Ordination Rock 5K (Race Recap)

July 4th, 2017 --  Ordination Rock 5K  --  Tamworth, NH

If there was such a thing as Most Unique 5K Name Award, this race might have a shot at winning it.  Ordination Rock, as explained to me by my grandson, is a glacial erratic - a gigantic rock resting in an area where it just does not belong, apparently deposited there by a glacier (a very long time ago) and just left there after the glacier melted.


Anyway, this glacial erratic is where the start line was for the 5K.

Start: Ordination Rock – outside Tamworth Village up Cleveland Hill Road Finish: K.A. Brett School
Course: A scenic run through quaint Tamworth Village including the Remick Country Doctor Museum & Farm (Binsack Trail), Captain Enoch Remick House, The Tamworth Historical Society, The Barnstormers Theatre, & Cook Memorial Library; winding over the Swift River, turning by Tamworth Veterans’ Memorial and a long straight final run down Rte 113 to the K.A. Brett School.

This was a wonderful, small town, local, fund raiser for the library race.  There were 143 participants.  One of the things that caught my attention in the first mile, while going through the Remick Country Doctor Museum & Farm were some unique spectators!

The race ended at the school and they had my most favorite after race refreshment - watermelon!  For me, on a hot summer day after race, there is nothing better than watermelon - the best!


After the race, the day's activities included a few more fun 4th of July events:


The first was a parade through the downtown area of Tamworth, the kids loved it as they were throwing candy off of each float!   But when the firetrucks came by, with their sirens blaring...

Towards the end of the parade, the Tamworth Union Hall float came by with two of my grandsons and son-in-law...

Union Hall Pig Roast!

Back at the house, the day before...

~18 hours and they'll be ready

No need to mention where we ended up later on the 4th...  :)

Terror Off the Nature Trail - The Trial

(continued from: Witness for the State)

Why was I nervous?

Woke up normal time on the day of the trial.  Coffee.  Bagel.  Shower.  Shave.  But I was off, could feel it.  Why was I actually trying to figure out what to wear?  I never really try to figure out what to wear, I typically just grab anything that sort of matches, maybe.  I suppose just a general feeling of uneasiness totally consumed me.  I don’t know, it was just weird like no other day before.  But then again I never testified against anyone in court before.

Drove up to the county courthouse and true to form, was early.  Grabbed another coffee and just hung around the courthouse and observed everything that was going on.  Again, I had never been down this road before.  It was surreal.

I finally made my way to the ADA’s office and signed in.  The ADA was not at his desk so the receptionist told me to have a seat and he’d be back shortly.  Thoughts began racing through my mind of how this trial was going to unfold.  The truth, I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.  Sure, just like virtually everyone else in America, I’d seen many courtroom trials on TV.  But in reality, none of that seemed to fit with what I was experiencing at that moment.

The ADA showed up, dressed sharp, maybe a better description would be, dressed slick.  Thoughts of used car salesman came to my mind, not sure why.  This was just another day for him, no big deal.   

He took me into his office and started to explain how things were going to happen.  Although I really did want to know all of this, my mind for some reason was not ready to receive it.  It was similar to when the teacher spoke on a Peanuts cartoon.  Wa-wa wa,wa,wa wa-wa-wa.  This was just strange.  He kept going on and eventually I did zone in to what he was saying.  The biggest thing that stood out was, I could not stay for the trial after I testify.  What?  Why not?  Well apparently it’s the law or at least how it works.   Once I was finished testifying, I would be dismissed from the court.  But I wanted to watch how all of this played out.  Oh well, that was not what was going to happen.

Next he started what seemed to be like “coaching”.  My brain quickly started wondering is this how it’s suppose to work?  Is this allowed?  What if the defense attorney asks me if I was coached?   What will I say?   Stop already!  Just stop, over thinking all of this.

After he was through “coaching” me I asked him about the defense attorney.  His answers led me to believe that these guys face each all the time in court and it is a competition, more or less, between them.  I sort of got the feeling that it was feasible that these guys would actually go out for beers from time to time and each brag about their wins.  

The trial started, a little time went by and I was called to the stand.

There I stood just like the movies, “do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…”.

Does anyone ever answer “no” to this question?

First up was the prosecuting attorney, that was a piece of cake.  Heck, I was his witness.  Kid glove questions, just the facts, he lead me through exactly what he wanted me to say.  And that part was over.

Next up, the defense attorney.  That was a totally different story.

With his first question, I was so confused.  This was nothing like I envisioned it.

“How old are you?”

