Roy Exum
About six months ago I wrote a story about a brave little girl who wanted to do it “my way.” It focused on precious five-year-old, Julianna Snow, who so dreaded the intense deep-lung suction treatments for her fatal neuromuscular disease she wanted to choose “heaven over the hospital.”
Her parents complied with her wishes and earlier this week Julianna passed away at her home in Portland, Ore. Her mom, a neurologist, and her dad, an Air Force fighter pilot, were beside her as Hospice experts allowed her last wish to come true: to die without medical interventions.
Her case caught America by storm, many praising her parents for their compassion while others castigated the family, saying no five-year-old is emotionally equipped to make such a decision. It hardly mattered because the disease was fierce and was terminal. “She got sick very suddenly and it was back to the same battle of helping her breathe. This time she didn’t bounce back … and was gone within 24 hours,” her mother said.
“We had everything we needed to make her comfortable. She died at home in her princess room and in my arms. I don’t know that she would have wanted it any other way.”
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This week’s “Father of the Year” is Allen Geiger of Jacksonville, Fla. He bought his son a 1998 Ford Explorer on Craigslist so the 18-year-old could get back and forth from his job but … whoa, all of a sudden Allen Jr. missed work a couple of times with a “rash” when actually, according to his dad, the boy was “driving around smoking dope with his friends.”
Not only that but Allen Jr. was “acting all thug and especially not showing me and my wife the respect that we deserve.”
So the father grabbed the keys and put the steel-blue Explorer back on Craigslist with an extra incentive. “If the buyer lives in the Westwood area I’ll discount it $250 so my son sees it every now and then and realizes how good he had it.”
Well, the ad has gone viral and the whole world knows Allen Jr. lost his wheels. Now the kid says his perspective has changed dramatically. “I’m just kind of a hard head, and it really never clicked in until now. The way I feel about my dad … me and him – we’ve always had a good relationship, a good connection.”
And Allen Sr., after serving up such a life lesson, told the Florida Times-Union, “I love him to death … this will work out.”
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The world blanched when a rapist at Stanford University got a six-month sentence but in Texas they have a different kind of justice. A Houston man, 56-year-old Donald Middleton, was caught driving drunk – get this – for the ninth straight time. As officers chased him down, he fled into a convenience store and pleaded for the clerks to let him hide. After all, he’s already done four spells in the lock-up for drunk driving.
So the judge, prosecutors and the public defender agreed Middleton was a habitual criminal and he was sentenced to life in prison. That’s a tough way to give up the car keys, much less those to the jail cell.
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It was also in Texas where a sheriff confronted a man who was dumping garbage in a large drainage ditch. The sheriff demanded to know what in the heck the man was thinking. Without saying one word, our hero pointed to a large sign that read, “Fine for Dumping Garbage.”
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Down in Scottsboro they are telling the story about four friends who went deer hunting last fall. They split up in two pairs and were to meet back at the campsite by dusk. But it was almost dark when two of them finally saw a third man returning, heavy-laden as he carried an eight-point buck.
“Where’s Henry,” one man asked and the single man replied, “He’s had a heart attack or a stroke of some kind. He’s about two miles away on the right side of the trail.”
“You fool! You mean you are telling us you carried this deer back ‘stead of Henry?”
“Yeah I am … figured nobody would steal Henry before we got back to him.”
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Mahmoud ElAwadi is a Muslim who lives in Orlando. Last Sunday he was fasting in the holy week of Ramadan when he heard about the attack on the night club that claimed 50 lives. He immediately raced to a blood donor station and convinced them he would be okay without any food or drink. He was fasting due to his religion but he was donating blood due to his country.
“Yes, I am sad, frustrated and mad that a crazy guy claiming to be a Muslim did this shameful act. Our community in central Florida is heart-broken but let’s put our colors, religions, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political views aside so we can unite against those who are trying to hurt us.”
Muslim women and children helped deliver food and water to those waiting to donate blood and Mahmoud said he was deeply moved as veterans groups arrived in groups to donate. “Together we will stand against hate, terrorism, extremism and racism,” he promised.
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As July 1 nears, when wine can be sold in super markets in Tennessee, you may be interested to know the “world’s largest and most influential wine competition” just crowned La Moneda Reserva Malbec as the over-all winner. It beat out 16,000 other entries for its “beautifully executed” taste and the fact it is a real crowd pleaser, according to the newspaper, Independent.
And where does one find this precious champion? You go to Asda, the British equivalent of Walmart, where a screw-top bottle goes for $6.29. That’s what I am talking about!
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