Red State values: Texas Cheerleaders run Wild

[CTyankee]

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/texas-cheerleaders-terrorize-school/20070107090709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

And do we not love this? Just about everything in this story is so vile, so hypocritical and so disgusting it is just funny.

I am just sorry for our good Texas Dems, for having to put up with trash like this in their lives.

[Taverner]

1. Nothing to do with Red vs Blue state, but power corrupting

Some are pointing fingers at the mother of the clique's ringleader, who was also the school's principal.

Power corrupts folks.

[CTyankee]

2. I agree, but first there has to be a general agreement with the whole

ethic. And I don't mean explicitly. I think it is implicit.

I guess my point is that red states say one thing and do another. Their disgusting rhetoric against blue state Dems is so vile and yet they are vile themselves.

You are right, but there has to be a comfort zone for people to just be "in synch."

[Taverner]

4. Again, I've heard stories of Texas Cheerleaders where they are

considered the "bad girls", especially in fundie communities where anything that might be considered dancing is considered wrong and evil. To me, that's more red state values than this.

They have cheerleaders who practically run the social scene here in california too, even in progressive cities.

[Clark2008]

14. Red "states" don't SAY anything - no rhetoric.

Do you mean red voters? Because I happen to live in a red state, but I'm not a hypocrite.

Can we please knock off the "red state v. blue state" crap? Each state is varying shades of purple. The cities are mostly blue and the rural areas are mostly red in nearly every state, with some exceptions.

[piedmont]

21. Thank you. I am sick of overly simplistic thinking like the "red state/blue state" bullshit

[CTyankee]

33. You are right; my bad. I am actually a native Texan so you can

safely assume that I have some feelings for my Texas relatives, many of whom are honorable Democrats. But I have to tell you that I left Texas when I was 18 because I couldn't take their stuff anymore and I never came back to live there! Sorry...

My red state references are really aimed at those Republican hypocrites who have continued to reject their own hypocrisy and continue their criticism of blue state liberals. I particularly don't want to hear about how liberals promote immoral sex by being in favor of accurate medical information about sex, and the red staters constant rant about homosexuals' sex lives and how awful feminists are.

If that bothers you, well, you need to take another look at what is going on...

[piedmont]

36. Why not just use "conservatives" instead of "red staters"

It's more accurate, and doesn't come off as simplistic, jingoistic, pompous punditry-- which is what I assume you're actually mad about anyway.

[Cha]

60. They give "conservatives" a

bad name. There must be something they can be appropriately called these days. Fascist hypocrites comes to mind for the bushits.

[piedmont]

61. "Fascist hypocrites" is ok with me. Much more descriptive than "red-stater," which I happen to be.

much more accurate, too

[Clark2008]

39. No - see, you did it agin.

I DID take a look at what was bothering me and what's bothering me is this: I'm a red stater. I live and vote in a red state, but I don't rant about homosexuals. I don't say things about how awful feminists are. I vote blue.

See, the point is that I may BE a red stater - because I live in one - but I'm a blue voter.

The proper term should be, "red VOTERS constant rant about homosexuals' sex lives and how awful feminists are..."

Now, do you see what I mean?

I'm not bitching at you. I just think the terminology is disrespectful to use blue VOTERS in red states - because we're still red staters. We still live in red states, despite our voting blue.

[CTyankee]

48. Ok, good point. I'll say voters but I'm not sure that is accurate, because

I presume you are a voter so I can't say that about YOU.

So what would be better? I'd like to consider your feelings as a voter. What would you suggest?

[piedmont]

52. well, REPUBLICANS-- or CONSERVATIVES...jeez! nt

[Madspirit]

57. You should have moved to Austin.

**ctyankee...But I have to tell you that I left Texas when I was 18 because I couldn't take their stuff anymore and I never came back to live there!**


You didn't have to move so far to find "Cool". I left my red-neck family and East Texas when I was 15 and moved to the Very Progressive City of Austin...a city that has never NOT carried the Democrat in presidential elections. ...without exception. We are way cool and good music, etc.
Madspirit

[CTyankee]

64. Oh, I love Austin! It is the spiritual home of many of my relatives who are

good, solid Democrats! I even have a "Killer Bees" tee shirt from that incident (remember, back in the early 80s?).

