The Surreal World

(Fair warning ... this is a long post, but I think it's a worthwhile read. Enjoy!)

Friday felt surreal right from the get-go. First of all, it marked the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. As I drove to Jacksonville to cover the Patriot Day ceremony there, I thought about what I was doing when the world changed eight years ago.

I remember it vividly. I was a senior in high school, sitting in the library doing work for my independent study Spanish class. Along with another student (her name was Tamika White), I hit the library every day for first period. We'd gone through all five levels of Spanish our county's school system offered in high school -- but our teacher managed to create an independent study course/project for us to undertake.

We got to know the librarians pretty well since we saw them every day. And right around 9a, one of them stepped out of her office and in a flustered tone said, "Turn on the TV. My husband just called and said a plane hit the World Trade Center." So we tuned the tube to CBS and watched as smoke poured out of one of the towers. We theorized about how it happened and only began to allow ourselves to think it may have been intentional when word came that a couple of jetliners had gone missing.

Then we watched aghast as the second plane plowed into the second tower. At this point, our minds were made up ... America was under attack.

Things were happening so fast and yet it felt like time was standing still. Somehow the bell managed to ring and first period ended. I left my belongings in the library and waded into the halls, where 1,100 other students had little clue as to what was happening. I met my second period teacher in the hall (Mrs. Hinnant) and told her what was going on. She taught AP English but didn't want us to miss watching history unfold and took our entire class into the library.

There we watched the attack on the Pentagon happen. Bryant Gumble was in the anchor chair for CBS that morning ... and when the director took the shot of the smoldering Pentagon (without telling Gumble), I can remember hearing him say "This is the Pentagon -- Oh, my God."

That's exactly what we were all thinking. And though we were only a bunch of teenagers, we prayed. We worried. Some cried. We all felt numb.

Flash forward to Friday. The memories of what came eight years earlier flashed in front of me again as I stood near Jacksonville's 9/11 Memorial, watching pictures of the victims flash in front of me while an emcee told their stories.

That was surreal enough. But it was only 9a and I still had to shoot another story.

So I ran to my office, sent in some video for the noon newscast and shuffled off to the Onslow County Sheriff's Office ... where the three other TV stations, the newspaper and I were set to interview Sheriff Brown about 54 marijuana plants and 51 pit bulls deputies found the day before.

We chatted with the sheriff for a while, saw pictures of the weed and the dogs. We learned a lot about dog fighting and the instruments used there-in. Deputies say the man they arrested was breeding dogs to fight. Judging by the graphic, gruesome pictures we saw, it's hard to argue.

We wanted the whole story, though. So me, Andrea Pacetti from News14, Chelsea Donovan from WITN and Lindell Kay from The Daily News headed out to the man's house.

The man, Lethen Pollock, was still in jail ... but his mom was at the scene. Chelsea and I shot video through the woods of the dogs chained to the ground while Lindell worked to convince Pollock's mom to talk to us. I'm usually pretty good at getting unwilling (and yet crucial) folks to talk ... but Lindell expertly convinced Mrs. Pollock to talk after Chelsea and I underscored the importance of getting her son's side of the story out there.

She talked to us and staunchly defended her son. She also let us see hundreds of pounds worth of dog food she said her son feeds the dogs, attempting to counter the sheriff's claims of malnutrition.

Then another family member took us in to the backyard to some kennels. They were filled with moms and puppies, empty water bowls and lots of dog waste. The smell was overwhelming. Think hog lagoon.

I also got a couple of shots of the dogs hidden in the woods, shackled with inch-thick chains around their necks. Pollock's mom insisted her son is a dog lover. She said he doesn't fight the dogs. She claimed he takes good care of them.

It's not my job to second-guess or judge. Pollock is in jail on drug charges but hasn't yet been charged in connection with the dogs. Animal Control hasn't returned my calls to tell me whether he will be charged in connection with the dogs.

Read Lindell's blog about it here or watch my story below.

After you check them both out, I think you'll agree ... sometimes it's a surreal world out there.

Update (9/13, 9:15p): Despite me dogging Onslow County Animal Control for info, I haven't heard back from them. However, the Onslow County Magistrate's Office has just confirmed to me that Lethen Pollock has been charged with cruelty to animals and mistreatment of animals. I'll work to get even more information on Monday.