Rider still in a coma

ON SUNDAY, May 15, two friends, Chris Glowa and Louie Bloomfield, were warming up their dirt bikes in the Salmon Arm area. They were part of the OK Dirt Riders Association competition. It was to be a fun day. It ended in tragedy.
From a second-hand report, either Glowa or Bloomfield were off the main track, one ahead of the other. One of the riders turned around and traveling at some 50 kms.crashed head-on into the other on a blind corner.
The two ended up in Kelowna General Hospital with serious injuries; and while Bloomfield has since been released,, Glowa remains in hospital, in a coma. The 31-year-old Glowa, who worked for Anchor Doors (installer of service-bay garage doors) of Kelowna, has some movements in parts of his badly-shattered body, however, a friend related yesterday that it could be just "nerves."
Besides his injuries, Glowa has massive financial burdens because of the incident, and fund-raisers have been set up throughout the Okanagan, including an Internet site (www.worldofgiving.com) and the first silent auction will be held McCulloch Station Pub in Kelowna on Saturday, July 9.
The Ol' Columnist noticed one of the donation jars in the Silver Creek Store on Salmon River Road in the Armstrong area the other day. It has Glowa and Bloomfield's photos prominently displayed. Please give, Glowa desperately needs your help and prayers. Phone 250-979-7278.

WHO'S AFRAID OF A LITTLE LIGHTNIN? The Ol' Columnist, that's who! As flashes blazed across the darkened sky Tuesday evening, your obedient servant fell off the bed and onto the floor. "What's the matter?" asked the calm Missus. "Didn't you see that," I said. "That bolt just hit behind our place." Of course, it didn't, but it was mighty close as I was to learn later from neighbors, who said it had hit the side of the mountain opposite The Fire Zone. There was a wisp of smoke, which was quickly doused by heavy rains.

NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY: There was a well- known radio host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named Russ Hamblin who was noted for his drinking, womanizing, partying, etc. One of his bigger hits at the time was "I won't go hunting with you Jake, but I'll go chasing women".
And along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblin had him on his radio show, presumably to poke fun at him. And to gather more material, Hamblin showed up at one of the revival meetings. Early in the service the preacher announced, "There is one man in this audience who is a big fake." There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblin was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about (some would call that conviction), but he was having none of that.
Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights later he showed up drunk at the preacher's hotel door around 2 am. Demanding that the preacher pray for him. But the preacher refused, saying, "This is between you and God and I'm not going to get in the middle of it." But he did invite Russ in and they talked about 5 am at which point Russ dropped to his knees and with tears, cried out to God.
But that is not the end of the story. Russ quit drinking, quit chasing, quit everything that was "fun". And began to lose favor with the Hollywood crowd. He was ultimately fired by the radio station when he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor. Hard times were upon him. He tried writing a couple of "Christian" songs but the only one that had much success was "This Old House", written for his friend Rosemary Clooney.
As he continued to struggle, an old friend named John took him aside and told him all your troubles started when you "got religion" and asked if it was worth it all. Russ answered simply, "Yes". Then his friend said, "You liked your booze so much. Don't you ever miss it?" And the answer was, "No". John then said, "I don't understand how you could give it up so easily." And Russ's response was, "It's no big secret. All things are possible with God." To this John said, "That's a catchy phrase. You should write a song about it."
As they say, the rest is history.
The song Russ wrote was "It Is No Secret" - "It is no secret, what God can do. What He's done for others, He'll do for you. With arms wide open, He'll welcome you. It is no secret, what God can do." etc...
By the way, the friend was John Wayne, and the young preacher who refused to pray for Russ Hamblin was Billy Graham. And now you know "the rest of the story."


AN AUTHOR OF NOTE: It was only a week ago, I went to the bookcase and opened 'O Jerusalem' (1972) by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. As I related from the bookjacket, Jerusalem is the most universal of man's cities -- the mystic heart of three great religions, condemned to pay for the passions stirred by its stones by being, through 40 centures, the most bitterly disputed site in the world. On Monday, one of the authors of that epic manuscript -- Larry Collins -- died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 75.
Besides 'O Jerusalem', Collins teamed with his friend, Lapierre, on such notable works as "Is Paris Burning?", and "Is New York Burning?". published in 2004.
Collins suffered the hemorrhage at his home in the small Riviera town of Ramatuelle and was taken to the hospital in nearby Frejus. "There wasn’t the least bit of antagonism in 43 years,” Lapierre said, expressing his distress at the death of his writing partner.


IT'S A MEDIA AFFAIR: One-time radio man Kevin Rothwell, now with the BBB, and former newspaperman, Russ Niles, have teamed up to run Hunting Hawk Winery smack dab in the middle of Historic O'Keefe Ranch. The opening act the other day was smooth-singing Barney Bentall while 250 eager fans looked on. On the same program was one of my favorites, Rob Dinwoodie and Dogwood Road.
The winery, according to Rothwell, has a two-acre vineyard, wine building and tasting facility at the ranch that was the hub of commerce and social life in the North Okanagan from 1867 to the early 1900s.
So what was the reason Niles got into the winery business? "I kept losing jobs (in the newspaper business)," he said, with just a touch of irony in his voice.