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Archive through October 27, 2005

The TVClubHouse: Amazing Race ARCHIVES: Amazing Race VIII: TAR VIII TEAMS: The Weaver Family: Archive through October 27, 2005 users admin

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Wilsonatmd
Member

01-23-2001

Tuesday, August 16, 2005 - 8:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wilsonatmd a private message Print Post    


from left to right:

Linda-46, Rebecca-19, Rachel-16, Rolly-14

Family relationship:widowed mother and 3 kids

Penpoint
Member

03-27-2001

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 10:54 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Penpoint a private message Print Post    
This is a family with a sad story, and it's good that they can participate in this show. Good, also, that they have something -- in this case, a religious belief -- to help them with the loss of their father/husband. However, saying prayers for God to help them in this game seems somewhat misguided.

Littleladym
Member

09-15-2005

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - 5:05 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Littleladym a private message Print Post    
NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL Players, Singers and Actors all pray to God for help but I don't think they are praying that others will not do well but that they will do their best. I like this family they remind me of my own family. But my mom was single not widowed. I will be cheering for them. Love the way the daughter drives, she looked like she was in her element.

Spitfire
Member

07-18-2002

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - 5:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spitfire a private message Print Post    
I love this family too. I do think that the other teams will get ticked with them because they are loud and seem to enjoy themselves. This is a good thing for the team. They worked well together last night.

Denecee
Member

09-05-2002

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - 8:33 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Denecee a private message Print Post    
My favorite team so far. I love the boy, he is such a little cutie pie.

Kritofer
Member

10-26-2004

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - 2:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kritofer a private message Print Post    
I loved it when there was a foot race between the boy Rolly and the young man from the Rogers family to K & D's hot dog stand. The young man beat him there but Rolly nudged him a little and grabbed the clue first. Tough kid!

Kappy
Member

06-29-2002

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 - 7:41 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kappy a private message Print Post    
Rolly is really doing this team proud! AT first I was thinking 'oh no, too much praying' but then realized like Pen said, it's probably of great comfort to them right now to have their faith.

Tabbyking
Member

03-11-2002

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - 8:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tabbyking a private message Print Post    
story

the family is suing, after 18 months. it wasn't enough that roy was hit, but cars continued to run over him. i was surprised the money mentioned was 'in excess of 75k'. that is peanuts.
this lawsuit was filed in august. it makes me think the weavers don't win TAR, because a million dollars would have been a large amount of money.
they aren't my favorite TAR team, but i do feel bad for them.

Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 1:12 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Texannie a private message Print Post    
The suit also claims that because officials didn't immediately stop the race, drivers continued to "strike, drive over, desecrate and mutilate" Weaver's body.

OMG!! no wonder they were so traumatized! how horrible to have your husband/father die, but like that........

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 6:03 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Landi a private message Print Post    
this comes from the Daytona Beach News:

Grief won't stop search for truth

By ANDREW LYONS
Staff Writer

Last update: November 07, 2004


ORMOND BEACH -- Linda Weaver would scribble a Bible verse on a scrap piece of paper and stick it in her husband's lunch bag.

On the morning of Feb. 8, she jotted down a verse from Isaiah, chapter 40 -- words of encouragement about renewed strength from God. Beneath the verse, she wrote: "Trust the Lord, my love. Trust him."

It was supposed to be another day at the races for Roy Weaver. As a crew supervisor, 44-year-old Roy would motor around Daytona International Speedway and dart onto the track when needed. His mission: grab debris that could cut a tire and cause a wreck.

Trying to find the race on the television, Linda was flipping through the channels that afternoon when the phone rang. The person on the other end said there had been an accident, that she should immediately come to the hospital. She thought, at worst, he lost a leg. She believed in her heart it wasn't bad.

At the hospital, no one would say where Roy was. Someone, she doesn't remember who, finally approached, then came incomprehensible words. "It was fatal."

Linda screamed, and a hospital worker closed the door.

And there, in a quiet spot next to the emergency room in a cold but bustling Halifax Medical Center, Linda Weaver stood. She was a woman in love with her husband, suddenly feeling all alone -- the leader of the Weaver family was gone.

"I was just in shock," she said.

Linda would never see Roy's body that day. The accident was too brutal. He had darted to the middle of the track to grab something; no one knows what that something was.

