One night my 23 year old sister took her five-year-old daughter to a Winn-Dixie store in Tampa to buy dinner for her family. My sister’s husband had stayed home with their two-year-old daughter. While my sister and niece were standing in line, a man walked in with a large, plastic pail of gasoline which he threw at the cashier and then tossed in a match. My sister, Marty, died at the scene. My niece Jenny lived for three days. Five people died in all.
The man with the gasoline was named William Ferry. A few weeks later, while sitting in my apartment on Ashland Avenue in St. Paul, I imagined restraining Mr. Ferry naked on all fours to a wooden floor. The floor was scarred and scuffed with years of use. I imagined using a ten penny nail and a hammer with a red head and a black handle to nail his tongue to the floor. Then I imagined taking a red hot poker and shoving it…that was one of the more mild fantasies I had in those days. Some of them I wrote down.
I was a college student majoring in English with an emphasis on creative writing and I had learned that sometimes it’s helpful to write down something in order to think about it, and sometimes it helps to write it down because its the only way to get it out of your mind.
I suspect what I went through was completely normal after a loss like that. I have no idea what it’s like to lose a child, but I did see its horrific nature in my parents’ eyes. That look actually changed the shape of their eyes; it dulled the color of them; it was there when each of my parents took their last breath.
That was 1982 when I wrote my fantasies down. In today’s world if the cops found them on my cell phone I would immediately be considered guilty by my fellow countrymen. I would, in effect, lose my right to due process. People would make statements like "I hope they fry him!!!! What about the poor people he was going to kill or rape?" Or "Severe dangerous mental illness (sic) probably just runs deep in that family." Or "dis guy was sick in d mind (sic)." And if someone did express concern and sympathy over my rapidly diminished and temporary mental state, they would be chastised crudely.
Somehow, as a nation, we have lost our humanity. We just pronounce people guilty without any evidence at all. The cops, or some other authority figures, come out and proclaim that someone is a danger. It’s never a psychiatrist who does that, because they know better. In the case of Professor Rainer Klaus Reinscheid, it never occurs to us that someone who has made a study of psychiatric disorders might understand there are real benefits to writing down fantasies in graphic detail. There may have even been benefits in acting out and starting small fires. It’s possible, at least in my mind. And if the person does it knowing they will have to face the penalty for arson…
The truth is we really don’t know what was going on in the case of Professor Reinscheid, but if you’ve already decided he’s guilty of something like rape, aren’t you more of a danger to our way of life than he? If you’ve made statements like "it’s not an excuse for killing and raping, should we let him go free and hope he gets help" you’ve already pronounced him guilty without the benefit of a fair trial, without so much as a glance at the actual evidence. Isn’t your behavior a danger to all of us because it undermines our system? If you’re willing to dispense with his right to due process doesn’t that mean the same rules will apply to you? Are you really so sure of yourself that you can condemn when you really know nothing at all?
I don't know what was going through his mind, because he lost his son and I can't relate to that level of loss. I can get part of the way because Marty and Jenny were murdered in a particularly gruesome manner. It could be that his son was gay and being bullied and thought hanging himself was the only solution. Around these parts that's a very real possibility. Far more so that his son was just mentally disturbed, as people with no knowledge of the events have already pronounced him. I've seen the bigots around here. It would be Hell to be a gay kid. And extremely hard to be an enlightened parent of a gay kid. But that's just more dangerous speculation.
Now, the gas station owners could improve the situation by painting some ENORMOUS arrows on the pavement pointing in opposite directions on each side of the island, but somehow I doubt they will. So this situation has likely played out before, and it will probably play out again, perhaps with less benign results. I won't be back to find out. My main point is that it was in the balance for those couple of seconds. It's a place from which all sorts of mayhem may ensue. I let someone in the wrong back me down. I did not choose this battle. But with a simple fateful twist things might have inflamed. And God only knows who'd get burned.
