SR kidnap suspect once artistic genius

The Press Democrat ^ | November 17, 2004 | PAUL PAYNE

[Tamar1973]

Mr. Schwartz is a child of divorce who admitted to experimenting with psychedelic drugs (probably in a futile attempt to deal with the pain of his parents divorce) and the parents have the nerve to blame the state for their son's problems.

[wizardoz]

"It's a funny thing with creativity," ... "There are a lot of people who are unbalanced who have it all.

Yes, we noticed that during the election.

[wideawake]

He sounds more like an drug-addicted asshole than someone who is actually schizophrenic.

[weenie]

a talented artist whose genius disintegrated in the face of mental illness...

...I used to be a genius too...though not exactly sure why mine disintegrated...

I guess it could be the face of mental illness...

[jocon307]

Yes, of course, it's society's fault! It seems he did more than experiment with drugs, he used them enough to get sent to rehab, with Robert Downey, Jr.

Who puts dangerous, violent psychos in residential neighborhoods? And who moves in across the street from lunatics?

This girl is lucky she's alive.

Everybody else involved with this story should be horsewhipped.

[netmilsmom]

There is a very fine line between genius and insanity.
This guy is nuts.

[mountaineer]

Schwartz started collecting disability checks and bounced from group homes to residential treatment centers to hospitals. In seven years, he had been admitted to 42 different institutions, mostly in Los Angeles, his father said.

Thank goodness for the erstwhile taxpayer, who foots the bill.

[Tamar1973]

Thank goodness for the erstwhile taxpayer, who foots the bill.

If he's convicted of what they accuse him of, it will cost a heck of a lot more than those disability checks.

[EggsAckley]

who moves in across the street from lunatics?

I think it's probably more likely that the group-home moved in across the street from the girl's family, not vice versa.

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

"Yes, at first, Josh made representational art that its viewers could understand and appreciate. As he sank deeper and deeper into drug abuse and mental illness, his work became more and more abstract. Finally, he lost it totally and began doing bizarre things, like putting a crucifix in a jar of urine. We are hopeful that, with the whole kidnapping/stabbing conceptual art happening, he has a pretty good chance of getting an NEA grant."

[Petronski]

What or where is SR?

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

Oh, come on. I'm a product of divorce and so are my three sisters. None of us are drug addicts and we're all normal, functioning adults.

Two of my brothers-in-law are addicts. One is a drug addict and the other is an alcoholic. My husband's parents were married for 40 years.

[osboy]

"Carol Schwartz said either outcome would be the result of a failure of the mental health system. "

How about the result of your failure as a parent to teach him to stay off of drugs? Or of the liberal culture that exhorts the use of chemicals and sexual experimentation to seek elightenment and expanded consiousness.


F**ksakes! This kind of thing really gets my goat, ya know?

Haha! Wow, this story really pissed me off. I am somewhat bemused at the effect this had on me. Must be the fact that the man is a violent sexual predator and they don't want to look that in the face and admit it.

[Publius6961]

This nut's problem is very common, just a tad more obvious than the rest
(Looking for that list of Bush Bashing "artists"...)

[osboy]

"And who moves in across the street from lunatics?"

In all fairness, it's likely that the family lived in the neighorhood before the group home came to be there. Group homes by definition are in residential neighborhoods.

[drt1]

I was certainly reassured to know that this disaster in the making was once considered a genius - That explains and pardons all after that point since society obviously failed to appreciate this genius and left him no other recourse than to do drugs and abduct 9 year olds. Of course his father, a drug rehab specialist (Whatever that is and one hell of a commentary one his skills in this profession) bears no responsibility nor do his parents who divorced.

M Moore will no doubt follow the same trajectory - Minus the genius thing.

[Tamar1973]

What or where is SR?

SR stands for Santa Rosa. It's in Sonoma County, California, grow the best wine and export the nuttiest liberals to Washington DC. (I just wish we could export more of them to New Zealand, Canada, Belarus, etc. Ivory Coast maybe?)

[coloradan]

There are a lot of people who are unbalanced who have it all.

If they are unbalanced, they don't have it all. In particular, they don't have balance.

[Valpal1]

It is common for young adults beginning the slide into schizophrenia to "self-medicate" through drug abuse in an attempt to smooth the feelings of unease and disjointedness.

Problem is, when you have a brain chemical disorder, using brain altering drugs is bad juju.

It's a chicken/egg question. Was the schizophrenic break caused by drug abuse or did the schizophrenic start to abuse drugs.

Regardless, he's dangerous, trank him and lock him up.

[sport]

I think that we have a future Democrat nominee for President here. Or at least a Senator.