Failing to Stop

My name is Chuck Reinert. I am from Garden City. I am a 35-year wrestling official in Kansas. Over the years I have been blessed by my extended wrestling family. All the kids, coaches, and fellow officials become really close over the years. 

On May 30^th in Grant County, Kansas, I lost a member of that wrestling family. Earl Segar, one of the triplet Segar brothers from Ulysses, and his wife Charla both died in a car accident.  A semi-truck failed to stop at an intersection in rural Grant County just a few miles outside Ulysses.

I grew up in Colorado and my Pueblo South Colorado high school came to the Garden City wrestling tourney. I met Earl then and we later became friends and family as he coached the Ulysses team and I officiated. I have spent 30 years as an official at the Ulysses wrestling tourney. Earl and I spent many Saturdays together building the character of our youth and building our wrestling family.

There are so many things we take for granted each and every day. Out in western Kansas we tend to drive the same route to school or work almost every day. We get a false sense of security sometimes and forget to do the right thing. To stop our vehicle when we should, then look both ways every time before we pull out on any road. It is never faster to skip the basic safety steps to get somewhere faster when we are in a big hurry. You never know when failing to stop will cause the accident that changes lives and cost a family a life forever.

Chuck Reinert is a wrestling official and the Director of Maintenance for Garden City Recreation