Private Message

Remember that night, just over a year ago, when you saw the drunk eighteen year old, driving, but failed to call the cops on him? You thought you were doing him a favor, didn't you? You know who you are, Northeast Kansas female who works at a care home! You thought that, although this young person thumbs his nose at our laws pretty much all the time, he is somehow special, and should not face the same accountability for his guilt that others should face, even others who are not guilty of any crime. So instead of copying his plate number and duly giving it to law enforcement, you followed him, to make sure he got home safely. You didn't give a tinker's damn about anyone else's safety, particularly any victim he might have. You only cared about the one who violates the law.

Later, that same year, he got into an auto wreck. He was drunk; his mother went about several different towns, going out of her way to inform anyone who would listen that her boy was not drunk, only for the next day's newspaper to announce charges for drunk driving in that accident. His victims, as fate would have it, were his close friends. How about that? All of them suffered very serious injuries, and if you had made the call, when you first noticed his drunk ass driving around, it might not have had to happen. You arranged for legal favor for someone just because you felt that favor should be granted to the filth you love, even if such favor is dangerous and undeserved. How do you sleep at night?

I don't care how "close knit" you find your town. Would an untimely funeral have made it more "close knit"? Is perversion of justice worth it?

Updated Poster For Colton Barrera

Another glaring example of inaction by Kansas authorities. This information was never terribly publicized in 2008, when Colton Barrera disappeared, because police thought he had run away from home. A serious problem with that logic, and with the ineffective police work that accompanies it, is that it does not matter whether a missing child has run away from home, or disappeared by some other means; a missing child is in danger either way. With each passing hour, opportunities to find Colton alive were lost in 2008, and with each passing year, chances of finding him at all grow slimmer. Meanwhile, folks in Russell who know what happened continue to excuse violence and protect criminals, never caring about the law.

Private Message

I really don't know who the hell you think you are, or why you, personally, feel that the same laws that apply to everyone else do not apply to you, but quite a few people in your neck of the woods seem to have an unfounded notion that as long as the isolated community agrees with your special crime, there should be no consequences! To which I respond: if you can't do the time, don't do the crime!

What the hell were you hiding, or trying to prevent? Just because of the support, in the form of enabling. you seem to attract, I'm pretty sure something is rotten in the State of Denmark, so to speak. Why don't you and your ilk manage your lives legally, from now on, like those of us who do not hail from this area, and stop using unlawful means of manipulating information? Because of the geographic location of a few of your "friends", perhaps federal attention should be given to all this!

Convenient Time To Talk About Drunk Driving

 

Above is a comment posted by yours truly at WIBW beneath a story about an auto wreck near Frankfort, Kansas that involved alcohol. The fact that alcohol was a factor curiously did not appear in the story, but because Frankfort Kansas is such a "closeknit" community, (description borrowed from the author of the adversarial response) your faithful blogger was made aware, along with, probably, everyone else within a fifty mile radius, of the fact that alcohol was involved. So....since four young people, three of whom still attend Frankfort High School and one graduate, still under twenty-one, nearly got themselves killed while unlawfully combining substance abuse with the use of everyone's roads and highways, how is it that no one here in Northeast Kansas is talking about substance abuse among minors?

The three high school students mentioned represent at least five percent of Frankfort's high school students. Two of them are, or were, seniors. (is the principal still collecting enrollment dollars for these children, even though they obviously cannot attend school at the moment? Seems the dollar mill should be shut down for the moment, here) Since the senior class at Frankfort is not very big, this represents about fifteen percent of the graduating class at Frankfort. Of the remaining children who have either not been arrested yet or were not involved in this incident, there is only one child in attendance at Frankfort High School who does not drink, bringing the percentage of the students who drink up to about ninety-nine percent. These totals are a bit high, and compare unfavorably to the rest of the nation, where this kind of stuff runs an average of about seventeen percent of high school students who abuse drugs and alcohol daily. In a place with smaller numbers of students, one incident can bring per capita percentages up in ways that make statistics reflect awkwardly on the population. The lone student who does not drink usually serves as a designated driver, despite the fact that the law prohibits this type of enabling and prohibits alcohol and drug use by any child on probation, which is the unfortunate circumstance of one of the children in the accident.

