Inside The Times-News | Madison Taylor

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Boston connections

April 15th, 2013, 8:27 pm by madisontaylor

Doug Campbell only left the Times-News copydesk a little less than two months ago but Monday afternoon it was good to hear from him via Facebook.

“Hi Madison,” Doug wrote. “Ann and I are safe outside the city, sitting and listening to the news. This is unbelievable.”

Indeed, when Doug left Burlington — actually he was living in Carrboro — his next stop was to be Boston to take on a new role with a start-up company working with a friend. He and partner Ann moved to Somerville, Mass.

But Tuesday their world was shaken like most in the Boston metro area by the bombings at the finish line of the venerable Boston Marathon. I thought of Doug immediately when I heard the first reports of what happened.

So hearing from Doug made my day.

“We had just returned to our apartment when we heard the news. Beautiful day, saw a Paul Revere re-enactor ride through Somerville,” Doug wrote. “We had walked by the marathon finish line yesterday when we went to Boston, though.”

When I heard from Doug at around 6 p.m. news reports were still sketchy, but I knew it was bad. As I write this the death toll is three and the number of injured more than 100. The culprits are not yet known.

Doug was wisely staying put and watching news unfold on TV.

“From what I’ve heard people are being warned to stay away from the marathon route and advised against traveling in large groups,” Doug wrote. “I have a friend who works at the mall in the area and they were evacuated.’

Doug wasn’t the only person we wanted to hear from in Boston. Alamance County folks were there to run in the marathon. At least four people from our area finished the race: Holly Fredericksen-Dewitt of Burlington; Jim Keck of Burlington; Carmen Bork of Mebane; and Roger Halchin of Mebane. Others may be there, but weren’t listed among the finishers because the explosion halted the run.

The scene in Boston was chaotic to say the least and cell service spotty. I hope we can contact people on Tuesday for their stories.

NOTE: Elon will host a service at its new Numen Lumen multi-faith center at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

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We lost Mike

April 14th, 2013, 8:10 am by madisontaylor

When Mike Wilder didn’t drop by the newsroom on Thursday afternoon and stopped answering his telephone we knew something was wrong.

But we had no idea how wrong.

While we were placing calls and sending texts in a worried frenzy, a war we all thought Mike would be engaged in for months, even a year or more, had already entered its final battle. The cancers that riddled his body perforated — a worst case scenario his niece would tell me Friday morning. He never really stood a chance.

By Sunday morning my friend and colleague of six years was gone. He was only 45 years old.

In talking with his family — mom, Eloise; brother, Brent; sister, Susan; and niece, Shannon — who were by his side on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning — I learned that Mike became seriously ill on Wednesday and things got progressively worse into the night when he was told to come back to Alamance Regional Medical Center. He was in severe pain and so weak he couldn’t walk on his own. Upon his arrival, and after a quick check, his oncologist described the situation as “grave.”

Thursday, when Mike planned to stop by the office to say hello — a new custom born when he started chemotherapy more than a month ago — he was undergoing emergency surgery. He was told without it, he would have only a short time to live, maybe 48 hours at best.

As it turned out, even with the surgery he didn’t have a whole lot longer.

Friday morning Shannon left me a message with the stunning news. At the Times-News we were devastated. We knew that Mike had a finite period of time. His cancer had advanced to the stage where it was never considered curable. But two weeks ago, on the day of a bake sale for Mike at the Times-News, the two of us discussed his future. He planned to come back to work — regain some normalcy in his life. I was for it and also told him that he needed to also plan for the things he still wanted to accomplish in his remaining time.

On Easter Sunday I saw him again. He seemed stronger than I had seen him in a couple of months. He was also his lovably grumpy self. I thought it was a good sign. Tuesday we spoke. He had texted our newsroom earlier in the day to let us know that the hamburger and hot dog fund-raiser occasionally held downtown was that day. He loved that hamburger for a buck deal. When I talked to him later he said he had more energy and attributed it to the steroids given as part of his treatment.

Then, less than 48 hours later . . .

Friday afternoon, Times-News family members joined Mike’s family at ARMC in a large room set aside of palliative care situations. Meeting the Wilder family has proved an amazing experience in and of itself. They’re great people. We swapped stories and hugged each other as Mike lay in the bed. He was awake only a couple of occasions but unable to speak. Doctors believe people in those situations can hear what’s being said. Right away I let him know that because he wasn’t around on Friday I had to do the Elon poll story. I know that if he could respond he would say, “that’s cute.” Then I told him I would miss him and that he would be damned hard to replace. I wished him well on his next journey and said goodbye.

