A week feelin' like I'm back in news

One of the main reasons I left the news business was because almost all news is depressing.. There is even a saying in the news room, "if it bleeds, it leads" and that just wasn't a lifestyle I was comforted in.   Can you imagine reporting day in and day out?  Waiting and listening to police scanners to hear about a crash, a murder, or some thing awful that was happening close to you?  Close to your home?  Isn't the current state of the economy depressing enough with out hearing of something horrible happening right down the street from you?  Men showing up at their estranged girlfriend's or wife's work/home and killing them?  A missing elderly man or woman who suffers from Alzheimer being found dead because they forgot to eat?  Or a teenager being killed because a repeat drunk driver decided to get behind the wheel one Saturday afternoon..  This is the stuff I was supposed to be excited to tell on the news..  What about the good stuff to lift people's spirits?  To remind us of the "good" in life, the miracles that exist, SOMETHING to bring us a smile.

This past week I felt like I was back in that news bubble.  No, I was not actually reporting, but these horrible things that happened left me "reporting" them so to speak to my friends and family members.  Just this morning a friend asked me if I was reporting again.. Over Sunday dinner some parents were in awe of the tragedies I've experienced in my 26 years, and they didn't even hear the stories of this past week.. But here they are..

Tuesday:  According to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, in the early hours of May 11th, deputies were responding to a disturbance at a house party.  While responding, officers noticed a vehicle "diving erratically and believed the driver was trying to evade".  Two deputies followed the car to a drive-way where it stopped and questioned the driver.  The driver gave the officers a fake name and birthday.  At some point the officers noticed drug paraphernalia, but the report does not specify what kind of drug it was related to.  They must have asked the driver to step out of the vehicle, because the report says the deputies tried to detain the driver, but physical efforts on behalf of the law enforcement were not successful.  The suspect must have run because the officers tried to Taser him, but it was ineffective.  I am guessing that both prongs did not hit him.  Both prongs of a Taser must hit a suspect in order for the electric shock to pass between them and subdue a person.  Even if a Taser is successful, officers only have about a 5 second window to subdue a person before the human body recovers.. The county report says the officers then tackled the suspect, and the suspect "violently" tried to grab one of the deputy's gun out of its holster.  The deputy shot the suspect three times: stomach, chest and wrist.  The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.  He was killed in his parents' yard...

That suspect was in my fifth grade class and went to school with me through high school.  His name is Matthew Wayne Rife, or just Matt as he was known in school.  We did not hang out in the same circle of friends.  I was known as a "goody too shoes" most of the time in school, and Matt was known as a "trouble maker" say to speak.  I don't think Matt was a bad kid, I just think he maybe didn't think through all of his decisions thoroughly.  And I'm not going to pretend like I have any idea what was going on in Matt's head all those years, or what was going on in his heart.  I do know that Matt was a person... He was a son, a brother, a friend; and his life was taken at such a young age, so tragically.  And his parents, I can't imagine their grief right now.

People say the deputy, Margarito Rosales Jr., was over the top shooting Matt three times.  I do not know what happened because I was not there.  I will say that officers are trained, during self defense, to fire TWO instinct shots, step back, aim, and fire.  (and you aim for the chest)  That would make sense if say Rosales shot Matt's hand, chest, stomach- hand close to pistol, chest as instinct and then aimed for his stomach- but the report does not depict which order the bullets were fired off.

What I do know is that God has a perfect plan, and it would be egotistical on my part to ask why? Although I am sure many of Rife's friends and family are doing just that.  Who wouldn't in their situation?  I pray for the Rife's- for THEM to have peace and for THEIR understanding.  I pray for Deputy Rosales and his family is dealing with the loss of life.  And I pray for Deputy David Borchardt (the other officer with Rosales) for a peace and calmness after having to witness the death.

[Matt did have a criminal record including being on probation for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.  That does not mean he an ANY way deserved this, but it may have increased the threat felt by the officers.]

Wednesday:  What is it about young adults, teenagers, and their need for fast cars and speed?  Make no mistake, I'm guilty of a lead foot.  When I was 17 I got a ticket going 92mph on Interstate 45 in Fairfield.  Cop was under the bridge waiting for me.. And I have plenty of other speeding tickets, just ask my insurance agent..  But in all the accidents I've heard of, and the accidents I've reported on, I have NEVER seen anything like what happened to Shaun Finley.

Around midnight, police officers believe Shaun was traveling at a high rate of speed on headed south on I-45 when he hit a curb, or something and it send his car flying, rolling possibly end over end before his car came to rest on the roof of a gym.  No telling how long it was before emergency crews arrived, but by the time they were able to reach Finley, he was pronounced dead.  Literally he landed about 20 feet in the air and his car was unrecognizable.  I know he has a picture on his myspace page of his car going 162 mph, but there has not been a report put out as to what they suspect his speed was in this particular crash.  

