November Month Of Many Friends' Births

11-11-11. My Uncle Thurman reminded me frequently during his later years of the importance of the numeral eleven in his life. In addition to being born on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the year 1911, Thurman Morris Gupton also wore the number "11" on his football jersey when he was the quarterback for the West Columbia Roughnecks in the late 1920s. Thurman was probably the original "T. Gup," long before the nickname was stuck on me. He was the first child born to my grandparents, Samuel Morris "Buff" and Eula Gupton, and was 10 years older than my father, Rex Gupton, who is pictured below at left with his brother Thurman. This photo, which I took on the steps of the Baptist church in West Columbia on the day my cousin (Thurman's granddaughter) Cindy and Earl Saville were married, also includes Thurman's wife Gladys Gupton and Mrs. T.M. Smith, who was one of my Sunday School teachers when I was a child. Sharing the November 11th birthday with my Uncle Thurman, who is deceased, are two of my son Brian's best friends and classmates, Courtney Johnson and Chris Maynard. Photos of Chris and Courtney, as well as other dear friends and family members who also were born in the month of November, will be featured in a followup companion piece to this blog entry. I was unable to upload additional photos and don't know if the Blogger software allows only a limited number of pictures per blog entry or not. So read through this little piece I put together and then check out the followup entry about other family and close friends with November birthdays.

The two sons of Diane George and Garry Tims, Jamie Tims and Bubba Hutcherson, both celebrate their birthdays in November. Jamie and Bubba spent big chunks of their younger years growing up in the Gupton home, practically as brothers to our sons Brian, Bret and Blake. Jamie was born on November 4th in the same year as our eldest son Brian, who was born in 1982. And while Bubba was born on November 16, 1985, his late birthday put him in the same grade as our middle child Bret, who was born May 9, 1986. Jamie and Bubba, who are the younger half-brothers of our adopted son Kirk, fit right into the Gupton family, being the same ages as our two oldest sons, Brian and Bret. And just like my own three sons, Kirk, Jamie and Bubba were always more than willing to pose for "Daddy" T. Gup's camera. I have always loved this photo at right that I took of Bubba in 2000. Like his natural brothers and his "adoptive" brothers, Bubba is very photogenic. The first picture below shows Bubba at an early age between my sons Bret, left, and Blake at the playground. The photo below that is one I took of my four baseball All-Stars, pictured from left: Blake Gupton, Adrian Pipkins, Bret Gupton and Bubba Hutcherson. That season Peggy and I signed up both Bubba and Adrian to play baseball in the same youth league as our two younger boys. Our older son Brian was playing baseball in high school by that time. Bubba and Jamie are pictured in the lower photo with their older sister, Kasandra George.

Turning 24 years old yesterday (November 16, 2009) was Garry Anthony Hutcherson, pictured above and at right). Bubba Hutcherson has been a vital part of the lives of myself and my family since he was barely out of diapers. So the fact that Bubba, or "Deuce" as he prefers to be called these days, has now entered his 24th year makes me feel extremely old. Our family picture books feature many photographs of Bubba throughout the years, from his "little boy" photos from preschool and elementary, spanning the years through high school and now in his early years as an adult. Bubba is the younger brother of Jamie Tims, featured earlier in this article, who both are just like sons to me and my wife Peggy. David Carey, who is celebrating his 40th birthday today, is pictured below in a current photo that was borrowed from David's Facebook page. David is also pictured below in photos taken in the summer of 1990.

Reaching his 40th birthday, November 17, 2009, is much more of an accomplishment than most readers of this blog could ever possibly imagine. David Wes Carey, pictured above in a 1990 photo taken in Tempe, Arizona, with his older sister Anita Rutherford, right, and younger sister April Carey, was born on this day in 1969. Happy Birthday David from T. Gup in West Columbia, Texas. I was born in Bay City, Texas, where David Carey excelled for the Bay City Black Cats on the baseball diamond, the footbal gridiron and the basketball court. But while a freshman baseball player at Scottsdale Community College in Scottsdale, Arizona, David's dreams of one day pitching in the major leagues were shattered by a gunblast. An errant bullet from a pistol being handled by roommates in David's apartment struck him in the back while he slept in his bed in the wee hours of the morning, turning him into a quadriplegic. David Carey, whose story is told in more detail in the blog entry below this one, is pictured above with family members in Tempe, Arizona.

Not only one of my favorite cousins but definitely also one of my favorite friends is my first cousin Angie Kyle Gupton Middleton, pictured above with her husband Jack Middleton. The Middletons, who live in Cove, Texas, near Baytown, are both November babies. Jack celebrated his birthday on November 8th while Angie was born on November 21st. Angie and her big brother Hank, whose birthday is two days before his sister's, are pictured above with their mother, the late Terry Gupton, at a holiday gathering at the Anahuac home of Hank Gupton and his wife A. Lynette Parsons about 10 years ago. The photos above that were taken at the same family get-together. Hank and I are comparing our Gupton similar physical features in one while Angie hugs her hubbie Jack in the other. In the photo below, my fourth grade teacher and kissin' cousin Joyce Lester is pictured with her late husband, Charley Lester, on the steps of the First Baptist Church in West Columbia at the 1995 wedding of my cousin Cindy Brandt and Earl Saville. Joyce, who has a November 26th birthday, is now married to Ralph C. Warne. Joyce was not only one of my favorite teachers during my younger years growing up in West Columbia, but has always been among my favorite people. I love her immensely and miss her husband Charley so very much.

The photograph at right below of my cousin Hank Gupton and his bride Lynette was taken in my West Columbia backyard in 1992. Like my musical idol John Fogerty, cousin Hank married a Hoosier from the great state of Indiana. Raybourne Ricks "Hank" Gupton celebrates his birthday on November 19th while Indiana's finest export to the Lone Star State, Lynette Parsons, has a December 4th birthday.

