Road rage sentence
I’m sorry he got labeled “The Road Rager.” That must have hurt.
I wish he would’ve gotten the change of venue you wanted for him. People somewhere else would probably have understood that your son is really not so bad.
I’m sorry for the hate he suffered, and for the way science and engineering facts were used against him like that.
Juries should be composed of people like you, who understand the basic humanity of road-incident-participants, where others were driving wrong and needed to be taught a lesson.
It takes a big person to have empathy for families who lost their men. They deserve some empathy.
Isn’t it outrageous how people do mean things for their own selfish gratification, this time victimizing your son? I don’t know DA Chambers but if you don’t like her, neither do I. You had a rough time, so did your son. Why is there so much injustice in this world? A good mother stands by her son, no matter what he did. At least you can visit him and send him care packages.
Now I have to go. One of my kids killed a puppy with his teeth and got in trouble for it. I have to go defend him.
This letter has not been edited.
Clear the decks, Lisa. There are a lot of people out there who get their kicks out of kicking people who are down. The world could sure use more compassion and understanding. But its need for more compassion and understanding pales in comparison to such need on this forum.
I don't mean to say that I share all of your views. But I don't need to share all of your views to appreciate your humanity and the lack of it in the replies you will probably recieve.
Posted by Truth on April 28, 2007 02:38 PMIsn't Ms. Arata's sarcastic pen the essence of kicking someone when they're down? She can't understand why a mother would defend her son in spite of his sins? If I were the RMN, I would never have published this letter.
Posted by anderson on April 28, 2007 03:05 PMAnderson is correct. I must remind myself to read all of a letter before responding and then to be sure I understand it. Consider my post[s] to be withdrawn. Embarrassingly, Ms. Arata's letter says almost the opposite of what I attributed to it. I guess the insidiousness of it sucked me in. My thanks to anderson.
Posted by Truth on April 28, 2007 03:34 PMAnderson,
You said her letter was the "essence of kicking someone when they're down".
I didn't get the slightest inkling that Jason Reynolds mother was down about anything that matters. Like the two people her son killed or their families and loved ones. HER SON IS STILL ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is the epitomy of a self centered jerk and after reading his mother's letter, SO IS SHE.
Right on Lisa Arata
Posted by Zee on April 28, 2007 06:07 PMZee: "I didn't get the slightest inkling that Jason Reynolds mother was down about anything that matters. Like the two people her son killed or their families and loved ones."
Jason's mother expressed empathy for the victims and their families. Looks like I'm not the only who fails to read all of a letter.
But it is really great that we have these arm chair psychiatrists who can divine what a person who they don't know is like inside. Must be great fun.
Posted by Truth on April 28, 2007 06:23 PM
Truth,
Her supposed "empathy" ended with the words on the page of her letter and it doesn't take a psychiatrist to figure that out, just someone that reads the entire letter. My only divination of Ms Reynolds comes from observing her progeny and her insensitivity to it's actions.
I'm sure overall Jason was basically a regular guy and great son but his past DMV record illustrating his driving habits ,coupled with the horrendous accident HE INTENTALLY CAUSED does not give his Mom absolute moral authority.. He is solely responsible for taking the lives of two regular joes guilty of nothing but driving home to their families that night-families that will never see their loved ones again.
I could do without the sarcastic format of Lisa's letter but it was a response to an ,although predictably empassioned mothers defense of her son, an irrational letter.
Just my take-
Posted by GET REAL on April 28, 2007 08:36 PMReynolds mom probably should've just said nothing. What kind of reaction did she expect?
Posted by Charles B on April 28, 2007 09:32 PMI compare the responses to those of victims and families of victims of horrendous crimes who forgive the perpetrator, some only after years of carrying hatred within them. Dear Lord, I would sure hate to be judged on a single letter I wrote or a single outcry of anger I spoke. People who divine what a person is like from a single letter, particularly one written under such emotionally charged circumstances, are overly arrogant. Often they spend time judging others which would be better spent judging themselves.
