The Deltona, Florida Murders

Justice, Revenge and Consequences

A storm of anger and arrogance, of murderous rage, developed in Deltona. Four youths battered and knifed six other people and a small dog to death. At first, the press was titillated that such violence could be over so trivial a thing as an X-Box video game toy. The roots, however, of the massacre were deeper and more complicated than that one thing.

It appears that Troy Victorino had formed a small gang. He may or may not have been involved in previous gang activities as we perceive the term “gang” today, but it is very difficult to serve a prison sentence without being inducted into one association or another behind the walls. It is well-known that anyone who does not have the protection of fellow inmates of like racial, ethnic or cultural persuasion becomes fair game in prison. And what group of incarcerated toughs would not want a six foot five, muscled and violence-prone youth as part of their mutual protection society.

Of course this is sheer speculation. What is not speculation is that Victorino apparently formed a small group of associates into something that looked like a gang, walked and talked like a gang, and acted like a gang.

Gangs must build respect. Gangs don’t get evicted from their hangout. After all, gangs don’t need to honor property rights or the sensitivities of the neighborhood. By virtue of their strength they have the right to do pretty much what they want.

What a blow to Victorino’s pride and prestige when a mere girl, Erin Belanger, could get his group evicted from a house that they had appropriated. A leader must show that he demands respect and anyone who shows him disrespect must suffer the consequences. What better way to retrieve one’s pride than repeatedly beating in the head of the person who disrespected him. And her friends. And her little dog, too.

Now, from the land of weirder than Oz, come the apologists. In the News-Journal, Reinhold Schlieper argues that our society has failed these poor youths -- the four perpetrators -- not the victims. It’s the fault of a system of justice that can’t recognize the need to educate or hospitalize the disfunctional youth rather than lock him away. Furthermore, it’s the very idea that society uses the death penalty that encourages this violent behavior in the first place. Better, says Schlieper, to securely confine such a person rather than end his life, thereby perpetuating the cycle of violence.

We’ve had forty years of this type of reformation of our society going on. In that time you would think that we would begin to see the results of a kinder, gentler system of justice. After all, many nations and many states in the United States have stopped executing killers. Mexico prohibits the death penalty and I’m sure that’s a comfort to the families of the 320 known female victims of a serial killer or gang of serial killers working the northern states of Mexico. Should that person or person ever be caught, they’ll be sent to the most porous jail system in this hemisphere for life or until they escape.

Let’s forget religion, although most religions allow for capital justice. Let’s employ the same logic we apply to a rogue animal or to a defective device, an automobile, for instance. Since animals are thought to have no consciousness – self-awareness – or conscience, the dog that habitually bites is routinely put to death. An automobile, merely a construct, that fails to hold up is junked. No more gas, oil and water for it, and the good parts are available for recycling.

A vicious dog is easier to reform – and cheaper to maintain – than a vicious human. A cold, hard look at the needs of our society will show that a percentage of sweet little babies born every day grow up to be antisocial monsters. We might hope that many of them would kill each other off, but it doesn’t work that way. They kill people like you, like your children, like your neighbors, like the folks you work with and they kill people like Belanger, Francisco Roman, Michelle Nathan, Anthony Vega, Jonathan Gleason and Robert Gonzalez.

I was there outside the branch jail of Volusia County when Sheriff Ben Johnson called for the death penalty. He had seen the slaughter far more directly than any newsperson and more intimately than any humanist philosopher or social reformer can imagine. Among the relatives of Michelle Nathan, also there that day, one called for the suspects to “burn.” Florida, however, has become more humane. Old Sparky doesn’t fire up any more. Those condemned to die slide away under the needle.

In that regard, Schlieper is right, the gesture is an empty form of closure for the families of the victims. Justice is not served. For that matter, neither is societal or individual revenge. There is no satisfaction in any of it. A public hanging might answer. Better yet, lock the four young men in a secure cell together without food or water for 30 days. Let them learn the consequences of animal behavior, then execute the survivor.

Satisfying or not? Let’s have a show of hands.

Kerry endorsed by General Merrill A. McPeak, poor Kerry

Yep, General Merrill A. McPeak found himself at the head of the Air Force in 1990, just in time to be the titular commander of one of the most expensive air war campaigns in history. He took the time out of his busy schedule to reorganize and reuniform the Air Force, while air commanders overseas did what they were told to do.

