Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 13:51:20 -0400
From: John Oberlin
Subject: Test and Introduction
Greetings,
My name is John Oberlin and I lived in the Wolf’s pond neighborhood for many years. I still own my house there and may return someday. I loved the house, the quiet, and everything that Chatham County has to offer. I worked for UNC for 18 years and retired as associate vice chancellor for IT. I think my last day was at the end of February 2009.
Just a few months after leaving the University (in May of 2009?) I was putting out a roadside fire at a friend’s house that I knew was out of town.
I thought it was a typical cigarette thrown out the window kind of grass fire. It had already burned a small pine tree and was very close to the low branches of a dense patch of some type of cedar trees(?) that were very flammable and would have cough fire very easily and sent flames 50 to 100 feed into the air and put more than just that one home at risk. So I got my two fire extinguishers out of the truck and along with another person who was watching the fire we both went to put it out enough so it wouldn’t reach the cedar trees and cause a major problem for the neighborhood.
To keep the introduction short I was badly electrocuted in the process from a high power line (24,000 volts?) hanging from a tree that I obviously never saw. While I don’t believe that my accident was ever reported in the news I have met many people who have heard the story of some guy who was electrocuted on Meacham Road and almost died. Well I’m happy to report that I didn’t die. However, I was badly burned and badly injured with broken bones and other problems. I’m still recovering from the accident; my burns have healed well and are out of sight unless I’m at the beach. The other injuries, my broken back and two badly broken shoulders and poor balance are what continue to give me the most pain and grief. I’m still adjusting psychologically to the notion that I’m disabled now.
As a curious side note, I can go through airport security scans and not set off the alarm even though I have a significant amount of Steel/Titanium in both of my shoulders. Go figure.
So, I’m a new member of the Chatham Chatlist. I still want to stay in touch with the community and all the wonderful people there.
If I eventually see this message on the list I’ll know the test portion of this message worked.
Thanks,
John