LINK THE LAKE - this Saturday 12.4.10, a benifit for the Fretz family, and a rememberance of bicyclists involved in road accidents

Just a reminder for those that are in Tempe, that Link The Lake is this Saturday at the newly refilled Tempe Town Lake. Unfortunately, we cannot even talk about this blog with out talking about this event. This even is in part a response and tribute to our blog's founder, Jay Fretz, who was killed in a motor vehicle/bicycle accident on his commute home from work, a commute he had been doing for two year without a car, to try and make the environment better his daughter.

The Not One More Foundation, focuses on education, legislation, and outreach to make Arizona drivers and cyclists more aware of cycling laws, and the idea of "sharing the road". As their name states, their goal is not complete until Not One More cyclist is hurt or killed while riding their bike due to a road accident.

Link the Lake's goal is to get as many cyclists and cycling groups around the state of Arizona, or even the U.S. to connive upon Tempe Town Lake and literaly create a chain of bikers around the lake to show support for legislative change for cyclist safety. The event this year is also a tribute to Jay Fretz and other cyclists that have fallen this past year, or have been involved in accidents on the road. It will also help raise money and show support for the Fretz family. Angie Fretz and her daughter has shown to be a true beacon of hope, as she battles breast cancer along the loss of her husband. She has been the support of many other people (myself included), while many other people have supported her during this time. The overwhelming support of strangers, and the events like Link the Lake, has given a new faith in humanity, and the human spirit.

If you can attend the event, I urge you too. If you can't please consider a donation to the Not One More Foundation. You can donate at the bottom of the page HERE.

Here is a rundown of events:

We are very excited so many are attending Link the Lake!
BRIEF EVENT OVERVIEW
Riding or driving - Meet at Tempe Beach Park by 8:30
Between 8:30 to 9:00 AM:
* Commemorative Link The Lake T-Shirts will be distributed
...* Contributions will be accepted
* A Banner with signatures of support for Legislation for a special signature wall
* Water & Fruit will be available
9:00 AM Sharp - 15-20 min (Max) a brief Ceremony will Include:
* Intro of new legislation released today by Not One More & Supporting Legislators
* Introduction of Angela Fretz and her family
9:15 cyclists will be dismissed to circle the lake. Upon completing the link (approximately 9:45), Angela Fretz will be on a boat circling the lake and signal cyclists that they can ride home by releasing white homing pigeons. Those who have driven to the Lake with families are welcome to ride on the bike paths to the East dam and back together, but there is no organized ride for this. All cyclists should be careful to obey all traffic laws to and from this event.

the Facebook pages can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143259235692156

and here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153406971363892

 This is truly an amazing event and I hope that everyone in Tempe, and/or Arizona can attend...

 ---Justin J. Stewart

Link the Lake!

We here at Slay Energy Vampires! are now back from a short vacation, and we have a big announcement regarding this website's founded, Jay Fretz.

It has been announced that on December 4, 2010 that the Not One More Foundation, a group that raises bicycle safety awareness in the state of Arizona,  will be sponsoring and organizing a benefit ride for Angie and Anika Fretz. They have posted an open call to all of the bicycle organizations in the state, from the Link The Lake Facebook page:

Not One More Foundation Announces to all Arizona Cycling Teams, Clubs, Community and Friends a special Fundrasing Ride to "Link the Lake" for Jay Fretz. Sat Dec 4th. On May 17, 2010, 36-year-old environmental and bicycle advocate, Jay Fretz, was struck and killed by a vehicle while commuting home from work on his bicycle. Jay was a draftsman for a Tempe architectural firm. He left behind a young wife, Angie, and a 5-year-old daug hter, Anika. Aside from the difficult emotional consequences that encircle this tragedy, meeting the needs of comfort throughout this grieving time has taken the back seat to meeting another life or death need: supporting Angie in all of the ways a human can be supported as she endures chemotherapy for a diagnosis of breast cancer and ultimately, a mastectomy. She was diagnosed the week before Jay was killed. Angie Fretz is without health insurance now that Jay has passed, is self-employed and does not earn an income unless she is working transcribing accident tapes and must raise her daughter alone. She is currently on a leave of absence from her contracted work. The “NOT ONE MORE” Foundation and the cycling community mourns this great loss and is planning a Fund Raiser Event on Sat Dec 4th to help ease Angie’s & Anika’s burdens. This will be a Valley Wide Sat morning ride to Tempe Town Lake for All TEAMS & CLUBS as we join together and “LINK THE LAKE” for JAY FRETZ. Look for details soon here, in Club/Team emails and on flyers in Bike Shops on how to participate and how to donate to help the Fretz family. We hope THOUSANDS OF CYCLISTS will join us to completely “LINK THE LAKE” with our bicycles as a cycling community and say... “NOT ONE MORE” senseless cyclist death in our Valley and State. Sterling Baer & Dara Schulenberg Founders, Not One More Contact Info - 480-641-0755