Roy was hit by a race car going more than 100 mph.

Nine months later, Roy's death is at the center of a federal report and a possible future lawsuit.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration contends the Speedway failed to enforce safety rules that could have prevented the tragedy. But Speedway leaders disagree. They are appealing OSHA's findings, refusing to pay the $6,300 fine.

Linda said she believes the Speedway is taking no responsibility. She is working with an attorney, who is also her second cousin, to investigate what happened and consider filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

"As soon as they pressure washed his remains from the track and resumed the race," Tallahassee attorney Rob Clarke said, "it was as if Roy's death didn't happen."

Speedway officials refuse to speak in detail about the accident, citing legal concerns surrounding their appeal with OSHA. But track officials contend they have reached out to the Weaver family. Spokesman David Talley said that immediately after the accident, the track hosted a memorial with food and provided bathrooms, tents and three recreational vehicles where grieving relatives from out of town could stay.

Many Speedway workers, Talley added, also donated money to Roy's church.

Linda, however, said track officials have cast blame. She said they met privately with her family two days after the accident to tell her only one person was responsible for Roy's death -- Roy.

She said their words left her infuriated, crushed and confused.

"Roy gave 110 percent. Roy was proud to work at the Speedway. He was part of the Speedway family," she said recently during her first sit-down interview since the accident. "I don't know what happened to that family."

THE MEETING


In the days following Roy's death, Linda devoured every printed word and watched the television news broadcasts about the accident. The facts, she said, brought comfort.

"I didn't know what happened," she said during a two-hour interview last month in the dining room of her home. "I needed to know the details."

Two days after Roy's death, a Speedway executive called and asked to visit. At 10:30 a.m. Feb. 10, three Speedway officials arrived to find a house packed with extended family members and church friends. Linda remembers the hug she received from Dick Hahne, director of operations at the track, whom she said she hardly knew.

"God is awesome," she recalled Hahne saying boldly. They might have been intended as words of encouragement, but Linda said she felt uncomfortable, that his words seemed aggressive and phony.

"It kind of took me back," her 18-year-old daughter, Rebecca, said.

Seated in the home's parlor, Hahne told Linda what went wrong. He said track workers follow three rules: never pick up flying debris, never turn your back to a race car, never step onto the track without an "all clear."

Linda said she wasn't prepared for what Hahne would next say. "Every track worker knows you can't enter the track without an all clear. Roy didn't have an all clear."

Silence fell over the room.

Roy, 44, was a former minister who started working at the track seven years earlier and rose through the ranks. He had recently been promoted to a high-profile seasonal job -- running a smaller track in Colorado during the summer of 2003. His family knew he loved his job at the Speedway. So Hahne's words were troubling.

When someone spoke up, it was the pastor of Roy's parents' church in Alabama. "Who in here is on Linda's side?"

"You could have heard a pin drop," Linda recalled. "Then someone said: 'OSHA is on Linda's side.' "

In that moment, Linda realized from now on, there would be two sides.

Linda asked the men to leave, but before they left, she stopped Hahne. Quietly, she leaned forward and told him he knew Roy's work ethic; she questioned whether he even believed what he was saying.

She said tears filled Hahne's eyes.

Nine months later, it's this meeting that Linda has run through her mind "a million times." She believes Speedway officials presented no evidence to back up their claims.

"I wouldn't have let my children in the room if I had known what was going to happen," she said. "That breaks my heart."

A memorial service was held for Weaver that night at Daytona USA, the racing-themed attraction outside the track. Speedway President Robin Braig spoke, along with his pastor from Tomoka Christian Church. But Linda never again spoke directly with officials from the Speedway.

Hahne was asked by The Daytona Beach News-Journal to be interviewed for this story. He said he was willing to speak if Speedway lawyers would approve. But they would not.

"Until this issue with OSHA is resolved," track spokesman David Talley said, "we cannot say anything.

"Mrs. Weaver has retained an attorney and is seeking millions of dollars from us," Talley said. "As result of the litigation threatened by Mrs. Weaver, we are unable to discuss the matter."

A NEW LEADER


For six months, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration would investigate what went wrong that Sunday during the IPOWERacing Dash 150, which was not a NASCAR-sanctioned event. Catastrophe unfolded when Alabama driver Ray Paprota sped out of pit lane, trying to catch up with the pack of race cars. He completed one lap and then navigated Turn 1 once more to find the unthinkable -- a person on the track, in his way.

