Published Works – Mark DeLap | Streetfire Ministries

“When I was 4 years old I got a chance to shake John F. Kennedy’s hand as my aunt was part of his campaign team in Wisconsin. He gave me a PT boat tie-tac. My cousin Davey Christian played on the Miracle on Ice Team in 1980 at Lake Placid. He gave me a signed hockey stick. My cousin, Betsy Wolheim owns Daw publishing here in New York and she gave me lots of pointers when I wrote my first book. I have stood in the shadows of some great people. Jimmy Lanza was 5 foot 5 inches tall – give or take an inch – and of all the people I’ve ever met, his shadow was the biggest I’d ever been enveloped by. For a guy with a size 8 shoe, I couldn’t begin to fill his footprints.”

– From the Eulogy for Jimmy Lanza by Mark DeLap

There are some people who can alter YOUR course with THEIR experiences. They can renew your hope with their words. And they can break your heart with their passing.

All good things, they say, must come to an end. A very good thing came to an end this past week when we said goodbye to a man who never thought of himself too highly. A man who knew the difference between confidence and arrogance. Confidence in what you know you can do for others versus arrogance in what you know you can do for yourself.

Confidence can save a life. Jimmy Lanza saved mine.

I was not one of the survivors that he rescued on 9.11 at the World Trade Center. Instead, I was battling to find my way out of the rubble of my own life. Without going into the painful details of what I was facing, I will say that, this is not about me, but about him.

A little town off the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway during the sweltering month of July. A little fair on the prairie in Minnesota. I can remember it was toward the end of a long day as I was leaving the fairgrounds.

I had taken almost a thousand pictures that day and had shot more than enough video to finish my vlog for the website. As I was walking out, I felt tired and hungry as I had forgotten my wallet at home and was subjected to walking through the smells coming from food booths and filling my belly only with the aromas.

With my tripod and camera bag over my shoulder I was headed for a warm meal in a cool apartment. Instead, I passed the Stephen Siller “Tunnel to Towers” 9.11 exhibit and with a change of direction came a change in my own destiny. I was about to meet a hero.

The Siller exhibit was a hot item at the Dodge County Fair and the lines were always longer than the shadows of sunset. Something told me I had to go. Perhaps it was the voice of my publisher who would be questioning why I didn’t have a submission on the biggest story of the summer, or perhaps it was an inner voice that was directing my path.

In any event, I decided to skirt the long lines, use my press pass and go around back to find someone in charge. I came upon a short man wearing a blue firefighter shirt. I asked him if he was one of the four firefighters from New York and he told me that he was.

I realized in a moment that I was in the presence of a man who was actually at the World Trade Center. Not only a witness from 9.11, but a man who really did run in when others were running out.

As I interviewed him, very unprepared, it was as if there was a hand guiding each of us. The questions came as though they were scripted and the answers came unrehearsed and passionate from the heart of that infamous day.

As soon as the interview concluded, the battery on the camera clicked off. Again. A setup out of our hands, but just enough time to get what we needed to preserve this man’s testimony for his legacy. He would have something to leave behind when his voice could no longer speak.

The thought of him leaving had not entered into our realm of possibilities, and yet, here, nine months after the fair had passed on, so had he. We didn’t realize how that 15 minutes would impact our lives and the lives of many we would never meet.

But it was after the camera battery died that this man spoke a profound word into my life by way of his experiences.

He began to share with me that he called dispatch early that morning and how it seemed like years since that conversation. The original FDNY 911 Calls Transcript reads: “[CALL BEGINS AT 09:23:12] DISPATCHER: Dispatcher. FIREFIGHTER: Yeah. My name is the Jimmy Lanza. I’m with 43 truck, but I’m home and off duty. Is there — DISPATCHER: Come on in. FIREFIGHTER: Go to work? DISPATCHER: Go to work. FIREFIGHTER: OK. Thank you. DISPATCHER: You got it.”

He was shocked when he got to ground zero and found the annihilation that awaited him. His first shift lasted for 36 straight hours and after that shift, firefighters were heading to St. Paul’s Church to rest and recover. It was built in 1766 and remains the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan.

The church was in the destruction zone and intact, which was a miracle as it was still standing among the bruised and broken skyscrapers, withstanding the blasts and becoming a fortress for those who were tired and weary from fighting on the very precipice of hell.

It is Ironic that the holy war that had come to America could not destroy our place of worship that was in the middle of the chaos. “The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” – Psalm 110:2

Lanza collapsed behind a pew in an exhausted heap, tears flooding his eyes which were sore and swollen from the blizzarding ash and debris. The air was a combination of burnt metal, electrical and jet fuel, but penetrating it all was the unmistakable smell of human remains.

All of a sudden hit him – the magnitude of the disaster. “I felt numb.” He said. “My city was in shambles, I realized that there were more people dead than alive and most didn’t get out. And I could do little to help.”

That, perhaps was the worst hit of all since Lanza was known as the “Overbearing Samaritan” by friends and firefighters. Captain Kirk Lester of Ladder Company 43 and a fellow firefighter with Lanza spoke at one of the four wakes needed to accommodate all the people this past week. He said, “Jimmy wouldn’t just help people when they fell down, he would run up to them and help them if they ‘looked’ like they were going to fall.”

After a few hours of exhausted sleep, the first responders would be scavenging for body parts and for the dead.

“I had had it.” Lanza said. “I didn’t know how I was going to get up and start again – or how this city was going to get up and start again. I felt like every time we’d take one step forward, there was another explosion and we’d take 10 steps back.”

Many of the incidents were unreported by media, either because of the gruesome nature or the very fact that there was just too much carnage for the reporters to keep up on. Some of those things included the broken gas lines exploding deep underground. They sent blasts that further shook already shaky buildings and they found themselves holding their breath waiting for the next catastrophe.

“Something happened to me in that little church and I thought I was going crazy,” he continued.

His ears were still ringing from the blasts, the explosions, sirens and the groaning of the metal, waiting to take its turn to fall into the massive piles of rubble. That, mixed with people screaming, the incessant chatter of the responder’s radios and sound of generators all over the complex. The minds of those in that battle were racing as they had heard that there would be more attacks so they were always looking over their shoulders.

And in the silence inside that mighty church, he heard his name called. He looked around to see if it was someone who needed help or one of his friends, but he was all alone.

Something deep inside was beckoning him to go on. Then, clear as a bell, the words came, “All your life you’ve asked what your purpose was, and now, here you are, standing right in front of it. This is your time and you have to go. You’re going to finish strong.”

He did go back and he did finish strong. Lanza helped rescue 16 survivors out of the famous miracle Stairwell B of the North Tower. He shared with me how restless his life had been up until the terror attack, but after 9/11 – there was a calm that came to his life. When a man finds his purpose in a crisis, he can find his true north.

Through his experience and his wisdom, Lanza taught me something about life in the crunch. When you find your purpose in crisis and step into it, something turns inside the heart and changes your perspective. And that can change your destiny.

Never have I seen the William Shakespeare quote ring more true than in the case of Jimmy Lanza. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

He was truly a man above men. I shook the hand that had rescued the fallen and recovered the dead. I reached out and experienced what greatness felt like. He thought himself an ordinary man, but that ordinary man did extraordinary things. That’s what separates the noble from the common.

As I stood before his casket last week, I realized that I was simply viewing the cape and fleshly garment of a bona fide crusader who had been reassigned to a higher ladder company well beyond my sightline or thought process.

I would challenge you to follow in his footsteps. Find your purpose in your crisis and you can make a difference in this world.

