Steven Alexander's Impact Statement

Listening to the impact statements of Travis' brother and sister today was heart wrenching.  I would like to share with you the transcripts of their impact statements beginning with Travis' brother Steven.

Steven Alexander: My name is Steven Alexander. Travis was my big brother. I was sleeping in after working a 12-hour graveyard shift in the Amy. I woke up to the sound of my wife crying walking up the stairs. I will never forget what she said. “Samantha, I cannot tell him, you have to.” My wife handed the phone to me. It was my sister, Samantha. She was crying hysterically. She told me, “Steven, Travis is dead!” I thought I was dreaming. She didn't really have any details at the time, so I just gave the phone back to my wife. A few moments later we found out he was killed. I remember walking out the back door screaming, crying at the sky, asking why, and I sank down into a corner and I cried some more.

Awhile later, my commander called with the same news. I kept my composure, but in my head I was reliving the same exact moment all over again. As soon as we hung up, I broke down again. I thought my brother was bullet proof. I thought he was stronger than anything. He couldn't be cut down or knocked down. He was in two motorcycle crashes and walked away unharmed. He wrecked several cars and nothing happened to him. He rolled a snowmobile, and again, not a scratch. He was unbreakable.

Who on earth would want to do this to him? For what reasons? He wanted to move forward in life, to better himself, and only to help others. Why him? Unfortunately, I won’t ever get the answers to most of my questions about my brother’s death. Questions like, how much did he suffer? How much did he scream? What was he saying? What was the last thing he saw before his eyes closed? What was his final thought?

The last time I saw my brother was Christmas of 2007. We had a really good time. A lot of our family was there. We played a bunch of family games. One in particular was the American Idol game. Travis kept beating everybody. The only way I could actually beat him was by singing a Kelly Clarkson in a girl voice so I could hit all the notes.

Juan: If I could show Exhibit 656.

Steven : We had nicknames for each other – Stevis and Travid, so he said, “Stevis, it doesn't count because it’s a girl song.” I tend to disagree with him.

He got to meet my daughter and hold her for the first time. He said she was the most beautiful little girl he has even seen. I never would have thought that would be the last time I would see him.

The nature of my brother’s murder has had a major impact on me. It has even invaded my dreams. I have nightmares about somebody coming at me with a knife and then going after my wife and my daughter. When I wake up, I cannot establish what is real and what is a dream. I've even gone through the house searching through rooms, shaking my family to wake them up to make sure that they are alive.  My wife has woken me up out of nightmares because I was screaming in my sleep. It may sound childish, but I cannot sleep alone in the dark anymore.

I've had dreams of my brother, all curled up in the shower, thrown in there, left to rot for days, all alone.

I don’t want these nightmares anymore. I don’t want to have to see my brother’s murderer any more. I don’t want to hear his name dragged through the mud anymore.

I've been hospitalized several times for ulcers and came very near to death. I've been on several different anti-depressants. Unfortunately, none of them really worked. I wasn't able to be the husband my wife deserved. I distanced myself from everybody. My wife and I, we ultimately separated two years ago, and it was for a period of two times. My poor little girl had to be passed back and forth every week, and now, yet again, I have to be away from my wife and my child. It has been over four months now. I go home to California during the weekends. Every time I have to come back to Arizona I see my little girl crying and beg me not to go. I miss them very much and I cannot wait for this to end so that we can all get back to our lives.

Travis used to write out his day on a flashcard. The last one he wrote said: Call Steven. I never got that call. He had been concerned about my health and wanted to fly me to his house and help me quit smoking. I never got to go. Now when I want to talk or see my brother, I have to go to a 3 ½ foot x 8 foot long x 6 foot deep hole in the ground.

He was meant to do so much more. He never got to live his dreams. He never got to meet his goals. In 2008 he wrote his affirmations on his Blog.