RIP Mikey.

I’ll post information about memorial arrangements as they become better known. But expect something locally in Alamance County as well as a service in Virgina, where his mom lives.

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The Winn-Dixie shootings: Memories revisited

April 11th, 2013, 11:44 am by madisontaylor

I never get much sleep on the night before a column is to be published about something controversial. That’s even truer when I write a news or feature story. My biggest concerns? Did I get it right? Was it fair? And, did I screw it up in some way? I’m a worrier by nature and when it comes to reporting, it’s especially so. That’s been the case for more than 30 years.

Over the past 20, though, I haven’t written many news or feature stories of note. Oh, I type up crime briefs or write the occasional book review — but the process of coming up with a story idea, doing the research, conducting interviews, organizing and crafting the actual article is something I haven’t done in a long, long time.

Last week that changed with a story headlined “Warning sign.” It was about the Winn-Dixie shootings 20 years ago in Burlington. It was a 72-column-inch look at how city police conducted business on April 1, 1993 in comparison to today when such shootings are far more common. My original idea was to write a short column about it. I wasn’t even sure I could write a complex story like that one anymore.

But I had so much great information from Times-News stories written during that time by former colleagues Chris Cary, Jim Wicker, Vonda Hampton and Susan Shinn as well as fresh interviews with retired police chief John Glenn and former Burlington officer and current Sheriff’s Office spokesman Randy Jones that the story took on a life of its own.

I’m glad I wrote it, even if it did mean a sleepless Friday night and Saturday morning. The story got tremendous feedback from readers who offered a variety of comments and recollections. My friend and historian Walter Boyd said many in his circle liked the story quite a bit. And my longtime friend and former boss Don Bolden paid me the best compliment. “You should do more of these,” he said.

I put together some comments and observations.

Here are a few.

About Gerald Snead

One of the most interesting tidbits came from a colleague at the Times-News now who was in another line of work in 1993. Winn-Dixie gunman Gerald Snead was one of his employees on the day of the shooting.

He recalled that Snead was quite agitated when he left work that day. In fact, my colleague was so concerned about him that he called his house and left a message asking Snead if he was OK. He never heard back from Snead, of course. By that time, Snead was shot and killed by police when he refused to drop his weapon after killing one woman and wounding two others inside the grocery store. But police did question my colleague several times after the incident.

“Did Snead have mental problems as the SBI noted,” I asked.

“Not when he took his medication,” my colleague said.

Another fascinating reflection about Snead came from Ted Nelson, a longtime friend who lives in Winston-Salem. Ted, a Graham native, was a reporter with me on my first job out of college at the Reidsville Review. Small world time on this one.

“The summer before this happened I was with my wife, Carolyn, and our 13-year-old daughter, Gina. We were at Disney World in Florida and Gina wanted to ride Space Mountain. We had been on the ride before so we didn’t want to ride it that day. We were talking to a group of people we had met from Burlington. A young man in the group volunteered to take the ride with Gina, so we said that would be OK and he did. We never saw him again until I turned the TV news on the evening of April 1, 1993. There was a picture of Gerald Howard Snead, the man identified as the shooter that day in Burlington — the same man Gina rode on Space Mountain with the summer before. Our jaws dropped and we looked at each other in disbelief…”

Whew. Weird.

And another acquaintance had this to say about Snead.

“I grew up with Gerald Snead, went to school with him for 12 years, rode the same bus … always a quiet kid, not so good at sports, lonely even in a group of people, later delivered pizzas for Dominos, the owners and I were talking about Gerald last night, as a matter of fact. They told me Gerald would obsess over the fact that he was 2 cents short of tip money. Maybe this was the only control he ever had over his short, sad life, who knows?”

Who knows, indeed

About Pam Pike

My longtime friend and former Jacksonville Daily News colleague Patricia Smith grew up in Alamance County. She knew Snead’s victim Pam Pike.

“This was very sad. Pam Pike was the younger sister of one of my best friends in high school, and I got to know her when I’d spend the night with my friend. Later on, if Pam saw me out somewhere, she’d always say hello. One time, I remember, she yelled across the post office parking lot to say hello. I also remember sitting the Jacksonville Daily News newsroom (I was on the business page at the time) and seeing the story come across the wire). I called my parents that night to find out if it was the Pam Pike I knew.”

