DM5KILLA
01-17-2008, 11:18 AM
For release – 1/17/08
Our Fellow Paintball Players,
There has been a great deal of speculation and interest on PBJ lately concerning the unusual OPN avatar that some members have sported in their headers and signatures. We’re going to give you some information about OPN in this writing.
http://pbjunkie.com/uploads/gfgjester/nerf-avatar.jpg
More importantly, we’re going to introduce you to someone that many of you already know. He’s been a fixture in paintball as a member of the GA based, Blackhearts Scenario Team for many years as a tanker. Woe to the player or opposing tank driver who underestimated Mark “Wheels” Anderson.
Back in October of last year, Mark had surgeries for gastrointestinal problems. The majority of his medical bills were paid by limited coverage insurance. But, with a percentage based co-payment, he and his family were hard pressed to cover that difference.
The following paragraph is something GFG Jester wrote as a sidebar to a submission that went to one of the major paintball magazines. (Those that know Jes know that he is an established and experienced paintball journalist and photographer.) This section shows how paintball players stepped up to the plate for “Wheels”.
http://www.pbjunkie.com/gallery/data/508/medium/dsc03421.jpg (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:;)
I never fail to see paintball players come to the call when another player is in need. At the October 19-21 MPP Game, Iwo Jima, at Bear Claw Paintball, a raffle was held for a very special player. Mark “Wheels” Anderson is a member of the Blackhearts Scenario team. Paralyzed since 1977, he has been a member of the Blackhearts for a long time. I’ll let his brother, Mike “Castro” Anderson describe Wheels.
“Let me tell you a little bit about Mark. He broke his neck on Easter Sunday, 1977 when he was 23 years old. He is now 52, and a self taught computer geek. One thing you will learn real quick is, don't ever tell him he can't do something. If he does not find a way, one of us will. A very big NASCAR fan in the 80's, he was a corner judge for the Camel GT at Road Atlanta. At his second Bear Claw game he got the first barrel tag by a tank! (This was covered by a reporter from the Paintball Channel.) He was the first Blackheart Tanker. When he played, two things you could all way count on; 1) you were going to get hit. It did not matter what side you were on. If you were in front of him you were in the way; and 2) wherever Wheels was, Peaches was right there. They made up the most unbelievable team around. He also was the first tanker/tank to play Speedball. Needless to say, he
cleared the field of both teams”.
Back to the raffle; Wheels has to have another operation. The proceeds from the raffle were to help defray Wheels’ medical expenses. The items raffled were two Tactmark markers & packages donated by Blackhearts members, Castro and Bobio. As it is one of the most realistic looking and well made Mil-Sim guns, lots of tickets were purchased to take a chance at securing one of the Tactmarks. At the end of the game the drawing was held and some lucky players went away with some very cool markers. But that was not the important thing. The clincher was that paintball players were responsible for $1500.00 being added to the account to help out Wheels! Outstanding! And the mysterious OPN player organization brought in another $160.00 for the Wheels account on Friday night while meeting in the darkened shadows of the Schoolhouse. And to really tip the scales to incredible, “Godmother”, the winner of the raffle, returned her marker to Mike for it to be placed on E-Bay and sold at auction with the proceeds further benefiting Wheels.
Castro also informed me that Wheels, in a wonderful act of unselfishness, has given his tank shell and his marker to Robert “Biscuit” Wood, an eighteen year-old paraplegic player so he can enjoy the game like Wheels did for so long. This is a permanent thing for Wheels. He can no longer play or even attend paintball games. He needs all the help he can get. If you would like to help, you can contribute through the wonderful people at Bear Claw. They have set up a spot in their online store where you can donate to help out Wheels. Any amount will help the efforts. Go to www.bearclawpaintball.com (http://www.bearclawpaintball.com/) and the Store. Wheels and everyone involved in this endeavor will be extremely grateful and you’ll be a better person for it. Remember how Karma works! (The Bear Claw store link is not active at this time. We are working on another.)