“This year will be the best year of my life. This is the year that will eclipse all others. I will earn more, learn more, travel more, serve more, love more, give more, and be more than all the other years in my life combined. True, other years now past have been at times magnificent, but not like this. This is a year of metamorphosis, of growth and accomplishment that at previous times was unimaginable. A year where the impossible will become commonplace and the unachievable will become effortless achieved, where I raise myself to heights only visited by the great men and women of this world and by so doing, this year will be the best year of my life. And how will I do this -- through compassionate service, random acts of kindness, unconditional love, and acknowledgement of the true source of all blessings with gratitude in my heart. And when I fail, I will learn from my mistakes. I will strengthen my resolve, be better than I was before. What will I do to improve my finances? I will work harder, yes, but more importantly, I will work smarter and learn to leverage myself and get more out of one day than I previously got out of a month.

I will succeed through integrity and through selfless service of others through the powerful forces and the structure of the mind I will tap into the source of infinite intelligence and be more efficient in all my endeavors and be an exponentially greater asset to this world. I will love, and then love more. I will serve and serve more. I will forgive and then forgive more. I will not let these thoughts fade but instead remind myself of them daily and spend time visualizing myself in accomplishment of them until the day that my thoughts become reality. Then I will not stop but press forward, to new goals and new heights in my quest to change this world. I will be a published author and effortlessly doing so what I was meant to do to better my life and the lives of others. I will associate with more successfully minded people to be a teacher as well as a student. I will travel this great country and this great planet gaining rich experiences founded by very few. I will find an eternal companion… (long pause) that enhances me exponentially and countless other goals that at one point I dared not even dream. 2008 will be the best year of my life, which will lay the foreground for 2009, to dwarf the accomplishments of 2008. This year will be the best year of my life, and I will succeed.”

I know Travis only hoped to change one life. He never would have thought he could change the world. People across the globe have been influenced by him. Travis believed every single one of us was created to be successful. We all have different trials. We just have to get there. Travis has a legacy. It is up to us to make sure it survives. You were born to be great. It is your destiny. “The difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is the character of the individual walking the path.” Travis coined that philosophy. Those are Travis’s words. That is the way my brother lived his life. That is the way he wanted to continue to live. That is how he wanted us to live. He will never get to today, because he was so brutally ripped out of this world – my world. Hopefully, one day I can make him proud. Thank you.

Samantha's Impact Statement

My name is Samantha Alexander. I am one of Travis’s younger sisters. There are 8 siblings, 4 boys, 4 girls, and this tragedy has forever changed our lives. I’m going to do the best to speak on behalf of my family, my family that has been tortured by the loss of our beloved brother and family member. From a family of 8 siblings, we have always been there for each other through the good times and the bad. We lost our father on Travis’s 28th birthday and our mother shortly after, and through this trying time in our lives, Travis was the one that got us through the pain and the hardship, because he was our strength.

Juan: Exhibit 659.

Samantha:
This is a picture of my grandmother. She is the one that raised Travis. My grandmother could not deal with loss, could not handle the reality of what happened. Travis being taken from us has put her over the edge, and her health eventually went into a downward spiral she never recovered from. Losing Travis has completely destroyed the overall health of our family. We lived a blessed life with our grandmother, and it was with insurmountable pain when our grandmother died shortly before jury selection of this trial.

Travis was our strength, our constant beacon of hope, our motivation. His presence has been ripped from our lives. His giving spirit, his determination for accomplishment, and his endless strength, as a foundation of our family has been taken from us and never can be replaced.

Something that we have all missed and will live the rest of our lives missing, are our times together, especially during the holidays. Travis always gave us motivational books, books which were about saving the planet, 1,000 Places to See Before you Die. It is sickening to think that he motivated us with topics he will never be allowed to live out. It’s not just the holidays (SA steps away from the podium – gets a tissue), but every day will never be the same. Our lives will never ever be the same.

