With deep regret and sadness I wanted to inform you of the passing of North Carolina State Trooper David Shawn Blanton.  Shawn was conducting a traffic stop on I-40 in Haywood County, NC when he was shot and killed by the motorist that he had stopped.  Shawn had been a trooper for two years, was married less than a year ago and became a father less than two weeks ago to a little boy who was seven weeks premature.  Please keep the Blanton family in your thoughts and prayers.  For more information, please feel free to visit www.citizen-times.com or www.wlos.com. For those that wish to send a monetary donation for Shawn’s wife and baby, a fund has been established with the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union.  You can go to any branch in North Carolina.  The fund is called “Michaela Nicole Blanton FBO Brendan Tye Blanton.”  If you wish to mail a check, please feel free to mail the donation to:SECUc/o Michaela Nicole Blanton FBO Brendan Tye BlantonPO Box 97Waynesville, NC  28786 For questions regarding the fund, you can call SECU at 1-828-452-3570 and ask for Allison. If you wish to make a PAYPAL donation, please feel free to make the donation on the FORS website and I will make sure Michaela receives the money.  Please be sure to make a note or send me an e-mail that you are doing that, so I can tag the funds for her. On a personal note, my husband was one of the troopers on duty with Shawn last night.  We were fortunate enough to have Shawn over to dinner on Monday night and he shared his baby’s progress with us.   I am glad that my children had the chance to know him.  Please keep the Blanton family and the NCSHP G5 district in your thoughts and prayers….