I said good-bye to a good friend on Friday. You should feel the same way.

Sports Director Andy Austin has left the building for the final time. Andy is moving on to take and administrative position with Cells-U-More and I am going to miss him.

In 1992, when I started my career at Channel Six News I was in sports. Mike Steeley was the Sports Director back in those days. He had everything in his head and was a master of the ad-lib. Mike left when I was a mere six-months in my career to take a job in Oklahoma City. He is still there with WWLS the Sports Animal and does their morning drive time. It's normally very funny if you get a chance to listen. 640-AM if you have a good radio. When Mike left Andy Austin came in to start what would be an 8-year career as Sports Director. I was his right hand and he was mine.

You become very close to whoever you work with in the Sports Office. It's small and you pretty much share everything. We became very good friends and it showed on the air. Andy taught me a lot. He was my mentor and it was such an easy transition for me when I moved into his spot at Sports Director because of him. It was my show but Andy's influence was there.

I think Andy will always be an influence in my broadcasting career. Besides his professionalism he is a wonderful person. Slow to raise his voice and always a rock to lean on when needed. I will miss him and I hope you will also.

Jermaine Ferrell will be taking Andy's position as Sports Director and will bring a whole new influence, but I'd bet there will still be some Andy in the way things are done because who taught Jermaine how to do sports? ANDY!!!

I have had an exciting week.

On Monday I had the pleasure of playing golf in the 21st Annual Hospice of Wichita Falls Golf Scramble. Tom and Betty Crane along with Darryl Brock filled out my foursome. The tournament was at Wind Creek on Sheppard Air Force Base. The course was in great shape. Kudos to the ground crew for making it so nice to play on. My group shot a 63 and we ended up winning the whole thing after they scored us with our handicaps. It was amazing. Great company and some fun golf and we won. I contributed very little but still had fun. I did make like a 75-foot putt on our last hole for birdie! It was exciting. Good way to end any round of golf. Pure luck if you ask me. So thank you Hospice of Wichita Falls and thanks to the Cranes and Darryl.

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of being an emcee for the International Celebration of Women. It was held at the Wichita Falls Country Club. This was a benefit luncheon for a charity called World Neighbors. We'll talk more about them in a second. First things first. I was joined on the stage by my good friend Jackie Hoegger. If you know either one of us then you know both of us! We are the same person except she is smart and beautiful and I am just the guy on TV. Nonetheless it was and always is fantastic to work and visit with Jackie. The show was a look at outfits you would see in Ghana, Peru, Nepal, and other third world countries. It was amazing to learn about those places and how World Neighbors works to help them. I also got to see the Pete Estes family get the highest award that World Neighbors gives out. It's call the "Namaste". It's a greeting in India and is a high honor. The Estes' have done a lot for this organization and so if you see any of them out and about congratulate them on such a high honor. They deserve it.  

I promised you I would tell you about World Neighbors so here we go. They are an organization out of Oklahoma City. They don't send money and food to these places. They send people. These people help teach the women how to better care for their children and take care of themselves. They teach men to be better farmers. They teach villagers to be birth assistants and help women with pre and post natal care. I am sold that what they do is a very worth and noble cause. There is a link on this website that will take you to their home page. I urge you to check it out. It's really quite amazing.

We ALL have been feeling the economic situation in the USA right now. Everyone of us is finding that making your dollars and cents count is so important. I have been seeing more and more stories about the housing crunch come across the desk but one has really struck home for me.

This past Sunday I saw a Ben Stien Editorial on "Sunday Morning" on Channel Six. It's right after the Channel Six weekend morning show with Micaela Lechuga. Anyway, the story was on the "housing crunch" and it's effect on the Humaine Societies across the country. It really hit home for me. There are thousands of animals out there right now that are stuck in a backyard with a bag of food and the faucet dripping to fend on their own. How sad is this. As a animal lover and a two-time dog owner there is no way in (you know where) that I could ever do this to a member of my family. That's what my pets have been to me.

People are leaving the dogs and cats because they just can't afford another mouth to feed or they are moving somewhere that does not allow pets. It makes me angry! Because some sleazy loan officer peddled a bunk mortgage on someone who could not afford it, there is a four legged innocent out there that is left to fend for themselves. I have personally had to part with two animals that I loved like they were my child and it broke my heart. They went to good homes and that was hard enough. To leave an animal stuck in the backyard is just beyond me. How could you live with yourself?

I like Ben Stien am asking you to remember these pets. He suggested that the federal government stop throwing money to bail out big banks that made risky loans and throw some at the Humaine Societies who are litterally being overrun with extra animals they are trying to save. I simply ask that if you are in the market for a pet, at the very least visit your local Humaine Society and see if there isn't the right dog or cat there for you. Save an innocent life.

