Profiles

Poodle provides popular paw for patients
Redstone has gone to the dogs. The working dogs, that is.
There is Milo, the reading assistance dog who spends his Saturdays at the Post Library. And Kahuna, the therapy dog in training who has become the Aquatics Center’s popular mascot. And of course, the Law Enforcement Division of the Directorate of Operations’ military working dogs, who help keep the installation safe. But one of the most popular pups on post is therapy dog Nellie who along with her handler Mary Graham, spend their Wednesday afternoons at Fox Army Health Center.
“Her job is to be petted,” Graham said. Read more...


Center helps rescued animals find homes
Alabama has an animal problem.
More to the point, the Southeast United States has an animal problem. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, more than 6.5 million animals enter shelters every year. 1.5 million never leave. But this epidemic is not nationwide. In fact, there is a shortage of adoptable pets in certain areas of the country. That is where Felines & Canines Hunter Stephenson Rescue Center steps in.
Read more...


Custodial worker rises to management and honor 

“Never let anyone define who you are. You define who you are.” Phoenix’s Fran Eastland has known struggles and hard times. But like the name of the organization that has employed her for the last 13 years, she did not let them define her, instead rising out of those challenges to become a successful member of management for the Huntsville-based nonprofit. As such she will be recognized April 27 at SourceAmerica’s national conference in Baltimore, Maryland, with the Evelyne Villines award, an annual award presented to an employee on an AbilityOne contract that has worked her or his way up from an AbilityOne job to a position in management. Read more...
(Fran was the coolest and incredibly inspirational.)


I wear this for the other 16
The situation was increasingly dire. Thirty-eight hours of non-stop combat. Another 48 hours of evasion and escape. Five men had fallen. Of the remaining 12 Special Forces Soldiers in Sgt. 1st Class Bennie Adkins’ team, all were injured. Eighteen helicopters had been sent in on a rescue mission. Only eight arrived. Read more...
(It is hard to find the words to describe how much this story means to me. Hands down my best assignment and a highlight of my career. Meeting Mr. Adkins was an honor I will never forget. Not only did this story challenge me but it also won my first Alabama Press Association award. I take very little credit for that, the value was in Mr. Adkins' story. I just tried to do it justice.) 

Intense fitness regime fits 71-year-old grandmother

Donna Pendleton is not your typical grandmother. While other septuagenarians are easing into retirement, Pendleton has no intentions of going gently into that good night. Read more...


Police chief looks to the future of Madison
Growth. Ask any Madison city official – and any resident at that – what the hot topic is in Madison, and they will almost always answer: the record expansion and transformation of the city in the last several years. And with a new minor league baseball stadium under construction, it isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Read more...

Police singing group making noteworthy impact
It is probably not a typical response that most police officers receive when they stop a motorist for speeding: “Are you one of the singing policemen?” Read more...
(Interviewing six people at once is never easy but I don't think I have ever laughed so much in an interview. And they gave a private performance at the end!) 

Women building their future in engineering
“I just tell them I am an engineer.” Read more...
(I relish having the opportunity to meet and profile women who are trailblazing new paths in their careers and personal lives.)


Career hits crescendo with next movement
The artist Jean Debuffet once said, “Unless one says goodbye to what one loves, and unless one travels to completely new territories, one can expect merely a long wearing away of oneself and an eventual extinction.” Read more...
(Carlos was one of the first contacts that I made at the Rocket and he was always 110% helpful with anything I needed over the years. We had a great working relationship and he was just a really super guy (and fellow Tennessean, natch) so I had a personal interest in telling his story. I can't take credit for the headline -- I was stumped and went to our copy editor who is much more pithy than I.) 

Cool cat finds home from war zone
From the war zone of Iraq to calendar pin-up “Mr. November,” one lucky feline has fit a lot of living into his nine lives. Read more...
(Confession: Sgt. B's real name was Balls the Cat, but that wasn't exactly appropriate for a charity calendar -- or family newspaper -- so Balls was given a G-rated makeover.)

Cancer screening guidelines provide proactive plan
Team Redstone is an aging workforce. Although there are initiatives to pull in younger workers, we skew older. Read more...
(I feel like I returned to my blogging roots with this one. Fun fact: I am the only staffer at the Rocket without a journalism-related degree. With the absence of a J-school education, it has been a learning curve writing in a classical news-type vein. Every once in awhile, I get to stretch and write a personal commentary which is how I started out this story on cancer screening. Having it awarded second place in Commentaries by the Alabama Press Association's 2018 Better Newspaper Contest was a treat.)