By The River

I've managed to avoid the subject of medevac helicopters and their dangers for well over a year, but yesterday one crashed atop a hospital in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was the same sort of incident that occurred atop Pinnacle Hospital just north of my Shipoke neighborhood in Harrisburg, Pa., in November 2006, but with worse results. The $11.1 million helicopter took off from Spectrum/Butterworth Hospital, where my mother worked decades ago, and immediately crashed back to the roof, bursting into flames. Thankfully no one was killed--it was a miracle--but the top three floors of the hospital had to be evacuated.

Here's the money quote from the Grand Rapids Press story: "We could see debris flying everywhere. I could see the blades flying off. The boom shook our entire room. Then we knew something horrible had happened." You can read the rest of the Press coverage by going to this link. Now imagine pieces of helicopter blade slicing through walkers in Riverfront Park or crashing into cars stopped at the busy Second and Chestnut intersection after another crash atop Pinnacle.

The Press also provides statistics on medevac helicopter crashes from the National Transportation Safety Board: between 1998-2005, there were 89 medevac helicopter crashes that resulted in 75 deaths.

I got interested in the medevac helicopter issue out of personal annoyance--the noise of helicopters landing at Pinnacle that wakes us up at 2 a.m.--but stayed with it because of the safety issue. STAT-Medevac and other medical helicopters continue to fly over my neighborhood out of convenience instead of doing the safe thing, coming up the Susquehanna River and then making a 100 yard turn to land on the hospital roof. I stress again that unless Pinnacle officials lied to the FAA in their initial application, these aren't road accident victims coming in for emergency treatment. They are routine transfers of patients who need types of surgery their own little local hospitals can't offer. There is no reason the helicopters couldn't land at Capital City Airport in New Cumberland and meet ambulances for the remaining three mile journey.

But it's a prestige thing for Pinnacle. Important downtown hospitals have rooftop helipads. Unimportant ones don't. There needs to be strict federal government oversight of these operations to prevent tragedies. I don't want my next 2 a.m. wake-up call to be a frantic order to run because one of the helicopters on the way to Pinnacle has crashed into a row of homes in Shipoke and set the neighborhood on fire.

Posted by David at 05:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan will soon release a damaging memoir of his years in the Bush Administration. Among the "revelations," which are revelations perhaps only to Bush's dwindling numbers of true believers: the President used propaganda to sell the Iraq War, the Bush Administration was in a "state of denial" for a week after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, and the administration wasn't honest about the involvement of Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the retaliation against CIA agent Valerie Plame for her husband's truth-telling about some of the events leading up to the Iraq War. Bush is proclaimed guilty of massive self-deception. Here's an even more detailed story about the book from Cox Newspapers.

Didn't know any of that, did you? Ha! Of course, what makes McClellan's memoir valuable is exactly that: it confirms from deep inside of the worst presidential administration in history what many on the outside already knew or strongly suspected. It it one more step in the consignment of George W. Bush and his administration to historical ignominy. Future historians will be hard-pressed to name one positive accomplishment of the Bush Administration (which wasn't at all true of President Richard M. Nixon, for all his crimes). They will spend careers detailing the pits and excesses, driving home the point again and again that America must never be led or forced--take your pick--down this path again.

Posted by David at 06:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was restless and couldn't sleep at 3 a.m., so crawled out of the tent and went for a walk.

All the stars were out. I don't know many constellations, really just Orion and the Big Dipper. And I know the two stars in the Big Dipper that point to the North Star.

Assateague is far enough from Ocean City, Md., that you don't get light pollution. There are fewer and fewer places like this in the East, where so much land has been overrun by developers and civilization.

But then in the distance a car alarm blared. And blared. I went back to bed.

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When you look directly west over a great lake or ocean, you see great sunsets. Lake Michigan near my hometown of Holland, MI, is famous for that.

Here on Assateague Island off the coast of Maryland, you face east and see great sunrises. I got up at first light, about 5:15 a.m., to search for my daughter Lydia's pink Samsung digital camera. It fell out of her sweatshirt pocket while she was playing on the beach last night. She got it for her 11th birthday in April and was quite tearful when she realized it was gone. I didn't find the camera, but I did get to see the sun rise up out of the Atlantic Ocean.

