Chapter 13

Finding a replacement for Maddie, the weekend newsreader had not been a difficult thing for Burt and Dan to do. Burt had kept the resume and cover letter on file he received from Sara Nelson who was a field reporter in Waco, Texas. She was an attractive lady he had met when Craig Randall, the weekend weatherman was showing her around the television station. Reviewing the videos of when she subbed at her station in doing the news reading convinced both Burt and Dan that she would be a good hire. The virtual phone interview they did with her, had her agree to move to Austin and become part of the weekend news team.

Burt had been asked by a few of the female field reporters, to be considered for that newsreader position. He told them they all would be considered but the truth was they weren’t in the running as it was quickly decided to hire Sara. Burt couldn’t tell them that the women who were applying for that position weren’t good-looking enough which is why they weren’t selected. If he did say that, there would be a rash of complaints, lawsuits, and he would be looking for a job.

It had been arranged that at the first of the month Sara, would come to Burt’s office at four. A little later, she would be introduced to the news team at their meeting. He could only hope she would be accepted by all the members of the team. They were professionals and they should do that but women he had learned could hold a grudge for a long time.

Sara was on time and he welcomed her to the station. He gave her a few forms to fill out when she had time for the HR department. He also told her it had not been announced that she was replacing Maddie who had done her last broadcast. Burt said that Maddie was moving to Melbourne, Florida because her husband had received a big promotion at work and was being transferred there.

With the clock showing the meeting was scheduled to start in five minutes, Burt told Sara they should be going.

Walking into the meeting room with Darcy and Sara, Burt looked at the faces of the people who were there and could see a mixture of reactions. There were disappointments he noted on some of the women field reporters and a big surprise on the face of Craig Randal, the weatherman. Burt introduced Sara and gave a little history of her background. He said she would become a valuable team member and turned the meeting over to Darcy the producer. Leaving the meeting and could only wonder if he was going to be approached by some disappointed people as to why they weren’t selected for this position. If he was, he would only say they were considered but it was decided to go with Sara.

It was possible that a field reporter would leave the station because of Sara being selected. The possibility of a reporter leaving for a newsreader position elsewhere continuously existed. The newsreader’s position was considered to be like gold which most field reporters coveted. If that were to happen, Burt would go to the file he kept that contained resumes of people who were applying to be field reporters.

Burt gave some thought as to what he would do this weekend after golf. With a smile on his face, he placed a call to Tessa to see if she was available and she was. He made a date with her to go to the “Improv Club.” The reviews the newspaper gave this club were favorable and it gave Burt an idea he would discuss with Dan. Maybe they should have a part-time entertainment reporter who on the Thursday news broadcasts could comment and recommend shows and movies to see the coming weekend. The entertainment critic at the newspaper could be interested in doing it.

All considered Burt had a nice time with Tessa that weekend. The comedians at the club varied from good to not so good but he would give all of the performers an “A” for effort. He would also give Tessa an “A” for the effort that she expended in the lovemaking they did at her condo later in the evening. He had a fascination with her large breasts and spent some time worshiping them.

Tessa’s breasts were fine for now but he remembered a lady friend of his once saying, “The bigger they are, the farther they fall.” Chucking to himself, he thought he was of the mind that said, “You need to accept the bad with the good.”

It was Burt’s opinion after watching Sara Nelson doing the news that it appeared she had been doing it for a while. She fit in nicely with the present news team. If those who wanted to be newsreaders were honest with themselves, they could see why Sara was selected to fill the position.

It was about two weeks later when Burt was watching Sara reporting the news that he saw a ring on her finger. He hadn’t noticed her wearing a ring before, but he couldn’t say he had made the effort to look to see if there was one. He did know she was divorced but her status could be changing. He thought he would find out if Sara was engaged and thought he would do it the easy way. He would ask Carol his executive assistant, to answer that question. Carol he thought knew everything about everybody which made her aware of all the goings on at the station.

Carol confirmed that Sara was engaged. The surprise was that she was engaged to Craig Randall, the weekend weatherman. That they knew each other in Waco and that Sara visited Craig here should have indicated they could be involved thought Burt. Burt did think that Craig was a lucky man.

Dave Page, the new investigative reporter also had the thought that Craig was a lucky man to be engaged to Sara. Dave was spending his time initially looking at the large number of supposed tips that had been emailed in. The majority of these so-called tips consisted of requests by women wanting to have a date with Dave. There were some clever ways in how this was asked as well as some frank comments as to what would happen after the date. It was funny to read these emails but he needed to disregard these requests and find some tips he could investigate and report on. There were a few of those tips he found that he set aside.

One of the tips he received that caught his attention was concerning a School Board. The tip said that this School Board made a yearly trip to Las Vegas with the stated purpose of learning how they could improve communication between teachers and students. Attached to this tip was the Board’s budget for the year which indicated the planned expenditure as well as indicating what was spent the prior year. This was a considerable amount of money. The tipster didn’t indicate their name and the email address didn’t do that either.

After reviewing these documents, Dave thought this was a newsworthy topic that should be investigated. He found the names of the Board’s members on the net. Picking up the phone he phoned the Board’s President and after saying who he was, said he would like to interview him for a segment they were doing on schools.

Dave could tell the Board’s President was a little wary but he agreed to do the interview.

Accompanied by a cameraman, Dave met with Barry Colbert, the School Board President. Dave started the interview with softball questions asking Barry what he perceived was the role of the school board as to providing a high standard of education for the students.