Although both missed being born in the month of November by only a few days, my wife of 29-plus years, Peggyjo Hall Gupton (at left in the top photo), and my cousin Hank Gupton's wife A. Lynette Parsons are among the most beautiful, intelligent and compassionate people in my small circle of friends. The two photos above were all taken in the summer of 2000 on a trip the four of us took to The Beau Rivage Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. Hank, who is the son of my father Rex Gupton's younger brother, Marvin Aubrey "Hank" Gupton, was born on November 19, 1946, and will be celebrating his 63rd birthday in a couple days. Lynette, his soulmate and best friend, was born on December 4th. Peggy, the love of my life who has put up with all of my shit for far too many years, was born on December 7th. Since I was brought up right by a mother who claimed she was 39 for over 30 years, I will abstain from revealing Peggy and Lynette's ages. Not simply because I am a nice guy, but also because both women can kick my ass. So I wrap up this little salute to the friends and family members I love so very much who each have their November births in common, as well as their contiguous ties to me to boot, by wishing each of you a heartfelt "Happy Birthday" and adding three little words as icing on the cake. "I Love You" for being so very special to me over the span of the many years that I have been around on this great earth. Each of you mentioned above mean more to me than words can adequately describe. Here's a little toast to all of you, so raise those glasses high and clink them together in unison while I say from the bottom of my heart, "May each of you live forever, and may the last face you see be mine!"

Disabled Man Who Inspires Me Wins Award

One split second. That is all it took to turn David Wes Carey's young life totally upside down. It is also the name of the Bay City, Texas, native's website. Now residing in Tempe, Arizona, David Carey is looking forward to a milestone achievement next week. He will celebrate his 40th birthday on November 17, 2009. His older sister, Anita Rutherford, tells me that her brother's birthday will not be taken lightly by him or his loving family. "The doctors didn't think he'd live 24 hours" after he was shot in the back in 1989 during a freakish accident that left him paralyzed for life. "They couldn't even guarantee he'd be alive when I got there," said his mother, Cora Carey, reflecting on the chaotic situation from 20 years ago when she received the terrifying phone call at her Bay City home that her son had been shot. He was a long way from home, playing college baseball in Scottsdale, Arizona, when David Carey found himself struggling just to stay alive. "You're not concerned with what's going on around you, you're concerned with staying alive," David told a Mesa Tribune reporter about his ordeal in the days and weeks following the incident. Last month David travelled to Washington, D.C., to be honored with one of 10 prestigious Community Health Leaders Awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. David is pictured below at the awards banquet, held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., being applauded by those in attendance and posing for the camera with his surprise guests, his sister April Carey and her son Mike Carey who both live in Maryland. David, chairman of Inspire Human Services Co-op in Phoenix, Arizona, has been a tireless advocate for health care access for the disabled. He also was recognized for his efforts to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to public transportation in Arizona. As a man who has overcome daunting physical and health challenges in his own life, David Carey successfully worked with the city of Tempe, Arizona, to put up traffic lights so people with disabilities living almost a mile away from the closest bus stop had safe access to that bus stop. Speaking of his recent honor in Washington, D.C., David said, "I have been fortunate to have a network of family members, caregivers and mentors that have made it possible for me to work to help others with disabilities. I hope that the nation's health reform efforts make it easier for those with disabilities to also access the health care coverage and support services to maintain independent lives in their communities." The Community Health Leaders Award honors exceptional men and women from all over the nation who overcome significant obstacles to tackle some of the most challenging health and health care problems facing their communities and the nation. This year the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation received 532 nominations from across the United States and selected 10 outstanding individuals who have worked to improve health conditions in their communities with exceptional creativity, courage and commitment. As the city editor for The Daily Tribune in Bay City, Texas, in 1989, I happened to be working the news desk the day the call came in about David Carey's tragic accident. I wrote a series of news articles and features on David, who I had witnessed first hand perform on the baseball diamond and gridiron when he was a student athlete at Bay City High School. The news of his shooting was devastating to me personally. But, as a professional, I took the necessary steps to gather what scant information was available at the time and write the first stories in The Daily Tribune on David's paralysis and battle for life. So when I was contacted recently by David's sister Anita and his mother Cora, it was wonderful news from my perspective that David was still alive today and doing very well for himself. The news of his national honor last month is very exciting for me, and I wanted to share this wonderful news with you, my loyal blog readers. There is a videoclip available for viewing about David Carey and the prestigious honor that has been awarded him. Go to http://www.communityhealthleaders.org/news_features#carey on the internet (that is an underscore line between news and features) and click on the videoclip associated with David Carey's story. I highly recommend anyone who is touched by this story (and I suggest you check your pulse if you are not, because you must be dead) view the videoclip and check out David Carey's personal website at http://www.onesplitsecond.com/ to learn more about this inspiring former Bay City High School versatile athlete who has made the best of an extremely bad situation. His sister Anita told me that David does all of the work on his website himself, using a mouth pick to type on his computer's keyboard. "He's gotten pretty fast at it," Anita told me. I hope those reading this blog will view David's website (I have added it to my suggested alternate websites on my blog) and read about his recent national honor at the Community Health Leaders website that I listed above. Talk about awe-inspiring! That is the David Carey story in a nutshell. Cut down by a stray bullet at the age of 19, when his young life was just getting started, his college sports career abruptly terminated, his life forever altered, David refused to allow his handicap and his date with misfortune to snuff out all of his dreams. He returned to the campus of Scottsdale Community College in a wheelchair the following fall, graduating from SCC in 1993. He earned a bachelors degree in physical education from Arizona State University in 1997. Since March of the year 2000, David Carey has served as an advocacy specialist for Arizona Bridge To Independent Living in Phoenix, Arizona. When I punched in the numbers on my cell phone his sister Anita supplied me in an email in order to get in contact with David, my mind was picturing a down-and-out quadriplegic wasting away in a bed somewhere, hoping someone, anyone, would call him or drop by to visit him. Man, was I ever wrong. When he answered my phone call, David Carey was busy with his daily routine but agreed to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk with me. He said it was good to hear from me after all these many years. Likewise, my inspirational friend. And, although it had been about 20 years since I last talked with David on the telephone, my memory brought back a very weak voice on the other end of the line (me in Bay City, he in an Arizona hospital) from our lone phone conversation during the time of his initial recovery phase from the shooting. Last week David's voice was strong, his story of the things he had accomplished since we had last spoken very impressive. He talked with me about his recent trip to our nation's capitol, another airplane ride he took in recent years to Atlanta, Georgia, and chose to speak more at length on his daily routine and his efforts as an advocate for handicapped people in the State of Arizona. I told him on the phone that I still recalled watching him play football and baseball for Bay City High School in the late 1980s when I was working as a reporter for his hometown's daily newspaper. I mentioned that I was also born in Bay City, although my family never actually called Bay City home. I asked where the Black Cats were playing the time I saw him hit two home runs in the same game. He said he no longer remembered, adding that my memory appeared to be better than his. I saw him play in West Columbia (my home town) against the Roughnecks and also was in the stands for a couple of his home games in Bay City when he was an outstanding pitcher and outfielder for the Cats. David stood about 6 feet, 3 inches or perhaps 6'4" and was impressive on the baseball diamond in high school because of his stature and lanky build. When I first saw the photos of David provided to The Daily Tribune by his mother and sister back in 1989, it was difficult to look at them because my memory of him was stuck like a freeze-frame of the athletically-built, tall young black man with the bright hazel eyes. He lost a great deal of weight in that first year after his accident. I have included a picture of David in his wheelchair that was mailed to me by his sister Anita within the first couple years following the shooting. I still have a videotape she provided me that included footage of David from his apartment, scooting around the parking lot in his motorized wheelchair, and of him trying to feed himself. He has slight usage of his left hand and arm so he is not totally paralyzed. But my wife and I both watched the videotape with tears streaming down our cheeks when we saw the film footage Anita had included of David in his Bay City High School days. Before the shooting. Before the paralysis. Long before that "one split second" changed this young man's life forever. It was heartbreaking.

