PHS students interview 43rd president

This video capture from the 2017 Plainview High’s UIL documentary shows Barney, President George and Laura Bush’s pet Scottish terrier, on the lawn of the White House. This video capture from the 2017 Plainview High’s UIL documentary shows Barney, President George and Laura Bush’s pet Scottish terrier, on the lawn of the White House. Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close PHS students interview 43rd president 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Barney was a good candidate for a presidential pardon after taking a hunk out of Oscar, a German shepherd bomb detection dog and its handler, while the Scottish terrier lived at the White House during the 43rd president’s term.

Instead, Barney’s efforts to defend the Oval Office from the misperceived threat of an unfamiliar canine interloper prompted a pair of presidential apologies from the dog’s master.

The confrontation between Barney and Oscar is one of the exclusive stories a five-member film crew from Plainview High learned from President George W. Bush during a 20-minute interview with the former chief executive Nov. 15. The local students edited the 18 minutes of videotape into a 7-minute presentation which is Plainview’s entry in this year’s UIL Young Filmmakers Festival.

“The purpose of the Young Filmmakers Festival is to provide students with the opportunity to explore the art of cinematic storytelling,” explains Doug Warren, team sponsor and a PHS English teacher. “The films focus on storytelling using the techniques and tools found in the cinematic arts.”

This is the second year for PHS to submit an entry in the documentary category of the UIL Film Festival, which is just in its fourth year. Last year their film on hemophilia was among almost 200 documentaries submitted from Class 5A and 6A schools across the state. It advanced through the quarterfinals before being eliminated in the semifinal round of judging.

Schools from Classes 1A through 4A compete in a separate division.

Trey Perez is the only crew member back from last year. This year he serves as director, editor and Camera 3 operator. “He worked on the film last year, and came up with this idea in the first place,” Warren explains. “Trey spent countless hours on editing and everything else,” Warren says.

“It’s really tough trying to edit 18 minutes of film down to just 7 minutes,” Perez adds. “You have to make some difficult decisions, like whether to use the story about Barney making rounds with the pastry chef or him taking a bite out of the bomb dog.” Ultimately the pastry chef was left on the cutting room floor.

“You just have to put aside what you might want for what is going to be best for the film,” Perez explains.

Priya Bhakta served as researcher, screenwriter, interviewer and on-air talent. Trevor Reid handled lights, sound and music supervisor, Kaitlyn Jones operated Camera 1 and Liberty Crawford operated Camera 2.

Although Perez suggested a film on Barney, the first family’s pet throughout Bush’s eight years in the White House, the students were working on a Plan B film on the demolition of the Rustwater water tower when they learn that Bush had agreed to meet with them.

“Ryan Crowe helped the team obtain an email address to submit their request for an interview,” explains Jan Seago, PISD director of communications. Crowe, a former TV journalist, is yearbook sponsor and mass communications instructor at PHS. He was able to put Warren in touch with the Bush team through a former coworker who is now with a Dallas TV station.

Warren adds, “After I emailed Bush’s spokesperson with our proposal, it was at least a month before I heard anything. That was just a simple message – ‘Doug, call me.’ ”

Two weeks later, Warren was given two possible dates for an interview – both only days away.

Ultimately, the five students were driven to Dallas by PHS Assistant Principal Randa Wrenn. They met with the former president on the third floor of the Bush Center on the SMU campus. “The third floor is really his private domain,” Bhakta explains. “It’s off limits to the public, but President Bush was really warm and inviting. I found him to be down to earth, and it wasn’t at all as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be.”

A former Midland resident, Bush told the PHS students he has fond memories of campaigning in Plainview and the area, Bhakta says. Although the students provided an outline of what they wanted to discuss, the president did not require a list of questions in advance.

Bush opens the video by recalling a quote from President Harry Truman, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

He then shares the story of how Barney became part of the Bush household. Bush gave Barney to his wife, Laura, on the suggestion of Christie Todd Whitman, former New Jersey governor and later Bush’s EPA chief.

Barney grew to be very territorial about portions of the White House, particularly the Oval Office. In fact, according to the former president, Barney occasionally would bark at high-ranking visitors who made the mistake of sitting on Barney’s favorite couch.

He also would stand guard at the diplomatic entrance to the White House.

“Although we were able to find an account where Barney bit a reporter who reached down too fast, we haven’t found any other reference to Barney taking a hunk out of Oscar the bomb dog, or Oscar’s handler,” Warren said. “That’s apparently an exclusive that President Bush gave us.”

Another exclusive is that Bush had Barney euthanized after the dog developed lymphoma. In a touching account, the president tells Bhakta of holding Barney in his arms as the dog died. Barney is buried on the Bush ranch at Crawford.

“We knew that Barney died after developing lymphoma,” Warren says. “The students did a lot of research and as far as we can tell this is the first time it’s been made public that Bush had to put him down. This is also the first account we’ve found of Barney dying in the president’s arms.”

The Bushes have a new dog, Freddy, which they got from the SPCA. A shelter pet, Bush said it appears to be mostly Australian shepherd.

“Our video shows that politicians have more going on in their lives than just politics,” Warren adds.

The Barney video can be viewed online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_447jwyHp7Y&feature=youtu.be

The UIL film submissions are due Jan. 11. They will be previewed, critiqued and ranked by UIL adjudicators. Scoring is based on originality, cinematic storytelling and technical execution. Entries will go through several preliminary rounds with the remaining films advancing to a state semi-final round. The entries advancing to state in each category will be screened and ranked first through sixth at the state festival.

The state finals are March 1 at the Paramount Theatre in Austin.