Now that I've had my first cup of coffee, I think I'll get some clean clothes out of the tent and go take a shower.

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I'm camping at Assateague Island in Maryland with my family and about 20 other people. This is the third Memorial Day weekend in a row we've camped here. The federal government did well here; this island would look like Ocean City--Manhattan by the beach--if it had not been preserved.

We actually found a restaurant near Ocean City for lunch today that didn't have mediocre food or charge a fortune. Em Ming's is a highway barbecue joint. They roasted a whole pig today--Anthony Bourdain would have grabbed the head--and it was delicious. Great pork, great sauces, and great cole slaw, baked beans, and other sides. You can get a goods meal at a fair price in Ocean City, but you have to look for it.

We're sitting out by the fire now. I can hear the waves crashing on the beach just over the hill. Very relaxing.

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Any doubt that we are in a watershed political year vanished with the sad news earlier this week that Sen. Ted Kennedy has brain cancer. Most doctors say it is incurable and likely will kill him in 1-2 years or less. Kennedy has been in the Senate since 1962, when he was elected at age 30 to the seat vacated two years earlier when his brother, John F. Kennedy, was elected President. It is difficult to imagine the Senate without Kennedy as the champion of liberal causes.

As a practical matter--and few are talking about this yet--if his death occurrs quickly it could return the Senate to Republican control until the November election. The Massachusetts legislature in 2004 enacted a law barring the governor--then Republican Mitt Romney--from appointing a successor to Sen. John Kerry if Kerry was elected President. Instead, the seat would remain vacant until a special election could be held. Kerry lost to George W. Bush, but the law remains on the books. At present, the Senate remains in Democratic control by 51-49 only because "Independent Democrat" Joseph Lieberman caucuses with the Democrats. I don't think anyone can rule out a party switch by the politically traitorous Lieberman, who is reviled by many Democrats and has been mentioned as a possible running mate for McCain to pull older Jews away from Sen. Barack Obama.

Obama almost has the nomination in the bag and everyone assumes that it is only a matter of time. Clinton flails wildly, comparing her demand that Florida and Michigan delegates be seated to earlier battles for civil rights. I suspect she is only in it for the money now, since staying in the race until the convention in August is the only way to ensure she has an opportunity to get paid back for the $11 million she personally loaned to her campaign. The latest figure on her total campaign debt--$31 million--boggles the mind. Were she somehow to win the Democratic nomination and become President, she would be incredibly beholden to big money interests who presumably would help her pay down that staggering debt. John McCain will have the same problem, but that's another story.

I sense a great weariness with the primary season and an eagerness to get onto to the fall battle between Obama and McCain (and Bob Barr and maybe Ron Paul--let's wish them luck as the Ralph Naders of the right in 2008). Enough of this already. Let's get to the main event.

Posted by David at 08:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Any doubt that we are in a watershed political year vanished with the sad news earlier this week that Sen. Ted Kennedy has brain cancer. Most doctors say it is incurable and likely will kill him in 1-2 years or less. Kennedy has been in the Senate since 1962, when he was elected at age 30 to the seat vacated two years earlier when his brother, John F. Kennedy, was elected President. It is difficult to imagine the Senate without Kennedy as the champion of liberal causes.

As a practical matter--and few are talking about this yet--if his death occurrs quickly it could return the Senate to Republican control until the November election. The Massachusetts legislature in 2004 enacted a law barring the governor--then Republican Mitt Romney--from appointing a successor to Sen. John Kerry if Kerry was elected President. Instead, the seat would remain vacant until a special election could be held. Kerry lost to George W. Bush, but the law remains on the books. At present, the Senate remains in Democratic control by 51-49 only because "Independent Democrat" Joseph Lieberman caucuses with the Democrats. I don't think anyone can rule out a party switch by the politically traitorous Lieberman, who is reviled by many Democrats and has been mentioned as a possible running mate for McCain to pull older Jews away from Sen. Barack Obama.

