Personal Safety

The trial for the accused killer of Anne Pressly started Monday.  Curtis Vance is accused of beating and killing the Little Rock TV anchor in October of 2008.  He has pleaded not guilty.

I, like many of my co-workers, are obsessed with details coming out about the trial.  Her death made me really think about my personal safety…and I hope it did you too. 

I now take better precautions to stay safe…but there’s always more that you can do.  A girlfriend of mine sent me an interesting e-mail.  It recommended taking your car keys to bed.  It talks about the kind of car keys that have a remote entry with a panic button.  If you have it on your nightstand and someone breaks into your home and attacks you–you could hit the panic button and your car would start honking.  Hopefully the noise would scare the person away and also alert your neighbors.

Not a bad idea.

Take care,

Melissa

It’s Chili/Soup/Stew Weather

I’m sitting at home waiting on the rain and for the weather to cool down…when it occurs to me that today would be a great day for chili!  Don’t you agree that when the leaves start to change and the mercury drops that chili just hits the spot!  Patrick Crawford predicted 3-inches of rain!  I’m ready to hold up in my house with a big bowl of hot chili!

I make some good chili!  Before now I had only shared my recipe with my trusted friend Tiffany Stewart, but I think it’s time that everyone gets a taste.

I don’t really measure things, but here’s what I put in the pot:

Hot breakfast sausage and a pound of ground hamburger

Bell pepper, banana pepper, jalapeno, onion, garlic and cilantro all blended to a pulp…basically pureed

When the meat is about done, fry your veggies with the meat for about 5 minutes and add a cheap pkg of chili seasoning, a few shakes of cumin, a few shakes of season salt and black pepper…maybe crushed pepper too

Then I put that all in a big pot and add chili beans in mild sauce, chili sauce, diced tomatoes and maybe some tomato sauce–it just depends on how much tomato I want to taste

Cook it on low for a few hours and it’s great…it’s even better the next day!

Melissa

Texting Addict

Hello.  My name is Melissa…and I’m addicted to texting. 

Okay, I’ve admitted it and the next step is recovery.  I do…I love to text, but now I’ve gotta mind my p’s and q’s because texting behind the wheel is illegal.

I am guilty of texting while driving, but as of today I quit.

Paul’s Law starts today in Arkansas.  The new law bans texting, reading texts, writing e-mails or e-mailing people from your handheld device while you are driving.  Even though I’m guilty of driving and texting, I think this is a good law.  It’s going to save lives.

From now on, I will follow the law and no matter what pops into my head, I need to realize that communicating my thoughts to my friends can wait until I’m in park.  Safety first.

Melissa

Skinny Paper…and not just the newspaper

We’re in an economic tough time…we all get that.  I’ve heard people talk about businesses downsizing products to create a less costly product–without actually lowering the price.

We know that newspapers have done this…the major newspapers in our area are now slimmer…and speaking of paper– now, I’ve noticed that toilet paper is slimmer too!

Can you believe that!  Now, I haven’t actually gotten out a ruler or anything, but I don’t need one…I can tell that our roll of Charmin is slimmer. 

At our house, Nathan does the laundry and keeps the kitchen clean.  My job is to stay on top of the powder room.  I was changing out rolls of toilet paper the other day and noticed that I didn’t have to quite shove the roll on to the little spool…there was an inch of room on one side of the spool! 

What gives!  Is it really necessary to downsize toilet paper?

Melissa

DWT: You don’t want this on your record

We’ve all heard of  DWI, or driving while intoxicated. But this week a new law goes on the books in Arkansas that bans texting or e-mailing from a handheld device. Not following this law can potentially be as deadly AS  DWI. Paul Davidson of Jonesboro, a father of three, was killed in a head on crash when another driver hit him head on while texting. I’m all for freedom of choice and less government, but I’m in favor of this law because it’s about common sense. Sure, I’ve been guilty of texting behind the wheel, and that’s the very reason why I understand how distracting and dangerous it can be.

So here’s a thumbs of to the State of Arkansas for putting the brakes on texting while driving.

Derek

Christmas–Already?

Yesterday on my lunch break I went to a local home decor shop to get a birthday present for a friend.  I was shocked to see that the store was mostly full of Christmas decorations.  There was a small shelf of Halloween pumpkins, fall doormats and table clothes…but the majority was for the Christmas holiday season.

It seems like every year they put seasonal items out earlier and earlier.  I for one am not ready to walk into a store and see Christmas trees and candy canes.  Heck, I’m still wearing shorts on the weekends!

Pumpkins-yes.  Black cats-yes.  Ghosts and goblins-yes…but not Santa.

Lets at least get to mid October when the weather is cooler before we inundate people with Christmas decorations.

Melissa

What do you think about the bikers?

It’s time for Bikes, Blues and BBQ in Fayetteville. 

What do you think about the festival?  A lot of people have a love/hate relationship with the event.  I live really close to a main highway into Fayetteville and as I was getting ready for work this morning all I could hear was the rumble of pipes. 

During the festival it can be a little irritating because my husband and I can’t sit on the back porch with the dog and carry on a conversation–it’s just too loud!  I moan and complain, but then when I actually go to Dickson, the heart of the activities–the inconvenience of loud bikes and two wheelers on the road fades away.  I think the festival is good for Fayetteville.

People from around the world come to Fayetteville for this…they spend money, have fun and tell others about the beauty of the Ozarks. 

For 4-days out of the year, I think we can sacrifice out roads and our ear drums to the money making bikes rolling through our area.

Melissa

Wild Hogs–kill em’

Feral hogs are becoming a problem in our area and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wants you to do something about it.

They’re asking if you come across a hog–kill it.

Feral hogs can ruin land in a matter of days.  It takes 2-weeks for a hog to become truly wild.  They root around fields and forests for food.  I know farmers in rural parts of Carroll and Madison Counties that have a problem with them.  They told me they basically the hogs caused so much damage that they had to plow their land and start all over.

Game and Fish officers say if you kill one, you don’t even have to clear it from the land…they just want them dead before they cause too much trouble.

Melissa

Another Mt. Lion sighting?

My co-anchor, and amateur wildlife investigator Melissa Kelly, filed a recent report on a mountain lion sighting in Madison county. Well, here comes further proof that the big cats are roaming the Arkansas hills. This is a picture sent to us, ironically, from the same man who caught the image of a mountain lion on his Madison county farm.

This one, however, comes from a friend of his from Mt. Ida, which is outside of Hot Springs. Pretty graphic picture of the cat with a deer in its mouth. So watch out when you’re in the woods this fall, because something might be watching you!!!

(that was cheesy, I admit)

 

Derek

Malignant Glioblastoma…A Cure Must Be Found

The passing of Ted Kennedy has been tough for my family.  One month before he was diagnosed with malignant glioblastoma, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with the same type of deadly brain cancer.  She was giving a year life expectancy.

Her tumor is in her temple and doctors were able to remove some of it, but not the whole mass.   

Like Senator Kennedy did, my mother-in-law is seeking treatment at Duke University.  Right now she is in a vaccine trial study that seems to be having positive results.  Her tumor is shrinking slightly.   The study gives us all hope, but the fact is that there is no cure for malignant glioblastoma. 

My hope is that the passing of Ted Kennedy will raise awareness about this disease.  All diseases are ugly, but a disease that robs you of your ability to think and hold memories is unacceptable. 

I know at Duke University the doctors there are making great gains in the search for a cure…the doctors at Duke Medical, and at UAMS in Little Rock, are the reason we still have Carolyn in our lives. 

We must make sure that medical experts can keep up the good work and I hope the passing of such an influential man shines the spotlight on the need for a cure.

Melissa