I was a 15 year old sophomore at Hermon High School on Tuesday, November 15th, 1988. It was just another day for me. Six hours of school and then walk home. My house was about a half mile from the school via a snowmobile trail that ran through the woods but over a mile away by road, so I always walked home the short way.
On that very afternoon, less than two miles away, a gunshot from a hunter changed the Maine Woods forever. That was the day that hunter Donald Rogerson shot and killed a young mother named Karen Wood while she stood hanging clothes in her own backyard. The most outrageous thing about this unnecessary tragedy was that the hunter was acquitted of any wrongdoing.
An innocent woman was killed and the hunter's excuse was literally - "I thought she was a deer" and that was good enough for a jury to acquit him. An absolutely unacceptable outcome in my opinion. The good news is that Karen's death did shake up the laws and attitudes about hunting in the State of Maine and things have changed for the better since then.
I think this is a perfect example of one of the things that is truly wrong with modern America - personal responsibility. The hunter never took responsibility for his actions. To this day he still won't admit he made a mistake that cost a woman her life. Karen Wood did not get a second chance and I don't think that Donald Rogerson deserved one either.
We are far too eager to let people off the hook for their mistakes or for circumstances beyond their control. Did your daddy molest you as a boy? Then it's OK to kill and eat your neighbors, it's not your fault. Hello, McFly? No, it's not! It's never OK to kill your neighbors or shoot up the school or kill your ex-wife. Certain actions demand consequences, period.
I certainly am glad that Dick Cheney wasn't hunting with Donald Rogerson that day. Who knows how many more innocent Mainers would have been taken out then!
Bangor Daily News Article
Mood of the Day: Empathetic
Song of the Day:
"We both got dreams, we could chase alone, or we could make our own."
-Want To
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3 comments:
Dude, just as I was reading this with the morning news in the background they told the same story!
Good to know someone besides my roomate reads this, lol.
Ok, I'm just gonna come out and say this... I have a mental illness that makes me ineligible for gun ownership in some states, and I am more responsible with a gun than that guy. The unfortunate thing is, the more we strengthen gun laws, the more creepy people will get guns illegally. :sigh:... epic fail.
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