Obama almost has the nomination in the bag and everyone assumes that it is only a matter of time. Clinton flails wildly, comparing her demand that Florida and Michigan delegates be seated to earlier battles for civil rights. I suspect she is only in it for the money now, since staying in the race until the convention in August is the only way to ensure she has an opportunity to get paid back for the $11 million she personally loaned to her campaign. The latest figure on her total campaign debt--$31 million--boggles the mind. Were she somehow to win the Democratic nomination and become President, she would be incredibly beholden to big money interests who presumably would help her pay down that staggering debt. John McCain will have the same problem, but that's another story.

I sense a great weariness with the primary season and an eagerness to get onto to the fall battle between Obama and McCain (and Bob Barr and maybe Ron Paul--let's wish them luck as the Ralph Naders of the right in 2008). Enough of this already. Let's get to the main event. Ted Kennedy is a strong Obama supporter, and I hope for many reasons he lives long enough to see Obama in the White House.

Posted by David at 08:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's sad the Pennsylvania Legislature wastes time on nonsense like the "defense of marriage" amendment when the state's public schools had their mediocrity affirmed once again today by the annual Newsweek/Washington Post Challenge Index, which ranks public schools across the country on how much of an academic challenge they present to their students.

It is based on how many students take Advance Placement, International Baccalaurete, or Cambridge exams each year, divided by enrollment and with the school's poverty level thrown in. There are 1,400 PUBLIC schools (no private or parochial) on the list, ranked in order.

A magnet school in Philadelphia ranked 125th, but you have to jump to #304 before you get to a regular Pennsylvania high school, Berwyn. In the midstate, Hershey came in at 1,076 and Lower Dauphin at 1,128. Another doctor town, Danville (Geisinger Medical Center) in Montour County, ranked 1,264. Camp Hill was not on the list. If you go to the Post webpage, you can easily separate out the Pennsylvania schools by searching on PA.

AP and IB aren't the be-all and end-all of high school education, but they are challenging courses that prepare students for the rigors of good colleges. They look good on academic transcripts (provided you get a good grade). It would behoove the Legislature to drop the gay marriage amendment and start concentrating on what it might do to get Pennsylvania public schools scattered among the top 100 of that list in coming years.

Posted by David at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, if Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Central Pennsylvania makes an overtly political statement during Mass that is intended to influence the state Legislature, does that put the diocese's Federal tax exemption at risk?

Interesting question. On Sunday, during a Mass for couples celebrating their 50th wedding anniversaries, Rhoades said he was "saddened" by the California Supreme Court ruling last week legalizing gay marriage in that state. Okay so far--he's just stating an opinion based on the teachings of his church. But here's what he said next, according to the top of page one story in today's Patriot-News:

The bishop hoped the California decision "would be a wake-up call for Pennsylvania. The same kind of thing could happen here if we don't protect marriage by a constitutional amendment."

Message to Legislature: Bishop Rhoades wants you to approve the "defense of marriage" amendment to the state constitution currently tabled in the Senate.

That veers dangerously close to the kind of pulpit politicking that churches receiving an exemption from Federal taxes aren't supposed to engage in. Bishop Rhoades can preach hatred of gays and lesbians from the pulpit till the cows come home, but if he urges specific political action to carry out his beliefs, the IRS could come knocking.

Interestingly, even one of the 50-year couples quoted in the story appeared to favor civil unions for gays "so they could get health insurance." That would possibly be banned by the extreme "defense of marriage" amendment in Pennsylvania.

It's sad the Legislature wastes time on nonsense like this when the state's public schools had their mediocrity affirmed once again today by the annual Newsweek/Washington Post Challenge Index, which ranks public schools across the country on how much of an academic challenge they present to their students. It's based on how many students take Advance Placement, International Baccalaurete, or Cambridge exams each year, divided by enrollment and with the school's poverty level thrown in. There are 1,400 PUBLIC schools on the list, ranked in order.

