While not racing related I feel compelled to share these two stories with you and ask for your prayers for both of these young families.

On Monday night a young Oneida County Sheriffs Deputy Kurt Wyman was called to a domestic dispute with his fellow deputies, sadly after a long stand off Deputy Wyman was shoot and killed by the man that was holding his wife hostage when this standoff started. Deputy Wyman was wearing a protective vest however was shoot in the neck and lost his life protecting the community he lived in. When Deputy Wyman's wife was notified of his death she went into labor and delivered their second child. a baby girl just a few hours after his death. In a brief moment this young mother was left with an 18 month old son and brand new baby girl to raise.

This week another yong mother in Liverpool, N. Y. was being notified that her husband Brad Gaudet who had been home a month earlier for the birth of their baby girl had been killed in Afganistan.

Along with your parayers for each of these families, I also ask you to take the time to thank our military men and women whenever you encounter them for serving, for protecting our freedom and our country. Also thank your local law enforcement and firemen for putting their lives on the line everytime they go to wok.

Mudpacker/Mike's list of computer jockeys complaints under the Midget week "live" thread compelled me to share these two stories with you, not only were these two families lives changed forever in a split second so have the countless others in our country who's lives have forever been impacted by the tornadoes that have effected so much of our country this year.

I have the greatest respect for Mike and hope someday to meet him and Racing Babe. An to the whining and complaining computer jockeys Mike described I invite you to think of these two families and the countless others that have lost their homes, transportation and in many cases their jobs because of "Mother Nature" this year when you feel like complaining about racing. You should find you have nothing to complain about at all!!!!!

Patti

Patti; First and foremost, those two families will be in our prayers. Thank you for your comments about complainers. Everyday that I wake up and my family is healthy and we have a roof over our head and food on our table I know I'm blessed. If any thing good happens the rest of the day, that's just a bonus. In my career as a firefighter I've seen much death and destruction up close. Every day the news is filled with one tragedy after another. That's why I have zero tollerence for habitual complainers and whinners. I guess I should feel sorry for them though. It must be afwul to go through life not knowing how good you've got it. The next time somebody gripes about a dusty track or a lengthy street stock race, I hope they don't expect any sympathy from me.

They will be in our prayers too!

Patti,

Thanks for sharing. I had read an article about Deputy Wyman on the internet. These two families lives will be changed forever. My thoughts and prayers go out to them. We have so much to be thankful for and yet at times we seem to forget how great we have it.

PJ to you and all of the firefighters, police, military, thank you for putting your life on the line everyday for us.

P. J., thank you for serving your community. Stay safe!

Patti

We will be happy to add them to our prayer list. I don't want to highjack this thread, but there are a lot of people on the Missouri river that need our prayers too. Because of a massive snow pack and Spring rains they are releasing huge amounts of water from the Dams on the river, flooding many towns from now through August. They won't complain or ask where is their money, they will just get busy and do what needs to be done. They could use our prayers though, as many businesses will have no money coming in this summer. I came from one of these communities (Pierre, SD) and they don't have much to start with, and are too proud and independent to ask someone else.