• Tragedy tears away at innocence

  • We received a police report this week about an incident in Ross Township.
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    It seems that someone stole a radiator from the front yard of a home there.
    That was Ross Township to us.
    Quiet. Peaceful. Uneventful.
    The negligible theft fit the township's rural nature, not to mention the image of a radiator sitting in someone's front yard.
    Monday night shattered that appearance.
    In an instant, news services across the nation flooded the small municipality, bringing more attention to it than ever in its nearly 200-year history.
    To many outside the area, Ross became a tragic reminder of the times.
    But perception isn't reality. The deranged act of one man alone does not define a community of many.
    Ross, I believe, still is what it was. Things in the township may change, but its people are the same.
    Some of those people are familiar, since I live not far from the municipal building.
    I didn't know Vinny LaGuardia or Jerry Kozic. But I can't stop thinking about Dave Fleetwood.
    I met him when he decided to run for supervisor. I was covering Chestnuthill Township for the newspaper.
    After an early season "meet the candidates" event, I pulled him aside and asked him, "Why would a retired executive like you want to take on the work and hassles of public office when you can live off your hard-earned retirement?"
    Although Dave was a good talker, his answer was brief. "I think I can help," he said.
    Someone else from the paper took my place covering the township before Dave was elected. But I'd see him and his wife socially from time to time. He was a gentle man. Oh, he could mix it up when he had to. But he'd never corner me just to have his opinion heard.
    He respected others and put them first.
    That's why I think he entered public service. And it's probably why he was willing to put himself in harm's way Monday to protect another human life.
    We're probably all asking ourselves if we could have done what Dave or Bernie Kozen and Mark Kresh did, risking their safety to protect others. I always come up with the same answer.
    It doesn't matter. What matters is that THEY did.
    It's a level of character many of us aspire to.
    I was raised with the idea that life is a gift we're given, and when we suffer a loss we're not allowed to ask why. It's helped me many times.
    Ross Supervisor Howard Beers said it's OK to cry.
    It's also OK to grieve.
    For lost friends, family and maybe some innocence.
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