A Comment On A Recent Threat
I have been on-the-air since 1969. That’s a long time. There have been a few incidents where I was worried for my life.
The one that comes to mind first, was when I was covering a protest march by a white supremacist in Atlanta, and an angry crowd was throwing rocks the size of bricks. One of them could have easily cracked a skull. Fortunately, they missed any vital parts. One man, a paramedic did get a bloody cut from a rock that grazed his head.
That same day, some Klansmen chased me into the corner of a parking lot, and if it had not been for a photographer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution who scared them away by snapping photos, I am sure they would have attacked me.
Once I was filming (yes, film..and I again date myself) a stabbing in Knoxville, and a man whispered a threat for me to stop shooting or I would end up stabbed, too.
Years and years ago, some law officers threatened to club me if I continued to take photos of a fight. Later on, I learned it was a county judge drunk out of his mind and flailing away at officers.
I have been way too close to a couple of shootings, and crash landed in a helicopter twice. Oddly enough, the flying mishaps are the only ones that have left lasting damage through a bad back.
Police have taken my photo and investigated me because I was at a few too many crime scenes where victims of a serial killer were found. And once, I nearly got into a fight myself, when a jackass brayed a taunt while I was trying to cover an execution.
Once a man cursed me continually while I was trying to record an interview. He even smacked me on the back of the head. As I turned to poke him in the kisser, a very wise photographer from Channel Eleven grabbed my hand and said “it’s not worth it”. He was right.
And since that last threat, those words…”it’s not worth it” are coming back in my mind, in a new context.