What happened to David Carey in the early morning hours of March 7, 1989, is unthinkable. How his collegiate baseball career was ended, his life altered and the manner in which he would be forced to rely on the assistance of others for the remainder of his days is as tragic and unbelievable as anyone could possibly fathom. David closed the door to his bedroom and went to sleep around 10:30 p.m. the night before the Scottsdale Community College baseball team was scheduled to leave early the next morning for a road game. He was sleeping comfortably with his back to his bedroom door, unaware that his roommate and a teammate of David's were handling what the two of them thought was an unloaded handgun in the living room of David's Scottsdale apartment. The clip had been removed from a 9mm pistol but one bullet remained in the chamber of the gun. At about 3 a.m. on March 7, 1989, one split second changed David Carey's life forever. I can still recall talking with a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department in the days following the shooting of David Carey from the pressroom of the Bay City newspaper I was the city editor of at the time. My heart sunk into the pit of my stomach as I frantically wrote down what the sheriff's deputy was describing to me on the phone. The trigger was pulled on the handgun by one of the two boys in the apartment, the bullet the two of them claimed to not know was still in the gun travelled down the hallway, through David's bedroom door and struck him high in the back, between the shoulder blades. The bullet shattered two of David Carey's vertebrae, then ricocheted up his spine, breaking his neck before lodging in his jaw. "I thought I'd had a stroke," David recalls about his initial waking moment when the bullet first struck him. "I couldn't move. When I woke up, I felt like I'd been electrocuted, but then it stopped. Then I felt a lump in my throat, and my mouth began to fill up with blood. I thought I was dreaming. After a minute, I realized I wasn't." The young man I had watched pitch for the Bay City Black Cats, who I had seen hit not one, but two home runs in the same game against my Columbia Roughnecks, told me that when the shooting took place he was sound asleep. He said he knew immediately something was terribly wrong, but he did not know what had happened to him. He tried to call out for help, but couldn't. He tried to move, but couldn't. His roommate and the teammate who had been playing with the handgun (which a Mesa Tribune article published in 1997 revealed had been stolen by the two young men earlier in the evening of Carey's shooting) eventually discovered what they had done and called an ambulance for their paralyzed friend. Doctors initially had little hope that David Carey would survive the shooting. His sister Anita Rutherford told me recently that David's family back in Bay City was told her brother probably would not survive the next 24 hours. So when she informed me this week that David would be celebrating his 40th birthday on November 17th, she made that statement with great pride and admiration for David's accomplishments over the past two decades. I share that joy in knowing David Carey is still alive and fighting the good fight.

David Carey is pictured above at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia, when he took in an Atlanta Braves baseball game. Pitching in the major leagues was David's ultimate goal when he was throwing fastballs for the Bay City Black Cats in high school and at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona. A three-sport letterman in high school, David is pictured below (on the right) with two of his Black Cats' teammates from the 1986 season.

Reconnecting with David after all these years has answered a few questions and tied up several loose ends for me. Since walking away from the newspaper business in 1990 to pursue another line of work, I have often wondered what happened to David Carey. With him living in Arizona and me dropping anchor in my hometown of West Columbia, Texas, there were no easy avenues for me to pursue to find out about his well-being. Then, in October of 2009, thanks to the modern manner of socializing known as "Facebook" and "My Space" on the worldwide web, the two of us were able to reconnect. David's older sister, Anita Rutherford, contacted me on Facebook, inquiring if I was the same Tracy Gupton who had written the series of stories about her brother's accident in Bay City's local newspaper, "The Daily Tribune," about 20 years ago. Indeed I was. So, through emails, phone calls and Facebook connections, I was able to get back in touch with David Carey, his sister Anita, and their mother, Cora Carey. Facebook has been very helpful to me in reconnecting with relatives and old friends from my past. I have been thrilled to hook up once again with people I went to school with in West Columbia, to find out what's going on in the lives of distant cousins and former coworkers I haven't seen in decades, and to see baby pictures of several relatives whose children have recently given birth, making their mothers and fathers who are in my age range grandparents. But none of those recent connections with people from my past has meant more to me than finding David Carey and his family members. His story is among the saddest I ever had to write about during my decade as a reporter. There is not an accurate word in the dictionary to describe how impressed I was with both David and his beautiful family observing them from afar as each of them struggled to deal with his situation in 1989. I am well aware that his struggles have never ended. His is a daily battle with his paralysis that David must continue until his dying day. He has definitely made the best of a situation that none of us would ever want to have happen to ourselves or anyone else we care about. I honestly had to wipe tears away while typing out those stories I penned for The Daily Tribune some 20 years ago. It was such an emotional drain to have to report for the readers of Matagorda County on David Carey's situation in Arizona. His mother Cora and sisters Anita and April deserve much credit for their persistence in getting David's story out to the people back home in Texas. Anita informed me in an email I received from her yesterday that she called The Daily Tribune recently to ask her former hometown newspaper in Bay City to write a story about her brother's recent award. She said the reporter she talked to on the phone seemed basically uninterested in her request. My intent is to get in touch with the local newspapers, former employers of mine, and see if I can't get some media coverage for a former Bay City High School athlete who, in my opinion, is very deserving of having readers of The Daily Tribune in Bay City and The Facts in Clute know about the national honor that was bestowed on him last month. Wish me luck! And please, keep David Wes Carey in your thoughts and prayers.