My beloved uncle, Ephraim Davis from Brownwood (where I spent every summer during many years of my childhood), was a State Senator who promoted paving roads in Texas as a way of promoting the state's economic viability (he was also a local judge and country lawyer for many farmers). I remember traveling to Oklahoma as a kid and seeing the mud roads at the other side of the state line!

This is all real to me, you have to understand. I know Texas better than you think I do, although I was brought up in Dallas. My mother was from El Paso, my father came from Oklahoma as the son of a pioneering Baptist preacher who sought to establish Baptist churches in the wilds of Texas in the early 1900s. My mother's father was a child of 8 when Sherman's army marched through Georgia and destroyed his family's farm. They got in a covered wagon and moved to Texas in desperation.

This is all part of my family history and I take it very seriously. I am 67 years old and I have no regrets for moving to the East. I am now a CT Yankee and I'm sorry if you don't like that. I love New England, its heritage and its customs. I don't completely reject my Texas upbringing, I just prefer what I have instead. Let's live and let live, OK?

[Madspirit]

72. Oh, I love Austin...and the East Coast.

I love the East Coast. I hung out there a lot in my hippie youth. I'm 52. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows there is a big blue oasis right in the middle of my red state.
Madspirit

[CTyankee]

75. That's great. No need for sarcasm. I get it.

Please don't get defensive. I mean no harm to any one. OK?

[Madspirit]

76. Are you paranoid?

When was I sarcastic? What are you talking about. I didn't say one sarcastic thing nor did I intend any sarcasm. I said I was just pointing out to others that Austin is liberal and I said I love the East coast too. I thought my post was nice. Jeez. I give up.

Madspirit

[Madspirit]

79. ...but if you want sarcasm...

I had a great time on the East Coast. I love my home...Austin. I said NOTHING sarcastic previous to this post.
...BUT if you want sarcasm...I could point out that GW Bush was actually not born in Texas. He was born in...........CT. mwahaha
So there. : P
Madspirit

[CTyankee]

80. Yep. Bush was born right here in my city, New Haven, but he won't

admit it. His accident of birthplace is meaningless to me, Daddy had to finish up at Yale, you know; the way he treats it just serves to make me laugh at him and his hypocrisy all the more. And the guy's fake Texas accent is hilarious. Along with his fake ranch, he is one big serving of fakery.

[Madspirit]

83. still not sure

I'm still not sure why you attacked me and called me sarcastic because I said I loved the East Coast when I hung there in my hippie youth...because that IS WHEN I HUNG THERE and that I just wanted people to know that Austin is a liberal oasis. I was sincere in everything I said...but whatever. Maybe that's what they call communication skills...in CT. There...how's that for generalizations....like it?
Madspirit

[CTyankee]

90. My apologies. I think I must have thought you were mimicking me

in a sarcastic way, but I realize from what you have said that you did not.

Austin is a great liberal oasis and I didn't doubt your sincerety at all on that. I think I was stunned that my post got so many negative reactions I was expecting only the worst.

We probably have lots in common. I know I am a little hurt by some of the stuff thrown at me, altho I tried to throw it back in a lighthearted way. And I did not mean to hurt your feelings. So, I hope you will not hate me and can see that I just misread your post. Please forgive me.

[Redstone]

8. Sorry, but no. Blue States don't attach this kind of importance to CHEERLEADING, for

Christ's sake.

We have better priorities. After all, look at how Red Staters pretty much WORSHIP high-school football.

And how important IS high-school football, really?

Redstone

[Taverner]

11. That's a bit of blanket statement, don't you think?

I would say small towns worship high school football, simply because there's nothing else to do there.

