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Post by Joanna on Feb 26, 2019 14:12:02 GMT -5
I hate potheads. I had a friend who was run down and killed by a 19 year old man who was so high on marijuana that he didn't even know where he was. A lot of people say it's harmless, but they're wrong. I'm sorry to say that my state (Maine) is one of those that has legalized recreational marijuana and that was a gigantic mistake. We already had an inordinate number of potheads living off the taxpayers and now we have even more. I have family members and friends who own various businesses and they have a very hard time finding employees because they drug-test workers periodically. My brother and his wife started drug-testing their employees after a teen they employed part-time during the summer was hiding in a storage area smoking pot and started a fire that caused thousands of dollars in damage. Pot smokers are careless and can't be trusted.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 26, 2019 2:27:19 GMT -5
Pot Smoking Leads to Cognitive/Behavioral Problems, CHS, Other IssuesAt present, there are 10 states where recreational marijuana is legal and an additional 23 states allow its use for medicinal purposes, and this is reason for concern. Marc Siegal, M.D., an internal medicine specialist says: “As a practicing internist, I am very aware of the distinction between medicinal and recreational use of any psychoactive substance. Unfortunately, when it comes to marijuana, this distinction is too often and too easily blurred.
Marijuana has been studied and found to be an effective treatment for nausea and certain categories of pain and many patients swear by it. “I am all for it,” Siegal continues, “especially when the alternative is an opioid, or when the disease is severe or terminal.”
But he draws the line at recreational use where, he says, the problem becomes how much an individual is smoking and for what period of time. Studies indicate regular pot smokers are at greater risk for developing cognitive and behavioral problems, depression and anxiety disorders.
According to a recent study at NYU Langone Health, chronic marijuana users, i.e., those who smoke more than 20 days per month, have almost a 1 out of 3 chance of developing Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS), a serious condition associated with varying degrees of pain and uncontrolled nausea and vomiting, which can last several hours. Dr. Joe Habboushe, associate professor of emergency medicine at NYU and first author of the study, the weed-induced vomiting doesn’t respond to routine anti-nausea drugs, but only to several hours of hot showers or capsaicin (derived from peppers) cream. While Habboushe acknowledged that small amounts of marijuana (containing cannabinoids) suppresses nausea and pain in the brain and nerves, at the same time, too much of it over time may “overstimulate and turn off the very receptors that were suppressing nausea and pain in the first place.” The only way to cure the problem is to cease smoking pot altogether. This works 97 percent of the time, but if an individual begins smoking again, the problem is likely to return. Despite the growing number of cases of CHS, many doctors are still unfamiliar with this condition and may misdiagnose the problem. Patients have had multiple diagnostic tests and even had their gallbladders removed unnecessarily as a result of misdiagnosis.
The bottom line to this story is there is no free lunch when it comes to medications. You may not consider marijuana a medicine, but many physicians do and all medicines have side effects, especially with long-term use.
Medical marijuana was first legalized for medical use in California in 1996, but the first states to legalize it for recreational use were Washington and Colorado in 2012. Last year, a landmark study in JAMA Pediatrics showed that legalization of recreational marijuana use significantly reduced perceptions of marijuana’s risks among young users and this is a very disturbing trend.
“I am for the medical use of marijuana.” Siegal adds, “but against chronic use for recreational reasons. Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome is a wake-up call about the overuse of this drug; so are the long-term behavioral changes and effects on judgment, memory and decision-making. I learned in medical school and throughout my career that the human body is a complex system of careful checks and balances. It is therefore not surprising to me that what may work for the body at lower doses turns against it over time at higher doses. This medical truth may not solve the current firestorm over whether to fully legalize marijuana or not, but it’s a good place to start.” Sources: Fox News, February 25, 2019, and Jeremy Berke and Skye Gould, BusinessInsider, January 4, 2019.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 22, 2019 4:49:05 GMT -5
Washington State Lawmakers Consider Banning Eyeball TattoosLawmakers in Washington state are looking to ban the rare practice of eyeball tattoos because of the potential damage to sight. Known as scleral tattoos, because they scratch or dye the white outer layer of the eyeball, problems arising therefrom can be significant. Recently, Catt Gallinger, a Canadian model, lost the sight in her right eye following such a tattoo.
“There’s a real high risk of damaging your eyesight and your eye,” Democratic Rep. Steve Tharinge, the bill’s sponsor. said. “The optometrists and ophthalmologists are very concerned about this going on and people taking risks they shouldn’t with their eyesight.” Optometrists first reached out to state lawmakers concerning the legislation, he added.
