Red Dirt Rebellion
I must admit, my life is pretty tame. I go to work and enjoy relatively quiet hobbies, but I love meeting people who get me in touch with the more wild side of life. Enter the girls of the Red Dirt Rebellion.
The Red Dirt Rebellion is Oklahoma’s only all-female, banked-track roller derby league. If you think you know roller-derby, think again. This isn’t the staged show that was once popular. It’s not even the regular roller derby that is starting to make a comeback. It’s pure adrenaline.
We met Emily Murray at the track. She goes by Suzi Uzi, like the gun, on the track. Once the skates go on all these girls take on a different persona and it’s no-holds barred excitement. You don’t have to be a wild gal to take part, there are nurses, homemakers…even a meteorologist on the track. Suzi explained how they formed the league and how they built the massive track from the ground up. An interesting side-note, the track was dismantled as soon as it was built and sent off to a movie set. The track will be used in an upcoming Drew Barrymore movie called “Whip It,” which is about roller derby.
This was a unique and exciting experience. If you have never seen roller derby or just want to meet some ladies who play hard and know how to have a good time, I recommend checking them out.
On the web: Red Dirt Rebellion
Reunion
Well this post has been a long time coming and since it’s been quite a while since I wrote I thought I would start things back with a story that was a long time in the works.
I recently had the privilege to attend a reunion. It wasn’t high school or college, it was a war reunion. Four decades ago Gary Bain was shot down over Laos. He was leading a bombing raid when he took enemy fire. For the past 40 years Gary has been trying to track down the men responsible for making sure he made it out of Vietnam alive.
Gary tells the story and has pictures on his website “Video Exploers,” but here I will add some of my own observations from the 40-year reunion. To see the story I did on the reunion click here.
You would think 40 years would make memories less vivid. But when the memories come from war, it’s something you’re not likely to forget.
My first experience meeting Gary Bain was pulling up to his house the day of the reunion. He was so excited to see us there and was so excited to be surrounded by the men who saved his life. We talked with Gary first and he told us of the fighter pilots who buzzed his area for nearly three hours after his ejection. He told us of the planes that took enemy fire as they tried to distract enemy soldiers from finding him. Holding back tears, Gary told us of how his co-pilot and best friend Lt. William Ryan didn’t survive to eject. We heard stories of the “Jolly Green Giants,” those massive helicopters that came to the rescue. The “PJ,” or parajumper who was lowered into the combat zone and carried him to safety. Incredible tales, but were the over told? The answer is ‘No.’
After talking with Gary we sat down with Edgar Roy Moore. He was the pilot who flew over Gary for 45 minutes. He said for 40 years he wondered about the fate of that pilot on the ground. Four decades of wondering if he had made a difference. The years passed until one day Roy’s phone rang. “Is this Edgar Roy Moore? Playboy13?,” the voice asked. It was Roy’s roommate from Vietnam, who told him there was someone looking for him. The next day Gary called Roy to say he was the Marine who lay bleeding in the jungle as Playboy13 flew till he was out of fuel, only to refuel in air and return. Roy says that was the first time he was ever able to talk about anything that happened in Vietnam. He hadn’t even told his family about what happened, but out of 330 missions he flew that was the one he remembers. He says it was the best thing he ever did in Vietnam. Roy didn’t hesitate to fly from North Carolina to meet a very thankful Gary Bain.
Next up was Dennis Palmer. He was just 20 years old when he volunteered for special service in the Air Force. He was the PJ on the Jolly Green Giant crew who descended on the long cable to extract downed pilots. “It was a big deal to Gary, but for us it was just another mission,” he said brushing off accolades of heroism. But this was not even supposed to be Palmer’s mission. Another Jolly Green crew was on alert, a mechanical problem forced them back to base. Palmer said he wanted the mission so he didn’t tell the pilot until it was too late to turn back, that the flight engineer had forgotten his gas mask. The crew decided if the gas that was spread to make enemy soldiers sick affect the engineer, the co-pilot would run the winch that lowered Palmer from the helicopter. Palmer remembers seeing his AR-15 rifle hanging by the door, knowing there was hostile fire all around he knew he might need it. He was lowered from the chopper, after 30 feet enemy fire blew out the nose gear putting Palmer in a spiral. He was worried the Jolly Green was going down. That wouldn’t happen this day, the pilot stabilized and Palmer continued his descent into the jungle, it was then he realized he left the rifle on board and had only a hand gun for protection. He remembers running 30 yards to get Gary. They were barely hooked back on the cable when the chopper took off. Palmer received the Silver Star for the mission.
