A good man died too soon yesterday - I want people to notice - [View All]

[hedgehog]

His name was Danny Dunsmoor. He was a 58 Year old onion farmer here in Oswego County. If you google him, you might come across the story about his big poker win at the Turning Stone Casino last Spring. Or you might see his name mentioned in a story about a round-up of undocumented farm workers. Like most farmers here, he looked at people's papers, but not too hard. Danny paid his workers what he could, tried to give them a decent place to stay and tried to help when the Immigration people showed up. He was a middle man in our Great American Mess of demanding cheap food and blaming the producers when wages in agriculture and food processing are kept low.

Danny was comfortable. He and his extended family had turned a barn on a pond into a family retreat, a place in the shady woods to go and have a game of cards or a get-together in the hot summer or cold winter. He wasn't a rich man though, and worked hard on his farm. That's how he died yesterday. He was out alone on his tractor mowing along a drainage ditch and the tractor rolled.

Danny's death got about 45 seconds on a local tv news report.

So, take a moment from all the arguing and bickering here and remember Danny. He probably voted for John McCain, but he tried to be fair with the people around him. You would have disagreed with Danny on a lot of things, but would you have thought or done any differently in his place? I'm a Democrat because I want to make this a better country for everyone, even the Republicans. When we make people like Danny the enemy instead of potential allies, we've lost. We're no longer making America a better place, we're just playing a game of us vs them.

Take a minute today, too, and hug someone near to you. You never know if it will be your last chance to do so.