Over the past few months I've noticed this woman, Susan Parker on Facebook getting help for her articles taking all the credit when the article is in print in the paper. Last night as soon as Ms. Mann posted on her Facebook about Mr. Hawkins Ms. Parker started asking for details about him for her article which will appear later this week.
It got to the point that Ms Mann told her she'd send her her phone number since the questions weren't going to stop anytime soon. What I found odd was how Ms. Parker was asking anyone who posted something
about him questions for her article. Most of these people weren't personal friends of Mr. Hawkins, they saw him at the monthly Mayor's Assoc meetings where people from all over the Eastern Shore (MD) get together for a dinner/meeting. I have met Mr. Hawkins several times over the past 35 years due to my cousin marrying someone in his family. I almost posted something to Ms. Mann about how sad it will be not to see him at the family dinners but stopped myself due to not wanting to get hit with questions from Ms. Parker especially since I don't feel I know him well enough to answer some of the things she was asking. I can say that he was always friendly towards me and always gave me a hug with a huge smile. He certainly did love his family and openly showed it.
I was sitting in the car at the Fruitland McDonalds when the ambulance drove by. My mind was still going over everything that had just been said at the doctor's office when I heard the sirens. When my boyfriend got
back in the car I told him how someone's life must be in danger due to how the ambulance driver was using every siren plus blowing the horn all the way through Fruitland. When I had my heart attack I remember
being told how they did that with me. So when I hear that noise I know what it means. I couldn't of done anything if I had known Mr. Hawkins was inside it but I could of said a prayer for him which was made as
soon as I saw it on your blog. I know your told many times every day how wonderful your blog is due to how fast the news is posted plus many other reasons which would take me most of the morning to list.
For me there have been three times when you have listed a death that was important for me to know since I wouldn't of known otherwise until reading the obituary due to not being immediate family. You might
remember this. A few years ago you posted about a hit and run where the one hit had died and police were looking for the vehicle. At that time, for me it was just a post. The next morning the new post was how the driver had been found and how he had tried to hide his vehicle in his backyard by covering it up with a tarp. The last name was Mitchell. I have Mitchell's in my family but this man's name wasn't familiar I was just glad they had found him due to the accident he had caused which resulted in a death of an innocent person.
The next day the post was how the Mitchell man had hung himself in his jail cell. It still wasn't familiar...the only thing I felt was that was a sign of being guilty and not man enough to appear in court to get what was coming towards him. But I did notice lots of comments which I usually read each one if I have read the post. A comment caught my attention. It was his sister who was mad that you had posted the news of how he had died before all of the family could be called that he was her brother and she had to find out on your blog.
Something about the comment struck me as familiar so I went back and read every post and every comment again. The man was my cousin's son. I had never met the son. I felt bad for my cousin but chose not to attend the funeral due to how I felt about what he had done about running from the accident and then taking his life. After things calmed down a few weeks later I did visit my cousin to pay my respects. I wouldn't of known any of this if it hadn't been for you. Yes, there was an obituary in the DT's which I would of seen he was my cousin's son and would of attended the funeral due to not knowing any of what he had done. This is just one way you have touched my life. The most important way was while I was away two yrs ago for Christmas. I stayed glued to my laptop getting updates from your blog about Sarah's disappearance and eventually being found. Even miles away you were touching my life. I would look at the end of each day to see what was on the WBOC and DT's sites only to see they had finally updated their sites hours after you had done it. So after two days, I stopped looking at their sites since I had already read what they had posted.
