Witnesses to history

MONROE-Earlier this month, Richard and Karen Sharp of Monroe simply planned to meet to extend an European visit with their son Dan by stopping in Rome to see the Roman ruins and then the Vatican. Their plans changed when Pope John Paul II died. Richard Sharp, who's been to the original Woodstock gathering as well as the Million Man March, said those gatherings paled in comparison to the crowds who came to St. Peter's Square. His account of the days immediately following the pope's death appears on page 10.