Man Kills Waitress Over Letter to Editor in Local Paper

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_di...

Man Kills Waitress Over Letter to Editor in Local Paper

By E&P Staff

NEW YORK A well-known resident of Hominy, Okla., walked into a local diner Tuesday afternoon and shot a pregnant waitress, 26-year-old Becky Clements, in the head, then shot her again in the stomach and chest. Sheriff Ty Koch said the motive is apparently a recent letter to the editor of the Hominy newspaper, the News Progress, written by the woman.

Osage County authorities say they'll ask for two first-degree murder charges against 63-year-old Roy Westbrook.
Westbrook was recently honored by the newspaper as Hominy's 2004 Citizen of the year.

Clemens was 11 weeks pregnant.

The newspaper is a weekly with a circulation of about 1,500.

The letter from the dead woman had said local vandalism is done by prominent citizens and referred to spray-painted graffiti on a rental home owned by Westbrook, although it did not name him. The letter did say the spray-painting was done by the owner.

<</SNIP>>

[getmeouttahere]

1. Ah, the culture of life....

we will ALWAYS be victims of gun violence because we are so gun crazy there is no going back

[tmooses]

4. I'm sure the NRA/gun nuts would say she should have been packing

while she was serving those tables.

[sybylla]

13. Nah, but I'd suggest gun laws wouldn't have prevented it.

This was seriously premeditated. If he couldn't have taken her out with a gun, no doubt a large knife would have sufficed.

And I would add that gun restrictions and background checks wouldn't have likely refused ownership to a "prominent citizen."

Some people just do bad things and they'll do it with whatever tools are available.

My sympathies to the victim's family and my best wishes to the DA prosecuting the murderer.


on edit: I'm not a member of the NRA but I do own guns so as that usually qualifies me to be a "gun nut" in the minds of people who use that term liberally, I thought that qualified me to answer. If not, pardon my intrusion into your rant.

[getmeouttahere]

19. It's cool, I'm not really for too much gun control anyway....

after all, Canadians have tons of guns and have 1/1,000th the amount of gun violence as we do. It's the mentality that we have, that guns (specifically guns made only for killing) are ok and the answer.

[Terran]

22. A young woman could have out-run an old bastard

with a knife. Your reasoning doesn't quite square with reality on that one.

[Zhade]

27. self-delete

.

[Straight Shooter]

31. Not if he walked up quickly, pulled it out and stabbed her.

There is a certain freeze response that many people exhibit when confronted with the terrorizing aspect of a knife being pulled on them.

[LiberalFighter]

38. Easier for others to provide assistance to the victim

[Terran]

44. Yes, there are all kinds of scenarios one can describe involving a knife

There's basically only one (well, two if she survives, however unlikely that is) when you bring a gun into it.

[Toots]

35. You are probably correct but guns just make it soooo much easier

Why is it America is alone in this behavior?

[CAcyclist]

36. If I Had My Choice

I'd choose to be attacked with a knife,myself, rather than a gun. At least I'd have a fighting chance.

[MadisonProgressive]

40. I don't know about anyone else, but

I'd much rather be attacked by a man with a knife rather than with a gun. It's MUCH easier to outrun a knife than a bullet.

[sakabatou]

34. Citizen of the year my ass

[UrbScotty]

2. What is wrong with speaking out?

[NaturalHigh]

3. I heard about this...

last night on the local news, but they didn't give a motive. This guy sounds pretty unbalanced to me.

[Norquist Nemesis]

5. Wow! Citizen of the Year just fell from his pedestal

The guy is either crazy as a loon or has some serious anger management issues.

[rfranklin]

6. 100% guaranteed that he is a Republican...

Surprising that he didn't molest the baby before he shot the mother.

[PunkPop]

8. Now, now. We shouldn't assume.

But no way would I bet against it.

[karlrschneider]

7. Here's a link to a short summary from KOTV Tulsa nearby

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&i...

Strange...

[RememberWellstone]

9. Thats horrible.

I guess she was right about him.

Wanna bet this "citizen of the year" was church going Pube too?

[onehandle]

10. There goes the liberal media again...

Why don't they report about all of the pregnant waitresses who weren't shot dead that day. The vast majority of pregnant waitresses were Not Shot Dead. A few may have been shot dead, but those dead pregnant waitresses are far in the minority.

[chebychev]

11. More fuel for the anti-choicers!

Every time a murder charge is filed on behalf of a fetus (NOT a life), our cause is damaged. It's a FETUS! Not a BABY, goddammit!

[UpInArms]

12. Citizen of the Year????

A vandal and a murderer.

As this woman's sister was the tenant of this lunatic's house, she probably knew of what she wrote to the paper.

I do hope this "model citizen" learns lots about the inside of a cell for the remainder of his life.

[dryan]

15. Folks...

this is a horrible tragedy.

[MadisonProgressive]

41. I've never seen a democrat that ugly before. Proof positive it's a puke!

[0007]

50. Does anyone have the letter to the editor.....that prompted this madman?

[daleo]

I wonder what the subject of the graffiti was?

Political, religious, racial? The article doesn't say, but it may be a telling detail.

[fob]

14. Will this be the case roberts gets to overturn roe v wade with?

Notice they will be charging this guy with 2 counts of first-degree murder, one of which will be for an 11 week old fetus. Westbrook's atty will "fight" that count saying an 11 week old fetus has no rights due to roe v wade, and the new & "improved" SCOTUS will HAVE to overturn roe so that Baby Clements can get justice.

