Those that know me, know I live a clean boring life - I play my guitar, sing, teach kids, run my shop, drink bottled water and I don't even smoke cigarettes, much less go near drugs.
I will say, that in the short time I was introduced to Kirk Gainer, last Wednesday night, I really liked the guy. The uncomplimentary picture they showed of his arrest, wasn't the same way that he looked, obviously they woke him up in the dead of sleep. I don't condone any of what he's alleged to have done, but my brief contact with him, echoed what another reader further down commented, and that is, he was very smart.
Intelligence and wisdom are two different things. Sometimes wisdom is something you have to learn the hard way through the mistakes made in life.
Personally, though I can't say I know Kirk, my few minutes with him, showed me that this man has a pretty good heart, he was willing to help me out on behalf of a friends request. I'm not happy that my truck is stuck there and I'm on foot at the moment, but I'll get by.
I hope that he does use this event as a catalyst to get clean, and learn from it, after he's paid the debt society has required of him. I find it hard not to be sympathetic, because although I have no close friends that have went through this drug, I have heard heartbreaking tales of bad choices, where the drug was so addicting that once they made that initial bad move it was almost too late. But for the grace of God, there go I.
I don't preclude anyone's choices or suggest that personal responsibility isn't the case, but it does not mollify the fact that meth is a hideously insidious drug for many, and sometimes, once or a few times is too late. I hope that from this all, what's left of his life will be salvageable, and he can turn it around.
But if you want change, you have to have it from the whole system, not just the cops, but from the judges who are supposed to pass the sentence as well. As someone who served on a jury last year involving the victimization of children, I was appalled by the application of the sentence at the discretion of the judge to a concurrent rather than consecutive sentence (effectively overruling an anonymous jury decision) for the offender who facilitated the tragic events. Since then, I cast a wary eye at who out there is really watching over us. Maybe we should look more closely at the judges we elect, because when justice for innocent kids isn't safely and fairly meted out, then we are all in trouble. It takes an effort from all sides, and we the people to hold those we put there in the judiciary accountable.
I'm Sean, owner of Rock N Blues. This is my truck parked there, my luck... It was there because I was referred to this guy by a friend/former student of mine who said he did Transmission work. I just met him like Thursday when he and that woman, showed at my shop, and they followed me to his place in that Jeep. As many of my customers know, my truck has been acting up lately and the transmissions slipping. This guy was supposed to look at it. This isnt good. I just was woken up by Pastor Don Tharp, who told me the news and that he recognized my truck on the news. Advertising's one thing, but this isnt exactly how Id like to be recognized. Hahaha.
Sean
They serve a demographic, and it's up to that demographic to change how they are percieved when things like this happens. I'm pretty sure the Lone Star has not had 56 police calls, and they are just up the street. Its inherent in the culture, and as long as we give the culture a place to be legitimate, then, you have to hope and expect that these individuals will conduct themselves in a manner that is congruent with the law, and if they don't, and the police are called 50+ times, then you have to know its a numbers game and it is only a matter of time before you see something like this or worse.
Accountability is a must for all parties concerned. If it was a gang related thing, and the victim was gang affiliated, then swimming with sharks sometimes can cost you. Limited amount of sympathy there, people always have choices. Life becomes a sum total of the choices you make and do not make.
I know that the place in question is not known for being a genteel place, as the Lone Star up the road is, and so I would not patronize there. Most people that attend the K either felt safe or didn't care about the risks, and as such sometimes the dice rolls against them. But it's was dice in their hands and they chose to play with them.
K may have profited by the exuberance of their demographic, but sometimes they perpetuate their own problems, a two edged sword. Wisdom is called for.
Tom,
You seem to be a stickler for the "form before function" sentiment.
We've all endured our English 101 classes, and the purpose of writing and such is communication, i.e. Message sent = Message received. But at some point, we all request a break from the English teacher, especially if we have graduated, and paid our student loans, and dealt with the meaningless BS. To date, my life has not been made better or more gratifying because I wasted 2 hours on a Huguenots Term paper, has yours?