Location, location, location

Walter Boyd had a question about just where the Winn-Dixie store was located in New Market Square at the time of the shooting. I wrote that it was later moved after the shooting to a space now occupied by Harris Teeter. He didn’t live here when the shopping center was built and only remembered Winn-Dixie being on the corner. He said current Harris Teeter employees say the shooting took place inside where the store is now.

Not true.

When I first started to research the incident, a locator map by then-Times-News graphic artist Elizabeth Landt placed the store in the general vicinity of where TJ Maxx is located today. I verified this with John Glenn. Now Walter has it down to record in his ongoing history book of Burlington.

On that day

Got a note by email Sunday from Mike Newsome who appreciated the story but it certainly brought back memories.

“I was one of 2 paramedics in the first ambulance to arrive on scene. The call first came in as “hostage situation”, soon changed to “heart attack”. We were directed to go behind the building and as I got out I saw several policemen, guns drawn, waving us back. I later found out the gunman had not been brought down about that time. In a couple more minutes the back door flew open. Just inside a cop was doing CPR on an elderly man. He had had a heart attack at the back of the store when this all started. We put him in the truck, his wife up front. A fireman drove the ambulance to Memorial Hospital while we were doing our thing. The patient lived several days as I recall, but never regained consciousness. Thanks again for the story.”

And a commenter on Facebook offered this memory.

“Remember like it was yesterday. I was at the intersection when police came from all directions and my husband at the time worked for Serv-Pro who went in and cleaned up from it. It affected him as well to see all the carnage.”

A reporter reflects

Vonda Hampton was on the team of reporters who covered the shooting on April 1, 1993 for the Times-News. I sent a message to her via Facebook for some of her thoughts. This is what she wrote in return.

“I remember the shooting well and it’s hard to believe twenty years have passed since that day. I was sitting at my desk when news of the shooting came over a police scanner that was situated on police beat reporter Chris Cary’s desk, which was left of mine. Times-News reporter Murray Glenn and photographer Sherry DiBari ran from the newsroom immediately and arrived at the store in time to hear the final shots being fired. Murray Glenn told me later that when the shots rang out, he ducked for cover, but Sherry “ran towards the store,” camera in hand. I recall a number of reporters, myself included, standing in the store parking lot, interviewing bystanders and waiting for news on casualties and motive. We stood there for what seemed like forever and the updates were few and far between.

“Once the victim’s name was known, I was pulled off the store and sent to the home of Pam Pike and her fiancé at the time. I was told not to come back without talking to him, but that proved to be impossible. The couple lived in a modest house down a winding road in Graham. There was a car in the driveway when I arrived but despite repeated knocks, no one came to the door. I waited a long time and finally left a note in the door, asking for an interview. I returned to the house multiple times that day and sat in the driveway waiting for him, but never connected with her fiancé. In the years since, I have often wondered what happened to him, and if he ever married someone else.

“That Winn-Dixie was a central, bustling place where I shopped for groceries. You could hardly run in without seeing someone you knew from the community. Following the incident, I never passed or entered the store again without thinking about the shooting, Pam Pike, and her fiancé. If I passed it today, I would still think of them.”

My thanks to all who contributed to this story and subsequent blogs about it. And perhaps Don is right, I need to do these kinds of stories more often.

Posted in: Inside the Times-News • Strange but true journalism stories • The e-mailbag | Post a Comment »

An ethical guy, that’s our Bob

April 10th, 2013, 7:59 am by madisontaylor

This is why I both like and respect our sports editor, Bob Sutton.

Bob’s a huge Syracuse fan, something not a lot of people know. He certainly doesn’t advertise it. In fact, many in our community are convinced that he harbors some great love for either Duke or Carolina. The truth is, he doesn’t give a hoot what team from around here wins or loses. He just likes covering the games.

But he bleeds Orange. And on Saturday, he drove to Atlanta in hopes of buying a ticket to see Syracuse play Michigan in the Final Four semifinal game. He did so like any other fan, not as a professional journalist. As a result, he tried to gain access to the Georgia Dome as any other fan might, by buying a ticket on his own.

Bravo.

More than a few unethical journalists out there would have applied for a press credential and attended the game as a fan disguised as reporter with no intention of filing a story. I’ve known a few who would do so and not feel one bit bad about it. They are not respectable and reflect poorly on our business. The ones who make up reasons to file stories just to attend something they want to see aren’t high on my list, either.

Bob’s not like that at all.

