“More time for fishing?”
Woodstock, Maine, carpenter Patrick Fenney sent the question to his friend Tucker Carlson in a text message around lunch time on Monday, the day Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott reportedly told the now-former host his show was being taken off the air, Conservative Brief reported.
“He called me back at 1 and said he found out about it a half hour before I did,” Fenney told the UK’s DailyMail.com Tuesday as he stood inside Carlson’s satellite TV studio, which he helped Carlson build in an old barn downtown.
“He told me it started out as a normal day. He got up, wrote the show, and then he got the phone call saying it was all over and that they were going to announce it,” Fenney said. “He was pretty shocked. He asked them why and they wouldn’t give him a reason.”
Shocked though he may have been, however, Fenney said also that Carlson was not upset.
“He was not upset at all. He said that maybe he’d fish a little more this summer,” said the carpenter.
Carlson has been visiting the area since he was a child. He is a familiar face in town during summer, often working from his studio on Main Street and taking breaks to chat with neighbors or greet fans who have traveled from out of state to meet him. In 2019, he sent a letter to the town informing residents he would like to retire there someday. He received messages of support from various members of the community following his ouster from Fox News.
“We always see him driving around in his old pickup truck,” said Susan Hatstat, 37, who works at a convenience store Carlson frequents when he is in town. “He’s actually just a really good guy, always super polite. He’s normal when he’s here, nice to everybody. He doesn’t act like a celebrity. He comes here, grabs snacks, gets treats for his dogs.
“I like him, and his family’s really nice,” she continued in an interview with the news outlet. “His brother Buckley’s always here, and his nephew. Tucker’s been coming up here his whole life.”
DailyMail.com reported that production workers were preparing for Carlson’s upcoming show, which was scheduled to film in Woodstock in a few weeks. The sudden firing caught crew members off guard, and they left without a clear idea of what would happen next.
Several locals also were employed by Carlson for the production of his shows, the outlet noted.
Carlson’s house is in Bryant Pond, the urban center of Woodstock, with a population of just 1,350 residents. The stately home is located on a small island in Lake Christopher, just a few hundred feet from the shore, said the report. In the summer he frequently can be seen doing yardwork, chopping wood or painting shingles on the house.
Fenney described Carlson as “very modest, not a fancy person.” Carlson uses a motorboat to travel to his house, which is still closed for the winter. Fenney has the keys.
Another longtime resident seemed to agree with Fenney’s take.
“He is one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met who was so-called famous,” Neil Olsen, a 75-year-old animal trapper, said.
“I’m a layman, let’s just say. I’m a nobody, and I’m out there doing some fishing and trapping, and Tucker’s spending time with me. And I could just tell, he just wants to be a down to earth person.”
Last year, he said, Carlson joined him for a three-hour drive to sell furs to a dealer in Greenville, Maine.
“I just remember what the guy there said to Tucker: ‘How did you happen to come with him up here?'” Olsen recalled.
“And Tucker responded, ‘because he asked me.'”
Fenney thought forward with regard to what Carlson may do next. “I can’t imagine he’s going to be hurting for things to do,” he said. “He’s a tough man, he’ll survive it.”
He’s “the hardest working man I know,” Fenney added.
Olsen agreed, in part, with Fenney.
“I haven’t met anyone who’s been around this guy that didn’t like him,” Olsen said.
But as for what Carlson will do now? “And now, I assume he might, this is just a guess, take the summer off.”
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