That is the response left by someone who apparently feels that the problems caused by drunk teens should be addressed at a later date, at the convenience of the offender, if at all. This person is not concerned in the slightest about what criminals put their victims through; only the problems encountered by the drunk teenager and the enablers. It's okay to judge and bully anyone whose culture or lifestyle is a little different from that of the average Frankfurter, but not a child who causes traffic accidents by drinking and driving. How much mercy does the writer of this comment show the victims of these children and their enablers? By all appearances, not any. Along with very little comprehension of the language chosen for the comment, there is also not any comprehension of the fact that, while not everyone in the community was involved in the accident, everyone who drives on the highway shares the road with everyone else. That makes the problem of teens who drive drunk everyone's problem, not just the problem of those directly affected by one particular traffic mishap. As for Frankfort's description of being a "close knit town" creating an environment wherein "age is not an issue", federal law trumps this notion, along with the state laws of the very state that hosts this "close knit town". Anyone who buys alcohol for a fifteen year old commits a crime. If the person who wrote this comment does not like that, she should consider moving to another country. No one has a right to allow his or her children to inflict drug and alcohol abuse, and the accompanying pathos, onto anyone else's children. 

This is not the first time your blogger has heard howls and cries from Frankfort about her opinion of underage drinking and underage drinking coupled with driving. The spouse of one of Frankfort's teachers, upon hearing that the police were summoned when some drunk children drove on the sidewalk one evening, actually put in an appearance on the doorstep here to defend her son's right to drink and drive. The fact that this involved the family of a teacher at Frankfort High School truly spoke volumes. If the teachers at the Frankfort High School fail to teach their children to not to drink and drive, how can children from others schools safely interact with either the teachers or the students at Frankfort?

Response To Person Who's Upset Because Neil Boyd Is On The Sex Offender Registry

I still have a few people from various places who look for information on this site concerning Robert Neil Boyd, who recently served time in Tennessee and in Maryland because his computer was found to have lots of child pornography downloaded onto it's hard drive. Most of the people who write to me and discuss Mr. Boyd with me are horrified that his slimy presence was ever close to their homes, and that he gets away with this sort of thing. I feel the same way about him. Sometimes, however; I will get trolled by some of this man's yuppie friends, most of whom do not have children of their own; and those yuppie friends cry the blues at yours truly about how unfair the judicial system was with Mr. Boyd, and how, since he is not a producer, or even a big time dealer, in this filthy business, he should not have been prosecuted or sanctioned at all!

Here's an example of one of the protests, which got published several weeks ago, and to which I responded, pared down to the last statement in the comment, which goes to heart of the denial maintained by misguided friends of creeps like Mr. Boyd: "You talk of human trafficking as though your efforts are doing something, but you imprison less than pawns in the game and waste vast resources for them; so the real criminals are making tons of money and that certainly helps smuggle a human being." Obviously, the denial of the criminal behavior, which in turn, allows enabling of same, runs very deep.

First of all, none of those "real criminals" to whom my commenter referred, would be making the "tons of money" my commenter referenced if said real criminals did not have a client base. We all do what we get paid to do, and those real criminals are certainly getting paid by someone to do what they do. Without the actions and demands of those who are, as my commenter said, "less than pawns", the "game" would be over! So yes; the blame rests upon the pawns, just as much as it rests upon the major players. Second, dealing with some of the so-called pawns is often helpful in locating the major players, and sometimes, if the stars are favorable, a missing child can even be found through such efforts! It does not happen anywhere near often enough, but every time a missing or abused child is located and rescued, it is certainly worth any effort or resources spent. Third, never discount a tip, or tell the person who gives a tip that his efforts are without value. I know that Neil's friends would like everyone who loves children and cares about morals to feel that efforts to rescue abused children are meaningless, and I also know that Neil's friends belittle anyone who loves children, but, my commenter, have you heard of Operation Sunflower? Operation Sunflower is a sting that started about a year and a half ago, when someone drove on a highway in Kansas with a child he had kidnapped. He snapped a few pictures of her, while driving, and a sign with a picture of a sunflower appeared in the background of the picture which was posted online by the creep. It was seen by someone in Denmark, who reported it to the FBI in America, and officers spent two weeks driving the highways in Kansas, matching up scenery to sunflower signs, until they had the right spot. They then followed the electronic trail, found the perpetrator, and the child, (!), and decided to keep the operation in force. The sting was subsequently named Operation Sunflower, after Kansas, the Sunflower State.

Hey Neil! How do you like Operation Sunflower?
 

 

They never seem to think about how they harm the rest of the population.