Given the curvature of the track and the speed Paprota was traveling, there was no time to react. Daytona Beach police would later declare the tragedy an accident.

"This is something that will be with me forever," Paprota said in September. "Every day I think about it. You can't live your life without having it impact you after something like that happens to you."

While Paprota is learning to live with that memory, the Weaver family is learning to survive.

Linda and Roy met in college at Auburn University. In marriage, Roy led his home with evangelical Christian values. At church, he taught Sunday school. At home, he was the leader. That was the way things were, the way Linda liked it.

"He took the load," she said.

Now she would have to earn the money. For years, Linda was a correspondent for The News-Journal, writing feature stories for the paper's Neighbors section, covering community and school events. At home, she focused on home schooling the kids.

The thought of life without Roy was unbearable; but she found strength in God and help from fellow church members.

In the months to come, money arrived in the mail. Church members showed up to tackle chores. They laid sod and installed a fountain in the front yard. A memorial garden to Roy was constructed where Linda would scatter his ashes.

The couple's "faith in the Lord" had always held them together, Linda said. Now faith was carrying her onward.

For weeks, Linda grappled with the issue of home schooling her kids. Putting the kids in the public school system, Linda feared would be too overwhelming during an already tumultuous time period. So she prayed.

That's when God opened a door, a new career, she said. Linda now teaches fifth-graders at Calvary Christian Academy, where she enrolled her own kids.

After Roy's death, Linda received an $80,000 life insurance settlement through the Speedway, based on twice his annual salary. For the next two years, she'll also receive his Social Security benefits. She still writes newspaper stories, but money is tight. At least the bills are getting paid.

"God has been faithful," she said. "He has provided everything."

THE NEXT STEP


It could take months, years, before a settlement or a verdict is reached between the Speedway and OSHA on what went wrong and why.

Clarke, Weaver's attorney, will not say when he intends to file a lawsuit.

The $6,300 fine dealing with Weaver's death was considered a "serious" violation, which meant OSHA officials thought track officials knew or should have known employees were in harm's way.

The federal agency found the Speedway failed to have a written protocol that dictates when workers can step onto the track. OSHA is asking an administrative law judge to hold a hearing so both sides can present their cases. If the judge finds in favor of OSHA, the Speedway can continue appealing to federal court, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bill France, vice chairman of NASCAR and chairman of International Speedway Corp., said rescue workers and cleanup crews have run onto the track for 50 years without being killed.

"This is the first time we lost someone in all these years," he said at the time. "I think it's a pretty good record."

And since Roy's death, track officials have changed how safety crews communicate and respond to wrecks. They have also added another person to the Nextel Tower who speaks directly to firefighters and emergency medical responders during races. Linda concedes she's intimidated by the thought of challenging the Speedway in court. But she wants answers.

At home in Ormond Beach, memories of Roy are everywhere.

Eighteen-year-old Rebecca can't bare to listen to one popular song from country band Rascal Flats. She heard that song the day her dad died.


Rachael, 15, keeps a memory box. Inside is a rose from the funeral, mistletoe that hung above her parents' headboard, sheet music from a song she was playing on the piano one day when Roy stopped to say he liked it.

His son Rolly, 13, still watches football. Recently, a friend's father took him to Jacksonville to watch the Jaguars play the Kansas City Chiefs. The Jaguars won with 45 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, but Rolly came home quiet.

Linda asked what was wrong. Rolly said it just wasn't the same. Dad would have gotten to the game early. Dad would have cheered loudly. Dad wasn't there.

Linda dwells on the good times.

A month before his death, Roy and Linda went on what would be their last date. Roy surprised Linda by taking her to a beachside boutique to splurge on new clothes. A few weeks later, Linda took their older daughter, Rebecca, to the boutique, and the sales clerk remembered Linda. The clerk couldn't believe they had been married for 20 years. Roy seemed so affectionate. The clerk said she thought they were dating.

Linda, 46, knows she may never get over losing Roy. She also knows he was thinking of her, all the way to the end.

She never saw his body that day, but she did get his personal belongings -- clothes, wallet and lunch bag.