April Fools Day came and went and I did not get tricked. I am so disappointed! This is a day that many of my friends used to live for. I remember one time when I was in school my car was moved after lunch. I had no idea where it was. It was the most excruciating 20-minutes of my life at that time. I called my Dad and he was ready to kill me before he called police. I am guessing he would have told them that both the car and me had vanished! Then one of my friends told me he'd give me a ride home. Instead he took me to my car where shoe polish said "APRIL FOOLS"! It was a big "ha ha" for my three (until then) best friends. I did not disown them but spent months planning revenge for each of them. Mine were not near as good as that April Fools of 1987. Wow I just dated myself!

If you got fooled this April don't worry. It happens to the best. I did play a late April Fools Day on my Mom today. I called her and asked her if she saw the Oprah show that had the "pregnant man" on it. She said she did. I then disclosed that I was also pregnant and to get ready for that! She laughed. She has watched her "jokester" son grow up and I can't slip anything past her anymore! I love her an awful lot!

Have a great weekend!

I think the most common question I get from the general public and freinds is: "What time do you go to work?" So in lets get it out of the way once and for all.

1:30pm!

That's right! Now for most of you 9 to 5 people out there it might seem like a cupcake of a day. What you need to realize is that while you are out enjoying "happy hour" I am hard at work. Or when you are climbing into bed I am just heading home.

Each day we have a Newsroom meeting at 1:30. In that meeting we discuss what we are working on for the day. Mostly what we are looking at for First at Five and for the Six O'Clock News. Then the real work begins. Lindsay Hunt and I both have responsibilities in both shows that we take care of everyday. We have Headlines to write. You see those right at the top of the news. Then one of us is responsible for taking care of the Radio Topicals that air on the GAP Broadcasting stations all afternoon before the Six O'Clock News. Whoever does that normally starts looking over First at Five to help with getting that show ready to go. The other of us is busy working on the Evening Webcast you see here on the website.

Once the five and six are both done I start working on Eye on Texas and Eye on Oklahoma. Those are my responsibilities. Lindsay works on Eye on the World. She has to pick normally three or four stories out of all the international news of the day. It's not as easy as it sounds. Sometimes there are 30 really good stories and she has to find the best ones. I have to dig sometimes to find something with some video to go with it. Then there is dinner.

After getting back from dinner break, I normally recheck my email to make sure there is nothing new in it and then I get to editing my Eye on Texas stories and Eye on Oklahoma. By that time our Executive Producer Priscilla Ford has looked over my stories. Then I get to edit the video for those. Once that is finished I look over the rest of the Ten O'Clock show and see what else needs attention if anything. Before I know it we are getting ready to go on the air again. It really can go by fast when were are busy.

So there you have it! A normal day. Oh I did forget to mention that quite often there is a board meeting or an 8am reading to elementary school kids that goes with the job. Those turn into 13-hour days really fast. But, it's all part of the job.

It has been too long since I have had a chance to get to this! My goodness I am just bad!!

Lots going on at Channel Six. We have, like most other businesses in Texoma, have been bogged down with sick people! EVERYBODY has the flu of some sort. We've aired story after story. There is nothing in the world like reading the introduction to a story on how going to work sick is bad for the office when you are sick yourself! Good thing germs cant get through your TV screen!

So besides everybody being sick.. the addition of First at Five has kept Lindsay Hunt and I busy. We have a lot to do every afternoon to make sure you are getting the news you want at five. Of course we all have a quick turn around to get the Six O'clock news on the air as well. SO WE ARE BUSY ALL THE TIME!!!

I hope you have had a chance to look around the new kauz.com. I have not had as much time as I have needed to look but from what I have seen it's getting better and better. Stay with us I am sure there is much more to come and you might even have a chance to win something from time to time.

Okay I have to get back to work. I promise that soon I will update you on some of the faces you are not seeing anymore on Channel Six. There are people moving all over the country. Some are planning weddings and some are about to get married. You have my word an update will be right here before the week is done!

Until then.. "stay classy Wichita Falls!"

I have had the recent pleasure of meeting Very Reverend Father Michael Olson of the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese. I just have to say he is one of the most pleasant people I have ever met.

I interviewed him in preparation for the final installment to Channel Six's Following Faith series. We talked about the recovery that the Catholic church is still undergoing as a result of the Priest sex-scandals in the early 2000's. It was not a pretty time for the 2000-year-old faith but they fought through it. One thing Father Olson pressed to me was the fact that the church is still open to anyone who was abused. Some of the victims that had come forward after all the news broke were separated by decades since the actual abuse happened. The Father wanted to emphasize that the abuse was criminal and that justice needed to be done. He also emphasized that the church has taken a very pro-active roll since it all started, and that the numbers of Priests in the North Texas area was actually very low.