Sadly, Bob never got inside the Georgia Dome.

“It was a disaster,” he told me on Monday.

Bob said a mob was outside the Dome trying to buy tickets on Saturday — right up to game time. Outside of one or two priced at an absurd $800, nothing was available. There simply were no tickets to be had, which is unusual. Bob wound up watching the game on a large screen in a nearby convention center. Ironically enough, people inside the Georgia Dome probably watched most of the game on big-screen TVs inside the arena because their seats were so far from the floor.

Part of the visible shortage of printed tickets was probably due to the new flashseats or flash ticketing options now available. Bob discovered that people can order tickets online then enter the game or concert venue by swiping their credit card at a gate. There is no physical ticket at all.

Bob and I are alike on this point. Bob decided not to use that option before going to the site because he simply didn’t trust not having a ticket in hand. In the digital world, though, the two of us will have to change with the times.

The good part of flashseats is that people who will actually use the tickets have access to them. Scalpers can’t simply buy up blocks of tickets then gouge customers outside arenas. The bad news? No tickets for sale at all.

And as editor of the Times-News, the best news is, our sports editor is one ethical guy.

Bob explains how the Orange got to the Final Four during a meeting last week in my office.

Posted in: Inside the Times-News • Let's talk sports • Strange but true journalism stories | Post a Comment »

Mr. Editor’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; or, One of My Weirdest Letters Ever

April 9th, 2013, 12:45 pm by madisontaylor

I get a pretty wild and wide assortment of letters on a variety of topics. But this was a new one for me. The writer sent it via our website. She did not give her full name but identified her place of residence as Gibsonville. She wrote on the subject line: “Single Moms.” I’ll publish it here without editing but not in print. No ID or telephone number is the big reason. Plus, she’s looking for some guidance.

Here goes.

—

Why is it in this day and time, that it is so hard to find “Mr. Right?” You have all these tools such as match.com, e-harmony Plenty-O-Fish” but yet, nobody is telling the truth. I know that men look better online because they can be whomever they want to be. Am I not getting something right? Am I supposed to be ”Untruthful” on these websites?

I recently had an experience of a lifetime. I believe I had to be the biggest ”dummy” there is. I went on one of these websites, and carefully answered all of the questions with honesty to make sure that they would find compatible people for just me. Well, low and behold, there comes one on this website that appears to be just the best possible match for me. I was bewildered to see that it only took three days to end this search. I said, ”Well, that was easy!” So after a few conversations on line, we decided to exchange phone numbers … those were almost fantacy-like. I mean, he was charming, and courteous, and such a gentleman being considerate of the time because he knew I had a son and needed to tend to him. I said to my self, ”Self, pinch me!”

The time came to finally meet. He was a man from Georgia and he was going to fly all the way to N.C. just to see me. Again, the ”wow-factor” came to play. I chose what I thought to be a very classy outfit, perfect shoes, not too much jewlery, and perfume. Here I am at the airport, just as nervous as could be… and the plane had landed, and the passengers had just been let off the plane. As I saw a resemblence of what was on the picture of the website coming closer to me, I about fell out of my high heel shoes when I saw what looked like a strung out man, thinner than his picture, and wirey hair come towards me. All I wanted to do was turn around and RUN!

I took a hard swallow, and managed to let out a shaky h-e-l-l-o. He wanted to hug me and I was standoffish, and just shook his hand. He let out a few comments on my shoes (not good ones), and insulted my outfit which I had checked with a few girlfriends two days before and got their approval on.

So, needless to say, I had such a bad experience for the next few days, that I will not be using those dating services again.

So tell me Mr. Editor, is there another solution to this. Forget church men, because they have infiltrated into that option as well. Thank you.

Simply Alone

—

Here’s my reply, of sorts. Funny, I feel like fictional TV reporter Carl Kolchak when he was tasked with answering advice for the lovelorn when the Dear Abby-style columnist was on vacation.

DEAR SIMPLY: In my rather limited and uneventful dating experience, I found that the most obviously successful males are the ones on the prowl who lie the most. They fib about where they work, how much they’re paid, educational background, hobbies, political beliefs, religious affiliations — you name it, they’ll twist it in order to get a woman in a compromising position. So if they’ll do this face to face, imagine how much they’ll stretch the truth online.

As a result, a large number of men — but far from all — believe this to be the way to conduct themselves — at least until the day they get married to some poor woman and turn immediately into “lazy lumps of drunken flesh” as a character once observed on the 1980s TV comedy show “Taxi.”

