<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=12tPl2_1GqLX17U00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=12tPl2_1GqLX17U00" width="1200" height="600" >MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - George Criminale, a FOX10 facilities engineer, is retiring after nearly 44 years at the station. Current and former employees gathered for a surprise send-off on his last day.George said he did not know the event was planned.“We are surprised! I had no idea — all of this was going to go on,” George said.Former FOX10 employees returned to take part in the celebration.Renee Dials, a former FOX10 anchor and reporter, said she was glad to be able to say goodbye to George.“I can’t imagine he’s going to go home and sit and enjoy his retirement like I have,” Dials said. “He’s going to be busy all of the time — I know.”<h2>Career at the station</h2>Criminale started at the former FOX10 studio on Government Street in 1982. He later helped construct the station’s current building from the ground up.His work has included building sets, setting up lighting, live on the road show sets, and handling other jobs -- both big and small.Sarah Wall, a FOX10 “Good Day Gulf Coast” anchor, said employees could bring problems to George and he was on it.“Any problem you had you could go to him and he would fix it,” Wall said. “And you knew there was no problem too big or too small. Anything you would ask for he always would help you and always with a smile and always happy to help.”Jason Smith, FOX10’s chief meteorologist, said he talks over home improvement projects with George.“Any time I have a home improvement project going on at my house — I always bounce ideas off of George,” Smith said. “So, I’m really going to miss having somebody to compare with — you need to use this kind of saw or what kind of sheetrock are you using. Have someone we can talk home improvement stuff with all the time and George is just a wealth of knowledge.”George also appeared in the studio during live broadcasts. Chelsey Sayasane, a “Good Day Gulf Coast” and Studio 10 anchor, recalled a Fat Tuesday broadcast early in her time at the station -- where George saved the day!“Fat Tuesday is always crazy — especially when we’re live on location,” Sayasane said. “And one of my very first Fat Tuesday’s — they were counting us down in our ear 5, 4... something wasn’t working correctly on the set — he was crawling in between me and Joe while we’re live on air trying to welcome on everyone into this Fat Tuesday show. So, you never know when you are going to see him.”Joe Emer, a “Good Day Gulf Coast” and Studio 10 anchor, said the episode shows George’s willingness to help.“That speaks to the character of George that he’s willing to do whatever it takes for everyone in this building,” Emer said. “He’s just an incredible human being.”Lenise Ligon, FOX10’s main anchor, said she asked George the day before if Friday would be his last day.“He said yes. And I said what are we going to do? Honestly — what are we going to do?” Ligon said. “And he said I don’t know.”<h2>Plans for retirement</h2>George is active in the Mardi Gras community, where he builds floats. He plans to volunteer and travel with his wife.George described his last day at the station.“It’s a sad day — not only a new chapter but this station has been family for me for over half my life,” George said.He said he will miss his coworkers.“I’ll miss the people. It’s like a family,” George said. “There’s some people that have only been here a year. There’s other people who have been here almost 40 years — so Channel 10’s like a family to me — and I’ll miss a lot of that.”Eric Duncan, FOX10’s general manager, said George will return to work with the station on special projects.“He’s going to come back and George is going to work on projects for us and do some other work for us,” Duncan said. “So we will see him from time to time.”</div></body>

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - George Criminale, a FOX10 facilities engineer, is retiring after nearly 44 years at the station. Current and former employees gathered for a surprise send-off on his last day. George said he did not know the event was planned. “We are surprised! I had no idea —...

FOX10 facilities engineer retires after nearly 44 years

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - George Criminale, a FOX10 facilities engineer, is retiring after nearly 44 years at the station. Current and former employees gathere

FOX10 facilities engineer retires after nearly 44 years

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