Less anyone think the SLTrib forgot to dance in the blood of innocent victims
and stupid, reckless, law breaking young people, notice how Holly Mullen
compares innocent children playing in their own driveway, to law breaking
adolescents who rummage through a neighbor's car or somehow get ahold of
firearms that are illegal to own without federal permits. She also draws a
subtle parallel between a drunk/impaired driver who mows down children in their
own yard and a law abiding gun owner who legally keeps a weapon in his car.
Maybe he should have locked his car "so that a good boy won't go bad," to quote
the failed ad campaign of yesteryear on the very topic of locking one's car.
Again, letters can be sent to <letters@s...> or <hmullen@s...> and
for those who do not belong to the NRA, be sure to mention that.
Charles
==================
Charles Hardy
<http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09282003/utah/96642.asp>
Mullen: 'Accident' is a curious word
by Holly Mullen
Salt Lake Tribune Columnist
September slips away this week, burnished and golden, and as a notably
tragic month for Utah children.
Four kids died in the past three weeks, all victims of high-profile,
violent incidents. Notice, I did not say "accidents." More in a moment.
These deaths got front-page press and prime-time broadcast. They stood out
in their senselessness.
On Sept. 18, Jorge Almeida-Robles, 9, and his sister Yanira Robles, 4, were
killed while playing in their Taylorsville driveway with their 6-year-old
brother, Christopher. Michael Joseph Whitton,19, drove his Buick across the
median at 1300 West and slammed into the three children, killing Yanira and
Jorge instantly. Christopher, though badly injured, is expected to recover.
A toxicology report allegedly revealed a cocktail of marijuana,
methamphetamine and opiates in Whitton's bloodstream. He is charged with two
counts of criminal homicide, driving under the influence and failure to stop at
the scene of an accident.
Two other children died, a 12-year-old (whose name police did not release)
from South Jordan on Sept. 9 and Caleb Herrera, 14, at his Salt Lake home on
Sept. 19. Both boys had been hanging with friends. Both had found handguns.
Both died of gunshot wounds -- Herrera's apparently was accidentally
self-inflicted, and the 12-year-old was shot accidentally in the head by his
friend.
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<ilayer></ilayer><layer> </layer>
Accidents, all of them. Police officially call them that. Reporters and
editors refer to them as that. Accidents.
Curious word, "accident." It carries the element of unintentional behavior,
of something that no one planned, an event that was never meant to occur. You
slip, accidentally, on icy pavement. You leave the coffee pot on, accidentally,
and go to work.
Certainly, no one intended these tragedies to happen. When Michael Joseph
Whitton allegedly stuffed his system with drugs last week, he only meant to
drive somewhere. Three siblings were playing in their driveway, just like any
of 100 other days. With Whitton at the wheel, his car was a deadly missile.
Likewise, police described the two gunshot deaths as accidents. In South
Jordan, the 12-year-old victim and his 14-year-old buddy were cleaning a
neighbor's garage, when the 14-year-old found a .40-caliber handgun under the
front seat of the homeowner's car.
The weapon discharged, hitting the 12-year-old in the head. He died early
the next morning.
The gun was inside the man's vehicle, in his garage, on his private
property. And before the NRA e-mail tree cranks up, I know that no laws were
broken.
As for failure to behave like a responsible gunowner? No law against that,
either. An adult stored a gun, with its clip, under a car seat, in a suburban,
kid-packed neighborhood.
No, he did not mean for this to happen. Keeping a gun is his right. Now, he
might have taken advantage of a trigger lock. He might have even kept the clip
in the glove box, far enough away from the gun, perhaps, to give the boys pause.
Instead, there was an accident.
The neighbors said that. "It's just really sad," one told The Salt Lake
Tribune. "It's just a tragic accident," said another.
As for Caleb Herrera, who was buried on Thursday, police are still trying
to determine where he and his pal got two handguns and two sawed-off shotguns
the day they cut class from Salt Lake's Northwest Intermediate School. They
only know the weapons were stolen from somewhere in Utah.
Sawed-off shotguns. Illegal to own, but there they were -- readily
available, handy, enticing. Their only purpose is to kill. And they did.