Travis worked hard for everything he had. He never had any handouts. He never took anything for granted. Travis was not shy. He was full of life. If he were able to walk in this room you would immediately feel his love and warmth. Travis would cry with you, he would laugh with you, and he would joke with you, always lifting your spirits. Travis’s greatest attributes were his ability to make others feel appreciated, accepted and loved because he genuinely cared about making those around him feel good about themselves. His mission in Colorado is a testament to this, as was volunteering to help the homeless by driving around in his Toyota Prius, with our sister Tanisha, handing out care packages to the less fortunate, providing essential hygiene products, food items and a personalized message that he wrote on the brown paper bag that held his life. He wrote, “The difference between a stumbling clock and a stepping stone is the character of the individual walking the path.”

You see, Travis wasn’t anything but a loving brother, son, grandson and friend. He was our strength and our motivation to make our lives better than the ones we were born into. This is exactly why Travis was such an accomplished motivational speaker. It saddens and sickens us all that his potential was cut short, and our family, and the world, will never receive the full benefit of his goodness.

Towards the end of May 2008, just a couple weeks before Travis was killed, he came to visit me at my house in southern California. He was so excited to let me read his intro to the book he was writing, the motivational book titled, Raising You.

Travis & I got into a deep conversation about our lives, our crazy childhood, and our cockroach phobia. We both agreed no matter how miserable our lives were at times, our childhood is what made us who we are. Our childhood made us strong and able to conquer anything. This was the last time I saw Travis.

Juan:: Exhibit #660

SA: He talked me into taking this picture even though I was in PJ’s. It makes me cry every time I look at it. I’m so glad he talked me into taking this picture. I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

Recalling the moment that I found out about my brother, my brother’s death, I think of my ears ringing, my stomach burning and this idea that this can’t possibly be happening.

On the morning of June 10th, 2008, I was on a river trip in Parker, Arizona. We were getting ready to take the boat out. I checked my voice mail before we went out for the day. There was a message from my grandmother. My heart sank into my stomach. She said, “Samantha, you need to call me back, it’s very important.” I could tell that she was crying, and I recognized her tone of voice from before. I knew that someone was dead. I called my grandma’s house and my sister, Tanisha, answered the phone. She screamed at me. She said, “Samantha, Travis is dead!” I could barely breathe out the words, “What happened to him?” She told me that no one knew, and the police didn’t provide any details.

To this day my mind paints a picture of the night Travis was taken. Even though I try not to let it, upon standing in the same exact spot where this horrific tragedy happened, when we had to go to Travis’s house after the investigators were done, I felt the same sickening feeling, my ears ringing, burning stomach, my eyes were filled with tears where I could barely see – the thoughts of what Travis must have went through that day, the pain, the agony, the screams and fear that Travis must have felt when he was brutally being taken.

We have been at this trial every day since it started. We have heard every detail about the crime and the injuries Travis suffered. I am a police officer, and some of these photos are more gruesome than I’ve ever seen in my 11 years in law enforcement. Our minds are currently stained with images of our poor brother’s throat slit from ear to ear. Our minds are stained with the image of Travis’s body slumped dead in the shower.

Our family has bore the burden of extreme loss and financial hardship to be here to see that Travis is not forgotten and to ensure that his life was not lost in vain, from being away from our sons, our daughters, nieces and nephews, stepping down from opportunities in the workplace, to suffering from anxiety and severe depression, the crying, like my grandmother, to submit to anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication. Travis was the only family member that lived in Arizona, making it very difficult for us to be here. We have paid the ultimate price losing g Travis. Each and every one of us has looked to Travis for support and words of guidance during times like this. None of us ever thought that he wouldn't be here when we needed him the most.

To think some one so loving, so caring, so giving, could be taken from us, given the already tragic lives we have lived, but to have Travis taken so barbarically is beyond any words we can find to describe our horrific loss.

