KSTK Channel 9 tower falls;
local men rebuild it before game time

By Tracy Farr
Editor, The Daily Spittoon

It looked like local Dallas Cowboy fans would miss the Thanksgiving Day game against the Jets after strong winds downed the KSTK Channel 9 broadcasting tower this past Monday.  But when do red-blooded Americans passively sit and let obstacles stand in their way of enjoying  football -- especially when they have welding torches in their garages? Never!

More than 100 men wearing tool belts descended on the accident site Monday and began the process of rebuilding the tower. The tower was up and Channel 9 was broadcasting again by 2 a.m. Thanksgiving Day.

"I've never seen a more outpouring of neighborly love as when these men showed up to help repair our tower," Bryan Harrison, Channel 9 general manager said.  "Acts of kindness like this are what makes this country a fine place in which to live."

Winds that blew in strength from 40 to 60 mph toppled the 500 foot broadcasting tower, breaking it into six separate pieces.  The workers, some taking days off of work, worked in 8-hour shifts, 24 hours a day, in order to get the tower back up before Thanksgiving.

"I'm not much with tools, but I wanted to help in any way possible to raise that tower," Bud Henderson of the Stinky Creek Saloon said.  Bud provided meals and coffee for the men while they worked.  "Thanksgiving Day is a big day for us down at the Saloon.  I'd lose quite a bit of business if that Cowboys game hadn't been on. So, it was in my best interest to help these guys out."

Cowboy fans across Crappie County watched as the Cowboys blistered the Jets 34-3.  The Cowboys play the Packers this week in the "biggest" big game of the season.

"If that tower falls down again before this week's game with the Packers, I'll go out to Sears and purchase a welding torch myself," Henderson said.  "I won't know how to use it, but I'm sure someone could show me.  When it comes to football, we are all brothers."