For a glimpse of the interview that Lanza did with the DCI and all the funeral highlights from last week in New York, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ZETSuDEps

Writing Sample (2) – Published 8/9/16

A Simple Eulogy – An Amish transport for a friend

By Mark DeLap – Steele County Times and Dodge County Independent Managing Editor

I got to meet and learn about Jim Belyou as he was writing the last chapter of his life. I was deeply touched by his life and by his passing.

As a basketball coach, I would always tell my players, there is an important choice to be made when the clock starts. You can choose to make an appearance or you can choose to make a difference. I not only live with that choice on the basketball court, but in all of life’s pulpit.

When you choose to just appear, you count the moments until you are finished with the task at hand and your journey can be a cruel taskmaster. But when you choose to make a difference, you summon the courage and the strength to alter life itself, and lives can be changed all around you.

Perhaps a word of encouragement and a small boy doesn’t give up. Perhaps a loaf of bread and a family doesn’t go hungry. Perhaps a ride in a red van and a family is transported to a new home.

This was a man with an unusual ministry. He provided rides to the Amish.

Whether they had to go to the store or relocate to another state, this man and his wife provided the transportation. When he spoke about his ministry, his eyes would just light up. He not only had a fascination for the Amish, but a love for their simple and dedicated way of life.

He didn’t adhere to or worship their ways, but here was a man of a different world, permeating the closed culture of these separated people. He didn’t care which culture they embraced, or that their clothing and their ways were different, Jim had a gospel that he didn’t preach, but that he lived.

The Bible says that God doesn’t look upon the outward appearance, but that He looks upon the heart. That’s the Father’s business. And Jim was all about his Father’s business. No fanfare, no motivation for fortune or fame, he just had that special gift.

The gift to be able to look past the differences and see the needs. And see the hearts. The hearts of people that would become close friends and who had a need. Friends with their proud horses pulling humble carriages and precious cargo.

Jim and his wife, Sue didn’t make an appearance in this life, they truly made a difference. Especially in the lives of those people you never hear about until one of their buggies is going to slow on a main highway on a Sunday morning. Now Jim didn’t always have the role of “driving Miss Yoder.” He made a difference in every endeavor that he encountered and touched lives at every fold on his map.

There was a Friday in April about six years ago that I will remember as if it were yesterday. On one hand, Jim won his battle over cancer and death. He made a proclamation there at 8:15 p.m. “I am still alive,” he said. “I am no longer on planet earth, but I am still and now eternally alive. Cancer can’t hurt me anymore. I have no pain. Death can’t embalm me with fear or stop me, because I’ve found my path to the other side. I can look death in the eye and say boldly, ‘Where is your sting?’”

On the other hand, he was ripped too soon from the hearts of those who loved him and were just about to begin the grieving process.

The funeral that was held for Jim seemed anticlimactic in light of the dimly lit ICU where the final service was held at his bedside in the moments of his departure.

Let me share with you just a little of what could not have been scripted by Hollywood, but was indeed scripted by the divine. As Robin and I arrived at Saginaw Veteran’s Hospital at noon, we felt as if something very powerful was going to happen.

Now, I’ve seen people at death’s door, turn around and come back. Twice I’ve witnessed people go through that door and come back. Perhaps this was going to be one of those days. Perhaps God would let Jim recover and come back for a little while longer… perhaps to transport just one more Amish family to a new homestead.

We were told by Jim’s wife that the doctor’s update was not good, nor was the prognosis for life, explaining that his kidneys had shut down and his liver was also heading in that same direction. Soon the body cavity would fill with fluid and he would be gone. As we entered the room, it was a veritable “who’s who” of angels and ministering spirits.

Although there were only a handful of family present, we felt crowded in a realm that could only be seen with the human heart. During the day, we fellowshipped with family in and out of the room, we sang together, we interceded, we talked about poems, prayers and promises. We even found a time to laugh together. One of Jim’s favorite things to do was laugh and we offered it as one of our final gifts. He told me once, “I love jokes. But I just can’t seem to remember how they go the next day.”

The day had many facets to it. The story I will share with you here and now is simply so powerful that it too can only fully be appreciated with the heart. We noticed that Jim’s breathing had become more and more labored as the day wore on. Although he had been heavily medicated, we felt that his connection was still with us.

By 6 p.m. the “death rattle” was growing louder and more intense, and we knew that like a flood, the bodily fluids were beginning to submerge his lungs. Many visitors had come and gone in the two days that he had spent there, but on this day, people came and didn’t want to leave. Somehow, we wanted to be standing at the shore when his ship sailed.

And what an honor and a privilege to be anointed and appointed to walk someone to that door. That our faces will be forever remembered as the last faces he would see on this side of eternity.

Even that Amish family that Jim had driven on so many occasions were supposed to be coming up later in the evening to say their goodbyes. I kept encouraging family members to talk with Jim and speak with him while his spirit was still listening. Listening, they say, is the last to go. I heard Sue tell Jim on more than one occasion, “I love you honey. Melvin’s Amish family… they’re coming to see you tonight. They’ll be here in just a little while.”

By 7:50 the labored breathing had gone to shallow breaths, pushed out like contractions every few minutes. As if he were birthing his own death.

With the lengthening shadows outside, the room seemed to grow dark and quiet. I went quickly to the lounge and found scattered family members and told them, “His breathing is weak. It’s close to the end.”

At 7:55 there was a muffled but bustling procession in the hallway, and suddenly there were bonnets and long dark dresses, handmade quilts, men with beards and simple black hats. Jim’s precious Amish family had arrived to say “goodbye.” There we stood in a circle around the bed. I had Jim’s left hand in my right hand and his wife, Sue as next to me. She looked tired and worn as the events of the past few months had started to take a toll, and the reality of the moment had come to rest in those weary eyes.

Melvin was directly across from me holding Jim’s other hand and completing the sphere. The circle we created around Jim was unbroken as his breathing seemed to stop and start without any rhyme or rhythm. I asked Sue if it would be all right to sing him home. She welcomed it in the midst of that heavy silence. We started to sing the song “Amazing Grace.”

Amid the tears and broken voices, it seemed as if that music spilled out of that room and down the hallway into other rooms in that Hospice corridor. What a sight it must have been. The Amish clothed in their simplicity, interspersed with those of us who seemed to be from another place and time. Hand in hand, all singing boldly, loudly – the same words. The same song. All of us on the same spiritual hymnal page of this day. All saying “goodbye” this one last time to this man who was already at that moment waving from afar and disappearing from our eyes.

I realized that it was Jim’s life that brought even different cultures hand in hand unified in song and purpose. I remember starting that first stanza, and when we came to the end of it, the song was continued by an Amish gentleman on the other side of the bed as he began the second verse, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear…” When we got to the very end of the second verse, with that final word, we knew that was as far as we would go with Jim still with us.

With the words, “the hour I first believed,” there was a last gasp as his spirit lifted gently from his body. One last squeeze from his hand and he was gone. I didn’t know if anyone else had felt it, but I knew that everyone continued to hold on tightly to this moment.

There was silence.

A peaceful silence, and then through the darkness, I heard Robin begin to sing the Lord’s Prayer as others began to join in. I reached down to feel for the pulse of his life but knew that I wouldn’t feel it. I kissed him gently on the forehead and left quietly for the nurse.

Jim didn’t lose a battle with cancer, he won a battle over hell, death and the grave. As I ministered to those embracing and in tears, I realized something very special. That these people that Jim transported were his ministry. I told them that. “You were his ministry,” I said. “You provided purpose and vision.”

There is something so profound about the gift of purpose, and what it can do for another man. And what a beautiful ending to life here on earth that to be fully surrounded in death by his ministry that he loved so much.