There are a lot of places where it's appropriate, such as resumes, but I think the purpose of such a blog was to be informative, i.e. convey information about a band. Mission accomplished. I saw it, and I'm sure than most readers here got that message as well.
The form of the writing or the misuses of pronouns does not in any way detract from the message which is that a local band is making their (or is it there? - just kidding!) debut.
We get it - if you want to judge her by form over function, my friend, you are cut from a far different cloth than I am. Me, I've spoken with her, have been interviewed by her, and respect her knowledge and enthusiasm towards her work. She can dangle all the participles she'd like, I'm a fan of her, and I think we are all better served in the media in this town because of her service.
While your points, are valid, so are mine...too many times we look at form before function, and I think we have enough hoops to jump through life as it is, without English teachers from times past reminding us that our term paper isn't following APA Specs and Guidelines.
If this were a Master's Thesis or other higher learning requirement, then fine, but this is a paper, and its commonly known that a paper is written towards the max vocabulary of a 6th grader, and this is an informal blog, and moreso deserving of a little amnesty from the grammar police,
Informally yours,
Sean Christiansen, Owner Rock N Blues Guitars
I'm proud to have served on the jury. Justice was served. We did the maximum that we were allowed to under the law. If the max would have been 20 years per count I would have pushed and held for that. God bless you Melissa and the kids, let them both now heal, get the counseling they need, surround them with love, and have a productive and peaceful rest of their lives.I hope the judge decides to have the 10 year terms for each count run consecutively.
As the attorney said during closing "She didnt sacrifice FOR those kids....she sacrificed those kids"
As someone that was on this jury which convicted Ms. Smith today,
Justice was served. We gave her the Max allowed by law. I did see all the evidence and facts of this case. I knew nothing of the case before being chosen.
I am happy that justice has been served, and 10 years and 10,000 dollars per count x 10 counts is the maximum allowed by law and the kids deserved nothing less for what they'd been through. 100 years and 100,000 fine.
Newsletter
Those that know me, know I live a clean boring life - I play my guitar, sing, teach kids, run my shop, drink bottled water and I don't even smoke cigarettes, much less go near drugs.
I will say, that in the short time I was introduced to Kirk Gainer, last Wednesday night, I really liked the guy. The uncomplimentary picture they showed of his arrest, wasn't the same way that he looked, obviously they woke him up in the dead of sleep. I don't condone any of what he's alleged to have done, but my brief contact with him, echoed what another reader further down commented, and that is, he was very smart.
Intelligence and wisdom are two different things. Sometimes wisdom is something you have to learn the hard way through the mistakes made in life.
Personally, though I can't say I know Kirk, my few minutes with him, showed me that this man has a pretty good heart, he was willing to help me out on behalf of a friends request. I'm not happy that my truck is stuck there and I'm on foot at the moment, but I'll get by.
I hope that he does use this event as a catalyst to get clean, and learn from it, after he's paid the debt society has required of him. I find it hard not to be sympathetic, because although I have no close friends that have went through this drug, I have heard heartbreaking tales of bad choices, where the drug was so addicting that once they made that initial bad move it was almost too late. But for the grace of God, there go I.
I don't preclude anyone's choices or suggest that personal responsibility isn't the case, but it does not mollify the fact that meth is a hideously insidious drug for many, and sometimes, once or a few times is too late. I hope that from this all, what's left of his life will be salvageable, and he can turn it around.
But if you want change, you have to have it from the whole system, not just the cops, but from the judges who are supposed to pass the sentence as well. As someone who served on a jury last year involving the victimization of children, I was appalled by the application of the sentence at the discretion of the judge to a concurrent rather than consecutive sentence (effectively overruling an anonymous jury decision) for the offender who facilitated the tragic events. Since then, I cast a wary eye at who out there is really watching over us. Maybe we should look more closely at the judges we elect, because when justice for innocent kids isn't safely and fairly meted out, then we are all in trouble. It takes an effort from all sides, and we the people to hold those we put there in the judiciary accountable.
