"We have met the enemy and he is us!"
Those immortal - and all too true - words by the comic-strip swamp critter Pogo could be used to describe a bunch of goings-on in Washington state these days.
Seattle monorail fiasco. The Mariners. The Sonics letting the Blazers steal coach Nate McMillan away (The Blazers!). Western Washington housing prices. The Joseph Edward Duncan III case.
Of them all, perhaps the latter is the only one that could have been prevented. Duncan is the "sexual psychopath" who was arrested recently with the 8-year-old girl who is believed to be the only survivor of a multiple murder. Back in 1980 Duncan was convicted of raping a 14-year-old boy, and also claimed he had sexually assaulted more than 10 boys before he was 17.
But five years ago a state psychologist determined that Duncan was not a violent predator who could be held indefinitely at a sex-offender treatment center.
As facts may prove, the psychologist was wrong. Dead wrong.
Finding young Shasta Groene alive in an Idaho restaurant with Duncan was a miracle. Missing with Shasta was her brother Dylan, who has been confirmed dead; authorities identified the remains found in Montana as his. Killed in the initial assault outside Couer d'Alene were Shasta's mother, older brother and the mother's boyfriend.
Steve Groene, Shasta's father, said: "This needs to stop here. People like this should not be out in public."
Simple words. But true enough.
But words alone will not change the current protocol of pushing people like Duncan through the system. The inexact science of psychology will keep being used to make decisions that should be made based on one central criterion: Common sense.
Anyone with a lick of common sense could have told Washington officials that Duncan should never be released. It's an area in which citizens - and officials at all levels of government - don't seem to learn from mistakes.
If not now, when?
[[In-content Ad]]