His words were direct like a sharp shooting arrow.  My brain immediately went I’m not sure where, but it definitely was not what I expected.

So I answered “49”.

Next he asked “what do you do for a living?”

Okay, okay, he was just getting preliminary info out of the way, I thought.

I answered, “I’m a college instructor”.

“What do you teach?”

I replied “Business Information Systems”.

Next he goes into his first line of defense but starts it with “so old professor Scott, how long were running on that incredibly hot August morning at the park?”

“Old professor Scott”, what is that all about I thought?  And what was the question about how long I was running about?  I still could not wrap my brain around where he was going and what he was trying to do.  So I answered him honestly and said “I was only out for a 45 minute run, maybe about 30 minutes into it”.  

He said, “do you run much?”

My reply was “I’m training for a half marathon, so I run a fair amount”.

His facial expression changed.  In hindsight, especially because my hair was mostly gray (looked old) and I was running in the summertime Atlanta heat, after 30-45 minutes of running, how that heck could I process anything accurately, especially a shooting, was where he was going with this.  Old, exhausted, profusely sweating was the picture I think he was trying to paint for the jury to discredit my testimony.  But when I told him I was training for a half marathon, that was a surprise to him and it totally changed his game plan.  It was at that point where he dropped this and moved on to another angle.

Next he started asking questions about how I taught my classes at the college.  He did ask numerous questions.  

I was very confused at that point.  He was not asking anything about what I witnessed that day in the park.  Where was he going with this?  Why was he not asking about the park?  My brain was swimming.

The question that stood out the most was a leading question that went like this, “so old professor Scott, isn’t it true that before you give a test to your class, you have to cover all of the material that would be on that test”?

What is this guy doing?   That was a stupid question.  It’s like asking if water is wet.  So I answered the question “yes”.

I do not recall the exact amount of time his questioning took.  Time froze and time went on forever.  It was surreal.  Time did not exist.  

When he concluded, I was dismissed from the court.  The problem was, I was wired, wired like I’d never been before.  I wanted to stay and see how this whole process was going to play out.  But I was not allowed.

Wired.  What to do, what to do?  It was only about 10:00 AM, really could not go to bar and have them line up shots for me (not that I’ve ever done that, but the thought did cross my mind) so that wasn’t really an option.  Instead I went to a Starbucks and knocked down shots of espresso.

No other day of my life was like this one.

Back home hours later, late in the day, I called the ADA.  Actually I was hoping he’d call me, but he didn’t.  I said “what happened?”

The ADA simply said, “he was found guilty”.

This really was not a surprise given what had happened.  I asked the ADA what was up with the defense attorney’s questioning of me especially the question about teaching all the material before giving a test.  

He laughed and said “he quoted you in his summation”.  

What?  How?   But I was a witness for the prosecution.  

He basically said “just like old professor Scott told us, you have cover all the material before you give a test, just like in this case you have to have all the facts and ladies and gentlemen, we do not have all the facts”.

My brain went bonkers!   Now I did need to those shots!   On some level I actually felt violated.  How could this SOB use my words to support his case?  Wow!  

Then the ADA went on to say, "but that’s not all".  After he was found guilty, there was some stipulation that allowed sentencing to take place after a short recess.  Well during that recess, the accused, who had a heart condition and took nitroglycerin pills for it, decided to consume an entire bottle of nitroglycerin pills in an attempt to commit suicide.   

They rushed him to the hospital, they pumped his stomach, he did not die.  In the end, he did end up going to jail.


Justice was served.

As I said in the very beginning of this, I cannot go by this area without hearing that gunshot in my mind.

Terror off the Nature Trail - Witness for the State

continued from Terror off the Nature Trail - The Crime

On September 25, 1789, the Congress of the United States passed the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution granting a cluster of rights to the accused, one of which was the right to a speedy trial.  However, the accused in this case, probably at the advice of his lawyer, waived that right and that began a long, drawn out 15 month process.  A lot can happen in 15 months.


Just as the detective mentioned, I did get a follow up call on what I witnessed.  The call came from one of our Assistant District Attorneys (ADA) who filled me in on the details of the case.


As it turned out, the woman was married to the gunman but had a restraining order against him.  The man walking with her was a coworker.  Pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.


They ADA also mentioned that the woman had agreed to press charges and since he pleaded not guilty, there would be a trial at some point and I would be needed as a witness.  One other thing he mentioned, the accused had bonded out of jail.


An uneasy feeling came over me in regards to the accused bonding out.  However, I did not mention any of this to the ADA.  The ADA said he would stay in contact as the case progressed.


