Real tragedy, and sad irony
23/10/09 01:31 PM Filed in: Noteworthy News
While propped up in bed this morning enjoying my morning tea and enchanting electric flames from my little faux cast iron stove, I found this story about the Somer Thompson murder much less enchanting, but even more riveting than those electric flames. Tears came to my eyes as I read the sad tale of the chubby cheeked 7 year old who met her fate at the hands of a brutal killer.
As I wiped my eyes and continued reading the story I was struck by the irony of the the headline link right above it. Friend: Balloon mom will 'go down with the ship' that headline link screamed. How sad that floating above a very real story of grief and pain, was the headline to a story about just how far some people will go to get attention, or be on something as silly as a reality show. From what I've seen and read the whole nation, and even people in other countries followed the balloon boy story with bated breath, at first. But how many of those people saw and followed the tale of the truly missing little girl to its horrifying conclusion? Or did some people see that story, and brush it off now as another foolish hoax? Thank goodness those looking for that little girl did not do that.
I personally hope as many charges as possible are brought against the parents responsible for that foolish hoax so that others with as little sense of decency as those parents had, will be discouraged from trying to pull off similar hoaxes that could wind up causing law enforcement and others to treat real cases such as Somer Thompson's as a possible hoax. Kudos to the law enforcement officers, and regular community members who searched so diligently for Somer on the heels of the balloon boy hoax.
The irony of the headline link above the story about Somer Thompson, and sadness of that story was not all that struck me though. I found the fact that there are more than 155 registered sex offenders in that area, 88 of them in the Orange Park suburb just south of the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, just as disturbing as the murder of Somer. Reading those statistics got me morbidly curious about the number of registered sex offenders in Ward County, Texas. A quick Google search produced this page, which after doing a County search, told me there are 16 registered sex offenders in Ward County. Three of them in Grandfalls.
As I wiped my eyes and continued reading the story I was struck by the irony of the the headline link right above it. Friend: Balloon mom will 'go down with the ship' that headline link screamed. How sad that floating above a very real story of grief and pain, was the headline to a story about just how far some people will go to get attention, or be on something as silly as a reality show. From what I've seen and read the whole nation, and even people in other countries followed the balloon boy story with bated breath, at first. But how many of those people saw and followed the tale of the truly missing little girl to its horrifying conclusion? Or did some people see that story, and brush it off now as another foolish hoax? Thank goodness those looking for that little girl did not do that.
I personally hope as many charges as possible are brought against the parents responsible for that foolish hoax so that others with as little sense of decency as those parents had, will be discouraged from trying to pull off similar hoaxes that could wind up causing law enforcement and others to treat real cases such as Somer Thompson's as a possible hoax. Kudos to the law enforcement officers, and regular community members who searched so diligently for Somer on the heels of the balloon boy hoax.
The irony of the headline link above the story about Somer Thompson, and sadness of that story was not all that struck me though. I found the fact that there are more than 155 registered sex offenders in that area, 88 of them in the Orange Park suburb just south of the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, just as disturbing as the murder of Somer. Reading those statistics got me morbidly curious about the number of registered sex offenders in Ward County, Texas. A quick Google search produced this page, which after doing a County search, told me there are 16 registered sex offenders in Ward County. Three of them in Grandfalls.