Crawford turns on Texas charm
Posted on 08/10/2002 4:03:03 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Crawford turns on Texas charm
'We want to do what we can to make y'all feel welcome here'
08/10/2002
CRAWFORD, Texas - Forget that little school board flap. Crawford has rolled out the welcome mat for the White House press corps.
The school gym where the media works has been air-conditioned, and the Crawford Chamber of Commerce threw an appreciation barbecue to show the media that most folks don't resent it when the satellite trucks roll in for extended periods.
"We know there's not much to do here. It can be boring if you're stuck here for a month at time," said chamber president Teresa Bowdoin as she served up sweetened tea at the Old Amsler Building, an almost century-old structure that once housed the town's grocery store and now is a party hall on Crawford's main street.
Townspeople turned out to mix and mingle with reporters, photographers, producers and technicians, and listen to country music as they ate brisket smoked by Gary Bowdoin, the chamber officer's husband and a member of the Crawford school board.
"We want to do what we can to make y'all feel welcome here," Ms. Bowdoin said.
There was some question about the hospitality after parent Terri Bukowski complained to the school board earlier this summer that media use of the gym put her children's safety at risk because anyone could pose as a reporter.
That problem was settled by a special badge distributed by the White House that says in big letters, "PRESS FILING CENTER ACCESS." It also features a photo of President Bush driving his pickup and a road sign into Crawford, pop. 706.
Then there was the problem created by a few media smokers on the school yard. A smoking tent has been erected a few yards away from school property.
Whenever the president is at his ranch, about 50 members of the press corps camp out in the gym (more if there's a big international visitor), paying a nominal fee for their makeshift bullpen workspace. Networks broadcast from tents adjacent to the school, against the rural background of haystacks and an old wagon or farm outbuilding.
School Superintendent Kenneth Judy said nobody wanted to give the media the boot. "We want to be good neighbors," he said.
But to make sure everybody gets along, members of the media were given a list of nine press corps rules that range from where to park to which bathrooms to use. Reporters are restricted from interviewing students without permission from teachers or administrators when school starts Aug. 19.
More pros than cons
Mr. Judy and chamber leaders said the advantages of having Mr. Bush and his entourage in town far outweigh the disadvantages, and cited the opportunity for students and townspeople to see the president and foreign dignitaries.
And the school will benefit from the $26,500 gym air conditioning that the press corps paid for. As for daily gym usage, he said the press corps' $200-a-day fee will be increased to $250 or $300 to pay for increased cost of utilities from the cooling system. The fee also covers gym maintenance.
There is no cost to the taxpayer, but neither does the school district make a profit. "We don't want to gouge anybody," Mr. Judy said.
Meanwhile, shop owners in the two-block downtown appreciate the increased traffic brought by the president's entourage. Some are planning special activities this month.
Author Liz Carpenter will sign her latest book, Start With a Laugh , on Aug. 18 at Crawford Country Style, a gift shop on the town's main street owned by Norma Nelson Crow and her cousin Larry Nelson.
"She wanted to come and be a 'yellow dog Democrat' in Crawford," Ms. Crow said about Ms. Carpenter, a former speechwriter for President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Also appearing at the noon to 4 p.m. event will be Sarah Jane English signing her book on wines and chefs in Texas, and the G-BATT Singers from Austin.
Gotta dance
David Meyer and Todd Harcastle, who recently restored Amslers, have scheduled a public dance there on Saturday night featuring the Heart of Texas Road Gang and the Gringo All-Stars. Members of the media found an invitation to the dance under their hotel room doors in Waco.
Crawford Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Vannatta said folks in Crawford want to "build some relationships" with the media and staged the barbecue Thursday night "so we could get to know each other."
Chamber leaders, in fact, solicited ideas from reporters about special press activities they might sponsor.
Who knows what might be on tap next year. Volleyball, anyone?
E-mail cbarta@dallasnews.com
Western expansion
Jesus Lerma, left, and Mark Dingus, of the White House Communications Agency, hang a new background sign behind the briefing podium at the news media filing center, located in the Crawford Elementary School gym, on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2002, in Crawford, Texas.
Published: Saturday, August 10, 2002
You all may want to be on the look out for October as Chinese leader Jiang Zemin is coming to pay a visit in Crawford. This is a follow up to President Bush's visit to China earlier this year...
Yes, they did use the logo last year, and I was QUITE happy to see it! Made me feel part of the team!
Have you noticed how nice the pictures by the White House photographer are? I pay attention to who does the shots when captions are available. That guy is really talented!
Talk about complainers......
Early-morning pool play
• Read Rachel Graves' pool report: The information other journalists in Crawford will work from to write today's stories. George W. Bush today referred to his presidency as the "early-morning administration," and it was an accurate characterization.
I left my hotel at 5 a.m., and hundreds of others had to get up similarly early to make it possible for one man to play a round of golf. The press pool - 3 wire service reporters, me, a TV crew, a magazine reporter and several photographers - piled into two vans and went to the entrance to Bush's ranch for a Secret Service security sweep.
A White House stenographer also follows the president everywhere he goes, transcribing his every comment. The transcripts are distributed to the press, so reporters technically do not even need to take notes.
With it still dark out, we were checked with a hand-held metal detector while agents and then a German shepherd went through our belongings. The dog stuck his entire head into my bag and sniffed around, turning on my tape recorder with his snout.
We crammed back into the vans to join the motorcade. As the sun slowly rose, about fifteen cars, including the president's, snaked down desolate prairie roads for the half-hour trip to the golf course. In addition to everyone in the motorcade, scores of police were mobilized to stop traffic, and Secret Service agents swarmed over the golf course at Ridgewood Country Club, near Waco, to secure it. At least one helicopter circled overhead.
When we arrived at the course, the media jumped out of the vans and scrambled after the president to record his every action. Bush, seeming like a remarkably normal guy after all the fuss, yelled inquiries across the grass about one reporter's dog that was hit by a car this week.
We watched Bush tee off, and then he came over to answer questions. The press, still half-asleep at 7 a.m., was slow to come up with any, then asked several about Iraq. Bush made tough statements about the horrors of Saddam Hussein but said little new. In between two bleak statements on Iraq, he paused to compliment his own drive and express eagerness to "chip and putt for a birdie."
I've met Bush before, in South Carolina when he was running for president. Surely he doesn't remember, and yet he exuded a familiarity that made it easy to question him about Iraq, as though I had known him for a long time.
Bush hit the links while we waited in the club house, chatting and writing up the dregs of news from the brief exchange. When he was done, the entire production happened in reverse until Bush was back at the ranch.
I left my hotel at 5 a.m., and hundreds of others had to get up similarly early to make it possible for one man to play a round of golf.
This reporter isn't going to last a month, lol!
Houston Chronicle staff writer Rachel Graves has been assigned to cover President Bush through Aug. 13 during his extended vacation at his Crawford ranch. As she wiles away the hours waiting for news to happen, Graves will update this weblog, providing a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to cover a vacationing president in Central Texas. Got a question or comment about her coverage?
Thankfully Dubya "plays a round of golf." Billy Boy was usually just "playing around."
Way to go, Dubya!
I love it!
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