A magnet school in Philadelphia ranked 125th, but you have to jump to #304 before you get to a regular Pennsylvania high school, Berwyn. In the midstate, Hershey came in at 1,076 and Lower Dauphin at 1,128. Another doctor town, Danville (Geisinger Medical Center) in Montour County, ranked 1,264. Camp Hill was not on the list. If you go to the Post webpage, you can easily separate out the Pennsylvania schools by searching on PA.

AP and IB aren't the be-all and end-all of high school education, but they are challenging courses that prepare students for the rigors of good colleges. They look good on academic transcripts (provided you get a good grade). It would behoove the Legislature to drop the gay marriage amendment and start concentrating on what it might do to get Pennsylvania public schools scattered among the top 100 of that list in coming years.

Posted by David at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I took my wife and daughters to see U.S. Army Heritage Day at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pa. My older daughter didn't want to go, insisting that it would be "boring," that greatest of sins to a teenager. But off we went.

The centerpiece of the Army Heritage Center is the Army Heritage Trail. You can see this anytime the center is open (oddly, it is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., but closed on weekends and federal holidays) but today there were re-enactors from most of the wars in which the United States was involved in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It could be disconcerting. You would emerge from the authentic World War I trenches and encounter soldiers from the Spanish-American War and French and Indian War. Walk on, and you're back in the Revolutionary War. Go further and you do a quick, Time Tunnel-like jump to World War II. Around the next bend a company of Civil War Zouaves prepared to fire off a volley.

I found the World War I trenches to be the most interesting. You read about them for years, but until you see them close up you can't quite understand how awful and claustrophobic they must have been. And of course, we saw them without the mud, blood, and rotting flesh.

Perhaps the best part of the day was when my older daughter confessed that the Army Heritage Trail was "quite interesting" and she was glad she came. I don't have it on tape, but she did say it.

Posted by David at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Former Sen. John Edwards is about to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President. He will appear with Obama in Grand Rapids, Mich., to make the announcement. That means 19 more delegates for Obama.

Posted by David at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The worst excesses and crimes of the Bush Administration take place where they think the public won't see or won't care, and where the President and his cronies can claim the Constitution does not apply.

We have seen this sickness at work in the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, where prisoners, many arrested simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, were tortured repeatedly by American soldiers and other government or contractor personnel with the full knowledge and approval of their superiors. Same at the Guantanamo horror show at our Navy base in Cuba.

Some Americans will brush this aside because the victims of those crimes seem so different from themselves.

But bad things also happen to nice white people who get caught up in the Bush Administration's draconian immigration polices. These policies, fed by public hysteria fanned by the President's rightwing commentator brigade, seem too often enforced by low-ranking Customs and Border Protection personnel who channel the worst of American know-nothingism. Even those who aren't find themselves having to enforce repugnant policies passed down from the rightwing cabal in Washington.

Take the case of Domenico Salerno, 35, of Rome, Italy. The New York Times reports today how Salerno, by all accounts a "very open, fun and helpful guy," fell into a Kafkaesque nightmare on April 29 because an immigration agent thought he intended to stay in America illegally to work. In fact, he traveled back and forth to see his American girlfriend, Caitlin Cooper, who grew up across the road from George Washington's Mt. Vernon estate.

In short, here's what happened: a border agent detained Salerno on arrival, refusing to admit him to the U.S. or let him go back to Rome. They claimed he asked for asylum in the U.S., which Salerno denies. As his Cooper put it, "Who on earth would seek asylum from Italy?" Cooper, who went to Dulles Airport to try to straighten things out. A border agent told her, according to the Times story, that her boyfriend "should try spending a little more time in his own country." Salerno was clapped in shackles and taken to a Virginia jail for the next 10 days. Cooper's family got Sen. John Warner on the case, and hired two former immigration prosecutors to defend him. Even then, it appears that only the interest of the Times in the case forced federal officials to release Salerno.

This is one case involving one man, but it speaks volumes about America's standing in the world. Anyone who lands in America, whether in the airport or standing in front of the White House, should have the full protection of American law and the Constitution. No one gave George W. Bush the right to do otherwise.

