SLS 17RS-893 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 46
BY SENATOR APPEL AND REPRESENTATIVE HENRY
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Bill Capo for his outstanding service to the people of
Louisiana and beyond.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To commend Bill Capo for outstanding service to people of Louisiana and beyond.
3 WHEREAS, Bill Capo was born and raised in New Orleans, chose his profession
4 when he was seven and got his first television job at seventeen driving a truck by day to pick
5 up props and operating a studio camera at night at WWOM-TV; and
6 WHEREAS, Bill Capo earned a degree in communications with emphasis in
7 broadcast journalism from Loyola University New Orleans and a certificate in broadcast
8 meteorology from Mississippi State University; and
9 WHEREAS, Bill Capo interned at WDSU-TV and anchored a 12-week series that
10 aired on WYES-TV in college, worked for the NBC affiliate in Mobile after graduation,
11 returned to New Orleans television as a reporter at WVUE-TV in 1979, joined WWL-TV
12 in 1980, and was named Action Reporter in 1985; and
13 WHEREAS, as Action Reporter, Bill Capo fielded about 8,000 calls per year for help
14 and solved people's problems, including helping them obtain life-saving operations, keep
15 their homes, remain financially solvent, become homeowners, get medical equipment like
16 wheelchairs, handicap vans, and mobility products, feed their children, get school uniforms
17 and supplies for their children, dispute incorrect charges for city services, get potholes and
18 streetlights fixed, and get road signs to warn of a low clearance at a particularly bad
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SLS 17RS-893 ORIGINAL
1 intersection known for flooding; and
2 WHEREAS, Bill Capo helped bring support from Louisiana to New York City after
3 9/11, and supplies to those whose homes flooded or were destroyed by tornadoes in the
4 Midwest, rebuild a village in El Salvador destroyed by an earthquake, covered the Louisiana
5 National Guard's aid to earthquake victims in Haiti, and brought help to Louisianians who
6 also lost everything in floods and tornadoes; and
7 WHEREAS, Bill Capo was assigned to do weather as Hurricane Katrina approached,
8 was on the air as Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, and was also first to break the news of
9 the levee breaks in New Orleans; and
10 WHEREAS, Bill Capo spent all of 2006 getting FEMA trailers and helping gut and
11 rebuild for people so they could come home; and
12 WHEREAS, Bill Capo worked to get an African American World War II hero his
13 long-deserved medals, raised support for Honor Air Flights honoring Louisiana's World War
14 II veterans by transporting them to their memorials in Washington, D.C., and raised funds
15 and donations to restore the world's only operational, fully functional combat veteran patrol
16 torpedo boat – the World War II Museum's PT 305; and
17 WHEREAS, Bill Capo helped raise funds and support for many nonprofits and
18 service agencies including the United Way, the American Red Cross, St. Michael's Special
19 School, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Unity for the Homeless, Second Harvest Food Bank,
20 Easter Seals, the St. Bernard Project, Habitat for Humanity, the World War II Museum, the
21 Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, and the Al Copeland Foundation supporting cancer
22 research at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans; and
23 WHEREAS, Bill Capo reported some of the most significant stories in the state's
24 modern history including the crash of Pan-Am flight 759 in Kenner, the papal visit to New
25 Orleans, the Republican National Convention, presidential visits, the flight of STS-135 – the
26 last space shuttle voyage copiloted by a Tulane graduate, as well as the New Orleans Saints'
27 first Superbowl victory from Miami; and
28 WHEREAS, Bill Capo provided an alternative to drinking and driving over the
29 holidays with his 35-year series, 12 for the Road, in which he profiled celebrities and shared
30 their festive nonalcoholic drink recipes; and
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SLS 17RS-893 ORIGINAL
1 WHEREAS, Bill Capo has mentored many young broadcast journalists, helping to
2 launch reporting careers around the country; and
3 WHEREAS, Bill Capo is a humanitarian who has been a positive influence, making
4 a real difference in people's lives by helping them solve problems, whether or not he was
5 telling their stories.
6 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana hereby
7 commends Bill Capo for his significant contributions to the people of Louisiana during his
8 42-year career as a broadcast journalist.
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
10 Bill Capo.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
SCR 46 Original 2017 Regular Session Appel
Commends Bill Capo for his significant contributions to the people of Louisiana during his
42-year career as a broadcast journalist.
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