When David Carey posed for this photograph in the front lawn of his Bay City, Texas, home during his high school days in the late 1980s, his hopes and dreams were focused on playing college sports. The gifted athlete proudly sports his Black Cats letter jacket as he smiles for the camera. David Carey lettered in varsity baseball, basketball and football at Bay City High School.

Booooooo To You! Happy Halloween From Gup!

Pictured in the photos above are my son Blake Gupton when his mother Peggy sent him out trick-or-treating as Peewee Herman. My niece Natalie Kuban is shown in the second photo with one of her new Aggie friends as they create a jack-o-lantern from a pumpkin at Texas A&M in a recent photo. Natalie and her boyfriend Taylor Lane are freshmen in Aggieland and my son Bret, shown in the next photo, is a senior at Texas A&M now. I photographed Bret and his buddy Adrian "Wimpy" Pipkins several years ago with the pumpkin and floral display at one of my company barbecues in Old Ocean. Cody Smith, the son of our longtime best buddy Theresa Smith and the late Junior Smith, is pictured holding an enormous pumpkin below at right in a photo I took many years ago. And the newlyweds, my son Brian Gupton and his new bride Tiffanie, are shown below at left in a recent photograph.

The photo above is of my youngest son, Blake Gupton, the year he dressed up as a clown. A multi-colored Afro wig topped off the ensemble, but Blake hated it and kept taking it off. The other Halloween photo above is of my sister Kelli's youngest children, Natalie (the wicked witch) and Tommy (the Army man) Kuban, when Kelli and Chris and their kids lived in Needville.

These two photos were taken by my mother, the late Verna Gupton, in 1958 at the first house I lived in when my family was calling Markham, Texas, home. I'm the little tyke seated on the rocking horse. The scary bigger boy is my brother Cody. I was 22 months old at the time and Cody had celebrated his fifth birthday the day before.

