This is how I want to remember the view of the beach at the Gulf State Park Fishing Pier, destroyed in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan but rebuilt in 2009. The new pier is the longest on the Gulf of Mexico at 1540 feet.
With a cool front pushing down from the north and humidity low, the light, color and photosynthesis were astounding this morning as I packed my gear and headed for a break from the oil spill story on Mother’s Day in Birmingham. Due to the weather and the ongoing nature of the story, I did not want to leave.
This scene is not going to hold for long, however. The wind will eventually turn and shift to the prevailing weather pattern, with winds out of the south. When it does, the growing BP oil slick will make its way ashore.
A lot of factors will determine how bad this scene will look in a few days, not least of which is whether the engineers now trying to come up with a plan to stop the leaks can figure something out. The so-named “concrete condom” didn’t work.
Happy Mother’s day to all you great mothers out there, and I don’t mean MoFos. Any celebrated from here has to be muted by the looming disaster out in the Gulf of Mexico. Enjoy it while you can…
The buffet at Tamera’s Bar & Grill in Fairhope was beyond scrumptious, with loaded seafood-filled scrambled eggs to die for and more, and bottomless mimosas. As much as I don’t want to tear myself away from this day in this place and leave, it’s now time to head up the hurricane evacuation route to see my mom in Birmingham. This oil spill story has really just begun, however, so you can bet I will be back, and right soon…
What will become of the entire economy surrounding the Gulf Coast seafood business and related tourism? For the people of the Gulf Coast, a beautiful Mother’s Day Sunday with temperatures in the low 70s, low humidity and winds out of the northwest masks a dark, looming picture just out of the sightline from shore. Inevitably, the winds will shift to the prevailing patterns any day now and push the oil and chemicals toward shore. At least some folks still manage to display a sense of humor about it, like this sign at Wintzell’s on Mobile Street along Mobile Bay in Fairhope.
The oil slick from British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon rig, still spewing 210,000 gallons a day into the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall along the barrier islands off the coast of Mississippi on Friday, May 7, 2010. The advancing leading edge of the rainbow sheen mixed with chemical dispersants is followed by miles and miles of emulsified oil, and so far, BP’s on the fly engineering is not stopping the flow as of midnight Saturday night.
During the Bush years, we specialized in covering the politicization of the U.S. justice system as much as any news organization. Our archives are about the most comprehensive for anyone researching the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and the original case against Richard Scrushy, which Glynn Wilson covered for The New York Times.
