en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/265737 Comments by toad http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment11299760 LocalLady, You answered none of my questions; instead you went on an angry rant. You clearly are not interested in a discussion on the topic; You only want to talk about yourself without relating it in anyway to Semaj Booker. Your primary objective seems to be to express your anger at life. That offers nothing valuable to this discussion; it certainly offers nothing valuable to this very real boy who needs convincing help. Your suggestion that people on this board, including me, think Semaj should not be accountable for his actions is entirely wrong. Accountability and dismissing someone as worthless are entirely different things. Accountability and Punishment" are different things. You don't advocate for accountability; you advocate for punishment. Accountability applied well "teaches" one. You suggest that this boy does not deserve the benefit of being taught. In fact, you suggest he should be born just knowing better. In fact, based on your suggested premise: no child needs any parenting, so why did you stick around and parent your kids? Perhaps because you don't really your own position. You offer nothing to adduce your position of punishment. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:55:10 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment11299760 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10896495 Post continued:______After all, that's what you suggest for Semaj--you say it doesn't matter his circumstance and he should be just fine and accountable in the harshest of manner for every misstep large or small--why are your children an exception to this philosophy you apply to Semaj? ____Probably because MOST parents try to love, protect, teach and provide for their children. According to your harsh judgment, that's not necessary and children will do just fine without those BASIC things.____Your philosophy is flawed and hypocritical.____(Your interpretation of my previous post is flawed.) Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:16:28 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10896495 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10895726 Local Lady, You read FAR too much into simple statements of fact. Your post suggests defensiveness and anger about your own situation. You didn't raise the boy in question. Based on your logic, children shouldn't have fathers. I wonder if your children agree that they were better off without a father as you suggest. Perhaps your children would have preferred to have a father around who cared for them, and took interest in them. Yet your children live by a different set of rules than the ones you would have for Semaj: you didn't want your children subjected to an abusive father--why not? What's the harm? Surely your children would have been just fine! Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:00:22 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10895726 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10894380 Post continued: It seems (or should seem) unimaginable now that that every happened, yet it did and people agreed with it. Probably this kind of mentality: "The starving 12 year-old should have known better than to steal for food; he deserves to hang." When will people a) use discrimination, and b) care enough to get up off of their stone-throwing-keyboard-of-judgment and put forth some REAL effort to make a difference in this CHILD's life or the life of another by: *Telling them they are WORTH it, and * Teaching them how to succeed, and * Giving them a MEANINGFUL opportunity in a NORMAL enviornment to succeed! Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:41:52 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10894380 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10894311 THANK YOU, businessman! Yes, he is a child! First and foremost! WE are the adults in his society that should make a better way for him since his parents can't seem to. It is unreasonable to expect this CHILD to figure out the mess his parents began for him. It is unreasonable to expect things to calm down in his life considering that everything he does is scrutinized at this point. Based on the majority opinions expressed on this site, I can infer that the majority would also be in favor of returning to hang children for stealing for food, just as once happened in our beloved New York city! Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:40:51 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10894311 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10893654 I agree that BOTH parents should be held accountable; yet, so she he--not as a form of "punishment" (as so many here are eager to see) but to teach this child. As a human being, he is worth the investment; as a member of our society, he is worth the investment. Hold the child accountable. TEACH him. BUT, don't overlook what is going on with him: What was the first thing this kid did that got attention? Hopped a plane. He wanted to go see grandpa. There are two very important clues. 1) He's smart and has a will to try to take care of himself in the only way he knows how as a 9 year old (at the time), and 2) He was trying to ESCAPE one thing and GO to something he thought would be better(as best as a 9 year-old could assess)--isn't that what the majority of us do everyday to survive? Abandon, leave, turn from, escape that which doesn't work and move toward that which we think will work? Focus on those two points first. Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:32:13 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10893654 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10892996 You said it well: "you have to be in their lives". Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:25:54 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10892996 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10862529 Differences between you and Semaj: 1. You had a dad in the picture 2. You're dad cared enough to teach you differently. (I'd better your dad had an encouraging word for you on occasion, as well.) Without those two things, this child and many other boys will be left to try to figure the world out for themselves. If that was such an easy thing to do, then why do humans take nearly 20 years to mature? Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:55:08 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10862529 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10862381 I commend you for raising your children well. The difference here is that this young boy has not had the opportunity your children have had from such a conscientious parent. Clearly he has not been taught. He needs both, to be taught, and have the opportunity for success, which-- I agree with you is not likely to happen. Sadly, it does appear he is headed down the wrong road for life. Acknowledging that he is on the wrong road is very different from committing him to the wrong road--or to put it another way, it is different from throwing him away and calling him such things like a "defect" as so many posters here are willing to do. This young man is a human being, a boy at that, a boy because he is to be taught, nurtured, cared for and educated in what is right and what is wrong. Add to his unfortunate circumstance the lack of a father. A father organically provides those boundaries that young boys need. It is evident in our society that boys without fathers violate boundaries over and again, it is as if they are searching for an unseen boundary that when found provides a measure of security. I take exception to every poster here who throws this boy away. I commend anyone who attempts to step in and help this boy to turn his life around for his sake and for the greater good of society. Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:52:36 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10862381 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10855379 So are you saying that if someones first name, as given by their parents, doesn't suit you, or society, the kid is worth throwing away? should be treated like trash? Is that REALLY what you are saying? Isn't it better to say SOMEONE should care enough to make a difference in this child's life? Someone should care enough to step in and teach him how to "make a name for himself"; to be forever known for a positive contribution he made in society. How shallow to write off a person because of their name; how can that even enter your mind? Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:19:16 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10855379 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10854651 And that's what happens when parents don't take care of their children: The court steps in and people who have nothing vested in the child are eager to throw them away. Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:16:21 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10854651 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10854457 Did you lie when you were 11 or 9? Did the system neglect to treat you fairly and put you in Walla Walla - right where you belong --according to your standard and reasoning. Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:15:18 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10854457 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10854204 You really write of an 11 year old boy as a "defect"? An 11 year old boy of bad circumstance (mother with apparently no parenting skills and no father--choices this kid did not make); An 11 year old boy who is on mind altering "medication"; An 11 year old boy affected with "insomnia" as he was the morning he "lied" to police; An 11 year old boy who wants to be with his grandfather--a place where he feels he'll have a chance for success; --with all that's against him, the best you can offer is to call him a "defect". Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:13:36 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10854204 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10850945 Most parents attempt to set their children up for success. This kid has had no chance for that. Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:57:40 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10850945 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10849818 I question whether the majority of you posting comments bothered to read past the headline. Valuable information there on the boy's capabilities. Also mentioned were the drugs he is made to take and how those drugs affect his mental ability. Also mentioned was his attempt to simply "get his gameboy". What kid wouldn't have done the same? It's also worth considering what role the gameboy plays in this kid's life--no, I don't mean contributing to mischief--I mean a "diversion" and "out" from the miserable life he leads. Seriously, what kid wouldn't have tried to retrieve their gameboy? Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:53:24 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10849818 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10847720 It seems that the biggest point is being missed here: it appears that this kid is fighting for his life the best way he knows how from an 11(and 9) year point of view, with all the reasoning, rationale, understanding and wisdom he has gained in his circumstance: HE'S FIGHTING TO GET WHERE HE BELIEVES HE CAN ENJOY SUCCESS: WITH HIS GRANDFATHER. Yet, in our system he is punished and thus begins the the rolling stone from which he cannot get out from under. He "knows" he's a bad kid now. Of course he would lie to a cop - he doesn't want punishment, but does he understand the full ramifications? How could he? A sad situation. The judge applies the law. Not psychology, empathy, social work, etc.--just the law. The kid is a felon and we, as a society, have contributed to this. NOW that he's been told where he fits--as a felon--I'm sure he will acquiesce and accept it,--after all, that's what we've been telling him: "just do what you're told". At some point, he has to accept it, after his spirit has been broken enough (not allowing him to be where he "needs" to be, as he knows it with all his being) --yeah, he's "just a felon now". May I commend all of you who are so excited and eager to throw away another and write them off as worthless. Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:44:38 +0000 http://www.komonews.com/news/34471934.html#IDComment10847720