The bill would outright ban the practice and provide penalties of up to $10,000 for those who are caught performing a scleral tattoo.
“The strict definition of tattooing is the introduction of pigment to the surface of the skin,” explained James Hillary, a Seattle-based tattoo artist. “But [scleral tattooing], from what I understand, is an injection of pigment using a hypodermic syringe. So it’s actually using medical devices to inject pigment into the white of the eyeball.”
According to Philip Rizzuto, spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, two states, Indiana and Oklahoma, already forbid the practice. Walking into a tattoo parlor and having someone needle-inject ink into the whites of your eyes is a bad one, he said, and even the man who invented the procedure agrees.
In the case of Catt Gallinger (above), the purple ink built up in her eye, resulting in blurred vision and severe pain. “I would not recommend anyone to do this,” she said. “I don’t think it’s worth the risk.”
Like a tattoo on one’s arm or hand, sclera tattoos involve placing ink within the skin, added Rizzuto. The ink is injected into a very thin layer of skin called the conjunctiva, which covers the whites of one’s eyes. The result is the whites change color and it’s as permanent as any other tattoo. The danger, he continued, lies in the inexperience of the hand holding the needle. “Putting any kind of needle on the eye is very dangerous,” he warned. “We do that all the time, but we’re trained for 12 to 18 years how to go about treating the eye.” Sources: Louis Casiano, Fox News, February 22, 2019, and Sean Rossman, USA Today, September 29, 2017.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 21, 2019 11:03:51 GMT -5
Report Cryptid Sightings/Folklore Have you ever had an encounter with a creature you’ve never seen before? Does your family have a unique story that has been passed down from generation-to-generation? Did you once have a creepy experience with something unknown while out in the woods or on a lake? Do you know of a legend that has been associated with your town since the day it was formed?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then we would love to hear from you and share your story with the world!
The Pine Barrens Institute is always on the lookout for unique and interesting cryptid sightings and folktales that you won’t find repeatedly copied and shared in various books. We want the encounters and stories that come direct from the source: the ones who were there and saw it with their own eyes, heard it with their own ears and share it in their own words!
In order to best share your sighting/folktale, please complete forms provided. Try and provide as much detail of your sighting/folktale as possible. The way you write it will be the way it is presented to the world. Here’s the link.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 19, 2019 2:58:02 GMT -5
I just received a somewhat unusual PM and link to an incredibly silly discussion on reddit entitled “Feeling like I need to play Ouija,” wherein two commenters – Kelli4JC and calgarth68 (one of whom is a member of this group) – are arguing as to whether a Ouija board can raise demons, or if it’s just a harmless pastime. At one point, Kelli4JC posts: You telling someone to just "go ahead, use a Ouija board alone!" without any sort of reasonable caution whatsoever is like telling someone to go drive down a freeway alone blindfolded! It's frankly reckless and poor advice period! Then the discussion deteriorates further with the two of them calling each other “ignorant,” correcting each other’s grammar ... the usual, with calgarth68 posting: I challenge you to contact a mental health care professional and show him (or her) this discussion and ask which of us he/she considers "ignorant." The self-righteous Kelli4JC, who admits seeing a psychologist, comes back with: I'm quite sure if I showed him this discussion, he would laugh!....and not because he believes one way or the other, but simply because of how childish and combative you are behaving over the subject matter!It’s frightening there are people who ... well, I won’t say what I think. Instead, go to the site, read the exchanges – I believe there are two threads under the same heading – and tell us what you think. It should be interesting.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 18, 2019 15:11:56 GMT -5
my mom was last person to see her alive as she was told to walk her halfway home,mom spoke of this day a lot and her friend mary.sadly my mom was diagnosed and died from cancer after her 48th birthday,she asked one thing of me just 1 thing to tell the truth of who did this to her friend...it was my grandfather..moms dad.my grandfather sexually assaulted my mother her entire child hood was a violent man and an alcoholic,brutal is best term.mom held many secrets that in last 6 months of her life she revealed to me horrific cruel brutal heartbreaking words cannot tell you...but 1 thing just 1 haunted her because she knew she was there she saw him do this.i have kept my word I did twice anon. email local police with this info I did give them grandfathers name my moms name and nothing...I am his granddaughter and willing to do a familiar dna I just need do it without rest of moms family finding out due to fact all are violent dangerous individuals....if anyone has a way to help me to the finish line with moms last wish to tell the truth to give the family the true answer it would be greatly appreciated.thank you for anyone who responds. Welcome. I'm sorry about your mother and that the police ignored your emails. It's been more than a half-century since this little girl was killed. I hope someone will be able to suggest a way for you to get the attention of the authorities.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 18, 2019 2:03:39 GMT -5
It was on TV and I started watching it, but as soon as I saw that Rosemary was black, I switched the channel. When blacks are added to a cast simply because of their skin color, it never works and there was no other reason to cast a black woman as Rosemary.
