Identities Of 12 Deceased Victims Of Aurora Shooting Emerge

Let us not waste another breath on the foul name of James Holmes.  Let us give our energy to those lost to his stupid hatred instead.  Yesterday morning officials began to release the identities of the victims of Thursday’s terrifying mass murder in Aurora, Colorado. This writer trembles with effort to find the right words with which to present these unfortunate people with lives cut short needlessly, if not thoughtlessly, by an apparent madman.  Let’s take a moment and appreciate our loss.



From Left to Right
(top row): Gordon Cowden, Veronica Moser, Alex Teves,  Micayla Medeck, Rebecca Wingo, Jesse Childress
(bottom row) Alex Sullivan, Jessica Ghawi, Jon Blunk, Matt McQuinn, Aj Boik, John Larimer



Gordon W. Cowden was 51, and the oldest victim.  He had two teenaged children at the theater with him who escaped unharmed.  His family released this statement: "Loving father, outdoorsman and small business owner, Cowden was a true Texas gentleman that loved life and his family. A quick witted world traveler with a keen sense of humor, he will be remembered for his devotion to his children and for always trying his best to do the right thing, no matter the obstacle."

Veronica Moser was six years old.  Her 25 year old mother was also shot in the throat and the abdomen. She remains paralyzed in critical condition and hasn't been told of her daughter's death.  Veronica’s great aunt speaks for her family, “This is just a nightmare right now. It's a nightmare.”  Veronica was supposed to start swimming lessons this Tuesday. "She was excited about life as she should be. She's a 6-year-old girl," her great-aunt said.

Alex Teves was 24.  A friend who was with Teves in the theater posted on Twitter that he had been killed. “Alex Teves was one of the best men I ever knew. The world isn’t as good a place without him,” wrote the friend, identified as Caitlin. “Alex Teves was a Arizona basketball fan, loved Spider-Man, was an amazing therapist, and died a hero...He could make us all laugh with his Gollum impression. I’ll never forget that.”

Micayla (Cayla) Medek was 23. Her personal Facebook account shows us just how much this world suffers, without Cayla.  From her FaceBook info page: “My name is Micayla, but everyone usually calls me Cayla. I’m a simple independant girl who’s just trying to get her life together while still having fun.”
The second pulls my heartstrings, it was her favorite quote: “We’re all a little weird. And life’s a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

Rebecca Ann Wingo was 32. Her father wrote an emotional Facebook post about the loss of his daughter, originally from Quinlan, Texas. "I lost my daughter yesterday to a mad man, my grief right now is inconsolable, I hear she died instantly, without pain, however the pain is unbearable. Lord why, why, why????," Steve Hernandez wrote. "I sit here and resist this entry however I feel I must , in disgust, in dismay , in prayer, I love you my daughter Rebecca, we all will miss you."

Jesse Childress was a 29 year old Air Force reservist.  He worked as a cyber systems operator. He enjoyed sports, and rooted for the Denver Broncos.  He enjoyed playing flag football, softball and competing in obstacle competitions.  "He was a huge part of our unit, and this is a terrible loss. The person that did this was an incredible coward," Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Schwald said Saturday at the memorial site.

Alex Sullivan was 27.  He was married.  He had a job with Red Robin.   "He was a very, very good young man," said Sullivan's uncle, Joe Loewenguth. "He always had a smile, always made you laugh. He had a little bit of comic in him. Witty, smart. He was loving, had a big heart."  Alex was at the theater with a group of friends that night to celebrate his birthday. He died the day before his wedding anniversary. Jessica Ghawi, also known as the blogger Jessica Redfield, was 24.  On June 2^nd she had missed, by only a matter of minutes, a shooting in a food court in a mall in Toronto where five people were shot, and two people killed.  In her blog entry of June 5^th, “Late Night Thoughts on the Eaton Center Shooting” Jessica described the scene, “It’s not like in the movies when you see someone shot and they’re bleeding continuously from the wound. There was no blood flowing from the wounds, I could only see the holes. Numerous gaping holes, as if his skin was putty and someone stuck their finger in it. Except these wounds were caused by bullets. Bullets shot out of hatred.”
In her final paragraph, Jessica says something haunting, “I wish I could shake this odd feeling from my chest….The same feeling that made me leave the Eaton Center. The feeling that may have potentially saved my life.”

Jon Blunk, a young veteran and hero was also at the movie with his wife, Jansen Young.  When the shooting started, he shoved her beneath a seat and covered her with his body.  Young said that it wasn’t until she tried to get out of the theater herself that she realized Jon was lifeless. “I tried to shake him and was saying his name, and like Jon, Jon we’ve got to go,” she said. “I kind of poked my head up at that point and realized oh my gosh, nobody’s in here, it’s just us. There were like a few other heads here and there I could see leaving the theater but really the theater was empty…that’s when I got out and I kept thinking that was…oh my gosh, I think Jon just took a bullet for me.”

Matt McQuin was 27 his last living act was to shield his girlfriend from the hail of bullets sprayed by the gunman behind the Aurora, Colo., multiplex massacre.  Matt’s girlfriend Samantha was shot, but survived, thanks to his quick and selfless thinking.  “He was a great outgoing person,” a co-worker at the Colorado Target super store told the News. “We lost a great person and we still can’t picture or realize that he’s gone.”

