Posted by
lobo1776 on Tuesday, March 06, 2007 7:16:07 PM
It aint me, it aint me, I aint no senators son, son.
It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, no,
Creedance Clearwater Revival(1969)
Oh what memories some songs bring back. "Fortunate Son", a big hit in 1969, brings back all kinds of memories, good and bad. We walked on the moon, but couldn't get over the Democratic fiasco that was Vietnam. We were getting over the loss great men in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy and looking forward to the Nixon years with high hopes. We also had another incident involving a Kennedy in '69: Edward Kennedy and Chappaquiddick. We all know the story. On July 18, 1969, Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne were in his 67 Oldsmobile driving away from a party. He somehow took a wrong turn, somehow became disorientated and drove off the Dyke Bridge into the Poucha Pond. He managed to get out of the car and swim to shore. Mary Jo did not. Kennedy and a friend supposedly tried to rescue Mary Jo, but neither nor anyone thought of calling the police. When his rescue efforts failed, Kennedy went back to his hotel. They pulled Mary Jo's body out of the pond the next morning. For his part in the incident , Kennedy plead guilty to leavving the scene of an accident causing bodily injury. He received a 2 month prison sentence which was suspended. The latter part is unusual because, under Massachusett law, the crime provides only for the jail sentence and not the discretion of a suspended sentence. Ok, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Edward Kennedy, son of millionaire and former ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. who put Chappaquiddick and Martha's Vineyard on the map, brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and brother of slain brother Robert Kennedy, commits a crime in his backyard and gets off lightly. Gee, I wonder why!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, dont they help themselves, oh.
We have the same situation going on right now where I live, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. In fact the similiarities of the two incidences are down right uncanny. The father of the fortunate son is state representative Brent Yonts (D-Greenville). The name of the fortunate son is B. Harrison Yonts. Here in lies the tale....
Brent Yonts has been state representative for many years and is a true, blue liberal Democrat. He has attempted to make Muhlenberg County the largest welfare county in Kentucky. Jobs, except in the mining industry or agriculture, are non-existent. Right now unemployment in the county sits a 10.6 percent, fourth largest in the state. Dependency on the goverment is overwhelming. Muhlenberg County is a sleep over county where people live and commute to work in other counties. To find out the truth one only needs to spend some time at the Social Services office. Every day 17 year old unwed expectant mothers come in to sign up for free medical benefits, food stamps and Utility Assist Programs. I sat in stunned silence one day, at my doctor's office, listening to a man apply for state medical assistance. He hadn't worked for six years and there were 9 people living in his house including his pregnant daughter's boyfriend. Out of the nine people, only one worked and they only made enough money for the household to qualify for free medical assistance. All paid for by Kentucky tax dollars.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,
None of this has anything to do with the fortunate son. The next set of facts does, however. On November 10th, 2005, Harrison Yonts, a student at Murray State University, and, at the time, only 20 yrs. old, attended a frat house party at Nick's Family Sports pub where he got, according to some witnesses, drunk. He left the in the early morning hours of Nov. 11th and proceeded to drive back to the campus. At the same time he was driving down the road, 62 yr old Nadia Shaheen, an Egyptian grad student, was walking home from the computer lab she attended classes in. According to fellow students it was not unusual for her to be working in the lab late. They described her as a "an amazing woman who was a second mother to all of us". Somewhere between the hours of 1 am and 2 am, Harrison Yonts and Nadia Shaheen collided. To be more precise, Yont's Lincoln struck a walking Shaheen. Shaheen and a mirror from Yont's car both landed in a ditch. Acccording to the official autopsy she died from blunt force trauma to the face and neck. Police found Ms. Shaheen's body roughly about 4 hours later. They traced the mirror to the car owned by Yonts and arrested him. What is important to remember is that Yonts, like Ted Kennedy, never called the police to report the incident. Unlike Ted Kennedy who swore under oath that he had tried to help Mary Jo, Harrison Yonts neither stopped nor gave any assistance. He left the woman to die. According to the state, this fits the bill for a conviction of murder. Kentucky state law, KRS 507.020, section1, paragraph (b) states: "A person is guilty of murder when...(b)Including ,but not limited to, the operation of a motor vehicle under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person and thereby causes the death of another person". The penalty that could be handed down is 20 years imprisonment with parole eligibility after 17 years. In February, Yonts was found guilty and he will be sentenced in April. The legal team, bought and paid for by mommy and daddy, representing Yonts is already filing an appeal saying that the evidence didn't support the murder verdict and the judge should have never instructed the jury to decide murder instead they should have been instructed to decide reckless homicide or manslaughter.
The legal team's arguement somehow doesn't make sense to me when placed against the letter of the law. Somehow, in my mind, when you know the laws against drinking and driving, and let's face it, they are pounded in our heads day in and day out, yet you still make a conscious decision to get behind the wheel drunk, hit someone or something, then run like hades without giving aid or reporting it to the police, your actions could be construed as murder under Kentucky law.
As cold and cruel as it sounds, Harrison Yonts would have done better to emulate Ted Kennedy and committed his heinous act in his father's backyard. At least in Greenville, KY, he might have had a better chance of getting off easy in front of the elected Democratic judges in Muhlenberg County who hear criminal cases. If that didn't work, he might have taken comfort that, like Ted Kennedy, his jury would have consisted of 12 good souls who know who takes care of them politically. The post script to all this is that no matter what happens at the sentencing in April, the family of Nadia Shaheen has already filed civil suits against Yonts, the fraternity, and the sports pub.
It aint me, it aint me, I aint no senators son, son.
It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, no,