Hero and Heel emerge in Colonial Heights Fire

The Progress-Index ran a story today about a fatal house fire. The headline, Neighbors unable to rescue construction worker, is a little misleading. As in most stories, there are some heroes and a heel.

Justin Krumpe ran in to a burning house and tried to save his neighbor. First responders were on the scene pretty quickly. Justin is a true hero. He ran in with no protection to try to save someone's life. He was the only neighbor to do so.

Another "neighbor," Chiquita Edmonds was called by someone else in the neighborhood about the fire. What did she do? Run to help? Call 911? Nope. She went outside to film the fire. Pretty nice, huh?

Here's the kicker... Edmonds filmed the whole ordeal, including EMS personnel trying to revive the 44 year old Fred Waitt, but she said she turned the camera off the camera "out of respect before he was loaded in an ambulance."

In Chiquita's defense, she was heard on her tape shouting to fire fighters what Waitt looked like. Talk about going the extra mile!

Who knows the whole story? Maybe Ms. Edmonds couldn't physically help. If that was the case, why film the fire? You gonna sit around the VCR and rewatch it later in the week? Was there the intent to make sure the police and EMS did their job? Maybe, as Chiquita said, "I want to say that all the Colonial Heights departments responded fast, and in a professional manner." Thanks Chiquita, but who made you the first responder monitor for the neighborhood?

This fire happened in the area of Colonial Heights that I live in. This story frustrates me because my area of town is filled with folks that no longer act neighborly. There are a select few that will go out of their way to be nice, but not many. In order for our side of the city to re-emerge into the great neighborhood that it used to be, I believe we all need to lend a hand when needed, not just stand back and view things as distant events through a viewfinder.

Colonial Heights Loses a Great Teacher

As I've mentioned before, my 4 year old son has special needs. The awesome thing about living in Colonial Heights is that they have a public special education preschool. This is a resource that should be available to all families with special needs preschoolers in Virginia, but that is for another post.

C.'s teacher of 2 1/2 years, Ali Smith, has decided not to return next year. This makes me and my wife B. very sad. Mrs. Smith is a shining example of what a teacher should be. She's patient with a group of kids that can easily try anyone's patience. While there is a whole team of teachers that has helped C., Mrs. Smith has been there every step of the way. She's seen C. go from a non-communicative 2 year old that couldn't get around without crawling to a precocious 4 year old that can cruise with the best of them with his walker.

Best of all, I've seen first hand how personally Ali takes the progress and welfare of all of her students. We feel like we're losing an extended family member.

Good luck Mrs. Smith. You will be missed.

Now what Colonial Heights?

In 2005 the city of Colonial Heights, where I've lived for almost 5 years now, made the wise financial decision to buy the Colonial Baptist Church property. You see, the church is relocating to the northern end of the city. Good for them. The new place looks like it will be a beautiful sanctuary.

My question is, why did the city spend almost $3.5 million dollars for a property without having any plans whatsoever about what to do with a huge, empty church building. According to a newsletter put out by the city in 2005, the congregation has a 30 month lease on the current property, so no planning for the future of the current building has even begun. In that same newsletter, the city states that, "City Council considers this five-acre parcel to be very important to the economic viability of the southern end of the City."

Almost $4 million spent on a 5 acre plot that is important to the economic viability of the southern end of the City? How does this make sense? If the city decides to knock the old church down, what are they going to put there? A car wash? Strip mall? Oh I know, a chain restaurant? These are all things that Colonial Heights has an over abundance of.

I think the city has really dropped the ball here. I live in the southern end of Colonial Heights. I'm pretty sure that $3.5 million could have been used to fix the roads that have been long neglected. Maybe funnel that money to the special education program that recently had to cut some funding. Worse case scenario, keep that money in the bank for a time when you actually have a plan for what you're going to spend it on.

I just pray that this isn't the start of our small city looking towards the example of fine stewardship that Richmond has been following for decades.

Fake D.A. to save our country and Col. Hts. Tragedy

Well, well, well...It looks like the GOP will actually have a dog in the hunt (upcoming presidential race). Fake D.A. on Law & Order Fred Thompson looks like he's going to declare his intention to run for the highest office in the land around or on July 4.

At first glance, I like Thompson. He seems to be a man of principles that isn't so wrapped around bowing down to the party agenda. He seems to be a true conservative, which is what this county needs. "Ken Doll" Romney better watch out!

G.W., God bless him, is in way over his head. I think he means well, but he just doesn't have the political savvy to be leader of the free world.

On another note, Col. Heights had a small but terrible tragedy happen this week. Mark Mingea, father, son, and husband passed away. Mark was a great guy. He was the first adult to really take interest in C., my special needs son, when we started going to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. C. would always light up when he saw Mark, as would Mark. My prayers go out to the family. Here is the funeral information.