Amy Godsoe announced that nearly 45k was raised which is 10k more than last year.  Are we really in a recession? Should not donations go down?

Think Big Montgomery and make things happen, thats what the organizers, sponsors and participants did and look at the end result. Not only was alot of loot raised for a good cause but look at the GREAT time and community fellowship that was shared  by all in attendance.

Collaborate and proliferate!

This is the first group of pictures presented in music video format and a video tribute to the dogs in attendance can be found here. Keep checking back as more awesome footage will be added over the next couple weeks. There will be more specially enhanced photos and videos and GreatNewsMontgomery.com has agreed to do a unique video of the event to be released at the October awards luncheon.

(note from the editor..if you see your picture and would like us to recognize you..just write a comment and we will give you props)

Music by Emorej titled A Song for Michael

If you were a sponsor feel free to link to this page on your site. Show the community that you support great causes, we give you extra publicity in a way that

NO ONE else does.

A few more pictures

Alabama Kidney Foundation and Montgomery are Great News.

Documenting our first 60 days of catching up with technology, catching up with the community and getting in sync with Montgomery.

(Just upgraded video quality on 12 August so if you liked it the first time its even better now)

To enjoy maximum Montgomery LOVE watch this in full screen HQ view.
We call it GreatNewsVision and JJ shows you  how to activate it:

See bottom of video player and find 2nd box from right.

Click that box and make this video “full screen” and out-o-sight.

Play and click HQ and it becomes

DYN-O-MITE!

A group of student athletes from Carver High School in Montgomery were about to receive  some great news for not participating in this fight.

Rotarian  Eric Lewis invited GreatNewsMontgomery.com to eat breakfast with the club and cover the activities.

Here are the earliest arriving of the bunch

From left to right we got Craig Sword, Joe Rudolph, Dominique Oliver, Ron Smith, Mark Jackson and Derrick Martin.

The fistacuffs drew enough attention when it happened about 6 months ago but check out the  above media link if you need your memory refreshed of how sorry the whole thing turned out. This fight and powerful video footage got lots of media exposure.

We are not talking about just local news, we are talking national news networks and affiliates around the country who couldnt get enough of the action  and thanks to high speed internet and free video hosting sites like YouTube and GoogleVideos the  entire world had access to that footage.

Montrell Holley and coach Jackson

Who knows how many million times that brawl was viewed? Add in comments and reactions from a multitude of everyday people  on  blogs, community posting boards and on Myspace/Facebook pages across the internet and its impossible to calculate  how badly Montgomery’s image  suffered because of the fight.  As far along as Montgomery has come  in terms of economic and social progress,  a video like that makes the work  easier for naysayers  to perpetuate negative racial and southern based stereotypes , after all  “evidence”  and “proof” of those stereotypes are available 24/7 on demand.

Do a basic google search for “carver basketball fight” or “carver basketball brawl” and see how many different results come up.  Page after page of negative publicity.

Now do a search for any of the young men’s name above and compare the results.

So perhaps now some of you all  who get most or all  of your news from Tv  can get an idea of how powerful the internet really is and how bad news can spread on the web faster than wildfire in a west coast forest. Well if bad news can spread so can  Great News it just requires more effort to get started and generally spreads at a slower rate.That where you all come into the picture.

You see folks this is a whole lot bigger than just some knuckleheads displaying poor sportsmanship and exhibiting lack of  self discipline.

It is bigger than just “rewarding” the kids who didnt fight  for doing the right thing.

This is about letting people all over the world see what values Montgomery citizens really respect and promote.  It is a chance for the often misguided youth to view benefits of an alternate and superior  form of behavior.  It is a chance for current  and future community leaders to leverage this recognition in order to hasten positive change in said communities…And it is a chance for those wanting to share Great News about Montgomery with the  world a chance to do so.

We believe it is wise and beneficent to promote the positive side of this story to our readers.

Just as it was wise and beneficent for  Sunrise Rotary  to invite the team to the Capital City Club to receive recognition.

