Charlene Parker (Caroline Columbine Charlene Manita Baird Brixey Parker) died on July 23 in Greeley, Colo. She was 81.

Charlene was born in Lewis, Colo., on Jan. 6, 1927, to Lloyd Aaron and Doris Eva Baird Brixey. She was one of four children. She married the love of her life, Jerry Parker of Coleman, Texas, on June 1, 1952.

Charlene attended schools around the Cortez area, graduating from Montezuma County High School in Cortez. She went on to further her education graduating from business school in Albuquerque, N.M. She was employed by the State of Colorado Department of Employment Security and a lawyersʼ office in Cortez, before marrying Jerry. She and Jerry owned the Inn Town Motel and managed the Purple Sage Golf Course for several years.

Charlene was an active member of the Purple Sage Golf Club. She participated in the Womenʼs Golf League, Thursday Ladiesʼ Day and won several City and Club Championships. She was also a member of the Uinta County museum board. 

Charlene is preceded in death by her husband, Jerry Parker; her parents and two sisters, Lois Louise Brixey Hayes and Doris Ruth Brixey French. She is also preceded in death by her brother PFC Lloyd Aaron Brixey, Jr. who was killed in the battle of Saipan on June 24, 1944.

Charlene is survived by her family; Bruce Brixey Parker and his wife Becki and their children Jessee, Matthew and Aaron Parker and Michaela, Jacki and Kati Rathbun; Jerri Kim Parker; and Trish Parker Dinnel and her husband Don and their children Dusty and Kaila Dinnel.

Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m., July 29, at the Evanston City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations in her memory to the Shrinersʼ Hospitals for Children, Fairfax Road at Virginia Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84103, would be very appreciated.

Believe it or not, I've not made up my mind about the presidential race yet.

I have serious misgivings about both candidates. I'll save my rant of why John McCain of 2008 is no John McCain of 2000 for another blog entry. For now, let's focus on Obama.

The hate mail circulating the Internet about Obama is enormous. At first, I just laughed it off. I thought nobody could really believe some of the whoppers about him out there, like his supposed radical-Islamic upbringing.

But just do a search on Snopes for Obama (or click here; I've already done it for you) and you'll find no shortage of articles refuting as many as 50 lies in one e-mail forward. I'm not paying lip service to it here. Instead, I'm going to offer up some truth about the senator from Illinois.

Here's what I don't like about Obama:

• His lack of experience. The guy is still in his first term as senator. He otherwise spent seven years in a state legislature, and that's about it. Oh, and he gave one rousing speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. 

• His health-care plan. I understand why people want universal health care -- our system sucks. Unless you're in the insurance industry, then you're making huge bucks.
  

• Gay marriage. Obama favors civil unions but not gay marriage. Sorry, but civil unions is like creating a new form of segregation. Just let them get married already. Hell, we let Britney Spears do it twice.
  

Here's what I like about Obama (kind of):

• The economy. OK, the man is on the record as saying those making more than $250,000 will see the Bush tax cuts expire. Nobody else. That's his plan. Are you in that $250,000 category? If you said no, I'm under that, quit your complaining. If anything, some of Obama's policies are actually going to help you. Like his credit card bill of rights. 

• Foreign policy/Iraq. OK, first, I saw an e-mail a while back blasting Obama for claiming to be against the war when he wasn't even in the Senate yet. But guess what? We all have an opinion about the war, and if he knew it stunk from the beginning, well, he had his eyes and ears open to the little bit of skepticism that was out there at the time. Good for him. Seems like a good instinct to have in a president.
  

Check out this piece at the Huffington Post. Then click around the referring links in the article. For a piece all about what the mainstream media has missed, they link to the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN to name a few.

So if the mainstream media isn't getting the scoop, how comes you're ripping them off to get yours, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Brendan DeMelle (feel free to ding DeMelle's score at newscred.com.?

Hey folks,

We're coming home in August to visit friends and family in Colorado and Wyoming. Here is a calendar of our itinerary. Drop me a line if you're interested in getting together while we're home.

Friday was perhaps the craziest news day in the three years I've been in Columbia. Witness this lineup of stories I was responsible for getting on the Web site yesterday afternoon.

-- A suicidal man was threatening to throw himself off a bridge. The police had coaxed him nearly off the bridge when they opted to try and Taser him. But the shot missed. So another officer fired a second shot as the suicidal man ran back onto the bridge. He fell about 15 feet and as of Friday was in critical condition.
This is one story that will be catching fire in Columbia. The police department just bought a whole grip of Tasers for the department, a move that has been protested by several human-rights groups around town. Having a guy Tasered off the bridge is only going to add fuel to that fire. And frankly, it's a debate that needs to happen.