Now, as we promised, the OPN. The OPN is a group of paintball players who came together some time ago with the purpose of helping those young players who wanted to play paintball, but were unable to afford the basic starting equipment. The letters OPN stand for Organization of Paintball Neighbors and originated from a half-goof about being good neighbors between a few of the members. The OPN has been an anonymous organization and its members request that we remain as such. This is really not about the OPN, though; it’s about Mark. “Wheels” was inducted as an honorary member back in October. As a writer, Jes was appointed to compose this press release.
Now we go to the important things. As Mark is a member of the OPN, we have decided to go forward to our brother paintball players and ask for your help. His bills, for the last three surgeries, were in excess of $133,000.00. While insurance covers a good part of that, you can do the math on just a 5% co-payment. He and his family have a big hill to climb.
This past weekend, Mark was taken in for another emergency surgery. He has made it out of ICU into CCU, but that only means he can cut up just a little bit more. Unfortunately, it also means more expenses.
We have already decided to use donated and purchased merchandise that we have set aside for our new player program in some type of auction or sale to benefit Mark. There are other members who have pledged additional merchandise to what we are doing. What do we need from anyone in paintball that wants to help?
If you can donate gear that we can auction for the proceeds, this would help. If you can donate money, this would help. “GFG Jester”, as the Executive Officer of the Hired Gunz Scenario Team, challenges his Brother teams across the country to make a donation to this most worthy cause. Tankers! Most all of you know Wheels. Here’s your challenge. Scenario players are some of the most industrious paintballers in the sport. See what you can do to help out a fellow player. Organize one game that has an extra couple of bucks tagged on for a donation. Shops, fields, manufacturers, distributors - if you would like to pitch in we would be grateful.
Anything is appreciated greatly. We know how hard things are out there right now. That makes it mean that much more to us and to Mark.
We are in the process of setting up a dedicated account for monetary donations. We’re also working on a Pay Pal account that can be used for “Wheels” benefit. As soon as we get the bank information we will post it so any donations can be sent in directly. Any information that we get will be updated in this thread on PB Junkie.
Thank you all in advance from the OPN. We don’t think we’re far off in saying thank you for “Wheels”, either.
(Note: Our liaison will be Jes “GFGJester” Sharai. PM gfgjester or jester@gunfighterpaintball.com (jester@gunfighterpaintball.com))
At least keep "wheels" in your thoughts and prayers
Our Fellow Paintball Players,
There has been a great deal of speculation and interest on PBJ lately concerning the unusual OPN avatar that some members have sported in their headers and signatures. We’re going to give you some information about OPN in this writing.
http://pbjunkie.com/uploads/gfgjester/nerf-avatar.jpg
More importantly, we’re going to introduce you to someone that many of you already know. He’s been a fixture in paintball as a member of the GA based, Blackhearts Scenario Team for many years as a tanker. Woe to the player or opposing tank driver who underestimated Mark “Wheels” Anderson.
Back in October of last year, Mark had surgeries for gastrointestinal problems. The majority of his medical bills were paid by limited coverage insurance. But, with a percentage based co-payment, he and his family were hard pressed to cover that difference.
The following paragraph is something GFG Jester wrote as a sidebar to a submission that went to one of the major paintball magazines. (Those that know Jes know that he is an established and experienced paintball journalist and photographer.) This section shows how paintball players stepped up to the plate for “Wheels”.
http://www.pbjunkie.com/gallery/data/508/medium/dsc03421.jpg (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:;)
I never fail to see paintball players come to the call when another player is in need. At the October 19-21 MPP Game, Iwo Jima, at Bear Claw Paintball, a raffle was held for a very special player. Mark “Wheels” Anderson is a member of the Blackhearts Scenario team. Paralyzed since 1977, he has been a member of the Blackhearts for a long time. I’ll let his brother, Mike “Castro” Anderson describe Wheels.
“Let me tell you a little bit about Mark. He broke his neck on Easter Sunday, 1977 when he was 23 years old. He is now 52, and a self taught computer geek. One thing you will learn real quick is, don't ever tell him he can't do something. If he does not find a way, one of us will. A very big NASCAR fan in the 80's, he was a corner judge for the Camel GT at Road Atlanta. At his second Bear Claw game he got the first barrel tag by a tank! (This was covered by a reporter from the Paintball Channel.) He was the first Blackheart Tanker. When he played, two things you could all way count on; 1) you were going to get hit. It did not matter what side you were on. If you were in front of him you were in the way; and 2) wherever Wheels was, Peaches was right there. They made up the most unbelievable team around. He also was the first tanker/tank to play Speedball. Needless to say, he
cleared the field of both teams”.