It was an almost surreal night. Certainly, a humbling night to stand at the crossroads of one who, with one blink of the eye… is home. To suddenly be able to feel the life in your hands, release and go forth to a place where those who believe it and live their belief will one day call home.

There are no more comforting quotes from the book, at a time like that, than this quote from Jesus Himself. “I will see you again.” For a Christian, these words are a balm of peace for a wounded soul. Jim had the ability to bring people together. Perhaps you reading this today is just another way with bringing you face to face with someone you’ve never met or a culture you’ve never embraced.

I think Jim would enjoy knowing that. Knowing he had a hand in it. And just maybe, your love for him, or your desire to see him or perhaps another loved one who has passed, will cause you to seek out the only one who knows the way home.

As a simply proper finish to the story, Jim’s body was transported to the gravesite by way of Amish horse and wagon specially fashioned for just such an occasion. A reaping in death of what was sown in life.

Jim Belyou didn’t just make an appearance on this earth. He made a difference. And if all of us are touched in some way by the courage he had and the life he lived, then truly that life is still making a difference long after his passing.

For a video look at Jim’s funeral and the Amish procession to the gravesite, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivK6Vcqp9Gs

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Writing Sample (3) – Published 8/9/16

From meth to miracle to mentor

By Mark DeLap – Steele County Times and Dodge County Independent Managing Editor

Many are the excuses for drug use. Some are valid, some are bogus. While there is no excuse that is good enough to justify the use of illegal or the abuse of any drug, certainly there are some who have a story to tell as to how they arrived to that place of torment.

Over 47,000 people have died from drug overdoses in the most recent statistical information given out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Coffins are where many people go to escape the pain that the drug could not stop.

In the midst of the horrific, there are a few bright spots. Interspersed among the meth and the mess and the mire are miracles.

Justin Lindgren has been given one of those. But to receive a miracle, you need to find yourself in an impossible situation where every option has been exhausted and all reasonable explanation is fruitless. A miracle.

Lindgren’s key to unlocking his prison, ironically, came while he was literally in prison. The road that led him there was long and winding and filled with a lot of pain. “I wouldn’t have changed a thing,” Lindgren said. “I made my mistakes, paid the price, and every moment made me who I am today.”

Incredible sage and outlook from one who ingested an unhealthy diet as a child. Although he was born in Owatonna into a parental warzone that war eventually ended and his parents divorced. He stayed with perhaps the greater of two evils and lived with an alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend.

“I would go to visit my dad in Owatonna on weekends, but had a lot of rage,” Lindgren said. “I was angry all the time. My mom’s boyfriend would abuse me and I didn’t tell my dad.” That pent up anger fueled his rage and his acting out for attention turned into many fights in school. The south metro region of the Twin Cities was a scary place and rather than be scared, he became the scary one.

By the time he was 10 years old he had already tried marijuana. “I used to steal pot from my mom and sell it so I could buy cigarettes and baseball cards,” Lindgren said. “I was trying to be the cool kid, but really, I was all about the rebellion.”

In his teens when other kids were learning to drive and shopping for prom, Lindgren had begun his career selling drugs. From selling weed he moved on to selling coke at 16 years of age. The rage had begun to escalate to violence and the abused began to lash out as he assaulted his father.

His step-mom tried to intervene and offer help, to no avail and Lindgren found himself in the Owatonna boys home. Not wanting to live with an alcoholic mother and unable to hold his temper with his dad, he found himself on the streets at 16. “I couldn’t go home,” said Lindgren. I just didn’t get along.

The story gets darker. Much darker.

As he turns 17 he finds the drug of choice is also a moneymaker and begins to sell meth and coke. Not only selling, but also using. He sold drugs to feed a habit that he had to try to numb the years of pain.

“I would mix heroin and coke,” he said. “It’s kind of like amping yourself up and then bringing yourself down all at the same time. Kind of like having your foot on the brake and the gas at the same time.”

He rode that accelerator and brake pedal until he ran himself into the ground.

He found himself more hooked on the using than the selling and after a while the nightmare escalated to a point where all he could focus on was trying to get enough quick cash for instant scores.

By 2006 he had moved to a life of burglary to help support his habit and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for first degree burglary and assault. The assault charge is for surprising a victim and then picking up a vacuum cleaner hose to try to beat him with it.

“It’s kind of humorous looking back on it now,” said Lindgren, “and obviously the topic of many stories since then. But it wasn’t funny at the time.”

By 2012 Lindgren had quite the reputation in the Owatonna area as not only a notorious drug dealer, but as someone you wanted to steer clear from. His temper had preceded him.

“I found myself just wanting to be alone,” Lindgren said. “The more drugs I did, the more I wanted and it seemed as if I never had enough money for the thing that took me away from people. Which is what I wanted.”

He totally withdrew from everything and everyone. He would come out of his drug induced coma of a life only to steal. And pawn. And purchase. And again get high. Rinse and repeat. The drugs took him to exactly where they take everyone that chooses that path.

Inside. A prison of his own making. And then the voices that convinced him that to overdose was the way of escape. It’s a very convincing voice as proven by tens of thousands who believe that lie every year. And. They simply. Check. Out.

There was an intervention in the life of Justin Lindgren. It came as a result of his rage. A temper flare prompted him to go to a Bible study to assault someone who was actually “at” the Bible study. He had planned the assault, but was ambushed by the divine.

Ray Snesrud was the man in charge of that meeting who has been publicized as a hero to the addicted. Snesrud is the founder of “Men of Integrity” which is a nonprofit ministry in Faribault. The “sober house” as Lindgren calls it is a center created by Snesrud to assist men in their recovery by providing a sober living environment and a mentoring program.

It was there that something other than hatred and anger and addiction rang true in Lindgren’s life. It was as if a compass was placed in his hand and all of a sudden the explorer came to terms with his true north.

Lindgren met a man that didn’t just talk a good game. In Snesrud, he found a friend, a confidant and a future employer. The damage done with a conviction of burglary, Lindgren was sentenced to 57 months in prison back in 2012.

While in prison, he experienced two life changing events. First, a friend who not only presented a practical and personal God. And second, a military style boot camp which was an intense six-month structured military program. It seems to work for those who didn’t get attention as a child as it afforded them all the attention they could possibly ask for.

“I didn’t have all of my life ruined by things,” Lindgren concluded. “It just ruined a part of my life. But that’s not who I am now. People who knew me won’t believe I’ve changed, but I have.

“My relationship with my dad has been restored and I have a good job working for Ray (Snesrud) as a plumber. I also have kept myself busy with sports and am looking forward to being a mentor at the center when a spot opens up.”

As he rushed out the door to a softball game, he commented with a wry grin, “It’s my new addiction and I think it’s more expensive than drugs.” Obviously the price he’s paying today for a wholesome passion is going to pay great investments for his future.

Lindgren lost everything to gain everything. Instead of talking about drugs and scores and who made the weekly list to “beat up,” he talks about God. He talks about change. He talks about his future with a tone that brings miracles to all the other lives in need of a miracle. He makes you a believer not by his words, but by his life.

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. – Jeremiah 29:11

Writing Sample (4) – Published 7/21/16

Fifteen years and the tears have not dried

– An intimate look at the day America lost its innocence

By Mark DeLap – DCI Managing Editor

I remember sitting in my office in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on a cool September morning, working on rewrites for a novel I was crafting. A phone call. A plane crash into one of the twin towers in New York.

I just figured it to be a freaky, “oh that’s interesting” story, when I heard the words that took me from the pages of my passion to the front page of America. “Another plane just hit the other tower.”

