The local police chief said that this event has generated as much public interest as a hurricane. In a city ravaged by Rita in 2005, that is immense concern.

The concern built from residents’ strong ties to the park. Thousands of Lake Charles citizens hammered and sawed the Millennium Park into reality in 2000. Since that time many more have spent hours climbing the network of towers, flying the plane, sailing the seas, and swinging to the sky on the park’s imaginative “Shiver me Timbers” equipment. Once the January 9 fire that destroyed half the park was ruled arson, emotions swelled to hurricane strength proportions.

As part of our coverage, I spent several hours talking with residents as the visited the park to see the damage first hand. We ran the full responses as a special “On the Street” section and I created a montage of reactions highlighting the most voiced reactions of park visitors.

Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.–Mary Ellen Chase

KAREN WINK
AMERICAN PRESS
December 13, 2010

On the sidewalk in front of Southgate Shopping Center, Leroy Williams prepares his stage for his sixth holiday season of performances.

After stretching his cheeks and fingers, Williams starts to pipe out a Christmas soundtrack for the shoppers hurrying between stores.

Shoppers pass by Williams as he plays a medley of popular Christmas songs on his saxophone. Some just walk by, while others stop to drop money in Williams’’ Gratitude Bucket.

Williams first started playing on sidewalks as a way to raise tuition for his culinary and dietary education at Sowela Technical and Community College. He continues now during the holiday season mostly because he loves Christmas and loves creating a festive ambiance for passers-by.

“It’s the weather. It’s fall time. It’s Christmas. As a kid, everyone hears ‘Santa Claus (is Coming to Town),’ ‘Frosty (the Snowman)’ and ‘Rudolph (the Red-nosed Reindeer).’ It just brings back memories to hear those songs. We need something more in this city. We need more sidewalk musicians,” said Williams.

Williams said his love for Christmas comes from his mother. He is sentimental about Christmas music, with “Please Come Home for Christmas” being his favorite holiday tune.

“You can’t mess up ‘Silent Night’ and simple Christmas songs. I’m always trying to improve,” said Williams.

Quick to smile, Williams often breaks up his performances to talk with shoppers. He recounts several instances of encouraging words that motivate him to keep playing.

“Little kind words just make your day,” said Williams.

Williams’ personal finances get an assist by his sidewalk concerts. He works as a cook at a casino, but he lost one of his two jobs. Williams says playing his saxophone helps pay the rent and provide money for Christmas presents.

“I’m going to continue this because I love being on center stage. I get to talk to lots of people. I’m a talkative person,” he said.

…

A goose never voted for an early Christmas. – Irish Saying

I love the holidays. They give you license to have fun even with your work. The “American Press” has a weekly man in the street opinion poll that falls under my duties. Normally I put together a soundslides package with the head-shots and the audio interviews. For the holidays I visited six area schools and ask the children a few questions about Santa. This called for video. See below:

Happy Holidays!

Whew! November was a busy month. Not only do we have the holidays and high school football, many of the charity walks are in the fall.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from this month. I hope to make this a regular feature on my blog for many reasons. Mainly since being busy means hundreds and thousands of photos to go through. It is better to do that monthly than to wait to the end of the year. Wish I would have thought of this in January.

I grew up in Louisiana, so I have seen gators. Then I lived in Atlanta, where the only gator you see is fashioned into a boot or a shoe.

So here I am back in Louisiana, and south Louisiana to boot. For more than two years here, I was on a gator drought. Occasionally, I’d see the baby gator at some of the festivals I covered for the American Press. However, the gator “au natural” escaped me.

Southwest Louisiana is one giant wetland with fresh and brackish waters right out your front door. There are more than a thousand shades of green occurring naturally here. It is a gator/waterfowl Mecca. Think the reality TV series “Swamp People” — not really, but almost.

Much to my disappointment after making trip after trip to Cameron Parish, the wild gator always evaded my sight and camera until I made my latest trip down to Creole.

With 60 minutes to kill before my next assignment in Cameron Parish, I cruised down a road just off of La. 27 and north of the ship channel. Rolling slowly past a small pool of water on the side of the road, I spied what could have easily been a log except for the texture of reptile skin.
Hastily slipping on my 70-200mm zoom lens on the Mark IV, I turned my car around at the end of the road. Rolling back to the point where I thought I saw what could have been something that looked like it was a gator, I parked my car. Camera in hand, I slipped out of my car leaving my car door open (just in case).