Accidentally, of course.
hmullen@s...
and stupid, reckless, law breaking young people, notice how Holly Mullen
compares innocent children playing in their own driveway, to law breaking
adolescents who rummage through a neighbor's car or somehow get ahold of
firearms that are illegal to own without federal permits. She also draws a
subtle parallel between a drunk/impaired driver who mows down children in their
own yard and a law abiding gun owner who legally keeps a weapon in his car.
Maybe he should have locked his car "so that a good boy won't go bad," to quote
the failed ad campaign of yesteryear on the very topic of locking one's car.
Again, letters can be sent to <letters@s...> or <hmullen@s...> and
for those who do not belong to the NRA, be sure to mention that.
Charles
==================
Charles Hardy
<http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09282003/utah/96642.asp>
Mullen: 'Accident' is a curious word
by Holly Mullen
Salt Lake Tribune Columnist
September slips away this week, burnished and golden, and as a notably
tragic month for Utah children.
Four kids died in the past three weeks, all victims of high-profile,
violent incidents. Notice, I did not say "accidents." More in a moment.
These deaths got front-page press and prime-time broadcast. They stood out
in their senselessness.
On Sept. 18, Jorge Almeida-Robles, 9, and his sister Yanira Robles, 4, were
killed while playing in their Taylorsville driveway with their 6-year-old
brother, Christopher. Michael Joseph Whitton,19, drove his Buick across the
median at 1300 West and slammed into the three children, killing Yanira and
Jorge instantly. Christopher, though badly injured, is expected to recover.
A toxicology report allegedly revealed a cocktail of marijuana,
methamphetamine and opiates in Whitton's bloodstream. He is charged with two
counts of criminal homicide, driving under the influence and failure to stop at
the scene of an accident.
Two other children died, a 12-year-old (whose name police did not release)
from South Jordan on Sept. 9 and Caleb Herrera, 14, at his Salt Lake home on
Sept. 19. Both boys had been hanging with friends. Both had found handguns.
Both died of gunshot wounds -- Herrera's apparently was accidentally
self-inflicted, and the 12-year-old was shot accidentally in the head by his
friend.
Advertisement
<ilayer></ilayer><layer> </layer>
Accidents, all of them. Police officially call them that. Reporters and
editors refer to them as that. Accidents.
Curious word, "accident." It carries the element of unintentional behavior,
of something that no one planned, an event that was never meant to occur. You
slip, accidentally, on icy pavement. You leave the coffee pot on, accidentally,
and go to work.
Certainly, no one intended these tragedies to happen. When Michael Joseph
Whitton allegedly stuffed his system with drugs last week, he only meant to
drive somewhere. Three siblings were playing in their driveway, just like any
of 100 other days. With Whitton at the wheel, his car was a deadly missile.
Likewise, police described the two gunshot deaths as accidents. In South
Jordan, the 12-year-old victim and his 14-year-old buddy were cleaning a
neighbor's garage, when the 14-year-old found a .40-caliber handgun under the
front seat of the homeowner's car.
The weapon discharged, hitting the 12-year-old in the head. He died early
the next morning.
The gun was inside the man's vehicle, in his garage, on his private
property. And before the NRA e-mail tree cranks up, I know that no laws were
broken.
As for failure to behave like a responsible gunowner? No law against that,
either. An adult stored a gun, with its clip, under a car seat, in a suburban,
kid-packed neighborhood.
No, he did not mean for this to happen. Keeping a gun is his right. Now, he
might have taken advantage of a trigger lock. He might have even kept the clip
in the glove box, far enough away from the gun, perhaps, to give the boys pause.
Instead, there was an accident.
The neighbors said that. "It's just really sad," one told The Salt Lake
Tribune. "It's just a tragic accident," said another.
As for Caleb Herrera, who was buried on Thursday, police are still trying
to determine where he and his pal got two handguns and two sawed-off shotguns
the day they cut class from Salt Lake's Northwest Intermediate School. They
only know the weapons were stolen from somewhere in Utah.
Sawed-off shotguns. Illegal to own, but there they were -- readily
available, handy, enticing. Their only purpose is to kill. And they did.
Accidentally, of course.
hmullen@s...
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