It was an incredible sight last week to walk into the Summit Hill Community Center to see almost 50 people working at sorting and packing all kinds of items ranging from clothing to food to toys and books. Their destination was a small community in New Jersey called Sea Bright that was utterly decimated by Hurricane Sandy. It was amazing the volunteer effort that grew from a single posting on Facebook into a county wide relief effort all organized and led by my friend and colleague, Kevin Steber. He started with a simple request for some supplies that he fully intend to transport in his Jeep and within 72 hours, he and his fiancee Kira Michalik and friend Franklin Klock were well on their way to a relief effort that eventually filled a 53 foot trailer and a panel truck with supplies and a fleet from Kovatch Motor Enterprises including parts and mechanics.

The outpouring of help from the community Kevin received was incredible and moving. My wife Katie and I were glad to be a small part of such an effort to bring relief and help to this little town, and I thank Kevin, Kira, Franklin and the scores of volunteers for showing that when the chips are down, we can come together and help each other. In this day and age where news is typically so pessimistic, Kevin helped to make something positive happen. He brought together so many people to help a community we may never meet and that is definitely a job well done. Kudos to you, Kevin and to all the volunteers who traveled to New Jersey last Saturday. You are definitely angels to those people and you made the rest of us proud as well. Thanks to everyone who helped to make Kevin's initiative a rousing success.One of the most interesting conspiracy theories I have heard in years is the theory that there is a shape shifting reptilian elite ruling class that is plotting a world takeover as we speak. Tracing its roots back to the rule of Charlemagne in the eighth century, the reptilians allegedly have worked their way into the ruling class of every country in the world and their bloodline extends into the world leaders of today according to the theory.On the TruTV series, "Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura", the former Minnesotan governor investigated this far out theory and its different facets. From an alleged underground base in New Mexico to a person who claimed to be a shape shifter, Ventura's team traveled all over the country chasing leads on the reptilians. While interesting television, there really was no proof of this. The show portrayed a psychic with a patient who claimed to be a reptilian. While she was rather thin and seemed to have some characteristics of a reptilian, her "morphing" into a reptile was so fast it was invisible to the camera, to the witnesses and to anyone watching it save herself. It got to be too much when she began babbling in some foreign tongue with the responsive medium.The program shifted to a reservation in New Mexico. Ventura and his crew explored a field with an electrical wire that disappeared underground. Throughout the field were large stones supposedly covering holes. Once again, a psychic claimed the reptilians were in touch and threatened harm if any team members attempted to enter the holes. Later an aquifer was shown with water pouring out of the underground. According to the psychic this was further proof of an underground base. Why? We are asked to believe the waterway is normally dry unless people are too close to the entrance at which point the mystery base occupants turn on the water and flood the entry way.All roads led to British conspiracy theorist David Icke. I first became familiar with Icke's work in a bookstore back in the 1990's. Icke is the proponent of the reptilian theory, a theory that bears a close resemblance to the 1980's series "V". In that series, a fleet of UFOs arrive hovering above the major cities of the world. The aliens who are remarkably human promise technological marvels and healing to the people of Earth who readily accept them. It is only after their acceptance that we discover the visitors are not benevolent but conquering lizard beings here to destroy the earth and plunder its water supply.Icke was confronted by Ventura who asked a simple question, "How do I see one of these reptilian beings you claim exists?" Icke danced around the issue with the skill of a politician. He told Ventura to attend his nine hour conference. He talked in abstracts instead of facts and Ventura's tenacity to get an answer to what he deemed a simple question quickly infuriated Icke who ran off on the interview. Once he was out of Ventura's earshot, he cursed him out and left.Ventura's conclusion was one with which I agree, and it makes me believe that Ventura is sincere in his efforts. As he put it, there are no alien reptiles trying to enslave the planet. There may be conspiracies to get and maintain power but they are carried out by people not giant lizards. I would concur. The final nail in this theory is when one examines Icke's finances to discover he makes six figures in book sales and over a million dollars annually in sold out speaking engagements. As PT Barnum says, "There is a sucker born every minute".We live in a dangerous age of misinformation. For every fact on the Internet, there is a dozen false ones. The morality in this world is slipping and we should always questions peoples' motives as we don't know without investigating what is true and what is not. Do I believe there are conspiracies? Yes. Do I believe there are reptilian predators hiding amongst us? Not in a million years.Til next time…