Just saw my Skynyrd family in Vegas last Friday at the Freedom Concert. It was a great surprise to have the Oakridge Boys open the show with the National Anthem. It was so moving that we all had tears streaming down our faces. Charlie Daniels gave an awesome show as he always does but my Skynyrd family rocked, I mean ROCKED the place!! I took my buddy's from Jackson Hole back stage to meet Charlie and Skynyrd before the show and that really set the mood for the show for them. Skynyrd donated $100,000 to Col. North's charity for the children of fallen soldiers and, that blew the roof off with cheers! I'm so proud to be an american and part of the Skynyrd family. I love them dearly!! TOOLBOX

To all my Skynyrd brothers and sisters. Today is October 20th, as you
all know. It's been 32yrs since that terrible day. I hold this day very close
to my heart for a number of reasons. 23yrs ago on Oct 16 I looked death
straight in the eye. I was working up at the Jackson Lake dam in Jackson
Hole, Wyoming. I was hired as a diver to do some underwater const.
on the old dam. Aound 11AM, the job went terribly wrong and I was
sucked into the dam's bottom gate. I was on surface supply air. That
means I had a long regulator hose attached to a small boat that we used
for surface support. half way into the tube the hose got tangled in the
boat and the regulator was ripped from my mouth. I was tethered to the
boat by a line which, stopped me about 40ft into the tube. with no air and
stuck in a tube I, began to wonder if this was it. I struggled to get my knife
to cut the line but I couldn't get to it. Running out of air I began to pray to
the Lord to help me. A calm feeling came over me and the tube lit up
with brightness and I had no more fear. At that moment the line was cut
and I shot out the other side of the dam. Being heavily weighted I sunk to
the bottom of the river and had to push off of bolders to reach the surface
for air. I met Gary and Dale Rossington a couple of weeks after that day.
We have become very close friends since that day.Gary and I would go
fishing or just for a drive through the beautiful country around Jackson Hole on that day.
We try to meet up if we're close enough or call to say " think'n of Ya" on this day of rememberance. Skynyrd has touched my life. They are my
second family. They have brought joy through music to all of us that other
people just quite don't understand. They are America's band, they are our band to share their music and message with others so they can feel the
Skynyrd spirit. I wish all of my Skynyrd brothers and sisters a safe and
happy life!! Rock ON!!! Toolbox