Bob Stover, RIP

Saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Stover, former Albuquerque Police Chief, former Bernalillo County Sheriff, and one helluva guy.

Bob Stover and I were related, somewhere down the family tree.  My great grandmother was a Stover - and it has been told that Bobby Stover, the tough talking cop, would, on occasion, sneak a chocolate candy to her.

When Stover was Chief of APD, I was a reporter.  It meant no special access, or accomodation.

Case in point:

My personal car was the recipient (I guess I was, not the car) of a parking ticket - having spent too much time at a meter without contributing to the coffers.

In those days, getting a parking ticket, often times meant heading to see Municipal Judge Harry Robins, who would make time to "help" the media, and quickly dismiss the parking ticket.

On this day, I chose to go see Chief Stover, parking citation in hand.

Upon my request to the Chief to "take care" of the ticket, Bobby reached into his pocket and pulled out $3 and inserted it into the envelope.

The Chief "took care" of my ticket - and I never went back to ask a similar favor.

Good times, Chief.

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge Throwback Thursday

Fifty years ago the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge was dedicated during a spectacular ceremony.  I wasn't there.

Working at KKIT in Taos, my responsibility that day was to flip the switch to put the remote broadcast of the ceremony on the air.

Well...it was somewhat of a challenge.   Our remote unit was a pretty much line-of-sight unit, that sounded great when the "line-of-sight" was real... When the signal had to skip along the ground to get to our studios in the Kachina Lodge, look out.

That day our remote unit, and General Manager Don Boston, were at the bridge ceremony - which was a little below grade, and provided a scratchy signal.

But, it worked...and we were able to provide live coverage to the people of Taos during this most significant news event.

A lot of people had worked really hard to get the bridge built.  It was the view of the future construction of US 64 stretching from Clayton to Farmington and beyond that helped make it a milestone.

I'll post more, including some photos, when I get thru the dusty box.

Here's a photo of the plaque that is still at the bridge:

And, I recall one thing reported to me upon completion of the bridge ceremony.  When the townspeople walked across the bridge, thousands of them, the bridge accepted the weight by expanding and contracting.  When that happened, some people fell to their knees and prayed.

Those prayers worked - the bridge still stands - and is one of the many sights that one must see when visiting New Mexico.   If not in person, look for images of the bridge in some wild and crazy movies.

Here, Andrew Oxford for The Taos News has an excellent article.

Popejoy Hall Presents Book of Mormon

It isn't that book you find in Marriott Hotels...It sure was fun, and UNM's Popejoy Hall never looked or sounded better at last nights performance!

And Alexandra Ncube was outstanding

Throwback to 1939 State Fair

It's State Fair Time

New Mexico Movie Industry Pay Attention

OK folks... Don't let New Mexico lose our advantage.  Nice scenery ain't enough.  The South is Rising!

Read this ---

NBC News reports Georgia is #3 and climbing fast in the world of movie and film production..

I notice one of my favorite TV watches, Family Feud, is video taped in Atlanta.  Each show concludes with a graphic of a Georgia Peach and a little chorus..."Made in Georgia"....

Hey New Mexico...WAKE UP!

Morning Chuckle

My blog postings for the summer have deteriorated to things like this.  A good chuckle never hurts - unless you have stitches...