BEATEN AND ROBBED

There are no written or spoken words adequate to express the deep gratitude
we feel toward the people, government officials and public servants of
Tampa. Still, we must try. Several weeks ago we were beaten severely and
robbed in a motel on Busch Boulevard as we stepped out of the motel room
door to go to breakfast.

Nothing would stop the attacker, even though we told him to take anything
he wanted. He uttered no words but was determined to beat us into
unconsciousness before he robbed us. Only medical appointments and some
lack of physical stamina have made us this late in writing.

The paramedics, the police, and Tampa General Hospital could not have done
more to ease our misery in those first few hours in the trauma center.

Police officers did not leave us until my husband Kenneth was admitted, and
I was much later released from the emergency room. The hospital so
graciously allowed me to stay with him in his hospital room, providing a
place for me to lie down and to receive calls from scores of Tampa Bay area
residents offering help of all kinds.

God willing, we will be back to Tampa. There is no city in the United
States, including our own, Daytona Beach, that is free from this kind of
drug-induced violence.

Kenneth has seven fractures and a macerated ear drum. The man who assaulted
us beat him badly after he was unconscious, as I lay watching. It seemed it
would never end, but both of us were very much aware that our Lord knew
what was happening. We both had an underlying solid and manifest peace that
he was in control. We thank him, and all of you in Tampa, that we are alive.

Please try to comprehend, if only in part, what we are trying to say to you
and your compassionate city.