Relentless pursuit pays off
THIS week’s announcement of charges being filed in an 18-year-old Oklahoma murder case provides a reminder that law enforcement’s pursuit of wrongdoers has no expiration date.
Ronnie Dean Busick, 66, is charged in Craig County District Court with four counts of first-degree murder, four counts of accessory to murder in the first degree, two counts of kidnapping, and one count each of first-degree arson and accessory to arson in the first degree. Busick is accused of killing Danny and Kathy Freeman, their daughter, Ashley, and Ashley's friend, Lauria Bible, in 1999. The girls have been missing since Dec. 30 of that year.
It’s the second such “cold case” to generate charges in recent months. In March, the state's multicounty grand jury indicted Justin James Walker for the December 2007 murder of a couple inside their home near Locust Grove.
Jack Denney and his wife,
Elaine, were shot multiple times.
To see someone finally charged, many years after a crime has been commit- ted, does not bring back a loved one or undo the horror of their demise. But as Cherokee County District Attorney Jack Thorp noted when charges were filed against Walker, it does bring some closure.
“This family has waited and waited and waited,” Thorp said. "We have so many of these unsolved up there. When we can get one of these things solved and go to these families and do our best to get them some justice, there is nothing better in my job.”
Kudos to all those who played a role in making that happen.
Long-shot challenge
Soon after filing to run for the Republican nomination for Oklahoma attorney general, Tulsa attorney Gentner Drummond challenged the candidacy of incumbent Mike Hunter. Drummond said Hunter, who spent many years working in Washington, D.C., before his appointment to AG in 2017, didn’t meet the residency requirements to hold the job. On Monday, after listening to more than two hours of arguments on both sides, the State Election Board voted 3-0 to reject Drummond’s challenge. Yet Drummond said he may appeal to the state Supreme Court. The candidate is free to spend his time and money as he chooses, but if Drummond believes he would be a better attorney general than Hunter, then he should make his case to Republican voters instead of pursuing a long-shot technicality.
Remembering Ryan
Pat Ryan served 10 years on the Oklahoma City Council, representing Ward 8 on the city’s northwest side. An engineer, Ryan oversaw implementation of the city’s Strategic Investment Program as chairman of the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust. By the time he retired from the council in January 2015, the program was credited with offering incentives that had drawn 5,800 jobs to Oklahoma City. Ryan worked 36 years for Oklahoma Gas & Electric, and in his 70s earned a master’s degree in energy management from Oklahoma City University. He always conducted himself with class — he was among those who voiced support for a former council member who had been arrested for DUI, and he announced his resignation from the council a full year before the next election, to give potential successors plenty of time to run. Ryan died April 20 at age 79, having provided an example of outstanding public service.
Reluctant hero
James Shaw Jr. was in a Waffle House restaurant outside of Nashville, Tennessee, when a man entered the building and began firing an AR 15-style rifle. Shaw, 29, initially dived toward the bathroom. When he saw the gunman point the barrel of his rifle toward the ground, Shaw acted. “In the bathroom, it’s only one way in and one way out, and I was like, he’s going to have to work for this kill – for me, personally,” Shaw said. “So I just got a head full of steam and I ran through the door. And it worked out like I wanted it to.” Shaw wrestled the weapon away from the gunman. Four people died in the attack and two were wounded. Shaw’s actions kept those totals from growing, although he has deflected the praise that’s come his way. “I did that completely out of a selfish act,” he said. “I was completely doing it just to save myself … I figured if I was going to die, he was going to have to work for it.” Not a hero? His actions say otherwise.
Watch your language, kids
It appears some people are so dedicated to eradicating any form of social discomfort they’re willing to … cause social discomfort. WFXT in Boston reports that one Georgetown, Massachusetts, preschool has even banned students from using the term “best friend.” One local mother complained after her 4-year-old daughter came home upset and “really sad” after being told she could not call another child her “best friend.” Officials at the school, Pentucket Workshop, sent a letter to the family, explaining, “It has been our experience (which spans decades) that the use of the term ‘best friend,’ even when used in a loving way, can lead other children to feel excluded (...) which can ultimately lead to the formation of ‘cliques’ and ‘outsiders.’” Somehow we doubt that being surrounded by acquaintances — but no openly acknowledged close friends — is as emotionally healthy as the schools’ leaders seem to think.
Protected speech, this time
Soon after the announcement of Barbara Bush’s death, a professor at Cal State University-Fresno tweeted that the former first lady “was a generous and smart and amazing racist who along with her husband, raised a war criminal.” It was the first in a series of outlandish and sometimes vile tweets by English professor Randa Jarrar. In another, Jarrar said she was “happy the witch is dead” and wished “the rest of her family to fall to their demise.” This prompted calls for Jarrar’s firing, but that won’t happen. Indeed, she won’t even be reprimanded. The university’s president, Joseph I. Castro, said Jarrar’s conduct was “insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment,” but that her comments were protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That they were. But we couldn’t help but wonder whether this result would have been the same if the professor had been a conservative spewing venom at a liberal. Somehow, we doubt it.
Stone’s clueless complaining
Film director Oliver Stone’s far-left political views have long veered into anti-Americanism, as he made apparent again during a recent appearance in Iran. Speaking at the Fair International Film Festival in Tehran, Stone criticized President Trump, U.S. foreign policy, French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi Arabia and more. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Stone whined, “National security trumps artistic freedom in every country, the U.S. as well as in the Middle East. You can’t make a film critical of U.S. foreign policy.” As an example, Stone complained his film, "W," which criticized former President George W. Bush, “was very difficult to finance.” If Stone wants to know what true government oppression looks like, he should talk to Iranian artists. According to Human Rights Watch, in Iran, insulting or defaming public officials when “committed to achieve reforms and not intended to target the system, are considered political crimes.”