Posted by Truth on April 29, 2007 06:06 AMI, for one, congratulate Ms. Arata for her words.
Virginia Reynolds should have expected these types of responses when she wrote a letter blaming everyone but her son for the predicament he finds himself in.
Her son's very deliberate and senseless actions resulted in the deaths of two people, but to hear her tell it, he's only in jail because the prosecution and media railroaded him.
What I would like to know from Mrs. Reynolds is didn't you ever ride in a car with him? Didn't you ever notice that he had some aggression issues when he was behind the wheel? Didn't you have anything to say about the 13 tickets in 10 years? And why didn't YOU do more to prevent this?
She had no words of empathy for the families and friends of Greg Boss and Kelvin Norman, just a lot of self-pitying for her son and herself.
She didn't acknowledge the fact that her son had a fairly extensive history of traffic violations and had recently been notified by the state patrol, by letter, that several other drivers had complained about his aggressive and dangerous behavior on the road. Anyone with a lick of sense knows that for every one of the 13 tickets he got in the last 10 years, there were surely dozens of times he got away with infractions.
His attorneys had the nerve to pen a letter to the Post in which they inferred that all of Reynold's traffic infractions were "minor" and even had the audacity to compare his driving record to that of Kelvin Norman, one of his victims. They do seem to understand that even the slightest traffic infraction can still have a very dangerous or deadly result.
I've heard enough boo-hooing for Jason Reynolds' from his mother, sister, and lawyers. The fact is that if any of them had shown this much interest in his agressive behavior earlier, he might not be spending the rest of his life in prison and two men might still be alive.
by truth
There are a lot of people out there who get their kicks out of kicking people who are down. The world could sure use more compassion and understanding. But its need for more compassion and understanding pales in comparison to such need on this forum.
gee you should read what you write and tell everyone else to do. sort of like the pot calling the kettle black. but that is truth to a tee. everyone is wrong but him. at least you did really read it and realized you are a jerk.
Posted by on April 29, 2007 08:42 AMMr. Anderson and Mr. Truth.......
Just curious...... what sort of justice would you two have meted out to Jason Reynolds??
I'll take a gamble and predict:
A slap on the wrist fine... a few years probation, a year suspension of license and rehab with anger management classes.
Zee:
"You said her letter was the "essence of kicking someone when they're down".
I didn't get the slightest inkling that Jason Reynolds mother was down about anything that matters."
Her son is in jail for life. If you can't figure out how that might "matter" to a mother or empathize even a little with her position, then maybe there's more than one "heartless bastard" in this story.
Charles B, the reaction to Ms. Reynold's letter was forseeable. On the other hand, should she have just kept her mouth shut and swallowed her pain? Her letter reminded me that we are all human and even those we perceive as being unredeemable are loved by someone.
Posted by anderson on April 29, 2007 11:09 AMT, did Truth or I say or even imply anything about the sentence of Jason Reynolds? No. Nice way to twist the issue at hand, infer something from nothing, and set up a strawman that you can easily knock down. It seems to me you are used to seeing issues as simply black and white.
Posted by anderson on April 29, 2007 11:21 AMHi, T. While I do feel from what I have read that the sentence given Jason was overly severe, I would have to have been at the trial and heard all of the testimony before I would try to reach a decision about his sentence. Are you enough of an American to understand that? Do you have enough common sense to understand that?
Likewise, I would have to know a good deal more about Jason's mother before I would feel comfortable making a judgment about her character. Do you have a sufficient sense of justice and fairness to understand that? Of course, the downside of such an attitude is that it precludes a person from expressing the kind of vitriol that we see posted about her, and the sense of satisfaction that some people seem to get from doing that.
Posted by Truth on April 29, 2007 11:24 AMWell said, Truth. And a little chuckle. Fie on endorphins. We want our vitriol!. What else can we use to spite our enemies?
