Dispatch: Lake Las Vegas

The Fireball Run is finally coming together. I arrived at the Lowes Lake Las VegasResort and checked in without a hitch. The first person I ran into was my new friend Paul Nigh, who is driving the Fireball Run in his Back to the Future Delorean. Does the fact that he has a flex capacitor put the rest of us at a disadvantage? Well I hardly think so, because I am picking up my cousin and team mate John Klaas at the Hard Rock Hotel early tomorrow morning in a lime green 2010 Camaro LT that has been generously donated by General Motors. From there we drive to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when the game will be on.

This evening there is a reception where we will all meet and greet one another as we prepare for the competition which will begin at the Speedway. All told, there are 35-teams, all representing a missing child from their hometown community. As we roll across America each team will be tasked with handing out missing child flyers to everybody they meet along the way, so this truly is the Race to Recover America’s Missing Children.

Team Polly is representing little Hasanni Campbell. Hasanni was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt and gray pants at approximately 4:15p.m. on August 10, 2009. Hasanni, who has cerebral palsy, was reported by Louis Ross as missing from a car outside a shoe store in Oakland's Rockridge district. Oakland police have indicated the disappearance may be homicide. Both of Hassani's foster parents were arrested in connection with the case but the district attorney declined to file charges due to lack of evidence. I doubt that Hasanni will be found alive or that Louis Ross will be held accountable for “disappearing” the little boy, but he does deserve to come home and maybe the awareness that we raise will assist in that effort.

The one dark cloud hanging over Team Polly’s head is the very poor health of close and elderly relatives. John’s mother in law is suffering from an advanced form of cancer and my 90 year old father has taken too many trips to the emergency room these past months for the prognosis to be anything but bleak. Well, we will pray for their health, wish them comfort and hope that they overcome the long odds that seem to be stacked against them.

After all, wasn’t Las Vegas premised on beating the odds in the first place?