I was thrown face first into history with the rest of the country as we all began to rewrite the memoirs that would be forever remembered simply as “9/11.”

It was a day that would forever connect every American to the same page of remembrance. A moment in time that shoots every lucid thought back to a morning when, just a hint of autumn had come calling.

At the Dodge County Fair, here in Kasson, thousands of people came and revisited that page in our history as the Stephen Siller 9/11 Never Forget Exhibit arrived last Tuesday in the midst of great pomp and fanfare.

Watching people lined up at the exhibit all week, I saw firsthand a people who would never forget and as they exited the exhibit, I realized that although it’s been 15 years, the tears have not yet dried. Perhaps they never will.

On Saturday, my profession afforded me an incredible opportunity to sit down and speak with one of the firefighters who was there on the day we all remember. He told his story of a time that he will never forget.

We all had an agenda for the day. Nobody remembers what it was. It was a day that took control of every schedule, every task and every thought. Certainly, it changed not only the day, but the destiny of Jimmy Lanza.

We must remember that to share again and again, the events of that infamous day, takes a special heart beating inside of a hero. To be willing to relive that day is a mantle that carries a weight that I cannot comprehend.

I wrote in my column this week, “I listened to his story and for someone who had only experienced the tragedy from the safety of the Midwest, 15 years ago, I finally understood the scope as I saw the reflection of that day in his stoic eyes.”

Lanza is not a tall man. He is not a muscle-bound caped crusader from Metropolis. He doesn’t have a booming voice. But he exemplifies and solidifies the very fact that heroes come in every shape and size.

Lanza worked as a New York City firefighter for 28 years and on September 11, 2001, he worked in ladder 43. Stationed in East Harlem.

On that morning, he was outside and off duty when he heard from a neighbor that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. As I ask him about that morning, he looks away from my eyes and squints slightly as he looks back into the distance.

“It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day, without a cloud in the sky.” He begins his descent into the disaster area. “And I knew that with visual flight rules and even without the instruments on, there’s no way a plane would hit that tower.

“Unless they had mechanical trouble. And the news kept showin’ it over and over and to me, it looked like it was intentional.”

Lanza went on to explain the fact that the city has major air traffic from LaGuardia, Newark and Kennedy and most air traffic is not over the city. He stated very clearly that planes that make that kind of a drastic change in path are duly noted and flagged.

He fully believed that in the moments before impact and at the time of the crashes, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had already known what was happening. They all began to brace for the worst while hoping for the best.

“I went down to the firehouse and met up with 13 other firefighters.” Lanza said. “We got another fire truck as my own company had already left to go to the Trade Center. We got down there and they held us back until the second building came down.

“And it was like a nuclear winter with the smoke, the debris, asbestos… who knows what was in the air. Unfortunately, some of it was the smell of human remains.”

When finally released to go into the belly of this hell, Lanza’s crew was assigned to go into the stairways through the A tower and the B tower. What they encountered was something horrific. With Lanza’s words or my writing and recounting of those scenes, if you let your imagination read between our lines, I still feel hollow and inadequate to fully describe the carnage.

Lanza describes finding and aiding in the rescue of firefighters like Captain Jay Jonas from 6 truck and guys from 39 engine, like Jimmy McGlinn who had fallen down floors when the tower collapsed and trapped below floors.

“We also found Chief Amante, unfortunately he was passed away.” He said. “And after that it was like a recovery effort because everyone you found was dead or a body part.”

As Lanza began to describe delicately the handling of the body parts found, he mentioned that a fortunate part of finding something like that was found in the faces of the thousands of people who were standing outside for days with pictures of their loved ones. Waiting for news. Waiting for confirmation. Waiting for closure.

After days of waiting, checking hospitals and piles of human remains, it gave a sense of purpose in recovering anything that could lead to some peace of mind in those who waited. And waited. And cried. And waited.

“When we found a body part or a body, we would put it on a stretcher, cover it with an American flag, march it out with honor to a temporary morgue that the city had set up.” Lanza recounts with an inflection of great pain. “They had gathered hairbrushes, toothbrushes and DNA samples from family members and tried to quickly set up a DNA database. The rewarding part of that which may sound crazy to somebody else was that we knew we were giving closure to a family or a parent or a daughter.”

Lanza, who was a steamfitter after his military experience and college career, explained his ideas behind the actual collapse of the buildings. He explained that above the impact, most likely people had been incinerated due to the explosion. Below the crash where the jet fuel began to pour down the main elevator shafts, the fire was so intense that it caused the steel to expand.

“When they put the horizontal beams to the vertical beams,” Lanza explained, “they bolted them together. When the heat from that jet fuel came down on those beams, the heat had to be 1200-1400 degrees. At that temperature steel expands.

“I believe that it expanded a few inches and sheared those bolts. Then you get what we call in the fire department a pancake collapse. One floor falls on the other floor.”

Lanza went on to describe the rigors of the job and the challenges that come with the calling. He described accident scenes or perhaps the baby who had died in a fire. As a true firefighter trained in his position, he reflected with a calmness and a reverent demeanor how those things impacted him but did not deter him from continuing to do a job that he was called to do.

“It’s not nice all the time, but you do the best you can.” He said. He seemed to point toward the actual steps of the schedule and routine that at times kept him on track so that he would be able to maintain focus on “fruition of mission.” In other words, keeping busy thinking of the steps instead of the situation.

“But there’s times when you get a break.” He said. “And you look at how bad it is. And then I’m sayin’ to myself, who’s gonna want to build here again? The last thing I wanted to see was a 15-block cemetery or desolate place.”

In crisis, the mind seems to try to find a way to mentally rebuild it and to dream about restoration, but in the midst of what was happening on that Tuesday in September, Lanza was at an impasse. He had been working for 36 hours and then on again, off again shifts of search and rescue that were 12 hours in scope. Just to think of that is something I was not trained in public school in America to handle. 12 hour shifts to find remains and to try to put the pieces of “normal” back together.

“To me, if was a cemetery, then the bad guys would win.” He said. “All seven buildings are built again. I go to the freedom tower every now and then, eat a hot dog, have a soda and I just watch the people comin’ out of the subway.

“Runnin’ into the buildings to go to work. Coming out to go to a restaurant. So the bad guys really hurt us, and I feel sorry for the families of those who lost loved ones, especially firefighter friends of mine, but the bad guys didn’t win. They didn’t change our way of life.”

The day seized us, but from it, we learned how to seize the day. I got the unusual opportunity to sit with a bona fide hero. A man small in stature but huge in purpose. Sitting there under that small tent at a county fair made me feel as if I were seated in the shadow of 9/11 itself. It brought a shiver to my spine. It brought a new perspective to the word “sacrifice.” It brought tears.

“That is perhaps the most poignant, the most powerfully simple thing to say that will leave a need to speak no more. It brought tears.”

There is much more that was recorded in the live interview with Lanza and you can view that video online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja-NSoNn0T4 or on our Facebook page at the DCI. It is worth a look and a moment of your day to view an honest to goodness 21st century hero who took the time, left his family, sacrificed his agenda to come and sit with us Minnesotans who, on that day could only watch from a distance.

