Softly
Stalks The Beast Of Terror In Our Backyards
by Cliff McKenzie, editor, vigilancevoice.com
GROUND
ZERO PLUS 1264 DAY--New York, NY, Sunday, February
27, 2005--Wichita,
Kansas' population of 344,284 people, according to the 2000
US Census, has an alleged Terrorist/Killer in custody.
Police arrested 59-year-old
Dennis L. Rader yesterday in connection with a string of murders
over the past thirty years commonly known as the B.T.K. case--Bind,
Torture and Kill.
Police arrest suspect in B.T.K.
killings
Ten deaths are piled
up against the BTK suspect who has a history of taunting police
with clues over the past thirty years ala a CSI Crime Investigation
or NUMBERS television show where the true target of the crime
isn't so much the victim as the cat-and-mouse game of "catch-me-if-you-can"
between the murderer and the police.
The suspect in this case
fits the perfect profile for a television show or movie script.
The suspect is active in his church, married with two children,
and even led a scouting troop for boys.
More importantly, he's
worked for the city for over a decade as an inspector driving
around issuing tickets for anyone who abuses their trash or
keeps their yards in disarray.
Wichita City is demographically
similar to most American towns. It has 139,087 housing units
for its nearly 350,000 population, and more than 60 percent,
85,711, are owner occupied.
Family households with
children under 18 years, including rental and owner-occupied,
push close to 90,000. The population by age range for the children
include: Under 5 years, 28,000; 5-9 years, 27,000; 10-14 years,
25,000, 14-19 years, 24,000.
About one-third of the
population are children under the age of 18 years.
And, amongst them, for
a generation, has lived, walked, talked and interacted a potential
serial killer police have spent millions in search of for more
than 31 years.
What frightens most people
is that as part of his job with the City, he had access to virtually
every detail of 6,000 homes in Park City where he was a municipal
compliance officer. In other words, he was part of the "trash
police," those uniformed city employees who cruise around
ticketing people in a neighborhood who don't cut their yards,
shovel snow and other minor infractions that don't meet the
city's ordinances.
However, such a job gives
its user access to homes and an insight into virtually every
detail of their lives.
At Christ Lutheran Church
in Wichita, the suspect was president of the church council
and has been a member for thirty years. His two children are
in their late 20's.
Police Chief Norman Williams
has locked up Rader in an undisclosed location to stem publicity.
But, there is rush to
judgment. Neighbors have convicted the suspect simply because
of the arrest.
Ironically, the issue
seems to reflect the completion of a task rather than the unearthing
of a reality--that the Beast of Terror Lives Amongst Us!
The Beast
of Terror can live among us
In one sense of the word,
the arrest of the suspect validates that no one really can predict
who the next Beast will be.
Vigilance is about recognizing
the Beast Within and attempting to manage that Beast, however
miniscule that Beast or "beast" may be.
At what point does self-loathing
turn to self-hatred? At what point does thinking of one's self
as being "less than" convert to "loser"
and "failure" and ultimately to someone who suffocates
his or her human beingness by becoming a doormat?
Where is that line one
crosses to become an abuser of others, verbally or physically,
that leads to the behavior of a brutal killer, a Terrorist?
While the answers to
these questions can never be fully found, the ability
to stem the growth of Fear, Intimidation and Complacency within
us all can.
Before we
convict, we must look in the mirror
Currently, the town of
Wichita is busy pointing fingers at a man who hasn't yet been
convicted, and, little attention is being paid to the breeding
and fertilization of other B.T.K. killers of degrees who may
be incubating in the households of the city, urged to grow by
the actions or lack of them of parents and guardians.
Ultimately, the route
to the B.T.K's motivation to inflict pain and suffering on his
victims will find its source at the headwaters of Terrorism--at
the feet of the parents who forgot to, or didn't bother to,
instill the Principles of Vigilance upon their child.
Odds are that a child
who gleefully maims and murders others had a Beast of Terror
as a parent, not a Sentinel of Vigilance.
Before we convict, however,
we must look in the mirror to make sure the B.T.K. doesn't still
exist outside some undisclosed cell.
If we think he does,
our best defense is to take the Pledge of Vigilance.
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Emotional Terrorism.
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