Today would have been my German grandfather's 107th birthday. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1924 and became a citizen seven years later. I write this for him.

Posted by David at 06:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Pennsylvania isn't the only state singled out for racism in an article today in the Washington Post about racial incidents involving the Obama campaign. Indiana is, too, but I live in Pennsylvania.

We in the liberal cities of the Keystone State tend to dismiss residual racism, the kind of animosity that can prompt a voter to tell a caller from the Obama campaign, "hang that darky from a tree." I doubt if "darky" was the word used originally. I suspect the campaign worker cleaned it up a bit in telling the story, embarassed to repeat the raw bigotry word for word. But there it was for all to see.

Gov. Rendell back in January said his lopsided re-election victory over black former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann in 2006 was due in part to racism, noting that he received votes in areas that had never voted for Democrats. Rendell later took a lot of heat by saying that some white voters in Pennsylvania would never vote for a black candidate, i.e., Obama. He was closer to the truth than many of us wanted to believe.

Ultimately, racist voters are a small minority. But that they still exist at all is a reproach to both schools and churches.

Posted by David at 05:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What a difference a week makes. Since Sen.Hillary Clinton lost big in the North Carolina primary and won only narrowly in Indiana-possibly aided there by Rush Limbaugh's ditto-heads, who want to mess with Obama--the public mood has turned decisively against her.

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is the latest to say it might be time for her to throw in the towel. It is as if the nation collectively woke up last Wednesday and said, "enough of this." Clinton is in a tough spot financially, having loaned her own campaign $11 million and owing another $14 million or so in unpaid bills from the cost of campaigning.

According to an article from Bloomberg News, a little-known provision in the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law bars a candidate who drops out before the convention from continuing to raise money to retire his or her personal loans to the campaign. They can raise money to pay off campaign debts to printing companies, airlines, and the like, but not money they loaned themselves. Why? Beats me.

The latest rumor is that Clinton is in talks with Obama over his campaign agreeing to pay off most of that if she drops out of the race now. Both sides are denying it, which probably means it is true.

The other issue out there is whether Obama would agree to have Hillary as his running mate. I don't think this is going to happen, and not only because Michelle Obama supposedly can't stand Hillary. Columnist Robert Novak first reported that story. Obama himself issued a non-denial denial, saying only that his wife "does not talk to Bob Novak on a regular basis." I don't think this is going to happen.

I remember back in 1976, when Ronald Reagan was challenging President Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination for President at the Republican convention. A rumor started making the rounds that Ford might agree to go back to being vice president--under Reagan. One television commentator--I can't remember now which one--speculated this might be the "dream ticket." Commentator James J. Kilpatrick (he of 'Point/Counterpoint' on '60 Minutes,' and the satirical, "Jane, you ignorant slut" on Saturday Night Live) huffed in response that it would in fact be "the nightmare ticket." For a variety of reasons.

And that's pretty much my thinking on an Obama/Clinton ticket. They would never get along or trust each other. Vice presidents who aren't enthusiastic partners (see, Lloyd Bentsen, Michael Dukakis' running mate in 1988) can be a drag on the ticket. And what about Bill?

Posted by David at 05:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Barack Obama did better than I expected in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries yesterday, winning the former decisively and losing the latter to Hillary Clinton by just 22,000 votes. But it feels more like a victory by an exhausted competitor carried over the line by momentum than a breakaway sprint toward the finish line. It reminds me of the story about the first marathon runner in ancient Greece, who ran 26 miles to bring the news of victory. He gasped out, "Rejoice! We conquer!"--and then dropped dead.

Perhaps I'm being too pessimistic, but I believe Obama is still carrying the heavy weight of Rev. Wright on his back as he runs. Exit polls in Indiana found it was a significant issue among Hillary voters.

I agree with the Times reporter that many Hillary voters will return to the fold and vote for Obama in November if he gets the nomination. It will require some effort on his part. Just as Hillary has tried with some success to get past the reservations white men have about her, so must Obama find a way to make voters--some of whom are clearly uncomfortable voting for a black candidate--comfortable with him. While it's too late to put Rev. Wright into some political version of the extraordinary rendition program, Obama needs to lay down the law to his former pastor and remind him forcefully of the stakes involved. Wright needs to take a seven-month vacation to somewhere far, far away.