Peering over the hood of my car to the backwater pool, I saw her – all 10 or more feet of her — “au natural.” She was sunning and on her head sat a baby resting his little reptile feet on mama’s eye sockets.

I fired off a couple of shots but the 70-200mm did not get me close enough without being in “eating” range. So far, so good, mama had not moved. Seizing the opportunity, I opted for the 300mm. I changed the lens quickly and quietly while leaning inside my car with both eyes moving from camera to gator then back again.

This time I moved to the other end of the car, daring to be closer to mama. My exposure needed to be bracketed (varied) to allow for the glare on the water and the dark shades of a gator’s skin. Quickly, I fired off three shots, changed the exposure and fired three more.

On the seventh shot, mama started to move. For a brief second I debated my next camera angle, then the shear size of mama kicked in the fear factor. A picture is worth a 1,000 words but it is not worth an arm or a leg. Logic won. I got back in the car and fled with my all my extremities intact.

Safely inside the car, I checked my photos for exposure and focus. Yes! I had my gator “au natural” photo. With only 15 minutes until my next assignment, I downloaded the files onto my laptop just to be certain the shot was good.

Some things are missed in the viewfinder while shooting on the fly. Photos often look very different on a 15-inch screen than they appear on a small camera screen. Looking at my shots of mama sunning on the log with baby, I noticed another baby gator, then another, and another.

In all mama had nine babies — NINE babies.

** This notebook ran in the American Press on December 12, 2010

All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind. –Martin H. Fischer

Art from fish from Karen Wink on Vimeo.

The best way to learn is through real world experience. Plus, it is also cheaper. Most workshops are $15K or more. Money I don’t have. So this year I resolved to learn as much as I could on my own.

Many of my “free” hours in 2010 have been spent working on videos and studying work from Brain Strom and other innovative folks. So far in 2010, I have produced 22 video on my own. Each one has taught me something.

Here is the latest. I wish the audio was better. I tweaked it some with Audacity which helped. A separate interview with the artist would have help that issue. (That is school of hard knocks lesson #1011)

This package is about a local artist that uses the Japanese technique of Gyotaku. I worked on this story with the semi-retired Cliff Seiber. He has worked as a reporter and editor for many years. It was an honor to work with such an experienced journalist and to see how the interview was transformed into a feature story. Also, the Lake Charles American Press has a very talented art director, Donna Price. She designed the page and it is easy see why she has won so many awards.

The video is also on the LCAP channel on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEWvQllmw58

Here is the link to the post on the LCAP site: http://www.americanpress.com/lc/blogs/wpphotos/?p=1219

Art from fish from Karen Wink on Vimeo.

STORY BY KAREN WINK

AMERICAN PRESS, August 29, 2010
Current and former employees from the old Mathieson Alkali Works in Westlake gathered before sunrise to witness the last moments of a structure they called the heart of the old plant — a 320-foot tall flue stack.

At about 7 a.m. there was one small boom and then a thud. The heart fell into pieces, symbolizing the end of an era on Saturday.

“I hate to see it fall, but you have to move the old stuff out to bring the new industry in,” Said Gerald Singleton, a retired shift operator of the powerhouse.

The current property owner and his former employer, LyondellBasel, gave Singleton the honor of pushing the button on the explosives that caused the old stack to fall. The flue stack was the last remaining structure of the plant’s powerhouse.

Jim Redyke

Since its construction in 1934, the brick and concrete structure had funneled steam from the powerhouse that provided the energy for the ammonia and caustic-soda plant.

“One charge apparently directed the tower to lay down,” said Don Starkovich, a former employee who worked 28 years at the plant.

“Sad to see it go,” said Earl Dorman, who worked at the plant from 1980 to 2007.

Directing the deceptively easy demolition was Jim Redyke, the president of Dykon Explosive Demolition Corp. of Tulsa, Okla. For demonstration purposes, Redyke compared the demolition of a smokestack to cutting down a tree.

“It’s a similar process to taking a tree down with a chainsaw, where you cut a “v” out of the front on the fall side and go to the back side with a chainsaw to cut a notch, taking the tension side out. Then it falls in the direction you want,” he said.

