Posted on 01/01/2009 7:20:44 AM PST by NYer
NEDERLAND, Colo. – A gunman who broke into a staff meeting at a Colorado ski resort ranting about religion asked the manager what he believed and shot him twice when the victim responded he was Catholic, according to reports published today about the tragedy.
The gunman later was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy in a firefight alongside a snowy mountain road, authorities confirmed.
The Boulder County coroner identified the gunman as Derik A. Bonestroo, 24, who had been living in Nederland. According to a report in the Boulder Daily Camera, witnesses said Bonestroo burst into the staff meeting yesterday at the Eldora Mountain Resort near here.
Sheriff Joe Pelle said Bonestroo was yelling something about religion to employees when resort General Manager Brian Mahon heard the commotion and came into the room. The Camera said witnesses reported the shooter asked Mahon which religion he believed, and when Mahon said he was Catholic, the shooter fired twice and killed him.
Sheriff's Commander Phil West said, "There are various interpretations about what was said. Witnesses told us (Bonestroo) had been through some emotional crisis."
Mahon, 49, leaves behind a wife and two children. He had worked at Eldora since 1991.
According to a statement from Boulder County Undersheriff Tom Shomaker, deputy John Seifert was on duty in Nederland when the call came in about the shooting. Told the shooter had fled and given a description of the vehicle, Seifer spotted a suspect vehicle on the Peak-to-Peak Highway only a few miles downhill from the ski area. After a short pursuit, the suspect vehicle stopped, the sheriff said.
"The male driver immediately opened fire on the deputy after stopping his vehicle," the sheriff's department statement said.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
I’ve thought about that angle.
Martyrdom....it ain’t for sissies.
***You provided no reference so I have no idea which news report you just read. ..***
http://themountainear.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=196&Itemid=1
“Around 7:30 a.m, a man, believed to be the same one that knocked on the woman’s door, walked into the pump house at Eldora Mountain Resort where employees were at a meeting, preparing for their shift. The suspect fired a shot into the ceiling and reportedly yelled something about religion to the employees. When Mahon walked into the room and asked what was going on, he was shot by the suspect. He died at the scene.”
The operable word is “some”. I’ve read statistics that say about 10% of us are “mentally ill”. Most are no threat to anybody. I happen to live in one of our nation’s largest open air lunatic asylums (possibly the largest if you include our political class) and I see mentally ill people on the street every day. They range from guys who just can’t get it together and end up pan handling to guys who can’t figure out why a toilet is better place than their pants to defecate (that one eventually got taken away.)
The problem is, “mental illness” could be used as an excuse by gun grabbers to deprive people of their rights.
When someone is determined by a physician to be potentially dangerous the physician should be absolved of confidentiality requirements and should have the responsibility to report the mentally ill person to the courts. The courts should have to grant a hearing and the patient’s constitutional rights under the due process clause should still apply but such people should be subject to having their gun rights restricted by the courts.
Unfortunately a lot of people here don’t share that view. I had expected to come back from watching the football game (a mild neurosis) and find that I had been flamed by a couple of dozen people. I guess it pays to come late to the party. :o)
Thanks for your reasonable response.
Many of the street people should be in a hospital permanently.
They don't belong on the street and they don't need drugs.
However, having a hand washing obsession doesn't count.
That is the REAL battle we all must fight as Christians and people of Faith, of any stripe.
I agree. Sad situation but I don't see it happening as long as it's cheaper just to give them their "disability check" every month and let them wander around.
I wish more took your philosophy. The intra-Christian battling pains my heart.
> And don’t doubt that evil can don a nice smile and obtain power with smooth phrases.
AMEN. In fact, that is the guise with which Evil often finds us.
> The mentally ill are the canaries in our culture. They pick up the sniffings of the culture. There is a lot of Christian hate out there and it is growing.
While I understand what you’re trying to say here, most mentally ill people are quite harmless, and some of them you might even think of as “normal”.
Violently mentally ill people are the exception, not the norm.
The larger point (and I think you would agree) is that the culture has villanized Christians for decades and it gets worse every year, and that this onslaught has ramifications in the real world.
> Lithium is a very common treatment for bipolar disorder.
Yup. In fact, I’m on Lithium now for Bipolar Disorder. Along with Venlafaxine for Depression. They work a treat!
> And people who are on anti-depressants have a higher rate of suicide and violent behavior than the general public.
Not so.
> people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness for which violence is a known symptom, like bipolar disorder, should be deprived of their right to keep and bear arms by court order following due process.
Like me, for example? On what grounds?
Having an ongoing discussion with the wife about this. Too much evil is reduced to "craziness." If "crazy" behavior is biologically based, then it should be random. Behavior that is evil may be crazy or irrational, but it should not be automatically reduced to a the proverbial "chemical imbalance." And uniformly evil behavior cannot be reduced to simple craziness.
> The larger point (and I think you would agree) is that the culture has villanized Christians for decades and it gets worse every year, and that this onslaught has ramifications in the real world.
Agreed. Definitely.
God insight.
First impression: seems like a PIB (People in Black).
What if Christ engaged in "rituals" Himself, and even instructed his disciples to perform them, i.e., "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you"?
Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Matthew 18:17
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Which itself is an extra-biblical principle, ironically enough.
A well as the reserve. A Protestant is not saved since they reject the Papal authority over them .
The Catholic Church does not teach this. The Church teaches that non-Catholic Christians do not possess the fullness of truth, to varying degrees, but the Church does not teach that non-Catholic Christians cannot be saved.
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