STICKY DOORKNOBS

Midland family glad to be home after Times Square scare

Donald and Janet Knipe and their 16-year-old son David didn't know what was going on for awhile. Like tens of thousands of others, they were enjoying the night life New York City offers on a Saturday night and were sightseeing before walking a few blocks to see "Phantom of the Opera." Suddenly, David said, the crowd that surrounded them kept pressing back in their direction until, "We were looking out at a completely empty Times Square."

   The Knipes were in town to hear older son, James, perform at Carnegie Hall with the Texas Tech choir. A second Midland family, Steve and Lana Henry, were also in town for the same performance -- son Drew also sings in the Tech choir -- but they were staying in another borough, away from the goings-on in Manhattan.

   The performance last weekend of the Tech choir coincided with the failed car bomb attempt that captured the world's attention last weekend. David cringes when he thinks what could have been.

   "I've been trying to wrap my mind around it; they said a car bomb like that could kill 300-500 people within an 800-foot radius. We were about 100-200 feet from it. I can't wrap my mind around it."

   The Knipes say they walked right by the Lion King theater where the would-be bomber left his SUV filled with gasoline and propane. They had no reason to notice whether the vehicle was there when they walked by. James was in a McDonalds in Time Square and had left the restaurant moments before New York City police sealed it off, preventing people from leaving.

   "As best I have been able to figure out," Janet Knipe said, "we were right at the car bomb site about 30 minutes before it was detected; it might not have even been parked there at that time. It was right in the middle of Times Square -- one block down from the half price theater ticket place (TKTS TKTS) and they have changed much of that area to a pedestrian walking mall.  When TV news shows the bomb site, there is a Swatch store in the background and we were there at 6 p.m., when I told David it was time to head back to the hotel -- being in a watch store you knew what time it was for sure."

   Mrs. Knipe said as they were about one block from their hotel, police began to set out barricades and telling everyone to turn around.

   David said the family knew nothing of what was going on, so he called a friend in Midland and asked him to check the Internet to see what was happening. Of course, the news was online almost immediately, and that's how the Knipes learned of the car bomb.

   "The more we heard that night and every day since, the more I realize just how God was with us every step of the way," Mrs. Knipe said. "I was concerned, but there was a calm and a peace, and police handled it very, very orderly. It could have been a real bad situation but the way NYPD handled it people were going to the theater and not even thinking about it."

   The next morning, David said, the Knipes counted at least 30 NYPD squad cars parked in Times Square (photo above).

   The Knipes ended up loving 'Phantom' and James' performance at Carnegie Hall -- "I cried," Mrs. Knipe said -- before returning home early this week.

   As if being in proximity to one huge news story wasn't enough for one family in two day's time, on the Knipe's return flight home, they landed in Nashville to refuel and could clearly see the devastation caused by the flooding of the Cumberland River this week.

   "We looked down and what we thought were car ports were entire houses under water," David said.

   Top photo: The Lion King Theatre, where a would-be terrorist parked an SUV with a failed car bomb about 30 minutes after the Knipe family of Midland walked by. Photos courtesy The Knipe Family.

David Hurta and Judge John Hyde: A double dose of good news

So often we sit and hope for good news only to be disappointed when the negative comes.

Today, though, is one of those rare days when the news is not only good, but good twice.

Monday came word that David Hurta, who'd been written about several weeks ago, was released from the hospital. Five weeks and five days since falling unconscious and suffering a massive heart attack while playing basketball at the First Baptist Church gym, then experiencing day after day of setback upon setback, David walked out of the hospital. He was given a 10 percent chance of survival. Doctors had once feared brain damage. But that all changed in late March, and last month, on a narrative written by his physician, his turnaround was described by his doctor as a "miracle." David himself was called a miracle by the same doctor.

Then came the following email this morning, from Judge John Hyde, who last Thanksgiving was told he had cancer in his lungs and lymph nodes. His prognosis, like David's was bleak at the time:

Today I received the results of last week’s medical tests and the news is good. The cancer has not spread to any other organs and the three known cancers, in my lung and two lymph nodes, have shrunk.  Thursday I will meet with the oncologist to learn his evaluation and prescribed treatment plan. I am indeed grateful to modern medicine but I am persuaded that the intercessory prayers of my brothers and sisters in Christ have produced the good news we received today. Thanks so much for your thoughtful prayers.

If you don't believe in the power of prayer after these two stories, I don't know what to tell you.

'A History of Character' (Or, how the writing's going)

One of the questions I am asked most often since last December when I said goodbye to my comfy office and friends at the Midland Reporter-Telegram is "How's the writing going?"  Since taking the plunge and deciding to go it alone by pursuing a handful of writing opportunities that had made themselves available, things have gone better than I could have ever imagined. And since many of you have been so kind to ask, I felt it OK to provide an update.

The opportunity to go it alone was first made possible when a friend told me she could use some help with a writing project she was in the middle of. That project is going well and, we would like to think, nearing completion.

