Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the Charleston firefighters who were killed in last month’s fire.

Last week, Charles Sharpe was doing his job. He drove a wrecker in the Jacksonville, Florida area and had responded to an accident on I-95. Parked behind him was Trooper Kenneth Washington who was inside his vehicle writing his report. What happened next is our worst nightmare… A SUV sideswiped the patrol car then struck 57-year-old Charles Sharpe as he was standing next to his wrecker loading the car from the previous crash. Trooper Washington was treated and released from the hospital. Charles Sharpe died at the scene.

I wish I could tell you that this was a rare occurrence, but I can’t. Everyday. Everyday it happens. Everyday a law enforcement officer, emergency worker or tow truck operator is struck and injured, or worse…killed. Families get that knock on the door that they have always silently feared. Friends get that phone call that they now wish had been a wrong number. We shed our tears, for those we knew and those we never did. We hold our chins up high as their caskets parade past us. We hold each other’s hands as we pray it never happens again.

Tragedies like Mr. Sharpes and hundreds of others spur us to do something we never thought we were capable of. We make a difference. We find a way to educate our friends and neighbors as well as the strangers that pass us by each day. Tragedies can tear our worlds apart, but also find a way to bring other worlds together.

I made some new friends last week. I hope one day we have the chance to meet. I met (online) some folks that live hundreds of miles away in Wisconsin. Their worlds were turned upside down earlier this year when a deputy, Tim Johnson, was struck by a passing motorist and was feared dead. After months of recovery and therapies, Tim is driving again. I can only gather that he is where he is today because of an incredibly loving family and community that rallied around him. Tim, we are so grateful that you are still with us. Niki and Suzanne, thank you for finding FORS (and me). I am so proud of what you are doing in Wisconsin. You are saving thousands of lives. You can find the link to Tim’s website on our Related Links page (http://www.f-o-r-s.com/home/related-links).

Effective YESTERDAY, Mississippi became the 43rd state to have an effective Move Over Law!!!! We are still missing Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Maryland lost yet another police officer, Scott Wheeler, earlier last month as he was struck during a speed enforcement. MARYLAND….What more will it take to pass a Move Over Law and educate your state’s motorists? Your Move Over Law has been killed in committee for over three years! Forty-three other states have found a way to make it work. Maybe now is the time to get it passed?!?!

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The 2007 TROOPER AG COGDILL MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT will be held on SATURDAY, JULY 21st at the Lake Junaluska Golf Course. Registration and hole sponsorship is currently open!

Here is the information:
Fees - $65 per player; LJGC Members $50 per player
Lunch served from 12 - 1:30pm
Shot-gun start at 2pm
Hole sponsorships available for $75 per hole
Registration deadline July 18th
Mulligans and red tees available
Rain date July 28th

For more information, call Stan Cogdill (828) 734-7126 or David Jones (828) 648-0416.
To mail in your checks and/or player list:
AG Cogdill Scholarship Fund
c/o Stan Cogdill
345 Allens Creek Road
Waynesville, NC 28786
As always, Move Over and Slow Down for Stopped Emergency and Public Service Vehicles. The lives you save may be your own.

Please forward our updates to everyone in your address book. Our lives depend on it.