It was an ordinary day. A name from the past popped up in the news today; John Byler. John's son, Jonathan, played high school baseball with my oldest son, Derek, back in the late 1980s. Jon was a few years younger and didn't get to play that much during Derek's time on the team. John and his son and family lived about a mile from the school in an enormous home that had a few out-buildings. John was kind enough to allow the high school baseball team to use one of his barns to set up an indoor batting area for year-round practice. About a half dozen of us made a really neat batting cage in the barn and took turns throwing batting practice to the team as well as feeding an automatic pitching machine. After my son graduated I'm not quite sure what ever happened to the batting cage. During those years we were occasionally invited to visit at John's home in the summer for outdoor picnics. One or two of those times John invited me into his trophy room to show me his collection of stuffed exotic animals that he had shot while on hunting trips to all parts of the world. A huge bear, that stood easy eight feet tall, was in one corner of the room with many varieties of wild cats stuffed and placed in other parts of the room. Room had to be at least fifteen feet tall and really showed off his collection. I can appreciate what he had, but I am not one who enjoys killing animals just for the sport. And, it must have cost him a fortune to travel all over the world just to kill these animals. John also had a full grown wild cougar in a cage on his property. Saw stories about it many times as the neighbors fought with him to get rid of it before one of their children were badly injured by it. Finally did get rid of it. Well, John's name popped up tonight on the evening news. As Carol and I watched the screen, we saw footage of this tremendous fire on Landis Valley Road which looked like it had totally destroyed whatever was burning. Firefighters from 8 companies battled the blaze. Then we heard the name; John Byler. 
"Wow," I said to Carol. "I wonder if it destroyed his trophy room." The next day, as I read the newspaper, I found out that it caused $750,000 damage to the home and another $250,000 damage to the furnishings. Seems that John and two workers, who were painting one of the out-buildings, discovered the fire as he was about to leave the property. They tried to use a garden hose to put out the fire, but lost the battle. Finally called the fire company who had trouble getting enough fire hose to the house because of the extremely long driveway. One section of the house was saved; John's beloved trophy room! A few vehicles were also saved which included a Ford GT and a Mercedes SUV. The newsp
aper listed John as the part-owner of 3 golf courses and the largest movie theatre in Lancaster County. As of now, the cause of the fires has not been determined, but does not look suspicious. Maybe the cougar came back to haunt him. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
"Wow," I said to Carol. "I wonder if it destroyed his trophy room." The next day, as I read the newspaper, I found out that it caused $750,000 damage to the home and another $250,000 damage to the furnishings. Seems that John and two workers, who were painting one of the out-buildings, discovered the fire as he was about to leave the property. They tried to use a garden hose to put out the fire, but lost the battle. Finally called the fire company who had trouble getting enough fire hose to the house because of the extremely long driveway. One section of the house was saved; John's beloved trophy room! A few vehicles were also saved which included a Ford GT and a Mercedes SUV. The newspaper listed John as the part-owner of 3 golf courses and the largest movie theatre in Lancaster County. As of now, the cause of the fires has not been determined, but does not look suspicious. Maybe the cougar came back to haunt him. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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