Trust that there are still good people
There’s a saying that goes, not every hero wears a cape. I like that saying, because I know it’s true. I personally got to witness it right here in Morgantown, from a guy driving a fuel truck for Woodford Oil.
To explain the hows and whys of what happened, I’ll need to start at a call that I received at the end of my day Wednesday from a very grateful mother of a 17-year-old high schooler whose social security card was lost in the shuffle of a routine gas stop. She explained to me how that card ended up on one of the far edges of the fueling station and said how much it meant to her that someone would recognize the importance of her son’s lost document. She was grateful someone would still take the time out of their day to make an effort to reconnect something like that to its owner.
Anyone who knows about the amount of information a social security card holds knows how devastating it could be if lost.
Luckily one of the drivers for the Woodford group understood that, as well as the importance of the information and the possible repercussions if the wrong person recovered the card. He found it laying in the fueling area while he was loading his truck for the day. With a little detective work from some of the folks in the office, he was able to get it back to its owner.
The driver who’s raising two sons of his own set an exemplary example for his kids and every person who sees the opportunity in their day to day to take a few minutes out to help another person.
So if you ever catch our guy Don Dequasie filling his truck at the station, or out on his daily deliveries, stop him and say thanks, because he’s one of the good ones, setting the example for a world that doesn’t always see the benefit for themselves of being virtuous to others.
Larry Yost
Mount Morris, Pa.
On behalf of the Woodford Staff
How is it still possible to leave a baby in a car?
Why is it still possible for a tired, distracted or busy parent or guardian to leave a baby in a parked car?
January 1986: I had just returned to work from maternity leave at WVU Hospital. I was an OB staff nurse and worked day-shift. Sometimes I was so sleep-deprived I would ask one of the other nurses to double-check the meds I was giving my patients.
Back then, the Ruby Memorial Hospital complex didn’t exist. That space was just a big grassy hill with a very long concrete staircase up to the original WVU Hospital from the stadium parking lot. That’s where hospital staff parked.
One of those cold, dark, January mornings, I parked and walked up the dreadful staircase and entered the hospital on the ground floor and started walking down the very long hallway to the elevators. Somewhere along that hallway, my knees buckled and I screamed, “Oh my God!” I had forgotten to drop off my baby at daycare. I couldn’t get down that icy staircase fast enough. He was fine, but I wasn’t and have never gotten over what could have happened.
That was 38 years ago. Rear-facing car seats were federally mandated in 1981. So, why is it still possible for a baby to be left in a car? We have technology for everything. Why isn’t there an audible alarm? Why isn’t there a big red “BABY IN BACK” alert flashing on the dashboard computer screen? Should the car seat have a sensor, or maybe the baby? Why hasn’t this been federally mandated?
Just tell me why it’s still possible for babies to be left behind in parked cars.
Molly Schmitt-Keane
Morgantown
Chiefs kicker Butker didn’t know his audience
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker claims he exercised his “freedom of religion” with his commencement remarks at Benedictine College. What he actually expressed was misogyny, homophobia and an extreme level of tone deafness regarding his audience, the occasion and the appropriate kind of remarks to deliver.
Discussing controversial social and political issues at a college commencement is every bit as rude as getting drunk and causing a scene at a wedding reception. The graduates and the bride will remember their day for all the wrong reasons.
Commencement Day is supposed to be a celebration of the graduates and their achievements; nobody wants to hear a football player spouting radical ideology. He insulted the female graduates when he suggested that they should be more excited about having babies and keeping house than they should be about launching a career like their male counterparts.
I’m reminded of something Dr. Phil once said: “Trying to tell a woman what to do in her own house is like baptizing a cat.” Harrison Butker should baptize some cats before he speaks at another commencement for the perspective he lacks.
Butker hijacked the occasion in the worst possible way and all that we are left with is the NFL’s statement to the effect that it doesn’t agree with Butker but it couldn’t stop him from embarrassing himself as a private citizen.
I can only hope that college event planners will take note before the next round of graduations. Does the event planner at Benedictine College still work there? I would hope not … it’s not every day that a commencement speaker can ruin the day for the entire graduating class. One of the most important considerations for any event is know your audience and that didn’t happen at Benedictine College.
Elaine Wolfe
Star City