After the war, Dennis Palmer was stationed in Hawaii and served on the Air Force rescue team for the Apollo space capsules. He was in the air helping with the rescue of Apollo 13 pod.
Off camera I talked with the Pilot of Jolly Green 15. Talk about humility. Captain Joe “Pete” Hall did not want much credit for the rescue. He said he was just doing his job. The Jolly Green 15 crew rescued 6 pilots during Vietnam. Gary was the only one to say thanks. The reunion in rural Oklahoma was the first time he had seen his crew since leaving Vietnam.
We also spoke with Maj. John Johnston. He was the forward air controller that day. He picked out targets and assigned Gary to fly the mission over Laos that day. He stayed in the air and on the radio overseeing everything that happened that day. Johnston says it was an absolute miracle that Gary survived the explosion on his plane, survived ejecting too close to the ground and survived the daring rescue. Johnston was on the radio with Gary that day, but never met him in person – until now.
There were so many other soldiers, airmen and Marines involved in Gary’s rescue. To read a first person account of what happened from Gary visit his website by clicking here. He has spent years tracking down the men responsible for saving his life and details every moment of that day.
Incredible men on an incredible mission.
Phil Cross
Books, Covers and Shame
I despise most (if not all) of the so-called “reality” TV. This may seem like an odd position for me to take , since I work at a Fox TV station and American Idol is our bread and butter. I made a good friend while I was at the University of Cambridge, who put it this way; ‘Look at the TV, then look away…THAT’S bloody reality!’ It seemed to have so much more effect and resonance coming from Greg and his thick Australian accent.
Despite my objections, “reality” TV has taken off and people seem to love it. There are so many shows with so many fans, reflecting different segments of society. However almost every show ends the same way. The attractive (or moderately attractive) person with an over-inflated story of making it out of nothing wins. America rallies behind the attractive people, boos the homely characters. I’d like to think this is nothing like real life, but so often we (myself included) still judge people by their looks. Tonight I was sent a clip that makes me feel very humbled. It’s from the British version of American Idol, called Britain’s Got Talent. Here’s the best version I’ve found on YouTube:
All I can say after watching that is, “Wow.” I think anyone watching this will think twice about our own prejudices and preconceived ideas about people based on their appearance, age or socioeconomic condition. I will be watching for more from Susan Boyle, because she proves what true beauty is all about. I think the most telling moments are in the reaction from the judges. Not what they said, but what they didn’t say. It was the expressions. Absolute shock. I think I had the same expression on my face when I watched. I everyone who watches it has the same expression.
Phil
Welcoming a Warrior
This post has been a long time coming…however I suppose it is better late than never. This was a very interesting story to cover because it had several unique aspects. I have covered several soldier homecomings and think each welcome home deserves as much coverage as possible. This wasn’t a group of soldiers, it was a single soldier. But this was like no homecoming I have ever attended.
Corporal Warren Queton served in the army for a year in Iraq. He is Native American, so to welcome him home there was a pow wow put on by his family. These pow wow’s are full of symbolism and we were allowed to witness a lot of ceremonies that are normally closed to the public. It was one of the most emotional homecomings I have ever witnessed. I also learned new things about Native American customs and traditions. Each step, color and movement has a meaning. I think everyone should explore the tribal traditions. It is a fascinating history and one worth keeping alive.
Phil
Let it Snow!
It was snow day. Already into spring, but there was a winter storm on the horizon. Doomsday predictions, rampant speculation from all sorts of media. We were all in the afternoon news meeting trying to decide what stories to cover for the day. Each reporter trying to pitch a story interesting enough to keep us out of a live shot in the cold weather telling people how cold it is outside. Not that we reporters don’t love live shots, it’s just we’ve all done weather stories and know if you pitch a story that’s good enough someone else will end up being cold for the night. Of course when it’s spring and there’s snow in the forecast, it didn’t matter what any of us came up with…we were all doing a weather story.