[Redstone]

13. It may be a blanket statement, but it's a true one.

Redstone

[Taverner]

15. I honestly think it depends on the town

Urban cities in Texas don't worship football half as much as their small town counterparts.

[Redstone]

16. Small towns in the Northeast don't worship high-school footballl like small towns in,

say, Texas do.

Truth.

Redstone

[Taverner]

17. No but they worship hockey

Just like in small town Canada

[Ishoutandscream2]

24. Thank you, Taverner.

This Texan appreciates your comments.

[Taverner]

50. NP...blanket statements always get to me

Even though I detest Texas teams ;)

[hack89]

34. In Rhode Island they do

Thanksgiving rivalry games are a statewide tradition.

[Radical Activist]

25. Its different in Texas.

Very much a cultural thing to place much more importance on football and cheerleading. A shallow, fucked up cultural thing.
But high school girls act this way everywhere. I can't believe anyone thinks this is news.

[sanskritwarrior]

31. Pennsylavania

football......if you know anything you know about the worship Penn has for football, same with California.........

[GreenPartyVoter]

46. And what exactly is wrong with cheerleading, and what does it have to do with red states?

[ScreamingMeemie]

51. Yes they do...here in Blue Michigan... and Purple Wisconsin.

Cheerleading is Huge and football is HUGER.

[MiniMandaRuth]

99. I wish that were true.

Although I'm sure that it's an isolated case, we had 10,000 dollars taken out of the school band budget to pay for a new bus for the cheerleaders. And other things...

[ourbluenation]

3. My daughter has been the target of "mean girls". Nothing here to

laugh about as far as I can see.

[ray of light]

18. It's quite serious. Have you heard of the "Ophelia project"?

Check it out. Also, consider other alternatives like a new school or homeschooling. Sometimes leaving behind the poor reputation and going to a new place helps.

[ourbluenation]

23. Yes, and read odd girl out. Best thing I did though was get all the girls in a room

with all the moms. We (the moms) were so pissed off that they would turn on her like that. The girls got to sit there and answer to me when I looked them in the eyes and calmy asked, "let me get this straight so I understand where you're at...you can't stand my ****** anymore and you think she's so ugly you can't stand to look at her. Is that it?" Most of them starting sobbing because they truly felt bad when you say it out loud like that for everyone to hear. The two "queen bee's" were emotionless. One has since become one of her closest friends, the other is hopeless and working real hard at losing most of her friends.

This is her...isn't she hard to look at? Please...gimme a break.



She was the only one not at the sleep over, so she became the target of their boredom. She's also the youngest.

They haven't messed with her since (last summer)- the whole episode empowered her somehow. She knows now how to nip that nonsense in the bud by not reacting and again, it just doesn't happen anymore. Plus, they know I won't hesitate to call their parents again like last time. }(

But I know some girls cannot find that inner strength and they suffer in silence. My heart breaks for them. It can be utterly devestating.

[piedmont]

27. What a beauty!

It's easy to forget that popularity does not correspond well with looks, talent, or heart. It's just a stupid game (with no rules) that some kids are "better" at playing than others.

[ourbluenation]

30. Thx Piedmont. I think we'll keep her!

:)

[CTyankee]

35. Oh, I hope for you and her! Best of luck. I think it is such a bad

situation when anyone is mean!

But I do recall high school and how bad it could be. I took refuge in drama. I loved doing it and was good at it. I did well and so all was not so bad.

You see, you just have to find your best talent and develop that! After a while you get better and better and good things happen.

[sanskritwarrior]

37. Kind of like you

being mean by insinuating that this is Texan values........

[CTyankee]

49. Well, I'm an 3rd generation Texan, and I can't find anything good

in that story.

I had some very good role models growing up in Texas. But there was nothing like this.

[sanskritwarrior]

53. Great we can

compare Texaness later. The point is you bashed a state because of 5 girls. Why not bash the 5 girls as an example of what happens when parents (red or blue parents) don't take care of their kids and instill in them good morals and behavior.

