The day I died again (this time in 1991)

   I have told this story many times but I have never sat down to write it out. I want to write a book and this story will be included and it will be weird to see it in words. As some of you know, back in 1981 I hit a stone wall at a 45 degree angle at about 45 mph. We don't know if I fell asleep or had the first seizure. I picked up a closed head injury that led to some big seizures and would be diagnosed as Epilepsy after many tests. This is important somehow but I forget why. Anyhow, I had been through a couple of near death experiences leading up to this day, but this one has a clarity and story that would be outright funny if not for the dying part. But the dying part comes back into play as the coolest thing that I can lay claim to.

   I worked a lot of construction jobs after I moved to Harrisburg and I could always find a crew to sign onto, be it roofing or paving work. But in 1991 I hit a dry spell and I was able to get in as a temp contractor at the PP&L Brunner Island power plant with IBEW Local 299 during a plant refurb. I worked some crazy 3rd shift hours and when I proved my worth, I was able to go to daylight and work unsupervised.

Brunner Island Power Plant

   The union guys liked me a lot but I had to slow down my work pace to fit in better. That's no disrespect, just how I worked when I was a young dude. They were so impressed that they let me be in charge of the re-spray of the control room panels in Unit 2....after I used my Vo-Tech training to teach them some body work skills. These were good times...before my name started showing up on ATF watch lists. Before a sitting president made getting a Beej in the Oval Office an acceptable thing. Before I let AT&T get into my blood, under my skin and over my head. These certainly were good times unless you were my 84 Ford Tempo. She had already taken a ghost ride through a neighbor's garage. I was about to finish her off.

   This particular day, I do not remember the date but I remember it was a Monday, was about to become a huge piece of my being. I know it was chilly and it was early to be up and drive to York County for this job, but this was a gift and the money was the best I had ever made to this point. It was winter time as I remember it being very dark at 0530 as I drove to the island. We used a small 1 lane road in and out of the plant to save the main road for plant traffic.

    I always remember looking at this one tree just off of the road and thinking, "that would suck to hit that big bitch" and I soon found out just how badly. It was a winding road to the Employee Entrance and it was dark. No lighting except from the car. I remember getting off of I-83 and heading towards the plant. I remember that winding road and that last turn with the big tree. And then everything just stopped. There was a period of nothing and then I remember being above the wreck, looking down. I could see my car flipped over on the driver side and I could see that I hit that big bitch tree head on. I don't know if I fell asleep or had a seizure but the hospital went with seizure, but that came later. I could see my neck bent at a severe angle with my body weight (I was a bit thinner then) on my neck and my skin was blue. I will swear to this day that God was standing beside me, just watching this mess unfurl. Seriously. The next thing I see is the first car on the scene, my supervisor. He surveyed the scene and I was blocking the road, sorry, my car and body were blocking the road. Suddenly a couple more cars showed up and everyone was out milling around trying to find a course of action. This was before cell phones and I was blocking the access to the closest phone for help. My supervisor sent a guy back to town to call 911. I was hearing and seeing all of this action. He made the decision to flip my car onto its' wheels so they could push it out of the road. Some of the guys objected, but the supervisor told them "He's already dead, what damage will it do?" In fact, I heard the whole thing. Once my car was on 4 wheels, I remember nothing else from the accident.

   The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital, just sitting on the end of a bed. I saw no nurses or doctors the whole time I was there. My first wife, Linda, shows up in tears. I asked her what the big deal was and she told me where I was and that she was called to come to the hospital to identify my body. I'm alive, I said...what's the problem? Linda told me about the wreck and I told her that I was there and saw most of it. Apparently the EMTs got my heart going and got some breath into my lungs and I came around in the ambulance....without a scratch. Head on into a tree, flipped over and not breathing.  But here I was, just fine. I told Linda that I was taking her home and taking her truck. I was going back to work. And the story gets better from here.

   I drove back down the road which "claimed my life" just a few hours before and there was that big tree, no bark, and pieces of my car in the weeds. Clearly something bad had happened here and I was seeing the area from a new angle but I knew it was from me. I pulled into the employee lot and parked. None of the guys knew Linda's truck so nobody reacted....until I walked through the plant gate. Grown men saw me and were crying and some fell to their knees in shock. I remembered these guys helping to flip my car over and they saw me lifeless just awhile ago. I never saw people react this way before....as if they were seeing a ghost. Suddenly the supervisor came over the loudspeaker calling for me to get in his office immediately. As I took a seat, he closed the blinds. He looked at me and asked if I could see what was happening....work was grinding to a halt. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I'm here to work...you hired me to do a job and I'm here to fulfill my commitment.", was my response. He tried to tell me about my wrecked car and what was done and I told him, word for word, what he said at the scene. He was floored. He excused himself to make a phone call, not wanting me to step outside.He came back a few minutes later and said that he didn't know what to do with me. He called the Local and they went over the contract and had no way to address me standing there, in his office, after most of the workforce saw my lifeless body sitting along the road in my wrecked car.

