Note to Readers: This Post Has Been Updated.
I had planned to let my post on the disintegration of the Merce Clinic (which speaks volumes about Randolph Hospital CEO, Bob Morrison's, true legacy . . . and the abject failure of "non-profit" medicine in Asheboro) stand for a while, and return to break. But then . . .
Lance Corporal Jacob Levy, a native of Ramseur, graduate of Eastern Randolph High School, and of Lumbee Indian descent, was shot in the head while on patrol in Afghanistan on Wednesday. He has done prior combat tours there - and in Pakistan - and had volunteered to go back. The Marine was stabilized in the field, and has been on life support in Germany since that time.
He serves with the son of my good friend, Buzz Armfield. The Marine Moms and Dads have been rallying for days. As of this writing, the news is not good.
Both Fox 8 and the N&R have had stories asking for prayer.
But Lance Corporal Levy's "hometown" newspaper has not uttered a peep - at least not online.
Where do we find these young men? At moments like these, I often reflect upon words of Lincoln . . . words (from the Gettysburg address) that I memorized as a child and have not forgotten . . . indeed, words that I have tried to live my life (in a different kind of service) to honor:
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
May God bless and comfort the family of Lance Corporal Jacob Levy during this horrible/heart-breaking time.
Semper Fi.
Sunday Morning Update:
We now have official word that Jacob Levy passed away last night at 8:50 PM. He was 21 and an organ donor (as his Stepfather said, "selfless to the end").
I am citing the News & Record, because as of my last online check (about an hour ago - at which point I resolved not to go back), the Courier Tribune had yet to post the story online.
As background to my earlier posting and what I’m about to say here, Jacob’s Mother had called Buzz Armfield (as noted above, also a Marine parent – whose stepson served with Jacob) from Germany on Saturday morning, with the news that further treatment for his head wound was deemed futile by Jacob’s doctors, and he would shortly be taken off life support.
We expected him to be gone by the end of the day.
Buzz, in turn, called me and asked me to put up a post about Jacob on Housecalls (I was running late for rounds yesterday, but decided to take the extra time and do it) . . . because, while we had read stories online at Fox 8 and WGHP and even the Greensboro N&R, we had not seen anything online at the Courier Tribune (Buzz lives in Jamestown and does not take the Courier, and I decided long ago to spare innocent trees an inglorious end). Buzz could not understand the omission, and wanted to scream Jacob’s sacrifice to the rafters.
“Jacob deserves better. The world should know.”, he said.
Buzz was so upset about it, that he subsequently sent a scathing e-mail to both the Courier and the President of its “parent company” (Stevens Media) in Nevada – asking why the story was not to be found on the Courier’s website.
Since she's spent so much time pretending that "Housecalls" (and I) do not exist, we were both very surprised when Courier Diva, Annette Jordan, sent Buzz an e-mail yesterday afternoon. This was her "terse" (as described by Buzz - I would use another descriptive term) response:
“The story ran in Friday’s paper on the front page. Sorry, you missed it.”
My response to Annette now, withheld until news of Jacob's death was officially announced, will be equally terse . . . for I am as disgusted as I have ever been with my "hometown" newspaper.
Dear sweet, Annette-of-the-small-town-values, Buzz “missed” it, and I “missed” it, and a half-dozen other people who do not pay for the privilege of being kept in the dark by your useless suck-up-to-the-right-people-rah-rah-protesting-too-much newspaper “missed” it, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT PUT THE STORY ONLINE.
And it’s the ONE story you’ve had all weekend that should have been easy to find and be read by every resident of Randolph County . . . online or off - no matter if they have a subscription or not.
For you see, Annette, it’s not about the money you might make drawing a few more gullible subscribers in. It’s not about who is first (Jacob should be), exclusivity, or petty oneupmanship between local competitors.
There’s just NO folksy spin that you can put on this story . . . or any way to dress it up . . . that justified keeping it behind a pay-wall . . . or offering it only to those who read get the hard copy to read all of your not-so-fine print. There’s just NO excuse.
And/so, Buzz Armfield, parent of a Marine, is absolutely right. Lance Corporal Jacob Levy deserved better from his hometown paper. He sacrificed his life to preserve and protect the America’s highest ideals and opportunities.
Now, Annette, just so we’re clear, this post was not designed to use Jacob’s death as a weapon in my (or anyone else’s) war with the Courier Tribune (besides, it’s been a very one-sided war for a very long time - because you-all have held all the cards and played them in all the tightly-knit "right" circles, very close to the vest).
