Your help needed

[Mark Padgett]

My daughter here in Portland has two friends in NY who may have been affected by the trade center attack. One works in one of the towers, the other across the street. We do not yet know if either one was involved.

The local Red Cross was actually asking people not to come in to donate blood today (Tue) because they were already at capacity. They are asking people to wait until tomorrow or later this week. It was comforting to know our locals responded so quickly and in such numbers.

Kind of makes you put everything in perspective. I had a doctor's appointment this morning and my doctor has two kids who play basketball. I have officiated games involving each of them many times. Usually, we discuss the sport, but this morning, neither of us was in the mood. It was "strictly business".

Perhaps the scariest thought I had was that I was flying cross country last Wednesday and last Friday.