Clements? Wasn't the leaked SC nom's name Clement? BRB.





OK, I'm better now.

[Theres-a]

20. You're not alone

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[fob]

21. Yeah I read that. And nice cross posting job btw!

[ElectroPrincess]

16. Let's sic that nut-case commentator Nancy Grace on it this evening

on CNN? No, it doesn't sparkle enough ... well unless the waitress is blond haired, blue eyed with wealthy family collections.

Bummer? Guess we'll still be hearing about that rich blond Alabama woman missing in Aruba.

[Trillo]

17. All I got to say is

Becky Clement's letter seems it was likely the truth. Nothing hurts like the truth.

[PunkPop]

18. Another case severely testing my opposition to the death penalty nt

[Algorem]

23. .

[LisaM]

24. I wish papers would publish letters anonymously

They used to (you could sign them things like "a concerned citizen" and so forth.) Now they insist on putting your name in, which I feel is a disincentive to writing.

[sojourner]

26. And that's the point! You can be hunted down like the yellow dog liberal

baby-killin' commie-lovin' (oops, I meant terra-ist lovin') socialist rat that they know you are. Just like Ms. Clement.

[progressivebydesign]

39. Our paper has an anonymous "cheers and jeers" section.

You can write things like that, as long as you don't use people's names or use blatant personal attacks. A citizen could write, with secrecy: Jeers to so-called prominent citizens who stoop to painting graffiti on their own rental units. Or something like that.. I would never write a letter such as that poor woman did, for fear of some loony ass murder coming after me.

[Ezlivin]

25. That makes him eligible to be treated like an "enemy combatant"

And with that honorarium comes the tasty meals he'll get at Gitmo. I'm sure they'll let him watch Fox News in his cell.

[bushisanidiot]

28. It's her fault for not having a gun cocked and ready in case stuff

like this happens. everyone in america should carry a gun! especially pregnant women and children!!!


GUNS! GUNS! GUNS!!!

puke.

[getmeouttahere]

30. The "puke" signals sarcasm, right?

[bushisanidiot]

32. The "puke" is for the gun freaks.

i'll bet the nutso old man was a card-carrying NRA member.

you can't drink and drive, but you can drink and carry a gun.

buncha crazies guntards.

[truthisfreedom]

29. bush culture= speaking out, speaking the truth, is un-American.

it's the culture of shut up or die.

[SemperEadem]

33. Can anyone find a link to the editorial she wrote?

I've tried a google search, but it turns up nothing.

I'd be interested in reading what she wrote.

[silverweb]

37. He was trying to evict her.

I wonder why.

Nothing could ever justify what he did, yet I can't help but wonder what history of antagonism is here and what else we don't know about in this case.

I had a landlord once, many years ago, who was sweet as pie until I gave him notice that I was moving. All of a sudden, strang things started happening around the house. He came in while I was at work and removed fuses so that there would be no lights when I got home. He causes minor damage to various parts of the house and property, I guess in the hope of blaming me for it. The day we moved, I left in the van and planned to return for my car later that evening, but he had it towed as "abandoned" as soon as I was out of sight. I had to get it back from the police impound yard. It was really a very strange and upsetting experience.

[daleo]

42. Crazy landlords are a good reason for buying your own home.

Most landlords are ok, but there are some irresponsible ones out there. Same goes for tenants, I guess.

[slackmaster]

43. That's for sure

My last (and I mean VERY last) landlord was a psycho.

[Pacifist Patriot]

46. Definitely.

I was a landlord once and hope to never find myself in that position ever again. Two out of three tenants were disasterous! Thank goodness the housing market came back and we could unload the place.

[Susang]

51. No, he was trying to evict her sister

At least that's what the linked article stated. Apparently, she believed that he spray painted graffiti on the side of the rented house in an attempt to gain a reason for the eviction. Considering his violent response, I'd say she might have been on to something.

[brentspeak]

45. Frightening, terrible

A young woman and her baby - dead, murdered. All because the woman exercised her 1st amendment right to free speech. And, given the outcome, she was probably right in the first place.

[Pacifist Patriot]

47. Highly disconcerting and tragic.

[oscar111]

48. ANONYMOUS LLTE's in your town allowed?; plus, how 2 end all Lanlrd ownrshp

LL is landlords.

I have seen awful ones. The laws protecting tennants mean to me, "if you try to get your rights, you get tossed out on some pretext", so really,

tennant rights are nonexistant.

it is HOUSE DICTATORSHIP in reality.

Condi's "freedoms"? Nonexistant. Look at reality. Also, "the poor man is everyone's slave". No freedom for the 15% in poverty, none at all.

Anyone know of ways to end LL pattern of ownership of apartment?
Off the top of my head, one could use Eminent Domain to convert every apartment to a condo, with the state paying the LL fair value, and then all rent applying to purchase from the state. Equity would also be portable if one moves.

================
LTTE'S... let the paper require your name so the editor can know who sent it, but then it should publish with a pen name if you want to. Ben Franklin used "Mrs. Dogwood", right?

[Pacifist Patriot]

49. No, my paper does not run anonymous letters.

They used to have a "cheers" and "jeers" section but even that had names on it.