I cannot adequately express how much we will miss our brother. We will miss his contagious laughter, his singing voice mails, his jokes, his funny dances, his help in hard situations, his guidance when we were lost, his motivation, his insight, his huge smile,

Juan: Exhibit 661

Samantha:  him being there on the holidays. Travis was the glue in our family. Our family has not been together since Travis has been gone. It’s simply too hard to think of that one empty chair. We miss his charisma, his goal to make someone feel good about themselves and to make someone smile, no matter who they are or what they look like. Travis had an incredible heart. He had a huge heart. It was this huge heart and his kindness that will forever be missed. We were robbed of so any good memories, so many awesome moments with Travis. Our lives will never be the same. We can never get him back. We are so grateful for our wonderful brother and we feel so lucky and blessed for the time we had with Travis however short lived. We would give anything to have him back. Anything! Thank you.

No Justice For Missing American Women In Aruba

Almost ten years ago my husband and I went to Aruba. I had won the trip and we had an amazing time. The people there were so warm and friendly that we had opined moving there one day.

Just one short year later we learned of the disappearance of Natalee Hollaway who was there on a Senior Class trip. Americans had been shocked as they watched Aruban justice play out with no justice for Natalee. It suprised few people when Joran van der Sloot eventually went on to be arrested for murdering a young woman in Peru.

Now it's as though history is repeating itself with the release of U.S. businessman Gary Giordano, who was detained in connection with the August death of his traveling companion, Robyn Gardner.

It has been three months since Maryland woman Robyn Gardner went missing in Aruba. Prosecutors admitted that they had no body, no murder weapon and no solid motive. But over the past few months, they believed they had accumulated enough circumstantial evidence to keep him jailed for a while.

By the way, Gary Giordano’s lawyer, is none other than Jose Baez. YES THAT Jose Baez.

You see while the $1.5 million travel insurance policy that Giordano had purchased for Gardner the day before they left for Aruba might trouble most people Baez want us to realize who the victim is, HIS CLIENT. For some reason I seem to remember another client of Baez who was also a victim.

Baez says that "It's unfortunate what's happening to him and it angers me, which is why I got involved." Thank goodness Baez. Thank goodness.

“It doesn’t even pass the laugh test,” Baez said today on “Good Morning America.” “You’re going to say a person goes to an island he has never been to before and doesn’t leave a trace of a crime. I don’t buy it. I don’t buy it.” Baez told ABC News that Giordano would be freed Tuesday night at 8 PM and may be home as early as Wednesday.

Aruba is a nation that depends on tourism and this latest missing woman case certainly can't be a big tourist draw.

Farmville Murder

Alexandra V. Tobias pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the murder of her son.

Tobias told investigators that she shook the baby, smoked a cigarette to compose herself and then shook him again. She said the baby may have hit his head during the shaking.”

She will be sentenced in December. State guidelines call for 25 to 50 years, but a prosecutor said it could be shorter than that

Investigators say she was angered because her three month old son was crying while she was playing the game FarmVille. The baby died at the hospital from head trauma.

I mean I just don't get it. Really. I get requests for Farmville games and people giving me things from Farmville but I just ignore them and pretend I don't know what the heck it is.

When I think of things that signify "I have NO LIFE WHATSOEVER" I think of Farmville. FarmVille is a real-time farm simulation. That's right a FARM simulation. What's the matter Dancing With The Stars or Sixteen And Pregnant not on?

I'm shocked by this story but I suppose I shouldn't be. People become addicted to games as if they were heroin. We've created a society of digital dependence, and now we're reaping what we've sown.

The Economy Claims four More Lives

A home-improvement worker and school janitor who apparently was struggling to survive the recession killed his sleeping wife and two children before turning the 12-gauge shotgun on himself, Maryland State Police said Saturday.

It is possible that financial difficulties were part of the motive.

Police announced the findings one day after the bodies of Dalton, his wife Jennifer, 37, and their children Charles Jr., 14, and Emmaline, 7, were found in their home in Mount Airy. Mt Airy is a Fredrick County town of 8,800 about 30 miles west of Baltimore.

