Stuck in Vegas...but some hope...

[Kirk Knutsen]

Ken,

My name is Kirk Knutsen, and I'm the DOF at The Meadows School in Las Vegas.
JT judged for us in OKC back in June.  I was just looking over E-Debate and
saw that you guys were still stranded in our little town.  On behalf of the
squad, I want to let you know that if there's ANYTHING we can do to help
out, just give us a call.

My home phone number is 869-5258, and my school number is 254-1610.  If
y'all need a place to stay (we've got 5,300 square feet just waiting for
you), a home cooked meal, or a non-hotel pool to relax by, please just give
me a call and I'll be happy to come scoop you all off the Strip.  In fact, I
think I still owe JT a first class dinner from OKC :~)   .

I don't know exactly what the plans are to open McCarren at this point
(we're planning to get out to Greenhill next week ourselves), but you need
to know that you're not stranded here by yourselves anymore, and that we're
ready to jump in and do whatever needs to be done to keep y'all well until
you can get a flight out.


All Our Best,

Kirk Knutsen
Director of Speech & Debate
The Meadows School
8601 Scholar Lane
Las Vegas, NV  89128

702-254-1610 school
702-869-5258 home
mailto:kirk at knutsenfamily.com
http://www.tmsdebate.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken D [mailto:kenedebate at hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 2:49 PM
To: eDebate at ndtceda.com
Subject: Stuck in Vegas...but some hope...



Perspective...

Interesting word.  As many of you are aware, several of us are stuck in Las
Vegas, not knowing quite when we will get out (hopefully 7 pm tomorrow
night, I'm "gambling" I booked well on that one).  While not affected in
anyway comparable to the NYC folks, or the Washington folks (I'm glad
Catholic went home, and my thoughts are with them all), we have been
affected, by international terorism.

Should I use that word?  I dunno, we have a file that says I shouldn't, but
maybe terror was what I felt.

My narrative...

Finally got to go out and see alot of Vegas, I worked during the round
robin, so I got my party on that Monday night.  Went to bed early in the
morning, and was awoken by a phone call from Doug Dennis, he was calling
from the airport here in Vegas.

"youre not gettin out of here today Ken, turn on the TV"
"what?"  groggy Ken, the alarm was to go off in 2 minutes
"they bombed the world trade center"
"again"  I was still asleep
"let me correct that Ken, someone ran a fucking plane into the world trade
center, turn on the TV"

Going to sleep in dreamland, waking up to a nightmare.

I turned on the TV, was greeted by a second plane hitting, then noticed a
bit later that one whole tower had collapsed.  I just kept saying, "its not
fucking there anymore.."

I woke debaters up, JT, no one believed it... and we were supposed to be
leaving for the airport in 30 minutes.

I have never had to ask my debaters who didn't want to fly home (my
department head said I couldnt force anyone to fly, and I agreed) for fear
they wouldnt make it.  My squad, great guys, they all agreed no one was
going to change our lifestyle, my quote, "fuck em, I'm flyin'"

so the horror affected us even across the country...

I just wanna share some awesome things that happened:

- EMPORIA STATE - everyone there has been great, if I needed something,
they'll get it for me.  I couldn't ask to work for a better department.

- the EMporia State Federal Credit Union - we're out of money, and the head
of the credit union told me that they would drop money into my account to
the tune of hundreds of dollars, on nothing but my word.  No forms to sign,
"just make arrangements when you get back, we just want to get all of you
home."  I love my credit union.

- The Amerisuites hotel - apparently they knocked our rate down, they moved
emporia to a bigger room since we collapsed to one room, and they've given
us everything we asked for.

- Southwest - everyone has been informative, cooperative, and rebooked us
multiple times.  I dunno what everyone else's airline experience has been,
but for having a "greyhound" rep, the people I've dealt with have been
great.

   I have yet to deal with any company, or individual representative in this
town or on the phone who was anything but cooperative.  This country seems
to scream at each other alot, but comes together quickly to support in times
of tragedy.  Like my debate squad actually :)

   We'll wait out this thing.  I'm sure Vegas sounds good to be trapped in,
but you know, when your out of the stack of cash, the lights are just
pretty, and its not as exciting :)  We just wanna go home!  See you when we
get there.

  Just my report form the road.  I hear Gonzaga was going to buy a RISK
board, let the throwdown begin!  Hope everyone is safe, and all of us here
give our thoughts to everyone who has suffered loss.

take care, viva las vegas,

Ken D.


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