Services will be held at Christian Unity Baptist Church, 1700 Conti Street, on Saturday, January 3rd beginning with a 9 a.m. visitation followed by a service at 11 a.m. According to the electronic newsletter, New Orleans Agenda, a Marshall Truehill Memorial Fund has been started by friends and family, and proceeds will go towards many of the initiatives that Dr. Truehill started and supported, including Faith in Action,Operation Brother’s Keep (a faith-based action plan for helping the needy evacuate the city during storm threats)  City Works,  Unified New Orleans Plan and Faith in Action. Pending approval of the fund by the IRS and the state of Louisiana, interested donors can make contributions via Faith in Action donation site, which will transfer monies to the memorial fund. Faith in Action is a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization, so donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. 

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Photo by Jonathan Bachman

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As I mentioned in the last post, the University of Utah players were showing off their brand new Under Armor cleats complete with University of Utah colors, team logo and “Utes” written across the back. After what their New Years’ plans were and what it was like to practice in the Superdome, the shoes had to be the biggest topic of conversation.

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“Under Armor hooked us up,” junior safety Robert Johnson said. “We appreciate Under Armor cause they make us look good.”

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 Photo by Jonathan Bachman

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Aside from the ever-present, but relatively small Utah media contingent that follows the University of Utah football team everywhere they have an open event, the Utes have mostly flown under the media radar this week. Of course, that’s no fault of theirs, New Orleans is in the middle of South Eastern Conference country and that’s amplified just by Nick Saban’s presence.

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So it’s no surprise that, given a full media hoard with bright lights, photo and video cameras, the Utes were glowing in the spotlight. Brian and Robert Johnson (no relation) were getting most of the attention, with Brian Johnson (the Utes’ soft-spoken quarterback) answer questions quietly and graciously and with Robert Johnson (the Ute’s out-spoken cornerback) beaming a million-dollar smile and hamming it up for everyone around — at one point, Robert Johnson talked to a TV reporter while simultaneously holding up his cleats for our photographer. This came shortly after he mugged for a Utah cameraman with his cleats (more on the shoes in a later post).

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If you were worried that the nation’s journalists would just be phoning it in today with year-end round ups of stories about $50 billion Ponzi schemes, Sarah Palin keeping an eye on Russia and Illinois’ governor putting Obama’s senate seat on eBay, have a look at the hard-hitting stories on CNN this afternoon.  The network is clearly sprinting to the finish line on 2008. Surprisingly, the video of the 88-year-old home-defense expert didn’t make the year’s best in the following item. (Nor did the reporter provide her address.) We can only hope 2009 is as lively a year.