The bodies of Jennifer Dalton and the children were found in their beds. Charles Dalton's body was lying in the master bedroom next to the bed.

Dalton also fatally shot the family's beagle in a crate inside the home's front door, he said.

Investigators believe the deaths occurred Thursday night or Friday morning. Shipley said Jennifer Dalton failed to report to her part-time job at a veterinary hospital in Damascus, prompting co-workers to try to contact her starting at 8:30 a.m. Friday. No one answered their calls or came to the door.

family friend called 911 at about 5:30 p.m. Friday after spotting a body through a rear window of the split-level house, Shipley said.

Charles Dalton was a self-employed cabinet installer who ran his business, Imagine Millwork, out of his home. He also worked the night shift as a maintenance worker for Montgomery County schools, Shipley said.

The house, on a corner lot in a modest, middle-class neighborhood, had a "for sale" sign out front. It had been on the market for at least a year, neighbors said.

How many more lives will this economy take?

One Of My Birdies Died Today

Every morning I get my video camera out and take a video of my birdies from a safe distance using the zoom on the camera. When I first noticed the nest I saw that there were four eggs. Then days later I noticed that there were three birds.

I've been documenting their life every day since I noticed they have hatched, now I realize that one of them has died. We found him lying on the ground beneath the nest. He must have been there for a little while because he already had mites crawling into his chest and his heart was exposed out of his chest.

I checked Alexa today and it shows I'm ranked 3,323,807. I guess like George and Weezy I'm movin' on up. Still it's slow progress. I picked up another couple of subscribers. It's interesting to watch this thing grow. If only I lived such a fabulous life that others would follow this site.

This morning was a busy day with grocery shopping, tending to the garden, and entering the end of the month sweeps. Darryl often says I'm listening to TV rather than watching it. That might be a little true. I watch but I'm also entering sweeps. Yesterday was a busy sweep day because it was an end of the month day. So while I "watched" Dallas, I entered content on ThriftyMaven and entered contests.

Then Darryl asked me, "Tiller got shot?" "Tiller?" I answered. Almost as soon as I asked the question I recognized the name. In the past he has been identified as one of the only doctors who perform late term abortions in the United States. Some media markets have labeled him as "Tiller the Baby Killer."

"Shot?" I asked. "Yeah he was shot. When did that happen?" He asked me. I had no clue. This was news to me. Darryl is one of the many people who is convinced I've already heard about a story on the news. In this case I had to claim I knew nothing about it.

The man who committed this in custody. His name is Scott Roeder and he was taken into custody some 170 miles away in a Kansas City suburb about three hours after the shooting.

In 1996, a 38-year-old man named Scott Roeder was charged in Topeka with criminal use of explosives for having bomb components in his car trunk and sentenced to 24 months of probation. However, his conviction was overturned on appeal the next year after a higher court said evidence against Roeder was seized by law enforcement officers during an illegal search of his car.

At the time, police said the FBI had identified Roeder as a member of the anti-government Freemen group, an organization that kept the FBI at bay in Jordan, Mont., for almost three months in 1995-96. Authorities on Sunday night would not immediately confirm if their suspect was the same man.

If one proclaims to be pro-life then one adheres to the belief that ALL LIFE is sacred. For me the Death Penalty has always been difficult for me. I said in an earlier post how difficult it is to reconcile a belief that all life is sacred and yet feel that it's OK to EVER execute someone. I remember the words that everyone is sacred in the good Lord's sight. Then sometimes someone commits a horrific crime like the rape and murder of a child and you rage and call for their death.

I do NOT equate Dr. Tiller in that category. I do not, have not, EVER wished for anything bad to happen to a doctor who performs abortions. I do not, have not, EVER support things like blowing up abortion clinics or killing doctors who perform abortions. I do NOT and have NEVER had the authority to condemn anyone to hell, although I have suggestion that my ex-husband go there on an extended stay.