Alexander "A.J." Boik was 17.  He was a distributor at Organo Gold, a coffee company, and went to Gateway High School in Aurora. His friend, and girlfriend made it to the lobby, only to find that AJ didn’t make it with them.  A Facebook page has been set up in his honor where one friend posted,” RIP Aj Boik, you were such a great friend.”

John Larimer was a 27.  He was a Sailor who trained at the Great Lakes Naval Academy and was a Petty Officer 3rd Class had been assigned to Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora in October 2011, where he worked as a cryptologic technician. "I am incredibly saddened by the loss of Petty Officer John Larimer; he was an outstanding shipmate," Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski, Larimer's commanding officer, said in a statement early Saturday, according to the Chicago Tribune. "A valued member of our Navy team, he will be missed by all who knew him. My heart goes out to John's family, friends and loved ones, as well as to all victims of this horrible tragedy."

May each of these individuals rest in peace.

Guns Cause Wildfire & Debate

Recently Utah’s republican governor, Gary Herbert, authorized a state forest official to impose gun rules on public lands because many fires this year, and in previous years, were started by target shooting and other gunfire in the ultra-dry and easy to burn west. Political pundits on the right have used this as an example of unfair gun control.
The governor’s decision was taken as a threat to the 2nd amendment by Fox’s jesters who reported on this announcement by consulting a gun rights expert instead of a wild land fire expert, “Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Sports Shooting Council, said that perhaps 5 percent of the wildfires in the state have been caused by target shooters this year” and added, “I don’t know how much of a problem it really is.” While pouting that some would be unable to celebrate Independence Day by shooting off guns patriotically, “Many people use these times to show patriotism as well as support for the Second Amendment.”
Ironically, earlier this month The Nature Conservancy and Field & Stream both reported that a bipartisan poll reflected that actually, conservation is patriotic.
In several published article on this subject, including the Associated Press article and Fox’s tale of woe, Mr Aposhian said his group will conduct tests to determine if the steel-jacketed bullet theory is true. If there are limits, “we want to make sure it is not knee-jerk legislation to ban guns or ammunition,” he said. “If it turns out the problem is with a few types of rounds, we will not be an apologist for them.”
Aposhian’s implication – that the fact that steel-jacketed bullets can start fires is just a theory is absurd. Yesterday afternoon Jennifer Jones, Public Affairs Specialist for the National Interagency Fire Center, confirmed that some fires were in fact started by gunfire in the same email that she had already provided to the associated press on this subject. Ms. Jones also kindly explained to me that when officials use FIRESTAT to report their findings on the cause of wildfires, the only place that a person could record that a gun had caused the fire was under the “comments” category of an “other” heading. Knowing this, a member of her staff conducted a search for key words in the comments section for the words Target or Shoot and came up with a match for 13 records in 2012 and 28 in 2011. When searching for Target and Shoot together 5 records came up in 2012 and 13 in 2011.
When asked if she believed, in her expertise, that a fire could be started by a gun she recalled that “in 1995 a huge fire near Boise was started by an off-duty policeman who was working on target practice.” I pushed her a little, and pointed out that this could be a political ploy by some group or another to restrict gun use and asked again if she was sure that guns were capable of starting a forest fire. “Oh yes, absolutely” she replied, adding, “you wouldn’t believe what could start a fire when it’s dry enough.”
Ms. Jones’ opinion matches that of other fire officials who report it isn’t just a theory that guns can start fires, in Arizona prosecutors allege that five friends at a camp out and bachelor party set off a fire on May 12 when one loaded an incendiary shell, which burns rapidly and causes fires, into a shotgun and pulled the trigger.
My mother, Tammie Wilson, worked on many Washington State fires before retiring due to disability. She agrees that fires are easy to start in the right conditions, “on one fire I went to in Washington State the cause was found to be a grasshopper that had presumably jumped on an electric fence, jumped off on fire, and lit up a patch of grass.”
She also pointed out that a person’s right to fire their gun ends at the risk to our public lands. Knowing that I write mostly political articles she took time to say that “this ought not be a political issue.”
I remember the haggard look on my mother’s face when she would come from a fire that was particularly destructive or worse – one that took a young firefighter’s life. I saw that look as she began to dispense the wise answer to my questions about the possibility of political games regarding guns and fire that I am about to pass on to you, “There are no politics on a fire line – the job at hand is simply to stop the fire and do what we can to ensure another doesn’t start.”
My mom is a former agent of the great and wise Smokey Bear and I must admit that I believe her. The fact is that humans start 80% of forest fires and it’s our responsibility to do what we can to lesson that number, at all costs. If this means hanging up our guns till the rains come, so be it. Guns are tools – not toys. We use them to procure meat, to protect our families and to wage war. Their purpose is not to play target games or show patriotism. A true patriot protects the public lands we all enjoy. Let’s remember that in spite of Fox’s fast and furious plot to get your crazy republican uncle all worked up about his gun rights in time for the 2012 election