It really is THE MOST wonderful time of the year

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Or as they say in Cockney streets of England, Happy Crimble.

The weather is chilly, and by now most everybody's off work and going home to their loved ones for the Holiday season.

Following a torturous last week of school prior to vacation, Paige came home Saturday afternoon. We got together and made an appearance at her Aunt and Uncle's Christmas get together, before I had to leave again and shoot Lamar's game against Rice.

I was all set to spend Christmas, really, with her, her family and my brother, seeing as though my parents weren't planning on making the journey over from New Orleans. They are currently in the process of moving out of their temporary apartment to a townhome, and were at the mercy of those completing work on the new place.

But as I drove around last night, completing several last minute tasks with Paige, I get the call from my parents (that by now I should have expected) that they indeed were coming over.

And now, really, Christmas will be complete. It's nothing without family.

There are those in the area who will try to make the best of Christmas. Those less fortunate, who either have no family or the means to have Christmas as they might like.

And in our area, there are organizations that do their best to make a Merry Christmas come true for those that can't do it themselves. They do it via toy distribution, Angel Tree, Salvation Army, United Board of Missions, Blue Santa.

So how utterly sick and disgusting is it when one of the distribution sites, with toys waiting in numbered sacks for hopeful families, is robbed just days before Christmas?



We got the call Friday evening, just as our day in the newsroom was wrapping up. I believe her name was Sue Byers, with the Salvation Army. Who told us what had happened and that the Port Arthur police were on the way.

Mary Meaux and I set out to the distribution site, where we found several of the organization's soldiers just sitting there, in shock of what happened. In shock that someone would be to cruel to steal what good hearted, generous people gave to that others would be happy.

It's horrible, just a horrible, horrible thing.

It's the kind of story you don't want to hear about, because you would wish it would never happen. And there we are, thrust right into it. Driving up to see the police searching the place with flashlights, and looking at the broken faces of the volunteers.

I hope that whoever did this is happy with themselves. According to the Salvation Army, the theft occurred too close to Christmas to have done something about replacing the stolen goods before the holiday. There are now families in the area who will have to wait until later to be happy.

Mary and I were sure if people read the story Saturday, somebody out there might see it and want to act. If someone did, I don't know, but from the looks on their faces, the organization will do everything in their power to right the wrong that was done. It is people like those at the Salvation Army, the Hospitality Center, United Board of Missions, Port Cities Rescue Mission, and all the area charities that truly make Christmas the most wonderful time of the year.

Till next time...

Santa on a motorcycle

It's Christmas time, and in going with the holiday season, we here at The News have been going through our story staples for this time of the year. I think I've shot every Mid and South County Christmas parade so far this year. Four, I believe. So four parades, and one shot run in the paper per parade, means I have hundreds of leftover pictures that probably will never see the light of day.

Well, some of them will get a chance to run this Sunday on our LIFE section cover. I will pull as many of them from every city that I can and give some people who just missed out on me making them famous some face-time in The News.

I don't know how many times I've seen Santa this year, but the 'big man in red' sure gets around. I've seen him at the Central Mall, I've seen him at different parties and festivals. I saw him last Sunday at my church, he's been in every parade at least twice. I've seen him on a fire truck, on a tractor, on a flatbed trailer, and yesterday I saw him on a Harley.

Yup, The News' second annual Wishes Granted event took place here in the news room yesterday, as you already know because you read the story and saw the photo on our front page today. But what you don't know is that Santa and his elf both rode up on respective motorcycles for the festivities.



He proudly showed off his 'hog' after the event was over.

We also had a nice little 'wild art' on the front page today (for those of you who don't know, a 'wild art' is a picture that runs with only a caption underneath; it has no full story with it).

A CYF youth group from the First Christian Church of Port Arthur decided instead of having their usual gift exchange with one another, they would raise money and adopt a needy family for Christmas. Through the Salvation Army of Port Arthur, they found a family with six young children, and the youth groups went out and raised enough money to buy toys for all the kids. They even had leftover money to buy the family a meal.

It's so awesome, but this time of the year is full of stories like this. And working here at The News, we get to see our fair share of uplifting tales. Till next time...

First day on the blog...it can only go uphill from here...

Hello and Good Day to all. This is Mike Tobias, photo editor at The Port Arthur News.

There may never be a point to this blog, but as long as there's news, there will always be a reason to write one. Our faithful readers only get to see the coverage we can fit on our pages. With this blog, I intend to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the stories we cover. Much like DVDs nowadays offer its viewers a blooper reel, or deleted scenes. Yup, this blog will be the equivalent of a cutting room floor.

For instance...

The main story on our Sunday front page was about Christus St. Mary's Hospital in Port Arthur receiving their Magnet certification. And last Friday, instead of my photos from the Houston Texans game donning the sports page, we had to settle for photos from the Associated Press.

Now, what do either one of these things have in common? I'll tell you what...

Last Friday, I was sent to Christus St. Mary's to obtain a photo of a nurse with a patient. Through past experience with a glorious invention known as Hippa privacy laws, we here at The News know better than to just show up at the hospital without first making a few phone calls and having administrators arrange a meeting with a willing patient.

All of this can be made easier, however, when one has a sister-in-law who has just given birth to her first child.

I'm speaking, of course, of my soon-to-be-sister-in-law Brenda, who had just given birth to my soon-to-be niece Kaylynne just hours before the assignment at the hospital. What better way to avoid a little red tape? Kaylynne had just arrived at around 10:30 in the morning Friday, and I had been up there most of the early afternoon taking pictures and being the proud uncle that I am. Then I go to work, and have to turn around and go back to the hospital. Imagine the surprised look on the faces of the proud parents when I walked back into their room with my camera.



So what about the Texans game?

Well, I had to miss shooting my first Texans game of the season when my fiance, Paige, called to let me know Kaylynne was on her way Thursday afternoon. But, I did entertain her family as we sat in the waiting room and watched the NFL Network broadcast of the game from the confines of my laptop (www.nfl.com/live).

And, it's stories like this that I wish to share with y'all through the blogosphere. Till next time...