TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Over the weekend I received an e-mail from Jennifer Deremus. If the name sounds familiar it's because she is the stepmother of Dakota Deremus. Readers of this sight should know that Dakota died at the hands of Dustin Howard. To make matters worse not only was his death recorded on a cell phone by some of Howard's stupid friends but 16-year-old Howard was charged as a juvenile. By now you should know my stance on that. (For newcomers I'm always in favor of trying juveniles as adults for murder.)

Conversely take the recorded beating of Victoria Lindsay from Florida. Luckily she survived her beating that was also recorded. Her teenage assailants were charged as adults.

In the case of Victoria Lindsay there was national outrage of Biblical proportions. In the case of Dakota Deremus not so much. Mrs. Deremus asked me why that is? Unfortunately it's too simple. It all comes down to saturation.

Do a YouTube search for Victoria Lindsay and 800 videos come up. Do one for Dakota Deremus and only 3 come up and none of them show what happened to him.

Why were Victoria Lindsay's tormentors charged as adults and Dustin Howard wasn't? Dustin Howard killed Dakota Deremus, Victoria Lindsay is alive and recovering. Victoria's attackers could be jailed for life. Dustin Howard will more than likely be released at the age of 19 and have his record erased.

The saddest part is that we shouldn't need a video to be outraged by Dakota's death.

Ruling Upsets Mom Of Teen Who Died In Fight:
I've previously posted about the bullying/beating death of Dakota DeRemus and how his killer, 16-year-old Dustin Howard, should be charged as an adult. Unfortunately that has not come to fruition and Howard is being charged as a juvenile.

Dakota's mom had this to say about it...

"As a juvenile, he's going to be able to clear his name and it's never going to follow him once he's done. As an adult, it would have affected him for the rest of his life. And this is going to affect myself, our family, for the rest of our lives," said Angie Meireis, DeRemus' mother. "He cannot get off with a slap on the wrist. This is too serious."

It would be fair if we could give Dakota DeRemus a new start on life but we can't. He's dead, and his killer will walk free at the latest by the age of 19 and any existence of the murder will be wiped off the face of the earth.

There's justice for you.

Police: 4 Witnessed, One Recorded Attack:
Yesterday I posted about the bullying death of Dakota DeRemus and about how his tormentor Dustin Howard should be charged as an adult.

Here's 4 more people that I think should be charged with crimes. The 4 kids who witnessed Dakota's beating at the hands of Howard and did nothing to stop it. Not only that but one of them actually recorded the beating on their cell phone.

any one or more of them could have stepped in and saved Dakota's life. Instead they were enablers and in my eyes accessories to his death.

Dakota's father, Scott DeRemus echoed similar sentiments...

"You're no more than a murderer yourself when you're a witness to something like that and you let somebody die because you're afraid you'll get in a little bit of trouble and get grounded. I think it's sick.

Johnson County' Kansas officials have said that charges could be filed against the four.

Commentary - It isn't bullying, stupid, it's the parenting:
Here we have another editorial about school shooters and would be shooters that pretty much says the same thing that I've been saying for years. The post mainly focuses on would be shooter Dillon Cossey...

His parents supplied him with real weapons -- though no ammo -- to match his fantasies: His bedroom contained a .9 mm semiautomatic rifle, homemade grenades, knives and swords. He also had a swastika flag, neo-Nazi literature and a Columbine massacre video.

Classmates would have rejected Cossey, if he'd stayed in school. They would have told Dillon he's crazy, which would have been useful feedback. Instead, he was nurtured, accepted and loved by the world's dopiest parents.

While I fully support home schooling not every parent is capable of carrying it out. Such is the case of the Cosseys.

And as I've been saying for many years lax parenting is the biggest cause of school shootings and not bullying. When parents teach their kids about some fantasy world where life is fair and allow their kids to continue to have obsessions with other killers and allow it to remain unchecked these shootings will keep happening.

Deadly revenge for bullied kids an absurd idea:
This is a great editorial from the Miami Herald by a man named Leonard Pitts Jr. who writes what I've been saying for years, bullying is no excuse to shoot up a school...

We have become sadly experienced with school massacres in recent years. We have seen many disaffected loners turn campuses into killing grounds. And then comes the inevitable explanation.

He was an outcast.

He was jilted by a girl.

The other kids bullied him.

And I repeat: So what?

And just like myself Mr. Pitts has also been accused of not knowing what it's like to be bullied...

My wife, who I've known since fifth grade, once had to run and get my folks after some boys jacked me up and tried to inject me with hypodermic needles they'd found in the trash behind a medical clinic.

Now that's hardcore. How many of these Harris and Klebold wannabes have been harassed to the level of their tormentors wanting to inject them with medical waste? I can almost guarantee you not one of them. Did Mr. Pitts plan to shoot up a school? Not according to his article...

So yeah, I know a little something about being bullied. And yeah, too, I know something about wanting to mash the face of some jerk who'd made my days miserable.

There is, however, a gulf of difference between wanting to do that and wanting to indiscriminately massacre a schoolyard full of people.

It takes a special kind of arrogance, self-absorption and entitlement to believe that your humiliation and pain merit the lives of a dozen strangers.

Mr. Pitts also disagrees with the criminal as victim mentality and sums things up with an obvious question...

So to say a child killed people because he was bullied or ostracized is to dignify the act with false rationality -- and to shift the onus for the crime to its victims.

I get impatient with hearing that because it explains everything and explains nothing, because it does not help me understand how a child can become so alienated from his own humanity and finally, because it does not address, much less answer, a question that ought to be painfully obvious.

Kids have been bullied and ostracized from the beginning of time. Why is it they are just now picking up guns?

Why indeed Mr. Pitts. Why indeed.

I'm not doing the piece justice at all. So click on the link at the top or check page 2 I have it archived there as well.

I'm not familiar with the rest of Mr. Pitts' work but after reading this I think he deserves a Pulitzer.

As always it was your pleasure.