A MySpace Cheat Sheet for Parents:
Wired has some pretty good tips for parents with kids that have a MySpace. The only thing I disagree with is do a search for your kid’s MySpace. You’re their parents first and their friends second.
Author: Trench Reynolds
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Leodoro to appear in court
Students Return To Classes After H.S. Shooting:
Vincent Wayne Leodoro, the suspect in the Roseburg high shooting of Joseph Monti, is set to appear in court today. Leodoro will have a court-appointed attorney.
Roseburg students also returned to class today.
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Roseburg Round-Up
Teenager faces charges in Oregon high school shooting:
Charges were filed yesterday of attempted murder, assault, and firearms violations against 14-year-old Vincent Wayne Leodoro, the suspect in the shooting at Roseburg High in Oregon. Authorities allege that Leodoro shot 16-year-old Joseph Monti. Leodoro will be tried as a juvenile because under Oregon law, no one under 15 can be tried as an adult. Leodoro missed being tried as an adult by one week when he will turn 15.
Suspect, Victim Identified In School Shooting:
According to this article, Leodoro got the gun from a relative who did not realize it was missing. And that if he is convicted as a juvenile the max he is looking at is 11 years. Monti is expected to make a full recovery.
Also…
Investigators say there was an ongoing disagreement between Monti and Leodoro, but the exact motive was not released.
During yesterday’s arraignment of Leodoro, Monti’s brother, Eric Allison, was at the arraignment and called Leodoro a coward several times. Can’t say that I disagree. According to the article, it also appears that Leodoro kept shooting Monti after he was already hit…
Authorities now say it appears that Leodoro fired bullets into Joseph Monti even after he was already down. Allison says his brother does remember being shot. “He was talking to two girls. All of the sudden he was on the ground with no warning. Not like hey I’m going to get you or anything. He just got shot,” said Allison.
Sounds cowardly to me.
There is no confirmed motive, but Monti’s brother had this to say…
Allison says his brother knew the suspect and attributes their conflict to teens talking big and speaking out of turn. Meanwhile, authorities say there is no confirmed motive for the shooting beyond the fact that “there was some ongoing conflict between the two parties.”
A trial date will be set for Leodoro on Monday.
Police: Victim may have been shot while he was down:
Some scary details from this article…
Dunbar said a search of Leodoro’s room found some evidence of pending violence but he declined to elaborate.
Dunbar said Monti was shot with a Wyoming Arms 10mm semiautomatic pistol, equal to a .40-caliber, that Leodoro got from home, apparently without permission.
He said it was loaded with hollow-point bullets, which expand on impact and do maximum damage.
10MM with hollow points? It’s a miracle that Monti is still alive. It also goes to show Leodoro’s level of intent and premeditation.
Also, the article states that a group of students knew there would be some kind of confrontation but didn’t know a gun would be involved, so they did not notify school authorities.
More as details become available.
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Roseburg victim named
High School Freshman Shoots Sophomore:
The shooter is a 14-year-old freshman, while the victim is 16-year-old sophomore Joseph Monti.
Still no word on a motive.
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More details from Roseburg
Teen injured in Oregon high school shooting today:
This is a follow-up to the school shooting out of Oregon that happened this morning that put one victim in the hospital…
A teenager armed with a handgun shot and wounded a 16-year-old student at the high school here this morning and then walked to a restaurant, where customers watched in horror as he stood outside and put the gun to his head.
The shooter then surrendered to police.
Students milling around the courtyard at Roseburg High watched in shock as the teen — using what doctors said was a large-caliber handgun — shot a student in the chest and abdomen just before classes were to begin, hitting him four times.
Police spokesman Sgt. Aaron Dunbar said the shooter appeared to be a student at the high school, and that he is also a 16-year-old.
Police cars followed the teen to Charley’s BBQ restaurant, their sirens blaring, said Kenny Russell, the restaurant cook.
The 35 customers in the restaurant “were all freaking out. Some of them were getting under the tables,” Russell said.
The teen looked through the restaurant window and put the gun to his head, according to Russell.
Police officers confronted the teen, their guns drawn, according to Russell. The teen was then led away in handcuffs.
It was not clear what provoked the shooting, and whether the assailant knew his victim.
Their identities were not released.
Kathleen Nickel, the hospital spokeswoman, said the victim was shot twice in the abdomen and once in the chest, and a bullet grazed his left elbow. She said surgeons believe he was shot from behind.
A surgeon talked to the victim, who was conscious when he got to the hospital, Nickel said. “He didn’t have any recollection of what occurred,” she said.
More details as soon as they become available.
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Henderson speaks out
Richard Henderson Jr., the Florida 20-year-old accused of bludgeoning his family to death on Thanksgiving Day, spoke out in court yesterday against the advice of his attorney…
“I have something to say,” Henderson blurted out, to the surprise of his public defender, Steven Schaefer, who advised him to keep quiet. Henderson insisted, and Schaefer let him speak.
“I want to plead guilty and get this over with,” Henderson said. He was dressed in a jail-issued blue jump suit and shackled at the wrists and feet. A dozen bailiffs stood by.
He faces the death penalty if convicted.
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School Shooting in Oregon
Teen Arrested After Roseburg School Shooting:
An administrator inside Roseburg High School this morning is confirming that there was a shooting at the school and one person is down.
Roseburg Police Sergeant Aaron Dunbar says it is unknown at this time if the person hurt is a student or staff member.Dunbar says the gunman appears to be a student.
The administrator says the school is in lockdown. The shooting occurred at 7:45 a.m. at the school.
One victim is being treated for an unknown injury at Mercy Medical Center.
Dunbar says the gunman fled the scene but was cornered by police near the school.
