Keekee Speaks

We have had a bit of snow here and there this winter but the news is calling for up to 8 inches of snow tonight.  I can’t believe they’re calling for that much snow.  We haven’t gotten that much snow in more years than I can remember.  In fact, I think the last time we got more than 3 inches of snow was about 5 years ago if not more.

I love to watch snow fall, I love to see it undisturbed on the ground but once it has footprints in it and is dirty looking, I want it gone!!  Well it looks dirty now so it needs to go away.  The problem is the temperature is too low for it to do much melting.  The kids don’t have school tomorrow and it looks like if the temperature doesn’t rise more than expected, then they might not have school on Tuesday either.  They have to make up those days too.  Unfortunately, that might involve taking some of their spring break.  I sure hope not because I know a lot of parents already have reservations for that.

In fact, I know of a couple of people right here in our office that have booked cruises for that week.  With people not traveling much, you can find some great deals now on cruises.  In fact, I think I’ll check into one for myself.  I deserve a break too!!

It’s hard to imagine anyone killing a pregnant woman but an 11 year old boy, that is beyond reality to me.  Unfortunately  that seems to be the case in a small town outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  When I first heard about this tragedy, I thought there had to be a mistake in the age of the person who is accused of committing this execution style murder of a young pregnant woman and her unborn son.  She was 8 months pregnant with this 11 year old boys half brother.

PITTSBURGH – A jail warden said Sunday he will ask a judge to move an 11-year-old boy accused of killing his father’s pregnant girlfriend from an adult lockup to a juvenile detention center because the jail cannot accommodate the boy. Lawrence County Warden Charles Adamo said his 300-inmate jail cannot offer proper long-term care for Jordan Brown, of Wampum, who was charged Saturday with using his own 20-gauge shotgun to kill 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk.

Houk was eight months pregnant with the child of Brown’s father and also had two daughters, ages 4 and 7, who lived together in the rural home where authorities said she was slain as she lay in bed Friday. Police said the boy then hopped onto a school bus with Houk’s oldest daughter. State troopers apprehended him at school after tree trimmers called 911 when Houk’s youngest daughter told them she thought her mother was dead.

The boy has been held in a jail about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh since early Saturday, Adamo said. Brown faces a preliminary hearing on Thursday to determine if he’ll stand trial. He was charged as an adult because Pennsylvania law allows prosecutors to charge children as young as 10 with criminal homicide.

Brown’s attorney, Dennis Elisco, said he planned to file motions on Monday asking a judge to move the case to juvenile court and to let the boy’s father post bail so the boy can be freed. “I want him to be occupied and busy and back, essentially, in school,” Elisco said.

Adamo said the boy was being held in one of four 10-by-8-foot cells in the jail’s booking area, where officials check on him every 15 minutes. He said the boy cannot receive visitors – except for his attorney – because doing so would require him to mingle with adult inmates. Even something as simple as letting the boy shower would require locking down a cell block, most of which hold up to 63 inmates, Adamo said.

Elisco said jail officials couldn’t even find clothes to fit the 4-foot-8-inch boy. “They put a shirt on him; he’s swimming in it, and his pants are cuffed up about 10 times,” he said.

I’m sure that this story will be all over the news but in this case, I’m not so sure that’s the proper thing to do.  This family has suffered a great deal already and then to have to go through the media would probably be more than this family could handle, especially the boys father.  He has lost his fiance, his unborn son, and his oldest son is now in an adult jail charged with this crime.  My heart goes out to the whole family!!

If this child did do this horrific crime, then there should have been some warning signs that someone should have been aware of, or you would think there would have been anyway.  I don’t think holding him in a jail with adults is where he belongs either.  He should be in a juvenile detention center no matter how horrific the crime he is accused of, he’s still a child of only 11 years of age but that is my opinion and the law doesn’t always agree with my opinions.

