Monday, August 20, 2007

O-A News welcomes new managing editor

Wayne Snow has been named the new managing editor of the Opelika-Auburn News.

Snow has worked at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in several different roles for almost 22 years. His prior work experience includes a stint as bureau chief for UPI when it was a much larger news organization than it is today. He has also served as city editor at the Savannah Morning News in Savannah, Ga., and the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, Ga.. Earlier in his career, he served as managing editor of the Warner Robins Sun, a small daily in central Georgia.

Snow is not only a well-rounded journalist, he is also a well-rounded person. He has written extensively in the AJC about his world travels, especially to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. His reporting from Chernobyl last year on the 20th anniversary of the world’s worst atomic accident won numerous awards.

Snow also served as a Russian linguist in the U.S. Navy and is a marathon runner with plans to compete in a couple of weeks in the Memphis Marathon. Last year, he ran in the New York Marathon.

Snow holds a B.A. in history from Mercer University and a B.S. in journalism from the University of Kansas.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Look for these stories and more Tuesday

Here’s a few things to check out in Tuesday’s edition of the Opelika-Auburn News.

Reporter William White will have a story about what was discussed at Monday’s Lee County Citizen’s Council 8 a.m. meeting. They will meet again Tuesday, 8 a.m., and Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., in county commission chambers.

Auburn police arrested and charged Joshua Boyd Fowler of Camp Hill with in connection with rape, burglary and theft.

Beverly Harvey, education reporter, will have a story about R.V. Brown, a motivational speaker who spoke to Opelika Middle School students about staying in school and believing in themselves.

And for those of you who are in your 50s or older and still looking for something to keep you busy, don’t forget to check out the information concerning Tuesday’s 50+ Job Expo.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

The cable’s out…what are we to do?

Charter Communications is having a little trouble with service today. When contacted, the company wasn’t quite sure what was gonig wrong, but they have engineers and technicians trying to resolve the issue.

The problem is, the only way to report an outage is to call the 1-800 number and deal with customer service. According to the representative I spoke to, Matt, he had no idea there was an outage, so I asked him to connect me to the local office. Apparently, there aren’t land lines at the Mall Boulevard location in Auburn though. The only way to speak with a local representative is to go by the office.

But - because we have phone numbers most people don’t here at the newspaper - I was able to contact someone at the local office. The nice woman who answered the phone said there was a lobby full of not-so-happy customers and that they were doing their best to resolve the problem.

So, keep your fingers crossed and hopefully the cable will get turned back on and we can watch the tail-end of the PGA Tour.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

News has gone to the animals

For more than two weeks we’ve been hearing about Mike Vick and his fighting dog scandal. Well, today even more animal madness has made the news.

A man who boarded a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Spirit Airlines rom Lima, Peru, Monday night, was trying to smuggle a monkey into the country by hiding it under his hat.

According to CNN.com, during the flight, people around the man noticed that the marmoset, which normally lives in forests and eats fruit and insects, had emerged from underneath his hat.

After passengers discovered the money, it spent the remainder of the flight in the man’s seat. Airport police were waiting for the man and his monkey when the plane landed about 3 p.m., and the man was taken away for questioning. It was unclear whether he would face any criminal charges.

The city’s animal control agency said the monkey appeared healthy. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was planning to take it for disease testing and keep it quarantined for 31 days, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

If the monkey is healthy, it could wind up in a zoo.

In other news, a herd of Cape Buffalo attacked a pride of lions who were trying to feast on one of their little ones.

A tourist on a safari in South Africa’s Kruger National Forest caught on video a lion attack on the young buffalo. As the lions attempted to pull the baby out of the water a crocodile gets ahold of the back end of the small animal, coercing a tug-o-war between the group and large reptile.

The pride shortly wins the tug-o-war and drags the young buffalo upon the shore. Apparently the herd of buffalo hears the baby bleating and came to its rescue. The herd circles the lions along the shore of the watering hole and eventually saves the young calf.

The “Safari Smackdown” is available on youtube.com, where more than 8 million viewers have watched the video, and a CNN.com.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

What to look for in Wednesday’s paper

Former AU President William Walker died this morning. He didn’t leave the university on the best of terms but he did leave the university with lasting memories. AU Reporter Amy Weaver will have more information and interviews with former co-workers on this.

Cost Plus World Market recently announced a voluntary recall on beverage containers and a water tank. The TigerTown World Market store has at least three of the five recalled products in stock. Beverly Harvey has contacted the store manager and discussed what items were taken off shelves and how they are warning customers about the recalls.

