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Bobby, Kim, Alex and I went and watched the Red Bull Flugtag competition today. News article and images recap the event below.
A record crowd of 110,000 gathered down by the bay to witness 35 teams launch their human-powered flying machines at Red Bull Flugtag Tampa Bay. It was the first craft of the day, local team Tampa Baywatch, that took home top prize with their hotter-than-"The Hoff" skit and a flight distance of 109 feet. "We knew we were going to fly, but we weren't sure how far. We were all freaking out a little bit being the first team off with over 100,000 people watching you. It's just amazing -- once in a lifetime," said Tampa Baywatch pilot, Keith Humphrey, who was joined on the flight deck by his twin, Kevin Humphrey, and teammates Chris Elmore, David West and Kevin Riley.
Today was Uncle Ed's memorial service. Aunt Kay was interviewed by Fox 13. A story ran in the St. Pete times, as well. Video from the interview is included.
USF's Sigma Delta Tau sponsored "Puttin on the Hits" at the Sundome tonight. "Putting on the Hits" is a lip sync contest to benefit the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse (NAPCA). This is one of the largest annual Greek events on campus. I was there to photograph the event.
Today, the Southeast felt a minor tremor. I was sitting in our church office working on a PC when the quake hit. At the time I thought somebody was just bumping the desk. I recall getting up to see if anybody was around -- the desk was gently shaking. Never did I think it was an earthquake! Here's the full article.
Tropical storm Ernesto heads for South Florida. Overnight the storm cleared the Cuba mountain ranges. South Florida may be hit by a cat-1 storm - but most likely it will make landfall as a tropical storm. We (Tampa) should be west of the storm's path.
WV Coal Miners Found Dead - After reports they were alive.
TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia (CNN) -- Joy turned to sorrow in three short hours Wednesday for relatives of a dozen men found dead in a West Virginia coal mine. "Miscommunication" spawned early reports of their survival.
Florida's death toll from Hurricane Wilma rises to 10
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 -- The number of deaths in Florida from Hurricane Wilma rose from five to 10 on Wednesday and some 2.8 million homes and businesses were still without power, two days after the storm hit the southeastern US state, state emergency management director Craig Fugate said.
Wilma has just passed over the state of Florida. The most damage will be down South - in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. We had wind and rain. It was interesting because the storm landed around 8am today but our strongest winds were in the afternoon.
Hurricane Wilma -- with top winds of 140 mph -- is battering Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Thousands of coastal residents and tourists evacuated inland to stay in shelters. Forecasters say the storm, traveling at just 4 mph, could linger over Mexico for two days -- in turn affecting the strength of the storm when it heads north toward Cuba and Florida.
Hurricane Wilma, a day ago set the record for the strongest storm ever in the Atlantic, is bearing down on Florida. Tampa is within the forecast track.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Texas grand jury brought a charge of money laundering Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader indicted last week on conspiracy charges stemming from a campaign finance probe.
Rita is lingering off the Texas coast as a category 4 storm. Yesterday it was a category 5 with 175 mile per hour winds. Houston and Halveston are the target cities. New Orleans is under a tropical storm watch - just what they do not need. Landfall from Rita is expected within 24 hours.
Death toll in new Orleans may not be as high as initially sugested. FEMA director Brown was removed from Katrina efforts. Today he resigned his post. Bush's approval rating is about 40%.
Reports indicate that 80% of New Orleans is now under water. There is so much damage along the Gulf Coast that damage estimates aren't even being published now.
Hurricane Katrina pounded the Gulf Coast with devastating force at daybreak on Monday, sparing New Orleans the catastrophic hit that had been feared but inundating parts of the city and heaping damage on neighboring Mississippi, where it tossed boats, ripped away scores of roofs and left many of the major coastal roadways impassable.
Packing 145-mile-an-hour winds as it made landfall, the storm left more than a million people in three states without power and submerged highways even hundreds of miles from its center.
'She's going through it with grace' Series: RELIGION; [STATE Edition] EILEEN SCHULTE. St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Oct 30, 2004. pg. 5 Abstract (Article Summary)
After church one Sunday during last Christmas break, the Mauer family was having its traditional barbecue. Everyone was having a good time but Amy. The 15-year-old wasn't hungry and was running a 102 temperature. And she was very tired.
Debbie Mauer quit her job as a cafeteria manager for Val-Pak so she could stay with Amy in the hospital. Lee Mauer, a Vietnam veteran, is a self-employed tile installer who needs more work than he's getting these days.
To donate to the Amy Mauer fund, call the Rev. [Ken Link] at (727) 442-2661. Lakeview Baptist Church is at 1366 Lakeview Road, Clearwater. Full Text (992 words) Copyright Times Publishing Co. Oct 30, 2004
After church one Sunday during last Christmas break, the Mauer family was having its traditional barbecue. Everyone was having a good time but Amy. The 15-year-old wasn't hungry and was running a 102 temperature. And she was very tired.
Her lymph glands were noticeably swollen and she had a terrible headache. Her mother, Debbie, thought she might have mononucleosis.
At 2 p.m., Amy was in such pain that Debbie drove her to the emergency room a few blocks from the family's modest house on Grand Central Street.
It took doctors until 11 p.m. to make the diagnosis: lymphoblastic leukemia, or leukemia of the central nervous system.
Amy's mother cried.
Her little sister cried.
Her boyfriend cried.
But Amy didn't.
"I didn't think anything," she said.
There was good news: The cure rate was 85 percent.
At 2 a.m., an ambulance took her away from Clearwater, away from her father, twin siblings and two dogs to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.
Word spread fast around her church, Lakeview Baptist. Within a short time, members were calling, wanting to help and to put their arms around Debbie.
