Keep These People In Your Thoughts and Prayers Today

There are so many things I could talk about right now, but I just want to pause from the usual stuff and give a moment of time to a helicopter pilot and two traffic reporters whose copter had to make a hard landing this morning:

A traffic helicopter carrying a pilot and two traffic reporters for Dallas news media outlets made a forced landing early Monday after losing power over Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie.

The chopper, piloted by Curtis Crump, was carrying traffic reporters Chip Waggoner and Julie DeHarty. Mr. Waggoner, who reports for KDFW-TV (Channel 4), said Mr. Crump was able to make a hard emergency landing near the lake dam.

[...]Ms. DeHarty, traffic reporter for Dallas radio stations KRLD-AM (1080) and KVIL-FM (103.7), was taken by ambulance to Methodist Dallas Medical Center for treatment. Mr. Waggoner also went to the hospital.

Coming on the heels of last week's midair collision of two news helicopters in Phoenix where all aboard died, I'm sure that some people feared the worst; thankfully, everyone here is expected to be OK.

I'm not familiar with Waggoner's work, since I'm rarely by a TV during rush hour, but Julie DeHarty has been a familiar voice in DFW traffic circles since back in my own radio days; she worked for the service that we used when I did the morning show at KNTU. I wish her and the rest a speedy recovery.

(This story was first brought to my attention in an email from Eric, who's a coworker of everyone involved in the accident. I don't think he was at all being hokey when he referred to these people as his "work family;" I know exactly what he means.)

A farewell to many: As we celebrate the survival of a few, we're also stunned by the passing of the many: Bill Walsh, Tom Snyder, Marvin Zindler. (And I can't neglect to mention Ingmar Bergman, even though I'm not at all familiar with his work.) I can't remember a time when so many well-known people have left us within such a short time.

And a happier milestone: Last year, my alma mater, UNT, inaugurated its first female president. Now, a female provost has been added to the ranks.