President Bush 41, Operation Desert Storm, a much younger reporter and this week's top Turner Report/Inside Joplin posts

Though it seems hard to believe, when President George H. W. Bush led the coalition that liberated Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm, there was only one cable news network.

Fox News was still five or six years in the future and MSNBC was not on anyone's radar. CNN was the only one on the air.

For those of us in this area who did not have cable, the best place to find out what was going on in the world was the BBC programming that KRPS had started carrying late night.

I was listening to that programming on the way back from covering a basketball game for the Carthage Press when I heard that war had been declared.

Though it was already past 11 p.m. and I had been working since 1 p.m. my first thought was always how I could localize the story. By this time I had been at the Press long enough that I had convinced Managing Editor Neil Campbell that if I became a one-man night shift I could provide the newspaper with more varied coverage on Carthage and area communities.

I would show up in the afternoon, check in, see if there were any assignments and if there were not, I would either begin checking sources or going to area towns on my beats. The night shift duties also allowed me to offer support to the sports department by covering Carthage girls sports, eighth and ninth grade games or area games. I would return to the Press office long after everyone had left and type out four or five stories for the next day's paper.

The three years that I did that were probably the most enjoyable times I ever had as a reporter.

That schedule enabled the Press to have a localized page one story on the beginning of Operation Desert Storm. A few nights earlier, I stopped at the 6-10 convenience store in Jasper after a Jasper basketball game and talked with the clerk Robin Roughton who told me that her husband was overseas participating in Operation Desert Shield.

I took a chance that Robin might be on duty at the 6-10 again that night, drove over there and sure enough she was. She had been listening for every scrap of information she could find out and she was kind enough to allow me to interview her about what was going through her mind on that day nearly three decades ago.

Thankfully for Robin and for this country, the coalition that had been organized by President Bush quickly defeated the forces of Saddam Hussein and liberated Kuwait.

It was a war that ended quickly and involved an approach to American world leadership that has not been on display for quite some time now.

As I watched the coverage of President Bush's death last night and today, I thought about that time when the U. S. President was leader of the free world, when America worked with other countries against dictators instead of falling in love with them.

I miss those days.

President Bush's death, like the death of Sen. John McCain a few months ago, reminds of the types of leaders this country seems to have tossed aside.

And I have to admit I also miss the days when I had that much energy.

Books, subscriptions, contributions

Thanks to those of you who subscribed, renewed your subscriptions or made contributions to the Turner Report/Inside Joplin during November.

Your support is much appreciated. It was a good November and hopefully that will carry on through December, which has typically not been a good month for the finances of this news operation.

You can find a PayPal button below to subscribe or make a contribution or you can mail it to Randy Turner, 2306 E. 8th, Apt. A, Joplin, MO 64801.

You can also find a PayPal button to below to order a signed copy of Newton County Memories if you are looking for a Christmas gift for someone who might share some of those memories or who has a loved one featured in the book.

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Thanks again for your support.

The Turner Report

1. Joplin man pleads guilty, sentenced to 120 days shock time for resisting arrest, assaulting police officer, assaulting K9

2. Jury trial slated today for Joplin woman charged with drugging, raping 16-year-old boy

3. Joplin R-8 Board hires three teachers, accepts three resignations

4, Arraignment scheduled for Ace Mohr

5. Missouri minimum wage to increase to $8.60 January 1

6. DISH subscribers may lose KOAM this afternoon

7. Ace Mohr pleads not guilty to armed robbery, assault charges, public defender appointed

8. New armed robbery, assault charges filed against Ace Mohr, Carthage man held without bond

9. Thoughts about predictable news coverage, my Ace Mohr "obsession" and top Turner Report/Inside Joplin posts for the week

10. Billy Long: Ozark Center in Joplin is proof investing in mental health works

Inside Joplin

1. Three arrested for drug trafficking near Baxter Springs school, cocaine marijuana confiscated

2. Joplin Police Department Holiday Weekend Arrests

3. Joplin doctor using new technology for shoulder replacement surgery

4. Jasper County Dissolution of Marriage Petitions

5. Jasper County Marriage Licenses November 19-24

6. Joplin Police Department Arrests November 28-29

7. Newton County Dissolution of Marriage Petition

8. Joplin Police Department Arrests November 26-27

9. Barton County deputies, Highway Patrol investigate accident caused by flying sofa

10. Joplin Police Department Arrests November 27-28

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Newton County Memories

A reminder that signed copies of Newton County Memories are available as holiday gifts at Granby Auto Supply, Always Buying Books, Changing Hands Book Shoppe and Pat's Books in Carthage.

Or you can order them directly from me for $22, including sales tax and postage by sending your money to Randy Turner, 2306 E. 8th, Apt. A, Joplin, MO or by using the PayPal button below.

If you use the PayPal button, be sure to leave your address in the message form.

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Inside Joplin Obituaries

1. Brandon Valentine

2. LaDonna Smith

3. Mark Grant

4. Kevin Durbin

5. Donald Stearnes

6. Rodney Hayes

7. Carl Berry

8. Judy Bicknell

9. Beverly Christian

10. Betty Wininger

Help support the Turner Report/Inside Joplin by subscribing or contributing using the PayPal buttons below or by sending your contribution of any size, large or small to Randy Turner, 2306 E. 8th, Apt A, Joplin, MO. Thank you.

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