Two tragedies in Smith murder

Kathy Reinhardt (8/2, Letters), calls Kelsey Smith’s killer, Edwin Hall, a “monster.”

Yes, Smith’s murder was a monstrous act, and Hall belongs behind bars. However, I want to question the label “monster.” Was Hall born a monster or a child of God? Hall was adopted at age 7 by a loving family. Eight years later, Hall’s adoptive parents severed their relationship with him because he was violent.

That small bit of information makes me ask: Prior to age 7, what were Hall’s life experiences? Was he abused, neglected or abandoned? Did he get lost in the welfare or foster care systems? Did he, in the first year of life, receive the loving, consistent care that lets a baby know he is safe, building the foundation for later development of a moral conscience? Did Hall’s family receive the community support that raising such a disturbed child requires?

Kelsey Smith’s murder is an unspeakable tragedy. It appears to me that Hall’s life is no less a tragedy, and the grief is no less in the Hall family than it is in the Smith family.

Mary Jo Steger
Leavenworth

Comments

[solomon]

big dreamer,

Don't know who you were addressing with the physco comment, NE brings his vitriolic comments on blacks into every situation and away we go.

As far as hall, as I said in my first post, he chose to be a "monster" and in my opinion hell is too good for him, pity is out of the question.

[solomon]

NE,

I would ask you to READ something about the colonization and rape of African resources by the powers of europe in the 18-20th century. There is a reason that african countries are in the condition they are now. True, some of the modern gov'ts have been headed by despotic and corrupt leaders for the past 50 years, but look at the destabilization that occured and its not hard to see why.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

big dreamer I agree. They should just throw him loose deep in the Everglades and be done with him, or better yet air drop him into the Amazon Basin, let him suffer.
Hell they could get a group rate and put Janel Luck, Sherrill Rosen, Marco Roldan, Lori K Bell and the scumbag wannabe lawyer Charles Bender along with him. It would be a tremendous service to the community ridding us of these rats.

[solomon]

Good afternoon Sammy,

What history did I read? Sammy, slavery has existed for almost all time, and in most countries. Please point out, other than bondage itself, a group of slaves who endured what africans did at the hands of Christian Europeans and later Americans. there is nothing in my post that was not true. Slaves in this contry were not allowed to practice their religion, were treated as non-human and were stripped of any and all cultural identity, this was not the case in most slave situations throughout history, and if you can point one out I'd be interested in discussing it with you. It certainly wasn't the case in Old Testament time, the Roman era, Islamic cultures, Asiatic countries, the Ottoman Empire.....the list goes on and on.

American are not unique in that we have slavery in our history, but the form it took and peoples justification of it now, (NE, Pat Buchanan and Engineer would excuse it as a boon to blacks) is sad.

[big dreamer]

Geesh, right away we jump from Kelsey Smith to racism...wow...psycho!!!
Hall is a "monster"! he stalked her, planned it out (my bet), approached her, kidnapped her, raped her, probably tortured her, then killed her. He went out of his way to try to elude suspicion but ultimately the truth we found out because of cameras. He lost all of his rights (save a speedy trial) the second this "monster" decided her life was his to give or take. Tragedy, sure, but still a "monster"!
Kelsey is gone forever, Eddie boy will sit in a comfy jail cell, receive three meals a day, books, recreation time, color tv and cable, movies, free educational opportunites, and may even get out of jail someday (never know)...tell me, exactly where does his punishment come?

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

Sol it was namely the Southern Democrats, how funny.
I am with you on the act that slavery was an atrocious act of human rights violations and criminal. What I saying is that you can also look at it another way, had that not occured, most blacks would still be in Africa and living in real bonafide poverty not the pseudo-ghetto poverty where you live in subsidized housing but can afford flat screen televisions, Air Jordans and Sean John accessories.

[Sammy]

Mary Jo - Yeeesh.

Solomon - What history of slaves did you read? I'd be interested in that. Sounds a bit revisionist. Thomas Sowell has a couple excellent books that touch on global slave history and I got the impression from his writing that no particular group of slave owners were known for treating their slaves better than others.

[solomon]

"unique"

[solomon]

NE,

If you study history you'll see that slavery was a fact of life in the past. Europeans, Asians, Africans all dealt in slavery. It was not uncommon for black Africans to sell captives to slave traders, it was a fact of the times.

where the concept of slavery changed though, and this is documented for all to see, is the racist and inhumane bondage blacks in america endured. Read a book about slavery throughout the ages and you'll see the only thing close is the slavery practiced by the Spartans in the slave state they ran. The dehumanization factor that whites inflicted on blacks, where they were denied their history, religions and familily structure while perpetuating a bondage for 2-3 centuries is unigue in the history of the world.

Racial superiority was/is/always a myth, yet until 30-40 years ago was the law of the land in these United States.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

Simply making a point Sol.
When did the Africans that sold their own people off to the English and Spanish, give their apologies?
Luckily my family did not own slaves, so I owe the black community nothing.

[solomon]

Good morning NE,

Once again you've managed to inject your contempt for blacks into a topic that has no color.

BTW, when was it that blacks were awarded reparations? Better question yet, when did all the blacks locked up for their crimes receive an apology? (not that they are due in either case)

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

Sol you and I agree on this one. The only exception would be if he had the same variables and were black, then he shold receive an apology and reparations.

[solomon]

So the murderer desrves the same compassion as the innocent he killed because of his background?

There are millions of people around the world who had it as bad or worse who are not violent killers. Sad as his story is this man made a choice to live as a "monster".