Former AU professor and Army Lt. Col. Loyd Frank Lawing Jr., 53, plead guilty Monday to embezzling over $940,000 in monies that he was entrusted with as the chapter advisor, secretary and treasurer of AU’s branch of the social fraternity Alpha Tau Omega.

Opelika’s council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. They will discuss funding for the new Sportsplex.

Auburn’s council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. as well. The Economic Development Department plans to make an important announcement during Mayor’s Communications.

Friday, July 20, 2007

What do you think?

Last night at a special called meeting the Lee County Board of Education made what some consider to be a controversial decision.

Haven’t heard about it? This is what we have in the paper and on our site.

“The Lee County Board of Education has decided to go in a new direction—one that does not include Superintendent John Painter.

During a special called meeting Thursday, the Lee County BOE voted 4-1 to transfer Painter from his position as superintendent to a special assistant status with the board. He will now work as a consultant for the BOE during the three years remaining on his contact.

“I think Mr. Painter has been a superintendent for 16 years in Lee County; he’s done a great job,“ BOE president Napoleon Stringer said after the meeting, adding that the school system needs a “new direction (and) a new way of doing things.“

Stringer and BOE members Larry Boswell, Fred Copeland Jr. and George Spence each voted in favor of transferring Painter’s status within the school system.

BOE member Roger Keel voted against the motion to transfer Painter, and Larry Patterson abstained. BOE member Lee Ann Roughton was out of town and unable to attend the called meeting, which was announced Tuesday afternoon.“

We have also posted the complete transfer agreement. You should take a look at it because there is some interesting stuff in it.

There were about 100 people at the meeting last night and a few spoke their minds. But overall, there hasn’t been a lot of reaction to the school board’s actions.

I know that there are many of you out there have something to say. Let us know what you think. You can post your reaction here or on our Web site.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

What’s coming in the Fourth of July paper

The Web cast won’t be published today, but I just thought I’d run a few story ideas by our readers and online viewers so that you know what to expect in Wednesday’s edition of the Opelika-Auburn News.

Tamiko Lowery is working on a story about the new Opelika Kroger location. After closing it’s doors at the Second Avenue location, they are planning to officially reopen their doors in TigerTown July 12 at 9 a.m. with an Opelika Chamber of Commerce ribon cutting. The fueling station, located on site, is set to open July 5.

There will also be an article about all the activities going on in and around Lee County and what those celebrating the Fourth can get into on their day off. For example: check out the laser show in Valley or the fireworks display in Auburn, visit Chewacla State Park or go to Surfside Water Park.

We hope everyone enjoys their day off and remember to buckle up, travel safely if you’re on the road and don’t drink and drive.

Happy Fourth of July!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Duke envy?

Auburn University trustees heard about the plans for AU’s proposed new basketball arena — and they are BIG plans.

The new facility will have 9,600 seats and cost an estimated $92.5 million.

This is what else AU sports reporter Collin Mickle found out at this morning’s meeting.

The new arena is modeled on Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium — which led to a funny exchange between facilities czar John Mouton and AU Trustee Jack Miller.

“We’re going to get the same intimacy they get in Cameron,“ Mouton said, referring to Duke’s famously small and noisy 9,300-seat arena.

“We want to build the building and then emulate the record,“ responded Miller, a Duke grad.

Like Cameron, as well as Florida’s O’Connell Center and many other top-25 teams’ arenas, AU’s new facility will have student seating around the court on three sides, with “premium” seating for boosters on the fourth side.

Auburn’s athletic department has set aside $4 million for the project; that money will be used to service and manage a bond issue which is expected to bring in $60-65 million. The balance will be raised by arena-specific donations.

There is a slideshow of images of the new arena at our Web site.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Finalist for worst headline of the year

Sinking to a new (and sensationalized) low, CNN has come up with a headline that is one of the worst of the year.

The story is about the discovery of steroids at Chris Benoit’s house. In case you haven’t heard (and if you haven’t head you obviously haven’t been watching TV or surfing the Web) Benoit is the professional wrestler who allegedly killed his wife and child over the weekend before killing himself.

Authorities say they found prescription anabolic steroids at the home. The headline CNN chose to describe this sad and difficult situation as “Steroids found at wrestler’s house of death.“

House of death? Instead of being sensitive to a tragic situation, it sounds more like they are promoting a new WWE special. It just goes to show that even the big media outlets can lose focus on the story and fall victim to the hype.

Sentencing hearing begins

According the Associated Press, the sentencing hearing for former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy and former Governor Don Siegelman has begun.

The judge will determine whether the two will go free on probation (which is of course what Scrushy and Siegelman prefer) or if they will go to jail for as much as 30 years, as requested by prosecutors.