[CTyankee]

65. I will do. When this happens in CT I will post it on DU.

I don't like it anywhere.

[momster]

58. How did you persuade the moms and daughters

to come together? When my daughter (smart, beautiful and kind) was the target of mean girls, all the other mothers were like 'Not my daughter! She'd never do anything like that!" They were so defensive/protective it took a school counselor to say 'yes, your daughter and yours and yours....' Even then they tried to blame *my* daughter for their childrens' behavior. Like my kid forced them to be vicious. Such power in a skinny 11 yr old girl.

[ourbluenation]

92. I had written proof - the print out of the im discussion. I started to read it over

the phone to one of the moms and she was in her car before I could finish. She called the other moms and they showed up too. It all happened, beginning to end, within an hour. It was awful. My daughter called me at work bawling. She was just sitting at home eating a bowl of cereal with her big bro and gets an im from all her friends who she had just hung out with the day before that says we never liked you, we think your ugly, we can stand to look at you, we can't be friends with you anymore, your different than us, etc...

biotches.

[ray of light]

77. She's very beautiful! And she is luck to have a mom who came to

her support like that. It's what we all need to do. The kids who started sobbing likely felt two things: embarrassment at getting caught and shame that their parents had to hear about it. They may have even felt a little guilty too.

However, I read many essays on girls, teasing and sleepover parties and the female bully atmosphere is so prevalent that girls cringe at the idea of being the unlucky one to get bullied. Everyone wants to be a part of the queen bee's group.

I can't tell you how angry and sad it made me to read the essays from kids who talk about the effects of bullying even wehn they were as young as first graders.

Also, the schools are b.s.

they take it more seriously now than they did 10 years ago when my kids were there, but frankly, it's not enough. Society has a huge problem when they expect one teacher to handle 35 students for 8 hours straight. Now, I don't excuse the teachers either. Teachers need to be resonsive to parents as do administrators. In my situation the teacher basically sucked. The administration sucked. And the bullying continued even worse because they didn't follow up on the followup!

[ourbluenation]

93. This all happened the last week before school started. I ran into the counselor

school counselor at registration, pulled her aside and began to explain what happened. She cut me off and said not only had she read the book "Odd Girl Out" but met with the author personally. She was great. Completely understood that you have to jump on it immediatly or it festers. The queen bee's have most people fooled. In fact, one of them was one of her absolute favorite students. I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head when I told her. But she did not hesitate to pull them in her office the first day of school just to make sure everything was cool and to let them know it will not be tolerated if it happens again.

[WCGreen]

5. The mother resigning and getting a recommendation

for her next job sounds very republican like to me...

[CTyankee]

6. Doncha love it? Perfect!

These people DO take care of their own, do they not?

[tularetom]

7. Wonder what Squeezy McFeelpants will say about this?

[CTyankee]

40. I think Stephanie had something on last week about it.

It was absolutely hysterical. Jim Ward got carried away and Chris LeVoie said "The voice monkey is too much into it." It was very, very funny...*


*I'm not really SURE it was this story, but I think it was!

[htuttle]

55. It was this story, and Squeezy said he was going to...uh...investigate it immediately

(...Boom chicka bow bow, boom chicka bow wow,.....)

[muntrv]

9. Let's see here. The ringleader of the clique is the daughter of the principal

The principal leaves with $75,000 despite creating this monster. Sounds like Bush family values.

[judaspriestess]

10. republican values here

nothing shocking and to be expected. :crazy:

[NewJeffCT]

12. It's like a headline from "The Onion"

Why do these things come true under Bush?

[Eric J in MN]

19. Vague about what the girls did.

It mentions risque photos on MySpace and sending dirty text messages to the coach's husband, but doesn't explain if there is more to this.

