SNOHOMISH -- The cannon shot that ripped into Brett Karch's leg, causing a gaping combat-style wound, has also torn a hole in his hometown community of Snohomish.
Karch, whose leg was nearly amputated and who faces more than a year of physical rehabilitation with an uncertain outcome, has been the target of physical threats because of fears his injury will jeopardize the community's tradition of firing the ceremonial cannon before each high school football game and after touchdowns.
For more than 30 years, the blast of the cherry-red cannon has ignited the roars of fans whenever the home team scored in this football-proud town. With its tree-lined streets, gingerbread-trimmed Victorian houses and hills crested with historic churches, the town is devoted to its traditions, including its beloved cannon, which students in the school's metal shop built after a previous cannon gave out in the mid-1980s.
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But the shot that nearly took off Brett Karch's leg now leaves the fate of that tradition in the air, and that has upset some in the community.
According to Karch's medical records, security guards notified police after Karch received disturbing phone calls and visits from parents and students, some of whom threatened to "break his other leg" or worse, if he didn't keep quiet about the accident. Hospital staff had to move him to a secure room where they monitored visitors.
Callers and visitors told Karch they would "make sure his other leg got blown off," and that "there would be retaliation" if the family cooperated in an investigation that could end the cannon tradition, said Mary Bissel, Karch's mother. "That's when I kind of got a little upset," Karch said.
The threats also included mention the family would be "banned from the town," Bissell said.
She's been warned not to talk to a lawyer, or reporters. The allegations of threats, as well as the cause of the accident, remain under investigation.
Hospital security reported the threats to the Everett Police Department, but police, who came to the hospital to interview Karch and his mother, won't release the incident report, citing the open investigation into the cause of the accident.
Traditions are a positive thing, but in the face of true human suffering...no tradition is that important. Traditions are meant to carry emotion, without that positive emotion...the tradition is useless. The people that are make threats to this young kid have truly lost sight of their tradition and that is sad.
Just last month, Aggies around the world took time to remember the Texas A&M Bonfire collapse of 1999. As expected the game just didn't seem the same anymore.
My brother, a graduate of TAMU, wrote the following in his blog on Nov 18th, 2006:
Seven years ago today, in the midst of every Aggies favorite week, tragedy struck and suddenly the rivalry game with the University of Texas didn't seem as important has it had the day before.----------------------------------------
At 2:42 am on the morning of November 18, 1999, the Bonfire stack fell and my perspective on what rivalry means shifted with the falling logs. Twelve Aggies would be killed by the pileup and 27 others injured, and the whole Aggie family mourned. With the game only a couple of days away, the Bonfire workers were in what they called "push" the hectic 24 hour work schedule before the burn. Because of that, I knew when I got the call on that morning and my friend told me that "Bonfire collapsed last night"... I knew there were students all over it and that the hope of no one getting critcally injured was minimal.
I'll never forget the sorrow I felt that day as I sat at my desk in Houston trying to work. I didn't personally know any of the students who were killed or injured but that didn't matter - they were Aggies. They were kids in the prime of their lives and all I could think about was the immeasureable loss their immediate families must be going through. This was the first tragedy that had hit me this hard - the horror of 9/11 was still almost two years away. I wanted to be in College Station that day and to grieve with my fellow Aggies. I know I probably couldn't provide any tangible assistance, but I just felt like I needed to be there.
Ironically, it took a tragedy like this to remind everyone that the grudge match and blood fued of a rivalry we had all thought so important just a day earlier was only a game. The University of Texas shared their shock and condolences with the Aggies as their student body president traveled to College Station that day to speak at the memorial service on campus that night. Our student president went to Austin later to participate in a candlelight vigil that replaced the Longhorns annual "Hex Rally".
The game happened a week after the collapse, and thankfully the Aggies won. Not because we wanted bragging rights, but because we needed it. The players dedicated the game to their fallen fellow students and when linebacker Brian Gamble sacked Major Applewhite and recovered the fumble to ice the game, he raised his arms skyward almost as if to give those lost a giant hug and the emotions flowed all around the stadium.
Through it all I gathered a new respect for our most fierce rival. The class they showed after the event and during their memorable halftime salute at the game, showed me that while we may enjoy nothing more than beating each other on the field we're still all Texans, all human and that the outcome of a football game shouldn't seem as important as life and death.
I'll never forget the compassion and the gestures they made. One that sticks out was weeks later a college friend and I were sitting in a bar in Houston when two Longhorns having seen our Aggie Rings came over and shook our hands and offered their sincerest condolences.
Sure I still want my team to come out on top when the two schools match up on the field, and I still love to engage in a little friendly rivalry smack talking, but for me the game now is just a game.
Absolutely disgusted! Sometimes I feel like there are just some people that shouldn't have the freedom to walk around us....these people that are making threats to this kid, fit the bill pretty well.
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