TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Author: Trench Reynolds

  • Plot against Newington High thwarted

    Police: School Attack Foiled:

    Police have thwarted a plot to attack Newington High School in Connecticut after parents tipped off police about a video on YouTube that showed several students shooting firearms and setting off explosives. Police interviewed the teens in the video and they said that one of them was plotting an attack against the school. When police searched the 16-year-old’s house they found bombs, rifles, documents that indicated an attack against the school, and a hit list of 20 names. At the time of the article, the suspect was being held for psychiatric evaluation.

  • $30M MySpace lawsuit dismissed

    Suit against Myspace dismissed by judge in Texas:

    Hallelujah. For once common sense has prevailed. The $30M lawsuit filed against MySpace by the parents of children who were molested by MySpace users has been dismissed.

    U.S. district judge Sam Sparks ruled that MySpace, owned by media giant News Corp., should not be held responsible for what happened. “If anyone had a duty to protect Julie Doe, it was her parents, not MySpace,” he wrote in his decision.

    As my lovely and talented wife said, “Ding ding ding ding, we have a winner”. Of course, the lawyers for the families are going to appeal.

    An attorney for the four families said they plan to appeal the ruling. “The judge’s ruling is flat wrong,” said Jason Itkin, the attorney representing the families. “As the Internet grows and companies like MySpace are aware of the dangers, they need to do things to protect their users, especially young children.”

    Another quote from Mr. Itkin…

    “This is allowing sites like MySpace to avoid the responsibility to make the Internet safe for children,” Jason Itkin said. “MySpace knows its Web site is a playground for sexual predators. Because of that, MySpace should be doing some very basic safety precautions.”

    Sorry buddy but MySpace can’t make parents be responsible.

    Personal responsibility wins a rare victory.

    But the war just may be beginning…

    On Wednesday, MySpace announced victory in a Texas lawsuit in which the social networking Web site was accused of failing to protect its underage members from sexual abuse. However, the company’s legal issues are just beginning, according to plaintiff’s lawyer Adam Loewy of Austin, Texas-based Barry & Loewy.

    “We’re at the onset of this sort of litigation,” says Loewy. “We are prepared for a very long battle.”

    The plaintiffs plan to appeal to the Fifth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. They also plan to refile some of their claims in Los Angeles Superior Court, adding to similar suits brought against MySpace and its parent company, News Corp.

    More frivolous suits to clog up our already backed up courts.

  • National Archives will not destroy depositions

    Archives wants Columbine records here:

    The National Archives has suggested holding the depositions of the Columbine Killers’ parents for 20 years but after the 20 years, they would unseal the records.

    The agency said that any materials from Columbine given to it would be of significant historical value and would never be destroyed. Archives officials said their general philosophy is open access to records.

    The agency’s proposal was in response to U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock’s suggestion that the Columbine depositions be sent to the National Archives, where they would remain sealed for 25 years.

    Then, Babcock proposed, the National Archives would decide if the depositions are of significant social value. If they are, the agency could release them to the public. If not, they’d be destroyed.

    The National Archives said, however, that after receiving court records, the normal practice of its Denver center is to assume legal custody after 20 years. Then it normally gives the public full access to the records, it said. But if Babcock rules to seal the records for a longer period of time, the agency said it would abide by his wishes.

    That’s better than having them destroyed after 25 years but still not acceptable. The depositions must be made public and they must be made public now.

    The Denver Post agrees with me.

    On Monday in Boulder, Del Elliott prepared congressional testimony about stopping violence among teenagers.

    On Monday in Salt Lake City, an 18-year-old hid a shotgun and a pistol under his trench coat and randomly killed five people and seriously wounded four at a shopping mall.

    Are you paying attention, Judge Babcock? Lewis Babcock is the federal jurist who will soon decide whether to seal the civil depositions of the parents of Columbine High School killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold for 25 years.

    Babcock or anyone else who thinks that nothing bad can come from blocking access to those documents for a quarter-century is deaf and blind.

    The Utah shootings didn’t occur in a school. But the trench-coated teenage perp who went on a seemingly casual killing spree reeks of Columbine.

    In 25 years or even 20, the depositions will provide no answers. We need those answers and we need them now. I’m still puzzled as to why Judge Babcock wants to keep them sealed for a quarter of a century. That’s too long for victims and their families to get answers.

  • NPR on Asperger’s and the Lincoln-Sudbury murder

    Student with Asperger Syndrome Charged in Murder:

    This is a piece from NPR about how much a part Asperger’s Syndrome is playing in the murder of James Alenson by Asperger’s patient John Odgren. What I found interesting about this piece is that some parents of Asperger’s kids are horrified that Odgren’s defense attorney is using Asperger’s as a defense. It’s a very good listen.

    Thanks to Dr. Feste for the link.