Just because it’s comedy doesn’t make it wrong.

Because such a high number of men simply can’t be trusted, the dating pool remains rather shallow indeed, especially for single moms.

In the instance you describe, it sounds like neither party saw what they were hoping to find.

Meeting people is the single toughest thing to do in American life. While online or other matchmaking services have some degrees of success, eventually you have to get out of the house and have human interaction face to face. Join some kind of organization built around a common interest — physical fitness, politics, cooking, sports, gaming, cars and art jump to mind. Don’t immediately give up on someone just on appearance. Talking may reveal a deep well of common goals or interests.

It’s easy to give up. Believe me, I know. I gave up myself years ago. Then I met someone who changed my life. How did I do it? By being open to meeting someone completely unlike anyone I looked for before. All it took was willingness to accepting new ways of looking at life. The right person simply walked right in when I wasn’t paying attention.

Hopefully you’ll be so fortunate.

Signed,

Mr. Editor

Posted in: Inside the Times-News • The Dead Letter Office • The e-mailbag | Post a Comment »

Foul-ups, bleeps and blunders

April 7th, 2013, 8:34 pm by madisontaylor

I didn’t coin this phrase but I used it a time or two, most memorably when my job was managing editor of the Daily News in Jacksonville. At the time, we were going through a pretty bad stretch of mistakes. Over the course of a week we had headline errors, typos, incorrectly spelled names — you name it, we did it. Newspapers get on runs like that sometimes and all the yelling in the world won’t make it stop.

On about the fifth day, I got a telephone call from a cackling reader who wanted to bring my attention to something on the scoreboard page — the spot with the boxscores and statistics set in agate type. Under high school track results we published the name of a completely new event, typed here as the “sh*t put.” Sounds like the kind of activity the board of health might shut down, if such a thing, in fact, existed. But I knew deep down it was supposed to be “shot put.” I took one of our young sports guys aside and pointed out the mistake. Being a guy, of course, he saw some humor in it. But I wanted to make a point so I told him this:

“Son, they’re not laughing with you, they’re laughing at you.”

I thought of that Sunday when I got this email from a reader in Gibsonville by the name of Martha Farlow.

“I was so delighted to read that bullets are now in short demand! Maybe this will be the beginning of a decrease in gun violence! Sadly, reading further, I realized that bullets are not in short demand, they are in short supply….”

Ms. Farlow is referring to our front page headline Sunday about a shortage of ammunition in stores nationwide and locally. We mistakenly said that bullets were in short demand, not supply. We are correcting this in Monday’s newspaper. The headline online was correct. I want to thank Ms. Farlow for pointing out our error with a little humor and to the caller I had earlier in the day at the Times-News.

Headline gaffes like this happen because we’re working quickly and trying to fit words into a scripted space. Our desk editors write dozens of headlines in a night. Sometimes our thoughts get confused — supply and demand are connected in our consciousness — and that makes the error more difficult to catch. I proofed the front page myself at around 11 p.m. on Saturday night and marked it as good to go. But when I looked at the newspaper Sunday morning, the error was the first thing I noticed.

Believe me, we weren’t trying to draw laughs or make some weird political statement.

And hopefully this doesn’t start a bad run for us.

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Yes, there is a Mayberry

March 30th, 2013, 8:20 pm by madisontaylor

Last week we had an event at the Times-News office that impacted us all in a very profound way. And while Mayberry may be a fictional place, the concept of it can be very real. And as Andy might say, “It’s right cheer.”

—–

Jeanne Robertson, as is her custom, posed the question that perhaps summed things up best.

“Fastest bake sale in history?” she wrote on Facebook Thursday morning just an hour or so after we closed out the benefit for our reporter and friend Mike Wilder, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this month.

Short answer: Probably.

Yes, we were, in a word, shocked. An event we thought might last all day, and then some, was over in a little less than 90 minutes. Tables heaped with donated cakes, pies, cookies and candies vanished in a blink. It was as if a swarm of locusts — cash-paying and friendly locusts, mind you — passed through.

And to think we were terrified that dozens of items would be left over for want of enough customers.

But, as Robertson said, it was perhaps the fastest bake sale in history. One of the more successful, too, I would imagine.

“When I left (before 9) people were coming from every direction with cakes in hand and waiting in cars out front to come in to purchase at 9,” Robertson wrote on a Facebook page, In Mike Wilder’s Corner, we created to post information concerning Mike. “By 10, all the cakes are gone. Thanks to all who supported this cause. Wow!”