All of my art gallery photos can be seen at:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fs42ypwb261ul74/AACATfm6Yt-8HqGUqUimczAZa?dl=0

Samples of my writing, my photography, layout and design:

News/Feature:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9qus03m41w3in8j/BLOOM_C04_08_09.pdf?dl=0 A Simple Eulogy

https://www.dropbox.com/s/avklv033xnazwnc/DCI_C04_07_21.pdf?dl=0 The White Tigers

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9x9hvnrgbbimov/DCI_C06_07_14.pdf?dl=0 Relay for Life

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vlq0z49c4sjmsfo/DCI_A06_07_14.pdf?dl=0 Derwin Hammond

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7xehyis6f2c38db/DCI_C05_07_21%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0 Fifteen years and the tears have not dried

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rk9w4lcwax0a2rr/DCI_A01_04_20%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0 Final Tone Page One

https://www.dropbox.com/s/69870qea769ug4n/DCI_A06_04_20%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0 Final Tone Part Two

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0g7gnh1t3oldcan/BLOOM_A01_04_18.pdf?dl=0 Final Tone: Steele

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8nhm77x3sttzfs6/BLOOM_A03_04_18.pdf?dl=0 Final Tone Steele Jump

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbmwqdqz80iyan3/8-09-2016_D1%20Mark.pdf?dl=0 From Meth to Mentor

https://www.dropbox.com/s/626d968gs2dj6v1/BLOOM_D08_08_23.pdf?dl=0 Cheesecake Heiress

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4jdktum81qjxdxy/BLOOM_C07_08_23.pdf?dl=0 The Human Bullet

https://www.dropbox.com/s/538let5sdlhyxkx/BLOOM_B04_05_09.pdf?dl=0 From The Heart – Ratzloff and Fenske

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nmozndvi7bhz77w/BLOOM_B05_05_09.pdf?dl=0 From The Heart – Larson and Grose

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fxtgm5uy0d8t1gj/DCI_HI_04-13_04_18.pdf?dl=0 Confessions of a flipper that flopped

https://www.dropbox.com/s/htj0p9u25t48259/3_14_2017%20A1.pdf?dl=0 Public Works Building (I)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qj9sorhfoex4mgx/3_14_2017%20A4.pdf?dl=0 Public Works Building Continuation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ulzf0k8xeg8ci3k/DCI_B04_02_09.pdf?dl=0 Not letting time stand still

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wecaoo2efdzorxr/DCI_D01_12_29.pdf?dl=0 Triton Teacher Battles For Life

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f6guiccjzmfd43k/DCI_B01_04_06.pdf?dl=0 Praying for a Hero

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mnxnl5o6isw9jsm/DCI_A01_08_25.pdf?dl=0 Front page

https://www.dropbox.com/s/swmts3vgxuw7hqm/BLOOM_C01_06_07.pdf?dl=0 The contest I founded

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8h1tdrs26u931p3/DCI_A01_05_12.pdf?dl=0 Repurposing Kasson School and teacher of the year

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mhotkzns7dw1w9w/DCI_A03_05_12.pdf?dl=0 Repurposing Jump and teacher jump

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lzi4wnzym7pw6uq/DCI_A01_06_30.pdf?dl=0 Corruption in Kasson

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3q5gh7ua0b5nygt/3_21_2017%20B7.pdf?dl=0 Chamber Boot Camp

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8jt23qdp692j2ov/DCI_A03_05_19MO.pdf?dl=0 Fallen Officers Memorial

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mhc6ye40j9ql82d/DCI_A06_05_19.pdf?dl=0 Spring Fling Mantorville

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7uqzrfq1tayo96/DCI_A10_05_12.pdf?dl=0 Buying a garage at a garage sale

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u0yatpi5y6n8x8b/DCI_B01_05_12.pdf?dl=0 SOLD

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yiw5qbsw0k7p3l/Progress_14%2C03.pdf?dl=0 Airbnb and a financial planner

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a3jab9n78hjhrdh/BLOOM_A01_03_07.pdf?dl=0 Ellendale Fire from Ill-Fated Crash

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ncpfs2qciart9lj/BLOOM_A03_03_07.pdf?dl=0 Ellendale Fire PART TWO

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9kuh62ou12g2ziy/DCI_B01_05_26.pdf?dl=0 30 years of eye care in Kasson

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t7yeudoxw6o00zl/DCI_B02_05_12.pdf?dl=0 From Scrapyard to Success (Bad PDF fonts)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fhwmn0bwtu96tnh/DCI_B02_05_19.pdf?dl=0 SADD students and Mantorville saloon

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4r2s0ery4ikumqn/DCI_B03_05_26.pdf?dl=0 Ginny’s 40^th

https://www.dropbox.com/s/53qqiltmgsqrtoi/DCI_B04_05_19%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0 Remembering the farm

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8fj33on65014qcu/DCI_C05_06_23.pdf?dl=0 That first big bang and “reflections”

https://www.dropbox.com/s/39mqpltqfsw3iy1/DCI_D01_05_26.pdf?dl=0 Under Construction – KM choir

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mwzxttkrnxc8co1/DCI_D01_06_02.pdf?dl=0 No Greater Love

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p6t848mrmemqjp7/BLOOM_C06_09_27.pdf?dl=0 The Cedars of Austin Anniversary

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gyk8en8al806v7i/BLOOM_C02_08_23.pdf?dl=0 SCFF Opening Ceremonies

https://www.dropbox.com/s/04qixf89srygd8l/BLOOM_B04_08_23.pdf?dl=0 Turning 90

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ga00qzahe9w1ng1/Public_Safety_16_17.pdf?dl=0 From EMT to Surgeon

https://www.dropbox.com/s/35exrk8wps392yv/BLOOM_D04_05_16.pdf?dl=0 The Rustique for Progress Page

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sob7peby9ehipfe/BLOOM_D05_05_16.pdf?dl=0 Kleckers Kreations for Progress Page

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ldrupb0bsehzsxw/48_17.pdf?dl=0 Fair Entertainment part one

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vl3ifqt4v1c9qfi/50_15.pdf?dl=0 Fair Entertainment jump

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zwalodz11cmtyjd/3_21_2017%20A12.pdf?dl=0 Man of many hats

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5ocdq5qb4g8glg/DCI_C03_12_08.pdf?dl=0 Welcoming Santa

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n5sx6u4vnqoknux/BLOOM_B04_04_25.pdf?dl=0 Growing Into The Past

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lpykx6nozwy8vkv/3_14_2017%20B1.pdf?dl=0 BP Backpacks

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kikkuwagfa3k1j5/DCI_HI_18_10_04.pdf?dl=0 Bringing a mansion to life

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w743pr843djh5jr/DCI_HI_22_10_04.pdf?dl=0 Home improvement confessions

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mr10wzk2n87y5do/BLOOM_C05_02_21.pdf?dl=0 NRHEG FFA story

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r7s1h5n29v1or9f/BLOOM_C04_02_21.pdf?dl=0 BP FFA story

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ncpfs2qciart9lj/BLOOM_A03_03_07.pdf?dl=0 Sale of the Muni

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0q4bgr3xocgizhx/A4%2CA5.pdf?dl=0 Standing The Test Of Time

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8bzhvz7sucoom3t/BLOOM_B07_02_28.pdf?dl=0 Hayfield fire

https://www.dropbox.com/s/16jg2ltgba3hxil/3_14_2017%20B14.pdf?dl=0 Ribbon Cutting

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dsxylidxtnjf0hd/BLOOM_A04_04_25.pdf?dl=0 Business Boot Camp

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rpqtdd016xfu0ub/BLOOM_A05_04_25.pdf?dl=0 Corporate Recognition

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mt07fo8z64x0k09/3_14_2017%20B10.pdf?dl=0 Ellendale Council

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n234e1rhtw7r5m2/BLOOM_B13_02_21.pdf?dl=0 Play Review – Prelude to a kiss

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7hw2vrqpysp45rs/B5.pdf?dl=0 Leaving a Legacy

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6fhbe4ioc00k5n/B8.pdf?dl=0 A Hin of Oil

