Author: Kevin Lawver

There’s nothing left to say about the sniper. There isn’t really anything to say at all today. Go hug someone… or kick a trash can.

Damn. They didn’t catch him. They happened on two undocumented guys from Latin America who are now in INS custody and have absolutely nothing to do with the 9 murders and 3 woundings that have taken place in this area in the last two weeks.

I was so hopeful that they’d caught him, that the person (who cares if the lunatic is a man or woman, not I) got stupid or greedy and was dull enough to call from a payphone and stand around until the cops traced it and came down on them like the wrath of God.

So… what now? We wait until he (he because I don’t want to type he/she or they) strike again and hope the cops catch him this time. Jen asked me tonight after I got home if it’s safe to go outside again. What am I supposed to tell her? I have no idea. He’s hit everyone off of or close to major roadways. Ummm, for all of you people who don’t live here, you can’t go 100 yards without stumbling over a major artery. There are two major roads within two minutes of my house, another and the largest airport in the area five minutes from my house. Our grocery store is in a well-lit parking lot with lots of exits (three weeks ago, I would have said that was a good thing). Our church is right by the toll road (that other major roadway in the area).

I can tell you all the makes and models of the white trucks between my house and anywhere I go. I count them and try to memorize the license plates. I can count ten in my neighborhood alone, one with a roof rack (it has carpets, not ladders and it’s the wrong make, but I’m still tempted to call it in).

See? This is why we’re all freaked out. We all live within minutes of a possible getaway. We’re all exposed. We’ve all lived with the fac that if something bad was planned by someone who doesn’t like us, we live in one of the three prime targets in the country. So, excuse us if we’re all a little frazzled and don’t talk about the cute things our kids do, the games this weekend or the stuff on TV (Full Metal Challenge is awesome, by the way). (switching tense for no good reason) I’m tired of looking over my shoulder and trying to protect everyone all the time, like that poor frightened woman at the gas station last weekend. I wanted to tell her everything was going to be OK, even though I didn’t believe it either. It’s going to be OK… but I don’t believe that either.

(this will probably get updated throughout the day) Police take two men into custody in Virginia

It looks like they may have the sniper(s) in custody! I sure hope so, because I’ve watched more CNN in the past two weeks than I care to mention.

Speaking of, I have yet another problem with CNN’s coverage of this whole thing. With their quiver full of experts and the constantly interjecting Daryn Kagan (don’t really care if that’s spelled correctly), I’ve heard the phrase “We don’t want to speculate” about a thousand times. Yet, what do they do as soon as those five words leave their mouths? They go right on to speculate and offer whatever crocked up theory they have that five minutes. They’ve done nothing BUT speculate for two weeks on this thing. It’s their job to speculate. But, come on CNN, don’t think we’re so stupid as to think that what you’re doing isn’t speculation. It is, especially when it’s your reporters doing the speculation. Seeing as I’ve been giving CNN all this advice, I’ve come up with a new tagline for CNN. I think it would be perfect for the bumper with James Earl Jones saying, “This is CNN”. They should have Richard Lewis’s voice follow that with “Now with spectaculation!” They seem to let everyone in the speculation act: anchors, hosts, field reporters, etc.

Ok, while I’m at it, when did it become journalistically acceptable for one reporter to interview another reporter about a story they’ve both been reporting on at the same time? It happened about a million times on Saturday night after the shooting in Ashland, and it drove me nuts. I understand going to a reporter in the field, like Jeane Meserve (who seemed to be able to get info better than anyone else and made the others look like a high school A/V club), but for Anderson Cooper to interview Ms. Kagan, who was doing the same thing he was was just stupid. She was basically an anchor on location. She’s not a reporter. She’s an anchor. Don’t interview her like she’s been doing investigative journalism while they did her hair and makeup.

I would watch one of the other cable news channels, but they’re even worse. It’s sad that CNN is the best of the bunch, when they’ve clearly gone downhill.

