Robert R.Vandyke complained that...'My son never had a chance.'

Well Mr.Vandyke...neither did your son's victim...36 year old Michelle Bradley.

Not quite like it does here (in Utah), I have lived in a lot of states, cities, and communities-but grew up in Utah-of which I am proud to have grown up there. I could and have talked to many many friends that I went through school with since graduating, and over and over again I hear the same thing..."I would have rather grown up anywhere else but here (Utah). Not because the education is poor, or the area is awful, but because parents in our community do put some terrific pressure on their children and it's like nothing I have ever seen anywhere else I have lived. Utah does have one of the highest suicide and chemical addiction rates in the country. Over alcohol of course is the addiction to Meth. Kit Kat is right, this probably has gone far enough. Let's all just agree that he needs help, he should get help,in my research I have learned that not much help is offered in the prison system, and before I left the state of Utah to go into recovery, there was next to nothing offered at all OUT of the prison system. When he gets out..let's all do our best to be supportive of him and people like him if they are trying to change. Let's ask that he not be given a driver's license ever again, let's offer him a ride if he needs it, let's ask him if we see him on the street if he has been to a meeting that day, how he is doing (and actually listen) and if it were me that ran into him-I would say "let's go to a meeeting." Let's give our support to the victim's family of course, but let's also support and love his parents, I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through, can you imagine how alone they feel? Be supportive of Michelle Bradley's daughter, and also Mr. Vandyke's daughter. They need good people to support them, and let's avoid remarks like "well Mr. VanDyke, neither did your son's victim...36 year old Michelle Bradley. That's just hurtful, his parents don't deserve that. Find a better way to channel your anger and don't let it turn into hate.

Well BuiscuitButt...I CAN imagine just what Michelle Bradley's loved ones are going through...because I've gone through it too.

I've lost three relatives and a number of close friends to drunk drivers.

Not only that...I experienced the horror and the misery which families just like hers experienced while I was working as an E.M.T. in L.A., and while I worked in a funeral home.

We also lost two very dear friends and members of our Ward Family to a drunk driver. They were killed instantly...leaving 8 children behind...the youngest only 3 years old.

Don't be telling me or anyone else what I, or they should be saying, or what we shouldn't be saying!

Don't be telling me how I, or anyone else should react, or how we shouldn't react.

Content yourself with your worrying about your own sentiments and your own reactions.

Interesting moniker, by the way.

No one is telling anyone what anyone should be saying or feeling Jaye, it's sad on both ends. It is also sad when someone overdoses, even sadder when they are 14 years old. It's sad when teenagers get together, get drunk, one passes out and then dies after aspirating on their own vomit. It's sad when you have to tell someone married to someone that's an IV drug user they are HIV positive. You are free to react however you want to, my point is is that this whole circle of madness needs to stop and we as a society need to wake up and help people on both ends of the spectrum. I have watched my friends die of AIDS, I have had the police at my doorstep inform me that one of my best friends died of a heroin overdose. I had a friend that was clean for over 8 years, relapsed and turned to prostitution to support her habit, she disappeared and was found in a field two months later, she had been killed by what police now believe is a serial killer, she was the mother of three children, another victim of this same man had eight children. The horror stories go on and on. All of the victims and survivors in this deserve our support, our forgiveness, our love, and when they don't have their own strength we lend them ours. Mr. VanDyke is far from perfect, and he does deserve to be where he is, but we have let him down by giving him a license-give me a break-an alcohol restricted license???, by not remanding him into institutionalized therapy as a condition of his release. He should have sat with Michelle Bradley's picture hanging in his cell every minute of every day he was incarcerated. But apparently none of this happened, and we are now baffled and surprised and horrified that this even happened! Well heaven forbid, what did you think would happen????? What did the judge think would happen? You put a damaged man in prison, and he came out worse...you have put an ever more damaged man back in...I will give you two guesses how he will come out if there is no treatment given...and the first guess doesn't count. Again, Jaye, you think however you want to think, that isn't my concern. I am being proactive not reactive, and anything I can do to get drug and alcohol offenders actual treatment while incarcerated and upon release, I will do. Content yourself with worrying about whether or not your streets are safe when this man is let out without any demands on him while incarcerated or when he is released, because I can bet you that his next release will be coming out worse. (and thanks-that moniker has quite a story behind it

BiscuitButt wrote:
No one is telling anyone what anyone should be saying or feeling Jaye, it's sad on both ends. It is also sad when someone overdoses, even sadder when they are 14 years old. It's sad when teenagers get together, get drunk, one passes out and then dies after aspirating on their own vomit. It's sad when you have to tell someone married to someone that's an IV drug user they are HIV positive. You are free to react however you want to, my point is is that this whole circle of madness needs to stop and we as a society need to wake up and help people on both ends of the spectrum. I have watched my friends die of AIDS, I have had the police at my doorstep inform me that one of my best friends died of a heroin overdose. I had a friend that was clean for over 8 years, relapsed and turned to prostitution to support her habit, she disappeared and was found in a field two months later, she had been killed by what police now believe is a serial killer, she was the mother of three children, another victim of this same man had eight children. The horror stories go on and on. All of the victims and survivors in this deserve our support, our forgiveness, our love, and when they don't have their own strength we lend them ours. Mr. VanDyke is far from perfect, and he does deserve to be where he is, but we have let him down by giving him a license-give me a break-an alcohol restricted license???, by not remanding him into institutionalized therapy as a condition of his release. He should have sat with Michelle Bradley's picture hanging in his cell every minute of every day he was incarcerated. But apparently none of this happened, and we are now baffled and surprised and horrified that this even happened! Well heaven forbid, what did you think would happen????? What did the judge think would happen? You put a damaged man in prison, and he came out worse...you have put an ever more damaged man back in...I will give you two guesses how he will come out if there is no treatment given...and the first guess doesn't count. Again, Jaye, you think however you want to think, that isn't my concern. I am being proactive not reactive, and anything I can do to get drug and alcohol offenders actual treatment while incarcerated and upon release, I will do. Content yourself with worrying about whether or not your streets are safe when this man is let out without any demands on him while incarcerated or when he is released, because I can bet you that his next release will be coming out worse. (and thanks-that moniker has quite a story behind it
LOL.. I'm not sure I want to know what the story is!

It is hilarious but probably not something that should be in print.. My own little mother laughs till she has tears streaming down her cheeks everytime I get called Biscuit Butt...