So, here we go again.
Thursday, Nov. 14, 1:53 p.m. – “Unattended death.”
Thursday, Nov. 14, 4 p.m. – “Suspicious death.”
Friday, Nov. 15, 9 a.m – “Apparent homicide.”
Friday, Nov. 15, 5 p.m. – “Homicide investigation”
William Lee, 61, of Rt. 23 – shot in the head and killed.
The body was discovered a few days after the slaying and police have not yet made an arrest. This marks the fifth homicide in just over two years for Chenango County.
In addition to these ,court has been buzzing with the appeal of wife murderer Peter M. Wlasiuk and the appeal of Tammi Van Deusen. Van Deusen had a hand in the Edward Pastore Jr. murder in 2000 and pleaded guilty to first degree robbery.
Another case also involved a drug dealer shooting in self-defense an armed robber who was attempting to steal his drug money. The dealer then took the body of the robber and buried it in a garbage dumping area.
A disturbing case in Sherburne involved two men breaking into a woman’s home in the middle of the night to rape and rob her; one of the men was armed with a pink-colored AK-47 assault rifle that was fully automatic. (Apparently, it belonged to his girlfriend).
And as you read this in the late afternoon or evening, I’ll be sitting in Chenango County Court watching the sentencing of a convicted child rapist and admitted pedophile. Dean Sacco was involved in an FBI investigation over the sex trafficking of a child right here in Norwich. The pimp, Linda O’Connor and her ex-landlord Sacco are looking at life terms in federal prison, but the lesser local charges are still being addressed.
As a crime reporter, these events mark the most interesting time in probably any two-year period since anyone can remember, maybe ever. I have no idea what it means, but I feel like it means something.
I shake out the numbers in my head since I became a reporter for The Evening Sun and I rattle out ratios like, on average there is a homicide about every six or seven months. A violent crime about every three. Please don’t ask about the sex crimes ...
I’ve had to streamline my court coverage to basically only violent felonies or exceptionally unique cases ... there is just too much to do.
I’m fairly young (25), so I must honestly admit I hadn’t started paying attention to local politics or news until about four years ago when I returned from college. Is this how it’s always been or are we in the midst of a violent change? Maybe it’s just a badly timed fluke, but regardless it’s still a powerful impression I’ve had to absorb.
I hear people talk of how our community used to be, and it might as well be fiction. I remember no golden times. In my younger teens years, the mid 90s, it was not a good time locally. I grew up, like all my classmates, in the wake of utter economic collapse. Victory Markets, Procter and Gamble ... who were they? I never met them.
I’m more familiar with the rise of Wal-Mart and the unskilled and uninsured labor of the local commercial industry. I don’t know how the remaining small business owners survived such a storm – the loss of a blue collar customer base and the appearance of corporate competition.
I’m not trying to open old wounds, I’m just trying to follow a recent societal blood trail back to its source. I want to understand my local history and the cause and effects of things because maybe they might offer a bit of insight into where we are heading. I used to feel I lacked direction in life, but sometimes I wonder if a lack of direction is the local way of life from what I’ve seen over the last 10 years.
Maybe the natural gas industry will revitalize our middle class again; I don’t have any answers or ideas, only observations and concern.
I love my local community, but I really just don’t know what is happening or how long I should pretend it isn’t.