It went up in response to a grieving man’s plea that the sacrifice of his son’s fallen comrade-in-arms . . . his last full measure of devotion . . . not be brushed-off or easily forgotten.
But, as someone who believes in those ideals as Jacob did (and did my best to live them in a-different-kind-of service-to-my-country), if I don’t know anything else, I KNOW that Jacob Levy did not die to preserve the kind of “journalism” practiced by the Courier Tribune over the last 15-20 years.
As I alluded earlier using the immortal words of a martyred President, I KNOW in my bones that this young man’s sacrifice REQUIRES much more of the Courier Tribune than you and your “team” have delivered over the last decade or so . . . ignoring stories that don’t reflect well on the “right people”( who put Asheboro on life support in the first place) . . fawning all over Mike Miller while Community One failed . . . winking and nodding while our “non-profit” hospital pulled the strings and monopolized the resources that ultimately left Bob Morrison a rich man and the poorest in our community out in the cold . . . playing citizen against citizen for money (ala the alcohol and annexation wars) . . . turning a deaf ear as good-people-done-very-wrong PLEADED for your help in speaking truth to power . . . flat out pretending that certain people and situations did not exist . . . and now apparently thinking that elitism and racism have a place in marketing your latest offerings (clearly not realizing that this kind of approach to life and business has not already factored heavily into the “death” of our town).
NOTHING IS GOING TO "THRIVE" HERE UNTIL YOU CHANGE YOUR WAYS!!!
Now, Buzz was reluctant for me to post this response to your (insert unprintables) e-mail. He is tired and heartbroken, and wants his son's friend to now rest in peace. So do I.
But I told my friend this morning that if I know anything about Jacob Levy - from the things Buzz has shared - and the tributes and stories I've read online (everywhere, that is, except your newspaper), I know that Jacob Levy would tell him not to be afraid . . . to stand tall and proud . . . and (most of all) not to run from a fight you believe in.
I believe in this fight. ALL of us in and from Randolph County deserve better.
Where do we find these young men and women? We find them in places like Ramseur and Asheboro. And we find them, I think, IN SPITE OF places like Asheboro and institutions like the Courier Tribune.
You’ve danced with Asheboro’s self-appointed “stars” for a long time, Annette. But I’ve got NEWS for you, lady . . .
. . . there are Lights that will shine far brighter in our skies tonight.
And the Star known as "Phoenix" puts you/the Courier Tribune to shame.
My sincere condolences to Jacob's family. My thanks for his service and sacrifice.
Semper Fi.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Thanks for your posts. This is my hometown. I left it for almost a decade, and now wish in someways I had never returned. Even in my "old" age I am always looking for a way out again....and just for the record, CT hasn't seen a penny of my money for twenty years and never will.
Thanks Mary, the world needs to know about this young man.
Buzzy, this world needs to know a lot of things that the Courier Tribune hasn't bothered to tell them.
Thanks for the call this morning that prompted this post.
I had forgotten this, until my wife reminded me tonight. When Lance Corporal Levy was in Afghanistan previously, he received three rifle rounds to the chest while out on a patrol. His body armor stopped the bullets and he told my wife and I that once he recovered from the impact, he just continued doing his job.
This is just one of the reasons that I wanted as many people as possible to know of this remarkable young man. He has left us much too soon. We've all lost someone special.
Yes, Buzz, I know.
As I reminded you last night, the Marines also have a code-of-honor. They do not leave their own behind.
The Courier Tribune . . . with its warped version of the Rotarian creed . . . and all of its sucking-up to the captains-of-industry who sailed Asheboro's ship aground . . . has done nothing but leave Asheboro's own behind.
Indeed, they REVEL in it.
As we also discussed over the weekend, if I had to make a bet right now, I'd wager that our Miss Annette is saving the story to tell in her own pet project, the CT's new "Thrive" magazine insert.
Irony is, that publication, as I understand it, is only going out to "select" businesses and neighborhoods . . . if I had to hazard a guess, neighborhoods where (generally speaking) people of the Lumbee Indian tribe are less likely to live.
I am so tired of this garbage. Tired of it in my bones. This town deserves so much more from our "newspaper".
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam,--
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln
IN HONOR OF Lance Corporal Levy
Mr. Lincoln had a way with words.
Post a Comment