Meanwhile, the yoohall lady is, like, right on my ass, and when she sees that I'm not pulling forward to the second pump, she leans on the horn and starts yelling. I get out of the car, walk up to her open window and explain that the car I had allowed to pull in was there before her. She isn't happy but relents.
FWIW, this all happened in the context of the renowned ethnic diversity that is Long Beach: white, black, mexican, and middle eastern agents, far from the landlord's paradise that is BSNaples Patch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM8a2bhswXU Gas on a Budget (4.6 mi from The Shore) http://patch.com/N-dRFs
Lazlo would have been less petty, but that's the best you can expect from the likes of me. :)
You seemed traumatized by other's comments (enough to write a blog about it) & I felt bad for you, which is why I stated that you shouldn't listen to them. There is no way in hell I would put my real name in this comments section full of crackpots and nut jobs. With one Google search, a person could find out where I live or work. I care far too much about my own security to do that. In case you haven't noticed, not everyone who posts here is sane. ...and post a picture of myself as well? You've got to be kidding. I have enough stalkers already. I am sorry that you can't take a person seriously (one who not only agrees with your blog but also felt awful about what you and your family went through) that values their own security and would prefer to be mocked by the likes of Shri. If your reading comprehension is that poor, I won't bother commenting to any more of your blogs.
Once again, I wasn't "traumatized" by the other's comments. I write. That is what I do. Their comments just gave me a bigger subject to write about. How we are flushing the notion of due process in this country. And I was as serious as forty-below-zero. I don't give credence to anyone who can't use their real name and take responsibility for their words.
I do note that the OCR reported this comment: "Based on the location and nature of the arsons, we believe the defendant was specifically targeting the people and places he believed were related to his son's discipline," District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Farrah Emami said. -and- "Reinscheid is accused of setting the fires and attempting arson between July 4 and July 24 by lighting various objects on fire, including newspapers, fireplace logs, brush and vegetation, a book and a plastic porch chair. All the fires were set late at night or early morning, stayed relatively small and caused minor damage, prosecutors said." I believe that whether Reinscheid is convicted of these arsons and, if so, how he is sentenced may depend more upon his intent (which his emails can provide proof of) than upon the damage actually caused. Do we know *why* the fires stayed small and caused little damage? Is it because he intended that this be the case, or because he was just really bad at setting arson fires? Again, for me, there's not yet enough information available to know. One would think that, as a University Professor, Reinscheid would certainly known how to seek out and receive help in the form of counselling had he sincerely wanted to. Ultimately, though, these will all be questions for the mental health professionals to try to answer now.
When you have had a stalker come to your house, maybe you will understand why I am not about to advertise what I look like or my full name. IMO, anyone who puts that info out there & then spouts off the way you do is an idiot. Or maybe you would like to give your personal info to the likes of Bo Bo & see what happens. Really, you seem like a sad, lonely man with nothing better to do than to keep this crap going. Have at it. There are plenty of people here who like to argue about nothing, so I'm sure you'll be on to the next person shortly. Have fun.
Hi Josephine, Sounds like you've got two questions, if I'm not mistaken. 1) How do I add a photo to my Patch profile? A: First sign in at missionviejo.patch.com, then hover over your name in the upper-right corner of the page. You'll see "profile" as an option. Click on that. Under The Basics, look for Profile Photos. Click on that, then simply upload a photo from your computer by hitting the Upload Photos button. 2) How do I start a Patch blog? I really need an e-mail (and hyperlinking) to answer this! Please e-mail me back. If you have any questions at all, e-mail or call me! 949-280-4719; peter.schelden@patch.com
John, we're in agreement and that was the whole point of this piece. Your attitude toward due process is one our society has moved well away from in recent years. And that doesn't bode well for our judicial system, which isn't perfect, but it's better than most of the other countries out there. The move away from innocent until proven guilty has been fueled by the news media to be sure, and the fact so many people take the talking head approach is a testament to how lousy our education system has become.
And she can always go to http://side-six.com/patchblog.html for help getting set up.
