Georgian TV on Ross McConnell’s death

TRANSCRIPT BY BRIAN ADRIAN

Bryan Adrian, and Nino Mgeladze, of Lingua House, are interviewed by the main government television network, called Pirveli, or “FIRST”. This is followed by interviews with [1] the female owner of the roadside restaurant which had views of Ross’s tricky pedestrian crossing, where he had to navigate one of the most dangerous stretches of road for strollers here in Georgia [near the outskirts of the good ole boy town of Hashuri, with tightly knit locally born cops, 2 hours outside of Tbilisi.]

Then, [2] an old market vendor lady who was very nearby, a witness who saw Ross’s collision, gives her account. A stain spot is shown on the pedestrian shoulder of the road.

Front facades of both the police station and local hospital are then shown.

After this, an interview with the head nurse of the REANIMATION ROOM [EMS]. Close up of emergency room upper bunker bed where Ross was last medically observed.

Switch back to Lingua House, Tbilisi.

Pan shot of LH library. Bryan walking to get one of Ross’s favorite archaeological books to read on camera [edited out of final news version]. Close up of Nino’s LEARN ABROAD IN LONDON table.

Final narration in Georgian, emphasizing the efforts Bryan and Nino have made in such a short amount of time to create a ROSS MCCONNELL MEMORIAL BOOKSHOP, for foreign travelers hard up for books, not written in the 5000-year-old Georgian alphabet, but in the user-friendly Latin alphabet —- using English, French, German, or Spanish, etc.

CAMERA OPENS: “we leave this story from The Washington Times, on the recent turmoil in Georgia, to inform you of the death of an American in Georgia, Rossi McConnelli.”

camera cuts to Bryan Adrian in Lingua House:

BRYAN: showing a photo of Ross wearing Bryan’s Turkish Istanbul cap which Ross wore as a joke for a photo last Oct.2007, one month before the Violent Protests here.
http://www.driveway.com/c1g5u0b9z1 [Ross’s final video he made on DAY OF REVOLT, TBILISI]

Bryan looks sad.

BRYAN: “Ross was a great friend going back to NYC, and we knew each other for maybe 20 years”

NARRATOR SAYS THAT BRYANI ADRIANI was the last human to speak with Ross in English, shortly before his untimely death]

CUT to Nino, Director of LH:

NINO: “Yes. Bryan received a call from Ross at 10:20am on the day of his death, Easter Sunday, and Ross said “sorry to wake you up on your only day off, Bryan, but i am just now boarding a bus to Trabzon, Turkey, your old haunt last Spring, to get my visa renewed. Can you give me some good inexpensive hotel information, you know, free breakfast included, and copious amounts of sweet Turkish tea, etc, in a safe part of Trabzon?”

“Bryan looked frantically around his apartment for nearly two hours and found the info and called ross on his cell phone. No answer. After countless tries, the cell phone of ross was finally answered, but by some Georgian men in the town of Hashuri, two hours out of Tbilisi. Bryan does not speak Georgian yet, and the men did not speak English. Bryan had a friend at hand who spoke Russian and he spoke Russian with the men. They did not know Russian very well, but said that ross was “not injured seriously, his hand maybe, but he went to the hospital.”

“Bryan called many times to Ross’s mobile phone number in the next hour and got no better or more clear details about Ross. He then came to see me at the Zoo with my toddler and Bryan put me on his mobile phone, linked up with Ross’s mobile, speaking to someone on the other end of the connection.”

“I then suddenly spoke with a simple Hashuri patrol officer who told me ross was not in serious condition, but maybe it was his leg that had been injured, and to call back in 20 minutes.”

“21 minutes later we called and the chief of police of Hashuri picked up and said, “Ross is dead. Traumatic head injuries.” He was standing in the Reanimation Room at the hospital and looking at Ross’s just then expired body.

CUT TO BLOOD STAINED STREET WASHED CLEAN.

WASHED BLOT ON STREET NEAR HEAVY TRAFFIC. Giant 18-wheeler truck whizzes by at about 90 mph.

SHOT of taxi driving by the window of a primitive diner adjacent to Ross’s stain on the shoulder of the road, where he bled after people dragged his body off the highway.

35 year old local woman. OWNER of local diner adjacent to the collision.

“Yes, This Rossi guy wasn’t looking carefully and stepped into the special third lane, that looked like a shoulder of the road, and something dropped down he was holding, he was actually in the middle of three narrow unmarked lanes, and when he stepped backwards a few paces, and bent over to pick up whatever it was, a speeding taxi van, a “marshutka”, smashed into McConnelli’s head. Only his head, at very high speed.”

SHOT OF OLD ‘FRESH POPCORN’ VENDOR WOMAN:

“Yup. He just walked into the median region of the three Easter specially set-up lanesfor the day, it looks like maybe only one wide lane to foreigners, and something fell out of his bag, or down from somewhere on his person, and he stooped to pick it up and was struck dead in the head.”

SHOT OF HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS:

Interview with Head Acceptance Nurse in REANIMATION room [name of Emergency Rooms here in their language, translated into our English].

NURSE: “He never had a chance. Was unconscious. We prepped him but it was useless. He died just under 2 hours later, but he never was conscious.”

CUT TO LINGUA HOUSE:

Bryan seen walking towards the books in the Used Book Shop of Lingua House.

THE ANNOUNCER says sadly, “Bryani Adriani was the last known friend to speak to Rossi before he died. McConnelli’s body is to be shipped back to his mother-country for burial, the US Embassy has informed us.”

BRYAN: “I hope i can honor Ross’ s intellectual legacy by making a memorial used bookshop in his honor here. I go back 20 years or more fondling and reading and quoting from ross’s books with him. It almost makes me cry as I speak now to remember the hundreds and hundreds of books and films he and I have shared together, over all the years”.

CLOSE UP OF BOOKS ALREADY IN LINGUA HOUSE USED BOOK SHOP.

ANNOUNCER: “Ross was a bibliophile and an admirer of Georgian culture and language and of ancient archaeology too, especially the Vani Gold Treasures Region from the era of Medea and Jason and the Argonauts, and he loved his new home, Georgia, and the Georgian people, very much. We hope his books find a new home here.”

END SHOT. Books on shelves. Nino’s ‘Learn in London’ brochures on table. CLOSE.