This provides to be a great opportunity for cyclists to stand in solidarity, for those that bike for commuting, reducing their carbon footprint, or just enjoy biking as a recreational activity. Tempe has now had three bike related deaths in just as many months, and this issue needs to be addressed, especially in a city that prides themselves as a bicyclist community. The Fretz family has shown an amazing amount of strength the past three months, and every little bit of continuing support makes their lives that much easier.

Links of interest relating to Link the Lake:

 Not One More Foundation website

 Not One More Foundation Facebook page

 Red Mountain Brumbys bicycle club

 Link the Lake Facebook even page

Now that we are back, look for more updates and articles! Some future articles include airline recycling, Tempe recycling, Tempe public garden, urban gardening, and an update on my own energy use! Plus, much much more! 

As always, if anyone has any article ideas, or would like to contribute to Slay Energy Vampires! in any way, let us know! Thanks!

--- Justin J. Stewart

We Shall Overcome...his work shall go on

As many of you know, or do not know, the owner and creator of this blog, Jay Fretz, was killed on his bicycle on his commute home from work on May 17th, 2010 at the corner of a Alamada and McClintock in Tempe, Arizona, when a car struck him. At this corner a solemn reminder, a ghostbike, now stands there as a tribute to a great man. He was survived by his wife, Angie; daughter, Anika; brother, Kevin; and his parents John and GayLee; and many more friends and family than Jay knew he had.

During this process we learned how important Jay was to the community and his message of eco-friendliness and that we, as individuals can make the difference, and spread the word to make this Earth a greener world. It was the small things he focused on, things that everyone could do. He gave up his car for commuting, and decided to bike to work to reduce his carbon footprint. He looked at the little things in his house that he could change, or monitor to reduce energy consumption, water consumption, and waste consumption. Most of those things we could all do, and he told us how. He talked to people, participated  in local focus groups, and started this blog, to get his word out and to have people listen.

If you talked with Jay for five minutes, you knew what his passion was, and it was almost contagious. No, it was contagious. You would go home immediately and see what changed you could do. This message needs to live on and spread, from house to house, person to person, business to business. That's where we come in.

My name is Justin J. Stewart. I have known Jay and his family for five years, and in those five years it is the most active in making changes to my lifestyle to help with the environment. To hypermiling my SUV from 16 mpg to 20 mpg in a few short months, to starting and maintaining a recycling program at one store of a Fortune 500 retailer, to organic urban gardening, these were all changes that or activities that I saw important to do, mostly from talking to Jay. I had always been eco-smart, but it wasn't until Jay that I learned to take the next step, and most of those steps were easy ones that every single one of us can do. That is why this blog is going to continue with myself and my wife, Laura Stewart. We want to share with you what you can do at home, or have you share with us what you do at home, so we all can get Jay's message out and be more energy efficient and eco-friendly, and with the events of the past two months, now is the best time to do this.

Our goal for this blog is to continue talking about "Slaying Energy Vampires" and telling you what home tips you can do, and what tech stuff is out there, and what I am doing at home to conserve energy. We also want to hear from you though, we want to know what you are doing, what you are hearing, what works for you. We want this to grow into an organic community where sharing creates knowledge and helps this world. If you have a piece that you have written, or a photo of something you have done, or a tip we should all know, please share with us, and we will share with the world. With each of you, we will go person by person, door by door, and business by business and keep Jay's dream alive. I hope to hear from you soon. I know I will be talking to you soon. Let's do this, with everyone together, we really can make a difference, Jay did.

  R.I.P Jay Curtice Fretz October 3, 1973- May 17, 2010

Recent news links about Jay:

ABC News 15 story about Jay.

Arizona Republic story about ghostbike installations in Tempe, including Jay's.

Wonderful piece by Nancy Puffer in the Plugged In blog for The Arizona Republic.

Jay's Obituary that appeared in The Arizona Republic.

The Jay Fretz Memorial Page.

A great blog remembrance from a friend of Jay's, Jon Hajek.

Like I said, We Shall Overcome, his work shall go on, and we will never forget.

---Justin J. Stewart