Well, winter is here, at last. Snow, although early, is here.

But with all that pretty snow, there comes the toll from accidents on the road.

Traveling too fast, improper following distance, and not paying attention to the road is the total problem that causes these preventable crashes.

Yes, driving unsafe on slick, wet roads and having an accident, is a preventable affair. So, what can you do to drive safe in the winter? Well check this out....

First off, lets talk about speed. Slow down! Slow down! Slow down! driving the speed limit on wet, slick roads is just silly. When you drive too fast, you risk having an accident, that could have been avoidable. See, tires, work on the concept of traction. There are 3 types of traction..static,100%,rolling, 50-35%, and wet which can range anywhere from 15% to none. Tire tread depth plays into this too, so make sure that your tires have more thread than a tenth of a penny deep.

Visibility is degraded when its snowing. So, why would you want to drive fast, especially when you cannot see?

Skid avoidance...traveling distance and speed plays into how you can control your car during a skid. Break pressure can also be a huge factor during or before a skid. Avoid panic stops when you have to stop. This locks the axles up on your car(even with ABS..ABS fails sometimes), and makes steering very hard. Tap your breaks, if you have to. Repeated tapping, enables the wheels to maintain rolling motion, keeping you in traction with the driving surface, and in control of your car.

Take care of your vehicle. Replace your windshield wipers, and check your coolant, and oil levels. And if driving a diesel engine equipped vehicle, make sure you use #2 diesel, blended with either #1 type diesel, or a fuel additive that prevents fuel filter clogging. See, Diesel jells up when tempatures drop below 29 degrees.

Well, I hope these few tips can help someone avoid what I like to call, epic stupidity, and getting in an accident that could have been avoided.

Always remember...What speed id too fast when driving on slick roads? Just a half a mile per hour can be too fast, and the safest place to be, is in your driveway, keys in the house, and you taking the bus to where ever you have to go.

I busted down and cried when I heard the story about people dropping their pets off at the local shelter either because they can no longer afford them, or because they just got evicted from their home. This is disgusting.....

How can people abandon their pets? I mean, don't these people have any special feelings for the dog, or cat,  that they raised from babies, or become friends when they adopted their pet from the pound?

At least dropping your pet off at the shelter is a humane thing to do. Its just sad because these people just had to get rid of their pet, although I personaly don't see how they can do that, especially when there are places to live that do allow pets.

But, pet abandonment is on the increase. Some people drop their pets at the pound, and some do something more sinister...dropping them out in the wild, or just killing them.

Come one people, lets keep those pets in your home. If you cannot find a place to live in SLC, move out. Find a place to live, and keep your pets. The shelters are becoming more over crowded, and the optoons of killing your pet, or dropping them off in the middle of nowhere is totally uncalled for, sociopathic, and is just as disgusting as child abandonment, or murder.

Child predators. They can be anyone. An aunt, uncle, mom or dad.

Although child abuse is a very disgusting subject, lets talk about over reacting, and the destruction of civil rights of the public in general.

When a case of child predatation is reported to the media, by police agencies, or the media finds out by themselves, the story is put on the airwaves, and the public sees the story.

But how ever, the story often ends up condemning the person charged, before he can go to court.

Yes, child abuse in any form is disgusting. But, what becomes dangerous for the public in general, is when the news story reported by the media becomes a case for the public to panic, and cause problems with court convictions, by tainting prospective jury members, and damaging the reputation of a very much possible innocent man.

As the economy worsens, many homeowners find they can't afford their pets.  It's a national trend that is also happening here in Utah. I spoke with several animal experts who say they've seen a sharp increase in the number of pet owners giving up their animals.  What surprises me is that some homeowners actually abandon their pets in their homes and leave them to starve and suffer.  I can understand where unforseen  economic circumstances may cause a family to give up their pet, but a responsible owner will at least take the animal to a shelter.  Gene Baierschmidt with the Humane Society of Utah suggested people advertise on cragislist.com.  It might sound risky leaving a pet with a stranger, but that animal will have a better chance of survival than leaving it to fend for itself.

