This started out in the Briefing Room for today, but the more I think about it the more it needs a place of it's own.
Here in Sonoma County our local TV station recently killed it's news division as a cost cutting measure so the local news we get is largely in print or on the web, or worse by word of mouth. But our local fishwrap, the Press Democrat (an NYT paper), has stepped into the void and is apparently sending their staff photogs out with video cameras now as well accepting newsworthy videos from submitters.
The lead video on the page is of an attempted rescue by our Sheriff's Department SAR team, fire crews and the department's helicopter, Henry One, just this past weekend. The person they were attempting to rescue was, sadly, already deceased, but not knowing that to be the case the crew went ahead and did what they had to do joined in the churning waters by Lifeguards (who are sworn peace officers) from California State Parks who swam out from shore to attempt a rescue.
The Sonoma coast, if you've never been there, is one of the best diving spots in the world, and the abalone fishing can be incredible. But the seas and the ground under those waves are treacherous. The name of the place in the video is Stillwater Cove, which it often is not as the conditions in the video are kind of typical in the early part of the year. So far, five divers have lost their lives along the Sonoma coast this year and many others have needed to be resuced.
While it looks (and was) harrowing and risk filled, it is rather common place for the helicopter, Sheriff's SAR team and the State Parks Lifeguards. They do this kind of work almost daily in season, sometimes several times a day, and train for it constantly throughout the year in all conditions as the nature of the region and it's popularity demand it.
The fellow at the end of the rope is Sheriff's Sgt. Eric Thompson who I've known off an on for close to twenty years. He's a good man and a good cop, but it takes some serious grapefruits to do what he is doing in that video, let alone what the pilot and the rest of the crew on board the helicopter are risking. And they do it... every single day without most of us ever hearing about it. The men and women who hang it out there like that, some of them volunteers, are among the finest people I have ever known and I am proud to recognize that they are serving our communities here. They are an outstanding example of what the America I love is supposed to be about.
But the real reason I mention the video site at all is for the coverage there of the recent funerals of two fallen soldiers from Sonoma County brought home to rest. Sgt. Mario DeLeon was carried from the Oakland Airport with a full law enforcement and Patriot Guard escort to his (and my) home town of Petaluma. The procession went by my office in Marin on a brilliant spring afternoon last week and I was proud to see police and firefighters manning the rails on the overpasses, lights blazing and rendering respectful honors.
In the socialist utopia that is Marin County California... a fallen son of California was brought home given the full measure of honor and respect that his selfless sacrifice deserved. Who would have thought it possible, if the Democrat leadership and their enablers in the media had anything to say about it. The service was held at St. James Catholic Church in Petaluma, not two blocks from my home, this past Saturday. It was well attended by family, friends, law enforcement, firefighters and just plain folks. Not an anti-war or Bush hating protestor in sight that I could see.
Like the fearless rescuers who risk all on the coast, honoring of the sacrifice of a single private soldier, and his family, in time of war transcends petty partisan politics and all the blowhards put together. Or at least it is supposed to.
This is the America that the socialist progressives don't understand. This is the America that is't taught in schools, but is nurtured in the soul. This is the America that flag flying silently in the breeze stands for. This is the America that the Democrat leadership would deny the very existence of if it suited their political agenda.
This is my America.
