In Search of the Human Spirit

Last weekend, ex-convict, Steve Junker, witnessed a hit-and-run accident. A Ford Focus hit a bicyclist. Junkers saw the driver get out of his car, look at the bicyclist, then go back to his car. The driver was going to flee the scene.

Junker yelled at the guy, but he didn’t stop. Junker grabbed the guy by his collar as he got into the front seat. The driver got his door closed then hit the gas. Junker was trapped underneath the car. The woman who was with him screamed for help.

There were other witnesses and they ran to the car to help out. They helped roll the car off of Junker and pulled him out. The driver sped away.

One of the bystanders got in their car and chased the Ford Focus. They drove across the bay from San Francisco to Emeryville. By the time they got to Emeryville, the police had caught up to them and the hit-and-run driver was arrested.

A few weeks ago, Molly, a black Labrador Retriever, set off to go fishing with her owner Doug Harmon and a friend. They were fishing on Chamberlain Lake in Allagash Wilderness Waterway in the state of Maine when their boat capsized. Harmon and his friend drowned. It was assumed that Molly drowned too.

Then something strange happened. People would visit the wilderness and say they’ve seen a black Labrador. So the family set up signs in hopes that this was their dog.

Three weeks after the accident Molly wandered up to the porch of Alaine and Bernadette Sorois in Millinocket. A local resident recognized the dog from the fliers. She informed the Sorois family and then arranged for Molly to go home.

Although they can never bring Doug Harmon back, they at least have his faithful friend Molly.

Sgt. Frank Sandoval captured the hearts of many people living in the Bay Area. The 27-year-old was serving in Iraq when he was hit by an explosion in 2005. He lost a part of his skull and had other injuries.

When he came home, he had to go through extensive rehabilitation. For nine months he practiced basic skills like walking and talking.

It was decided that he needed special surgery to insert a flap in his skull. He underwent that surgery recently. The surgery didn’t go well and he was left brain dead.

His parents decided that his death should give life to others. He is being kept alive on a ventilator until seven organs can be harvested. Then the ventilator will be turned off.

He’s left behind a wife and a five-year-old daughter. Due to stories in local newspapers, there has been an outpouring from the public. To date $43,000 has been donated to a trust fund in his honor.

5 year old, Hannah Klamecki, was found alive after being presumed dead in a swimming accident. She’d gone swimming in a river with her grandfather. His body was washed ashore. It was presumed the 5 year old died as well.

But Friday, she wandered out of the forest. When the current changed, she had grabbed a branch and was able to get to land. She had wandered around for two days covering two miles. She wandered into the rescuer workers camp and was spotted by the fire chief.

The incident happened on the Kanakee River in Illinois.

On May 29th 2006, Gilberta Estrada could take no more. She set up a wooden rack. Hung her 4 children and then hung herself. The baby clung to life. She found by her mother’s sister who got her to the hospital and saved her.

The 9 month old baby, Evelyn Frayre, has been in foster care since there horrible incident. The court ruled on her case today. Under an agreement made between relatives including her father, Evelyn will stay with her father’s sister, Eva Salas. Her father, Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez, will have weekly visitation rights. Her maternal Aunt, Alejandra Estrada, also has rights to see her two weekends a month. Both Gregorio and Alejandra are petitioning for permanent custody of Evelyn. There was a previous abuse charge against Gregorio which will have to be weighed into it all.

Let’s hope the court does what is right for the baby and she will have a chance at a happy, healthy childhood.

Kellie Lim was 8 years old when she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. They amputated both legs and arms in hopes of stopping the disease. Her doctors had very little hope of her surviving childhood. She proved them all wrong.

Lim gets to use that experience in her new profession. She graduated from UCLA’s medical school in May and will be a doctor. She will specialize in childhood allergies and infections diseases, something she knows about first hand.

Lim has spent years in wheelchairs and she knows pain. Today she has two prosthetics legs, but does not have a prosthetic arm. She’s able to doing everything she needs to do with one arm.

Her experience will help her as she treats children. She’ll be starting her residency at UCLA Medical Center.

One of the rarest feats on the baseball field happened last night for the Oakland Athletics. They were playing the Boston Red Sox at the Oakland Coliseum. Second baseman, Mark Ellis, who recently became a father, hit for the cycle.

They say the hardest part of hitting for the cycle is getting a triple. Ellis got that over with in his first at bat. He then hit a home run. All he needed was a double and a single. He got the double next. In a twist of fate, he reached base on an error in his next at bat when Boston’s third baseman made an errant throw to second base.

That might have been the end of it. But, Boston tied the game up and it went into extra innings. Ellis got one more chance to get his single–and he did it!

Maybe he should become a father more often.

An unnamed Iraq War Veteran has set out on a unique protest. He is running laps around the State Capitol in Sacramento, California. He is doing it to honor those who have died in the Iraq war and to show the futility of the military operation.

The veteran runs around the Capitol. When the lap is completed he reads the name and biography of one of the soldiers who has died in Iraq. Then he continues on. The protest began on Memorial Day. He’s running 24 hours a day. He’ll stop when he’s read all the names of the dead.

Others have come to join them. Some run with him for a few laps or an hour. They support the veteran in whatever way they can.

The veteran refuses to give his name. He wants all the focus to be on the war dead. He hopes to turn raise awareness of the war, bring an end to the conflict, and shine a spotlight on the government’s treatment of the wounded.

Can You Spell Serrefine? On Thursday, Evan O’Dorney of Danville, California spelled serrefine under pressure. It won him the title at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The new spelling bee champion is 13 years old and he doesn’t even consider spelling his forte. He sees as a bunch of memorization and nothing more. He likes math and music much better. He is also a pianist and has written a couple concertos.

O’Dorney was spelling words outloud at 2 years old. He’s practiced long and hard for this competition. Since this is his final year of competing, he won’t be back for a repeat. It’s off to bigger and better things for this smarty pants. Next stop? The Math Olympics this Summer in Nebraska.