If you look hard, you can find pre-Gulf II comments by McPeak that the air bombardment before the invasion of Iraq was too limited. Looking will also find good assessments of the actual damage done by Gulf I air bombardment that show the real work still had to be done by troops on the ground.

I'll be real succinct. Most of what McPeak did while Air Force Chief of Staff was rescinded or dropped by his successor. The changes and additions to Air Force uniforms were uniformly detested and caused such an uproar that the Air Force dropped his designs as soon as he was gone and is still struggling to create a destinctive and practical set of uniforms. It was a multi-million dollar boondoggle, benefiting some clothing contractors, but not the service men and women.

His composite air wing was found to be impracticable as he ordered it. The first such wing to be established at Pope AFB in North Carolina put fast-moving fighter jets in the same limited air space as slow moving transport aircraft with predictable results: A three plane disaster in 1994 that burned 23 paratroopers alive. I'll go toe-to-toe with anyone who says the fault can't be put directly on McPeak's ideas and hurried implementation. Anyone familiar with the Pope area and the specialized requirements of the necessary support for Airborne operations could see there wasn't adequate space for dual operations.

McPeak is typical of the kind of officer who has to put his imprint on whatever he is given command of -- from redecorating an office to repainting a base to reorganizing and dressing up an entire service. With no regard for cost or other's opinions, everything must be stamped with his mark. This behavior and attitude is not limited to Air Force officers, it infects the entire military, and costs the taxpayer billions of extra dollars in defense spending.

I won't even get into his defensive attitude towards court-martialing pilots who killed more than 20 soldiers in a friendly-fire incident in Gulf I.

By seeking any brass hat who will jump on his bandwagon, Kerry has found a real winner.

The Swift Boat Vets and John Kerry's Vietnam experience

John Kerry and the Democratic Party are using his war experience as a qualification for office. That makes his record in Vietnam subject to scrutiny. That's part of politics. Remember Gary Hart daring the press to get something on him?

I note one blogger says the nonsupportive Swift Boat Vets are claiming Kerry's purple heart wounds were self-inflicted, The term used was "self-reported." There is a world of difference between self-reported and self-inflicted -- the difference between a purple heart and a court-martial.

To me, this is a wait and see situation. It is possible for Kerry to have enlarged upon his resume. In wartime there have been many service men who got minor wounds and never reported them. I am skeptical of the "Band of Brothers" theme shown in the Democratic convention, primarily because four months in service with a group of guys is hardly long enough to develop such strong loyalties. The other bothersome thing is, referring to the usual behavior of true comrades-in-arms and the afore-mentioned minor wound case, most men who become attached to the guys in their units will move heaven and earth to get back to the people they trust.

Maybe Vietnam was a different kind of war and such loyalty wasn't expected or admired, but I don't think so. The real thing -- a person serving with a true band of brothers, doesn't want to let his buddies down -- a man with minor, non-incapacitating wounds would have gone back and served a full tour of duty. I use the term, man, very specifically.

This leaves me with a question as to what Kerry's motivation was in Vietnam and his subsequent actions after returning to the states. However, I'm not ready to condemn him just yet. Lets see what comes out when the dust settles.

On the job 

A poem to start with: The Garden Spirit

She began her transformation slowly
Always willowy her arms and legs
she covered in earth colors
wearing an old hat with wide brim
In the heat of tropical days
she worked her wild garden religiously
planting here and feeding there
and watering without regard to local laws
her seedlings and shrubbery more precious
than mere legalities
Over time her movements slowed
as her garden grew to sustain itself
in the heat and the droughts
and the occasional torrential downpour
One day a rain came
and she did not retreat indoors
She turned her face to the rain
and felt it imbue her being
Night came and she rested her hands
on the rich soil
digging into the ground
with her fingers
She kicked away her sandals
and spread her toes in the sweet mulch
Through the long warm night
she drew from the strength of the earth
and broke the shell of flesh
Days passed and no one came looking for her
Eventually a neighbor saw the profusion
of growth in the garden and came to admire
the wild and flowery tangle that nature
and hard work had built
In the heart of the garden was a curious shrub
longlimbed with multiple root systems
and varigated blooms of unusual beauty
An old hat lay near the main trunk
and shreds of clothing all about
but no woman
not bone or nail or tooth
only an exotic shrub with deep roots