Monday 17 December 2012

Do we deserve whatever protection is necessary to prevent each of us from becoming a victim of crime?





Dear Readers,

You have been hearing alot about this crime and you will be hearing so much more as this investigation concludes so out of respect for the victims, I am providing an article verbatim by Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun followed by a list of the victims as well as my response.....and leaving space for your comment below, as usual but please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent!
Boys file into the Honan Funeral Home, where the family of six-year-old Jack Pinto was holding his     funeral service, in Newtown, Connecticut December 17, 2012. Pinto was one of 20 schoolchildren killed in the December 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown. REUTERS/Mike Segar




School Children file out under Police escort


NEWTOWN, CT - The hearse pulled out of the Honan Funeral home to absolute quiet in a shaken town.
That was funeral number one. Jack Pinto was just six when he was gunned down Friday in the outrageous attack on the Sandy Hook Elementary School. He was a little athlete who loved his family, laughed and enjoyed every minute.

His hero was New York Giants’ star receiver Victor Cruz, who paid tribute to him during Sunday’s game.
Funeral two took place 20 minutes down the road about 20 minutes later. Another six-year old, Noah Pozner, was also gunned down in the same massacre. “He and his family are wonderful,” said friend Tami Corsi, 17. “This is so sad.”

Jack and Noah should have been in school Monday with all of their friends — those dead and those still alive. Both had their whole futures ahead of them. Instead, they had their funerals.
A reminder of that was seeing all of their classmates coming to the funeral home with their parents hugging and holding them.

Many of the kids looked as though they are in a state of shock and disbelief. There will be plenty of work needed here in the months and years ahead. The scars of last Friday left by Adam Lanza will never go away. He left a town devastated.

It’s not over — there are 24 more funerals like these to go.

Reminders of what has transpired are everywhere. There is not just one tribute but dozens — from angels on the side of the road to signs on the bridge to the giant Christmas tree that has become a memorial site.
It’s not unusual to see people walking down the street crying or being consoled. Many times it’s children.
The town is too pretty to be hell on earth. But hell is about the only word to describe the horrors here.

Whatever it is, it’s all too much for Jim Bradley, who has seen pain before. He served three years in Vietnam, from 1968 to 1971. “This is worse,” he said. “Way worse.” He returned to the U.S. and went into business and has called Newtown home ever since.

The bad news is it means he knows just about everybody here. “We will never be the same,” he said.
And in his own family, there is some serious grieving. “My granddaughter goes to Sandy Hook and my daughter works there as a teacher.”

Both came home Friday. He was one of the lucky dads and granddads who can say that. But, he said, it is not a consolation. “We hurt for them all.” Hurting is what is happening here now. Healing is a long way off, if ever.

The police will do their investigation and perhaps one day there will be some sense made of how somebody could do something so evil. Talk of having an intelligent conversation nationally about the availability of military style weaponry and ammunition, the mental health issue and today’s social media and gaming will have to wait.

In Newtown, there is grieving to do first.



                                    Handout photos from various memorial websites show the 
                                    victims of the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School 
                                                        shootings in Newton, Connecticut. 

While Americans and Canadians are still in shocked disbelief, Connecticut State Police released the identities of the twenty children and six educators murdered at a suburban elementary school in Newtown last Friday morning. The state’s chief medical examiner also confirmed that the killer's mother, the first victim was shot dead by her son in a related incident. The gunman took his own life at the school, despite having additional weapons and more than enough ammunition remaining.

Those killed at the school were twelve girls, eight boys and six female educators:

CHILDREN
Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female (age 6)
Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male (age 7)
Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female (age 6)
Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female (age 7)
Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female (age 6)
Dylan Hockley, 03/08/06, male (age 6)
Madeleine F. Hsu, 07/10/06, female (age 6)
Catherine V. Hubbard, 06/08/06, female (age 6)
Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male (age 7)
Jesse Lewis, 06/30/06, male (age 6)
James Mattioli, 03/22/06, male (age 6)
Grace McDonnell, 11/04/05, female (age 7)
Emilie Parker, 05/12/06, female (age 6)
Jack Pinto, 05/06/06, male (age 6)
Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male (age 6)
Caroline Previdi, 09/07/06, female (age 6)
Jessica Rekos, 05/10/06, female (age 6)
Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female (age 6)
Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male (age 6)
Allison N. Wyatt, 07/03/06, female (age 6)

EDUCATORS
Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female (age 29)
Dawn Hocksprung, 06/28/65, female (age 47)
Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female (age 52)
Lauren Rousseau, 1982, female (age 29)
Mary Sherlach, 02/11/56, female (age 56)
Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female (27)



                                                     A mother keeping her son close!

As senseless as this crime was, it has been reported that the day after the Friday carnage in Connecticut, many Americans, particularly in Colorado tried to buy a gun. Director Ronald Sloan said the Colorado Bureau of Investigation received 4,154 requests for background checks from potential buyers on Saturday. That was so many the CBI couldn’t process them all and the backlog grew to nearly 18 hours. The Unit could only process 3,001 checks on Saturday and extra staff was brought in over the weekend and workers are still trying to clear the backlog. Is this scenario playing out across America...and Canada? I'll keep a watch on this!

Much attention has been focused on families of the mentally ill, and the doctors who treat them who say they hope that Friday's tragedy in Newtown, Conn., will refocus the nation's attention on improving mental health services. Police have not yet released details about the motives or mental state of shooter Adam Lanza. But the perpetrators of similar mass murders at Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and a Tucson gathering for Rep. Gabby Giffords, for example all suffered from serious mental health conditions.

                                                 Will visitors welcome be a thing of the past?

"We wait for things like this to happen and then everyone talks about mental health," says Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, an associate professor of psychology in the psychiatry department at Georgetown University Medical Center. "But they quickly forget."

There are hundreds of multiple-casualty shootings every year, says forensic psychologist Dewey Cornell, director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project. People have become so desensitized to the horror, however, that they pay no attention, adding to the fears of those who feel forced to carry their own protection.

                                                                  Shocked disbelief!

Hopefully, the killing of so many of those still with their baby teeth will have a deeper effect and will not be soon forgotten, as suggested by the psychologists! In Newtown, where the funeral of six-year-old Jack Pinto was held yesterday, as was the service for six-year-old Noah Pozner in nearby Fairfield, mourners filled the walk leading to the funeral home. Standing under umbrellas, clutching children’s hands, they waited patiently to enter the small three-storey building. Some wore green and white ribbons; Sandy Hook Elementary School’s colours.

One of the mourners was Jack Wellman, an eighth grader, who served as an unofficial coach to a group of younger wrestlers, including Jack Pinto. Jack was dedicated and disciplined, always giving the sport his all, the older boy said. “I can’t say a bad thing about him,” he added before starting to cry. His mother, Caren Wellman, said there were no words to describe the scene inside the funeral home. “It’s a nightmare we’re not waking up from,” she said. It was also reported that at a wake, they wouldn't even let the parents of 7 year old Grace McDonnell open up her casket to say a final goodbye to their daughter!

School boards are now talking about armed guards, increased Police patrols, two sets of steel doors with small panes of shatter-proof glass at each entrance as well as arming the teachers. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that arming pilots was revolutionary! USA Today reports that 1 in 10 is now armed and that number is growing. Hopefully, the President won't end the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program any time soon!

Whatever the solution, and wherever the location, the fact remains that we are all at risk; no matter if it's folks at work or children in school, and we deserve whatever protection is necessary to prevent each of us from becoming a victim of crime!

                                     -30-

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