Wow, indeed. In all, we made more than $3,500 for Mike on the sale of baked goods alone. By any standard, that’s one humdinger of a bake sale. That doesn’t include the money donated by those who arrived after the sale was finished. I can only offer my thanks to people in Alamance County for their generosity and kindness. It was remarkable.

The outcome was a pretty far piece from the humble start initiated by Times-News receptionist Vicky Davis, who began it as an in-house project at the newspaper to raise money to help make up what will be substantial medical and other bills for Mike.

Then it sprawled into a whole lot more — an amazing display of community at a time when it’s more cynical to believe that those days are long gone.

It was about friendship. And it was about respect. It was about fellowship and philanthropy and pound cakes of every description. It was about solidarity and it was about love. It was about faith and spirit and apple pie. It was about the newspaper and a reporter and the lives we touch each day without knowing it. And it was about generosity, neighbors and cupcakes piled with icing. It was about word of mouth, the printed page and this social media thing that the youngsters speak of. It was about colleagues, strangers and volunteers. It was about home, hearth and fresh cookies from the oven. And it was about George Bailey and Aunt Bee and the myth of Mayberry, which may not be such a myth after all. It was about Easter, redemption and goodwill.

And it was about us, ultimately.

So many people came from inside and out of our community to help it would be impossible to name them all.

Robertson, a nationally known humorist and motivational speaker, is arguably Alamance County’s most famous resident. She gave a celebrity element to our little sale. Someone who follows me on Twitter sent a message asking if Robertson had been contacted about donating a signature 7-Up pound cake. “Miss Dazey” got in touch with Robertson, who was more than willing to help. She even made DVDs and other items available. It made our day because anyone who knows Mike is aware that he’s one of her biggest fans. He can quote her routines verbatim.

Richard Orcutt of Atlantic Sign Media met Mike through stories he’s written about the New Directions International ministry. He offered a digital sign to advertise the sale for as long as it lasted. It drew a lot of attention, despite the image he put up there of me with Jay Ashley.

Former co-workers of Mike’s like Vonda Hampton, who now lives out of state, ordered goodies and had then brought to our office for sale. People from Mike’s life outside work and dozens of folks he’s written about over the years either delivered, or bought, armloads of items.

And yes, many told stories of how Mike’s reporting or feature writing made a difference in their lives. It made me feel as if perhaps what we do is pretty relevant, despite what the critics might pronounce.

I was telling Burlington City Manager Harold Owen about it later. He paused and said, “That’s what I love about this town.”

Same here Harold. Same here.

Posted in: Column collection • Inside the Times-News • Mike Wilder | Post a Comment »

Bake sale is really cookin’ now (with an update!)

March 26th, 2013, 11:48 am by madisontaylor

Someone sent me a message via Twitter a few minutes ago. Here it is.

Miss Dazey, that’s her Twitter handle by the way, was asking the question in reference to Thursday’s bake sale at the Times-News, which will benefit our reporter Mike Wilder. For those who don’t know, Mike was diagnosed with cancer earlier this month and our receptionist Vicky Davis organized this fund-raiser, which now has dozens of people helping out. Miss Dazey, like many of us, is aware of how big a fan Mike is of Jeanne Robertson, arguably Alamance County’s most famous person and a nationally known humorist.

We had not contacted Jeanne. I’ve never met her. Miss Dazey volunteered to call Jeanne and see if she would have the time to make a donation. Jeanne’s a busy woman. She might not have the time — but it’s the thought that counts. UPDATE: Miss Dazey just tweeted that Jeanne is on board and plans to make somethng special. That’s going to make Mike’s day.

Volunteering has been huge so far for this bake sale, which will start for customers at 9 a.m. on Thursday at the Times-News office on 707 S. Main St., in Burlington. Dozens of people are donating their efforts in one way or another. We should have a good variety of cakes, pies, cookies and other goodies for sale. Vicky’s idea is to offer whole items so people can purchase desserts to serve over Easter weekend. All the proceeds will go toward paying Mike’s medical and other bills.

So far people are donating time, desserts or services from every corner. Richard Orcutt of Atlantic Sign Media is the latest to hop on board. He stopped by our office today and offered to supply a sign to put in front of our building on the day of bake sale. We can’t thank him enough.

So far, we’ve had a few questions from people about the sale, which will last all day.

Here are a few tips from Vicky.

