I had to delete a thread once when I really didn't have time to write out an explanation for the poster. It sucks but sometimes it happens when you're the only admin on the board and you can't let something stand.
Ideally, a moderator should send a note whenever he feels he needs to delete or edit a post, but it's possible Rich was on his way out when he did it -- IF he did it. Like I keep saying, Terry, don't rule out the possibility that the host server just 'lost' the thread, it wouldn't be the first time. Let's just wait and find out what actually happened before we get too worked up over guesses. Next time Rich is on, I'm sure he'll see the posts here and on the Admin board and let us know whether he deleted your thread or not.