It's easy sometimes to forget, in the midst of story after story about insurance co-pays, arbitrations and budgets, that real people put real lives on the line in the performance of their duties.
Those priorities straightened considerably when a 100 pound chunk of metal fell on Lawrence Park Deputy Chief Michael Crotty this week, ending his life after only 24 years.
He had just been hired as a City of Erie firefighter. His family told us he had never been prouder.
I'm not here to tell you who is right or wrong in negotiating budgets.
I'm here to tell you that all of us have better lives because a precious few are willing to risk it all in the protection of the lives and properties of others.
As hundreds of firefighters come to Erie County this weekend to say goodbye to a promising young talent, I'm drawn to a single statement usually embroidered on a cloth displayed at firefighter funerals.
Lest We Forget.
We never should.

If you want to draw a crowd there's nothing quite like talking about other people's money.
Our look into what the executives for the City's ten authorities make compared to cities of similar size brought quite the response.
Viewers are now asking us to look into neighboring communities, what people drive and what other perks are being handed out.
Authorities are free standing by design, the thinking being that certain assets are either too important or too profitable to be left within the normal political systems.
But that freedom also creates less accountability, and even though all of us foot the bill we often don't have easy access to what is being spent where.
You can check out the stories under local headlines or top videos for the next week or so.

This has been both one of the most powerful and most popular stories we have done in some time.
Heart transplant recipient Lindsey Fuhrman not only got married to fellow church member Adam Allgeier, but she also got her dad's blessing to let the father of her heart donor help walk her down the aisle.
We received numerous phone calls and emails as a result of this story, as people clearly want to comment on this young woman's amazing journey from hospital bed to altar.
We may do more with this site soon, but for now you can view both stories here, along with
additional video and you can also comment here as well.

Lindsey's Wedding One .

Lindsey's Wedding Two .

More Wedding Video .

Here's just a sample of the comments we've received so far:

I've been critical lately of some of our local news coverage (just how many times must we watch stories about graffiti on trains?????????), but I must tell you that I heard and saw the story about the Fuhrman girl twice today. I was moved to tears each time.

Thank you for such a nice piece.

J. VanCise
Corry,PA
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We smiled, through our tears, as we viewed your story on the 6 o'clock news about the bride walking down the aisle with 2 proud "fathers."
Thank you for the story and may it be an inspiration for others to become donors.

J. Harrison-Means
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I wanted to share how splendid it was to see the Wedding footage of my little brother and his new wife. My husband and I recently moved to MN and were unable to make it into town to attend and much to my pleasure and surprise I received notice from my little sister today that you had aired the wedding, Lindsey’s story, and subsequently Adam’s story in not one, but two segments! I have enjoyed the footage tremendously, and am thrilled that my brother has been blessed with a soul-mate and that the Lord has seen fit to keep her safe and healthy through it all.

From a loving big sister and brother-in-law in MN,

Nona & Dave
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Feel free to email your thoughts to scott.bremner@wsee.tv. We'll add more as we can.

I don't know what sense of pride or belonging the Chinese people get out of walking the pavement of Tiananmen Square.
I do know that it is a focal point for Chinese tourists and often a destination point for pilgrimages from around the country.
Able to hold one million people at the same time, the square was part of the area where visiting
dignitaries could pitch camp while waiting for an audience with the Chinese Emperor.
Since the visitors travelled far and usually sought money, it made no sense to go home empty handed so sometimes they would wait for months for a few minutes of time.

But for me, and I suspect many Americans, there is a chilling sensation when walking the ground where a group of kids in 1989 stood up to the machine, literally, in protesting for democratic reform by risking their lives by standing in front of government tanks.
This Associated Press picture culled from an Internet library remains one of the defining images of freedom from the end of the last century.

That brings me to Mike, our tour guide, a tall and affable 25-year old Chinese student who taught himself English and practices words with his tour groups.
Mike (a name he uses to spare visitors the real pronunciation) knew an awful lot about Chinese history in general and the history of the Square in particular.
Until delegation members asked him about the 1989 uprising.

Then his face went blank.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said in perfect honesty.
The people were never told.
Complain about the media all you want. A lot of the criticism is justified.
But sometimes it takes going half a world away, to realize the price of the alternative.

We couldn't go all the way to China and back without spending one day as Ugly American Tourists.
The next few entries will show you some of that.

Going to Beijing and not seeing the Great Wall of China would be like coming to Erie and not seeing any water.
More than a million people died building what is ultimately the granddaddy of all neighborhood fence disputes.
Longer than the United States is wide, the Great Wall was the Emperor's way of keeping China together and keeping the hordes out.

Contrary to popular belief, a Chinese astronaut recently confirmed that you can NOT see the Great Wall (or any other man made structure) from outer space, kicking off a Great Debate among Chinese educators about whether all of the text books should be changed.
I don't know if these pictures convey just how steep this wall is in places, I mean it is straight up and down, and the steps are not evenly spaced.
More than a few delegation members complained of leg aches and pains the next morning, but we simply could not visit this place without standing where sentries did hundreds of years ago, one long testament to the grit and determination of a people we have yet to fully understand.