Amy, a devout Christian, would come to count on their love to help her survive the bone marrow aspirations, the spinal taps and a backpack full of pills she has to take every day.
And money. The family was unprepared for the cost of the treatment. Medicaid pays the medical bills, but the family barely gets by.
Debbie Mauer quit her job as a cafeteria manager for Val-Pak so she could stay with Amy in the hospital. Lee Mauer, a Vietnam veteran, is a self-employed tile installer who needs more work than he's getting these days.
A "Biker Sunday" fundraiser, where motorcycle riders showed off their Harleys and Kawasakis, raised about $3,400 in March. Last week, the church had a similar "Hot Rod Sunday" with antique cars. That raised about $2,100.
The family draws money from a church fund for basic needs. Still, the family has relied on food stamps at times.
"We can't pay any bills," Mrs. Mauer said.
After two weeks of chemotherapy, Amy's beautiful, long, curly blond hair started to fall out, and with it, part of her identity.
"Everybody knew me by my hair," she said. "Guys love long hair."
She went to a salon where a stylist braided the remaining strands and cut it off.
She put the hair in a baggie and put it away.
Amy, now 16, looks at her school photo on the wall, which shows her thick, wavy locks. "That was me."
Straight blond fuzz is growing on her scalp now.
In February she developed infections, and was in intensive care for 45 days.
Mrs. Mauer wouldn't leave Amy, disobeying hospital rules and sleeping in a reclining chair by her bed.
But as ill as she was, Amy did not want to miss church.
"When she was in the hospital and was so very sick, she would ask me, 'What are you preaching on Sunday?' " said her pastor, the Rev. Ken Link. "She would ask me to read the sermon to her. One time, we took a cell phone and put it (on speaker phone) so she could listen to the Sunday sermon."
"She said, 'I just need my church,' " Link said. "I think at 16 she just needs some 'normal.' And normal for her is church."
After her stay in intensive care, her blood work revealed she was in remission - after only two weeks of chemotherapy.
"It's (because of) faith in God," Mrs. Mauer said.
Inspired, members of Amy's youth group who had traded extra hours of sleep for Sunday morning services, came back.
"They looked up to her," Mrs. Mauer said. "She was a good person to talk to . . . to ask what to do about problems. When she got sick, they said they needed to grow up spiritually."
Of all the kids in the church, Amy was the strongest to be able to endure cancer, Link said.
"The Lord has a higher purpose than we can see," he said. "Maybe Amy got this and someone else is touched."
Indeed, 10 months into a two-year treatment program, she is planning to become a hospital volunteer, comforting children whose own mothers don't visit or staying overnight with them as her mother did.
For now she charts her medications and spinal taps in a binder.
She has so many doctors, nurses and social workers, she can't remember all their names. The Lexapro she takes for depression isn't really necessary, she said. Her faith is more effective than pills. But they make the cancer kids take it.
An honor roll student at Clearwater High School, she studies at home, her books piled up by the front door. Sometimes her old high school friends call.
She falls asleep at 9 p.m. and wakes up at 1 p.m. the next day.
"I'm always tired," she said. "Really tired."
Sometimes she thinks about her dream.
She said the Make-A-Wish Foundation has offered her a trip anywhere, but she wants to make sure it's a vacation her whole family can enjoy, even the 11-year-old twins, Jeanne and Richard.
She said she has been to the theme parks but the twins haven't. Maybe they would like Disney World, she thinks.
Link said the church will stand by the family until Amy is cured. The members have gained a lot from this experience, he said.
"She is a living, breathing image of Christ," he said, "because she's going through it, and she's going through it with grace."
Eileen Schulte can be reached at (727) 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com.
HOW TO HELP
To donate to the Amy Mauer fund, call the Rev. Ken Link at (727) 442-2661. Lakeview Baptist Church is at 1366 Lakeview Road, Clearwater. [Illustration] Caption: Amy Mauer, 16, sits in a 1969 Camaro Rally Sport at the antique car show Sunday that raised money for her and her family.; Photo: PHOTO, DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. People: Mauer, Debbie, Link, Ken, Mauer, Amy Dateline: CLEARWATER Text Word Count 992
Mission: Get Amy in fighting shape; [STATE Edition] St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Oct 25, 2004. pg. 1 Abstract (Article Summary)
Amy Mauer, 16, right, of Clearwater gets a hug from her friend Brittany Link, 19, of Tampa while attending a fundraiser Sunday for Amy and her family at Lakeview Baptist Church in Clearwater, where the girls attend worship services. The church is trying to raise money for Amy, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January. ALL is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells in the body that normally fight infections. Full Text (243 words) Copyright Times Publishing Co. Oct 25, 2004
Amy Mauer, 16, right, of Clearwater gets a hug from her friend Brittany Link, 19, of Tampa while attending a fundraiser Sunday for Amy and her family at Lakeview Baptist Church in Clearwater, where the girls attend worship services. The church is trying to raise money for Amy, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January. ALL is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells in the body that normally fight infections. Leukemia cells are abnormal cells that cannot do what normal blood cells do. For ALL patients, the abnormal cells are immature white blood cells that cannot help the body fight infections. For this reason, children with ALL often get infections and have fevers. Like all blood cells, leukemia cells travel through the body. Depending on the number of abnormal cells and where these cells collect, patients with leukemia may have a number of symptoms. Children with ALL frequently have low amounts of healthy red blood cells and platelets, and there are not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen through the body. This condition, called anemia, makes patients look pale and feel weak and tired. When there are not enough platelets, patients bleed and bruise easily.
[Illustration] Caption: Amy Mauer of Clearwater gets a hug from her friend Brittany Link of Tampa while attending a fundraiser Sunday for Amy and her family at Lakeview Baptist Church in Clearwater, where the girls attend worship services.; Photo: PHOTO, DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD
