TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Blog

  • Close but no cigar

    School shootings show shortcomings of American society:

    This is an editorial from a student at the University of Maine about how the signs were ignored from school shooters Asa Coon and Cho Seung-Hui. It’s a really good article up until this point…

    Apparently, both of these tragedies, along with countless others, point to flaws in not just the school system, but in society as well. Are Americans so blind and selfish that they cannot learn from the past, and reach out to those who feel insignificant and hopeless? Maybe if we stepped outside of our comfort zone and lent a helping hand to “troubled” people like Asa Coon and Seung-Hui Cho, we could prevent school violence.

    So close.

    What the question should be is are American kids so blind and selfish that they think that mass murder is the way to solve their problems? Instead of “society” stepping out of its comfort zone maybe it should be parents that step out of their comfort zones and be parents again and not just baby makers. Maybe then their kids wouldn’t be so “troubled”.

  • Colleen Grear sentenced

    Former Scripps lab tech gets year in jail for sex with boy, 14:

    Over a year ago I posted the story of Colleen Grear. She was the 22-year-old single mother lab tech who started a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy via MySpace. At first, he said he was 18 but when she found out his real age she didn’t seem to care.

    Yesterday Grear pleaded guilty to charges of lewd and lascivious battery. Under the terms of the plea, she will spend a year behind bars, 2 years on house arrest, and 10 years as a registered sex offender.

    Being placed on sex offender probation carries special conditions regular probationers don’t have, such as being prohibited from living within 1,000-feet of a park, school or playground and barring contact with children under 18. Grear cannot have a job where kids regularly congregate and she cannot own or view pornography. She must submit to an HIV test and undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation and complete any recommended treatment. If she violates her probation, she faces 15 years behind bars.

    What do you think of the sentence? Is it fair? Would a man have gotten more or less do you think?

  • Facebook caves

    Facebook settles New York child safety probe:

    Not too long ago I posted about New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo setting his sights on Facebook because of pervs approaching his office’s fake underage Facebook profile.

    Well, Facebook has caved in to him…

    The settlement involves no financial penalties.

    Under the terms of the settlement, Facebook has agreed to begin addressing any complaint within 24 hours of being told of inappropriate content — involving such things as nudity, profanity or harassment — by a user or e-mail correspondent.

    The company will tell the complaining party the steps it has taken within 72 hours when the complaint has been submitted via an independent e-mail.

    In addition, the Palo Alto, California-based company has agreed to allow an independent examiner to oversee how Facebook handles such complaints. The attorney general will have a say in who gets hired as examiner. The examiner will report to the New York attorney general every six months over a two-year period on Facebook’s compliance.

    If I was Facebook I would have told them to shove it. The amount of crime that happens on Facebook compared to MySpace is almost negligible.

    Oh and look, our friend AG Roy Cooper from North Carolina has to sick his two cents in…

    “This agreement is another step toward protecting children on social networking sites but we still have a long way to go,” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a separate statement. “Our group of attorneys general will keep pushing MySpace, Facebook and other sites to do more.”

    Yet Cuomo and Cooper aren’t pushing parents to do more because as I’ve said parents vote and the AG’s don’t want to risk not being re-elected.

  • SuccessTech teacher speaks out

    Student was angry because he was failing:

    Michael Grassie was Asa Coon’s history teacher at SuccessTech. He was also one of Coon’s intended targets. Coon tried starting a fight with the teacher just days before he went on his shooting spree. It’s no surprise that he was failing the class. So rather than study or ask for help or work hard, Coon tried to solve his problems with guns.

    “It was something I haven’t seen on a 14-year-old’s face before,” Grassie said. It was a face of “total anger, real hatred.” He said he knew that Coon was angry with him earlier because Grassie noted on his school progress report that he was failing the course.

    Coon asked during the confrontation: “Now what do you have to say to me?”

    Grassie said he was mentoring another student at the time when Coon turned to the student and said “you’re cool,” then turned his gun on the teacher.

    The bullet entered Grassie’s torso, hit his spleen and pancreas but missed his aorta before exiting the back. Grassie suffered the worst injuries of Coon’s shooting victims.

    Grassie even plays the bullying card for Coon…

    He said Coon “seemed really troubled” and acknowledged what other teachers and students said about the youth: He was the target of student harassment for his counter-culture dress and lifestyle.

    Coon was disruptive in class, Grassie said, and he tried to bring the unruliness to Coon’s mother’s attention, but without success.

    I’m all for individual expression but if you go around looking and acting like an asshat you’re going to invite trouble on yourself.

    So basically Coon shot Grassie over Coon’s own inadequacies. Pretty pathetic.

  • Asa Coon’s death picture

    Disturbing Asa Coon photo on Internet:

    It seems that all the ghouls are out just in time for Halloween.