The most interesting idea of the day was a discussion we got into when someone pitched the idea of are people buying the forecast? Weather had been a big topic all week and we had seen predictions from anywhere from 12″ to 2″ in the metro…some people even predicting roads would be shut down in the city because of the impending doom. Beware the White Death screamed the billboards. Tie a rope from the barn to the house so you can feed the animals during the blizzard. OK, so maybe that’s a little over the top and a bit exaggerated, but it was a little silly at times. I think we’ve all seen snow forecasts in Oklahoma that were big and scary and then turned out to be nothing. So thus was born the idea that became my assignment.
It was decided that I would be the one to go out and find the snow skeptics. Since I was one of the biggest skeptics, it seemed only fitting. Plus for those who don’t know me…I sometimes smart off about things…and my sarcastic humor lended itself to this story quite nicely.
In the end…the forecasts were partly correct. Parts of NW Oklahoma saw up to two feet of snow, but it dried up just before hitting the metro. Officially, Oklahoma City got an inch of snow…I would call it a trace of snow at my house, but then again, almost all of it had melted by the time I woke up and went to work. The snow picked back up when the storm moved out of OKC and I ended up following the storm east for my Saturday story and actually saw a lot of snow that we were lucky to have avoided in the metro.
Phil
Let it Snow
Noble Pond
This story took some work to get put together. I heard about it while checking in with Jack Haley and knew it was too good to pass up, no matter how hard it would be to pull together.
If you ever heard Austin Haley’s story, you’ll never forget. The five-year-old boy was fishing with his grandfather in a backyard pond in Noble, Oklahoma in August 2007. Police were called to a neighbor’s house because a snake was trapped in a birdhouse. The officers decided to shoot the snake. One officer fired two shots. The bullets missed the snake, but hit and killed Austin Haley. This was quite possibly the most tragic story I have ever or ever hope to hear again. The story made headlines in Oklahoma and around the country.
Enter Chris Rogerson. He’s a composing student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In August 2007, Chris was watching the news and heard about Austin’s death. He was so moved that he sat down at his piano and just played. What came next was, in my opinion, a masterpiece. He wrote the music for “Noble Pond,” a piano solo. Just recently he decided to orchestrate the piece to be performed by his school’s orchestra.
Chris found an address for Jack and Renee Haley and mailed them a simple note explaining who he was and what he had written in Austin’s honor. Jack Haley told me when he opened the card from Pennsylvania he was stunned. He couldn’t move. He called for his wife to come read the note. They both knew they had to make the trip to Philadelphia to hear the world premiere of the orchestra version of “Noble Pond.”
After finally tracking down Chris I was able to get the Fox affiliate in Philadelphia to hook up with Chris and shoot an interview for me. I am only sad the economy and our budget cutbacks prevented me from making the trip to Philly myself. I was amazed when I was finally able to see Chris perform the piano solo he wrote. I was moved by the music and also by the Philadelphia photographer’s shots. It was truly inspiring. In fact after seeing how well the story was shot, I felt an even bigger pressure to do this story justice. I wanted to live up to the amazing video I had in my hands.
I am hopeful Jack and Renee enjoy the story and the performance. I am hopeful Chris is able to get some publicity for his work. I love listening and performing music, however composing was never one of my strong suits. It’s always inspiring to me to see someone write and play music, especially something with that much emotion.
Austin’s story continues to inspire. Jack gave me an article written in a religious magazine. It shared the story of Austin’s faith in God and how he shared his beliefs with everyone he met. Austin’s story is also being used in a new training video for police about when to use deadly force.
What happened at a pond in Noble has inspired and changed the lives of countless people. Count me as one of them.
Phil
The Real Deal
What is it about a police chase that captivates our attention? High speeds? The element of danger? Combine that danger with bigger vehicles and you get a very dangerous situation, but it can also be very exciting. So when my friend and photojournalist, Ben Latham, told me about a new training track being built to teach police how to stop chases with big rigs I was on board.
We met Greg Couch on his track just outside of El Reno. Its more than 200 acres of land offering a variety of driving surfaces. Greg is a reserve sheriff’s deputy and has experience working on oil fields and driving commercial vehicles. Put all those together and you get this track. The video opportunities were amazing and Ben shot it so well. It’s something he was very excited about working on and he did an amazing job putting it together. I can’t wait until the track is finished and we can go out again and meet the first training class.