Killers Deserve Same Compassion They Dished Out

Current headlines cry out about compassion and how it applies to convicted murderers, as if their bouts with fatal illnesses excuse them of the heinous crimes against mankind these scumbags have been convicted of. I was livid when I learned recently that Scotland had released convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi to return home to Libya. Megrahi was released in August from a Scottish jail--where he was serving life for the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed 270--on compassionate grounds due to his terminal prostate cancer. Libyan leader Moamar Gadhafi gave Megrahi a hero's welcome when the only one of Gadhafi's countrymen convicted in the bombing of PanAm 103 arrived in Tripoli on August 20, 2009. Megrahi reportedly had a life expectancy of less than three months when the decision was made by Scottish officials to allow the mass murderer to go home to die. President Barack Obama voiced outrage at the Scot's decision, primarily because 190 of the 270 people killed in the December 21, 1988, airline bombing were American citizens. Megrahi was released from prison in time to return to Libya for the start of Ramadan. Well, ain't that nice? I will never possess the capacity to comprehend nor the power to agree with the kind of thinking that allows such idiotic decisions to be made. A human being, in my opinion, is no longer a viable candidate for compassion of any kind from his or her fellow humans when they are responsible for the loss of multiple lives. This way of thinking also applies to killers like Susan Atkins, who had gained considerable support from public opinion in her attempts to receive parole from prison earlier this year when she was dying from brain cancer. For those of you who have forgotten, Atkins was a participant in the murders attributed to the Manson Family in 1969 in the Los Angeles area. Among those murdered in Manson's gang's killing spree were (pictured above, at right) actress Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring of the Sebring hair products fame. Slightly tempering my vitriolic response to Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds, was the California parole board's decision to deny Atkins's request for parole on similar grounds about two weeks later. Atkins died on September 24, 2009, at the Central California Women's facility in Chowchilla. Reportedly her last whispered word was "Amen." Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley opposed Atkins's request for parole, writing in a letter to the parole board, her release "would be an affront to people of this state, the California criminal justice system and the next of kin of many murder victims. Atkins's horrific crimes alone warrant a denial of her request." Vincent Bugliosi, the district attorney who prosecuted the Manson Family killers and wrote the highly successful book "Helter Skelter" about the criminal case, said he was not opposed to Atkins being released from prison to die from her brain cancer at home. "She has paid substantially, though not completely, for her horrendous crimes. Paying completely would be imposing the death penalty." Which is exactly what Charles Manson and his followers all deserved, death, not the life sentences most of them have been serving since being convicted of multiple murders. Steve Grogan, convicted in 1971 for helping Manson, Tex Watson and Bruce Davis kill Spahn's Ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea, was released from prison in 1985 and remains the only Manson Family member that's been convicted of murder to be released from prison. Grogan, who is now 63, drew a map for authorities to find Shea's buried body. Also in the news currently is the big debate over capital punishment in the State of Texas, sparked by the recent release from death row of Ernest Willis, a West Texas man who spent 17 years in prison. Willis, 64, was sentenced to death for a 1986 house fire in the Pecos County town of Iraan in which two sleeping women died. Another arson-related multiple murder incident in Texas involves Cameron Todd Willingham. But while Willis has been released from death row, it is too late to save Willingham. He was executed by lethal injection on February 17, 2004. Willingham was convicted in August 1992 of the arson murders of his three children--2-year-old Amber and 1-year-old twins Karmon Diane and Kameron Marie--and sentenced to pay with his life. The pitfalls of capital punishment come to the forefront in the cases of Ernest Willis and Cameron Todd Willingham. Their cases were among those to be discussed at an October 2nd meeting of the Texas Forensic Science Commission that was derailed when Texas Governor Rick Perry unexpectedly removed the commission's chairman and two other members. Perry has insisted Willingham was guilty of setting the 1991 Corsicana house fire in which his young children died. In 2004 a federal judge ruled that authorities wrongly dosed Willis with anti-psychotic drugs during his trial, leaving him a virtual zombie. The federal judge demanded that Willis be retried or set free. A Pecos County district attorney then dropped the charges against Willis, admitting that the Iraan fire appeared to have been an accident. While on death row, Willis said he never gave up hope that he would be able to avoid his date with the death chamber. "It made it a lot tougher knowing that I was innocent," Willis lamented. "If I had been guilty, I would have been ready to face the music. But I tried never to give up hope. I was always preparing myself for release." The criminal justice system in Texas is far from perfect. Carl Wayne Buntion's stroke of luck has my temperature rising. It irritates the hell out of me that Buntion will be getting a new trial because the decision that sent him to death row for murdering Houston Police Officer James Irby nearly 20 years ago was recently overturned. The state's appellate court basically said the jury in Buntion's punishment phase simply did not have all of the information when they sentenced him to death back in 1991. His murder conviction stands. Buntion is still guilty of shooting Officer Irby in the head during a minor traffic stop in 1990. It appears the jury did not get to consider Buntion's troubled childhood and mental health issues during the punishment phase. Oh, don't get me started on that one. A troubled childhood? Mental health issues? How do those issues even deserve a spot on the punishment radar? Did Carl Wayne Buntion shoot HPD Officer James Irby in the head in a 1990 traffic stop? Yes, he did. End of story. Reginald Blanton was scheduled to be administered lethal injection Tuesday night in Huntsville. If I had anything to say about it, I would have Carl Wayne Buntion wheeled in on another gurney directly behind the Blanton dude so Reggie would have some company on his midnight ride to hades. Why waste the taxpayers' money feeding human slime like Buntion while he remains on death row awaiting another punishment trial in Houston. And Blanton, there's a true paragon of virtue. He was captured on videotape in April 2000 selling two gold necklaces at a San Antonio pawn shop. It turns out those necklaces belonged to 22-year-old Carlos Garza, who had been shot to death at his apartment in the Alamo City about 20 minutes prior to Blanton waltzing into the pawn shop to sell his gold chains. Other good news for supporters of capital punishment--a necessary evil in a world where street thugs will take your life for the hundred dollar Jordans on your feet and the fistful of Washingtons in your pockets--comes in the announcement this week that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the capital murder convictions and death sentences of Howard Paul Guidry and John Steven Gardner. The two Texas death row inmates, one a hit man in a murder-for-hire plot and the other a man who killed his wife, had their appeals denied. Guidry was convicted in 1997 in the shooting death of 33-year-old Farah Fratta in Harris County. Gardner was convicted in the 2005 shooting death of his wife, Tammy Dawn Gardner, in her Collin County home shortly before their divorce was to become final. If there ever was a criminal deserving of the death penalty as punishment for his crimes it was Jeffrey Dahmer. He was apprehended on July 22, 1991, by Milwaukee police and later convicted of the gruesome killings of 17 male victims in a highly publicized case of mass murder. But the state of Wisconsin does not have the death penalty, so Dahmer was sentenced to 15 life terms in prison. Did Dahmer receive a just punishment when fellow inmate Christopher Scarver beat him to death with a barbell at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin on November 28, 1994? I think so. The first of Dahmer's 17 murder victims was bludgeoned to death with a barbell. Dahmer, pictured below at left, declared himself a born again Christian while in prison. This is a conversion many inmates claim while behind bars. Does such a conversion allow these killers ascension into heaven upon their deaths? I think not. But this is where my opinions and those of many Christians part ways. Tex Watson, the most active participant in the well publicized killings of the Manson Family in 1969, wrote that he became a born-again Christian in prison and operates "Abounding Love Ministries" while remaining incarcerated. He has written about his role in the murders, the sorrow he feels for his involvement, and has made an apology to the family members of his victims on his website, stating that he believes he is "forgiven by God." Do you think God has forgiven Howard Barton Unruh for the seemingly random murders of 13 people in Camden, New Jersey, in 1949? Unruh died October 19, 2009, at the age of 88 following a lengthy illness in a Trenton, New Jersey, nursing facility. Unruh had been confined in a state psychiatric hospital since being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia by psychologists and found to be hopelessly insane. The diagnosis, which prevented Unruh from being prosecuted for his September 6, 1949, killing spree, was followed by the mass murderer's statement, "I'd have killed a thousand if I had bullets enough." Unruh, a 28-year-old World War II veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge, took only 12 minutes to shoot and kill 13 of his East Camden, New Jersey, neighbors with a German Luger pistol. Among his murder victims were a 9-year-old, 6-year-old and 2-year-old. In reading earlier this week of the death of Howard Unruh and the horrendous crimes he committed long before I was born, I could only voice regrets that there was nobody like Christopher Scarver locked up with Unruh who had a set of barbells nearby.

Are redemption and rehabilitation possible inside the concrete walls of our nation's prisons? Yes, I believe they are, in isolated situations. But it is my opinion that parole and second chances should be reserved for those inmates whose crimes do not involve the taking of another human's life. And when the subject of weighing whether or not to release a convicted murderer from prison involves those who have killed multiple victims, it should be a moot point. No, never, ever, period. Compassion should never figure into the equation. Just look at the photo of Sharon Tate below. What a truly beautiful woman. She was still in her twenties, within weeks of giving birth of her first child, when she was murdered by a gang that showed zero compassion to her, her unborn baby, and the other people with her the night they were all killed in 1969. So when Susan Denise Atkins was denied parole on September 2nd of this year despite being paralyzed over 85 percent of her body, unable to sit up on her own, brain cancer slowly killing her, I believe the Californai parole board made the right decision. A difficult one, yes, but still the right decision. Read on about Atkins's crimes and perhaps you will understand why I take this stance against her parole.