Katy

ok, first off I can probably own any one of your arguments, not to mention start awesome debates.

I can pretty much win any debate thats out there...

My friend is heartbroken over her little dog that ran away tuesday. She has already lost one dog who died because of ingesting a toy doll of some kind so this is especially hard for her to endure. Please if anyone has seen this little dog or knows someone who might have picked her up, contact me. Most of us know that our dogs are like our children and this is very painful to go through. If you live at the south end of the valley please keep an eye out for her. Her name is Maya and she has a brother who is deaf and needs her to come home. Any info would be helpful.

Every year I see some incredibly clever costumes. ( The "WOW.. that's a good one" response!!!!) :) :)

Last year's was the "Miss South Carolina" teen USA contestant.  Remember her? ... " I personally believe, that U-S americans.... don't have maps... the Iraq, everywhere such as".... etc etc etc!  LOL

This year... I'm guessing politics will be big. Saturday Night LIve has helped V.P candidate Sarah Palin  gain celebrity status... and Barack, Bush, Hillary....  I bet they get thier fair share of Halloween impersonators!

Do you love Halloween? Have you thought of your costume? What are your kids going to be this year?  Do you buy those ready-made costumes in a bag or create your own from scratch?

I can't believe this is in the news constantly.  Can you believe a man can marry a man and a women marry a women.  Wow, that is so scary, right?  It's like an epidemic, I mean if we allow this to happen, when are we going to catch the same fever!

Frankly,  it's not any of our business!  If other people want to be "gay" as society states, who are any of us to say it is wrong!  What happens in someone else's house between two consenting adults, is their business!  Let's say you or anyone else on this earth say, "this is a sin, and we can't let this happen." 

Two things come to mind...

1.  Judge not, least ye be judged.

2. Get your own house in order.

Just got through having a long discussion with my boy about the virtues of living like Christ did. And, during our long discussion, we had a chat about the news story about the bank robber up in Ogden, who fought off police, and said he was Satan. A very interesting story, and what is to follow, a very scary one indeed.

Possession. The story of the story behind the exorcist, brought this very real, and very dangerous phenomenon into mainstream religious circles, and into a scientifically verified research community. But, here is the very disturbing question? What if he was really possessed?

Now, considering the very high probability that the man is very mentally disturbed, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, why would we discount the possibility that this man is probably possessed by Satan, or any one of his demonic minions?

The Mormon church's attempt to influence the out come of the November elections, is to say the least, very disturbing to say the least. This attempt, greatly crosses what is suppposed to be the line between church and state.

I, personaly would like to call this latest attempt at religiomcopression to influence political out comes, a very grave distortion of mans law, especially inside of the United States, and in a very big way, against God's law, freeedom of choice.

The people of California, voted to change the law, and allow gay marriages ( distortion of gods law about the ability to procreate life, and confuse great feelings in the bedroom with the ability to procreate) Thats their choice. It is not the right of the Mormon church to impose its will upon the people of the world, California, and the United States. That is just wrong, and just as wrong as those people who choose to distort God's law, and confuse great love making with love making between a man and a woman, which results in the creation of life.

In other words, which I hope the Mormons understand...thats their choice, if the state of California wants to allow same sex marriages. It is noe of your business to go out and try to tell what the state of California should do inside of their own government.

When you do the news - we have to retell the bad news over and over again. After a while you have to shake it off and try to remain positive. It's like going to a horror movie eighty times - after a while you start to get numb to the really bad scenes.

also when you do the news.. you do fundraisers. This saturday at Liberty park in slc we are raising money to find a cure for breast cancer.

I just saw my brother in law this weekend - he's bald from chemo.

Yes the economy's bad .. but I gotta have faith it will come back. and if it doesn't we're still here fighting the good fight and able to do so.

If you have cancer or any disease .. you know health is worth all the stocks in the world.

so shake off the economy and come out and meet some amazing people who will make your problems seem very small.

See you there!