Morrison Murder: The First Hearing
Should a 12 year-old boy be charged as an adult? Just by saying “12 year-old boy” it would indicate he is a child and not an adult, but investigators say he committed a very adult crime.
The news broke Wednesday night when agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said a 12 year old shot and killed his mother in the small town of Morrison, Oklahoma. Unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of these headlines recently. Kids killing people. This child is innocent until proven guilty, but just the concept of someone that young committing a crime of this magnitude would have once been thought impossible. The Noble county district attorney Mark L. Gibson says he’s never seen a case like this before. He told me he even called around the state asking other DA’s if they had any insight, and he can’t find anyone in Oklahoma who’s had to prosecute a 12 year old for first-degree murder. While he wouldn’t talk specifically about the case, Gibson did say he hasn’t made up his mind if he will move to have the boy certified as an adult. Gibson added the child’s mental status will weigh on the decision…family friends say he is a special needs child. Gibson has yet to see any official documentation supporting those claims. Personally, I think that will be the deciding factor.
Mental status aside, this case still presents a serious dilemma; Do you let a murderer out when he turns 18 or send a child to adult prison? Either way I would say this kid’s life is ruined. Gibson said he thinks there is a major hole in our state’s law because there is no option to hold over a dangerous juvenile offender once they reach 18 years of age. If the boy was 13 it would be automatic and there wouldn’t be a problem (except for the obvious child committing crime problem). Maybe lawmakers need to look into tweaking the state’s Youthful Offender Act.
Unfortunately I think we’re only going to see more of these types of crimes. I’m not blaming anyone or anything. I think we are all responsible for our own actions. However, it does seem like kids are growing up much faster than they used too..I’m not sure why.
Phil
Austin’s Choice
The Haley family are quite possibly the most amazing people I have ever met. They have an unshakable faith and have survived an unthinkable tragedy. I would say almost anyone who watches news anywhere around the country heard about what happened to their son. The story of two police officers in Noble accidentally shooting and killing Austin Haley made headlines around the country. Yes it was an accident, but a judge agreed that there was gross negligence involved when they chose to pull a gun and shoot at a snake stuck in a birdhouse. I can’t imagine the horror they live with knowing that stray bullet hit and killed a little boy.
From the time we first met the Haley’s they were very open and honest about their emotions and what they were going through. Sometimes I hate the part of my job that requires us to seek out grieving families and ask them to talk about the worst day of their lives. But every time I talked with Jack or Renee Haley I left feeling emotionally uplifted. It’s something about the grace they carried themselves with that was absolutely inspiring. During the trial, plea hearings and sentencing I admired how they were able to sit in a courtroom face-to-face with the men who killed their son. Accident or not, I don’t know if I could have done that. Yet even with their grief, they were able to forgive the men who took their son away from them.
Nine months after Austin’s death, it was my honor to report on the next chapter in their lives…the birth of a new baby boy. While no new child could ever replace Austin, the circumstance around the new child’s birth are extraordinary. How the night before Austin died he prayed for his mother to have another child, and he prayed that he would be the one to pick out that child. Add to that the memories of Austin’s brother who saw him get shot and can describe in detail what happened next. I am a man of faith, but I don’t know how anyone can hear him describe seeing Austin go up to Heaven without getting goosebumps. The faith of a child is a remarkable thing.
The Haley family reminds me there is still good in the world.
Phil
Welcome to PhilCross.org
Thanks for stopping by my website. I am trying to get this up and running soon. When everything is updated you will be able to see the news stories I have worked on and read back stories and interesting facts that you won’t see on TV.
I will also be updating this site for my family and friends interested in what’s going on in my life. Unfortunately I don’t get to see my family often since I live so very far away, but the internet gives me new ways to connect with them.
This site will also have important information about my upcoming wedding to Ms Keiana Hasting. To those to who don’t know her, she is a remarkable woman who I am working hard to deserve. God has truly blessed me with such a beautiful and amazing woman. I love her very much.
Until the next post,
Phil
My name is Phil Cross, thanks for stopping by my website. This site contains news and information about my life and work.
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