Charles Manson, pictured at right below, was denied parole for the eleventh time on May 23, 2007. His next parole hearing is scheduled in 2012. Manson, now 74 years old, seemingly had the members of his "family" under his spell in 1969 when he orchestrated the mass murders of people he did not know and who had done nothing to harm him or any of the members of his blood thirsty gang of assassins. Their crimes were detailed in the book and TV movie "Helter Skelter" and all of them would have been executed, and justly so, many years ago if not for the California Supreme Court's People vs. Anderson decision that invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972. Thus vicious killers like Charles Manson, Tex Watson and Robert F. Kennedy's assassin Sirhan Bishara Sirhan had their death sentences changed to life imprisonment.

On the evening of August 8, 1969, Charles Manson gathered Atkins, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel in front of Spahn's Ranch and told them to go with Charles "Tex" Watson and do as they were told. In Atkins' grand jury testimony, she stated that while in the car, Watson told the group they were going to a home to get money from the people who lived there and to kill them. Five people were murdered at the Beverly Hills home where movie director Roman Polanski and his actress wife, Sharon Tate, lived. Tate, a sexy blond beauty (pictured at left) who starred in the movie "Valley Of The Dolls," was eight months pregnant with Polanski's child. Murdered that night by Manson's group of killers were Tate, Steven Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger. Polanski was in Europe at the time of the killings, finishing work on a film project.

Forensic evidence indicated that the murders were extremely brutal. Just prior to leaving the Polanski-Tate residence, Atkins wrote "PIG" on the front door in Sharon Tate's blood. Watson, a Dallas native who claimed to have been high on speed the night of the killings, allegedly told Frykowski prior to killing him, "I am the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business." In testimony at his murder trial, Watson denied having made that remark but later acknowledged saying it in his autobiography.

On the night after the pregnant Sharon Tate and her house guests were all murdered, Manson called Atkins, Krenwinkel, Watson, Kasabian, Leslie Van Houten and Steve Grogan to join him for another night of carnage. Manson and Watson entered the home of grocery store owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in Los Feliz, a Los Angeles suburb, and tied them up at gunpoint. Manson then allegedly went outside the house and sent Krenwinkel and Van Houten inside to do as Watson told them. Manson instructed the women to leave messages in blood as they had done the night before at the Polanski mansion.

Another member of Manson's group at Spahn's Ranch implicated Atkins in the murders and she was arrested by Los Angeles police in October 1969. While in jail, Atkins confessed her participation in the Tate/LaBianca murders to two cellmates who later reported her statements to the authorities. Atkins agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, and she then testified before the grand jury as to what had transpired on the nights of August 8 and 9, 1969.

Atkins told the grand jury that she stabbed Frykowski in the legs and that she held Tate down while Watson stabbed her. She also testified that Tate had pleaded for her life and that of her unborn child, to which Atkins replied, "Woman, I have no mercy for you." Atkins later claimed her participation in the murders was passive and that she did not actually kill anyone. In his 1978 memoir, Watson declared himself solely responsible for all of Tate's injuries, characterizing Atkins' initial confessions as exaggeration, jail house bragging, and a bid for attention.

In 1977, Atkins published her autobiography, "Child of Satan, Child of God," in which she recounted the time she spent with the Manson family, her religious conversion, and her prison experiences. From 1974 onwards, Atkins stated she was a born-again Christian. Yet she was denied parole 18 times and died in prison on September 24 of this year.

Debra Tate, the sister of Sharon Tate, said her family was ripped apart by her famous sister's brutal and senseless 1969 murder. "If Susan Atkins is released to rejoin her family, where is the justice?"

Charles Denton "Tex" Watson, pictured below at right, was tried separately from the other members of Charles Manson's "Family" and was convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to death on October 21, 1971. Spared execution like his other Manson Family members when his death penalty was changed to life in prison, Watson remains incarcerated today in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California. He has been denied parole 13 times. His next scheduled parole hearing is in December, 2011. Tex Watson is now 63 years old.

Doris Tate, the mother of actress Sharon Tate, addressed Watson at his parole hearing in 1984. "What mercy, sir, did you show my daughter when she was begging for her life?" Doris Tate asked Watson when he was asking the California parole board to show him mercy and grant him parole. "What mercy did you show my daughter when she said give me two weeks to have my baby and then you can kill me? When will Sharon come up for parole? Will these seven victims and possibly more walk out of their graves if you get paroled?"

Doris Tate, who died in 1992 at the age of 68, confronted Watson again at his 1990 parole hearing. Her work as an advocate for victim's rights was taken over by her daughter, Patti, who was involved in the establishment of the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau, a non-profit organization with the aim of monitoring criminal legislation and raising public awareness. Patti represented the Tate family at parole hearings for Manson and the other killers until 2000, when she died from breast cancer. Her role was assumed by the middle Tate daughter, Debra, who carries on the tradition of her mother and sister by appearing at parole hearings of the Manson Family members to voice opposition to any of them ever being paroled from prison.

When television cameras focus on such celebrities as the Reverend Jesse Jackson, actor Danny Glover and Bianca Jagger, the ex-wife of Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, as they speak out at The Walls prison in Huntsville, Texas, in opposition of capital punishment, TV viewers seldom see a hint of the extreme anguish, suffering and intense grief the families and friends of those murderer's victims have had to endure. The media far too often give a platform to those crying out against the death penalty to seek forgiveness for the scum of society who are undeserving of such compassion.

The Ernest Willis's of the world are by far the exception and not the rule. It is true that the execution of a single innocent man or woman is one too many. I agree that such an incident would be an unforgivable travesty. But to repeal the death penalty in the State of Texas due to the revelation that one innocent man might have been executed by mistake would be exactly that, a huge mistake.

"Most of the people on death row are guilty," Willis was quoted as saying in a recent Houston Chronicle article. "But there's a small percentage who are not. Willingham told me he was innocent. His case was almost identical to mine. I believed him."

Willingham's ex-wife does not agree with Willis's statements. "I believe he was guilty," said Stacy Kuykendall of her ex-husband. She told a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter that Willingham told her before his execution that he had set fire to the house and killed their children because he knew that she was going to leave him. "He was sorry for what he did," Kuykendall said. "But he did confess."

"He started the fire and killed the kids," said Waco lawyer David Martin, Willingham's court-appointed attorney during his murder trial. "His conduct was really incriminating, and his statements were irreconcilably inconsistent."

