Posted on 11/28/2007 5:28:54 PM PST by originalbuckeye
You raise your kids right, teach them to step up and do the right thing; then one day they do as you taught them and they're struck down and killed.
"I am proud of him but it's no consolation," said Cindy Pipho, whose son, Josh, was slain Saturday after having reportedly confronted his attacker.
"Sometimes I regret training him so well," she said. "He gave his life protecting the people he cared about."
Joshua Caleb Pipho was born April 1, 1987, in Mission Hills. He died a hero to friends and family in Santa Clarita on Nov. 24, 2007.
He was 20 years old.
"The light he carried in his eyes is no longer lit," his crying mother said Tuesday, buckling under her grief, comforted by friends with faces wet with tears.
Josh Pipho died early Saturday morning following an altercation at the Diamond Head condominium complex in the 25200 block of Steinbeck Avenue in Stevenson Ranch.
He was stabbed after having confronted a group of young men seen vandalizing a vehicle, a witness said.
His assailant, and possibly others, reportedly stabbed him and then drove a car over him. A second man, identified as Chad White by those who set up a fund in his name, was also repeatedly stabbed.
Homicide detective Lt. Dan Rosenberg with the Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau, heads the team investigating the slaying.
"Investigators are out in the field right now," he said Tuesday morning. "I'll be meeting up with them in the afternoon."
Two investigators visited the Pipho home in Parklane Estates and spoke briefly to the victim's father.
"They didn't tell us anything," Dennis Pipho told The Signal.
"They said they didn't want to come across as cold so they paid us a visit. We got to let them do their job."
Dennis Pipho said his son would not have backed down from a fight and would not have stood by passively and watched any sort of wrongdoing take place unquestioned.
"I like to think I gave him a set of values and morals," he said, recalling a similar situation in which Josh stepped up to do the right thing.
"About a year ago, he came home and his knuckles were all raw," he said.
"He said, 'You know, dad. I was minding my own business and then this guy just punched his girlfriend. So, I went up to him and I said, 'You can't do that in front of me.'
"What was I supposed to do? Here I am trying to scold him and tell him it's wrong.
He wasn't the type of kid who looked for trouble but he was the first to come to defend you."
Josh Pipho was scheduled to go to Atlanta, Ga., this weekend with his father to do audio-visual work.
In every town they visited for work, Josh made friends, his father said.
"He could make friends with anybody," Dennis Pipho said. "People who didn't have friends, he'd make them his friends, make you feel comfortable."
Josh's high school friend Damien White (no relation to the stabbing victim) attended Canyon High School with Josh, and worked with him at Ralph's on Soledad Canyon Road near Whites Canyon Road.
The two walked the picket line together, carrying signs, during the grocery workers strike a couple of years ago.
Now, he is expected to be a pall bearer at Josh's funeral Sunday.
"It wasn't so long ago, I was sitting on my balcony watching him play baseball," White said.
More than anything else, Josh loved baseball. He played second base.
His mother said he and his older brother, Ryan, were swinging baseball bats as soon as they were able to stand.
Josh's other two brothers - Tye, 15, and Devyn, 8 - are all dealing with tragedy in their own way.
The youngest tried to attend school Tuesday, but returned home early.
Meanwhile, Chad White remains in a hospital bed recovering from 17 stab wounds, said Robin James who visited White in the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
"He's in shock," James said.
"He faced death. He knows about his friend (Josh)."
According to James, White is upset but is expected to recover.
"He has some mobility issues and he has no health insurance," James said.
To that end, two funds have been set up, one for the Pipho family and one for White.
James said White's parents, who are not ready to talk publicly about their ordeal, are shocked by the attack.
"I think they're scared that these kinds of things could happen," James said.
"They feel blessed that he's alive but also sick and saddened for Josh's family."
Josh's family is trying to put it all in perspective.
"I'm angry, sure," said Dennis Pipho, his eyes watery and red.
"But, I just don't understand it. I feel for the parents of the kid who did this.
This is nonsense. It's got to stop.
"There's no value in a life, it seems."
Sorry to hear of this. My prayers go out to the family.
Don’t have the words to express my regrets, I’m so sorry, a young man cut down way too early. RIP.
I hope my tag line comforts you somewhat!
Too bad it is so difficult to use the tools they created in California.
My heart goes out to the family.
Honorable young men need to be tempered with tactical wisdom. Here are some good ones:
1) Protect whatever you like, but defend only what matters.
2) If you are in a fight, to a great extent you have already lost.
3) Everyone in a fight is injured to some degree. And it adds up.
4) Cheap shots win a goodly number of fights.
5) Charge a gun and run from a knife. Knife injuries can be deadlier than bullets.
6) You can do everything right and still lose.
7) Gun fights often end up with both sides wounded.
8) It can be better to let the police handle it.
9) Often you are not fighting a person, you are fighting alcohol.
10) What you think is happening may not be what is actually happening.
11) What other people think is happening may not be what is actually happening.
12) Don’t just fight with someone who wants to kill you.
13) If a policeman says “Halt!”, halt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.