Months went by without any word on the trial, which was fine by me.  As the time progressed though, I found that I was feeling more and more uneasy about testifying.  Thoughts of retribution, if I testified against this guy in open court, lingered in my mind.  Fear.


About this time I had other thoughts on my mind totally unrelated to the trial.  The rumors of more layoffs at work were getting stronger and more frequent.  This was a punch in the gut to me as one of the main reasons I joined Hewlett-Packard was the fact that since Bill Hewlett and David Packard started the company in 1939, they never had a layoff.  Instead they would do an across the board 10% reduction in pay and employees would take a day off work every other week until things improved.  I sure liked that approach.


A few more months passed without any further word on the trial so I decided to call the ADA.  I asked if something happened and maybe I was off the hook for testifying.   I was hoping that was the case.  The ADA said there was a setback in the case.  The woman decided she no longer wanted to  press charges.  The ADA said this happens from time to time in domestic abuse cases where the accused promises a change, won’t do it again, is sorry, etc.  The ADA said that the state was going to bring charges against the guy specifically for, not only carrying a gun in a government owned park, but also for firing it at someone.  I was not off the hook.  He said he’d get back to me as plan “B” progressed.


About a month after that I was laid off from my job at Hewlett-Packard, one of the approximately 30,000 people who were laid off during Carly Fiorina’s reign as the first CEO to be hired from outside the company.  Just my luck.


In retrospect, I suppose I did have some luck.  Prior to the layoff, I was already a part time instructor at a nearby college, teaching two nights a week.  It was sort of like a hobby to me, I enjoyed it, and made a few bucks.  Well the luck was that one of the full-time professors in my discipline was retiring at the end of the semester and they needed to replace him quickly.  I was hired as a “term-to-term” Instructor.  That was the good news, the bad news, I took about a 50% cut in pay.  But I had a job and benefits.


This extended waiting period for the trial continued with very little communication from the ADA.  I suppose this is what can happen when a speedy trial is waived and the accused is not sitting in a jail cell.  Once again, the guy being out of jail was bothering more and more.  I started wondering if he was at the park when I went up there for a run.  My paranoia was increasing.   Since I saw him at a distance when the crime happened, I vaguely knew what he looked like.  Did he know I was going to testify against him?  Could he find out who I was?  Could he look me up, maybe find a picture of me?  From time to time I would see guys at the park that basically fit his description and wonder.  Paranoia is strange thing and I think I tended to think about the worst-case scenarios.  Fear.


The ADA called to let me know that the state’s case was moving along and it would not be too long before a trial date was set.  My paranoia had gotten the best of me by that point and I told him about it.  I started dancing around the idea of not testifying.  He did not like that and was armed with a comeback, “we’ll subpoena you”.  And he went through the whole civic duty thing too.  He also said if the guy does try anything with me, they’d do something about it.  Are you kidding me?  What?  How?  When?  What if I’m already dead from this guy shooting me at the park?  Hey, he’s already tried it once.  I did not like this at all.


The new job was going well except there was one glitch.  I was only a term-to-term hire which meant they would have to re-hire me each term.  Again, a bit more luck came my way.  The college did get the approval to post this job as a full-time, permanent, tenure-track instructor position.   It was a long process but I applied, interviewed, and was offered the tenure-track position.


So there I was, almost 50, way older than the typical new hire tenure-track instructor.  After working in corporate America for the prior 25 years, I had a lot to learn about academia.


One of the things I learned quickly, this tenure-track thing is a game where they make all the rules and if you want tenure, you will conform.  So besides teaching a full load and a few extra courses (for a little bit more money) I was coached, pushed, nudged to get my name “out there” anyway I could.  That meant getting on as many committees as I could and pretty much volunteering for anything that came along.


In the Fall semester each year the college had a Faculty Development Day.  There were no student classes on that day.  Part of that day was dedicated to presenting topics and faculty members would select which topics they wanted to attend.  Since someone had to present the topics, meaning they research something and develop a presentation, and the fact that I was now on that hey look at me, get your name known, tenure-track, I volunteered to present a topic.  I came up with a topic, did the research, created the presentation, everything was good to go for my first Faculty Development Day presentation.


Shortly after that the ADA called me and told me that the trial date had been set.  And, you may have guessed it, the trial date was the same day as the Faculty Development Day.  Wonderful, just wonderful.  So now this trial was causing me negative publicity for the tenure process as I had to back out of my presentation slot.  

How did I get myself into this?


---continued on---  The Trial