I want to thank my tireless colleague Justin Fenton who maintained this blog while I was away in New Hampshire for Christmas. I return to find we've exceeded last year's homicide count (while in New York they're boasting of historic lows again) and to read the tragic story of the Army soldier killed in the city, the abducted girl on the Eastern Shore and the controversial arrest of a West Baltimore barber.

Up in New Hampshire, the big news was protests over a new ban on carrying guns into the State House  in Concord. Until the ban, I had no idea that even in NH a citizen could walk into the capital with a gun, and when the prohibition was announced, several showed up with arms to speak out.

Over the holidays, I wrote about three friends who had gone drinking and then winded up missing on Christmas Eve 45 years ago. I had talked with the son of one of the men who now lives out of state. Sherri Irwin, a relative of another victim sent me an e-mail last week and I thought I'd share it with you here:

Thank you for writing an article on the memory of this group.  Lawrence Scott is my grandfather.  I am the daughter of Elizabeth Scott Weidner. Although, I never met my grandfather as I am only 38yrs old. The memory of him never has been forgotten.  My family and father always share stories to our family of the great man that he was.  Yes, he may have been a drinker………….on the weekends only…….he was a great man who always provided for his family and others.  My Mom always shares a story about all the hard work they would do. Whether it was picking food from the garden or building something. My grandfather would always think of those who did not have and he would help or give them what he could. One story that is funny…………my Mother and siblings would pick string beans from the fields and they would have bushels of beans when they were done………..my Grandfather would stop at several families homes that he know needed food. Very generous man for not having much.