1. Please label your goodies and because of allergies list if there are nuts used in it.

2. It starts at 9 a.m. and will go until … But the early arrivals will get to choose from the best items.

3. People are asked to bring items for sale no later than 8:15 a.m. on Thursday. Items can be delivered on Wednesday — but no items that need refridgeration can be accepted at that time because we simply don’t have the space. Goodies that need to remain chilled should only be delivered on Thursday morning.

4. If you bring cookies please plate them 2 dozen per plate.

5. Vicky will be at the Times-News by 7:30 Thursday morning to set up. When you bring your goodies in you see there will be tables for:

Iced cakes
Pound cakes
Loaf cakes and breads
Cookies
Candy
Pies

When Vicky told Mike about the sale his response was: “Miss Vicky, that is really touching. I really appreciate it.”

In fact, all of us at the Times-News appreciate the help we’re receiving on Mike’s behalf. It’s special, very special indeed.

Posted in: Inside the Times-News • Mike Wilder | Post a Comment »

Our little bake sale … on steroids

March 24th, 2013, 12:15 pm by madisontaylor

Well, it started as a little ol’ bake sale to hopefully make a nickel or two to help our friend and colleague Mike Wilder, who was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago with cancer in multiple places.

Now, it looks like a Pillsbury Bake-Off. That’s kind of what we hoped might happen when Times-News receptionist Vicky Davis got the idea a few weeks ago. Her original notion was to collect some baked goods in-house for sale in the lobby for a couple of hours on March 28, just in time for Easter. Today, though, plans have become, well, bigger — and better.

On Thursday March 28 we will have a full-blown bakery-style operation going, with dozens of items for sale in the Times-News breakroom. All proceeds will go to Mike to help meet the demands of his medical costs and other expenses that will almost surely drain his bank account. We will begin to take customers at 9 a.m. and will keep the doors open all day We’ll have whole cakes and pies for sale as well as trays of cookies and candies. Vicky’s plan was to have items people could stop buy and purchase to serve over Easter weekend.

I knew we would have some pretty outstanding items for sale. My spouse, the lovely and talented Roselee Papandrea, is quite a baker in her own right. At the Times-News we also have some major players in the dessert world. In fact, Vicky told me last week she plans to make several items — and needed to buy 25 pounds of sugar over the weekend the handle the order.

Sweet, in more ways than one.

But then we got a slew of volunteers. For example, Ed Williams, the public information director at Alamance Community College, said the culinary department there wanted to do something for Mike’s bake sale. This week is apparently dedicated to “practical pies” and the culinary teachers want to make a donation. There will be eight pies in all, Ed told me.

“That would be Doris Schomberg who’s putting that together,” Mike said when I told him about the donation. “She really likes me.”

Indeed, and a lot of people like Mike. One of the contestants in the Calpurnia’s Pound Cake Contest held in association with Alamance Reads and its book selection this year, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” called me last week and asked if she and others who won the competition, could donate cakes made from the prize-winning recipes. I was delighted and asked Alamance County Library Director M.J. Wilkerson to contact the other contest entries. She was happy to oblige.

In fact the word is out to many corners to bring goodies for sale in our makeshift benefit. And we appreciate each and every one. I’d love to see this become about the best bake sale ever held in Alamance County. To those who wish to bring a baked item, please drop it by the office no later than 8:15 a.m. on Thursday.

Now, we have to make sure there are customers.

To do so, we’re spreading the word everywhere. Jenny Faulkner, the public information director for the Alamance-Burlington School System, is making announcements there. Burlington City Manager Harold Owen asked me how he and others at City Hall could help Mike out and I replied, “Send them to our bake sale!”

Yesterday, Roselee with some help from me, started a Facebook page dedicated to helping Mike. It’s called In Mike Wilder’s Corner – meaning we’re behind him for the fight he has ahead. We will post information there about fund-raisers and other activities involving Mike. I already know than in July we plan a big concert downtown as a benefit. A local restaurant owner is also offering his establishment for a night with part of the dinner price going for Mike’s care. And completely without my help, Roselee also made a poster to help advertise the sale. Check it out below.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank those in our area who have generously donated to a collection jar at our reception desk. And last week, the anonymous person who leaves checks for people in the community who are facing serious problems, left $1,000 for Mike. He was shocked by the donation, to say the least.

