DUI Checkpoint

On Friday night the media was invited out to photograph a DUI checkpoint. Several of the police stations along with MADD and SADD were involved in the checkpoint that was funded by a grant to the State College Police and Penn State Police. When they said the checkpoint would be on North Atherton I knew exactly where it would be. I've driven through checkpoints on that stretch of road on my way home from work on several occasions. It was really interesting to be on the other side of the checkpoint.

I think the most interesting part of this checkpoint was the new flashlights "that smell your breath" (as the slogan says). There is a meter on the side of the flashlight that can detect the smell of alcohol in the air and aids in the officers asking people to take a field sobriety test. They have been using the flashlights since last fall but this was the first I got to see one up close and in action.

I hung out photographing for about an hour, from 11-midnight, and they only stopped one car, but the night was young, and until the end of the evening they charged 6 people with DUI. To most cars the officers enforced the zero tolerance rule and encouraged drivers to have a safe night.

Mounties Softball

Today I headed to Philipsburg-Osceola to photograph softball. Last time I photographed this team they were getting crowned the 2011 PIAA State softball champs in early June. After graduating several girls they are back this year to battle to the playoffs. Todays chilly game didn't go as well as they would have liked though. With several umpire/coach arguments and some confusing calls the Mounties lost to Central 6-4, the first time loosing to them in 20 some years.

Lady Raiders

I knew the nice weather in March was too good to be true. Today the baseball game I was sent to cover got snowed/hailed out right before it was to start. I left the community fields and headed over to a softball game on the other side of the county that didn't get hit as hard with the inclement weather. I had perfect timing with arriving, the first frame I took was a grand slam hit deep into center field.

The runs kept rolling in through the first several innings.

This field is also great to shoot at since there is a hill behind right field which helps to make a great clean photo of the pitchers.

Hopefully the wintery weather blows through quickly and we get spring back for spring sports!

Take me out to the ballgame

Though winter has decided to make an encore performance (which I am not pleased about) spring sports have started up. I've covered a lot of high school baseball and softball thanks to my two internships, and now my second spring season here at the CDT, so it didn't take me too long to get back into covering the spring sports. Here are some favorites from the first week of play.

PIAA AAAA Semi-finals

Tonight I covered the PIAA class AAAA boys' basketball semi finals. The game was held at one of our local high schools since it was the half way point for both of the teams. Basketball isn't very big in Centre County, and as I pulled up to the building to an empty parking lot I figured it wouldn't be a big game.

I was wrong.

The guy at the door chuckled as he let me in, saying one of the schools brought 14 buses of fans. As I walked into the normally subdued gym, I was amazed. One side, all boys, clad in orange and white for Cathedral Prep, and the other side, a co-ed section of fans head to toe in black for Lower Merion. The game started out intense, till Lower Merion took a lead that Prep could not catch up to. The cheering continued through the game at a very entertaining level.

I was there to cover the winning team for our preview for the State Championships this weekend in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Sunny Days, Sweeping the Clouds Away

March in Centre County has never been so gorgeous! This week with temperatures in the 60s and 70s and the sun shining it has been difficult for me to get off my deck and go to work. So when I've been out on assignments I've taken the long route to where I parked my car which has allowed my photographic juices to get flowing (and some extra vitamin D). Here are a few images I've snapped this week that aren't my normal photojournalism.

As I cut through the Hintz Alumni Center gardens towards my car after photographing a science lab in a near by building, the iron archways caught my attention. I've walked through this garden hundreds of times as a student and being in town, it's a nice area to look at the ducks and just relax, but I never noticed the flower detail before.

Yesterday afternoon I was out adventuring the county photographing township owned bridges that are falling apart. They are in disparate need of repair to be up to Penn Dot standards. This is one of the rusted posted of a bridge in Spring Mills.

As I walked back to my car in a stone parking lot near another bridge in Benner Township this old train platform caught my attention. I liked that the sign said please and thank you.

Next to the platform was a tanker trailer all rusted but still proudly displaying it's vehicle number.

Being distracted for a few minutes to takes some images of the tanker ended up being a good thing also. A farmer who uses the bridge I had been photographing was on his way home and stopped to chat with me, and I ended up getting my first contribution byline on a front page story. So come on mother nature, keep the nice weather and my photographic eye going!

K9 Veteran Day

Today the Boalsburg Military Museum held a new memorial event on their grounds. With proclamations around the country to name March 13 National K9 Veteran Day, they held a special tribute ceremony today in effort to raise awareness of the holiday. Local law enforcement dogs from around the area were present to honor their fellow K9s around the world.