Just as it was wise and beneficent for  Congressman  Bobby Bright and Mayor Todd Strange to attend the meeting, to speak encouraging words to those gathered and to award some very nice looking and meaningful commendations  to the young men.

Just as it would be wise and benficent to share this article and those like it with your own group of readers and listeners.

Of all the pictures took this is the only snippet of  Travaris Williams that exists in our camera. That why he is Missing In Photos

This ballplayer did monster crossover move on the camera.

Cortavious Orum was not able to attend, send us a pic and we will give you some well deserved credit.

If  any of the guys has ONE good shot that he wants to use to impress the ladies send it to editor@greatnewsmontgomery.com and we will post it.

Look we understand you athlete types already got things under control but no matter how well you are doing a little more great publicity wont hurt!!

More pictures will be put up soon. Stayed tuned as this post should have some life.

EXTRA EXTRA

Laugh all about it.

After the meeting  rumors circulated that  Mr Bright, the Mayor and Coach Jackson  held a secret practice in preparation of a breakdancing showdown vs a team from Valley.

Alabama High School Athletic Association ( AHSAA) asst. director Joe Evans is  supposedly going to be one of the judges.

We dont know what the competition  has but judging from the practice footage.

Valley is about to get served

Lukas Coaching began in 2006 in response to an overwhelming request from our family and friends for sound financial advice. For many years prior to officially starting the business we had been coaching friends, family and members of our community.

Because the need was so strong within our community, we have decided to use our financial knowledge and experience, as well as the gifts God has provided us, to counsel others on a full-time basis. We will never turn anyone away who has a genuine need for financial coaching and is serious about making a positive change. We truly do exist to help our clients succeed!

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s grace.” - 1 Peter 4:10

Our programs are effective because we actually practice what we teach our clients. Each of us has been in debt and has taken the steps necessary to free ourselves. We now pass along our experiences and expertise to help you reach your goals as quickly as possible.

While most businesses measure their success based on the amount of money they make, at Lukas Coaching, we measure our success by the number of businesses we help succeed, and the number of lives we help change.

We began offering resources in the form of articles, books and even free workbooks to spread the coaching we offer around the world…end excerpt

In just a few short years Justin has developed a wealth of information for his followers  and his personal services are in  high demand from clients coast to coast.  That is a link to testimonials from his clients.

There is a ton of free and useful stuff that Justin Lukasavige offers on the website. He and guests  offer great free financial advice on Past Due Radio and the shows are archived.

His dedication to true service is recognized by GNM and the editor.

This is head financial coach Derek Sisterhen explaining  why giving not only makes sense in order to prosper, but is actually quite natural and fullfulling to do so.

We will post more great stuff from them over time, if you want some solid advice right now on money and finances click the Express transport photo

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The movement was created by Michael Port, Leader of The Revolution and Author of The Think Big Manifesto which you can order at Amazon, B&N or Borders, as a place for us to come together to think bigger about who we are and what we offer the world.

As a founding principle, the Think Big Revolution requires the formation and augmentation of intellectual and spiritual capital.

The condition for intellectual capital is big thoughts.

The condition for spiritual capital is love.

The future of big thinking rests exclusively on the combination of both.

The advancement of and growth of intellectual capital through study and learning in action with others, will replace the isolation of small thinking.

This revolutionary combination will cut from under its feet the very foundation on which the old school small thoughts were generated and propagated.

In place of small thoughts and small thinking, we will have big thoughts and big thinking, fully self-expressed, self-actualized, collaborative contributors to society, who know no limitations and no limits.

After all, that’s what love is, too.

THINKING BIG ABOUT MYSELF AND WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER THE WORLD!!!

This book is the most realistic and honest approach to doing business that the editor has read in the last 20 years.

Click on the book to visit the website.  Join the Think Big Revolution, it is free and contains a wealth of knowledge to the active big thinkers out there.

Will post relevant excerpts from site in time.