Since 1969 when the Fort Worth Diocese was established there have been more than 700 Priests in the 28-counties that that the Diocese serves. There were only ten Priests who had credible allegations of sexual misconduct in those 38-years. All have been removed and those ten names are published on the diocese website, and all have been removed from being priests.

Father Olson who spent time in Wichita Falls during the early 90's and I spent a lot of time speaking about the TV industry while he was here. I had just started at Channel Six in sports and we reminisced about some of the personalities that were on the air at that time. It really was a nice trip down memory lane. I have to say that Father Olson has an incredible memory. Amazing actually.

It was a joy to speak with him and he represents the Catholic Church extremely well.

It was like a news flash that bounced off every wall of the Channel 6 News newsroom today. "Brittany Spears is losing her kids!!!!" What a shock! Call me old fashion or just old but I have no sympathy for her at this time. I don't know her personally but have seen the reports and read the articles. I recently heard of an article in a national magazine that was all about a reporter who was suppose to do an interview with her and waited for two days. Never got what was set up, but wrote the article about having to wait on Brittany. So the Judge and I agree that maybe, just maybe her life is not quite together. 

Sudden fame is an amazing thing. Despite the fact that Brittany has basically been in the spotlight her entire life she seems to really be struggling with it. Spears married young and quickly. Then made the decision she wanted some children. Now she has nothing. Her recent apperance on the MTV Video Music Awards was anything but stellar and she seemed to be ill-prepared. The rumor was that she was three-hours late for rehearsal the day before the show. How in the world is someone who seems so irresponsible with her career going to be responsible with her children? The reason she has the wealth and fame that she has now is because she was committed to being good at what she did. She was a good entertainer when it seemed that she cared about it.

Maybe she fell into that Hollywood life style that seems to eat up and spit out so many people. Look at the travesty that is the lives of so many of the young men and women that are or were stars. How often do we hear of an attempted suicide or another re-hab stint for another one of our brightest up and coming stars? It's more the rule than the exception now days. Blame the Paparizzi or whoever you want, but some day movie stars might just realize that they are indeed under a microscope and acting properly in public just might benefit them. Maybe their agents are not making them understand that the multi-million dollar movie deals will not last forever and can go away as quickly as they are signed.

There is an old saying; "Bad publicity is better than no publicity". But what about this, "Bad publicity, over and over, is just plain BAD!"

Good luck Kevin!

My friend, my co-worker, my "TV Wife" is leaving.

Nicole Jolly is leaving. NOT because she has had to anchor beside me on the desk for the last four months, but because she is in a position that she can leave for a much better life. You see the news business is very hard on people. Everyone that works in a news room is under tremendous stress. We are all basically on call 24-hours a day. We miss lots of holidays and events because we are working. Understand we chose this profession. No one held a gun to our head and said "you are doing the news"! We all said yes to the job offer. Some people make it some don't. Others like Nicole get a choice.

She had been on the air in the Wichita Falls/Lawton market for 14-years. She worked at KSWO in Lawton as an anchor and reporter before coming to bless us with her presence about a year and a half ago. We were indeed blessed to see her shining face and hear her laugh everyday since then. She is leaving us to be with her fiance Travis. We in the newsroom feel as though he is a part of our family here because we hear about him everyday. The two are inseparable and that is one of the reasons Nicole is leaving. They are to be married in April. They want to start a family. It's a beautiful and quite noble reason to bail on the fame and fortune (joking) of the TV life. We will miss her and hope you will as well.

If you have not gotten the chance to meet her in person you would only see how pretty she really is in person. Nicole is the same person "on the air" as she is "off the air". Should you have the chance or bump into her at the grocery store or at the movies please tell her I said hello. If you are blessed to earn her friendship, consider yourself lucky.

Nicole I wish you the best. You will be missed. You should be envied by others and give us all hope that family and commitment are still alive in this selfish world. THANK YOU!

It's the helping hand that counts. We have seen more devastation in the past four months than I can remember the entire 16-years I have been in Wichita Falls. What hits home for me, and one of the reasons I love this community is because they just keep on giving.

When floods devastated three areas of the city  those that were not effected stepped up to the plate. Newchannel Six and GAP Broadcasting had a one day fund raiser at United Market Street. In just eight hours we raised just over $9,000 for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. It truly is a reflection on what the people in and around Wichita Falls have to offer. There were large donations and small ones. Every single one counted. I think we all understand that. You never know when you will need help from the Red Cross or even your neighbor.

There is a lot of bad news that you see on the news everyday. But, we all know there is enough good to go around. Just look across the street or at the guy or girl who passes you in the grocery store and smiles. The good is there. It's proven every single day.

Thanks Wichita Falls.