A personal tragedy in the life of Steve Fugate became a personal mission for the Vero Beach, Fla., resident when he resolved that the seemingly senseless suicide of his son would produce something meaningful.

That product is his "Walk Around America," a coast-to-coast-to-coast trek that is taking him from his home in southern Florida across the country and back again, spreading his message to "Love Life."

Fugate, in Artesia Wednesday on the southwestern leg of his journey, spoke of his son.

"He was 26 years old. He'd never been in trouble in his life. He was a 4.0 student," said Fugate. "Then things started going bad."

The younger Fugate had obtained a job in his chosen field, computer electronics, when the company that had hired him lost a contract and couldn't continue to hire him.

"He let the insurance lapse on his vehicle," said his father. "One night, at a celebration for one of his friends, he was driving and there was an accident. There was a lot of damage and alcohol in his system. He suddenly finds himself with a DUI."

Fugate was eager to find a solution to help his son, who now had thousands of dollars in restitution to pay as well as community service to perform.

By chance he happened to read an article on the Appalachian Trail, the 2,170 mile-long hiking trail that runs from Georgia to Maine.

"I said to him, 'Let's decide.' You run my business take care of your obligations, and I'll hike the trail," said Fugate. "When I get back, you'll hike it."

"We both agreed," he said. "I went and when we talked he said everything was going great.

"Unfortunately, he procrastinated on his community services, and they found him in violation," he said. "Apparently he felt he'd failed.

"I talked to him one day and he said he was fine," said Fugate. "The next day he went down to the beach and ended both our lives with my gun."

Fugate returned to the Appalachian Trail and finished the trek, in the process forcing himself to face his grief.

"When I was out there I came face to face with God, which is to say, in a way, face to face with myself," he said. "When I got back I knew I had to do something. One day when I was on my treadmill something spoke to my heart and said 'I want you to walk across America.'"
The final push, "the straw that broke the camel's back," came for him when a 13-year-old girl in Vero Beach took her own life.

Fugate became determined to spread his message emphasizing the value of human life and the selfish, wasteful nature of suicide.

"I don't want any parents to suffer the hell I've gone through," he said. "And I don't want any young people to miss out on loving life.

"You don't have the right to take your own life," he said. "It doesn't belong solely to you.

"It's a very selfish act, only they don't know they are being selfish," he said. "I'm sure my son had no idea."

When Fugate speaks to schools across the country, he emphasized the unpleasant statistic that suicide is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

"Don't allow your friends to use the word "suicide", even jokingly," he tells students. "It's not funny. It's not a joke."

As for national statistics, Fugate sees them as being extremely conservative estimates.

"When you look at a little town like Artesia," he noted, "When you see how many suicides there are that people know about, you wonder how many more there are."

Fugate has established Stevie Lee Fugate Foundation to introduce young people to the therapeutic qualities of America's long-distance trails. His goal is to establish camps within easily accessible distances from the country's many hiking trails.

He wants to instill in youngsters the importance of the simple pleasures to be had in activities like hiking and enjoying nature as a counterbalance to the pressures they feel in modern life. Those pressures, he feels, are the catalysts that lead so many young people to take the drastic step of suicide.

He quotes the poet Gibran Kahlil: "The lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul and then walks grinning in the funeral."

"I want to give them back the passion of their soul. I want to introduce them to the therapeutic assets. That's why I'm walking," he said. "I have a tool I wish I didn't have. I have experience.

"Right now I'm doing something I can do. I can walk."

Anyone wishing to learn more about Stevie Lee Fugate Foundation, the elder Fugate's experiences, or anyone wishing to share experiences of their own can contact him at Nocluehomebase@aol.com

Fugate's next stop after Artesia was to be Cloudcroft, proceeding west to Alamogordo, then on to Las Cruces, Lordsburg and points west.

"My itinerary once I left home was pretty simple," he said. "I make one left-hand turn and three rights."

You should know that:

Mobile Phones can ignite fuel or fumes Mobile phones that light up when switched on or when they ring release enough energy to provide a spark for ignition Mobile phones should not be used in filling stations, or when fueling lawn mowers, boat! , Etc.

Mobile phones should not be used, or should be turned off, around other materials that generate flammable or explosive fumes or dust, i.e. solvents, chemicals, gases, grain dust, etc.)

To sum it up, here are the: Four Rules for Safe Refueling
1) Turn off engine
2) Don't smoke
3) Don't use your cell phone - leave it inside the vehicle or turn it off
4) Don't re-enter your vehicle during fueling Bob Renkes of Petroleum Equipment Institute is working on a campaign to try and make people aware of fires as a result of"static electricity" at gas pumps. His company has researched 150 cases of these fires.

His results were very surprising:

1) Out of 150 cases, almost all of them were women.

2) Almost all cases involved the person getting back in their vehicle while the nozzle was still pumping gas, when finished and they went back to pull the nozzle out the fire started, as a result of static.

3) Most had on rubber-soled shoes.

4) Most men never get back in their vehicle until completely finished. This is why they are seldom involved in these types of fires.

5) Don't ever use cell phones when pumping gas
6) It is the vapors that come out of the gas that cause the fire, when connected with static charges.

7) There were 29 fires where the vehicle was reentered and the nozzle was touched during refueling from a variety of makes and models. Some resulting in extensive damage to the vehicle, to the station, and to the customer.

8) Seventeen fires that occurred before, during or immediately after the gas cap was removed and before fueling began.

Mr. Renkes stresses to NEVER get back into your vehicle while filling it with gas.

If you absolutely HAVE to get in your vehicle while the gas is pumping, make sure you get out, close the door TOUCHING THE METAL, before you ever pull the nozzle out. This way the static from your body will be discharged before you ever remove the nozzle.

As I mentioned earlier, The Petroleum Equipment Institute, along with several other companies now, are really trying to make the public aware of this danger. You can find out more information by going to http://www.pei.org/. Once here, click in the center of the screen where it says "Stop Static".

Don't forward virus warnings and urban legends. They are invariably hoaxes. These things are usually characterized by a vague reference to a news report months ago. And they always admonish you to forward the warning to everyone you know.

The anti-virus companies watch closely for new viruses. They immediately build antidotes into their software updates. Assuming the warning is not a hoax (it almost certainly is), an antidote would have been developed ages ago.

Same goes for urban legends. Bill Gates giving away money. Poodles in microwaves. Needles in movie theater seats. Busy people will not appreciate getting this stuff from you.

You can always check virus warnings and urban legends on the Internet.
Hoaxbusters is a good place to start: http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/

I was walking through the woods when I saw this strange sight.
It was smelly, lumpy, and green. And was a fright.

I called my friends over so they could check out this thing.
Oh my, said one, that thing is an old rotten chicken wing.

One of my friends asked, "What shall we do?"
"I don't know," I answered, "But it smells like poo."

"It smells like a dirty rotten bass."
Actually is smells like it crawled up someones (just kidding, I have class.)

This story is getting long, and I don't want to bore.
Just kidding, I will make you snore with more.

We all started to leave, to let the nasty be.
But just then, we heard its dying plea.

"Don't leave me to suffer.
Nothing could be rougher."

Well, I thought that we couldn't be mean,
so I came up with a diabolical scheme.

We would kill that ugly blob.
And feed him to Bob.

You ask why.
Because we want them both to die.

Then we wouldn't be in pain.
I wish I had a candy cane.

Will this story ever end.
Let me tell you my friend.

That is about it.
Oh, and Bob still smells like (just kidding, I am such a wit.)