That's a troubled kid. Could happen anywhere. You can't get away from the human mind, with all of its greatness and all of its psychoses.

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What a drag it is getting old. -- Stones

Oddly enough I did not at all watch any news that day...Wed I flew from Ohare to LAX - on the 777 we sat on the runway for 2 hours being de-iced over and over while the Notre Dame girls basket ball team was kinda loud in the back of the plane. Well, I get to taking to a woman who was also on her way to Santa Barbara who was complaining about her day - turns out she was a Valpo cop who was on the scene...small world...then again she was also on the scene when the guy in Valpo was arrested for having sex with a chicken in a hotel...the chicken did not survive...goes to show you can cut off a chickens head, pluck it, fry it and eat it...just cant fuck it...wonder if it would have been legal if it was a pre-dead store chicken? Anyways, it is going to be interesting to hear "why" the kid did it. Spooky people out there

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Hey, at least he rented a room. Or did the chicken rent it?

That's a damn good point. Maybe if we encouraged this trend it would be safe to visit interstate rest areas and local parks, just steer clear of the Super 8.

Not that I blame you, but urban flight is a large contributor to the plight of the inner-city.

There are forces at work much larger than one man, or one family, or even one community, and it is just a lot easier to move than fight what seems to be inevitable.

But in order to really escape the madness of the city one would have to try the Kaczinski plan and move to a log cabin in Montana, although I hear that the neighbors out there can be kinda creepy too.

I am gald you don't balme me, because I am not to blame. Never lived in a a Urban area, I grew up in West Lafayette, IN which when combined with Lafayyette the total population comes to around 100,000. Valpo is similar to WL in that is a small and has a college (Purdue and Valpo U). When my wife I were choosing a place to buy a house in NW IN we choose Valpo for the reasons stated above and the fact that it was similar to the town I grew up in (my wife is from NW IN so this was the comprimise in location).

The simple fact is that the "good" people are not the cause of the innner city plight as you say. It is just as stupid as saying guns kill people. It is not good people who kill others and it is a bad person who pulls the trigger. If the "good" choose to move themselves to a better area for any reason they choose no one should blame them. Given a choice I would choose a rural small town in the Midwest,like Valpo 999 times out of a 1000 before I would choose any big city or it's burbs. Go take a look at the crime rate for the major towns in the US that just came out, every single town on the list is a large city or part of the sprawl. And I know damn well that I have not one single thing to do with the crime in any of those cities, and niether do the the smart people who left them.

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I'm just a 10 cent rider on a $2,500.00 Bike

Hasbeen, I really don't blame you and I myself don't even live in the city.

I do however acknowledge that there is no place I can move to where I will be safe from senseless violence, stupid people, etc.

Eventually the filth of the decaying inner cities makes it's way outward into all of the hapless surrounding communities. It is a reality right now.

The peaceful little town of 10,000 where I grew up is now a first-class hole.

So who's to blame? Sure, bad people, but is it possible that there is more to this than good and evil? Perhaps there is something about our society that contributes to this process of urban sprawl and ghettoization. So what I am really contending is not that the victims of the recent stabbing you mention are guilty of anything, what I am saying is that on a collective level we may be contributing to the spread of "inner-city" style violence. When people with higher incomes leave the city there are fewer tax dollars for the local government to spend on improving the city. The city gets worse, more people leave; this becomes a negative feedback loop. The people in the burbs move farther and farther away, the problem gets worse. But true, no one in the suburbs will be brought up on charges of urban flight.

I don't have the answer to all of this and to be honest the reason why I went on about this has more to do with me just airing out some opinions. Please don't take it personally.

We take ourselves pretty seriously around here but I don't mean any harm by my comments. If at all possible I'd like to prevent every thread from becoming red state vs. blue state. ;)

That's horrible. One of the first widely publicized school shootings was in Pearl, Mississippi, fairly close to where I live.

Still, as an Ole Miss fan, Valpo will ALWAYS be known for the 4-point play (who the heck fouls someone shooting a 3-pointer with a 3 point lead?) at the buzzer that put us out of the tourney in the first round. Grrrrrrrrr.

There are way too many very unhappy, lonely, and desperate teenagers/kids today.

Parents need to do more to ensure their kids feel worthwhile, loved, and confident. Students will be better prepared to deal with one another in social situations.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Yup- bring back the two parent household with a strong Dad and Mom

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I'm just a 10 cent rider on a $2,500.00 Bike