee Riverkeeper law suit put a stop to it. The Wal Mart was never built.

You didn’t read about it in the paper, because they never wrote about it.   Mmmmmm. DOT board chairman accused of getting political favors from EPD director is not a story at the Atlanta newspapers these days.

You can watch it here:

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detai
l?contentId=5883955&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=V
STY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Evans, a charming guy I’ve known and liked for years, said it was all just a bureaucratic battle.

But there was another angle to the story that was also interesting. The timing.  Dr. Couch – appointed by Sonny Perdue - issued the certificate during the time Perdue wanted Evan’s support for Perdue’s choice for DOT Commissioner: Gena Abraham.

Evans did what the Governor wanted.  He cast the deciding vote that got her the job last October.  

Now Evans and Abraham are back in the news.   He resigned suddenly today, claiming it is because of a budding romantic relationship with the same Gena Abraham.

We were the only TV crew to capture the moment.

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detai
l?contentId=6333128&version=9&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=T
STY&pageId=1.1.1

To say this resignation sent shock waves across the state is putting it mildly.

Six months after taking office as the state's first female DOT commissioner we learn Gena Abraham is involved with her boss.  (She answers to the Board of Directors)

My phone is ringing off the hook. 

 When did the relationship start?   What was the relationship when he voted for her as Commissioner?  Who brought this to the board?  Why?  Will this impact on agency morale? How will the Governor respond?  Will she keep her job?    

The scuttlebutt is the Governor wants to bury this story once and for all tomorrow.

I don’t blame him.  I’d want to bury it to, before all those questions are asked. 

The board called a special meeting for next Monday.  I have a feeling there are more fireworks to come before this story is dead and gone.

There are many reasons to watch Fox 5 that you don’t know about.

Some reasons are obvious.

Wonderful, warm, welcome into my living room type anchors.  The kind of people you trust, admire and would be happy to have over for Sunday brunch.

Helicopter flying, reporter running, photographer gunning breaking news with all the action and excitement of a Sylvester Stallone movie, back when Sly’s muscles were a product of youth and not human growth hormone.

Glittering graphics that pop out of your set and make you drool with excitement.

And of course, the I-team.  (Do you expect anything less on my own blog?)

But there are many other reasons to watch Fox5 that you may never know of or see.

One of them is leaving today.

His name is Bud Veazey.  His business card says Assistant News director. The number two man in a long chain of newsroom managers.

To us, he has always been “Easy Veazey.”

It is the kind of nickname you use to someone’s face, not spat behind their back and under your breath.

Bud Veazey is everything a newsroom needs.  For some 20 years he has been the voice of reason, the calm during the storm, the most logical, rational decision maker you could ever dream of.

A newsroom in crisis is not a pretty site.  Screaming, yelling, and cussing are only the beginning.  It is a white knuckle, eyes bulging, vein popping cauldron of insanity.

And in the middle of it all, will come “Easy Veazey.”  Calm, seasoned and reasoned – he will spot the problems, cover the mistakes, move the troops, and pacify the out of control, as easy as if were breathing.

If the news room was the Titanic, Veazey was the guy playing the violin, as the ship began to sink.

The bonus for us, as a journalist, his instincts are spot on. 

I won’t bore you with his resume, but I will tell you he won a George Foster Peabody award as a young TV journalist in Nashville.

The Peabody is our Oscar. There is no higher mountain to climb in TV news.

A copy of it hangs in his office, and the first time I saw it, and commented on how brilliant the story must have been, in his understated, dead pan way he answered:

“I think it was so long and boring, the judges must have thought it was good.”

 I think not. I think it was just one mark of excellence in a career marked by excellence.

A career coming to an end today.

There will be no more visits with the manager who would listen before talking. No more music coming from the back office, when “Easy Veazey” decided to pick up his guitar and pluck a few tunes. No more quick review of an expense account, muttering, “this is BS” then signing it anyway.  And no more eye of the storm leadership.

His office will be empty.  His position unfilled.  And though you have never seen him or met him, you will miss his presence.

And so will we.

Bud "Easy" Veazey

Very few people I know like to go to the dentist.

Tonight, we have a story of a dentist accused of abusing patients – while undergoing surgery.

The allegations are chilling. The dentist denies the charges.

Tonight, you’ll meet a woman who has fought for two years to get someone to listen to her story. We listened.

Tomorrow night, we’ll introduce you to an ex-employee of the dentist who says she witnessed abuse.

Watch the story. Listen to the patients and the dentist’s attorney. What do you think happened?

With Georgia struggling though a horrible drought, state environmental regulators must make tough decisions on how to protect our water system.

Everyone agrees: scientific analysis should determine how to make those decisions.

But, some say Georgia’s top environmental regulator buckled to political pressure and made a decision that would have helped another top state official develop a shopping center.

Tuesday night at six and ten, we’ll take you on a fascinating tour through a labyrinth of political hallways. You’ll hear allegations of politics and favoritism, find out who the two top state officials are, and see what happened when one non-profit group stepped in and said – this is not right.

 Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and State Senator Chip Pearson are excited about a new Senate bill that  will do (drum roll, please) …… absolutely nothing.

So, why the excitement?

They both write they want to reform the Department of Transportation. (DOT) Sounds like a grand idea.

One reform they have in mind: a bill that will stop the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) from fining the DOT when it pollutes our rivers and streams.

I can’t say for sure, but I wonder if this bill is in response to a story we did last year. We found the single biggest polluter of Georgia’s waterways was the Georgia DOT. The pollution: the soil, dirt, and mud that DOT and its contractors dumped into our river system. An I-Team investigation of all EPD enforcement actions found the most consent orders (11) were filed against the DOT. Total fines: more than $400,000. That number is much higher now.

(To view story:)

Those fines are ultimately paid by the taxpayers. DOT’s chief engineer, David Studstill promised DOT would do better. I believe he sincerely meant it.

Of course, a simple solution would be for the DOT to force their contractors to pay the fines instead of the taxpayers. I’m told that rarely if ever happened in the past.

A recent agreement between DOT and EPD will identify the contractors who pollute our waters in a EPD enforcement actions.

Mmmmmm. Could this new agreement be what’s behind this piece of legislation?

So, now with Senate Bill 420 the Lt. Governor and Senator Pearson want to stop those fines under the state Erosion and Sediment Control act, writing it is a bad idea for one agency to take money from another.

I hope they also believe it is a bad idea for one state agency to pollute Georgia waters. But, I didn’t see anything about that in the bill.

Anyway, it is touted as a DOT reform. Only one problem. (Drum roll again, please)

The DOT is already exempt from the Erosion and Sediment Control Act.

Elizabeth Nicholas, lawyer for the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper said it best in an email to her constituents:

“The GA DOT is already exempt from enforcement under the Erosion and Sediment Control Act. So, this amendment would make them exempt from penalties under an act that they are already exempt from, i.e., it does nothing.” 

 You, see when the EPD levies fines against the DOT they do so under the authority of a federal permit, not the state erosion and control act.

Ms. Nicholas contends the STATE legislature could not change this FEDERAL law without creating a conflict that could easily be challenged. But she fears that when the sponsors of this brilliant legislation realize their bill does nothing, they will amend it and try to make one state agency exempt from punishment.

My guess: the bill that does nothing will probably go nowhere.

In a way, it was anticlimactic.

For two years, ever since I heard Mona Brewer and Cindy Hall’s stories, ever since I examined the first blush of documents in this case, ever since I began to talk to other Cathedral at Chapel Hill members and ex-members in an attempt to understand the allegations against a well-known preacher, I wanted to do one thing: Sit down, face-to-face with Archbishop Earl Paulk and ask him all the questions ruminating in my head.

All the questions you have asked in this blog. 

Are the women who claim you coerced them into a sexual relationship telling the truth?     Why are there so many women telling similar stories?   If the stories are not true, why are the women lying about you?  Did you sexually abuse two children, including your own granddaughter?  If you didn’t - why would these two young women lie?   Did you have sexual relationships with two sets of mothers and daughters?  If not, why would these four women swear under oath that you did? 

Are you a sexual predator or the victim of a horrible character assassination?

There is a lot you can tell in a sit-down interview. It is not just the words, but the eyes, the body posture, the tone of voice. You can see it in a TV interview far better than you can read it in a newspaper. But, when trying to gauge someone’s veracity, it is even stronger face to face.

Our first chance to ask questions was rebuffed.  Archbishop Paulk simply turned his back and walked away. 

I never spoke to him.

I talked to several family members over those two years, but never once, to the Archbishop.

So, it comes down to a dark night, and a man trying to sneak into jail and bond out, outside of the public eye.

Isn’t that what is at the core of this very case? What did the Archbishop do privately, outside of the public eye?

The original plan was to turn himself in on Wednesday morning, bond out and go straight to court, plead guilty and go home. Outside of the public eye.

As you know, it didn’t work.

There were some who felt strongly that at this point, in this case, secrecy was the last thing in the world that should envelope Archbishop Paulk’s legal troubles. And so we were there to ask questions. 

But, it came down to a few seconds, no comments, asking questions over an entourage. Questions that went unanswered.

Two years and still no answers. Not face to face. Not even before a judge Only a meek, “Yes, I am” to the judge’s question: “Are you indeed guilty?” 

Guilty of not telling the truth under oath about fathering a child with his brother’s wife.    There were no more questions from the judge; no volunteered answers.

Still, there is a civil suit.  And one last chance for questions.  I won’t get to ask.  But, I will be in the courtroom, waiting, and watching, finally getting a chance to hear his answers.

 I’ll let you know what he says.

It was twenty years ago that I missed Thanksgiving dinner with my family. I didn’t care. I was right where I wanted to be: in prison.

Not only was I locked up, but I had to talk my way in. So many trying to get out of prison and all I wanted was in.

Journalism is a strange way to make a living.