  • Supremes request transcription of Kerns Trial

    Judges seek info in Kerns case:

    The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has requested a transcript of the trial of Tobin Kerns before ruling on the matter of whether or not Juvenile Court Judge Louis Coffin can rule his verdict based on a general threats statute rather than a statue regarding threatening to use deadly weapons which is what Kerns was indicted for.

    If Coffin rules based on a general threats statute, the prosecution must prove that the threat was targeted at a specific individual and was communicated to that individual.

    Which to my knowledge it wasn’t.

    Assistant District Attorney Gail McKenna has 14 days to submit a brief explaining why this such an extraordinary circumstance that the Supreme Judicial Court has to intervene. I wonder if the Joe Nee trial will get this kind of scrutiny.

  • NC Attorney General brings the MySpace hate

    Attorney General Pushes For Internet Safeguards:

    I thought that my state of residence would have a little more sense but that’s what I get for thinking. Add North Carolina to the list of states who are jumping on the blame MySpace Boogeyman bandwagon. Attorney General Roy Cooper has called on sites like MySpace to install age verification or parental notification systems.

    “They lure children onto the site with ads, lull parents into thinking its safe when in reality these children are a mouse click away from porn and predators,” Cooper said.

    That may just be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard come out of a politician’s mouth since “It depends on your definition of ‘is’.” He makes it sound like MySpace goes around in a virtual van from computer to computer offering kids candy. And how do they lull parents into thinking it’s safe? Maybe the lulled you Mr. Cooper but not me. Parents shouldn’t be letting their kids have unfettered access to the internet anyway.

    Cooper admits it’s not a perfect system.

    “We know ways kids can get around system, but you can protect most of the kids,” Cooper said.

    You know how you can protect all the kids, Mr. Cooper? By having responsible parents. As usual, I don’t hear you suggesting any laws for that.

  • Release the depositions

    Release depositions by Columbine parents:

    This is an opinion piece from the Denver Post about the suggested plan to seal the depositions from the Columbine killers’ parents in the National Archives. I’ll give you just a taste.

    That action may respect the privacy of the killers’ parents, but it would do little to advance the study and public debate about youth violence and how future Columbines could be avoided. It’s also difficult to imagine that the wishes of the killers’ parents should somehow trump the desires of victims’ parents to possibly learn what led to the senseless slaughter of their loved ones.

    I couldn’t have said it better myself. Read the rest as it is definitely worth your time.

  • It’s not a First Amendment issue

    One of our favorite attention whores, Danny Leddone creator of Super Columbine Massacre RPG, is going to be a guest speaker tomorrow night at Loyola Marymount University’s First Amendment Week.

    Tuesday will also feature another First Amendment event that will discuss video game violence in St. Robert’s Auditorium at 4 p.m. Participants will have a chance to play the controversial game “Super Columbine Massacre RPG” from 4 to 7 p.m. and listen to the creator of the game, Danny Ledonne from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Ledonne’s game, available on the Internet, reenacts the day of the Columbine shooting through the eyes of the shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Recently, the game was pulled from the Slamdance video game festival due to its controversial content.

    Again I have to ask why do people keep making this out to be a first amendment issue? The government never said that he couldn’t make his atrocity of a game. The Slamdance Festival is not the government. The people who protested against the game are not the government. Read the following words carefullyÂ?

    ONLY IF THE GOVERNMENT SUPPRESSES YOUR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS IT A VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT.

    Learn it, love it, live it.

    Don’t make me say it again.

  • The other killer’s parents want records detsroyed

    2nd Columbine gunman’s family not opposed to sealing records:

    Here’s another shocker. The parents of the other Columbine gunman Dylan Klebold, Thomas, and Susan Klebold, want their depositions destroyed but don’t oppose them being sent to the National Archives for 25 years.

    Thomas and Susan Klebold’s position on the proposal, outlined in a federal court filing, is similar to the wishes of the parents of gunman Eric Harris. The Klebolds said if the judge chooses to send the documents under seal to the National Archives and Records Administration, they would like some information – such as names, addresses – blacked out.

    Hmmm. I wonder whose name and address they want blacked out. Maybe if they didn’t allow their kid to plot one of the most horrific mass murders in American history then this wouldn’t be an issue.

    The more I write about this story the more it makes no sense to me whatsoever. Who is Judge Babcock covering up for? JeffCo. Sheriffs or the killers’ parents? He shouldn’t be covering up for either. The decent thing to do would be to give the victims’ families the answers they’ve been seeking. Unsealing the depositions would accomplish that.

  • SO sentenced to 5 years for being on MySpace

    Sex Offender Sentenced for Using MySpace:

    26-year-old Patrick Wong of Lubbock, Texas is a registered sex offender who was sentenced to 5 years behind bars for violating his parole by being on MySpace. Wong was originally arrested in 2001 for exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl in the Wal*Mart toy department. And in 2002 was placed on probation for failing to register as a sex offender.