A very busy time, and a family is struck by tragedy

Today has been an extremely super busy day. I had the great fortune of being able to spend about an hour at musical practice tonight at B-B-E's Olson Auditorium. The theater students are doing a fantastic job on the show's scenes!!! We also had two pep fests and a Veterans Day program, plus...the football team is having their final practice before they compete at the state tournament. This is an extremely exciting time with much to look ahead to.

Cory Sturges receives his diploma at B-B-E high school on June 1, 2018.

And we have very difficult news to share:
Cory Sturges, age 22 of Belgrade, was killed in a one-vehicle accident this morning. I haven't gotten a copy of the accident report, but I have good details of what happened. His truck crashed on County Road 32 near St. Martin. Everything suggests he fell asleep at the wheel. Cory was a member of the B-B-E Class of 2018 and a member of B-B-E's FFA chapter. He was a friend to anyone who knew him. This is a great tragedy.

Cory was a straight up, hard-working, honest as the day is long blue collar guy who the world will miss. The type of man who the United States, to be sure, is running out of. Men who are willing to put in 60, 70, 80 hours a week or whatever is required of him. When he died, Cory was on his way to work at Rotochopper in St. Martin. Cory also worked part-time for Paul Gruber Baling. His loss will ripple through the community. If you knew him, you liked him. Some guys are nice, but Cory was especially nice. He went above and beyond to be good to others. He put "extra" on it and could befriend anyone with a sincere belief that those around him are good people. That's becoming a rare quality in this world.

News of his death hit me hard this morning and has had me in a foul mood the whole day (as you can tell by the tone of my blog post earlier today). I knew him well. Cory and his dad, Bob, lost Cory's mom (Heidi Sturges) when Cory was just a baby. Bob and Cory have both helped me out countless times when I needed it. They did that at the drop of a hat. They're on a list of people who had my back every time, all day, no matter what. People often ask me how I get the things done each week that I get done. How do I manage to make it all happen with my small media empire here in Jaguar Country? Well, a huge, huge reason why I can get things done is because I have people like Bob and Cory available to chip in when I need help. That's how small town America works. When we lose one of us, especially a young man like Cory, it is devastating.

This sucks, and it's just not right.

And for the record: in 2021, Jaguar Country has lost three incredible young men, all blue collar guys, all between the ages of 19 and 25. They were members of the Class of 2015, 2018 and 2020. Enough!!!!!