Sports sometimes get a raw deal with the parents and coaches pushing young children so hard but this is one story that makes me proud.  Here is a perfect example of what ‘good sportsmanship’ truly is.  It’s not about who wins or who loses in the end.  It’s more about how you play the game or is supposed to be in my opinion and obviously in the opinion of the rival teams coach in this case.

I think this team and this coach deserve a great deal of applause and several pats on the back too, unfortunately more than will probably get.  I just happen to come across this article and wanted to make sure that more people knew about this so here’s part of what I read:

The coach never considered any other option. It didn’t matter that his DeKalb, Ill., High School basketball team had ridden a bus two and a half hours to get to Milwaukee, then waited another hour past game time to play. Didn’t matter that the game was close, or that this was a chance to beat a big city team.

Something else was on Dave Rohlman’s mind when he asked for a volunteer to shoot two free throws awarded his team on a technical foul in the second quarter. His senior captain raised his hand, ready to go to the line as he had many times before. Only this time it was different. “You realize you’re going to miss them, don’t you?” Rohlman said. Darius McNeal nodded his head. He understood what had to be done.

Hours earlier, the mother of Milwaukee Madison senior captain Johntel Franklin died at a local hospital. Carlitha Franklin had been in remission after a five-year fight with cervical cancer, but she began to hemorrhage that morning while Johntel was taking his college ACT exam.

Her son and several of his teammates were at the hospital late that afternoon when the decision was made to turn off the life-support system. Carlitha Franklin was just 39. “She was young and they were real close,” said Milwaukee coach Aaron Womack Jr., who was at the hospital. “He was very distraught and it happened so suddenly he didn’t have time to grieve.”

Womack was going to cancel the game, but Franklin told him he wanted the team to play. And play they did, even though the game started late and Milwaukee Madison dressed only eight players.

Early in the second quarter, Womack saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was Franklin, who came there directly from the hospital to root his teammates on. The Knights had possession, so Womack called a time out. His players went over and hugged their grieving teammate. Fans came out of the stands to do the same.

“We got back to playing the game and I asked if he wanted to come and sit on the bench,” Womack said during a telephone interview. “No,” Franklin replied. “I want to play.” There was just one problem. Since Franklin wasn’t on the pre-game roster, putting him in meant drawing a technical foul that would give DeKalb two free throws.
Though it was a tight game, Womack was willing to give up the two points. It was more important to help his senior guard and co-captain deal with his grief by playing.

Over on the other bench, though, Rohlman wasn’t so willing to take them. He told the referees to forget the technical and just let Franklin play. “I could hear them arguing for five to seven minutes, saying, `We’re not taking it, we’re not taking it,” Womack said. “The refs told them, no, that’s the rule. You have to take them.”
That’s when Rohlman asked for volunteers, and McNeal’s hand went up.

At this point in this story, I found myself sitting at my computer crying at the horrific loss this young man had just faced and then returned to play this sport and the courage it took for not only him but for his team to play that evening.  Please, please go to highschool.rivals.com and read the rest of this story.  The coaches, both teams and especially this young man deserve to be recognized for their wonderful show of sportsmanship and compassion for a fellow sportsman.  My thoughts are with the brave young man who lost his mother.  God be with you!!

This is the end of the list.  Please try and find the parts of these lists that you feel will help you have a better year and write them down somewhere you can see them everyday.  If you read them everyday, they become a part of you and then can help 2009 be a better year but if not, they’re just words on a piece of paper.

26. Forgive everyone for everything.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. Study something new.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

31. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

33. The best is yet to come.

34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

35. Do the right thing!

36. Call your family often. (Or email them to death!)

37. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don’t want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

40. Share this list with someone you think it might help have a better year or life too if you feel it has or will help you.  That’s what life is all about after all, helping others.

Here are more of the things I try to live by everyday.  I hope they help you as much as they have helped me.

11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk.

14. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, or issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the NEGATIVE BLUES away.

18. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

20. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

21. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

22. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

23. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’