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Thursday, July 01, 2010

You're no hero!

I will say that the legend of Colton Harris-Moore is impressive.  This kid escaped from a half-way house and has been on the run ever since.  He has stolen boats, airplanes, cars, food, and who knows what else in his quest to remain free.

He has broken into houses, summer cabins, grocery stores, airplane hangers and has alluded the authorities for over three years.  In some cases he leaves footprints in baby powder on the floors as his signature that he was there.  To some he is a hero, to those whose property he has helped himself to he is a menace, to the police he is a criminal.

He has made his way from the Seattle area to the Washington and Oregon coasts and most recently was spotted in South Dakota, Nebraska and even Iowa.  He is pretty clever in that he doesn't stick with a stolen car for long, he picks them up at airports thus increasing the amount of time he can drive it before it is reported stolen.  He seems to be breaking into houses and cabins that don't look occupied and getting his rest, food, shower and even keeping well groomed. One home owner came home to find him cutting his hair in their bathroom.

This kid is NOT a hero.  He is going to end up in jail or worse, dead.  The last people that encountered him said that he pointed a laser at them (from a dark location) and claimed he had a gun.  The police will now assume that this "kid" now aged 19, is armed.  One wrong move and a lengthy prison sentence turns into a quick execution or life in a wheelchair (like that sick man who killed the Seattle Police Officer on Halloween.)

He is invading the personal space of private, undeserving people.  Entering someones home uninvited and helping yourself to their frozen burritos, and their clean towels is a violation of a person's home.  Knowing that someone has been in your private space robs you of your sense of security and safety.  I'm sure he's doing what he thinks he needs to in order to survive, but he really should be working on getting himself a good and sympathetic lawyer who will fight for the shortest amount of jail time.

By moving from state to state, this thug is just increasing the number of people looking for him and the number of jurisdictions that will want a piece of him if he survives the arrest process.

He's acting like a kid, but he is no kid.  He is 19, an age at which I wouldn't support him getting married, but he's old enough to go to jail for a long time.  He should be careful and avoid Texas and Florida.  They are not kind to those who don't toe the line.  (It is TOE right?  Stand with your toe on the line, not TOW the line, like haul it from place to place.)

Lastly,  I read in the paper today that 20th Century Fox bought the rights to tell his story.  How nice that he'll be made into a movie, but who in the world did they "buy the rights" from?

2 comments:

MWR said...

Plus, how much of a badass folk hero can anyone with a hypenated name ever become? I challenge you to find one roguish outlaw icon or oddly fetching serial killer who has a hypenated last name. Bonnie and Clyde Barrow-Parker would probably have opened a dry goods store or something. Ted Cowell-Bundy would have dealt in antique furniture.

tp_gal said...

You make an excellent point. The thrice named people who are infamous are not hyphonated:

John Wilkes Booth
John Wayne Gacy
James Earl Ray
Lee Harvey Oswald

Of course, you don't have to have three names to be a monumental prick.

Aldolf Hitler didn't need a fancy middle name.
Josef Stalin also pulled it off quite nicely. (Joseph / Josef... whatever)
Ted Bundy
Lizzie Borden
I could go on and on...