Back to the raffle; Wheels has to have another operation. The proceeds from the raffle were to help defray Wheels’ medical expenses. The items raffled were two Tactmark markers & packages donated by Blackhearts members, Castro and Bobio. As it is one of the most realistic looking and well made Mil-Sim guns, lots of tickets were purchased to take a chance at securing one of the Tactmarks. At the end of the game the drawing was held and some lucky players went away with some very cool markers. But that was not the important thing. The clincher was that paintball players were responsible for $1500.00 being added to the account to help out Wheels! Outstanding! And the mysterious OPN player organization brought in another $160.00 for the Wheels account on Friday night while meeting in the darkened shadows of the Schoolhouse. And to really tip the scales to incredible, “Godmother”, the winner of the raffle, returned her marker to Mike for it to be placed on E-Bay and sold at auction with the proceeds further benefiting Wheels.
Castro also informed me that Wheels, in a wonderful act of unselfishness, has given his tank shell and his marker to Robert “Biscuit” Wood, an eighteen year-old paraplegic player so he can enjoy the game like Wheels did for so long. This is a permanent thing for Wheels. He can no longer play or even attend paintball games. He needs all the help he can get. If you would like to help, you can contribute through the wonderful people at Bear Claw. They have set up a spot in their online store where you can donate to help out Wheels. Any amount will help the efforts. Go to www.bearclawpaintball.com (http://www.bearclawpaintball.com/) and the Store. Wheels and everyone involved in this endeavor will be extremely grateful and you’ll be a better person for it. Remember how Karma works! (The Bear Claw store link is not active at this time. We are working on another.)
Now, as we promised, the OPN. The OPN is a group of paintball players who came together some time ago with the purpose of helping those young players who wanted to play paintball, but were unable to afford the basic starting equipment. The letters OPN stand for Organization of Paintball Neighbors and originated from a half-goof about being good neighbors between a few of the members. The OPN has been an anonymous organization and its members request that we remain as such. This is really not about the OPN, though; it’s about Mark. “Wheels” was inducted as an honorary member back in October. As a writer, Jes was appointed to compose this press release.
Now we go to the important things. As Mark is a member of the OPN, we have decided to go forward to our brother paintball players and ask for your help. His bills, for the last three surgeries, were in excess of $133,000.00. While insurance covers a good part of that, you can do the math on just a 5% co-payment. He and his family have a big hill to climb.
This past weekend, Mark was taken in for another emergency surgery. He has made it out of ICU into CCU, but that only means he can cut up just a little bit more. Unfortunately, it also means more expenses.
We have already decided to use donated and purchased merchandise that we have set aside for our new player program in some type of auction or sale to benefit Mark. There are other members who have pledged additional merchandise to what we are doing. What do we need from anyone in paintball that wants to help?
If you can donate gear that we can auction for the proceeds, this would help. If you can donate money, this would help. “GFG Jester”, as the Executive Officer of the Hired Gunz Scenario Team, challenges his Brother teams across the country to make a donation to this most worthy cause. Tankers! Most all of you know Wheels. Here’s your challenge. Scenario players are some of the most industrious paintballers in the sport. See what you can do to help out a fellow player. Organize one game that has an extra couple of bucks tagged on for a donation. Shops, fields, manufacturers, distributors - if you would like to pitch in we would be grateful.
Anything is appreciated greatly. We know how hard things are out there right now. That makes it mean that much more to us and to Mark.
We are in the process of setting up a dedicated account for monetary donations. We’re also working on a Pay Pal account that can be used for “Wheels” benefit. As soon as we get the bank information we will post it so any donations can be sent in directly. Any information that we get will be updated in this thread on PB Junkie.
Thank you all in advance from the OPN. We don’t think we’re far off in saying thank you for “Wheels”, either.
(Note: Our liaison will be Jes “GFGJester” Sharai. PM gfgjester or jester@gunfighterpaintball.com (jester@gunfighterpaintball.com))
At least keep "wheels" in your thoughts and prayers