[Blue Diadem]

20. More detail in this story:

Snip:
Jan. 2, 2007 - The pictures posted on MySpace.com looked like the latest installment of "Girls Gone Wild." In them, cheerleaders from McKinney North High School in Texas exhibited all variety of bawdy behavior. One shot showed a bikini-clad girl sharing a bottle of booze with a friend. Another featured a cheerleader and several other girls in risqué poses offering glimpses of their panties. But the most infamous photo of all was taken in a Condoms To Go store. Five smiling cheerleaders dressed in uniform posed with large candles shaped like penises. At least one of them appeared to be simulating fellatio. "It would be an overstatement to describe any of the photographs as pornographic, but it would be an understatement to describe them as harmless high jinks," wrote Harold Jones, a lawyer hired by the school district to investigate the incident. "Quite frankly, I personally found it 'creepy'.

more at link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16441559/site/newsweek/

[Eric J in MN]

26. OK, thanks.

I don't like schools punishing people for legal activities done outside of school. Maybe the school can claim that because they were wearing the uniforms at the time, it makes it their business.

[Saboburns]

32. Right on Jones.

What could possibly be more CREEPY than horny tennagers??

[Radical Activist]

22. You mean teenage girls know about Sex?!

And they abuse their privilege and status bestowed upon them by rich parents?! Gap?! What is this world coming to. I'm sure this same thing hasn't been going on for the last 100 years or so! :sarcasm:

[lapfog_1]

28. A couple of Christmases ago I spent a lot of time around

my college age (17, 20, 22) nieces. I know that all teens know about sex and stuff, and have been shocking their parents with it since before the Greeks.

But holy batshit! Porn posters in their dorm rooms, casual comments about Bukkake parties (told as jokes, but hell, they know what the term means!), and so on. The 22 year old had a roommate who was invited to go with the "younger adults" (headed up by me) for a night of partying and dancing. I was in my mid forties and so I organized the limo and kept a clear head and acted like a chaperon to the group. The roommate, a pretty girl, decided that *I* was her date and proceeded to come onto to me all night. Anyway, if I was :evilgrin: a different person, I could be writing this letter to Penthouse... she whispered into my ear in the limo all the things she wanted to do and what body parts of hers had various piercings... again, I'm no prude, and she was of legal age and all, but I don't remember my girlfriends in college being quite THAT experienced. Anyway, nothing happened, but I got a very good education about what the current generation of young people know about and, apparently, practice as far as sex goes... and it's a bit shocking.

[ironflange]

41. When I was 16, I vaguely knew where babies came from

My daughter is 16, and she probably knows more than I do now. Fortunately, she's extremely level-headed, and I trust her completely to not do anything stupid.

[CTyankee]

42. Hey, Rad! The point was about red state hypocrisy, not about teens and sex.

Get it?

[Radical Activist]

43. Either way, it isn't news.

Its the way things are in red and blue states both.

[CTyankee]

56. Well, when it reaches the principal of the school it goes above and beyond

so it is different. There is such a thing as accountability on the part of the person in charge, for crying out loud! Pleez.

OK, tell you what. I'll post the next CT cheerleader involving school principal scandal right here on DU! Deal?

[Radical Activist]

59. Didn't you have kids in your school

who got away with things because of who their parents were? I know mine did.

[sanskritwarrior]

29. Give me a freakin break........

this could happen anywhere.....remind me to post a thread the next time someone rapes a child in connecticut or does something else vile, but in no way reflective of the people in a given state.........

[CTyankee]

45. Please read previous response re HYPOCRISY

This was about red state hypocrisy, OK? When it happens in Connecticut, and it DOES, I will be the first to post in on DU if it is at all interesting.

We have had some horrible sex stuff happening here including Phil Giordano, who was the mayor of Waterbury, CT and who ran as the Republican candidate against Joe LIeberman in 2000. This creep was a child molester who solicited little girls to come to his office and perform oral sex on him and in return he gave money to the girls' aunt to support her drug habit. Our Democratic Attorney General prosecuted this criminal. So I am completely NOT listening to any excuses for criminal behavior in my own state.

