Editor, Times-Union: On Jan. 27, 2002, our grandson Ryan Utter was in a serious accident on Beaver Dam Road. He was airlifted to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne. Upon our arrival to the hospital, we found our wonderful grandson in a near death condition.The doctors could not give us a lot of hope; he was in gods hands.
Monday morning his friends started arriving to the hospital. When the day was over we had in our group about 40 young people. Here was this large group all in a huddle in one end of the lounge. Some were crying, some were just sitting there with a dazed look on their faces. Never once did I hear any loud voices or being disruptive. When the young people started to leave they each and every one gave our son and daughter-in-law a big hug of comfort.
Tuesday morning the kids are back, this time there was between eight or 12 of them. Most of them prepared to stay. At this time we were still not getting good reports on Ryan, but these kids were never far away when it came time for Ryan's parents to be comforted. This group of kids was with us all week. When on Friday the doctors informed us something was wrong, Ryan's pressures were going up, our son and daughter-in-law came out of the room and broke down. One of these same boys walked over to comfort them, when all of a sudden he got up went over and picked up a Bible. He came back and bent down after leafing threw the Bible he then read a passage to Ryan's parents. It was beautiful, seeing this young man, with the devilish smile, one who has been known to have done ornery acts. He not only knew what the Bible was for but where to look for a verse that would help Ryan's parents have a little hope.
That night my husband, myself and 12 young people stayed to be near Ryan. These 12 kids were the best behaved group of young people we have ever seen. Not once in the night did we have to ask them to calm down and be quiet. The next morning when I got up at 3 a.m, to check on Ryan there was kids all over the floor all covered up to their noses, sound asleep. When they woke up the next morning, they all picked up after themselves, you would have never have known they had been there all night sleeping.
Saturday morning we got the bad news that our Ryan was not going to make it. These kids were devastated their best friend was going to die. Before the day was over that hospital lounge had been taken over by the young people. The pain that was on each and every one of their faces broke my heart. They were with us until the end. But it didn't stop there; on Sunday I had a visit from one of the girls, she said that the kids wanted to help get food around for the funeral dinner.
Well, today (Feb. 7) was the funeral, there were so many young people there it was just unreal. Ryan's friends were still at our sides. I have no idea how many came up to hug grandma and grandpa.
The next time you are complaining about those darn kids remember reading this and take a second look at them. They may have been a problem at one time or another but they are kids like we were. Just how many of us can say we were perfect as teen-agers. We have a great bunch of kids out there, who all have the biggest hearts. Thank you again to each and everyone of you who was there for us.
Lois and Dick Utter Ryan's Grandma and Grandpa
Mentone via e-mail
State Budget
Editor, Times-Union: In the Statehouse debate over Indiana's budget crisis, it seems that whenever a Republican suggests the obvious - that real spending cuts must be part of the solution - Democrats instantly respond: "Show us where. We've already cut to the bone."
OK, we will. For starters, we believe Gov. O'Bannon and Lt. Gov. Kernan could find significant savings in the more than $1 billion they spend each year on professional consultants. They need to take a close look at every one of those 11,000 contracts and cancel those that aren't necessary.
We Republicans have been looking through those contracts, and we found some examples of wildly extravagant spending.
For instance, we found a consultant who lives in California being paid $372 an hour to tell Indiana police and fire agencies what radios they should be purchasing to upgrade their communications networks.
That's an important job, for sure, but the man doing it got paid $830,000 last year. And his contract this year will allow him to earn another $951,000. And he doesn't even live in Indiana or pay taxes here!
When we questioned the governor on this, his press secretary responded that nobody else in the United States has the knowledge to do this job.
How would they know? They didn't even put it up for bid.
I think every Hoosier with common sense knows better. Even an Enron auditor would recognize this as wasteful spending. That's why the Indiana Republican Party presented its first "Golden Drain" award to O'Bannon and Kernan.
We're pretty sure there are many other examples of wasteful and unnecessary spending in those 11,000 professional contracts. We found numerous contracts with public relations and advertising firms, temporary employment agencies and data processing consultants, just to name a few.
If just a 5 percent savings were achieved, the state would save $68 million a year. That alone would be enough to avoid laying off 1,000 teachers.
Every dollar saved is one less dollar that would have to come from Hoosier families in the form of more taxes.
In the days to come, we'll be pointing out more obvious places to save tax dollars. And we're taking suggestions from everyone in Indiana. Anyone who believes they know of wasteful state spending should send a letter to the Indiana State Republican Committee in Indianapolis and tell us about it.
Let's help the governor does what we all know needs to be done: cut spending.
Jim Kittle Jr. Chairman Indiana Republican Party via e-mail
Colds, Flu
Editor, Times-Union: I found David Slone's article concerning colds and the flu to be quite engrossing. At age 82, I know what Mr. Slone is talking about when he refers to colds as "nasty little things," for I have certainly had my share of colds and flu during my eight decades on Earth.
Mr. Slone states that his mother told him to go see a doctor or get something from over the counter. Now when I was a youth, we didn't often seek out over-the-counter remedies, for we used homemade remedies. To stifle a cold, Mother, just before bedtime, would mix up a concoction of grease, Vicks Salve and potent onions, get the mixture hot, slap it on my chest and cover up the mess with a piece of flannel. The whole procedure was truly messy, but that remedy usually did the trick and the next morning I was breathing easy again. On the other hand, I remember the time when if one did see a doctor, the doctor dosed him with "horse pills" - pills big enough to choke a horse. I believe the technical term for them is "sulfa drugs."
In my time I have had plenty of cold attacks and seizures of flu, but I didn't always let those dilemmas get me down.
Many years ago, while living in Gary, on a frigid February night I suddenly took down with a tremendous cold and the next morning I was too sick to even think about going to work. Well my sister made a kettle of chicken soup and sent a big portion of it to me in my hotel room. They say that chicken soup is the "Hebrew's penicillin." Well, I can believe it. The next morning I awoke feeling so much better. Jumping out of bed, I picked up the Chicago Tribune and leafed through it until I came to the theater section where, to my surprise and delight, I discovered that the great film star Marlene Dietrich was to appear at the State Lake Theatre to promote her latest picture. Well, because here was my chance to see the glamorous, fascinating Marlene Dietrich, right then and there I forgot all about being sick. So I hurried and cleaned up and took the train into Chicago to see Marlene Dietrich in person. Well, she was terrific on the stage and after the show I ventured outside the theater and stood by the stage door until suddenly Marlene Dietrich bounded through the door and in her scant evening gown she climbed up on top of her car and stretched out, revealing those famous legs so we fans could get a gander at them. Miss Dietrich knew what we fans had come to see and she gave us all that we expected to see and maybe a little more.
Well it turned out that there truly was dynamic healing power in the chicken soup because I had no relapse from the Chicago trip and I was able to go back to work the next day. I state that my healing processes were derived from the partaking of the chicken soup - still the sight of that gorgeous figure of feminine pulchritude, Marlene Dietrich, must have also given me an extra, tremendous shot in the arm!