You are a loser, man or women. Can not tell what you are so plz specify if you are not to paranoid. I know a lot about Dan as he has opened up to the fullest ,as I have, to educate people in the shadows of life. If you knew me you would show a lot more respect to me rather then your glib assertions behind the keyboard.
Prof R set fires and wrote in a journal / Email that he wanted to hurt / kill certian people. His fires were either very well set to stay small and do very little damage or very poorly set so that they didn't get bigger and do lots of damage and hurt / kill someone. Now from your writing, ( I have not googled Prof R, and have not read about him) you don't think that his writings should be used against him and that the information that has been written about him give people the wrong opinons of him before he has gone to court. So if I have this right then what would you say to a person that was an expert shot with a rifle and missed you, not by much but did hit what he was shooting at (you know next to your head) and wrote down all this plan in his journal or Email. Did he just try to kill you or was he just working though things? Your life let him go right. Did he miss because he wanted to or that shot was just an oops. Do you know.
Oh, good. A completely unbiased perspective! "you don't think that his writings should be used against him and that the information that has been written about him give people the wrong opinons of him before he has gone to court." Do you have a guess why the DA has not charged him for those emails yet? You'd think that a competent DA who is using the contents of those in speeches through his surrogates would use charges because of those emails, if they were that incriminating. Instead we have "The emails themselves do not support a criminal charge but support a need to hold him without bail," she said. "she" being Emami, a DA spokesperson
I don't know what the DA has said. OK got it. And no one has a completely unbiased perspective on anything, especially me; I have an opinion on everything. However your question seems to be that if someone is running about setting fires and he wrote that he wanted to hurt / kill someone that this is not reason enough to put him in jail without bail. Did you read my question to Dan? So attempted murder is ok I understand you tried to shot me and failed. That’s ok better luck next time. First off if it was me that he wanted to hurt / kill, I would tell the police that I have a gun/bat/large knife and if he comes after me I will protect me and my own. Second YES I DO WANT HIM IN JAIL I DON'T WANT TO KILL OR HURT ANYONE and I don’t want to be killed. Third it is not the DA's job to set jail but put people in JAIL that meet the requirements of law as he sees it and let the Judge set the Bail amount if any. And you don't want to debate about rights of people that kill people because they are "insane", My opinion is pretty SET; if they are… put them down like a rabid dog. They aren't going to get better, even with medicine because they can't be FORCED to take it. THEY HAVE RIGHTS TOO. Right?? Does this answer your questions, because your questions didn’t answer mine?
"Did you read my question to Dan?" Yes. You compared someone shooting with a rifle near your head and someone writing down vile things about that shooting, and starting a fire, the vile things being unrelated to starting the fire. Since you also seem to be aware that firing a rifle at someone's head or in the vicinity is, shall we say, not the same as writing in a journal that he wants to rape/hand someone, was there a question left to be answered?
Did he light the fires, Yes or No? If Yes then put him in jail, no if's no and's just put him in jail. If No then let him go. However from both you and Dan it sounds like you believe he did light the fires, so my question then would be why do you want a guy running around lighting fires? Is it because he is not after you or yours? There is NO difference between killing someone by arson then by gun. Nor is there a difference between TRYING to kill someone by arson or a gun. SO I guess the question for you is why are you trying to protect someone that is setting fires and then when they investigate him, find that he really does wants to hurt / kill someone. In his own words. I’m not really sure you get that attempted murder by any means is not good, this is what my question was trying to point out. And to the law even if I shoot at you trying to miss and do miss, it is still attempted murder. The same for starting a fire. I don’t know about him raping anyone or is that just in the emails. If he said he wants to rape someone especially a named person and he is lighting fires to hurt / kill that same person then YES put him in jail. Again not researching this just getting info from you two.
I am done, they won't put me on the jury.