I’ve been giving CNN a really hard time, but I do have to give them credit for covering the shooting on Saturday when even our local DC stations wouldn’t cut into normal programming (on two channels, they were showing second or third run movies… breaking news would have gotten better ratings) to cover it.

This sniper thing in the DC area is driving us all insane. My wife is afraid. Logically, we all know the odds of being struck by space junk while planting pig’s feet in the garden are greater than being a victim of the sniper. But, like Jen says, if you die in a car accident wearing your seat belt, checking your mirrors and following traffic laws, you’ve done what you can do, and it just happened. If you’re hanging out the window, drunk, swerving all over the road, you should have known better. If we decide that going to Home Depot is worth the risk, we’ll go. But, it’s not worth the risk, so we stay home and watch CNN. Personally, I’m not that scared. I’m nervous, and I was sure the bastard would do something tonight, since he hasn’t waited more than seventy-two hours between killing some poor innocent person since he started this thing two weeks ago.

It’s insane, and it’s terrifying, and it’s wrong. There’s no making sense of it, or finding reason in, or listening to the jackasses on CNN try to profile this guy. If the kooks and dorks they had on TV were actually good at what they did, they wouldn’t be on TV. (sorry, i’ve given up on this making any sense… it’s a rant) And what the hell has happened to CNN? They did such a great job in the first month or two after September 11th last year. Now, CNN blows. It’s horrible. Connie Chung has some mental disorder or something. I wouldn’t watch Paula Zahn on a dare, and there are more feel-good filler crap, I thought I sometimes think I’m watching Dateline or 20/20. I want the news, you idiots, not some story about some (insert heart-warming story of someone overcoming some undetermined tragedy to invent the world’s first nuclear-powered yo-yo) when there’s a mass-murdering truck driver in my backyard, my President rides the short bus to the west wing every morning, my government is dead set on going to war, the North Koreans have nukes, the Saudi’s fund terrorism, but we put up with it because they sell us crude. I don’t care about the biggest damn pumpkin in the world. I want news!! I want to know what’s going on, and maybe why from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about. And will someone please force Larry King to retire He’s a dottering old idiot with nothing important to say, or meaningful questions to ask. I don’t want to listen to him mutter and hunch to a collection of layed off psychologists about who the sniper might be. Retire, give up… whatever you do, just shut up.

Ok, I feel a little better… but not much.

So our deadly neighborhood sniper has struck again. We’re not talking about it at work. We talk about it constantly at home. I was up until 1:30 last night watching CNN after the latest one last night at a Home Depot about 30 minutes from my house. All of the attacks except the ones in Fredericksburg have been within about 20 – 30 minutes from my house. I went to get gas yesterday afternoon because I thought he would take Monday off. He almost did, until he had to go and shoot some poor lady going to her car after getting (I’m assuming) home improvement supplies. Her husband was right there when she was shot. There was an older woman at the gas station yesterday who was visibily shaking as she help the pump. I’ve noticed parking lots are a little emptier today than they were yesterday. People are scared even if they don’t say it.

The randomness and locations of the shootings leave everyone feeling vulnerable and naked in public. I’ve noticed myself walking faster when I’m outside and looking at treelines more carefully. I’ve noticed every white van and box truck on the road. Now that we have a better description, I’ve stopped trying to memorize all their license plates, but I still notice them.

This is my first experience with a serial killer in my area. It’s gripping to the point of insomnia. I haven’t been sleeping well, and last night I dreamed about chasing a cream colored Astro van with a silver roof rack around Sterling trying to run him off the road. I woke up before I did.

The weird part is that even though this lunatic is creating terror, I don’t think he’s a typical terrorist. I think it’s some crazed Redneck who’s gone off the religious deepend that’s swallowed those whacked out right-to-lifers who are so for life rights that they kill people. It’s someone who’s morals are so goofy that he’ll kill, but won’t steal a new truck.

Honestly, I don’t care who it is. I want them stopped and soon.