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ave41ptf5vsqktk/Progress_06%2C11.pdf?dl=0 Cedar Floral (1)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5yiw5qbsw0k7p3l/Progress_14%2C03.pdf?dl=0 Cedar Floral (jump)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lj2a9kv83fwgg03/BLOOM_A01_04_11.pdf?dl=0 Sinking Concern Public Works

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jyk90y9qkq9rt9r/BLOOM_A03_04_11.pdf?dl=0 Sinking… Jump

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sk24hqieq7hwez4/BLOOM_A03_04_04.pdf?dl=0 Cedar Valley Grant

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o4bwdoeekl3xvp8/BLOOM_A04_04_04.pdf?dl=0 Cedar Valley Jump

https://www.dropbox.com/s/04m3ie4r398r586/BLOOM_A06_04_04.pdf?dl=0 Amelia Severson

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hf8i2buwp3rykfk/BLOOM_B01_05_16.pdf?dl=0 Prairie Fire Theater Snow White

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hf8i2buwp3rykfk/BLOOM_B01_05_16.pdf?dl=0 Medford Color Run

Sports:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gqkk1kbdrq454rv/BLOOM_D01_08_02.pdf?dl=0 Notes from Hardwood

https://www.dropbox.com/s/evnyubhujl0ifwo/BLOOM_C01_04_04.pdf?dl=0 Final Sports Banquet

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n63tn3z7f2fxnc0/BLOOM_C02_04_04.pdf?dl=0 Final Sports Banquet Jump

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mgqiw9p198173t1/DCI_B01_07_28.pdf?dl=0 US Bank Stadium

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6p2zyc6lyx2giqo/DCI_D06_07_07.pdf?dl=0 Demolition Derby

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e7akieoqjjuf0ep/DCI_B05_07_07.pdf?dl=0 BP 5K

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1h0h8r8pz77idc8/DCI_B05_08_18.pdf?dl=0 Kasson 5K Run

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b8pe8g28b10rffr/BLOOM_D05_08_30.pdf?dl=0 A soggy race

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xr7dsw9i5kyx7ac/3_21_2017%20B4.pdf?dl=0 Signing Day

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ufullst8jtld4rh/BLOOM_C03_04_04.pdf?dl=0 Boys All County Team

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1zk1b5u4kymj6qq/BLOOM_C04_04_04.pdf?dl=0 Girls All County Team

Editorials:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5l346lj3k6yc2t/BLOOM_A02_09_13.pdf?dl=0 All lives should matter

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ceoi751l96tgph/BLOOM_A02_05_16.pdf?dl=0 Community Supports Its Own

https://www.dropbox.com/s/meklex1pkstbsy2/A2.pdf?dl=0 We Live and Learn

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h2vohbox0nk29gt/BLOOM_A02_05_09.pdf?dl=0 Community Supports Its own

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zzaa4019g8swzef/DCI_A04_11_17.pdf?dl=0 Let The Healing Begin

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1m9wt65nbm8rijt/DCI_A04_12_29.pdf?dl=0 It could only happen to me

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8vcg1lmrdyvwa8/A2%20from%2011_03_17%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0 Standing Strong

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9q353hk52oq3n9l/DCI_A04_07_28.pdf?dl=0 Drunken Athletes

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ilxt22cksji55yj/3_21_2017%20A2.pdf?dl=0 March Madness

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lzm6wvedfysp408/BLOOM_A02_09_27.pdf?dl=0 What we learned in the flood

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yll0vbzz80p0hxu/DCI_A04_07_14.pdf?dl=0 From the grip of meth

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ywbgs5ek6uoabyu/BLOOM_A02_08_30.pdf?dl=0 Laying their lives on the line

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cpnxhx27wu45epy/DCI_A04_07_07.pdf?dl=0 I AM

https://www.dropbox.com/s/roqanp6iitwtx4v/3_14_2017%20A2.pdf?dl=0 An Unbuildable Site

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ufyclef1t9mm1ar/3-29-16.pdf?dl=0 American Extremism

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lqyg20z3v1e68ng/DCI_A04_10_27.pdf?dl=0 Things that go bump in the night

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aw5q1gjacyz4wfg/DCI_A04_08_11.pdf?dl=0 Abusing 1^st Amend Rights

https://www.dropbox.com/s/80y2wg8tavidrdv/DCI_A04_08_18.pdf?dl=0 Can a Woman lead?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dbgvdt1tk5ibhhz/06302016.pdf?dl=0 Astronomical cost to drink and drive

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lw5kr55dfon6iuk/BLOOM_A02_06_07.pdf?dl=0 C’mon Man

https://www.dropbox.com/s/smaxbrkx035u5az/BLOOM_A02_08_23.pdf?dl=0 The thrill of victory

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n6lk0phf0u02mee/BLOOM_A02_02_28.pdf?dl=0 A home run

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oa0d76l233chgjg/DCI_A04_05_04.pdf?dl=0 You could be a statistic

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hpbvgmwhpoqyi0l/DCI_A06_10_27.pdf?dl=0 Origins of Halloween

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bn3lt1m9x03tqru/BLOOM_A02_09_20.pdf?dl=0 Politics makes us fight like siblings

https://www.dropbox.com/s/de9v6b6sulm3woi/DCI_A04_12_01.pdf?dl=0 A part of the solution

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l18l12fii2ir2ii/BLOOM_A02_09_06.pdf?dl=0 Your editor letter

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cwr9wvosxf9iwnm/DCI_A04_11_10.pdf?dl=0 I agree to give you a voice

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eu548xu0izqcuat/BLOOM_A02_02_21.pdf?dl=0 So what do you think?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ps5valndgjf7rdp/BLOOM_A02_04_04.pdf?dl=0 The Train Is Departing

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b0ghzij6ucnkkx4/BLOOM_A02_04_11.pdf?dl=0 Thank you for your letters

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0pfowbret3wdzn2/BLOOM_A02_04_18.pdf?dl=0 Spring Is Near

Columns:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/af2mfy72q3wkqmg/DCI_A05_11_10.pdf?dl=0 To those who wait

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u5ri193hmxtu3qb/BLOOM_C08_05_02.pdf?dl=0 We Flew United…

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhrndcj9ewm1ggq/B1.pdf?dl=0 Lions and Tigers and Bears (1)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4j06nldmhct2vc0/B3.pdf?dl=0 Lions and Tigers and Bears (2) (no place like home)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3zrqeqj7p76uplt/BLOOM_D06_02_21.pdf?dl=0 Mother Nature On Vacation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dwnkblhpnkbeu17/DCI_A03_12_29.pdf?dl=0 It could only happen to me 1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b77msn3gzxsnxcz/B10%20from%2011_03_17-2.pdf?dl=0 It could only happen to me 2

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3kh4kruzqmi0e39/DCI_B03_07_28.pdf?dl=0 Unsung Heroes

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ceoi751l96tgph/BLOOM_A02_05_16.pdf?dl=0 Graj Sailin’

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zzaa4019g8swzef/DCI_A04_11_17.pdf?dl=0 Full Moon On The Rise

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c4s1d666xu72u8t/BLOOM_C01_09_27.pdf?dl=0 The Grand Finale

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mwgtg7ypzxwpf54/BLOOM_C01_09_13.pdf?dl=0 The miracle of Mayo

https://www.dropbox.com/s/idrnqxmfe324j3k/BLOOM_C01_09_20.pdf?dl=0 Only one kidney page one

https://www.dropbox.com/s/brgx844qeneq0li/BLOOM_C06_09_20.pdf?dl=0 Only one kidney JUMP

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hcmjna0ibyu8646/DCI_A03_07_21.pdf?dl=0 Summer Festivities