I hope and pray we always take responsibility for our offenders in CT. I am just fed up with hypocrisy from states who smear our blue states as some kind of wicked, Satan practicing crazies who do not enforce laws of decency while all the time proclaiming our religiosity. We do.

[sanskritwarrior]

47. Yes the whole state of Texas

smears blue state voters :sarcasm: .......There are red staters who do this there are red staters in connecticut who smear Connecticut. There are blue Texans that smear Texas. All any of that does is further divide us.....And that sucks.......

[CTyankee]

67. Who said any of this? I can't even decipher what you have said? n/t

[Texasgal]

63. I am holding you to it

"This was about red state hypocrisy, OK? When it happens in Connecticut, and it DOES, I will be the first to post in on DU if it is at all interesting."

I am holding you to it!

[sanskritwarrior]

66. Hear Hear

Sending some love to my fellow Texan......

[CTyankee]

68. Hey, Texasgal! I will do it, don't worry.

Please understand and not take this personally! No way is this meant against you! I know you feel strongly about Texas. It was part of my growing up and I heard a lot about it when I left to go live in the northeast. It was almost as if I was not "allowed" to leave Texas and go live in the northeast (or anywhere else I guess). The funny thing is, I have never heard this expression anywhere else in the U.S. (I have lived in New York state, Washington. D.C., and Ct, in addition to PA when I was in college at Carnegie Mellon University).

So I have to wonder about this phenomenom. Please, I am not hostile about it, I just wonder.

[ironflange]

38. Video won't work for me

[GreenPartyVoter]

44. Here's some more info on this from a cheer forum I visit.

http://www.varsity.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19250

[ScreamingMeemie]

62. Interesting, the different views of the two coaches.

When I was in high school, we had the "in season" rule. No kissing was even allowed when in uniform, and if one was caught drinking...boy Howdy.

[GreenPartyVoter]

88. So far the issue hasn't come up for me since I coach at a rural

elementary school. The place is so small everyone feels like brother and sister, so they usually go out of town to find their significant others, which means they hardly ever see them. lol

[momster]

54. Is it wise

for children to attend the school that their parent administers? This problem probably wouldn't have gotten so far out of control if the ringleader hadn't been the daughter of the principal. Of course, depending on the size of the town, there may not have been another high school but still...it seems that nobody dared to discipline the girl because they were afraid of reprisals by the mom. I only hope it's a long time before this lady gets another job where she's in charge of students/teachers/small mammals or other living things. It sounds like she doesn't make good choices and her daughter is modeling that behavior.

[Bombtrack]

69. It's so retarded to draw from this anti-Texas bullshit. This is an asshole thing, not a Texas thing

I'm not a Texan, I don't have any Texans close to me, me and most everyone I know are True Blue Nwenglanders.

But Texas is NEVER going to even be competative for us much less leaning towards our side when this kind of reaching to bash their state goes on from people on our side.

[crispini]

70. Bless you.

:hug::loveya:

[CTyankee]

74. Um, as a native Texan and a current New Englander, no

Sorry you don't get it.

[Bombtrack]

78. thanks Mr. Blowhard

Maybe I should just stop contributing to all discussions ever then because I don't get it and it obviously doesn't ever get better.

[Fleshdancer]

97. As a native Texan and someone who has lived in MN and overseas....

please explain it to me

[Puregonzo1188]

71. How is this story national news (n/t)?

[CTyankee]

81. Ask aol. It was on their page when I went online yesterday afternoon

They must have deemed it newsworthy. I didn't seek it out, it was just there under their "news" section.

[Stephanie]

73. Here is a funny post on Cheerleaders Gone Wild >

http://alicublog.blogspot.com/2006_12_31_alicublog_archive.html#116801482642544177

[JHB]

82. Ain't just Red States: Remember the Glen Ridge NJ boys...

...football players who molested a retarded girl (on top of a life of general bullying and debauchery)?

