This is what I saw when I woke up in my hotel room during my recent visit to Mobile, Alabama. I went to Mobile to do a story on Evonik, the company that is acquiring the Lilly Tippecanoe Laboratory. For someone from the Midwest, a ‘Hurricane Warning” was quite a wake up call.  But most of the locals told me not to worry. They were right, as the storm approached the Gulf Coast, Ida was downgraded to a tropical storm.

WALA videographer Vania Kuy

In Mobile, I had the opportunity to work with a videographer from our LIN sister station, WALA-TV. I enjoyed working with Vania Kuy. He got me around the city, as well as explained why we didn’t want to be on the ‘dirty’ side of a hurricane.  This is a shot of Vania getting video of Mobile Bay. Yes, it was raining. The storm was getting closer!

Evonik representatives really showed their southern hospitality. I met President Tom Bates, took a tour of the plant, and met several community leaders.  During the tour, I got to hold a sea urchin. The company uses them to monitor the quality of its discharge. I saw the barge Evonik uses to ship hydrogen peroxide. It’s called ‘the rainbow’s end.’

I really enjoyed meeting Mobile’s Mayor Sam Jones.  We had lunch with the mayor and some other people at the Exploreum. It’s a hands on science center that Evonik supports. If you have children and are ever in the area, I highly recommend it! http://www.exploreum.com/

Some people from the Tippecanoe Labs have asked about what kind of community involvement can we expect from Evonik in the Lafayette area. Mr. Bates said the company hopes to be a good community partner, as Lilly has been. He just isn’t sure if it will be at the level Lilly does.  Evonik supports other issues in the Mobile area, including the Opera and Symphony.

We also went to Hollinger’s Island Elementary School. It is a school Evonik supports. While the company gives grants to the school, it also has employees volunteer their time there.  Principal Shirley Thompson said some employees volunteer to read to children, while others help with minor building repairs.

Thanks to Tom Bates, Jonathan Evans and many others from Evonik for welcoming me to Mobile to learn more about the company. I also really appreciated all the help from the employees at WALA-TV (especially as the newsroom was dealing with breaking news from Tropical Storm Ida).  I hope you enjoy the reports tonight and tomorrow.

Family Services kicked off  “National Family Week” Saturday with an awards ceremony at Ivy Tech Community College. I was honored to be a part of the event, introducing the winners of the essay and poster contests. The contest theme was “How my family is important to me.”

I enjoyed all the stories. I was especially touched by a young man who wrote an essay about how helpful his father has been and how they missed his mom who recently died of cancer. Another little girl wrote a story about her great grandmother who had passed away, but was still very much in her heart. Many of the children credited parents with helping them with homework. Caleb Phillippo from Tippecanoe Christian School won with a poster about his 95-year-old neighbor, Clark.

Caleb Phillippo's poster honoring his 95 year old neighbor

If you’d like to check out the winners, they will be on display at Cold Stone Creamery in the Pavilions Shopping Center through December 18th.

It is nice to see so many people pausing to honor veterans on Veterans Day. We covered several activities at schools, the Indiana Veterans’ Home and at Purdue. But, we missed one I’d like to mention.

Employees at Imperial Travel donated the money to buy a flag pole and flags (American and Indiana) to put up at the company’s garage on South 30th Street. Mechanics Tim Plante and Mark Shoaf collected the funds in a short amount of time. It was then decided the employees would raise the flag for the first time on Veterans Day with a small ceremony. Employee Brenda Pease said it was heart warming to have everyone recite the Pledge of Allegiance as one unit. She said ten employees at the travel company have served or are serving in the military.

The John T. Myers pedestrian bridge  has pink lights. The mayors of Lafayette and West Lafayette joined a gathering on the bridge last night to flip the switch. It was the 4th annual bridge lighting ceremony. It is part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I was honored to emcee the program again this year. I was very impressed with our featured speakers. One was Lester Burch. His wife, Rose, died of breast cancer in December 2007. He told everyone how important support is to the patients and families. YWCA Women’s Cancer program Director Ruth Breyley said she hoped this event would help raise awareness. She said many women don’t get mammograms because there is no family history. Yet, in 90% of new cases the patients do not have a family history.

If you need help getting a mammogram, contact the YWCA.