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yx3mj60thdcumyw/BLOOM_A02_05_02.pdf?dl=0 It Takes A Village

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y1gds7s0k7u8ssk/BLOOM_B01_02_28.pdf?dl=0 Walking on frozen water

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i9lrnafiagbilup/BLOOM_B04_02_28.pdf?dl=0 Walking on frozen water part II

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ea1t7r9p98ogvao/DCI_D02_07_07.pdf?dl=0 Happy Birthday Amer Dream

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rmksr7kbkssszaw/8-09-2016%20Mark.pdf?dl=0 I Spy

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l5iiv4tw6m0tpt6/BLOOM_D02_02_14.pdf?dl=0 Defending The Joy

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ngjcs62zh01fw1/BLOOM_A06_09_20.pdf?dl=0 Pastor’s Corner

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vb1j6aud18so75n/DCI_A03_08_18.pdf?dl=0 Paintball cancels NFL game

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ewqf5c757ntrq8c/DCI_A05_08_25.pdf?dl=0 Most wonderful time

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3550nxhtlrv3cj/06302016%20Little%20Thoughts.pdf?dl=0 Changing Times

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0tukt60l1s9tywu/BLOOM_C02_06_07.pdf?dl=0 When a boy comes of age

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mu7nlwiereudxo7/DCI_A03_06_16.pdf?dl=0 Reunion

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qadmgvcwkkubany/DCI_B07_05_04.pdf?dl=0 Pastor’s Corner – a hin of oil

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e355o9ynixrcx8j/DCI_A06_06_02.pdf?dl=0 Stone Cold Killers

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q837ca0hr840usr/Pages%20from%2010-25-2016.pdf?dl=0 Things that go bump

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tn1sohl54q1yfnp/DCI_A04_07_21.pdf?dl=0 Summer Festivals

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gsnsag7b6gwgz25/DCI_C06_12_08.pdf?dl=0 A warm-up holiday

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ncpfs2qciart9lj/BLOOM_A03_03_07.pdf?dl=0 Notes from a coach and a dad

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nie9zbksi4nlp2a/BLOOM_A04_02_28.pdf?dl=0 Pastor’s Corner – Seed Bag

Layout, Photography and Design:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2023q6k6g83i433/BLOOM_B01_04_11.pdf?dl=0 Sweet Photography on Display

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4yykbnid3r9wcur/BLOOM_A08_05_16.pdf?dl=0 150^th page – bin laden

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3pwyqa24hgq3t0v/Progress_16%2C01.pdf?dl=0 Progress 2017 cover and back

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qm4jng5lzrci34i/Progress_02%2C15.pdf?dl=0 Progress 2017 Index

https://www.dropbox.com/s/79qgjv6r3ox9n9n/DCI_C01_07_21.pdf?dl=0 Dodge County Fair Tab

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ech6zzxp6gl440o/BLOOM_A01_02_28.pdf?dl=0 Old time front page

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w6t7c7eplri55db/BLOOM_A01_04_04.pdf?dl=0 Old Time front page March

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m1aod811o1w4l2l/B1%20from%2011_03_17.pdf?dl=0 Stories of the year ONE

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b8l5om8zgrzhq04/B3%20from%2011_03_17.pdf?dl=0 Stories of the year TWO

https://www.dropbox.com/s/752opgszrw07mne/Pages%20from%2010-25-2016-2.pdf?dl=0 Clergy Appreciation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cmr5g7ah94na902/DCI_A03_07_14_MO.pdf?dl=0 9/11 Exhibit

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0cg2unl0one2qxh/DCI_A01_07_14.pdf?dl=0 DCI front page 9/11 exhibit

https://www.dropbox.com/s/62mz1lg2q1h2w9d/DCI_C06_08_18.pdf?dl=0 Photos from Kasson Run

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l7nyf360vone43g/2016%204th%20cover.pdf?dl=0 4^th of July Tab cover

https://www.dropbox.com/s/snnia75ajffso4j/BLOOM_B10_02_28.pdf?dl=0 bball pic vs WEM

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0trjvzrgquf2je3/BLOOM_D05_08_23.pdf?dl=0 Steele County Rainbow

https://www.dropbox.com/s/txtenitfgl5w09p/BLOOM_D01_08_23.pdf?dl=0 Fair Photos

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9g9l97qr3qdk05z/BLOOM_A14_03_07.pdf?dl=0 150^th Page – bball and beer

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3rnpyouxg25rx6s/BLOOM_C02_02_14.pdf?dl=0 Basketball photography

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9rhk2xuoatqvcqo/BLOOM_A01_05_02.pdf?dl=0 Old Time First Page – Titanic

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3hai4x0vikdg48i/BLOOM_B01_05_02.pdf?dl=0 New York Donation of BP Patch

Full PDF Combo Pages:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c6uvpw9zxdeuqg6/7-12-2016%20Mark%20Pages.pdf?dl=0

7/12/16 Editorial: Meth

Pastor’s Corner

Little Thoughts – Change your focus, see the light

Relay for Life – Steele County Army

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ufyclef1t9mm1ar/3-29-16.pdf?dl=0

Editorial – Is American the new breeding ground for extremism

Little Thoughts Column – Why am I here?

High School Band Feature – Raptors and Spongebob and Jaws… Oh My

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ff9pmbhyud0j3f3/4-5-16.pdf?dl=0

News story – Rebranding

Editorial – Infighting

Little Thoughts on the Prairie – column

Fundraising feature – BP Silent Auction

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w6v0gzrlj8brdl6/4-12-16.pdf?dl=0

Editorial – Rebellion

Little Thoughts On The Prairie – column “Getting’ older”

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6w45wgdrfmtlxoe/4-19-16.pdf?dl=0

Photography – layout design page one THE MEDFORD STONE

Editorial – Preserving a Memory

Column – Pave Paradise

Feature – The Medford Squadron

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r1uxghkrfi51l1q/4-26-16.pdf?dl=0

Column – Defining Moments part I

Business Feature – Creating a Roof

Business News – Ellendale street improvement

Photography – Early morning weather photo

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oxpfk9x4ty050s2/5-3-16.pdf?dl=0

Business News – Casey’s Grand Opening

Editorial – PURPLE PURPLE

Column – Defining Moments part II

Business News – Ellendale council meeting

Business Feature – Medford mayor teaches Junior Achievement

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ts0pe2savvnypg5/7-19-2016%20Mark.pdf?dl=0

Editorial – Unsung Heroes

Fair Feature – Upcoming entertainment

Photography – early morning sunrise

Column – The essentials

Feature – The ride for hope

Feature – Relay for Life – fighting a good fight

https://www.dropbox.com/s/co7t19ea6y54ihz/51716.pdf?dl=0

Editorial – Off the grid

Column – Sharing your families

AG feature – Rabbits

Business News – Ellendale Council debates police presence

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5xfh2xgdgjnwukj/52416.pdf?dl=0

Editorial – Small Towns

Column – Teach your children well

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r0o1dkvjxl2f4dk/6212016.pdf?dl=0

Photography – Dairy Princesses AND Veteran’s Memorial Pictures

Editorial – Don’t blame me

Column – Play that funky music

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v4m066lj19l3tcu/Pages%20from%2006-07-2016.pdf?dl=0

Entertainment Feature – Smokin’ in Steele story and pics

Business Feature – The Minnesota Viking Ship/Bar story and pics

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rpqk7e0o8gy7my5/BLOOM_A04_06_07.pdf?dl=0