I get that. What I am pointing out to you is that his emails contains descriptions of how he would love to be hanging someone, raping someone, blowing up people, etc. And that despite all of that, the charges against him are for arson. You know, the only crimes he allegedly committed. None for his emails. Attempted murder is not good as you say, just as attempted rape would not be good. But the Prof has not been charged with attempted rape, even if his emails speak of them. His emails are off the charges as well, even if they contain visions of setting a school on fire. "Again not researching this just getting info from you two." Hmm, maybe that is the problem, and if so, you can follow the article which points to at least one link, and then there are others on the Patch which tell you the contents of the emails. Now Dan wrote this, AFAIK, to address the issue of how people jumped on the accused (and those links are still there) for acts he *thought* of. That thoughts should not be prosecuted, or else we create a very dangerous society. He even relates a personal example, one that could not have easy to even recollect. Take care, Bruce.
It sound to me as if you didn't read my piece carefully. I wasn't writing about Professor Reinscheid. Whatever he did or didn't do is really beside the point. I was writing about how many people rush to judgment without knowing the facts. People half read things, they half way listen, and then they go off half-cocked. Pretty much the way you've done here. You should be glad we don't use writing to hang people. The second paragraph of your first comment can be read as a direct threat on my life because you use the second person, "you" in a way that grammatically resolves back to me. Or did you mean that you plan on shooting me in the head and it really doesn't matter much one way or another to you how accurate your shot is as long as you drop me?
Now on your 7th paragraph you try to make me think that if I hear something about anyone that I am pronouncing him guilty before his trial. But you are the one telling me about “something like rape”, and “going to Kill or rape”. Your creative writing class is doing good here, it’s keeping me reading but no real subject matter to follow. If you are going to leave those hanging out there that someone is spreading these statements, then you either need to state that there is no proof to those statements or you are spreading the rumors just like the people you claim to be only partly reading information and jumping to conclusions.
As far as bigots go OC not bad, grew up with lots worse, and being the parent of a gay kid would only be hard if you were ashamed of him/her. So now you only half read things yourself didn’t you. My question was not about how people rushed to judgment on your example, but what you thought the difference was between the two examples; yours and mine. And in the 2nd par it would have been my 2nd comment since you want to go point by point. Please don’t count comma’s I suck at that. Well on the second person stuff you got me and if you want to read it your way ok. I think 99% of the people here will read it as a question that you have not answered. The question either good or bad was elicited because of what you wrote. Which, as a writer is what you want right. So if I wrote the wrong question, isn’t it on you to write a better article to get me to the right question, after all you are the English major / creative writer, where I am your reader.
I don't spoon feed readers and expect them to make connections as they read. Did you notice who was on fire? You don't see a connection between that and what you call my "subject?" You can't see a connection between who was on fire my "Fantasies?" You really don't see any subject matter there and how it might apply to our society's tendency to prejudge? If you really can't connect each paragraph and see how one leads to the next, there's not much I can say except you're not in my audience.
Then you tried to relate your fantasies to what Prof R did in his writing and I got that. Now your statement “That was 1982 when I wrote my fantasies down. In today’s world if the cops found them on my cell phone I would immediately be considered guilty by my fellow countrymen.” You didn’t say that you also set fires about the home or some such structure of the people that were friends and family of Mr. Ferry. So no, go right ahead and write all your fantasies on your phone computer or paper, until you do something about it I DON’T care.
Yes I might think you were sick, nuts or crazy but go right ahead. Is that your point? I judged him/you with only the facts I have therefore I am jumping to conclusions, half reading? If so then your article is worse than I thought, because you might be able to diagram as sentence but you don’t understand the human being. (see one paragraph, cover a lot of ground but on point) I see the connection of the two fires, but there is no half reading or jumping to conclusions in your fire. You show how you and Prof R are the same BUT different. You wrote your fantasies down and did nothing. He wrote his fantasies down and followed through on some. (Maybe you just picked a poor example, but then you story about your fire would really have no place to go.) And to the people who judged him with the information given to them found him guilty. You say they can’t, won’t or are to stupid to read / know everything about the case and therefore our system of law is dying on the vine. You are any idiot done.