Different players, different location, same formula: untouchable teen "royalty" that no one diciplined.

[CTyankee]

91. Of course it is not just the red states. And the GlenRidge boys were

a perfect example of that.

[dogday]

84. MSNBC reports the Mother of one of the girls was Principal

of the school of which they attended... Wow, that Mom needs some parent training herself...

[peekaloo]

85. Note to NBC programming. Here's your ratings winner:

Friday Night Sluts.

:sarcasm:

[Madspirit]

86. Not Texas

This is about teen bullies. It's absurd beyond words to link it to a particular state as the etiology for the behavior. Texans may or may not care more about football and cheer leading than other states. I have no idea and care even less. ...but this isn't about cheer leading really. It's about teen bullies and they are everywhere and their victims are everywhere. Columbine didn't happen in Texas and those kids were responding to TEEN BULLIES...of the popular type, too. In fact, have we even had a shoot-up-the-school thing happen here? ...and that's even worse than mean-ass cheerleaders.
Madspirit

[SlowDownFast]

87. Save the Cheerleaders. Save the World.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

[Madspirit]

89. Funny....

It is funny you should say that. She is the one Hero...the Cheerleader...who is from Texas. <g>
(Actually the waitress was from Texas also but she's history.)
Madspirit

[sakabatou]

94. The stupid! It burns!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

95. The famous Cheerleader Mom was in Galena Park, right in Houston

Galena Park is a blue collar stinkin' burb near the stinkin' Ship Channel. I grew up in a different stinkin' burb of the Ship Channel. The Cheerleader Mom plotted to kill her daughter's rival. Her daughter didn't make the squad, so she was gonna kill the girl, or her mom, or something. I think she went to jail for conspiracy or something. The bullying by the stupid kids, the jocks and jockettes was rampant when I was a kid, and it's still around today.

Hell, where I was born and grew up, in a nearly identical neighborhood, but about a couple of miles away, a major league serial killer named Elmer Wayne Henley helped kill a bunch of boys (numbered in the 20s to 30s) and he finally killed the ringleader and went to jail for the rest of his life. This happened in the summer of 1973. The cops didn't investigate all these missing boys because the cops insisted they were just "runaways". That was the national record for number of murders by a serial killer until the Juan Corona case, which involved migrant farmworkers.

I've lived in Texas my entire life. So please don't paint all Texans as being stupid and ill-informed and mean. We're not all major league serial killers either. In fact, I attended one junior college, two universities, and one college of law, and graduated from three of those four institutions!!!

Also, I hate bad grammar and bad spelling and illogical thinking. Makes me cringe on a daily basis.
I even took Latin and orchestra in high school, and hated sports and refused to go to football games.

[CTyankee]

96. Well, you raise some interesting -- and frightening -- points through your

examples of horrible actions. Growing up middle class in Dallas, I had a neighbor who shot and killed her husband in her driveway in broad daylight because he was cheating on her. Many years later (after I had moved away) my neice was killed by her stepgrandfather who was in a drunken rage and who kept his handgun loaded and at the ready to "protect" against burglars (he shot and wounded his wife and my neice's mother, then he killed himself). Both murders happened in Dallas.

What I find intriguing on this thread is that some people read more into my original post than was there. They seem to imply that I said just the opposite of what I said. I never said that all Texans were this way. As a matter of fact, I expressed sympathy with those Texans who DIDN'T have those values for having to live with them.

From the way you describe the events you grew up with, you are a s disgusted with violent, vile behavior as I am. I have warm membories of loving relatives and gentle people, as I am sure you do. But Texas was not the place for me. I love New England because of its ambience and what it offers me, that's all. What on earth is so bad about feeling that way?

[MiniMandaRuth]

98. I love how no one blames the daughters.

I would never do anything like that. Ever. And I'm younger than them.

But of course, children can't think for themselves. It was the evils of others that lead them to send inappropriate text messages, disregard school rules, and post boobie shots on myspace.