Tragedy in our area

[razoredge]

First, this is a small town rural area, so this stuff is not just another day.

Thursday after school, a 12 year old boy was killed when a 22 calibor gun his 13 year old brother had, discharged. No one knows the details.

this stuff horrifies me. I just cant imagine what the older boys head condition could possibly be in. This was up the county road another 3 miles from where our town road meets it. My daughter is in school with their 17 year old son. A divorced family of four boys I guess, moved up here recently, living with their father. The family has left town, cant blame them. The news people were like flies on $h! Friday. If I was the Father and had no where to take my family, there would have been more gun play. F'in media ! What did they want to do ? Question the little boy ? Jerks !

This is the second tragedy in the past year.

One year ago this fall our superintendant of highways took a gun to himself..........at the "town barn".......during lunch. I guess he had had a history of depression and was on medication. His medication was recently changed and he just "did it". So many of us were clueless that he was having problems. Only three days earlier I had an intense conversation with him.

We had been having problems with the condition of our road and he and I had done a bit of harsh spittin and sputterin over the matter the past 5 years. Last summer they finally repaved our road and we were getting back on track with our relationship. When my wife came home and told me I went straight to my knees. Felt fairly responsible, latter foundout he had been having this problem for years, still I would have told him to just wait another day. I may have been the last person he had any form of deep conservation with. HE was a great guy and a good man for the job. He simply spend FEMA money to repair my washed out road, elsewhere, due to political pressures in a "high rent district" and I was steamed for years, waiting. Its just so heavy on me that he finally fixed the road and then said good by. I just didnt get it because everything was all better with us now. He was the same age as myself and we were both always hardworking labor types that knew where "each other was coming from". It still earks me !

I dont own , nor have ever owned a gun.

[ocnblu]

Razor, you ornery son of a bitch, what did you do to that man? Answer: nothing. Suicidal people are too self-absorbed to let others influence them. It's not your fault.

The loss of the little local boy is a tragedy, and it will forever change that family, especially the brother who accidentally shot him. That has to be unspeakably horrible for everyone involved. My heart goes out to them.

[razoredge]

Thanks Blu........thing is I wish he had of said something, its almost like I was right there. We must have talked 25 minutes that previous day infromt of my house. I had a lot of problems the past two years myself. Serious $h!. It just blew me away, I was surprised, myself by my own reaction..........see, it was to close to home. I would have told him to wait till another day. I couldnt even talk about it last year, now this new $h! triggered it all off again.

It was medication, the wrong friggin medication. We should have smoked a joint and had a good laugh............"its cool man". Did I ever mention I hate doctors and the drug companies ? I dont think we need that stuff, we need inner peace and less intervention, not medication. But what do I know.

Now I think about this kids brother, what is he going to go through, how can you ever get beyond that ?

Let me guess

Medication

[mustang84]

About four years ago, I worked with a guy who was in my grade at high school. He was pretty hefty and not too hard of a worker, but he was friendly and told jokes a lot. Most of the time we were working in different parts of the plant, but a few times we had to glue boxes together so it was just an afternoon of shooting the $h! and making boxes. He only worked that one summer and quit about two months after starting.

I'd known him some in high school too. We had the same PE freshmen year and I saw him around the halls every once in a while. He was a pretty nice guy to everyone at school, despite his size that could have easily made him a bully if he wanted to be like that. But he was a good guy.

Last spring, I got a call from my mom saying he had killed himself. Word flew around my hometown within hours of it happening...you know how small towns are. His wife was cheating on him and had kicked him out of the house...he felt like he had nothing to live for anymore. He drove his truck out to an empty farm field one evening, stuck a shotgun in his mouth, and took his life without any drama.

It seems like some people stare suicide in the face and don't have the will to do it, and others go through with it without even blinking an eye. I don't think anyone should blame themselves...if someone's suicidal, that person will ultimately make the choice. You either have the will to carry on or you don't. It's sad that so many actually go through with it, though.

[daves87rs]

That sucks. razor.

That has happened a few times around here...it is just so sad.

A couple of the kids that I went to high school with ended their lives with no

reason.

One of my close friends was at that point of killing himself-but we all came together to take care of him(and he got a stern talking ), and now he is

doing quite well.

As far as the kid shooting, I kinda agree with CM on this one. It is getting way

to common around here. It seems lke no one cares.

[scharmer05]

Too bad about the young boy. I own guns and am a firm believer that people should own guns, but you also need to be safe about it. Keeping trigger locks on your guns with the ammo stored in a seperate locked place can go a long way in keeping kids safe. You can tell them all the times you want not to ever touch them, but it is something unknown to many children, so they are most likely still going to pick it up and play with it. Teaching gun safety in any house that has guns in it is the smart thing to do. My dad sat down with me when I was about 9 and taught me gun safety, as he did with all my sisters too.

[Brandon Lutz]

Too bad about the young boy.  I own guns and am a firm believer that people should own guns, but you also need to be safe about it.  Keeping trigger locks on your guns with the ammo stored in a seperate locked place can go a long way in keeping kids safe.  You can tell them all the times you want not to ever touch them, but it is something unknown to many children, so they are most likely still going to pick it up and play with it.  Teaching gun safety in any house that has guns in it is the smart thing to do.  My dad sat down with me when I was about 9 and taught me gun safety, as he did with all my sisters too.

197211[/snapback]

I agree 100 percent. A little common sense and some responsible parenting can avoid tragic incidents like this.

[zhawk]

I always hate to hear about tragedies like these. Unfortunately, they are become way too much a part of our lives. I really hope that boy gets the counseling he will need and if medication is part of his treatment, it is used intelligently. A good doctor (therapist) knows the time and place of medication. It should be used as only part of the treatment, not as the main treatment itself.

I am glad to see this hasn't become an anti-gun thread. I do not own any guns myself but I know the rights we have and our responsility to maintain the right to bear arms. Guns themselves are not the problem, not being responsible with them is what causes tragedies like that young man's. Education and safety are too often lacking.

As for those who commit suicide, that is always a horrible thing as well. If it wasn't for the gun, it would have been something else. And worse, noone saw the signs. Razor and Mustang, you could not expect to see what those closest to them missed. So, please, don't think I am putting anything on you.

But, there are almost always signs that someone is contemplating taking their own life. And far too often we miss those signs and wonder what happened. So please, watch out for those around you and be willing to help if you see anything. People are far too precious. And always remember, what someone does is NOT your fault.

Take care everyone.