Hope

Hello Friends,

I was going to blog this time about the state of the economy.  You know how alarming it is right now.

But Wednesday morning at 2 a.m. I lost my dear cousin JD.  He was 32.  JD was diagnosed with tongue and throat cancer a little more than a year ago.  He never chewed tobacco.  Never smoked. Never used drugs.

The grand irony is that tongue and throat cancer is far more lethal for those in JD's category than for those who have used tobacco.  Doctors have found the cure rate among those who have chewed and smoked is much better than it is for those who haven't.  They're not sure why.

JD approached his cancer with remarkable courage and faith.  Earlier this year he underwent surgery to remove about half of his tongue, throat tissue, salivary glands, and lymph nodes in his neck.  Doctors reconstructed his tongue with deep grafts from his arms and legs.  He underwent radiation and chemotherapies. It looked for a time as if he'd be a success story.  We were grateful and hopeful.

But this past summer we learned the cancer had come back.  It had attacked his throat and tongue again and various other tissues.  This time it was much more agressive.  And this time they told him it would take his life.

Doctors gave him a couple of options. Do nothing. Repeat chemotherapy, which made him terribly ill and would have had very limited affect.  Or go back in and remove his larynx, more of the tongue, throat tissues, and more lymph nodes - reconstructing as much as they could with more grafts.  It wouldn't stop the disease, but it could buy him time.  Of course, we hoped that by some miracle he would regain his health and ultimately beat this thing.

JD chose the surgery, and bravely faced the prospect of life without a voice, and months of recovery, complicated by the compromising of tissue integrity by the previous radiation.  He knew what he was getting into, but moved forward with faith and confidence.

Well, for all that medical science can do, all the marvels of medical technology and technique, we watched as JD's condition deteriorated.  We spent a lot of time with him in the hospital, attending to his needs, seeing after his affairs, comforting his dear Kristen who showed us the ultimate example of love, sacrifice, service, and devotion.  And we tried to express our deep love for him, tried to let him see and feel how we felt about him. And promised to help take care of his little daughter Kylie.

If there is a silver lining to having a loved one die of cancer it is this; there is usually time to say the things you want to say, and sometimes even time to do the things you want to do with your loved one. 

It also tends to refine all of us; sufferer and family alike.  We speak more kindly, we listen more intently, we serve more willingly, we love more deeply.  But all that growth of spirit comes a terrible price.

JD makes the third family member of mine to be taken by cancer.  I lost my father to prostate cancer three and a half years ago, and lost his mother, my grandmother, to breast cancer many years ago.  Each time, I have had a front row seat to the appalling affects of that dreaded disease on the human body.  And each time I have longed more fervently for a way to stop these diseases we call cancer.

On Saturday morning, October 11th, in Liberty Park FOX 13 is sponsoring a community event.  "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" is designed to raise awareness and money to fight cancer.  Walking around the park may not seem on its face as meaningful in the battle against cancer, but in fact it is.  Just by going to the effort of getting a personal sponsor or pledging money yourself or both, and then getting out of bed on Saturday morning when you could be sleeping in, and coming down to be with others who have stories just like mine creates a synergy that moves the fight forward.

We are approaching the day when cancer will be eliminated.  We will eventually beat this disease.  Will it come in my lifetime or yours?  I hope so.  But if not, we will have done what we could to help.

My grandmother, my father, and JD are gone, and so are many of your loved ones.  Nothing we can do will bring them back.  But we can do something to help keep others from suffering the same fate.

Please join us at Liberty Park.  And play a part in blessing the lives of people whom you will probably never know, but who may one day thank you in absentia for doing what you could to help.

All the Best,

Bob Evans

FOX 13 News

It doesn't matter if you like sports. It doesn't matter what side you took during RSL's fight over their stadium location. It doesn't matter if you bleed blue or red ( go UTE's!). You can't walk inside Rio Tinto Stadium without feeling the buzz of anticipation for Thursdays big game. It will be Real's first game on their own turf. Fans will be louder and RSL owner Dave Checkett's (if I dare say) is giddy!

