I don't know if any of you are following the story of Eric Frein, the survivalist hiding in the rugged terrain of northeastern PA, suspected of killing a state trooper and seriously wounding another as they were leaving their barracks. The deceased is Bryan Dickson, and he lived in the town where I was born and raised. My mother and sister-in-law are friends of his widow. My father, suffering from dementia, occasionally leaves the house, becomes disoriented, and needs help returning. This past summer Mr. Dickson was running errands with his young children when he encountered my dad, not far from home, and knew something was wrong. He called the local police, who offered to take my dad home, but Dickson said he would do it and brought him to the porch where my mother was waiting. She gave his kids some candy, and said they couldn't have been nicer.

Anyway, Frein is believed to be confined within a five mile radius in the dense Pocono mountain woods. He's eluded capture for almost a month, but as the leaves are falling and the weather is getting colder, it's a matter of time.