I'm Sean, owner of Rock N Blues. This is my truck parked there, my luck... It was there because I was referred to this guy by a friend/former student of mine who said he did Transmission work. I just met him like Thursday when he and that woman, showed at my shop, and they followed me to his place in that Jeep. As many of my customers know, my truck has been acting up lately and the transmissions slipping. This guy was supposed to look at it. This isnt good. I just was woken up by Pastor Don Tharp, who told me the news and that he recognized my truck on the news. Advertising's one thing, but this isnt exactly how Id like to be recognized. Hahaha.
Sean
They serve a demographic, and it's up to that demographic to change how they are percieved when things like this happens. I'm pretty sure the Lone Star has not had 56 police calls, and they are just up the street. Its inherent in the culture, and as long as we give the culture a place to be legitimate, then, you have to hope and expect that these individuals will conduct themselves in a manner that is congruent with the law, and if they don't, and the police are called 50+ times, then you have to know its a numbers game and it is only a matter of time before you see something like this or worse.
Accountability is a must for all parties concerned. If it was a gang related thing, and the victim was gang affiliated, then swimming with sharks sometimes can cost you. Limited amount of sympathy there, people always have choices. Life becomes a sum total of the choices you make and do not make.
I know that the place in question is not known for being a genteel place, as the Lone Star up the road is, and so I would not patronize there. Most people that attend the K either felt safe or didn't care about the risks, and as such sometimes the dice rolls against them. But it's was dice in their hands and they chose to play with them.
K may have profited by the exuberance of their demographic, but sometimes they perpetuate their own problems, a two edged sword. Wisdom is called for.
Tom,
You seem to be a stickler for the "form before function" sentiment.
We've all endured our English 101 classes, and the purpose of writing and such is communication, i.e. Message sent = Message received. But at some point, we all request a break from the English teacher, especially if we have graduated, and paid our student loans, and dealt with the meaningless BS. To date, my life has not been made better or more gratifying because I wasted 2 hours on a Huguenots Term paper, has yours?
There are a lot of places where it's appropriate, such as resumes, but I think the purpose of such a blog was to be informative, i.e. convey information about a band. Mission accomplished. I saw it, and I'm sure than most readers here got that message as well.
The form of the writing or the misuses of pronouns does not in any way detract from the message which is that a local band is making their (or is it there? - just kidding!) debut.
We get it - if you want to judge her by form over function, my friend, you are cut from a far different cloth than I am. Me, I've spoken with her, have been interviewed by her, and respect her knowledge and enthusiasm towards her work. She can dangle all the participles she'd like, I'm a fan of her, and I think we are all better served in the media in this town because of her service.
While your points, are valid, so are mine...too many times we look at form before function, and I think we have enough hoops to jump through life as it is, without English teachers from times past reminding us that our term paper isn't following APA Specs and Guidelines.
If this were a Master's Thesis or other higher learning requirement, then fine, but this is a paper, and its commonly known that a paper is written towards the max vocabulary of a 6th grader, and this is an informal blog, and moreso deserving of a little amnesty from the grammar police,
Informally yours,
Sean Christiansen, Owner
Rock N Blues Guitars
I'm proud to have served on the jury. Justice was served. We did the maximum that we were allowed to under the law. If the max would have been 20 years per count I would have pushed and held for that. God bless you Melissa and the kids, let them both now heal, get the counseling they need, surround them with love, and have a productive and peaceful rest of their lives.I hope the judge decides to have the 10 year terms for each count run consecutively.
As the attorney said during closing "She didnt sacrifice FOR those kids....she sacrificed those kids"
As someone that was on this jury which convicted Ms. Smith today,
Justice was served. We gave her the Max allowed by law. I did see all the evidence and facts of this case. I knew nothing of the case before being chosen.
I am happy that justice has been served, and 10 years and 10,000 dollars per count x 10 counts is the maximum allowed by law and the kids deserved nothing less for what they'd been through. 100 years and 100,000 fine.
I am proud to have served on this jury.