Posted on 10/09/2005 8:56:49 AM PDT by MizSterious
Father apologizes for son's actions
By Nolan Clay and Ty McMahan
The Oklahoman
The father of a University of Oklahoma student who died in a bombing has apologized for the actions of his son.
"I truly hang my head," the father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., said from Colorado Springs, Colo.
Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student, died Oct. 1 when a bomb went off outside the football stadium during the second quarter of OU's night game against Kansas State.
The FBI and OU are treating the bombing as a suicide by a troubled loner, rather than a failed terrorist attack.
"I feel obligated to apologize to everyone whose inconvenience has increased, or had worse things happen to them, due to Joe III," the father told The Oklahoman.
He said he wanted to specifically apologize to the Muslim students who were shackled and questioned during the investigation, apartment residents who had to be evacuated, and "the hundreds of thousands of future OU sporting event attendees who will now endure even more rigorous, restrictive search and carry restrictions."
The dead student, 21, was remembered last week as depressed and so mesmerized with bombs that he bought artillery shells on eBay.
Hinrichs started at OU in the fall of 2002 after being a National Merit Scholar at Wasson High School in Colorado Springs.
He was so depressed his second semester at OU that he had trouble going to class and underwent counseling, his father said.
He dropped out in 2003-2004 and worked doing inventories at night, the father said. He returned but lost a scholarship because of his grades.
"Internally, he suffered from both depression and an utter lack of hope in his own future," said the father.
"He could tell that other people were relating around him and even trying to relate to him. He could not relate back. ... My guess is that ... was very close to the root of his problem."
Early warning signs?
The father said his son had been depressed at times in high school, too.
The younger Hinrichs built a bomb out of match heads in an empty tube at age 13 or 14, his father said.
"He was hiding around the corner. It made a loud noise and he brought the broken, open CO2 cartridge to me and had this look of awe in his eyes," he said.
The younger Hinrichs also regularly bought inert artillery shells over eBay, his father said.
"Like all little boys, he has an interest in things that go bang. ... He just took it a little farther than most. ... He showed them to me, 'Look at this, dad,'" he said.
He got in trouble at the end of the eighth grade in Illinois for bringing a 3-foot metal handle to school, The Oklahoman confirmed.
The younger Hinrichs spent six weeks on house arrest, wearing an ankle bracelet, and then spent ninth grade in an alternative school.
Still, there were few outward signs he was suicidal. His last e-mail to his father, Sept. 14, was about his father's offer of a Subaru to drive.
"Does the Subaru get good mileage? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," the younger Hinrichs wrote.
OU President David Boren described the student as a loner with emotional difficulties and personal problems. Classmates said he was different and had been struggling again with his grades.
"He was really quiet, didn't really interact with any of the other students," said Garrett Jones, a Tulsa junior who had engineering classes with Hinrichs.
Jones, 21, said Hinrichs was different in his manner and clothing.
"He wore this little green vest all the time. It was really weird. ... You could look around in a classroom and be able to pick this guy out that he was a little unusual," Jones said.
Another classmate, junior Andrew House, told the OU student newspaper: "He seemed like he was a nice kid. He didn't seem troubled at all. Some people might have thought he was weird, because he knew a lot about ammunition and stuff like that."
Members of an OU organization of engineers, architects and scientists said Hinrichs was quiet, reserved and not very involved in the group.
"The guy liked guns and ammo and he said something about trying to buy some ammo. That's just what he liked," said Paul Lawson, executive director of the Triangle Fraternity, who visited the OU chapter last week.
At meetings, Hinrichs talked about his struggles and successes in class, a new job, trouble sleeping and a road trip to Las Vegas, according to minutes.
He also talked about "missing ammo," building a catapult and carving a club with a pocket knife, according to minutes.
He had his own Web site. It read: "This is Joe Hinrichs' website. He currently doesn't have anything to put on it, but it does exist and it is here."
