We received two thank you’s this week we are not sure we deserved and we are not sure we want them.
The first was from a friend of Mike Newcastle who credited our stories about his so called torture for his transfer out of ESP also called the Graveyard to the relatively cushy High Desert Prison near Las Vegas.
While we agree in principal that prison inmates should be treated humanely we also know that in the management of violent men sometimes one has to be violent. We also know the guards while being professional are still men. We also know that there but for the grace of G0d, we go.
Once 30 years ago we also guarded prisoners and we committed a war crime. He was a blond haired blue eyed East German volunteer to the PLO. Our IDF unit captured him in a skirmish outside of Sidon, Lebanon along with about 30 other of his comrades. Our job was to guard him and his buddies until the MP’s picked them up.
They were bound hand behind their backs sitting down with their ankles tied together. They were helpless and as we walked down the rows the German said quite distinctly judenschwein as we passed.
We kicked him in the face.
Granted we were young and granted we were not trained to handle POW’s and granted we were in a war zone and granted the Nazi SOB had it coming, but if that had happen today with cell phone cameras and the internet we shudder to think what would have happened to us.
But with it being 1982 all we got was a yelling from our captain, a child of Holocaust survivors. He yelled until we told him what the German said.
So we completely understand if the guards handling Newcastle did not treat him so nice just after one of their comrades was beaten half to death.
We probably would have done worse.
The second thank you was from the family of Jacob Jones who credited our coverage of the story as a major reason why the DA did not just drop the whole case instead of getting that plea bargain.
Despite never having to serve another day in prison McCormick will have to carry around the label of felon for the rest of his life.
And after reading the proffer we are not sure he deserves even that.
Mr. McCormick could have very well been a victim of Popular Science.
Those were the days when “shaken baby syndrome” was getting heavy publicity and the death of Jacob Jones seemed to fit it perfectly.
That is until one looks just a little bit deeper.
But no one did and an innocent man may have 17 years in prison for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So we felt uncomfortable with the thanks, but by the end of this day we realized that it really does not matter whether we feel uncomfortable or not.
Our job is to report the news, what other do with that reportage is up to them.
And yes if we were covering the war in Lebanon instead of fighting it we would have gone to town on Israeli soldiers kicking the crap out of Nazi POW’s.
It would have been a heck of a story.
Kudos to those volunteers from the Salvation Army ringing Christmas bells for the needy.
Yes we call it Christmas and no we don’t celebrate it at home.
That doesn’t mean we don’t approve of the holiday. And we don’t expect an apology when someone wishes us a merry one.
Seriously how can anyone of any faith begrudge good cheer of his fellows?
So Merry Christmas to all of those who keep the holiday and in the words of our landsman Irving Berlin:
May All Your Christmases be Bright.
This is a quality, thoughtful, and credible opinion piece — becoming far to scarce in the large city, mainstream print media.
Your statement regarding your ” we would have done worse” to someone that just beat your coworker half to death….I don’t think so…why? Because if you did and you were a writer and not a officer in a prison you would be arrested, judged and thrown in jail. Accountabilty. So it is nice to write you would have enough anger and loyalty to your injured friend to inflict pain on the one who is at fault. ……but you wouldn’t. Why? Because you like I abide by the law. So how the torture of a restrained inmate goes over looked is beyond me. Does the end justify the means? The law applies for everyone.
I appreciate the fact you utilize social media to report the facts and allow a public forum for comments. Your website is very informative and the passion that you demonstrate for your job is obvious. I certainly respect the fact that you promote intellectual conversation. Your editoral pieces are very poignant and well written. Perhaps you can accept graditude for allowing others a voice. Even if you don’t agree.
You got this one wrong, Howard. So sorry. 🙂
‘…in the management of violent men, sometimes one has to be violent’.
This doesn’t apply to Newcastle’s case, not even close. Furthermore, justifying the guard’s behavior completely negates the little law we have in America, something about ‘innocent until proven guilty’. Yeah. Yet another reason the guards were out of line. You don’t beat the sh** out of someone because you ‘think’ he’s guilty.
Who is the ‘we’ that completely understands if the guards didn’t treat him so nice? Any rational-thinking person would be outraged that these animals, aka ‘guards’, would dare to take justice into their own hands, especially when Newcastle’s guilt had yet to be proven.
One of the major characteristics of both a professional and a real man, is the ability to demonstrate restraint. So you give these idiots far too much credit when you indicate that they are both ‘professional and men’. They are neither. They are barbaric animals. They are criminals getting away with crime while guarding criminals who are paying for their crimes.
Might want to rewrite this one, Howard. Even your analogy to Natzi war criminals isn’t analogous. Not even close.
But this is merely an opinion, and we’re all entitled. Kudos to your bravado, too. If I justified the animals who attacked Mike, I wouldn’t have the guts to advertise it via the press.