    Someone at the scene of Asa Coon’s suicide apparently had taken a picture of his corpse. Of course, the internet being what it is the picture of Asa Coon’s bloody body is already making its rounds. I haven’t even posted this yet and I’m already getting hits from the ghouls look for the picture. Guess what Sunshine. It isn’t here. It never will be here. As much as I think that the kid was an idiot for doing what he did I would never in good conscience post the picture of his corpse. All the cretins that are looking for this picture are probably are the same ones who got off on watching the victims of 9/11 fall from the towers and would probably run home crying to mommy if they ever came in a contact with a real dead body. So cream your jeans over your gore porn you sick fucks. One day it might be your bloody corpse that some jackass is getting his lulz from.

  • Still not roid rage

    Steroids did not act alone:

    This is an article from Jim Varsalone, the pro-wrestling editor of the Miami Herald. He’s kind of saying what I’ve been saying since day one of the Chris Benoit murder-suicides.

    Roid rage, a term associated with steroid use, is a quick, violent outburst. It leads to a punch, a kick, an assault, but not murder. The Benoit murders/suicide occurred over a two to three day period.

    With the rampant use of steroids in sports and the number of high-profile wrestlers who have died at an early age, no one — other than Benoit — has been linked to murder.

    Mr. Varsalone goes through numerous other aspects of steroids and Chris Benoit’s crime as well. It’s worth your time to read the whole article and get another perspective.

  • Looney on the lam

    Police still searching for mother of SuccessTech gunman:

    Lori Looney, no joke, is the mother of Asa Coon. By now you know Asa Coon was the 14-year-old gunman at the SuccessTech shootings in Cleveland. An arrest warrant was issued for Ms. Looney for obstruction of justice. Allegedly Asa’s brother Stephen violated his parole and was picked up last week after the shooting. Ms. Looney allegedly lied to police about her son’s whereabouts. All these charges for Stephen Coon and Lori Looney are unrelated to the shooting but Ms. Looney has gone missing.

  • Dillon Cossey in court

    Plymouth Teen Appears In Court:

    Dillon Cossey, the homeschooled kid from Pa. who allegedly was plotting an attack against a high school, appeared in court today. Usually, I only blog about court appearances that have noteworthy outcomes. In this one Cossey was ordered to undergo psychological analysis which I usually don’t find interesting until the results come back. However, the prosecutors said something that caught my interest.

    Montgomery County prosecutors said that Cossey said other students had harassed him when he attended schools in the Colonial School District up to a year and a half ago.

    A year and a half ago? Jeez, kid, you should have let it go? I mean wasn’t that the whole point of being homeschooled?

    It’s still undetermined whether or not Cossey will be tried as an adult.

  • Family fun on craigslist

    Craigslist.org a source of crimes:

    It seems that other news outlets are picking up on how much crime goes on through craigslist. This is an article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that relates at least one story that I missed.

    But sometimes, the questionable listings aren’t flagged — for instance, the one police say Brian Lee Nestor posted back in September.

    According to an affidavit filed in his case in federal court, Mr. Nestor, 44, of Squirrel Hill, put a listing under Craigslist’s “Casual Encounters” section.

    It read: “Anybody into family fun?” followed by, “bring your son and hang out with us.”

    A Greensburg police officer who handles computer crimes for the jurisdiction found the ad on Sept. 9.

    He responded to the posting, saying that “Family fun sounds great, reply with age, limits, a photo would be great.”

    The police officer and Mr. Nestor corresponded through e-mail for several days. According to the affidavit, Mr. Nestor, who also solicited child pornography, became frustrated: “Look I’m tired of these endless e-mails. … I’m just looking to get with a boy discreetly.”

    In one exchange, Mr. Nestor, who was previously investigated by the FBI but not charged for having thousands of images of child pornography on his computer, wrote that when they met, the two men would have to expose themselves to each other to ensure that neither was a cop.

    He was arrested Sept. 14 and charged with coercion and enticement, as well as possession of child pornography. Mr. Nestor’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.

    So let’s add pedophilia and child molestation to the list of things that craigslist is helping to facilitate. craigslist’s mouthpiece Susan MacTavish Best had the usual to say…

    …inappropriate ads…flagged by users…blah blah blah…

    But I may be paraphrasing.

    A lot of people think that newspapers, or old media if you will, have a vendetta against craigslist since they’ve taken a big chunk out of their newspapers revenue by not charging for classifieds. That may be true but doesn’t old media still have a responsibility to report the news? And this my friends is news that more people should be seeing.

  • Michele Cossey released

    Mother released on bail after charged with buying weapons for son:

    Michele Cossey, the mother of Dillon Cossey, has been released on bail. She was charged with buying a .22-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle and a 9-millimeter semiautomatic rifle for her son. Dillon Cossey was arrested for plotting an armed attack against Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Pennsylvania.

    Investigators said in court papers that the mother bought the rifle, which had a laser scope, at a gun show in September and provided police with a receipt.

    A laser scope? Nice. Way to make sure your kid has deadly accuracy.

    Luckily Dillon Cossey was never in possession of any ammunition.