They knew!
TAPS
RIP LCpl Dale Peterson USMC
Posted on 10/18/2007 9:01:55 AM PDT by mojito
Flags flew the May day they buried Dale Peterson. They lined the streets of Burns, where hundreds watched, hands on hearts, as his coffin passed. One flag, in particular, made it to Dale's dad.
Greg Peterson, former sheriff of Harney County, went home to Redmond and hung the flag beside his front door. And there it flew, day and night, for the toddler he carried on his back into the Blue Mountains, for the boy he taught to fish the Malheur River, for the only son he sent to Iraq.
Sunday morning, as Greg Peterson left for church, he found the flag. Someone had torn it down, drenched it in lighter fluid and burned it. Ashes and the charred wooden flagpole lay scattered. "This was personal," he thought.
He walked back inside and called police.
Flags at nine other Redmond homes had also been torched overnight. A video camera at one home captured images of the culprits. On Tuesday, police arrested four teenagers, including three 17-year-old students at Redmond High School where Dale Peterson graduated in 2005.
That night, Greg Peterson sat at a friend's desk in Coos Bay where he traveled this week to train police officers. And in an open letter he began to type:
"I want you to know what that flag meant to me . . ."
"The flag you burned had flown over the United States Capitol. It was one of my son's goals to be a United States Marine. He put a lot of effort into it and graduated top of his class as a combat engineer. He also shot as an expert and his PT (physical training) score was 290. I am very proud of my son but words cannot express the sorrow I feel from his death. Dale, like most men and women in our armed services, had the courage to put his life on the line for our country.
"I ask myself, what courage do you have, and your reason for burning our country's flag?"
As he wrote, his friend, Dennis Canaday, watched, angry. He'd long admired Peterson, who lost his 2000 re-election bid by fewer than 40 votes in part because he refused to campaign. Peterson is now a police training officer for the state.
"What happened to that inner voice that says, 'This guy is grieving, and we should let him be,' " Canaday wondered about the teenagers.
Lance Cpl. Peterson was not an angel, his dad says. But he knew he needed a diploma to get into the Marines. The only boy among three sisters, he worked hard and played hard, trailing behind the father who taught him to fish, hunt and drive a Ford pickup in the open spaces they called "the Last Frontier."
He was 20 and had been in Iraq less than a month when on April 23 his team stopped to investigate a roadside bomb in Anbar province. But another bomb exploded beneath their vehicle, killing Peterson and another Marine.
A day before, the young Peterson e-mailed his dad. The two were at that delicate stage where a man who leaves home and marries -- in this case to fellow Marine Regina Peterson -- begins seeing a parent as a friend.
"I think about him every day," his dad said Wednesday. "I think people pay lip service to our vets and the people who served this country in the military, and it's very frustrating to me."
The teenagers are accused of arson, abuse of venerated objects, reckless burning, reckless endangering, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, said Redmond Police Capt. Brian McNaughton, but were "highly upset when they found out who the flag belonged to."
"I don't think they really knew what they were doing; they just did a stupid kid thing, not as any protest or against the United States or authority," McNaughton said. "They just went out and did one and thought it was funny and decided to go find some more and keep doing it."
Redmond High Principal Jon Bullock said all were saddened by the negative attention the incident would bring but "more importantly, the family of Dale Peterson is having to deal with not just the loss of a flag, but all the emotions that go with honoring their son." Bullock said he expects that people will come together and heal.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who had given Peterson the original flag, has arranged for a replacement.
But flag, or no, Greg Peterson will get up today and think of his son, who as a student at Redmond High wrote: "When I was growing up . . . I didn't like to be led around and told what to do by my peers. If they were going to do something illegal or damaging to a person's feelings or property, I had the willpower to stand up and leave."
I give up. It’s now obvious to me that these kids were protesting something or other by burning these flags at night. It’s also obvious that the PC cop swallowed his outrage and lied about their purpose.
BTW, nowhere did I say I thought this was OK no matter what their purpose. There’s nothing right about destroying private property no matter what it is.
“So what would you do if these were YOUR kids?”
I have no idea but it wouldn’t be pretty for them. I think I’ve raised my kids in a way that I’ll never have to consider what I would do.
Thanks for the ping, LJ. I’d be willing to provide the accelerant, at my own expense.
Unlike some, I could buy into the notion the kids were merely bone-achingly stupid and didn’t consider their actions thoroughly.
There is, however, a difference between forgiveness and absolution. In their apologies most transgressors could care less about the former while fully expecting the latter.
It wasn’t only unpatriotic.
They might have been stupid, but at 17 years of age they had to have realized they were destroying many peoples’ property and messing with their minds and sense of security.
How about tattooing the boys Red, White and Blue from head to toe.
It is a hate crime.
This town should go back to pillary and stocks placed in the middle of town. These teenagers deserve to be left in the center of town in disgrace for all to see.
Ironic, isn't is, that this is exactly what those stupid boys didn't do, when they decided it was fun to burn the flags.
Wrong. The useless sacks of #### were upset that they got caught, nothing more.
"I don't think they really knew what they were doing;
Yup, that lighter fluid and match/lighter did it all on their own, without these sacks of #### having anything to do with it.
17? I hope they are tried as adults, sent to juvey, and then when they hit 18, sent to real prison.
The teenagers are accused of arson, abuse of venerated objects, reckless burning, reckless endangering, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief
Nice list of charges. Maybe my hopes will be realized.
“I don’t think they really knew what they were doing;”....that’s because the school system has failed miserably. None of them are taught about the sacrifices Americans made for this country throughout it’s history. In fact, I doubt if American History is even taught anymore. Respect for flag and country is not P.C.
I'm sure that there are plenty of disabled vets that could use a hand with yardwork. Or painting.
Lots and lots of trash to be picked up...cleaning around the local VA or VFW.
No one died from breaking a sweat. And, I'm sure that there are plenty of vets that would love to oversee the work crew. Nothing abusive, mind you...but just to be sure that their hands get good and calloused.
They knew!
RIP LCpl Dale Peterson USMC
Probably not a liar. But what he had to say was inappropriate and "appeasment" of law breakers.
Here's a portion of the quote I object to:
"...they just did a stupid kid thing, not as any protest or against the United States or authority," McNaughton said."
No one burns a flag that is not protesting against authority and the Country [and principles] it stands for. It should be a court of law a that determines what was in their warped little minds.
“It should be a court of law a that determines what was in their warped little minds.”
As far as legla punishment, I’m not sure it matters what was in their minds. Flag burning as a protest is allowed in the U.S. Burning somebody else’s private property is not.
Amen my brother.
So now Bullocks is going to 1. Ensure that students at the high school understand and respect the flag of the United States and our military, and 2. Work to memorialize Dale Peterson, USMC, by naming the football field or the gymnasium or the library after him, right? Right? Right?
He’s not? He’s talking about everyone “healing” and “getting along”? How special. {puke}
Especially unbelievable is the police captain making excuses for the criminals. He must be a liberal RAT.
***On Tuesday, police arrested four teenagers, including three 17-year-old students at Redmond High School where Dale Peterson graduated in 2005.***
Time to bring back the pillorie and cat ‘o nine tails.
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