Redyke said that with a smokestack, holes are drilled for blasting, and rebar must be meticulously cut. Safety is always the first concern. Redyke and his staff prepared the stack on Thursday and Friday, drilling holes and setting explosives for the Saturday morning implosion.
“Every job is unique because of the configuration of the stack. So you apply the principles you have learned through years and make the field adjustments based on what you know. There’s no book to tell you what to do,” said Redyke.

Redyke handles explosive demolition and cleaning and rock blasting.

“I always say that I get to blow and go.” said Redyke

For transparency sake, let me state that I am a complete “sucker” for any kind of animal or story related to an animal. So when I was first contacted about four furry stowaways on the USS Orleck, I could not wait to write this little fluffy tale. No hard news here: just cute, cuddly orphaned kittens. I am just lucky to have walked away without adopting one.

::

When the USS Orleck departed Orange, TX for Lake Charles on May 18th, the gearing-class, navy destroyer had four extra passengers.

The stowaways hid out-of-sight and managed to remain undetected for the two day trip to Lake Charles. Once the Orleck docked at its current location on the Calcasieu River, their adventure was foiled.

Debbie Lynn Hoffpauir and other volunteers with the USS Orleck Naval Museum discovered the four stowaway kittens as they inspected the newly docked destroyer.

Hoffpauir was uncertain how long the kittens had been without their mother, but later heard reports that a few dock workers in Orange had seen a cat jump from the Orleck before its departure.

Orphaned and in a strange place, the kittens’ fortune changed as Hoffpauir took charge of their care.

Since the kittens appeared thin and frightened, Hoffpauir decided to trap them as quickly as possible. Using what she described as a coon-type trap, she managed to bring all four kittens home safely within a couple of days

“I knew they would need a lot of love and care,” Said Hoffpauir.

The kittens were also very feral according to Hoffpauir. She and her 11-year old son, Je’An, spent a considerable about of time playing with the three female kittens and one male kitten trying to tame them. The kittens’ favorite activity in the Hoffpauir home is playing while “high” on catnip in their custom built, three tiered cage. Hoffpauir even attached a fan to cool the quadruplets as they play.

Now about four months old, the kittens are loving and docile. Hoffpauir feels they are ready for new homes.  

Hoffpauir spent eight years in the Navy Reserve. Her duties included working on the Orleck when it returned to Orange in 2001. With these ties and in honor of their voyage, Hoffpauir decided to name the cats: Orleck, Gearing, Destroyer, and Joseph. Joseph is the first name of the USS Orleck’s namesake. She has made each cat a name tag for its collar.

“I really hope the cat’s new owners will keep their names,” said Hoffpauir.

In preparation for adoption, Hoffpauir had the animals spayed or neutered and immunized with help from Animal Angels S.N.A.P. facility in Lake Charles.

Hoffpauir has decided to keep Gearing since she was the runt and since Gearing has taken to her. She is quick to mention that cats don’t have owners, they own you.

Interested cat lovers can contact Hoffpauir via email at dlynn111766@yahoo.com if they would like to adopt Joseph, Orleck, or Destroyer.

The USS Orleck is currently under renovation by the USS Orleck Naval Museum organization. The group holds work sessions every Saturday to prepare the destroyer for use as a Museum.

::

BY KAREN WINK,  Published August 23, 2010 in the American Press

Much of my time this summer has been spent shooting and learning video editing. Combining video with my stories and photo essays offers a compelling way to tell a story. With the iPad and other tablet computers, I am super ‘geeked’ about the advances in journalism and the art of story-telling.

Right now, I’m working on my website and I plan to post some of my favorite photos from the year. Below are my favorite videos of the summer. You can see all on them on my Vimeo page.

Home Grown, Part I from Karen Wink on Vimeo.

Local attorney, Erik Fain discusses his reasons for planting a garden using sustainable methods. Read more on the American press website: http://www.americanpress.com/lc/blogs/wpnewssum/?p=9654

At the “harp” of the matter from Karen Wink on Vimeo.

In its 11th year, the McNeese Harp Camp draws people of all ages and all ability levels for a week long camp of harp fun. Campers are immersed in the history, maintenance, and music of the harp. Look for the full feature in Sunday’s American Press on August 1, 2010.

The Beat goes on from Karen Wink on Vimeo.

Damon Thibodeaux and Chad Richard love banging on drums. So much so they started The Lake Area Drum Circle in October 2009. The recreational drumming group meets twice monthly at the Gazebo at Millennium Park. Please sure to pick up Sunday’s American Press to read the feature (July 11th)

cheers