And inside that bag was a message with a smudge from where he must have held that note.

It was a Bible verse from Isaiah, chapter 40.

It read: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Under that verse were these words: "Trust the Lord, my love. Trust him."


And Linda realized what had happened. Roy had sent her message back.

andy.lyons@news-jrnl.com


Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 6:23 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Okay, I am confused. What is Linda Weaver actually suing for? If a car hit him, either the car driver was as fault OR Roy Weaver should not have been on the track, right? IS Linda saying the track didn't make enough "protocol" steps to prevent Roy from walking on the track?

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 7:17 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Landi a private message Print Post    
they're saying there were no protocol's (or rules) in place, so that he would be safe when he was supposed to step onto the track that would guarantee his safety. otherwise it would be like playing frogger on the daytona speedway.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 7:21 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Ah. Seems beyond crazy to think they didn't have any "rules" in place before this tragedy.

Wasn't there something about an "all clear"--wouldn't that be part of the "rules?"

Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 7:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Texannie a private message Print Post    
What an awful tragedy!

Spitfire
Member

07-18-2002

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 8:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spitfire a private message Print Post    
{{{Weaver's}}} I just simply cannot begin to imagine having to deal with the legalities of my husbands death when all I would want is peace.

My cousins husband was killed in a car accident where drinking was involved (not the driver) and played a part in the crash. It took her about 4 years to finally have the case settled and that is basically because she finally accepted an offer to settle so she could be done with it.

In another thread people are saying that 1 year is enough time to grieve or whatever. I believe that everyone is different when it comes to emotions and grieving. I for one am able to move on and realize what I need to do to make that happen, while the next person is much more attached.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is from experience, my cousin could never really "get over it" when at least once a month or more (for four years) someone was calling trying to ask more things....and you don't want to give up because you want retribution.

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 8:36 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
I don’t think that there can be a set time limit for grieving. Everyone handles that in different ways.

However, I’m not sure that I enjoy watching a reality show that features a family that is still coming to terms with their grief (and we all know that was one reason CBS picked them). It’s not my idea of entertainment.

The biggest problem is that they don’t seem to be enjoying the race and there is no sign that it is getting better.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 8:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
I agree Jimmer. I don't blame them if they are still grieving. But then they should not have tried the race. I am guessing they knew a race like this would be very stressful.

Native_texan
Member

08-24-2004

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 9:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Native_texan a private message Print Post    
I don't know anything about the racing they were doing that day, but in NASCAR, if Roy had received an all clear, that meant there was a caution flag out and if there was a caution, a driver would not have been coming out of the pit at 100 mph.

It always easier to blame the dead guy because he can't talk.

Karuuna
Board Administrator

08-31-2000

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 10:02 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Karuuna a private message Print Post    
I don't care if they are still grieving. Why do we as a culture have a problem with grief? Let's watch people grieve. Let's be real and honest. Is it entertaining? Perhaps not in some sense of the word. But it is real.

I think our whole culture has some unhealthy repression about feeling difficult things. The more we bring this into the open, the better for everyone. Grief is a normal part of life. There's no reason that grieving people should stay hidden and out of the public eye.

JMO.

Native_texan
Member

08-24-2004

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 10:40 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Native_texan a private message Print Post    
I don't have a problem with them still grieving. Some people take longer than others. My grandpa grieved for my grandma until the day he died 10 years after she did.

What I do have a problem with is people who might use their grief as an excuse for unacceptable behavior. In my opinion, when a person does that, they are no longer truly grieving.

That being said, it's still a game.

Spitfire
Member

07-18-2002

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 10:44 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spitfire a private message Print Post    
Also.....I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but on camera I personally don't see them outwardly talking about or showing their grief all the time. Off the top of my head I can remember them talking about it when they were at the speedway and that's it.

Kar I liked you view personally but can guess that people don't want to watch other people's grief on TV when they are using that TV as an escape from their own reality.????

I like the Weavers and hope they do well. They just play a little different than the other teams but that's OK isn't it? I don't find them extremly rude or negative, just different.

There have been many TAR teams who really did make it hard to like them for much worse things.

Karuuna
Board Administrator

08-31-2000

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 11:15 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Karuuna a private message Print Post    
Spitfire, I can see and appreciate that point. But this is *reality* tv. To me, grief is part of reality. I know folks don't often like seeing all the yelling and screaming at each other that goes on either.