And lets not forget that John McCain appears ready, willing, and able to become the next George W. Bush. Yesterday at Wake Forest University he promised to appoint more Supreme Court justices like the rightwing ideologues Samuel Alito and John Roberts. The Bush millstone should be enough to get any Democrat elected this year. The Democrats have barely scratched the surface of McCain's past, and Obama will have the money to make sure voters know who their Republican candidate really is.

My big worry is that Bush will launch an October surprise--perhaps an attack on Iran--to make some voters move to McCain out of fear.

Posted by David at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Anyone who is laboring under the illusion that Sen. John McCain would be a different, better sort of President than George W. Bush should read this story from Reuters about a speech the Arizona president plans to deliver today in North Carolina.

McCain plans to say he will pick the same kind of judges for the U.S. Supreme Court as the hard right ideologues that Bush put on the high court, where they will keep his sickness alive for the next 20-30 years.

"I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late Wiliam Rehnquist--jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference," McCain says in the speech.

More of the same. A continuation of the worst of George W. Bush. You can't say you haven't been warned.

Posted by David at 06:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It is a strange experience to see yourself on the big screen, larger than life, talking about some topic on which you are an expert. In my case, that would be the mine fire that has been burning near or under Centralia, Pa., since 1962. It is one thing to see yourself on TV, on the little screen, but another thing entirely to see yourself in giant size in a darkened theater with hundreds of people hanging on your every word.

I had that experience Saturday night in Pottsville, Pa., during a screening of "The Town That Was," a feature-length documentary about the Centralia mine fire. I wrote a book, Unseen Danger, about the mine fire, and I appear or am heard a dozen times in the documentary. Pottsville is 18 miles southeast of Centralia along Route 61, and this was the first screening of "The Town That Was" within easy driving distance of where the bulk of Centralia residents went to live after the mass relocation of the 1980s. The film played at the Philadelphia Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Festival last year, but hasn't to date gotten a broadcast deal, which is a shame.

I drove up to Pottsville with my younger daughter, Lydia. The Sovereign Majestic Theater, where the screening would be held, had been a silent film palace until 1930, then spent the next 70 or so years as a farmers market. Earlier in the current decade, the city fathers of Pottsville converted it back to an arts center. It holds about 225 people, and most of the seats were taken. Tickets were $5. I was curious who would come to see it. Many of the people who walked in were older, but there was a fair number of young couples, even a few who appeared to be there on dates. Maybe they thought it would be like "Silent Hill," the horror film loosely, very loosely based on Centralia. Or not.

"The Town That Was" centers on John Lokitis, Jr., the youngest of the dozen or so people who refuse to leave Centralia. Lokitis, now in his late 30s, lives alone in his grandparents' former home and tries to keep what's left of the town alive. He mows some of the lawns, puts up the municipal Christmas decorations, and briefly was Centralia's mayor. He inspires both respect and derision among people who see the film. But the film is more than just about Lokitis--viewers learn the history of the mine fire (Cliff Notes version) and see what Centralia used to look like. Some of my photographs of Centralia in its final years were used in the film, but what's great are the Super 8 home movies the directors were able to dig out of the attics of former Centralia residents.

I was there anonymously, and didn't know if anyone would recognize me as we left. Lydia and I walked out and people were standing in front of the theater, still talking about what they had seen. We walked up to the Greystone Restaurant, but it was packed and so we walked back. I saw people looking at me funny, and we heard them whisper, "That's him, he was in the movie." This is not an experience I ever expected to have. A young guy came up and addressed me by name. He told me he had read my book and was a big fan. An old guy was right behind him, shaking my hand for a long time and explaining that he had grown up in Centralia but left in 1942, no doubt for the war. Eighty years-old now, he was grateful the film had been made. "I never thought I would live to see something like this," he said.

Moments like this help make up for all the crap any writer goes through.

Posted by David at 08:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)