 

 

Private Message

To a young lady whose extended-former-step-family has been grim and intimidating..... if you are legit, I think I know where you are coming from. No; it certainly isn't easy to be a good person surrounded by bad people, or people who want to cover for (I think the technical term is "enable") bad people. It's a terrible, frightening, heartbreaking, and lonely position. Not many people understand, either, because of the middle class, materialistic koolaide that so many people have been drinking for so many generations. This notion that you "owe" your siblings, cousins, or other relations the "loyalty" of looking the other way when they commit minor crimes is what I'm talking about.  Then, you "owe" them the loyalty of allowing them to get away with more serious crimes, too. Then, you suddenly grow up and realize that people other than the perpetrators have been hurt. Next, you even realize that children have been compromised, hurt, or killed by these people who want you to keep the family secrets.

You wake up one morning, realizing that your life cannot operate the same way as the lives of the dysfunctional members of your immediate and extended family members. You wish you didn't have to see them anymore, and you don't want them to hug or touch you. The fact that you share a surname in common with some of them is an embarrassment to you. You cringe whenever you see a policeman near your door, because you wonder about whom you are going to get supeanoed to witness in court against this time. You are beyond tired of it. And speaking of witnessing in court, everyone from your parents to the person who's in trouble this time is practically threatening you.....you had better keep your mouth shut......

Suppose, this time, it involves murder or human trafficking? Yes; it's possible for a dysfunctional family to be deluded enough to demand that everyone sweep those crimes under the carpet, as well. But do they really care about you? Do they care if you can never get a security clearence for a job you have always wanted, because you are covering for them? Do they care if no one nice will ever want to date you, because you are involved with them? Do they care if you end up going to jail for contempt of court, because you were loyal to them, and not to your conscience? Do they care if your children, or your childrens' safety, is compromised, because of their dangerous lifestyles and associations? Do they even give a rip about the healthy relationships and pursuits that you may wish to enjoy, over the course of your life, that will not happen, but for your involvement with them? In my experience, and sadly, I have had some; the answer is "no". They don't care.

I first noticed your online presence last week. I was skeptical, thinking you might be another troll, throwing in your two cents. I looked at your comments, and at the situation you discussed with a friend of mine, and decided that you may very well be for real. If that's the case, you have some serious choices to make, not only for a very young crime victim and a young adult bystander, but for yourself. I just want to encourage you not to let a bully scare you. If you discreetly do the right thing, and talk to the right people, and the situation at hand gets resolved, many people will be very grateful to you. No; things will never be the same between you and certain individuals close to this case, but then.....are things terribly positive and enjoyable for you as they sit? It's an awful choice to have to make, and I don't envy you, but I will support you and help you in any way I can if you need it after you have made the productive, positive choices I know you would love to make. No; things will never be the same, yet that is part of a great blessing that you can one day appreciate. And yes, life will go on. I promise.

 

Josh Powell's Crimes Might Pay His Family

What an outrage. First, Josh Powell's wife, Susan Cox Powell, disappears in December of 2009, and Josh declines to cooperate with law enforcement's efforts to find her. Then, a series of a series of custody battles ensued with his inlaws, over his two sons. Then Josh Powell's sperm donor goes to jail on unrelated charges, having something or other to do with child pornography, (sounds like a lovely, enabling family) and it also came out that Josh Powell's sperm donor had the hots for Susan!

As if all of this is not enough dysfunctionality, Joshy-boy loses custody of his two sons, but then gets supervised visitation at his house, (since when does supervised visitation take place at a murder suspect's house, or anyone's house, for that matter?) pushes the social worker away after gaining physical access to his sons, and blows the house, himself, and his children up. All done with the enabling and support of his family. That should really be enough.....those of us who do not set houses on fire and blow people up are still reeling from reports and pictures of all this, but here's something new: Josh's brother and sister want the life insurance to pay them! That's right; about two or three months before Josh carried out his murder-suicide, he changed his life insurance, making his brother, Michael Powell, the main beneficiary, and granting smaller payouts to his sperm donor and his sister. Of course, getting help for Josh would have been much less attractive in the face of a huge paycheck for simply waiting for his mental illness to run it's course, and going to authorities with any information they had concerning their brother's premeditiation of murder would not have been as lucrative, either. So there you have it; one family's reason for enabling mental illness and crime. Who says crime doesn't pay?

Josh, Susan, Braden, and Charlie Powell