Jennifer Moody

I was hired as a reporter here at the Albany Democrat-Herald on Oct. 25, 1995. Time done broke some speed records since then, brothers and sisters.

I’ve had the pleasure to write about some really interesting stuff in those 14 years. Having passed my anniversary date, for the next few days I’m going to reminisce a little, alphabetically.

Let us begin …

A is for  Amber Alerts and Aelfric Wolf

– Matthew Dixon was 11 years old in October 2004 and dreamed of becoming a police officer. The Sweet Home boy’s sharp eyes led to recovery of a fellow 11-year-old who was the subject of an Amber Alert.

Matthew was out deer hunting that particular day with a family friend when they came across a black Ford Ranger, and, later, its occupants: a man and a boy. The groups exchanged pleasantries.

That night, Matthew saw the Amber Alert on television and recognized the truck and the license plate, “X-KAHN.” He called the family friends, who alerted police.

The abduction suspect died following a shootout with officers on a logging road south of Sweet Home. The boy, still in the Ford, was found safe.

– I’ve lost track of Aelfric Wolf, who used to teach at Waverly Elementary School in Albany. The district website no longer lists him. But for several years, I had a good time covering stories with his classes.

Wolf’s students built catapults. They went scuba-diving in a swimming pool. They experimented with fires lit by flint and steel and threw weapons called atlatls as part of a study on ancient cultures.

In 2004, Wolf took a class of fourth- and fifth-graders to the Oregon Coast for a National Geographic experiment on sand crabs. “Everything I come across, I try to see if I can bring it to my students,” he told me that day.

I hope, wherever he is, that’s still what he’s doing.

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