Barb's Testing Out a New Look!

Barb's thinking about getting a new look, and Sean O'Connell had just the answer. This is a prop from Adam Sandler's "You Don't Mess With Zohan" movie.

Our news director thinks he might like the new look - but what do you think?

Send us some feedback!

inbox@wbtv.com or bpinson@wbtv.com

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BLOG EDIT!

...Whiz felt left out.







Looks good, no?

Where Have All The Heroes Gone?

Everyday we hear about heroes. Those people who sacrifice life and limb for complete strangers. For all those great stories, there's one that just makes you angry.

I've been in the news business for awhile now, and I grew up with a police officer for a dad. I'm used to hearing about bad things. Nothing surprises me anymore, but plenty still angers me.

You may have seen the video (WBTV News This Morning chose not to air it). An elderly man was hit by a car while crossing the road in Hartford, Connecticut. Two drivers were driving erratically and one ended up hitting him. Both cars drove off. The whole thing was caught on tape.

As disturbing as the actual video was, it was nothing compared to what happened next. The accident happened on a busy road next to a busy sidewalk. Plenty of people saw it happen and plenty of drivers came up afterwards.

So someone immediately rushed over and checked for vitals, right?

Someone dialed 9-1-1, right?

You'd be wrong on both counts.

No-one did a thing. Not the driver that hit him, not the people that saw it happen, and not the motorists who drove up afterward. In fact some motorists swerved around the man's body like they were swerving to miss a pothole. Luckily a police officer responding to a different call came up on the incident a few minutes after it happened.

This makes me sick. It doesn't take a lot to pick up the phone and call 9-1-1. It doesn't take much to walk over to the man and check for a pulse. This is basic! I know police in that city are outraged, I just hope they find the driver who left the scene. I also hope they find a way to punish those who just watched and did nothing. I don't know that they can or will but maybe they should.

What ever happened to the golden rule, do unto others that you would have done to you? Would you like it if your elderly father was hit by a car and left on the street?

By the way, the man is still alive, barely. He's paralyzed and in a lot of pain.

For as many stories that give me hope in humankind, there's one that takes it right away.

Remembering Bobby: 40 Years Later

On the heels of Becky's blog, David Whisenant wanted to share what he remembered about the day Bobby Kennedy was killed.

Here's what he writes:

"It was one of those moments you never forget, one that brings back memories of where you were, what you were doing when you heard the news. Bobby Kennedy was shot 40 years ago today. I was just 7 at the time, but I remember it clearly. My family was vacationing at the Cabana Terrace Motel in North Myrtle Beach. We didn't hear the news the night it happened, but the next morning I distinctly remember that the music being played over the speakers around the pool was interrupted by a news bulletin that Kennedy had died.

There were so many images from that moment that have stuck with me over the years. I remember the film of Kennedy making his victory speech after winning the California primary. The ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel was filled with supporters, most appeared to be young, maybe college students. Kennedy was at the podium with his wife Ethel by his side...then the next film clips I remember are the ones that showed the same people crying, clutching tissues to their faces. Then there was the film of Kennedy on the floor of the kitchen in the hotel. Two men were supporting his head, at one point Kennedy's arm was raised up. I think, and I'm not sure about this, but I think I remember that a bus boy at the Ambassador Hotel ran to help Kennedy and he was one of the men holding him while they waited for ambulances to arrive.

There was also the image of Rosey Grier, the huge football player, actor, and needlepoint hobbyist, grabbing the gun still in the hand of Sirhan Sirhan. If I remember correctly, Grier and another man may have broken Sirhan's fingers or hand as they struggled to grab the gun. I also remember the first photographs of Sirhan Sirhan. He looked like an improbable assassin, so young, so confused.
As Americans we would witness a lot more violence in the years following that shooting, the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the violence at the Democratic Convention were two of the notable events.

Regardless of your politics, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy was a tragic event in our nation's history. I still have the Newsweek magazine that came out following the shooting. For me, anniversaries, like the one we note today, aren't just markers of time, they are true milestones of some of the history I've been able to experience outside the confines of a text book."

40 Years Later: Bobby Kennedy's Assassination

40 years ago today, Presidential Candidate Robert Kennedy was shot. He died a day later on June 6, 1968. As we head into Campaign 2008, perhaps there are parallels to be made and lessons to be learned.

I wasn't alive at the time of the shooting, in fact my mother was only 10 years old.

It is hard for me to imagine what the country was going through at that time. They were still healing from the loss of his older brother, President John F. Kennedy. Plus the country was immersed in a losing war that was splitting the nation in two. Hundreds of troops were dying daily in Vietnam and the battleground at home wasn't much better.

Bobby Kennedy was supposed to be the solution. The man who would bridge together a country and end the war. We'll never know if he would have lived up to those expectations. We do know, a lot of hope was dashed on June 5th. We also know after Kennedy's assassination it took nearly 7 more years to end the war. We saw more violence, more protests, and the Kent State Massacre following his assassination.

Would those things have happened had Kennedy not been assassinated? There's no way to ever know.

Times got worse before they got better but the country eventually moved on. It took two assassinations, the end of the Vietnam War, and the fall of a "crooked" Presidency, but things eventually got better.

If anything as we continue into this current election we can take away lessons from the past. If anything we can have hope that things will get better. It doesn't matter who is elected as long as change is on the horizon.

As the seemingly endless war continues and economic times get tougher, just remember we've braved it before.