Just look at the fireman's face in this video (5:05) upon peering into the car   I know emergency personnel are trained for accidents, for tragedies, but I am not sure how training could have prepared him for that site.  And once the car is on the ground, the images of the car are just so sad.  I pray that Shaun went quickly and did not suffer.  I pray for the emergency responders on the scene that they are able to quickly forget the images of that night.  And I pray for Shaun's family, for his parents to have lost their son at 21.

Shaun's dad is Sgt. Dwayne Finley with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Dept.  

What is awful is that some of Matt's friends, upon hearing of Shaun's death called in "karma" even though Sgt. Finley had nothing to do with Matt's death.  BOTH of these two boys were far too young to die, and to have died the way they did.  I've said it thousands of times, parents are NOT supposed to have to bury their kids: no matter how "good" or "bad" they are, or the mistakes that they have made.

 Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Matthew 5:44
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

   Hebrews 12:14-15
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that

  whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
I'm interested to see if anyone responds. It was just out of control what they were saying to one another

Sunday:  I actually heard about this story today, but it happened yesterday so I will say it was Sunday.  We have all heard of Project Prom, or Operation Graduation.  They are parties the high schools sponsor to offer clean fun for the students to help protect them.  That's exactly what Bellaire High School did Saturday night after the prom.  I guess the school rented out a local Dave & Busters for the kids to play games at.

After prom night and hanging out at the school-sponsored after-party, Bellaire High School basketball star Tobi Oyedeji dropped some friends at their homes Sunday morning and then texted his father, “Dad, I'm on my way home,” he wrote at 5:53 a.m.

About 20 minutes later, the 17-year-old's silver car crossed over into oncoming traffic and crashed a Jeep head-on, police said. The driver of the Jeep died at the scene, and Oyedeji died later in the day at Ben Taub General Hospital.  No drugs or alcohol are believed to have been involved in the accident; it's believed that he nodded off while driving.

Tobi Oyedeji was a top Texas A&M recruit, just a few days shy of turning 18, graduating from high school and starting summer college courses.  "The world has lost a great kid today," Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said in released statement. "Tobi epitomized the term student-athlete. He was a very good student. He worked hard in the classrooms and on the basketball court and he was a terrific basketball player. This is difficult to understand and today is a very sad day. My heart aches for his mom and dad. Tobi was an only child and I would like everyone to pray for Tobi's parents."

 "I loved that kid," Turgeon said. "I loved that kid. This is really, really hard."  Turgeon said Oyedeji was the first player he recruited when he took the job three years ago. "This has been a three-year relationship, we were really close," Turgeon said. "From the first day he came to our camp, I knew he was coming to Texas A&M. He was going to be an engineer. This was the perfect place for him."

"He was going to be a big part of our program," Turgeon said. "More than just basketball, his personality, his character, he would have helped us in so many ways. He was a great student. He epitomized the values we have here."  Turgeon said details on the memorial service will be provided early this week. He added that the Aggies will do something in memory of Oyedeji next season, but to what extent and how it will be done is still undetermined.

"That kid right there was better than good," said RCSSports.com founder Jim Hicks, who got to know Oyedeji and his family well over the years. "That dude was special. If you take basketball out of the equation, he was the type of young man who would be on the city council or even run for mayor."

Oyedeji's Facebook page was filled with messages of condolence. He had written on his page this month that he graduates on May 30 and had to be at A&M by May 31. Underneath that he had a passage from Psalms 23, "The Lord Is My Shepherd."

The Houston Chronicle reported, that Michael Oyedeji held his head in his hands as he showed a reporter a last desperate text message he sent to his son at 6:48 a.m.  It said simply: “Call me when you get this message.”  A short time later, he received a grim call from the hospital.

My heart aches reading that last little paragraph.. tears filled my eyes the first, the second and the third time I read it.  This kid was consciously trying to be safe.  He had enjoyed his senior prom, was having fun with his team mates, his classmates and driving home.  His parents, losing their only child days before he turned 18.  I didn't know Tobi, but I know the Aggie family missing a kid who seems to have embodied what it means to be an Aggie, and the coaches and staff who were already close to him lost a friend. 

Coach Turgeon and some of the other Texas A&M basketball players and staff went down to Houston today to bring food and support to Tobi's family.  Man I have more and more respect for that coach and his staff.  Hope his tenure at A&M is a long one.

Nope, I don't miss telling those stories... I don't miss the heart ache, the sadness, my in-ability to separate myself from the story, from the people (which made me a "bad" reporter).  This week, those stories have got me down.  Not to mention the flood I drove through Friday and the scare it gave me, and hearing that a woman drowned after her car got stuck in water, the same water I was fearful of..  

But you know what else?  On the good news side, I had a great weekend, with not enough sleep, spending time with people I don't get to see near enough: friends, family, relationships, with so much meaning that truly make me smile and make me happy regardless of the distance between us.  So on that same high note, I will write about my Saturday festivities later on this week.  A full day and night with 3 girls I went to high school with, 3 girls I met for the first time, and a short visit from a college friend :)