765-742-4375
1-800-770-9004 (toll free)

If you are tired of hearing about unemployment, the economy, and crime, here is a great story I’d like to share. A friend of mine who is an Iraq War veteran, Tim Plante,  sent me this:

This week consider dining out in downtown Lafayette. Six restaurants are participating in a fundraiser for the upcoming Hunger Hike.

Bea One, Spurlocks, Bistro 501, La Scala, Adelino’s and the Bluefin Bistro are all taking part in the third annual event.

“Celebrity” maitre d’s will host patrons dining in any of the six restaurants.  Mike Cleff will be at LaScala tonight (September 14th). I will be at Spurlocks on Tuesday. Jeff Smith will be at Bea One on Wednesday. We will be there from 6:00p.m.-8:00p.m.

Hunger Hike is on Sunday, September 20th. Registration starts at 12:30 at Riehle Plaza. The walk starts at 2:00p.m. Proceeds benefit Food Finders Food Bank, Lafayette Urban Ministry, and  St. Thomas Aquinas Haiti Project.

For more information: www.hungerhike.org

Back row: Joe LePage, Laura Kirtley, Laura Nichols, Sue Scott. Front row: James Nichols and Georgana Nichols.

Thanks to everyone who donated during this year’s MDA telethon. Volunteers answered phones during the Labor Day weekend to help raise more than $296,000. While this isn’t as much money as last year, organizers were pleased with the amount, considering the economy.  Some of the top groups collecting money were the Lafayette Fire Department ($32,000) and the Tippecanoe County Lock-up ($38,000).

Money raised during the telethon helps families in the Lafayette area. The MDA helps families with clinic visits, leg braces, wheelchair repairs and other services.

I enjoy helping out at the telethon, for many reasons.  Labor Day weekend is like a family reunion for the WLFI emcees, families, and volunteers.  The children make it all worth our time and effort. As I was saying goodbye to James Nichols, our Goodwill Ambassador, he asked if he could have a hug. I thought I was going to cry! I gave him a big squeeze and asked him to give me a full report on MDA camp next year.

Videographer Nathan Caldwell, Service Technician Daman Hartwick, and Sue at the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm

This week I had the opportunity to meet workers who maintain turbines at the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm. Vestas is a global company, with thousands of turbines around the world.  My story about the work they will do airs Friday, September 4th. We couldn’t get permission to climb the tower with the crew that day. So, we sent my digital camera to the top. Daman Hartwick and Gerald Parker took some really cool shots from the top of the wind turbine. I’m still lobbying for my chance to see the view up top for myself! Stay tuned.

The Nichols family and our crew take a tour of a Crawfordsville Fire Station.

Labor Day is almost here.  Part of our holiday includes spending time with families, like the Nichols during the MDA telethon. Greg and Laura live in Crawfordsville with their two children James and Georgana. The children are this year’s MDA Goodwill Ambassadors.

Please include us in your Labor Day plans. Tune into the telethon Sunday night through Monday. Dozens of volunteers will be standing by to take your pledge. The money raised stays local, to help local families. This year, the MDA helped James buy new leg braces. And, he’ll probably need another pair before long. You know how boys grow! I’ll be on the telethon Monday afternoon. Tune in when you can!

The Nichols family

Sue and instructor Jack Bow

I survived Dancing with the Stars on Friday night. I managed to complete the routine without stepping on my partner’s toes or falling down. My partner was the owner of Arthur Murray Dance studio, Jack Bow. He was a great teacher and very patient!  We danced the swing to Old Time Rock-n-Roll by Bob Seeger.

The other participants had great routines. State Senator Ron Alting and his partner danced to ‘Brickhouse.’ He really got the crowd going when he slid across the floor! CC coach Dave Barrett did the swing, Ernie Caldemone of Artistic Media Partners danced to the song, ‘Last Dance,’ and Linda Rohrman did the sexy rumba to the song ‘Everything’. Doctor Greg Konrath had fun doing the moonwalk and other moves to ‘Billy Jean.” He and his partner Samantha wore dark shades and hats. Linda gathered the most donations to Big Brothers/Big Sisters to win the contest. Below is video from my routine, but you can see clips from each of the dancers on our web page. Go to video, then look under bonus.