Posted in: Inside the Times-News • Mike Wilder • My Anonymous Friend | Post a Comment »

My anonymous friend: ‘I am only one, but I am one’

March 23rd, 2013, 11:07 am by madisontaylor

Without doubt one of the more curious, and rewarding, twists in my newspaper career involves the man in Alamance County who anonymously leaves me money to give to people in our community who find themselves the victims of tragedy or facing long odds. It’s an interesting path that I’ll perhaps write about in detail one day. My longtime friend and journalism colleague Dennis Tuttle believes there’s a book in this story. Then again, Dennis believes there’s a book in every fifth thing I post on social media. He may be right.

For now, though, my column is about my mystery friend’s latest donations — more specifically about one of the two $1,000 checks I received on Tuesday. I’ll write more about the second one on Monday.

———–

Carl Allen paused as I tried to speak above the rock music combined with TV announcers talking about basketball on the seemingly endless rows of overhanging TVs. For a second or two, I wasn’t sure he could hear me.

But when I finished talking, I knew he did.

Allen betrayed no emotion as he looked me in the face and said in a soft voice, “That’s unreal.”

There really wasn’t much more to add. I seldom know what to say myself when handing over the cashiers check left here from time to time by an anonymous “friend” who helps people in our community who desperately need it.

“That’s just . . . unreal,” he added.

I was summoned to meet Carl Allen, of Guilford County Station 28, at the Burlington Hooters restaurant off Garden Road. Allen has been working on a fund-raiser with Kevin Chodynieki, who’s the general manager at the sports bar and eatery. When my mystery friend left a $1,000 check at our front desk for Steve Cosner, the Danville, Va., man seriously injured while bravely and vainly trying to save two children from a fire, Chodynieki was the quickest point of contact I could find to get the money where it’s supposed to go.

That is, after all, my role in this ongoing story about acts of incredible kindness by a person I’ve never met. My unknown “friend” reads stories in the Times-News and occasionally drops a check, or checks, with our receptionist Vicky Davis. He’s done so seven times now, for a total of $11,000 over the past 18 or so months.

I’ll echo Carl Allen’s “unreal” at this point, myself.

Last week, there were two checks. One was for Steve Cosner, who heroically tried to enter a burning house in Gibsonville where two children died on March 9. Cosner was a stranger passing by that day and risked his own life to save two others. The grandfather of the children contacted the Times-News after the fire to inform us of how badly Cosner was injured in the blaze and that he would need lots of financial help.

Emphasize “lots of help.” Allen said Cosner would be in the UNC Hospitals Burn Center in Chapel Hill for quite some time.

“At first they took him there because of heat and smoke damage to his lungs,” Allen said. “Once they started working on him, they realized how severe his burns are.”

Allen said Cosner is the father of four, one about the age of the children he tried to save. He’s hoping the fund-raiser, set for 7 p.m. April 12 at Hooters, will put a dent in Cosner’s expenses. Those who wish to donate something for a raffle during the fund-raiser can contact Allen at cmapac1@gmail.com or by calling Hooters at 336-538-9688. Until then, people can send cash donations by hand or mail to The Good Samaritan Fund, Fidelity Bank, 237 E. Main St. Gibsonville NC, 27249.

“This,” he said and raised the $1,000 cashiers check up from the bar at Hooter’s, “will be a huge help.”

As for my anonymous friend, well, he always leaves a written message. I’ll also share it.

Dear Madison,

This week I was reading some about the evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, and I happened across this quote that I found to be particularly useful as a reminder to all of us, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. And that which I can do, by the grace of God, I will do.” It reminded me that I am not able to assist everyone all the time with their needs, but that is not an excuse not to do what I can when I can.

I had read this past week about Mike Wilder, your colleague, and Steve Cosner, who was burned attempting to rescue two children from a burning house. I hope this will be of some assistance to them. Cancer can be a devastating disease, and we will keep Mr. Wilder in our prayers. None of us know from one day to the next when something like that could touch our own families. As for Mr. Cosner, I only hope that if I find myself in a similar situation that I will have the courage to do what he did. Putting oneself in harm’s way for complete strangers is the act of a truly selfless individual.

Easter is just around the corner, a reminder that there is always hope, even in a dying world where life seems so uncertain and futile at times. We should remember why we celebrate this season, “For as Adam will die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (Corinthians 15:22). God’s love for we broken pitiful creatures is far bigger than any problems we will face here on earth, if we will but turn to him for faith. Have a wonderful Easter my friend.

Back at you my friend.

Posted in: Column collection • Inside the Times-News • My Anonymous Friend | Post a Comment »