Entertainment Feature – (the jump) Smokin’ In Steele story and photos

Business Feature – (the jump) The Minnesota Viking Bar story and photos

https://www.dropbox.com/s/os9pfgy7fko7yss/BLOOMpages_3_10_16.pdf?dl=0

Photography – The busses of Blooming Prairie

Column – His basketball court was his pulpit

Editorial – Everyone needs a hero

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9avxl2ejavmhdg0/DCI_A01_05_19.pdf?dl=0

Feature – Kasson’s angels

News – Teachers ratify contract

Business news – Library registry

Front page layout, design and photography

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fa29hg5fwcan2x/DCI_A01_06_23.pdf?dl=0

Feature – Vintage bomber lands in Dodge

Business News – Jimmy’s pizza under new ownership

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x65mjitsrn4f6ra/DCI_A03_06_23.pdf?dl=0

Feature – Vintage bomber jump page story and photos

https://www.dropbox.com/s/28ammxtd85zalx4/DCI_A05_06_23.pdf?dl=0

Business News – Jimmy’s pizza jump page story and photos

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z9jx3ysr89307mz/AAARXwOJ6KzNW6aLFu_IjXada?dl=0 Grad Tab Story

Videos I have done for websites, FB and television:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja-NSoNn0T4 Jimmy Lanza from ladder 43 – 9/11 – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2D_8vCkYI Jimmy Lanza Memorial Tribute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNbowNA5nfA 9/11 tribute and prayers for Jimmy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ZETSuDEps Trip To Honor Jimmy Lanza – New York

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ89HbgKm5I Eulogy for Jimmy – New York

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STzzB7Izi5Q Senator Hopeful John Jasinski – Blooming Prairie, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6SfdORzxIs Relay for Life Recap – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbZQyPGWlg Train Derailment – Ellendale, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEkV1CMOtCo My Saturday in Minnesota – Owatonna, Kasson, BP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5yBuymJn5s A tribute to Leigh Kakaty – Traverse City, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HySGTxaS7mk The Cedars of Austin 30^th Anniversary Austin MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Enq0e4QZ-Q From The Heart Run/Walk Montage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbKphMbTj_E Interview with the Ratzloff Family – FTH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwdYXoNy70Q&t=1944s Interview with the Fenske Family – FTH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-3eEQJ166E&t=1547s Interview with Terri Grose/Jodi Calliser – FTH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipKIHUijGGk&t=80s Interview with the Larson Family – FTH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IvvB-m5BmM Eaton Miller – Financial Planner – Blooming Prairie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE-sipFv7Tk Corporate Recognition – Owatonna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gq5nBEGTZQ Steele County Historical Society – Owatonna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6kPcFUy9n0 Cookie Cottage/Nick the Camel – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUZFDLXjw8M Dodge County Fair – Wednesday live – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y73lbgkheM Relay for Life – Photo Montage – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0MmSmnl0uc The Cheesecake Heiress – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH5NMWArYDE BP Backpacking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMVaG_k952I The HUMAN CANNON BALL – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nop78wRzIaI At the Fair in the TUB – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYe7by9kP4Y Tiger Tracks 5K – Apple Valley, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWLEHG_yZYQ Technovation junior high – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3hRUFeRKT4 The Little Acorn on Video – Greenville, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6daObHpF0ro Smokin’ In Steele Photo Montage – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HoIBMi0UQw Caleb Kern Story – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC2Yu0rJPjI Senator Vicki Jensen – Blooming Prairie, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5qcK_gN7bs Derwin Hammond Feature Interview – Dodge Center

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxP7htCbseI Pot Luck Bank – 4^th of July celebration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2yH8mwdzZ4 Fly In Breakfast – Dodge Center, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkAeUqxbxos Dodge County Fair Highlights – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdX8IXtUSsY Wenger Band Festival – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lMadClsNRA Last day of the fair – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAWALGI8ceA DCFF – Day one – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJxc_NRbXE0 31 Pink Bubble – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuEa1CHbVKI Tribute to my dad – Milwaukee, WI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfp1fE1YhmI Izaak Walton League – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEXOvuKOdyc Fun at the Steele County Fair – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bNYZskk6Xg Saturday live at the fair – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ-8OKn6jTA Medford journalism contest – Medford, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbioEKr-gZ4 Haute Skin and Nail Salon – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dedN4Cx3Kmk Tropical Tan – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwWfmvpnxLQ KM Teacher of the year – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECvAbAf7AHY The Viking Ship Bar for Ziggi Wulf – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbq1kLAc1J8 The Viking Cheerleaders for cancer – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_bPi8KIjjw At The Petting Zoo – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpG3uMh_abY Steve’s Meats – Ellendale, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nriOui-4ro Perfect Day Cakes – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rSPL7MYfsY Memorial Day In Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFSK9gaG2TI Prince Memorial – Chanhassen, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6IlcNawp5U Law Enforcement Memorial – Rochester, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRtT_kkkUDo Veteran’s Memorial Ceremony – Medford, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18i840MCT30 Opening Ceremonies at the fair – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZujxTQswGPI Day Two at the SCFF – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWZDc-rTtIY Booth Promotion – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9F4brSil6A Lansing Corners Supper Club – Austin, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SusmI4VeHqs The New Mascott – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgDsNSQIV50 The 100 year old Norwegian Church – Westfield, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISUvDI5k5Qg Day one at the fair – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR6Z24p9Kr4 The White Tigers of Texas – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8syhVkXcM0s Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch – Austin, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roDi-sWLNCE Looking Ahead to the fair – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASv3B-o4gXw Last day of the Dodge County Fair – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIchHdNFNmo Saturday at the DCFF – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGl0CLs3200 DCFF – Friday at the fair – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ4vyfmQEsE Get out and vote 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2gx6A4MNXA Voting Day Interviews

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLCLudxENzE Born Again Clocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQmTH9pDImw BP 5K Run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtwFC8kvNO0 Wild About Hair – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s_xOTRU9tM The Dena Demolition Derby – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjdFsQ69bfQ Kasson Eye Care 30^th Anniversary – Kasson, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUpAhBGxNHM Ginny’s 40^th Anniversary – West Concord, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbmB8RY9RPA BP graduating seniors – saying goodbye – BP, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1G7Qlj4yk8 Rare Rabbits – Owatonna, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqeq2m7jqDE Spring Fling in Mantorville, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a8r5O2Irok Streetfire Ministries Web Page Welcome – BP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fglKnkRFv2U Streetfire Ministries Message – BP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ctV51yc0S8 The Medford Stone – Medford, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq5T5as8vFs Streetfire Worship and Teaching, Greenville, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNpuNKmTWPA When God says “No” – Ionia, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdeSlt6qp_w Basketball Coaching in Scotland, Ayres, UK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY-g0IwY43I Turn your sand to blood – Ionia, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkysQwgpgt8 Nacia’s Obit, Dodge Center, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Ra76-5qFo Girls Basketball Montage – Target Center, Minneapolis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfvau_MuuEU Ambushed in your abundance – Ionia, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OtrN9sg9Wo Troy Highlight Video – Greenville, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVk-IdGE7ys Crossroads Women’s Summit – Ionia, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ8VhYgZOp0 Seven years at Crossroads – Ionia, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mwhi3C6LS0 Home Improvement Video – Greenville, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=002VzuoUtME The ABC’s of the low post – Carson City, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc_x3hkU-PU For my granddaughter – Minneapolis, MN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivK6Vcqp9Gs The Amish Transport – Vestaburg, MI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSOLqG9tpas Badger State Limousine Ad – Milwaukee, WI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Jf-6yYnlg A tribute to my wife, Robin – Supply, NC

Published Works – Mark DeLap

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Published Works – Mark DeLap

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