Parking could be a nightmare. There are 20 thousand seats and 6700 parking stalls, many require a shuttle ride to and from. Getting home might take just as long as it takes to score one soccer goal.  Neighbors probably won't like the noise.  There are kinks to work out.

So will it be worth it?

Hello Friends,

I was going to blog this time about the state of the economy.  You know how alarming it is right now.

But Wednesday morning at 2 a.m. I lost my dear cousin JD.  He was 32.  JD was diagnosed with tongue and throat cancer a little more than a year ago.  He never chewed tobacco.  Never smoked. Never used drugs.

The grand irony is that tongue and throat cancer is far more lethal for those in JD's category than for those who have used tobacco.  Doctors have found the cure rate among those who have chewed and smoked is much better than it is for those who haven't.  They're not sure why.

JD approached his cancer with remarkable courage and faith.  Earlier this year he underwent surgery to remove about half of his tongue, throat tissue, salivary glands, and lymph nodes in his neck.  Doctors reconstructed his tongue with deep grafts from his arms and legs.  He underwent radiation and chemotherapies. It looked for a time as if he'd be a success story.  We were grateful and hopeful.

But this past summer we learned the cancer had come back.  It had attacked his throat and tongue again and various other tissues.  This time it was much more agressive.  And this time they told him it would take his life.

Doctors gave him a couple of options. Do nothing. Repeat chemotherapy, which made him terribly ill and would have had very limited affect.  Or go back in and remove his larynx, more of the tongue, throat tissues, and more lymph nodes - reconstructing as much as they could with more grafts.  It wouldn't stop the disease, but it could buy him time.  Of course, we hoped that by some miracle he would regain his health and ultimately beat this thing.

JD chose the surgery, and bravely faced the prospect of life without a voice, and months of recovery, complicated by the compromising of tissue integrity by the previous radiation.  He knew what he was getting into, but moved forward with faith and confidence.

Well, for all that medical science can do, all the marvels of medical technology and technique, we watched as JD's condition deteriorated.  We spent a lot of time with him in the hospital, attending to his needs, seeing after his affairs, comforting his dear Kristen who showed us the ultimate example of love, sacrifice, service, and devotion.  And we tried to express our deep love for him, tried to let him see and feel how we felt about him. And promised to help take care of his little daughter Kylie.

If there is a silver lining to having a loved one die of cancer it is this; there is usually time to say the things you want to say, and sometimes even time to do the things you want to do with your loved one. 

It also tends to refine all of us; sufferer and family alike.  We speak more kindly, we listen more intently, we serve more willingly, we love more deeply.  But all that growth of spirit comes a terrible price.

JD makes the third family member of mine to be taken by cancer.  I lost my father to prostate cancer three and a half years ago, and lost his mother, my grandmother, to breast cancer many years ago.  Each time, I have had a front row seat to the appalling affects of that dreaded disease on the human body.  And each time I have longed more fervently for a way to stop these diseases we call cancer.

On Saturday morning, October 11th, in Liberty Park FOX 13 is sponsoring a community event.  "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" is designed to raise awareness and money to fight cancer.  Walking around the park may not seem on its face as meaningful in the battle against cancer, but in fact it is.  Just by going to the effort of getting a personal sponsor or pledging money yourself or both, and then getting out of bed on Saturday morning when you could be sleeping in, and coming down to be with others who have stories just like mine creates a synergy that moves the fight forward.

We are approaching the day when cancer will be eliminated.  We will eventually beat this disease.  Will it come in my lifetime or yours?  I hope so.  But if not, we will have done what we could to help.

My grandmother, my father, and JD are gone, and so are many of your loved ones.  Nothing we can do will bring them back.  But we can do something to help keep others from suffering the same fate.

Please join us at Liberty Park.  And play a part in blessing the lives of people whom you will probably never know, but who may one day thank you in absentia for doing what you could to help.

All the Best,

Bob Evans

FOX 13 News