-- A funeral home in Columbia is accused of letting corpses rot in the basement.

-- And last but not certainly not least, the parents of little Cortez Johnson were charged with second-degree murder for essentially beating the 2-year-old to death. The details of the injuries this poor toddler experienced is horrific.

Like I said, a crazy news day yesterday.

Lisa Clausen, a dear friend, mentor and teacher, died this week. Here's the e-mail Tom sent around the newsroom:

Lisa Clausen died about 10 a.m this morning of a rare form of cancer she had been battling for more than a year. Lisa was a design editor at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and a member of the '06-'07 group of Knight visiting professionals to our school. She was a terrific editor, and always brought a smile into the newsroom with her.

Indeed, Lisa was pretty awesome. I learned a lot from her in the year she spent here. It was the year I felt I really came into my own as a journalist, and I have Lisa to thank for helping me get there.

The '06-'07 school year was crazy. We relaunched our Saturday publication, changing it from a weekly 8-page broadsheet into our flagship print product, the Weekend Missourian. We also relaunched our Web site and began moving operations for it to the copy desk. And on top of that, we were short handed much of the time, with one editor out with health problems and another with family issues. When you're a staff of 3, losing 2 editors can sure take it out of a department.

Meanwhile, I was in just my second year at the school, and I was still coming to grips with my new profession. I was in such awe of the Missouri School of Journalism the first year, I felt like a fraud. I thought any minute they'll realize they goofed up by hiring this guy from some hick newspaper back west. I was a little more comfortable the second year, but now I had new fears -- I was one of the primary players on the relaunch of ColumbiaMissourian.com, and that was going to be a load of responsibility.

I was overwhelmed. On top of that, Lisa was going to be the other instructor for the beginning design class, and I was scared to work with her. I mean, here is someone who talks about design like I talk about pro wrestling. She was a national leader in her field, and I was a self-taught designer still getting over the fact they had hired me for this gig.

But somehow, I impressed her. Even when I was a grumpy asshole, she was somehow able to get me to snap out of it. She and I had long talks on the weekends about design and how to best teach it, and I gained important new insights. I developed a better appreciation for typography. I learned how to better use white space. I found myself inspired. And I became a better teacher and a better journalist because I spent that time with her.

Lisa was a quiet force in our newsroom. She never got stressed out or upset, never complained about staying late or coming in early. She was able to leave work at work and enjoy her many friends, her interests, and Steve the dog. She was always willing to lend a helping hand, a sympathetic ear or talk through an idea. She inspired grand ideas in our design and in our journalism.

I was sad when she left. I wanted to throw her a goodbye party, but she wouldn't hear of it. When I heard she'd be coming back a month later to help us brainstorm at a week-long editors' retreat, I got very excited to see my friend and mentor again. But she canceled at the last minute, and it was the last time I heard of her potentially coming to town.

Word got out about her cancer last fall, and I sent her a heartfelt e-mail about how sorry I was to hear the prognosis, that I would always appreciate how much she taught me and that if there was anything I could do, to please let me know. She wrote back once, ignoring the any mention of cancer and saying we should keep in touch. It was the last time I heard from her.

I sent a few more e-mails, mostly updates on how things were going with my wife's pregnancy and how things were at the paper. She never wrote back. But I kept e-mailing her up until about six months ago, hoping that reading them would make her happy.


I'll miss you, Lisa. You were a wonderful friend and mentor, not just to me but to an entire army of journalists. You may no longer be of this Earth, but your spirit lives on in many, many people.

I am very ready for a week in the Rockies. The weather in Missouri has turned to Misery the last few days, with temperatures in the 90s and stifling humidity. And it's probably only going to get worse between now and the first of October.

Fortunately, we'll get a week reprieve from the nastiness of hot, hot heat when we come home next month for Amber's wedding.

There will be a lot of people to see and plenty of friends and family are dying to meet Audrianna. Jenny and I will be setting up an itinerary for this trip that I'll post here on the blog. We want to see as many people as possible, but we also need to limit how much we're driving. In the past, we've just driven home and played every day by ear. But with gas at $4 a gallon and an infant in tow, I think a schedule is the way to go.

Our first priority out there will be Amber's wedding and all the wedding-related activities. Second priority is introducing Audrey to family and friends she hasn't met yet, especially Grandma Penni. With any luck, there will be a good Vonnegut show to catch while we're out there too.

We plan to leave on Friday, Aug. 15. The wedding is the following Friday, Aug. 22. After the wedding, we'll probably head out the next day since we both have to be back on Monday for work.