Officials have said investigators do not believe the student was trying to get inside the stadium or had any help. His father said the FBI told him his son made the bomb out of hydrogen peroxide, a common disinfectant.
A boy crushed by harsh middle school anti-boy policies. They hung the "L" on him, and he couldn't toss it off. Damn that policy.
Is caca del toro sort of like "bull pucky"? ;)
Yes, the rewriting of history, past and present, by the MSM is one of the many dangers we face in this crazy world. When the MSM wasn't reporting on the OU bombing, I considered the possibility that perhaps it was because they had been told by Homeland Security, or FBI, etc., not to cover it as an ongoing investigation was underway. Seems to me NOT reporting on it would be better than reporting on it at all if they aren't going to keep the facts straight.
Just as telling (or not) would be the list of events that turned out to NOT be terrorism, even though all the keyboard pajamahadeen declared it must be, within seconds of the breaking news.
I don't trust anyone who has some motive, political, entertainment or otherwise, to see every news item fit into their script.
It was reported that similar kids were turned away from a couple of entrances because they wouldn't allow search of backpacks... But last I heard, there was no positive ID.
You speak truth. But it is better to have a society of pajamahadeen asking questions than a society of lemmings drinking koolaid. It is up to every individual to sift the evidence presented. You said it well: I don't trust anyone who has some motive, political, entertainment or otherwise, to see every news item fit into their script.
But on the other hand, the truth will unfortunately fit into someone's motive.
With some social skills help, some constructive feedback and training, Joel Henry Hinrichs III would likely have become an intelligent productive American engineer, most likely a conservative Republican, married with children. There would have been a tremendous return on investment. Few people care about the shy nerds, which are becoming more valuable to America's future.
With the internet and cyber worlds, kids can now avoid in-person social skill building even more. With ATM machines, direct deposit, pay at the pump gas stations, internet shopping, self-check out at the store, it's possible to get through the day without saying hello to anyone. People getting trapped in shyness is an increasing internet-age problem we should address.
I think an acting school is badly needed for kids. Have kids run through scripts of social situations over and over until they can do them in their sleep. Teach them how to dress, groom, exercise, move, dance, speak, sing. Give them true feedback.
Teachers might be the best detectors of finding these shy kids when they are young and more easily socially programmed. Many parents are clueless and are not going to do this.
And we may or may not ever really know what that motive was. But don't let that stop anyone from forming theories. I reject that there is some motive on the part of this government to hide and cover up actual terrorist attacks. If that were the goal, we wouldn't have our president out stumping every week trying to remind a forgetful nation that terrorism is real. I think the conflict comes from those who want to see terror every time a drunk barge driver hits a canal bridge or a refinery catches fire and investigators that say "get a grip". Personally, I believe terrorism, by nature, makes itself plain.
I listened to this dad on a local radio station out of Seattle. I don't expect him to know all that was going on in the head of his kid... obviously, if he really knew the kid, we wouldn't be as surprised as he was at this outcome.
I guess we'll never know, since the search warrant has been sealed.
Nothing to see here... move along...
Just as a frame of reference, do you feel that there was a third terrorist in OKC or that there is credible reason to question the downing of TWA 800? I'm more willing than you, I think, to believe the possibiltiy we have a government that will mislead us when it needs to. But I don't see it everywhere. That's why I thought it would be interesting to see a study of all the potential events. I suppose it would be better to see a list of every explosion in the last fifty years that resulted in fatalities in the US. See if they have escalated since 9.11 more than they should have given population and infrastructure and business growth. There has to be an objective way to measure it.
I don't know. I tend to think most of the people who claim to know sound nuts. But I'm more inclined to believe there ~might~ be a conspiracy to cover up something that's known on the second than the first.
First interview the Dad said "5" -- I posted it on here right after he said because I was so shocked. He went on to say all little boys like to blow up things. I have no idea which thread that was on but several of us had a conversation with the general concensus being junior high yes but 5?
Would love to know who is the owner of the rent-a-cops at OU.