Posted by anderson on April 29, 2007 11:49 AMMy first husband used to "teach other drivers when they were driving wrong." Then, one day, he was plucked out of his car, like a pimento out of an olive and spattered over the hood of the car by a truckdriver who had had enough.
Posted by Sharon B. on April 29, 2007 01:13 PMLisa Arata: Your letter initially caused a fury in me that mounted as I read. Your final sentence was a fury extinguisher; I am back to my happy camper status. I'm off to the mall where I hope to kick some ass at the chess table like I did last night where I'm still on a high. If I get any happier I'm going to burst. In the hundred comments to Virginia Reynold's letter only one (maybe two) align herself with her.
Posted by Richard Grimes r22037@yahoo.com on April 29, 2007 01:51 PMRichard Grimes: "If I get any happier I'm going to burst."
Richard, is there something I could do to make you happier? (joke)
Posted by Truth on April 29, 2007 02:45 PMAt least Grimes gets it!! Anderson and Truth can't even answer a simple question.
They just want to call people names!
Way to go Lisa Arata!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by on April 29, 2007 04:13 PM"Richard, is there something I could do to make you happier? (joke)," asks Truth.
Yo Truth. You will augment my happy camper status if you can find this kid, Keith, and assess him a quarter for every incorrect word he publishes and we will split the money and take a world tour. Yo
Posted by Richard Grimes r22037@yahoo.com on April 30, 2007 09:56 AMTruth and Anderson (and Bango Skank, for that matter) live in Ivory Towers where they look down on the rest of us and judge-yes, Truth, you do- the rest of us for responding to a woman who OBVIOUSLY hasn't made her son "own up" to his mistakes.
Just like in court, if you open the subject then one must address it....she started it. None of the "vitiol" would have been exposed if she hadn't written the original letter not apologizing and being empathetic to those whose lives her son destroyed BUT whining that the JUSTICE system had wronged him. Poor guy, nobody understands him but his Mommy....bet nobody else will visit him either.
P.S. Richard, I paid that guy to let you win...hahaha.
Yo Scaaty: Someone will object claiming we degrade this forum with our civil jest. I'm so old the only orgasm I enjoy now is at the chess table. Bruce is a killer. I have beaten him one time out of fifty. Saturday he said: "I'll give you ten to one odds." I can spring for a dollar accepting my own demise. My only explanation is that the transmogrified Jew saw me as his lost sheep (Jn.10) and I won. Bruce insisted on rematch: I won again. Now he owes me $20 and he insists on double or nothing. Feeling like Marlon Brando in The Godfather, I make him an offer he can't refuse: "Bruce, I'll give you this $20 you give me $1 or let me go home." We traded but he gave me $2. At my age a third orgasm would have killed me. I'll be on a high until I die. Thank you, Jesus.
Posted by Richard Grimes r22037@yahoo.com on April 30, 2007 11:37 AMRichard,
Funny how you are willing to give Jesus credit for your skills....do I sniff a hypocrite????
Still Crazy After All These Years......
P.S. You're not THAT old...
"truth" and anderson,
Will you visit the poor, over-sentenced
("thruth" words) Jason in prison?
How about writing his overwrought mommy
some letters of sympathy?
I didn't think so.
I'm comforted knowing he's not on the roads endangering you two anymore.
Posted by RickyLee on April 30, 2007 12:22 PMSharon, I'm curious about your pimento ex-husbands continued story. How was his driving after his little attitude adjustment?
Posted by on April 30, 2007 12:25 PMYou're funny, Ricky. And I don't mean haha.
Posted by Truth on April 30, 2007 04:56 PMYo Scaaty: I've never expended as much jest in this forum as I have herein and: Don't you get it? "Thank you Jesus” is a jest." Sometimes I say “Thank you Allah.” I’m an equally-generated deicide. Read any holy book whose premier scribes are appointed by an omniscient one and you will become a deicide. I am out to slay all gods except “She” who created men as a joke: Mother Nature. I better peruse the subject matter lest I get my knuckles rapped:
January 27, 2007, a Roadway Gladiator was sentenced to life in prison for using his car as weapon of choice to kill two who were not participating in Reynold's gladiator sport. More likely than not, his lawyer, Cherner, is appealing the verdict since taxpayers are picking up the tab thanking Jason for enrichment of the criminal defense bar.