As Willingham's legal representative, Martin said he unsuccessfully tried to raise reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors and believes that Willingham should have accepted a plea-bargain offer for life in prison to avoid his ultimate date in the Texas death chamber. Martin has claimed recently that he felt compelled to speak out in recent interviews, even though he has come under intense criticism from his former client's defenders for asserting that Willingham was guilty.

"When it began to be expressed that an innocent man had been executed, I took an interest in responding to that because that's just not the case," Martin said in a recent interview at his ranch near Corsicana.

The cornerstone of the state's case against Willingham was the arson investigation. An accelerant was splashed on the floor and near the threshold of the door of the home Willingham had shared with Kuykendall in 1991, arson investigators ruled.

"I was completely convinced that it was both a murder and an arson fire," said John H. Jackson, a retired judge and the former assistant district attorney who led the prosecution of Willingham. "I think the death penalty opponents really do themselves a disservice by identifying this guy as a poster child. There are a lot of good arguments against the death penalty, but this is not one of them."

"I don't know what he did," Willis says of Willingham, his fellow Texas death row inmate. But the West Texas man who spent 17 years on death row for an arson-murder he supposedly did not commit, says he is convinced the former Corsicana auto mechanic was innocent, based on his conversations with Willingham.

The recently freed death row inmate is requesting that Texas Governor Rick Perry publicly admit the Lone Star State may have erred when Texas executed Willingham for intentionally killing his three children in 1991. "I think (Perry) should step up to the plate, call for a death penalty moratorium, listen to the experts and see what kind of situation we've got," Willis said in a telephone conversation with a Houston Chronicle reporter from his Midland home.

Former Texas Governor Mark White, who was governor from 1983-87, agrees it is time the state reconsiders its use of capital punishment, basing his opinion on the risk being too great that innocent people could be put to death. White, a Democrat, said the death penalty no longer deters murder, long delays between convictions and executions show there is no swift justice, and he's increasingly concerned it isn't administered fairly.

"There's a very strong case to be made for a review of our death penalty statutes and even look at the possibility of having life without parole so we don't look up one day and determine that we, as the state of Texas, have executed someone who in fact was innocent," White said.

Twenty death row inmates were executed during the period Mark White was Texas's attorney general and governor between 1979 and 1987.

Perry, Texas's longest-serving governor, has vigorously defended his actions in connection with Willingham's 2004 execution and depicts Willingham as "a monster."

Unfortunately for all of us Texans and our fellow inhabitants of the rest of the world, far too many "monsters' lurk among us. In my little corner of the world in West Columbia, Texas, I have been appalled and shocked by the many heartless murders that have occurred in recent years in West Columbia, Brazoria, Sweeny, Old Ocean, Surfside and the Brazosport area. Life is a fragile commodity and I would definitely be opposed to any innocent life being taken, but I remain fully committed to throwing my support behind the continuation of capital punishment in my home state. I disagree with former Governor White, who I once interviewed at John Gayle's lake house near West Columbia when he was running for governor and I was the editor of The Brazoria County News. I think the death penalty remains a deterrant to murder to some degree.

And I believe in the Biblical declaration that the taking of a human life must be subjected to the ultimate punishment of giving one's own life in return. Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 21, in the Bible I was given as a child states, "Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment."

Brian Gupton Takes Tiffanie Hatley As His Bride

Saturday, October 17, 2009, was definitely one of the highlights of this ol' boy's life. Brian Leslie Gupton, the 27-year-old son of my wife Peggy and I, got married. And what a lovely, picture-perfect occasion his wedding turned out to be. Peggy and I now have a daughter-in-law. She is the highly educated and attractive (cute as a button, my old man would say if he were alive to see his grandson's new bride) Tiffanie Hatley Gupton. Hey everybody, there is a new "T. Gup" in the family! And she's a lot easier on the eyes than me.

I have to admit I got a little misty eyed during the ceremony this past Saturday while seated on the first row in front of the antebellum mansion at West Columbia's Varner-Hogg State Park. With my wife Peggy on one side of me and my sister-in-law Andrea and my brother Cody on the other, I was engrossed in the moment. Seated with my wife of 29-plus years beside me, and so many family members and friends scattered out around me among the more than 200 people who attended the ceremony, the event was simply one of those reasons every man and woman can be thankful that they lived long enough to witness it. I think very highly of my son's choice for a wife. She is a graduate of The University of Houston and Katy Taylor High School who currently works for the UofH sports information department. She is witty and charming, to go along with being a real knockout in the looks department. Good choice, Briano!

My wife and I and our other sons welcome Tiffanie into the family circle. Her parents, Joe and Tina Hatley, and younger sister Nicole are all welcome new in-laws that we look forward to spending several decades getting together with at family gatherings . . . and hopefully, one day in the not too distant future, sharing our grandchildren with. We're not rushing you, Brian and Tiff, but I'm just saying! I think the tumor has shifted, so don't wait forever, okay?

If you attended the wedding then we were thankful you made the effort and hopeful that each of you were entertained. We dined at El Toro Mexican Restaurant in Clute Friday night for the rehearsal dinner, and Brian's buddy Chris Maynard provided the wedding meal through the Lake Jackson restaurant that he is the manager of, Johnny Carino's Italian Restaurant. Many thanks to those who provided and served the food and drinks, and a very special thank you is extended from Joe and Tina, as well as Peggy and myself, to everyone who chipped in and helped us out with the planning, preparation, setup and the take-down and cleanup the following day. And if you missed it, we regret that you were unable to attend our son's wedding this past Saturday. The marriage ceremony itself went off without a hitch. It was a beautiful ceremony, and the reception and dance that followed at the West Columbia Civic Center and American Legion Hall Pavilion was just as memorable. Especially for a proud old papa like me.

Sarah Sedlacek read from the Book of Colossians (3:12-17) and Sunshine Farris sang a beautiful solo, "Better Hands Now," prior to Rev. Joshua Farris marrying my son and his gorgeous new bride. Once the "I Do's" were exchanged (which included Brian saying, "For poorer and poorer," instead of "For richer and poorer" as Josh had instructed him to say) and Brian and Tiffanie were introduced to the large gathering of guests and the rest of the wedding party as the new Mr. and Mrs. Brian Leslie Gupton, the newlyweds and their party exited to the sounds of The Black Eyed Peas' song, "I Gotta Feeling."