   In a move that had never been done before, he told me to go home and use my 3 days for bereavement. He needed to call an urgent meeting and attempt to explain what had just happened, to the guys, in order to bring a semblance of order to the plant. I was escorted out of the office via a back door so the guys wouldn't see me. Yes. You read that correctly. I got paid for my own death. I also lost my license for a year...the doctor I never saw forwarded my epilepsy info to the state and they pulled me for a year. I left PP&L and Brunner Island so I could work closer to home and still drive the shorter distance.

Why I am a Union member

  People question why I am a Union member and yet I am still a registered Republican that feels equally passionate about my gun ownership rights. I have always been about helping someone with less than myself or fighting for the person that can't or just won't. But I was blinded by the way my Dad dealt with a corrupt Teamsters Union when I was a kid and it put me off for a while and left me with a bad taste.

  I was in the roofing trade as a young man and I was making decent money because I was being paid for my performance. I busted my ass and got raises while others were lazy and sloppy and didn't care about their work. I was fine with what I made and working 14 hour days to get it. For a while.

  This was the mid 80s and the alcohol made 14 hour days 7 days a week bearable. Plus I was putting my stepson thru private school and the money was coming in and I liked it. For a while.

  Then, one day in 1988, I joined a crew with an 18 year old kid just out of school. Day 2 on the job for him. We were laying out the rubber and putting the sheet in place. I was across from him as we spread the roll out and when I looked over, he was gone. The boy fell 2 stories thru the factory roof via a 3ft by 3ft opening and hit the floor. 

 Dead. 

 There was no railing to bump into, not even CAUTION tape to mark the holes. We were off the job the rest of the day but were back 2 days later like nothing ever happened. I had never even heard of a fine from OSHA for this tragedy.

  The roof was haunted by this kid and I didn't do anything to keep him from being on a roof that wasn't even safe with nothing marking the holes where the vent stacks and AC units were. (those big metal deals behind me to the right) I went back to repair leaks on that roof many times and what happened never left me. It seemed funny, I was the ONLY guy to ever go back there after the job was finished. That was a wake up call, I suppose.

  We will fast forward after working at a power plant with IBEW making scale pay as a temp. I started to see what brotherhood was. Another jump put me at CellularOne, working on cellphones and putting them into cars, trucks, limos and fire trucks. I was very good and my star was on the rise and so was my pay, without a Union. I started a new department and created a job title and the money was good. Then when my wife died, I became a real asshole and forgot about what was right. So when IBEW came to organize my AT&T call center, I was the key to keeping them out. Actually, I was a management shill. THEY provided me with posters and buttons to lead the way as the voice to keep things as they were. I flipped the organizers off everyday when I left and cursed at them when they tried to talk to me. IBEW packed up their show and left. Some fellow reps decided to try again with CWA. Things started out the same as the first, failed  organizing attempt....until the lead organizer asked to speak with me.

  She had a list of all employees that were not management and would fall under a bargained contract. She asked me to show her where my name was since she only knew me as Hack. My name was not to be found. I was being played by management and once the CWA got into the building, I was going to be dumped. Cingular (they changed names more than I changed mailing addresses) was an organized company and the management knew it and when I told them that I wanted no further contact from them, they had no further use for me. I then woke up and realized that they were going to dump all of my hard work after using me. I immediately jumped on board and got CWA established and kept my job. I also got elected as Chief Steward, ran unopposed thru 3 elections and fought for my brothers and sisters and even created new job titles to keep us all employed. 

  I was invited to speak in Boston to tell my story. I was in Washington, DC prepared to testify before Congress to tell my story. I went on a cable access TV show with the AFL-CIO to tell my story. This company showed their true colors and I fought back. How many companies do this to their people and THIS is not the same result. Now I'm told by what is called my replacement that the reason I needed to be removed from office is because "I have nothing but contempt for the company". No shit?! These people are the enemy and should be treated as such. I will stand beside my brothers and sisters, no matter the state or company, and march with them and stand by them in support. Just as I always have.