It was 1987, and Cuban detainees had, seized more than ninety hostages, and taken control of the Atlanta Federal Pen. They said they would rather die than be deported back to Cuba. For eleven days , Fox 5 (then called Eyewitness News),along with thousands of other journalists from all over the world flooded the area with Winnebago’s, live trucks, tents, and cameras.

I remember it was very cold and at times raining; there was no food available and we worked 15-16 hour days.

It was great. At least from a reporter’s perspective. We knew it was terrifying for the hostages and their families. We are often eyewitnesses to unfolding tragedy.

Then, the Cubans decided they wanted an outside witness to view their negotiations with FBI. They picked a reporter from another TV station. It was, the best we could tell, the luck of the draw. The inmates happened to watch the other station that day.

That was not so great. Our bosses went nuts. All the bosses did. When you get beat and think you can recover, you do what we do so well in our industry. You whine. You complain. You demand a level playing field. As former reporter Jim Kaiserski used to say: “the only difference between reporters and puppies is at some point, puppies stop whining.”

But it worked. The FBI implemented a fair, we’ll take turns being witnesses program. Everyone would have a chance. Until Thanksgiving.

It was the second time the Cubans asked for witnesses. It was not Fox 5 ‘s turn. We, by luck of the draw, were down the list. But, when the FBI agent came to the media area and asked for the other TV station, no one was around. I had spotted him walking across the street and rushed to the intersection. I knew it wasn’t our turn, but you never know.

“Where is WSB?” he asked. “They’re not here.”

I said, “we’re next on the list, I’ll go.”

The WSB photographer showed up, but no reporter. The FBI agent barked: “I’ll take the photographer, let’s go”

“Wait,” I argued, “you have to have a reporter. Photographer’s get the pictures, but you need a reporter who can describe the action for people.”

He thought for a second. The pressure was on. The Cubans wanted a witness right away.

“No,” he answered and turned with the WSB photographer and headed back towards the prison. I wanted to die.

“Wait,” I screamed as I watched the gold letters FBI on his jacket disappear across the roadway, “that won’t work.”

He turned and looked at me with that shut the hell up look. “They have ¾ inch tape.” That was the size of the videotape their cameras recorded, it was the newest, latest technology. Fox 5 had ¾ inch tapes, the older, videotape.

“So?” he asked.

“We have ¾ inch. Half of the TV stations out here used ¾ inch, the other half use ½ inch. You need both so we can feed this to all the stations.” He looked at the row of maybe 50 TV satellite trucks. He thought for only a split second.

“OK,” let’s go.

 “I need my photographer, too.” He stared at me with a look every parent recognizes: you are really pushing it, pal. So, photographer Ira Spradlin and I and our antiquated, out of date, ¾ inch videotape headed into Prison.

 It was Thanksgiving . No turkey. No family. No warm fire place. Just a cold, steel bar encrusted, room, with angry Cubans and FBI agents arguing about how to end the hostage negiotionas. I was in heaven. I even snuck away to a telephone and reported live from inside the Prison on the status of the negotiations. My wife later told me: “even without you at the dinner table, I still had to listen to you run your mouth.”

On Decmber 4th, twenty years ago the Cubans released the hostages. It was a Thanksgiving to  remember.

A final postscript. The truth of the matter is I didn’t tell the FBI agent the entire story. Our tape deck was a different size from the other TV station. What, I failed to mention was that we fed our stories to all the other stations through a satellite uplink. It didn’t matter what size the deck was.

I’m glad he never asked. I’m not sure what I would have said. After all, all I wanted was to go to prison.

Some have suggested to me it was God’s will. Others, say, no, nothing but random chance.

It is a question I wouldn’t even begin to try to answer.

But, this is the event that lead to my latest Earl Paulk story.

My photographer and I were strolling down a sidewalk, blindly looking for a restaurant for lunch, in Covington, Georgia, while working on a Medicare story.

A family was walking our way. I passed the young man and thought, for a second, he looked familiar. Then, I passed the woman, perhaps his mother, and thought, now wait; I know I’ve seen her somewhere.

They walked by. I kept going. Then I heard footsteps, the woman had turned around and met me face to face. I said hell-o, and her answer stopped me in my tracks: “I’m Earl Paulk’s daughter.”

On a Tuesday afternoon, in a city far from home, lost, hungry, and looking for sustenance I run into Beth Bonner and her family.

We stood on the sidewalk and talked for thirty minutes or more. I told them if they ever want to talk on the record, I’d be glad to give them the platform.

And they did. Boy, did they talk. Riveting, powerful family stories from Beth, her daughter Penny, and Bishop David Huskins who joined us for the interview.

They said they had remained silent long enough. They had a message for the Cathedral and the community of believers who once worshipped there or worship there today.

This is clearly a family in pain. But, a family with a powerful voice they want heard.

Our story runs Tuesday and Wednesday night at 6:00 and again at 10:00.

If you want to post a blog in response, please post it on the Paulk and DNA site, rather than here.