Child dead; low-life scum alive
Bookworm on Jun 03 2009 at 7:56 am | Filed under: Uncategorized
I wrote a few days ago about the terrible tragedy here in Marin County, when a drunk motorcyclist sped through a cross-walk, killing a child and maiming her father. You can get a little more insight into that drunken lowlife here, both in pictures and words. The real shocker is that it appears that, despite his history, he still had a license to drive.
Looking at the picture of the dad and girl, I realize that, while I don’t know them, I’ve seen them. Who knows where? Costco? A soccer field? I don’t know, but they’re familiar faces from a small, and now more damaged, community.
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On the same day that my wife and I saw TV footage of this guy flipping off the courtroom, we read that kidnaper Richard Allen Davis, the man who sparked passage of California’s ‘three strikes” law, has failed in his attempt to get a higher court to overturn his death sentence.
In 1993, Davis kidnaped and murdered a 12-year-old girl named Polly Klass, who was the niece of two of our best friends. When he appeared in court to be tried for the murder, Davis confirmed his low-life status by giving the finger with both hands to Polly’s father after his sentence was handed down.
I don’t know and I don’t even try to understand men who are so debased and so lacking in feeling for other people that they can make such a gesture of contempt in the midst of such solemnity.
I think the definition of of a “psychopath” adequately describes these men’s state of mind.
I just talked to a friend whose child attended the same school Melody did. She told me that the community is devastated and that, at the school, children (boys and girls) just sit in their classes crying. She also told me that, aside from the fact that it is a dangerous intersection, this lowlife was going 70 miles an hour in a 35 mile an hour zone.
As for Polly Klass, I’m not generally a crier, but I cried so hard when I watched her televised funeral, I thought I’d be sick.
There are no words that can describe the slime that inhabits that same space and time with the rest of us. Human litter does not even cover it.
This past week in Philadelphia, a little 11 year old girl was raped so brutally that she is still in the hospital (post surgery). The police had put out the name of a ‘person of interest’ with photo. He was found by a group of neighborhood men. The person of interest in now in the hospital with severe head injuries.
As to the low life in California, even if he did not have a valid driver’s license, he still would be driving. The laws need to be changed to remove any and all vehicles. The license is a piece of paper, the vehicle is the weapon. As in the case described above, the ‘weapon’ needs to be removed – they should have kicked the hell out of his ‘little head’.
Article about an Obama appointment of Kevin Jennings to the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. I’d never heard of him. Now I wish I never had. This is definitely not in the same category as the motorcycle scum, but he’s scum nevertheless…
http://www.thereturnofscipio.com/?p=2089
I find this almost impossible to believe. Not that I don’t – I just am overwhelmed.
Forgive me for the following, since I’m a teetotaler….but I believe our problem is that the people involved in dealing with DUI cases are mostly drinkers.
Imagine the prosecutor who reduces the charges to a misdemeanor, the jury that refuses to convict if a serious charge is brought, the judge who reduces the sentence when a conviction *is* obtained…I refuse to accept that none of these people are motivated by a (possibly subconscious) thought of “what if?” as they think of that time that *they* drove home after one too many drinks at a nice restaurant, or after a few too many beers at the ballpark, etc.
This guy had SIX cases of DUI on his record– why wasn’t he in jail for a year on the first one, five years on the second, and 20 years on the third? Will we ever get serious about what DUI really means? It’s assault with a deadly weapon, folks……it’s not something to laugh off.
Don’t you think this scum would have had a stiff jail sentence if he’d used a gun, rather than a motor vehicle? Yet, which is truly more of a threat to the public at large? Have you seen the number highway deaths for last year….and figured how many of those are due to DUI? Tell me how it compares to the number of people killed by guns…..
This outrage won’t change until responsible people who drink get serious about their responsibilities to the rest of our society, and determine that there WILL be serious penalties for the threat that driving under the influence actually imposes.
Meanwhile, more 9-year olds kids; more 30-something Dads; more grandmothers; more pregnant women; more of all of us….will be dying on the highways and streets of our nation.
Remember, it’s like Nixon going to China — the teetotalers among us can’t do it. It’s going to have to be people who drink, but are prepared to take responsibility for their own actions, and impose serious penalties on those who refuse to do the same.
Interesting point, Earl, because I too am a teetotaler. I will say, though, that the parents in my community, most of whom have children and most of whom like to drink, are rigorous in avoiding drinking and driving situations. I’m very valued at Moms’ Nights out, not just because of my sparkling personality, but because of the fact that a combine a big car with total sobriety.
I think your story reinforces my point, BW.
I’m betting that Moms like the ones you describe were among the jurors who were “understanding” each time our “six-DUI” creep appeared for judgment….and the leniency he got was because their imaginations were good enough to tell them what MIGHT have happened on one of those occasions when you weren’t along to drive them home…..
No one sees themself as an evil person, and no one wants to risk going to jail for what they consider a “slip-up”. It is that that inhibits their willingness to hold another person responsible for what they can view as a similar action…. After all, it’s not the same jurors making the judgment each time this freak appeared in court, and I’m betting that information about his prior record was barred from the proceedings, so letting him off each time he was in court didn’t seem so terrible. It’s the cumulative effect that’s killing us.