I think the majority of people who are pro-life, like I am, do not feel that way at all. Two of my best friends had had abortions before I met them. When they told me it never colored the way I felt about them. It never stopped me from caring about them or seeing them for the wonderful caring mothers I knew them to be.

I think like a lot of people, I'd love to see a time when abortions were rare. As a rape victim, I know how it feels to be fearful that you might be pregnant by your attacker. For me I prayed and came to the conclusion that I would give such a baby up. Fortunately for me I did not become pregnant. I understand and the church even says that in cases when the mother's life is in danger a woman might choose abortion.

I do NOT understand how someone who proclaims to be PROLIFE can deign to take another's life. I hate the fact that some NUT can do something like this and now people like me will be painted with the broad brush of psycho, clinic bomber, anti-abortion wack-job. It got me just as angry because hours later they publicly identified the last doctor who performs late term abortions here in the United States. This is crazy. Why not draw a bull's eye on this other doctor to make the next nut's job easier?

George Tiller was killed the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church while serving as an usher. His wife was in the choir. I hope he doesn't start spouting off that God told him to do this or that he was doing God's work.

Here are the posts I entered today:

Prize: Vado pocket-sized video camera in choice of pink or silver from Creative Labs (ARV $79.99).

http://www.astheygrowup.com/2009/05/excalibur-dehydrator-review-giveaway.html

The Nightmare Edition Of Ground Hogs Day

Here's an update on that homicide in Middletown, Maryland. Last night when my husband and I were watching the news and the story of this horrific murder/suicide came on we both looked at each other. It was like we were living in the movie Ground Hogs Day gone wrong. Instead of a man trying to better his life after living the same day over and over we were witness to scenes like this over and over and over again with no way to change the outcome.

The name of the community was familiar because it was just outside of Frederick, Maryland. When I was doing my student teaching I taught in Thurmont, Maryland and I had to drive near or through Middletown, Maryland. Back then, as I would wind my way through places like Boonsboro I would often think to myself what a beautiful area this was. People would commute from Frederick to DC or Baltimore and come home to a rural area where life was far less hectic than a drive on the Beltway.

When we first heard the story the announcer had said the victims were shot to death and I tried to imagine how someone could actually do such a thing. I learned later that he actually brutally stabbed his family. This, as anyone in law enforcement would tell you, is an even more personal way of killing. You can't shoot someone and be detached from the situation but stabbing requires you to position yourself close to the victim and often repeat the action over and over. It became an even more unfathomable crime to me. Stabbing a two year old?

Wood left five separate suicide notes to family members, scattered about the house. One said he was having psychological problems and taking medication, Jenkins said. Wood was also in debt, and investigators were exploring that as a possible motive. In at least one note, Wood apologized, the sheriff said. Well I guess that makes it OK now doesn't it?

Here are the blog contests I entered:

Prize: $25 Outback Steakhouse gift card.

Prize: Two complimentary meal passes to Sweet Tomatoes.

Prize: Free and Clear Starter Kit from Seventh Generation.

Prize: Two coupons for a free Chili's Guiltless Grill entree.

Prize: Seventh Generation Starter Kit.

Prize: Exergen TemporalScanner thermometer.

Prizes (5): Two boxes of Electrasol Finish Quantum dishwashing detergent and two bottles of Jet Dry Turbo Dry (ARV $20).

Prizes (3): Freshwater pearl bracelet.

Prize: Bissell Little Green Machine.

Prizes (2): 3-pack photo DVD backup from Clickfree.

Prizes (3): Freshwater pearl bracelet.

Farrah Fawcett Hospitalized; Family Gathers

What girl who hit her teens in the mid-seventies didn't know who Farrah Fawcett was? She was the woman who's picture was pinned up on your boyfriend's bedroom wall, the woman he secretly wished was his. This was the woman who appeared weekly on Charlie's Angels (another show I never watched). It was Farrah's hair that every girl wanted to emulate.

