Very proud of my wife

[halbautomatisch 60]

It was in NJ.

She could not be charged as an adult because she was thirteen. NJ law mandates that the offender must be 14 before their juvenile status can be waived. We tried to have that law changed and a bill was introduced that would have eliminated that age mandate, in the case of 'heinous' crimes. My mother-in-law's case was heinous. The details would make you sick. As if that wasn't bad enough, this girl took a shower, watched TV and made herself dinner while stepping over my mother-in-law. Although it would not have changed the case I speak of, it might have changed things for some other family. We worked hard, had good public and legislative support but could not get the bill past the Attorney General. I actually received a letter from the Attorney General's office stating that options suggested for the bill 'were just too difficult'.

At the girl's sentencing, the judge scolded her for forty-five minutes and told her how lucky she was that she was only thirteen. He said that he and his law clerk spent many hours trying to find a way to waive her juvenile status. Then, he turned to us, and said "please make something good come from this. Work to change the law" We tried for several years but could not get that bill out of committee to a vote.

Sorry... didn't mean to alter the thread and get on my soapbox. I'm just so F******* mad about it.

Your anger is excusable.

I'm sorry to hear about this tragedy.

[halbautomatisch 60]

while his message may be one that you are taking harshly due to the way he is conveying it.. while you may feel comfortable in your neighborhood.. it is better to not open the door at all.. I am not trying to tell you how to live.. how to feel.. or what to do.. patting her on the back for what she did after locking down the house is deserved.. she did exactly what she should have.. but avoiding the obvious fact that she could have become the victim of an insane amount of violence is foolish.. don't let your pride in her cloud reality.. yeah.. she did good tell her that.. but if you care about her safety.. tell her not to open the door for strangers.. especially at night.. not because we want to hurt her feelings or yours.. but because we don't want to read about a bunch of stolen guns ending up on the street.. or worse yet.. another innocent family butchered... the reason I said what I said was NOT to hurt your "e-feelings" but instead because I care..

I would agree

 

My property backs up to a major interstate highway and we have had people break down and knock on our back door (after scaling the fence and walking trough the woods)looking for help (less so now, since everyone has a cell phone these days).

About a year and a half ago I was reading the paper on a Sunday morning at the kitchen table, I looked up to see a man I didn't know standing on my back porch, when he noticed I saw him he tried to open the door, which I always keep locked for this reason. I walked to the door and asked him what he wanted and he said he needed water because of a broken rad. hose. I did not open the door until I retrieved and loaded a .38 snub nose and put it in my waistband. He was a longhaul truck driver and I end up letting him use the outside hose since I've been in those situations myself. I can only assume he was from some part of the country where people trust each other more and didn't think it would be a problem to open my door, I doubt he realized I was armed.

I wasn't going to take any chances.

[Mrs.Bry@n 0]

Back when I was living on LI, I had a UPS driver deliver a package to my door. I was much younger, home sick from school and alone. The guy didn't knock, didn't call out - just tried to open the door. Thankfully we were in the habit of keeping it locked. The bottom line - you NEVER know.... and therefore can't trust anyone!

 

 

Your wife had the right mindset and that's awesome!!!, but sometimes we forget that we should protect ourselves first, then our domain.

[bulpup 98]

I commend your wife. Your story has been a great point of conversation for me and mine.

 

I have two thing to convey to you.

The first is my story, although it is a retelling from another.

 

Before I deplyed to Iraq we would seek out those that were there to get a sense of things. One guy told us the following;

"There we were stopped and resting in the middle of no where. All of our trucks filled with JP8 (jet fuel) when the mortars came in. The guys I was talking to ran to their trucks like many others. I was trying to get a sense of where they were shooting from. What happened next I never expected. The guys that hadn't gone through Desert Storm had run for their cameras and were hoping to get a shot of a round going off. Afterwards they could not believe what they had done, but at the time there was no conception that what could go wrong was actually happening now."

 

I always remembered that. The first taste is always a lot of, "wow is this really happening?" So I can understand how your wife could end up on the front step in that situation.

 

 

The next is my wife's story she told me tonight.

 

" I was living in East Harlem, (6 white women in a building by themselves) and we had a window over the door. No one would ever open the door to a person they didn't know because even though we didn't want to appear racist the people we met in the neighborhood told us specifically 'in this neighborhood you have to do such and such'. So one day this young black man came to the door and none of us was expecting visitors. We didn't answer the door when he knocked. He kept knocking. Next thing we know he is up in the window over the door knocking on the window yelling "is anybody home!" He did this for a little while and my roomate shouted at him 'what the hell do you want!"

He was a florist deliveryman and had bunch of flowers for my wife. It was her birthday and her sister in law had assured him she was home.

 

So there is my long way around saying, Your wife could have done better and worse." But I think she did a great job thinking and not shooting and the lessons she takes from the experience will make her safer in the long run.

[JimmyAGR 54]

After reading all these posts, I think she did great. Could it have turned out bad, yes as can anytime we leave the house. I for one refuse to become a prisoner in my own house. I will not bar my doors and windows, I will go out and walk my neighborhood. if we are too scared to open our doors or walk around outside the bad guys have already won. I don't plan on being a victim but I refuse to live a hermits lifestyle. No one will make me or my family scared in my home. Life happens and you can not control everything but that is no reason to live in fear. Just my 2 cents.

[vladtepes 1,060]

After reading all these posts, I think she did great. Could it have turned out bad, yes as can anytime we leave the house. I for one refuse to become a prisoner in my own house. I will not bar my doors and windows, I will go out and walk my neighborhood. if we are too scared to open our doors or walk around outside the bad guys have already won. I don't plan on being a victim but I refuse to live a hermits lifestyle. No one will make me or my family scared in my home. Life happens and you can not control everything but that is no reason to live in fear. Just my 2 cents.

 

just to be clear I was not ever suggesting to lock yourself away in the basement only to never come out... I think that WE were saying.. the situation was suspicious and staying inside where your back is to the known.. is better strategically than walking outside where god only knows what is lurking around the corner.. it is not so much a paranoia as it is keeping safe in a specific situation..

[maideneddie 35]

So perhaps we can all just agree that she handled it well, and learned some lessons from this whole encounter. His wife is not some kind of trained law officer, or military, so she should be commended for what she did.

 

It is amazing how some of us have this tendancy to always make a mountain out of a mole hill and twist a thread like a twizzler

[hopper 36]

So perhaps we can all just agree that she handled it well, and learned some lessons from this whole encounter. His wife is not some kind of trained law officer, or military, so she should be commended for what she did.

 

It is amazing how some of us have this tendancy to always make a mountain out of a mole hill and twist a thread like a twizzler

The whole point of this topic was to get everybody thinking and i guess i have done my job , thanks to everyone for the good advice and the hopefully we have all learned a little here !!

[vladtepes 1,060]

twizzler

 

 

I like pull and peel!

[kenw 293]

I like pull and peel!

I prefer scratch 'n sniff

[vladtepes 1,060]

I prefer scratch 'n sniff

 

 

lol