hit the road

Meeting two Ohio congressmen in one day just five days after arrival is a pretty good record for a foreign journalist: Charlie Wilson and Zack Space shook hands with the 24 year old native German assistant reporter. Stine Eckert has all about the curious incident.

It happened shortly after entering WOUB television and radio station. Stine E. was asked to help out - a request she gladly accepted. The mission was to produce two pieces: OH Democratic Congressman Charlie Wilson was to speak about economic growth in the Athens Chamber of Commerce. The meeting with him revealed that Wilson is of German descent, his folks came from Hamburg four generations ago, and that he had seen the Rhine river. Due to a tight schedule the camera team had to leave Wilson after three questions.

They were to interview OH Democratic Congressman Zack Space in (the current secret OH capital ;-) Chillicothe - about 1 h 15 min west of Athens. The drive revealed a landscape reminding of German forrests and hills except for flat buildings, broad highways, and SUVs. Arriving at the Veterans Association Medical Center featuring about 100 buildings the reporters found out that building # 1 is the place to go. Space was to listen to vets' description of treatment at the local facility in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal. About 10 Vietman vets had gathered to give away there complaints about missing staff to treat their post traumatic stress disorders, low percentage classification of their disabilities (coming along with a low pension), and the urge to jump over the desk to choke not understanding doctors. Space promised to take these complaints serious and said that he found the local facility with it's over 1.000 employees alright. Due to time pressure the German assistant and the U.S. journalist had to sneak out before the round table ended.

Thrilled by these shocking stories and frozen because of the outside video shoots (temperature had dropped below 32°F) the German fell asleep on the way home only to be awakened to buy a combo wrap at KFC.

If the German journalist digested the KFC meal alright in a follow up. Stay with us!