Serving as her sister's maid of honor was Nicole Hatley of Katy. The co-best men were the groom's two younger brothers, Bret and Blake Gupton of West Columbia.

The bridesmaids were Sarah Sedlacek, Jessica Bammel, Natalie Kuban (the groom's cousin), Jamie Zarda, Brandi Clark, Beth Autenrieth, Jill Hartman and Wendy Thoe.

The groomsmen were Bryn Caulkins, Dustin Mosteit (the groom's cousin), Chris Maynard, Josh Autenrieth, Matt Autenrieth, Desmond Early and Chad Thoe.

Ushers in Tiffanie and Brian's wedding were Brandon Kuehler, Courtney Johnson and the groom's cousins, Tommy Kuban and Rex Layne Gupton.

Tori Salyer and Gabi McClure helped with the wedding by signing in the guests. Among the honored guests were Katie Hatley Ward, the bride's grandmother.

The beautiful bride (and newest member of the Gupton family) is escorted by her father, Joe Hatley, to her waiting groom, Brian Gupton, at Saturday's wedding ceremony at Varner-Hogg State Park in West Columbia, Texas. Tiffanie and Joe made their grand entrance to the Jason Mraz tune, "I'm Yours."

That's me, the proud papa, trailing behind as my son Brian escorts the two moms to their seats prior to the beginning of his Saturday wedding to Tiffanie Hatley in front of the Varner-Hogg mansion in West Columbia. Brian's mother Peggy Gupton is pictured on the left and his new mother-in-law Tina Hatley is on the right.

His two younger brothers, Bret and Blake, served as best men at the October 17th wedding of my son Brian Gupton. Joshua Farris, a good friend of Brian and Tiffanie, is pictured conducting the nuptials and patiently waiting for the Gupton brothers to come up with the wedding ring while laughing at the scripted confusion. It was more like the Marx Brothers in action.

The 60th Anniversary Of My Parents' Wedding

is today, October 9, 2009. Rex Gupton took the hand of Verna Mae Giesler in marriage on October 9, 1949, in the home of Charley and Neva Ellis in West Columbia, Texas. My dad's older brother, Judge Thurman Morris Gupton, performed the wedding ceremony in the Ellis's home, which is located a mere block away from where my grandparents' house stood in 1949. I sure wish mom and dad were here today to celebrate their 60th anniversary. Cancer claimed my wonderful mother at the age of 70 in 1996, so their 46th anniversary was the last these two true characters were allowed to spend together. Alzheimer's disease and heart failure were the culprits that eventually closed the book on my father's life in 2001. Ol' Rex died just four months shy of his 80th birthday. The photo above is how I would want to always remember my parents, having a great time with good friends and family members. The top picture was taken in Bandera, Texas, long before I was born. My parents loved to dance and both were "light on their feet" when a little sawdust could be spread on a wooden dance floor. Both my mother and father often told me how much they loved to spend time in Bandera when they were in the early years of their marriage. My mom is on the right and my dad on the left in the Bandera photo above. Their best friends, Louis and Maxine Wilson, are seated at the table with them, throwing back a few beers at a dance hall in the early 1950s. The lower photo was taken of my parents in the mid-fifties when they took a cross-country trip to Tennessee with my father's younger brother Hank and his wife Terry and their son "Little Hank" to visit Terry's family in Jackson, Tennessee. And the photo at top left is one of my favorites of the two people I loved the most as a child, my mother and father. I took that photo in front of the feed store in West Columbia that my parents ran for 26 years. They were both very proud of the plants and vegetables they sold at Gupton Feed and Ranch Supply, so I encouraged them to pose for my camera one sunny day when I captured them on film for posterity. Photos such as these displayed on my blog today are all we have left of Rex and Verna Gupton, so many years now after their deaths. The memories of them each of their offspring cherishes, that each grandchild, every niece and nephew and dear friend clings to in the present day, will always remain strong. So today, on the 60th anniversary of their marriage in 1949, our parents are toasted by their children and grandchildren. "Happy Anniversary" Rex and Verna, from your sons Cody and Tracy, your daughter Kelli, and from all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who today carry on your great name and family tradition.

Talk about "planned parenthood," my siblings and I were all born three years apart. My older brother Samuel Cody Gupton was born October 30, 1953, I came along in January 1957, and our baby sister, Kelli Renee Gupton, joined the family on March 22, 1960. The three of us had the greatest parents, each of us continues today trying to make our parents proud, and hoping to pass along as many of their favorable traits as we can to our own children. The photo of my daddy eating watermelon was taken on a Father's Day in Baytown, Texas, at my Uncle Hank and Aunt Terry's house. And the other picture of my mom and dad was taken in the backyard of Daddy's older brother, Judge Thurman Gupton and his wife Gladys in West Columbia on the day of my cousin Angie's wedding to Jack Middleton.

Rex and Verna Gupton, who would have been married 60 years today, were photographed by their middle child, Tracy Gupton (me), in the photos above. I have loved taking pictures since I was a teenager growing up in West Columbia, and my mother and father were always willing models for their shutterbug son.

An Easter Sunday family photo was taken of the Gupton clan around 1991 in front of my parents' house in West Columbia. My wife and I and our sons now reside in the same home that I grew up in as a child on Gupton Lane. Standing in back, from left to right, are my father Rex, sister-in-law Andrea, my mother Verna, and my wife Peggy. Representing the younger generation of Guptons are, in front, from left to right, Blake Gupton, Dustin Mosteit, Rex Layne Gupton, Haylie Mosteit, Bret Gupton and Brian Gupton. And our family dog, Pearl Mae "Pupper" Bodine, couldn't be left out of the family portrait.

The two photos above were taken on my birthday when my family gathered at my parents' house in West Columbia to celebrate either my 34th or 35th birthday. There is no date on the back of the picture but my youngest son Blake appears to be about three years old, so if this was taken in 1991 then I would be turning 34. That's me, the birthday boy, on the right with my mother and father and, like Fred McMurray, "My Three Sons." Brian is standing behind me, Bret is in his grandmother's lap, and Blake is sitting on his "Paw" Rex's knee. Seated together on their living room couch, some 41 to 42 years after their 1949 wedding, are my parents, Rex and Verna Gupton.