You have a point. I read most of an online book about OKC that tried to argue McVeigh had some kind of mind control implant. Could be, but the author should have used the tinfoil tag or something... The difficulty in weighing the evidence the conspiracy fringe brings to light is the fact that there are two sorts who are drawn to conspiracy theories. The first group is rational, and simply see evidence that logically leads them to question the official line. If they are wrong, they are OK with it because they don't get personally invested in it.
For example, if all the things that I think point to Joel III being a terrorist plot gone sour turn out to be adequately explained within the lone, depressed kid killing himself theory, I don't care. I'm happy to be wrong because my paradigm is still that we live in the greatest, richest, most free country in the history of the planet, and man (in this country) is generally good and our institutions are generally honorable. But when the second kind of conspiracy theorest gets proven wrong, there is always a backup, even more kookier explanation, even more improbable than the first. This theorest has to keep going down that path because he is personally invested in the outcome. If he is wrong, his entire world view comes into question. That is the one thing most folks are totally unwilling to challenge.
I think we can agree, then, that healthy skepticism is always in order, that asking questions is good, and that the opinions formed should be based on the best, simplest understanding of the evidence.
Then why is the search warrant for the apartment of the "troubled loner", who had a roommate BTW, sealed by a federal court?
Because there's nothing all that weird about a kid that age that like to make things go boom. If that were a sign of mental illness, they'd have carted many FReepers off to the booby hatch long ago. Including this old cat. :)
Why don't you ask our media who are sitting on stories they cannot print because local law enforcment won't go on the record and they have to have two sources that will go on the record?
Boren is spinning and backtracking -- has been since the first night. Terrorism Task Force is now in charge; 500 lbs of explosives were blown up that rattled windows all over Norman; directional device used in the bomb(s); metal in the surrounding trees; FBI was reported on the news as being tight lipped and won't discuss this event; warrant sealed by Federal Judge and the list goes on of confirmed news not to mention everything the media has gotten off the record.
Some of you have your head so far buried in the sand, you will never see the truth. You can choose to believe the Government that lied about OKC Bombing and other events, but I refuse to cover my eyes and ears and get my information from David Boren who is seriously compromised according to a host of sources including kids on campus.
I support the Bush Administration as much as anyone but I also know this FBI in OKC is inept at best and Clintonites are still all over the Government. I want the TRUTH and we are not getting the TRUTH. If you still think the OKC Bombing came from two white guys, then you really do have blinders on. If you are a Fed, it doesn't work on me because I used to work for them and know how many things get covered up routinely that make no difference.
My mini rant!
If it is the case that incidents such as this, Flight 800, and a number of other bizarrely justified events are being concealed by authorities, they need to be aware that such alibis actually fuel the tactic of terror.
Terror is used by revolutionary activists to destroy public confidence in legitimate authority and their ability to control the government. If brazen criminal activity is covered up, the people will begin to doubt any and all statements issued by higher levels of government. At first it will begin with a silent acceptance, with a degree of unspoken doubt. When the trend advances over time, those espousing the scripted versions of events will delude themselves into believing they are benefitting the masses by controlling mass political trends. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the public will tend to either lose confidence in the veracity of government, the reporting mechanisms, or both.
Such an environment will create an opportunity for political unrest and dynamic upheaval. This is exactly the endstate desired by terrorists initially, even if they havn't planned for such dynamics to evolve. Sortof like how the N Vietmanese blundered into a victory in Vietnam, the dynamics may become unstable enough for opponents to decide adversarily against US interests.
IMHO, the primary line of defense against terrorism is with the common man. If he isn't at liberty to defend himself, is local business and community, family and local government, he will simply become preoccupied with how to gain that freedom. Meanwhile, higher level government will tend to exasperate the problem by artificially constraining the local freedom of the innocent even further.
Anyone been by the Parkview Apartments lately? Is the bomber's car still sitting there undisturbed?
I will tell you shortly -- I am heading over there and also by the stadium in a few minutes.
If I remember right they called it solid not to mix it up with the kind to die hair.
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