Flashfax 12-23-03!

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23 , 2003

TODAY ON THE RADIO…ROGER’S last show before Christmas so he’s likely to be in a very Christmas Eve Spirit. Yesterday he did the radio show with a Santa hat on…and shades. Likely to be the case today. You likely are slipping out early to shop so keep us on your radio as you hunt for that parking place. Mostly Christmas joy today. Let us share ours with you….we commence at 3:07pm.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

ROGER’S HOLIDAY RADIO SCHEDULE is set (we think). Today we are live. Tomorrow (Wednesday the 24th) KOGO broadcasts a Christmas Eve Special. On Thursday (Christmas Day) we re-broadcast ROGER’S annual radiothon for Father Joe’s Kids at the Toussaint Teen Center. On Friday it’s a best of show. The boss is back live on Monday the 29th. On Tuesday the 30th KOGO broadcasts the Holiday Bowl. On Wednesday the 31st it looks like ROGER will sub for Rush on his national show and the local show will be a best of…January 1st is a best of and on January 2nd ROGER is set to sub for Rush again in the morning and then KOGO plays another best of ROGER show in the afternoon.

All of the above subject to change in the case of breaking news such as terror threats fulfilled. Sorry but these days you have to plan for this kinda stuff.

CHRISTMAS IN CREST…we accepted an invite to visit with neighbors and fire victims in Crest last Saturday evening. Residents assisted by the Shadow Mountain Community Church lit a giant 65 foot pine tree festooned with lights and holiday magic. Several truckloads of snow were dumped around the tree. Hundreds of kids who have never seen real snow were delighted. Snowballs flew and everyone was a target. A storybook image for sure. The giant tree. Kids yelling and packing snowballs. Christmas carols. And a short ceremony to thank God for survival and our commemoration of the birth of his son Jesus.

Cheese cake and coffee served. And fire victims got to pick from among thousands of holiday ornaments donated by folks all around the country. We got a couple quilted items and a couple of ornaments. These will be special in years to come as we celebrate our first Christmas after the firestorm. Noreen had her eye on a quilt sewn with holiday hearts (Valentine, get it?). As she looked at it she noted a woman next to her also looking at it. Noreen stepped away and the woman reached for the quilt. She held it to her chest. She then turned to Noreen and said “Thank you, I used to have one just like this.” They hugged.

I didn’t need anything. Until I saw a Poo Bear Christmas stocking. Poo with a Santa hat on. I long treasured a Santa bear stocking. Got it maybe 15 years ago. I’d secure the Santa bear to the sissy bar on my Harley when I rode on toy runs in Texas and here in California. And other times I’d tuck the Santa bear in the window of my truck during the holidays. When I saw the Poo Bear tied to a fence at the ceremony in Crest (along with dozens of other such stockings) I couldn’t resist. I untied it and tucked it into my jacked with just the head and hat sticking out. When my new bike comes I’ll take Poo Bear for a ride.

What has happened in Crest is amazing. Terrible devastation and heartbreak followed by a rebirth of community and the emergence of church leadership to restore lives and rebuild property. As ROGER has traveled around the fire zones broadcasting in Julian, Valley Center, Crest and visiting in Harbison Canyon the stories are the same. Volunteers, churches, civic groups, Indian tribes (in the case of Sycuan) have held out helping hands.

And that’s what made Christmas in Crest so meaningful to us. To see the progress made from the day we broadcast in Crest surrounded by ash and crumbled structures and emergency tents…to a giant tree and kids frolicking in the snow.

As the short service was being conducted beneath the tree a fire engine came roaring down the road, siren blaring….disrupting our moment of prayer. A man next to me was heard to remark,

“They finally got it started.”

FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS ARE THE REAL HEROES…You’ll see this sign posted a couple of places as you drive thru Harbison Canyon these days. Residents in the canyon don’t have much use for paid firefighters of late. To the sign we might add the word “Family.” When fire devours your home it also consumes your family history. When you are old that amounts to a near lifetime of stuff that ought to go to the kids so the chain of family continues to grow link by link and generation by generation.

We’ve noted in recent days, several weeks now after the fires, that we are beginning to accumulate new family history. Noreen has five sisters and near daily a box arrives via UPS. In one box early on some towels (big fat and fluffy). In another several Harley shirts, a coffee mug, a Harley Zippo. And just the other day a package containing new family pictures. Shea and Carley our nieces visited us in California this summer and Noreen’s sister Sharon took a bunch of pictures while they were here. The girls in surf suits. (we took them to surf camp). Shea on the ‘85 Low Rider with me. A picture of Noreen’s Mom and Dad. All framed and wonderful.

Friends like Dennis and Diane Snyder have given us (replaced) a lot of patriotic and harley stuff we lost. Our neighbors down the hill, Dennis and Renee gave us a lovely small replica of our 2003 Harley Touring Bike. It came several weeks ago. I looked at it and closed the box. I didn’t want it. A day or so ago I opened the box again took the replica from the box and put it on prominent display under our small Christmas tree in the trailer. I guess I’m getting better.

WE’RE IN CONSTANT PROCESS of rebuilding. Noreen is up before the crack of dawn dealing with insurance folks and construction folks and contractors and house sellers…and lawyers. This being homeless is full time work. And part of this process is looking ahead to the various inspections required as we proceed. Among the folks who will come up and inspect various grading and electric and like that….Fire Inspectors!!

We did this, of course, when our house was first built three years ago. It makes perfect sense to us to have fire experts make sure that your home is built to be as fire safe as possible. Inspections by fire folks are a good thing. But this time around I think I need to be off the property when fire inspectors come to grade us on the fire safety of our construction.

We was fire safe back on October 27th, 2003. All inspected and up to snuff. “Certified,” fire safe by a score of inspectors with tablets and official trucks. We didn’t need “certification or inspection, “ on the 27th…what we really, really desperately needed was one of the three fire engines near the house to unload just a little bit of water. Don’t get me started on my “required” 5-thousand gallon water tank. Burp.

Oh and now it appears that we’re gonna need sprinklers inside our new house and special “eves” on the home. Gonna cost thousands. Serious. Thousands. We’re scraping to rebuild with limited insurance funds and we gotta buy more fire protection stuff. Very soon we’re gonna have more gummint mandated fire stuff than they have down at the fire hall. And know what? It’s still gonna come down to having a fire engine let loose of just a little water. How do I get that to happen? Will gummint mandate that? I’ll pay (oh, I already do, never mind).

FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS…A MOST BLESSED AND JOYIOUS CHRISTMAS

(remember why we celebrate, please)

GOD BLESS AMERICA