Justice wasn't served in arson fire (10/14/05)

To the editor:

I am writing this letter to you not only as a concerned citizen of this community, but also as a mother, mother-in-law and grandmother. I am the mother-in-law of Michael Craig, whose home was burglarized and set on fire Jan. 1.

I was vacationing with the kids along the Gulf of Mexico when they received the call that their home had been destroyed. A fire is devastating enough, but to know that people intentionally destroyed everything you own is even more devastating. The trip home from Mississippi was a very long and emotional trip, knowing that they were coming back to no home.

The kindness, love and support of family and friends, which they had much of, are what helped them to get through this difficult time.

It is bad enough the financial loss that my children have felt, let alone the sentimental items that can never be replaced. It is hard enough for adults to accept having this happen to them, but what about a child?

My granddaughter still lives the emotional scars of this devastation. She has nightmares. She is afraid to leave her home at night for fear that someone will do this again. She ask her stepfather every time they go somewhere about security of their home. Does your 9-year-old ask you about security?

We try to make her feel safe and reassured, but the doubt is always there in her mind. This little girl lost everything. Her new birthday presents, her Christmas presents and everything else she owned. She is 9-years-old and sure didn’t deserve to have her little world destroyed. Yes, it could have been worse. They could have lost their lives, but this precious 9-year-old will never have the same outlook on life. My granddaughter has some belongings at my house that she won’t take home and when asked why she won’t take them home, she says it’s because she’s afraid they’ll burn up, too.

We try to make our children feel safe. We are taught and also teach our children not to take the law into their own hands. This is what law enforcement officers, juries and judges are for, to make sure that justice is served and to make the people feel safe.

My mother is 75-years-old and has lived in this community all her life. I want her to continue to feel safe also. She brought us up in this wonderful community, hoping that her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would bring up their children here so that she would be surrounded with the love that she was brought up with and has given us. She brought us up feeling we lived in a safe community. Please help us to bring our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren up in this community also to be safe.

A full written confession was given in the crime of burglary and arson against my children’s home and an accomplice indicated. Michael Irelan gave a full, detailed, written confession, but was never charged with this crime that he admitted to, although he was charged and convicted of other burglaries. Amy Moore had these charges dropped against her in a plea bargain that my children were wrongfully not notified of. She was convicted on other crimes of burglary and made to pay restitution.

Why were the charges of greater magnitude dropped? This is not right. There has been no justice and no restitution for my children and they are still paying the price of of others’ malicious crimes and will be paying for this for a long time to come. I have lost faith in our legal system.

Thank you for your time and also the citizens of Jay County who have taken their time to read this. I sincerely hope and pray this never happens to you.

With kindest regards

Vicky L. Boxell

Portland

Thanks given

To the editor:

The committee of the Children’s Miracle Network for the Kids at Riley and the associates at Wal-Mart would like to thank everyone that made this year’s Cruise-In a success.

Our Cruise-In would not have been possible without the help of the following sponsors: Ol’ Blue Hair Racing; Matt’s Garage; Aker-Taylor Plumbing; Aker Plumbing; Ken Kunkle Chevrolet Cadillac; Tire Center Inc.; Como Service; State Farm Insurance; Farm Bureau Insurance; Mike and Mark; Portland Motor Parts; Williams Auto Parts Inc; Vernon Schmidt Garage; Hough Auto Salvage; Moser Engineering; XPLEX Extreme Competition Park; CarQuest; Patriot Sportwear and Embroidery; Wonder Bread Co. Heath Dailey; Creative Awards and Gifts; and Coca-Cola Company.

Thanks to the people who attended. Hope to see you all next year.

Sally Montgomery, for the committee and associates of Wal-Mart 2388, Portland[[In-content Ad]]