Re: [gardeners] OT: Sometimes the world

Terry King (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:29:45 -0600 

Liz,

Thanks for sharing this, I was wondering how the town was handling it.  I'm 
afraid the big bad world is encroaching on our small communities all too 
quickly.  I personally felt appalled by the coldbloodness of it all.

In our local area here, the city of Omak lost its first police officer just last 
month to a gunman during a domestic fight between a Mexican man and his 
(I think) former girlfriend.  Our communities showed a similar response as 
yours.  I hope it really awakened the law enforcement agencies here abouts 
to the fact that there is an increasing problem that they've been turning a 
blindeye to for quite some time.  

I feel for the people of Lewiston.  

Terry 

On Wed, 29 Apr 1998 15:33:12 +0000, Liz Albrook wrote:

>This is definitely not about gardening, but I need to talk about it.  
>Maybe one or more of you will have something to say.  This is long 
>and maybe a bit depressing, but maybe not.  Feel free to skip it.
>
>Yesterday, the funeral of Pete Stucky (pronounced Stookey) was held 
>in Lewiston.  Last week, a husband and wife, 27 and 24 years old 
>respectively, drove into Lewiston and parked the vehicle they were 
>driving in the Wal Mart parking lot.  They walked down the hill to a 
>car dealer and decided to test drive a truck.  Pete Stucky was the 
>salesman.  They got in the truck and drove up the grade just 
>north of town, heading towards Washington.  Partway up the grade, 
>with his wife in the backseat, the husband pulled out a gun and 
>shot Pete Stucky in the temple.  Stucky died in Washington.  His body 
>was dumped in Montana.
>
>This story has been the talk of the town since it happened.  People 
>took off work to comb the backroads, looking for Stucky.  It was 
>discussed over the meat counter, in McDonald's, at The Bon, 
>everywhere people got togethor.  It wasn't the normal small town 
>gossip sort of chatter -- it was a discussion of evil.  I have heard 
>the word evil used more times in the last 10 days than in all the 
>rest of my life.
>
>I never met Pete Stucky, yet I find myself one of those people who 
>has been profoundly affected by his death.  This is the sort of story 
>that happens in a lot of places, but for some reason it has hit a lot 
>of people in Lewiston and Spokane, WA differently than most of these 
>stories.  
>
>All of that is the background for what I wanted to say.  Yesterday 
>was Pete Stucky's funeral.  Over 700 people attended -- he was well 
>known and well liked.  The funeral procession was over 100 cars long 
>and really tied up traffic.  Here comes the part that has made such 
>an impact on me.  I got tied up in the traffic on a side street and I 
>saw a remarkable thing happen.  People in those side streets got out 
>of their cars and stood when the funeral procession went by.  Young 
>kids, rednecks in hotrod pick ups, middle aged folks, elderly people 
>who had trouble moving -- the all got out of their cars and stood 
>with their heads bowed, hats and caps in hand (some of those 
>people probably don't take off their John Deere or Budweiser caps 
>when they go to bed at night) to stand.  
>
>I was one of those people.  It was a spontaneous event.  There was no 
>voice that told me to get out of my car, I didn't even see other 
>people doing the same thing until I was there, out of my car in the 
>sun watching the procession approach.  There were no tears -- there 
>was sadness at the passing of a husband, father and friend, there was 
>a feeling of respect for Stucky and there was a feeling that this 
>funeral and what had become our participation in it was for something 
>more than the passing of a man.
>
>Sometimes the world is an irrational, violent place.  And sometimes 
>the people in this world choose to take a stand against that 
>violence and irrationality.  We tend to hide that stand under many 
>labels -- nationalism is a common one.  But I think something 
>profound happened in my little redneck hamlet.  Without saying a word 
>people stood, not out of respect for Pete Stucky and his family, but 
>out of respect for themselves and for Good.  As his murderers 
>committed great evil and became, in our town, living symbols of Evil, 
>so Pete Stucky -- the quiet man with friends and neighbors who cried 
>when they tried to tell the press that he was "just a decent sort of 
>fellow" --  became the symbol of Good.  
>
>It was the most dignified display I have ever witnessed.
>
>Liz
>