It’s likely that a most drinkers really are responsible about their driving, and combining those folks with those of us who don’t drink, we ought to be able to put people who offend in this way somewhere they won’t threaten us the way they do. But, we don’t do it…..why?
Maybe no one you know is in the group I’m talking about….but it’s still happening…..and, to be honest, the rest of us are going along. Why? Because it’s easier than getting active….because most of us don’t know one of the 20,000 to 25,000 people annually killed by drunk drivers….because we are likely to be attacked and called names if we start agitating for serious penalties….because…..
You tell ME why we don’t actually *apply* even the insufficient penalties currently in place, not to speak of more draconian ones that are consistent with the mayhem caused by this crime….Why don’t we?
Warning labels on plastic, on cigarettes, on every conceivable item you can purchase.
NOT ANY on a bottle of wine, beer, or alcohol. Not that this would stop anyone from drinking the liquid but a warning that says:
If the contents of any container and driver are found together in a vehicle (and as Earl suggested):
“first one, five years on the second, and 20 years on the third”
Oh, no juries after the first offense, just a judge who hands down the sentence.
I just talked to a friend whose child attended the same school Melody did. She told me that the community is devastated and that, at the school, children (boys and girls) just sit in their classes crying.
When I was in elementary school a friend was killed in a gun accident with his older brother. There was no crying in our classrooms, nor discussion of his death. It was a different generation, a different era. Stiff upper lip and muddle through, old chap.
I do recognize that I, for one ,would have been better off had there been some discussion of it. Acknowledged or not , the devastation was there.
Good suggestion, Sadie….I like the label idea. But, it would have to mean something.
My Dad used to tell about one of the Scandinavian countries where there simply was NO problem with drunk driving — virtually EVERY group chose a designated driver, because a DUI cost you your license for a year for the *first* offense, and it was mandatory.
Driving without a license during that year, or a second offense afterward meant loss of the vehicle and a year in jail. Penalties escalated and there was no way to ameliorate them – do the crime and do the time.
We could save a LOT of lives….for the price of a small amount of inconvenience. Why don’t we?
P.S. Details of Dad’s story may not be correct, because my memory isn’t nearly as good as his was.
Not to worry Earl, about your memory. You may have more to remember than you Dad did.
I have no idea as to why legislation has not been done. It’s certainly been done with cell phones and driving at the same time. It will probably have to start as a ‘grass roots’ push, then shove, then start shoving with an elbow.
Maybe, there are more ‘drinkers’ in DC than smokers and therefore the lack of will. The stats have been at the same level for many years on drunk drivers.
It’s weird….alcohol has a privileged status these days, and not just in the judiciary.
My church was very big in Prohibition, and still requires teetotalism along with no smoking. Yet, our medical people (we’re also very big in health care of all kinds), pastors, and others have LOTS to say about smoking, including lobbying government to limit it in various ways – taxes, bans, etc. – but, when it comes to alcohol, the story is entirely different – nothing much.
There is one doc at the medical school who dug around in the literature and came up with plenty to show that all of this stuff about ethyl alcohol being associated with longer life is a crock – terminally (embarrassingly) flawed studies are the only ones cited – but otherwise nothing much.
I guess it’s just cultural – I remember (was it?) the ’70s, when cocaine was common and virtually accepted, although illegal. I mean, jokes, music, movies, etc……despite the negative effects personally and societally. Now it’s completely different, and one could never get away with what was common back then.
When I was a kid, there was MUCH more negativity about DUI than now in the general culture, and certainly in my church. Today, members on the left coast are moving rapidly toward eliminating (not officially) the proscription on beverage alcohol (citing, by the way, the junk science saying that it’s really healthier to drink moderately than to abstain). It parallels what I see in society generally – BIG emphasis on smoking, which is really a rather more benign vice, and nothing but approval for alcohol, which exacts such a toll on many individuals, including innocent bystanders, plus the costs to society.
Puzzling. I am also noticing that this thread isn’t attracting a lot of action……
“I guess it’s just cultural”
I think you hit the nail on the head.
I grew up in a neighborhood without bars or drinkers.
The only place I ever saw anyone drink was at a wedding or Bar Mitzvah and even then it was moderate drinking. The only drinking we did at home was wine during Passover.
I am not a teetotaler, but the state controlled liquor stores would go out of business if they depended upon my meager purchases to keep them in business.
The ‘Cheech and Chong’ years have come and gone and hopefully, so will all the junk science. Maybe if they place a carbon footprint on booze……?
For what its worth, from a bottle of wine in my fridge:
GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the surgeon general, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.
From a Sutter Home wine.
I don’t know and I don’t even try to understand men who are so debased and so lacking in feeling for other people that they can make such a gesture of contempt in the midst of such solemnity.
That’s because they know that they have no need to fear punishment, true punishment. They know that those like me who would willingly and gladly dish stuff out, are shackled by certain restrictions that they are not under.
They know this and they feel comfort in it. They are protected from the law, by the law, with the law. First Amendment rights, after all.