A second project has actually turned into a personal love-hate relationship with my inner writer. One day I wake up loving what I am doing, another day, not so much. It's a pretty common occurrence with writers, I assure you. The simple fact is that a friend commissioned me to write a novel about elements of his professional life, and so that project takes much time as well as a great deal of emotional and intellectual effort. I am 42,000-plus words deep into the novel today, well into the middle portion of the story. It will still require much effort to complete but our story of a drifter who shoots two cops in the Big Bend region -- and may or may not get away with it -- will be, I would hope, a page turner. My desire is to have that project in the rewrite stages by summer and published in some manner by the fall so that I will be able to easily slide into the second novel that is in the early discussion stages.

The final two projects are themselves turning into labors of love and longer term assignments. In just over a year, "For Christ and His People: A History of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo" will be submitted for publication. It is fascinating what you learn when working on a history project. Religious affiliation aside, there are some great stories to be written -- and will be written -- in the coming months.

Finally, thanks in large part to the generosity of a handful of Midlanders with deep roots in our community as well as a couple of dear friends, funding for "A History of Character: The Story of Midland, Texas" is a project that will recount the definitive history of Midland and will hopefully be viewed as a go-to source for those who are interested in reading about how we have become who and what we are in the 21st century. The stories I am hearing and reading about are truly memorable and I look forward to sharing them with you.

The name of the book, "A History of Character," sprung from one of my many conversations with the Honorable John Hyde, a student of this town, an invaluable resource and a simply wonderful and giving man. It was at one point in late December of last year that Judge Hyde said, "In the history of Midland, I am struck by one over-riding theme that runs through every person and virtually every story that has helped build this town: the high character of the men and women who have made us who and what we are."

And that is truly what I am discovering. We don't yet have a publication date on the book, but there will be a web site in the coming weeks and months to begin chronicling some of the more fascinating stories I am hearing along the way. Our circle of supporters have all agreed that Midland's story must be told, warts and all. And that is what we will set about to do. By the end of the summer, we'll share some of those insights into our town's story and I hope you will look forward to the complete story when it is published. I also ask you to bear with me if this once reliable blog simmers down to occasional updates. I am finding myself quite busy these days, but will update when able.

I look forward to  meeting up with you on the street and around town over the next several months. Drop me an email any time at [email protected].

'A History of Character' (Or, how the writing's going)

One of the questions I am asked most often since last December when I said goodbye to my comfy office and friends at the Midland Reporter-Telegram is "How's the writing going?"  Since taking the plunge and deciding to go it alone by pursuing a handful of writing opportunities that had made themselves available, things have gone better than I could have ever imagined. And since many of you have been so kind to ask, I felt it OK to provide an update.

The opportunity to go it alone was first made possible when a friend told me she could use some help with a writing project she was in the middle of. That project is going well and, we would like to think, nearing completion.

A second project has actually turned into a personal love-hate relationship with my inner writer. One day I wake up loving what I am doing, another day, not so much. It's a pretty common occurrence with writers, I assure you. The simple fact is that a friend commissioned me to write a novel about elements of his professional life, and so that project takes much time as well as a great deal of emotional and intellectual effort. I am 42,000-plus words deep into the novel today, well into the middle portion of the story. It will still require much effort to complete but our story of a drifter who shoots two cops in the Big Bend region -- and may or may not get away with it -- will be, I would hope, a page turner. My desire is to have that project in the rewrite stages by summer and published in some manner by the fall so that I will be able to easily slide into the second novel that is in the early discussion stages.

The final two projects are themselves turning into labors of love and longer term assignments. In just over a year, "For Christ and His People: A History of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo" will be submitted for publication. It is fascinating what you learn when working on a history project. Religious affiliation aside, there are some great stories to be written -- and will be written -- in the coming months.

Finally, thanks in large part to the generosity of a handful of Midlanders with deep roots in our community as well as a couple of dear friends, funding for "A History of Character: The Story of Midland, Texas" is a project that will recount the definitive history of Midland and will hopefully be viewed as a go-to source for those who are interested in reading about how we have become who and what we are in the 21st century. The stories I am hearing and reading about are truly memorable and I look forward to sharing them with you.

The name of the book, "A History of Character," sprung from one of my many conversations with the Honorable John Hyde, a student of this town, an invaluable resource and a simply wonderful and giving man. It was at one point in late December of last year that Judge Hyde said, "In the history of Midland, I am struck by one over-riding theme that runs through every person and virtually every story that has helped build this town: the high character of the men and women who have made us who and what we are."

And that is truly what I am discovering. We don't yet have a publication date on the book, but there will be a web site in the coming weeks and months to begin chronicling some of the more fascinating stories I am hearing along the way. Our circle of supporters have all agreed that Midland's story must be told, warts and all. And that is what we will set about to do. By the end of the summer, we'll share some of those insights into our town's story and I hope you will look forward to the complete story when it is published. I also ask you to bear with me if this once reliable blog simmers down to occasional updates. I am finding myself quite busy these days, but will update when able.

I look forward to  meeting up with you on the street and around town over the next several months. Drop me an email any time at [email protected].