You can find the complete story on our Web site. We will be updating our site and this one as information about the sentence is released.

Friday, June 22, 2007

This just in

Reporter Lindsay Field has confirmed that at least one Auburn firefighter has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the City of Auburn.

The case was filed Feb. 23 at U.S. District Court in Montgomery. Pre-trial is scheduled to begin on July 1, 2008, and court is scheduled to be held Aug. 11, 2008.

She is on her way to Montgomery now to pick up the court documents. Check here for updates or on our Web site, oanow.com.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

So, Oreo is the same ol’ recipe

After my Wednesday rant about Double Stuf Oreos not tasting the same I e-mailed Kraft Foods and asked them what had changed and if there were any changes, why?

In response, I received an e-mail from Kim McMiller, Associate Director with Consumer Relations, who wrote:

“Thank you for visiting http://www.kraftfoods.com and for your interest in OREO Double Stuf Chocolate Sandwich Cookies.

I was sorry to learn that you were disappointed with your purchase of OREO Double Stuf Chocolate Sandwich Cookies. Your experience is important to us, I’m sending you reimbursement to replace OREO Double Stuf Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, via first class mail, which you should receive within 7-10 business days.

I checked our records and we have not made any recent changes to this product.  It sounds as if what you purchased was not up to your high quality standards, or ours.  Our goal is to always provide our consumers with high quality, great tasting products.“

I think it’s great that they are reimbursing me, which wasn’t part of the plan, but I was sad to learn that the recipe hadn’t changed, just my taste buds.

At least it’s good to know someone is out there listening and everytime you send an e-mail complaint or make a phone call you’re not being completely ignored.

Thank you Kraft Foods, even though I still wish I could have enjoyed the cream filling I remember having as a child. Oh, well! 

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Sending off the soldiers

Today the City of Opelika is celebrating 206th Transportation Company Day in honor of 170 soldiers from a U.S. Army Reserve unit headed to Iraq for a year. On Thursday, these soldiers will board on bus en route to Fort Bragg, N.C., and then on to Iraq.

The soldiers will be responsible for providing transportation of containerized, non-containerized, palletized, dry and/or refrigerated containerized cargo, bulk water products and bulk petroleum products.

You will find overage of today’s ceremony and pictures from the soldiers’ departure on Thursday in the newspaper.

Also in tomorrow’s paper, we will examine what comes next for Camp Hill now that the mayor, Chester Carroll, and a city council member have resigned their duties. At the end of May, Carroll also retired as the head of Lyman Ward Military Academy in Camp Hill.

Find out a little more about these stories and more by viewing the video blog. Just click the play button in the window to the right. And as always, you can read more in tomorrow’s Opelika-Auburn News.

So, Oreos don’t have the same ol’ cream filling

This afternoon I went grocery shopping because I refuse to shop after work, it’s too busy. During my little visit I decided to purchase a bag of Double-Stuf’d Oreos because I’m not so keen on the cookies, but as a child loved the cream filling.

It’s been probably five years, if not more, since I had my last Oreo cookie, so when I got back to the office I immediately opened up the bag to try them out all over again.

Now, the first bite wasn’t exactly the tastiness I remembered as a child, so I thought I’d just try twisting the two halves and dive into the cream filling. When I did that I noticed it just wasn’t the same taste I remembered eating as a child. As I fussed about it to my co-workers I learned that the recipe had changed.

According to wikipedia.com, as of January 2006, classic Oreo cookies are no longer manufactured with hydrogenated oils because on May 13, 2003, California activist attorney Stephen Joseph filed suit to ban Oreo cookies due to the potential health dangers associated with the trans fat used in making them. The suit was dropped because Nabisco considered replacing the hydrogenated oils with alternative oils.

My beef with this is just that, if you have a problem with a food because of it being too fatty for either you or your children, simply DO NOT eat it. There’s no reason to make everyone else suffer, because you can’t take the cookie from the kid’s hand.

I’m all about the hopping on the healthy train, because I work out, attempt to eat healthy and drink pretty much nothing but water, but what gives?

Granted, a large percentage of our great nation is overweight, but why punish everyone for other’s inability to say no to fast-food restaurants, fatty treats or sodas that aren’t nearly as good for you as water?

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Excuse our delay, but

Sorry everybody, but Tuesday’s Web cast for hightlights on Wednesday’s paper won’t be up and running until later this afternoon. One of our photographers needed the video camera for a story, so I won’t be able to publish the Web cast till later. Check us out a little after 5 p.m. though if you’re interested in checking out the video.
Thanks for you patience!