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 11:20 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Landi a private message Print Post    
this is the story that tabby linked to up above. i think it answers the questions you were asking julieboo.

it is from the Daytona Beach News Journal

Widow sues Speedway over track worker's death

By JAY STAPLETON
Staff Writer

Last update: August 19, 2005

DAYTONA BEACH -- The widow of a track worker killed at Daytona International Speedway in 2004 has filed a lawsuit against the Speedway and others, claiming Roy Weaver died because the track lacked adequate safety procedures and the driver who struck him was traveling too fast.

The suit also claims that because officials didn't immediately stop the race, drivers continued to "strike, drive over, desecrate and mutilate" Weaver's body.

Weaver was picking up debris Feb. 8, 2004, in Turn 2 during the IPOWER Dash Series 150 when Ray Paprota, driving under a caution flag, struck and killed him.

The lawsuit filed by the victim's widow, Linda S. Weaver of Ormond Beach, seeks an unspecified amount of damages in excess of $75,000. The defendants named in the suit include International Speedway Corp., IPOWER Racing and Ray Paprota, the driver who struck Weaver.

"He didn't have to die," Angelo Pattaco Jr., an attorney representing the Weaver family, said Thursday.

The suit says Weaver died unnecessarily because there were not "reasonable and effective procedures in place to protect track workers" doing their jobs. He also said the track officials failed "to have enough people watching the track" and failed to ensure "adequate communications" to warn about hazards on the track.

And after Weaver was hit, Pattaco said, his body was further mutilated by cars continuing around the track for at least one more lap under a caution flag.

"They should have stopped the race," Pattaco said. "This man who needed attention was lying on the track."

The suit says Paprota left the pit area "at an excessive rate of speed," considering the caution flag was out, before hitting Weaver.

Weaver, 44, of Ormond Beach was the first track worker killed since the Speedway opened in 1959. He left behind his wife and three children ages 14 to 19.

The Weaver family continues to suffer, Patacco said, and they'll ask a jury to compensate the family fairly, "in light of the man who was lost."

Calls to the International Speedway Corp. were not immediately returned. Linda Weaver said she is preparing a statement, and Paprota deferred comment until he was able to review the complaint.

In February, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration reached a settlement with the Speedway when the track agreed to develop a written safety and training policy for cleanup personnel who are "exposed to the hazard of being struck by moving competition vehicles while performing their duties."

The track also agreed to train its safety teams at least once a year and strengthen radio communication between the control tower and those tending to accidents on the ground.

OSHA withdrew its most serious citation against the track stemming from the death: failure to have a written protocol for workers stepping on the track.

That settlement agreement, which allowed the Speedway to avoid a $6,300 fine, stipulated that the citation and settlement were not to be used as evidence of negligence in any other legal action.

jay.stapleton@news-jrnl.com


Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 11:28 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Texannie a private message Print Post    
I don't care if they are still grieving. Why do we as a culture have a problem with grief? Let's watch people grieve. Let's be real and honest. Is it entertaining? Perhaps not in some sense of the word. But it is real.

I think our whole culture has some unhealthy repression about feeling difficult things. The more we bring this into the open, the better for everyone. Grief is a normal part of life. There's no reason that grieving people should stay hidden and out of the public eye.

JMO.



Bravo!
}





Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - 12:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
I agree that the American culture tends to want to hide or minimize emotional displays – particularly where men are involved. Sort of a “got to be tough if you want to be a real man”. I think that America would be a better place, if men weren’t taught to hide their emotions from a very early age.

On a personal level, I’m not about to hide from grief and I don’t have a problem with grief. If anyone I know is grieving, I certainly never discourage him or her from talking about it and I try to help in any way that I can. It is particularly nice when you can help someone remember good things and start to feel good about someone who has gone. It can be very distressing when someone you love passes away and people are afraid to talk about him or her for fear of “hurting” you.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with grieving and the Weavers have every right to do so and do it publicly if they wish. However, it also seems clear that most of the time they are not enjoying the race.

Is televising this good for society? It may be. On the other hand, I watch TV for enjoyment and entertainment and I still can’t say that I enjoy watching someone who is having a miserable time, even if it is a part of life.