There were a couple of really good tv movies in which she appeared. One was "The Burning Bed" and the other was " and "Small Sacrifices." I had read the book Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule and I found Farrah's portrayal to be very compelling.

I also remember her from Cannonball Run because that was a very popular series of movies back in the 1980s. It was campy, slapstick comedy movie released in 1981 that starred Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dom DeLuise and Farrah Fawcett. The premise is very similar to the earlier Cannonball and The Gumball Rally (both 1976). It also has two sequels, 1984's Cannonball Run II and 1989's Speed Zone! The latter was also known as Cannonball Fever and is sometimes overlooked as being part of the series.

Her long term relationship with Ryan O'Neal was fodder for Grocery store rags. Her son Redmond had his share of troubles.

Farrah, 62, was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006 and later pronounced cancer free at a press conference. She has been hospitalized and is critical but stable in a Los Angeles-area hospital. They also say she is unconscious and has been hospitalized for days.

Sometimes actors die and I feel sad in a passing sense. I think it's always sad when someone dies. Sometimes though I feel their death a little more closely. This is a person who's life was played out every week as public fodder. She is a woman of whom I emulated and was jealous of all the same. I will feel sad at her passing.

Ryan O’Neal has been by Farrah’s bedside, as has troubled son Redmond, who bolted from rehab earlier this week.

Here is an update on the tragedy that happened in Pittsburg. Friends of Richard Poplawski (23 year-old)said he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

One friend, Edward Perkovic, said Poplawski feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon."

Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said he feared that President Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he "wasn't violently against Obama."

Perkovic, a 22-year-old who said he was Poplawski's best friend, said he got a call at work from him in which he said, "Eddie, I am going to die today. ... Tell your family I love them and I love you."

Mr. Perkovic got his GED and then joined the Marine Corps. He was dishonorably discharged from the corps during basic training. Friends said he wanted out so he could rejoin his girlfriend.

When that relationship failed, Mr. Poplawski moved for two years to Florida where he worked as a glazier, helping to asemble and replace windows. He returned here in 2006 or 2007.

The fight between the Poplawski and his mother was over a dog urinating in the house.
The fight escalated to the point that she threatened to kick him out and called police to do it, according to a 12-page criminal complaint and affidavit filed late Saturday that contains her account.

When officers Paul Sciullo III and Stephen Mayhle arrived, Margaret Poplawski opened the door and told them to come in and take her 23-year-old son, apparently unaware that he had grabbed a long rifle and was standing behind her, according to the court papers. She told investigators she heard gunshots, spun around and ran to the basement, shouting, "What the hell have you done?"

Darryl and I had talked about where this country is headed as the recession gets worse. People don't know if we are headed for a depression or a period of hyper-inflation. While we were having this conversation we were interrupted by another news bulletin. This time a father killed his five children.

The father killed his children, Ages 7 To 16 in their trailer. The father's body was found miles away. Four of the children were shot in their beds and the fifth was shot in the bathroom in Graham, 15 miles southeast of Tacoma, Pierce County deputies said.

In this case the man and his oldest daughter had caught his wife with another man at a local store. They argued and he begged her to come. She didn't. He was upset that his wife was threatening to leave him.

This has been such a busy day and it seems as though I got nothing done. Here are the blog contests I entered:


Prize: Exergen TemporalScanner thermometer.

Prize: Windex Outdoor All-In-One Glass Cleaning Tool starter kit.

Prizes (2): Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal.

Prize: Exergen TemporalScanner infrared thermometer.

Prize: Exergen TemporalScanner thermometer.

Prize: Windex Outdoor All-in-One Starter Kit.

Prize: Exergen TemporalScanner thermometer.

Prizes (5): Pair of Keds Green Label shoes.

Prize: Deep covered baker from The Pampered Chef (ARV $70).

Prize: Pizza Hut e-gift card good for PANormous pizza, drinks, and dessert.

Prize: The Tudors The Complete First Season and The Complete Second Season DVDs.