After a short standoff the suspect held a gun to his head but was taken into custody with no further incident.
A nearby elementary school was also placed in lockdown as
a precaution.More on this as it develops.
TOF to L.
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We now interrupt this blog for A SPECIAL REPORT
Dr. Scott of Polite Dissent was nice enough to send me this article. In the wake of the Sierra Vista High hazing incident, the Las Vegas Review-Journal decided to follow it up with A SPECIAL REPORT on hazing.
They interviewed some former high school athletes for their SPECIAL REPORT and read what some of them had to say about hazing…
“It’s humorous, and a little cruel, but you think, hey, you know what, they (the seniors) did the same thing to me a couple years ago,” said former Centennial wrestler Chris Fletcher, 20, who acknowledged throwing clothed, younger wrestlers into showers and duct-taping others to chairs.
And the cycle of abuse perpetuates.
“They didn’t enjoy it while it was happening, but they enjoyed it when they were varsity players and got to do it,” said Ronald Tekpho, 20, who played football and ran track for Valley before graduating in 2003.
Many of the former athletes expressed disgust with allegations surrounding a Feb. 3 incident at Sierra Vista that has left six basketball players facing expulsion and felony charges.
The players are accused of pinning down a younger teammate while at least one of them penetrated his rectum with fingers.
“Hazing is supposed to be fun,” Tekpho said, “not a violation of somebody.”
Asked to elaborate on “fun” types of hazing, Tekpho described spraying a locker with a water hose while a junior varsity player was trapped inside.
“He was screaming, ‘It’s cold, it’s cold! Let me out of here!’ ” said a chuckling Tekpho, a Community College of Southern Nevada student who aspires to be a police officer. “We let him out. We weren’t going to let him die in there.”
While I’m glad that he is disgusted about sexual assault, the fact that he’s giddy over false imprisonment doesn’t make me feel any better. And the fact that he’s trying to be a cop makes me fearful.
Playing varsity football for Chaparral in the late 1990s, Steve Puterski and his teammates had one rule after randomly choosing a younger athlete to haze.
“There was no hitting in the face or the groin,” said Puterski, now a 25-year-old journalist in Greeley, Colo. “We just basically beat them in the arms and legs, so they’d be sore but not seriously hurt.”
Puterski says he was similarly hazed years earlier as a junior varsity player.
“They all just kind of took a turn. It was like a senior’s privilege,” he said. “Maybe 10 or 15 guys would come and give you three or four licks each, then they’d help you up, and one of them would give you a ride home. It was just a tradition.”
So how long will it be before forced sodomy among high school athletes becomes “tradition”?
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.
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2/20/06 From The Mail Sack
It’s been over 2 months since we dipped into the old mail sack. Don’t worry, this one is mutant free. It’s just a nice little e-mail I got from someone named Fynn. The subject read “My Apologies”.
I have been reading comments left on your brilliant website, but I’d like to apologise on behalf of other readers. They dont know how to spell, they use abusive language and I think it brings down the tone of the good writing that you create.
Thank you for the compliment, Fynn, but no apologies are necessary. The abusive language just shows that they lack the intelligence for a legitimate argument. Thanks again for your e-mail.
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Dyleski to stand trial
Judge orders Dyleski to stand trial in Vitale murder:
A judge has ruled that there is a sufficient amount of evidence to reasonably try Scott Dyleski for the murder of Pam Vitale, and he will be tried as an adult…
During the first three days of testimony Contra Costa County prosecutor Harold Jewett presented evidence painting Dyleski as a disturbed young man.
He showed Dyleski’s drawings, that included a figure holding a bloody knife who was wearing a ski mask and a trench coat. Jewett pointed out that some of the clothes found by detectives during their investigation included a bloody ski mask and a trench coat that he believes Dyleski wore during the killing.
Jewett also presented drawings and printed examples of symbols found in Dyleski’s bedroom that were similar, but not identical, to the mark found on Vitale’s back. Defense attorney Ellen Leonida of the public defender’s office argued against allowing Dyleski’s artwork in, saying a lot of artwork is disturbing and is not evidence of murder. But the judge disagreed, and will allow certain of Dyleski’s drawings to be used by prosecutors in a trial.
Witnesses who lived with Dyleski at his home about a mile down Hunsaker Canyon Road from Vitale and Horowitz testified that on the morning of Oct. 15, Dyleski came home with scratches or “gouge-like” marks on his face.
Witnesses also testified that Dyleski became paranoid on the day before his arrest on Oct. 19, and began talking about his fear that his DNA might be found on Vitale’s body. He told a story of a woman who pulled over in a car and grabbed his arm while he was on a walk in the neighborhood as the reason for his concern.
All that even after Dyleski’s mom destroyed evidence…
After Dyleski’s Oct. 19 arrest, authorities arrested Fielding as an accessory to murder after the fact for destroying a red writing journal of her son’s, a box of disposable gloves and a written list of the names and credit card information for a number of her and her son’s neighbors. The charges were dropped after Fielding agreed to testify for prosecutors against Dyleski.
Not only that but Pam Vitale’s DNA was found on Scott Dyleski’s belongings…
Prosecutors concluded the hearings Friday with testimony from David Stockwell, a DNA expert who said Vitale’s DNA was found on the boy’s duffel bag, with a statistical probability that 1 in 13 quadrillion other Caucasians would share the same profile.
Detectives discovered the duffel, which was affixed with Dyleski’s nametag, during a search of the property where the teen lived with 11 other individuals.
The bag contained bloody clothes that prosecutors believe Dyleski wore when he allegedly killed Vitale, and a mixture of both their DNA was found on a ski mask, shoes, and the bag itself.
Dyleski is ineligible for the death penalty because he was under 18 at the time of the murder.