Jason Reynold's total indifference, his aggressive and antagonistic behavior may be learned behavior from his mother or it is a gene problem creating a need for him to become an auto vigilante intent on enforcing traffic laws which he creates.
Jason's mother, Virginia, creates her own epistle that ends up in this forum seeking a "reversal of fortune" for her shenanigan inspired son who never matured. She seeks to put her brain-damaged son back out on the streets to resume his gladiator road rage sport.
Virginia has been swamped with responses that take the opposite ground from her viewpoint. It is time for her to donate all the money and real estate she has to the victims of her son. Jason and Virginia Reynolds have been totally remorseless evidenced in court and Virginia's letter in this forum. Ends before it is too late to make my long story short.
Richard, you, too, discount a mother's position, and call it "remorseless". Worse, you attribute the son's mistakes to his upbringing, although I don't know how you would know. Shall we conclude that behind every criminal is an evil woman? That's an easy way of dispensing of the crime issue, I suppose. In certain countries in Asia, there is a tradition of killing a man's wife, after he dies. Perhaps we could take a clue from them and imprison the mother of every kid that goes bad. Merle got it wrong. Mama never tried, eh?
Posted by anderson on May 1, 2007 11:15 AMAnderson: I said it was in the genes. Jason frightened or enraged other motorists with his maniacal driving habits. if you drive like Jason, I suggest it is gene-driven and since the condition is permanent, it is best to keep you out of society. Other letters support the view that Virginia gets hammered if for no other reason, her conduct in penning such a ridiculous letter in which she needs to defend "kill the puppy."
Posted by Richard Grimes r22037#yahoo.com on May 1, 2007 11:53 AMFACT is, mommy didn't show remorse
for the families of the people who were
MURDERED by the moron road-rager.
smarties like "truth and anderson want us
to believe different.
I urge EVERYONE to go back and read the
(remorseless) letter she wrote.
And I'm saying it's a natural mother's response, and it made me, at least, see the overall picture in a slightly different way. From what I know of the story, I figure Reynolds got what he deserved. At the same time, I figure he is a human being, and it's possible he is not merely the epitomy of evil. Even if you conclude the mother is wrong, her point of view is understandable. What gets me about events like this, or about anything controversial, is the unwillingness of many to consider or even acknowledge anything other than a single-minded point of view. If the world and our humanity was really such a black and white affair (no reference to chess intended), I doubt few of us would survive for long.
Posted by anderson on May 1, 2007 12:20 PMRickyLee, on your suggestion, I went back and read the letter from Ms. Reynolds again. Based on your comments, I'm guessing you didn't the letter at all.
Posted by anderson on May 1, 2007 12:32 PMI HAVE read it three times.
There is one weak line that might express a tiny bit of sympathy for the families of the murdered victims. VERY weak. However, the vast majority of the text rails against everyone BUT
the person who caused this tragedy.
I do agree with your 12:20 post, though, anderson. But I'm just not seeing a lot of remorse for anyone but her and her son.
If she expected some from the public, she certainly used the wrong tone in the attempt to solicit it.
Fair enough?
Posted by RickyLee on May 1, 2007 02:24 PMFair enough, RickyLee. Much fairer than your previous post.
Posted by anderson on May 1, 2007 03:16 PMMy pimento ex-husband, who is now on his 4th wife, never changed. He always had to control everyone around him.
But now that he is approaching 70, he can`t run or drilve fast enough to do much harm.
Posted by Sharon B. on May 1, 2007 03:55 PMI'll never think of an olive and pimento the same way again.
Posted by anderson on May 1, 2007 04:01 PMDirty martini anyone?
Posted by RickyLee on May 1, 2007 04:04 PM