Adding Understanding

More than a dozen years ago it was clear this day would come. If not clear, it was the hope. But in the knowing it would arrive does little to dam the torrent of tears it brings. Between there and here is was so easy to forget. Even in the last weeks, reminded by Sam's passing, and knowing that the time was near doesn't really prepare one for what will be. The deep sadness that comes with the passing of a friend. A couple of decades back Linda Rondstat sang:

So goodbye, my friend
I know I'll never see you again
But the love you gave me through all the years
Will take away these tears
It's okay now...
Goodbye my friend

Life's so fragile and love's so pure
We can't hold on but we try
We watch how quickly it disappears
And we never know why

But I'm okay now
Goodbye my friend.
I can go now
Goodbye my friend.

Indeed goodbye my dear friend. The memories are so plentiful that it's hard to know where to begin in telling the story.

The following passage written by a mutual friend pays homage to Apache, a wonderful dog I had the pleasure of working with on a couple of searches. There is never a good time for such a passing. Humankind is drawn from our very primal core to "man's best friend"? only to find that their days are much too short when measured in human lifetimes. Those who are fortunate enough to live life with these beautiful creatures spend a lifetime reconciling how such magnificence can come and go so quickly. All the thought one can muster, however, cannot erase the pain of their departure nor will it diminish the glow of the memories.

December 29, 1993--March 11, 2006

Apache has crossed that rainbow bridge to join the other search dogs and searchers whom have gone before him. He has other dog friends to chase ball or stick with and someone there to throw them for him. He is now free of the ailments of old age that brought him down rapidly the past few months. Unfortunately, it is probable that his illness was accelerated by things he was exposed to while doing his work as a search dog.

Apache was Cheryl's second search dog. After working with a hard headed dog the first time through (Duke, this is written with affection), working with Apache was a dream. He was easy to read, eager to work, and quite a ham. He was hard headed for a golden retriever--probably one of the reasons Cheryl decided to take him on in the first place as she preferred hardheaded breeds. Apache and Cheryl developed a very special bond and he could “communicate� with Cheryl with the expression in his eyes. The helicopter tail was another means of communication. The faster it whirled, the closer he was getting to the scent source. He had a specific behavior if the subject was deceased, and he disliked scenes where there had been a lot of adrenaline.

Doing water work with Apache was sometimes a bit unnerving. He had a habit of diving under water whenever the scent was strong. It sometimes seemed possible that he might surface with the subject in tow.

Apache was obsessive and played stick with anyone who would take the time to throw one for him. He repeatedly dropped it at their feet until they got the “hint.� He was not beneath picking up earthworms if no stick was close at hand. It was a little harder to convince people to throw the worms, but you had to love the resourcefulness.

Apache did a lot of things while he was a search dog. He spent a lot of time doing PSARs with children. Throughout his nine years of fielding he had several assists, especially on water searches. He pinpointed the location of a railroad employee who had been buried beneath coal when a train derailed. His work at crime scenes helped with evidence collection. His presence was requested at seminars around the country to serve as a role model of how search dogs should behave when not in the working mode.

A few days after his departure from our world, a bald eagle flew overhead for a great length of time. As a totem in the Native American culture, Eagles are messengers from heaven. It was such a blessing for Cheryl to behold this sight. The only thing harder to do than retire your dog, is having to decide when he has suffered enough and it is time to help end the pain.

Peace to Cheryl and her family during this time of grief.

Senator Rick Santorum introduced the National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005 earlier this year. The bill would have several troubling effects. These impacts may mark the first time the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association have had occasion to be allied on an issue.

The bill, which Santourm says was crafted with the "jobs of Pennsylvanians in mind," would limit the National Weather Service's ability to provide information to the public. Instead the agency would use its tax-payer funding to create "a set of data portals designed for volume access by commercial providers of products or services." These services, such as Santorum campaign donor AccuWeather, would then provided to consumers through commercial services.

Limiting access to commercial providers would eliminate the provision of data for so much of rural America. Everybody from search and rescue teams to farmers and small town fire-fighters would be at the mercy of these commercial providers for critical, sometimes life-or-death, situations. With the recent fires in Southern Nevada for example, the large weather services didn't have information available. Residents of the farms and rural residences would have had no information to make decisions. In truth we need more information not less.

In the first such case to go to trial a civil jury found that Swiss snowboard maker Nidecker was not liable for the 2002 death of 22-year-old Kate Svitek. Svitek's estate had asked the company be held liable because the snowboard's bindings were not release bindings. The company at one time had offered release bindings but stopped because of poor sales. No studies have been done to measure the impact of release bindings. Proponents of the status-quo suggest that the fixed bindings prevent additional injury from a situation where one foot releases and the other foot is still attached to the board.