The same thing happened in the remakes of Carrie and Salem's Lot. Both are set in Maine, where only 1% of the population is black, yet the high school principal in Carrie is black and Matt Burke in Salem's Lot is black and some of the extras were black. For those of us who live in Maine, it was unrealistic. I have no problem with blacks in movies or on TV shows as long as their roles are realistic, such as those of most of the blacks on the various Law and Order shows. Two of my favorite characters are Odafin Tutuola, one of the detectives on SVU, and Ron Carver, the ADA on Criminal Intent.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 18, 2019 1:40:55 GMT -5
'Ghost' Turns out to Be Flesh and Blood IntruderMaddie, a junior at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, thought her apartment was haunted. There were noises coming from her closet, articles of clothing disappeared and she saw strange hand prints on her bathroom walls.
Finally, she’d had enough and on February 2, after again hearing rattling sounds emanating from the closet, she went to the closet door and called out “Who’s in there?” One can imagine how shocked she was when a male voice replied, “Oh, my name’s Drew.”
She attempted to make an emergency call on her smartwatch while holding the door closed, but the call didn’t go through. Then the man began pushing on the door, while at the same time promising he wouldn’t hurt her. “I open the door and he’s in there, wearing all of my clothes. My socks. My shoes. And he has a book bag full of my clothes,” she said. The intruder begged Maddie not to call police, so she called her boyfriend instead and chatted with the man, who was acting strangely, to keep him occupied. “He tries on my hat. He goes in the bathroom and looks in the mirror and then is like ‘You’re really pretty, can I give you a hug?’ But he never touched me,” she continued. She admitted feeling somewhat bad for the man, who left as soon as her boyfriend arrived.
Ronald Glenn, spokesman for the Greensboro County Police Department, said police arrested 30-year-old Andrew Clyde Swofford (above) shortly thereafter at a nearby service station. He was charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering and held on a $26,000 bond. According to Glenn, he had a criminal history that included larceny and failure to appear in court on felony charges.
“I’ve heard of other incidences of people walking into the wrong apartments ... but as far as somebody being in somebody’s closet, I haven’t heard that before – that’s pretty unique,” Glenn admitted. He added there was no sign of forced entry at Maddie’s residence. Unfortunately, Swofford wasn’t the first strange man Maddie discovered in her apartment: On December 19, she found two men in her living room. Because she no longer felt safe in her apartment – who would? – she notified the leasing office she would vacating the premises. An employee of Burkley Communities, the property management company, told WGHP News the locks had been changed at the time of the December incident, but a police report wasn’t filed, which was “standard protocol.” “I can’t stay here. My closet, it stinks,” Maddie insisted. “Every time I go in [my room], there’s a bad vibe. I’m just ready to leave.” She subsequently told a WFMY reporter she had signed a lease on a new apartment. Sources: Michael Brice-Saddler, The Washington Post, February 5, 2019; WGHP News; and WFMY News.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 16, 2019 13:45:10 GMT -5
Vegan Parents Charged with Starving Their BabyVegan parents in Titusville, Florida, have been accused of harming their 5-month-old baby after they substituted a potato-based mash for the recommended organic milk formula. Robert Buskey, 31, and Julia French, 20, may face additional charges.
Police said the baby weighed only 8 pounds, 8 ounces, a single pound more than his weight at birth. His eyes were sunken, his ribs visible, he was drowsy and had an erratic temperature and sugar levels due to dehydration and malnourishment. “I’ve never seen a child to this level, this close to possible death,” Detective Lauren Watson of the Titusville Police Department said. “At one point, when the child was doing good and healthy, and gaining weight, he was on organic formula [but] they changed it on their own,” she added.
The child is currently hospitalized and has gained some weight, though prolonged starvation may have caused long-term damage.
According to police, the parents were unable to explain why they decided to discontinue the milk formula and feed their baby potato-based mash.Source: Luke Mikelionis, Fox News, February 16, 2019.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 15, 2019 3:22:08 GMT -5
'Auschwitz Survivor' Admits It Was All a LieJoseph Hirt claimed for years he escaped Auschwitz and met Dr. Josef Mengele, Eleanor Roosevelt and track and field star Jesse Owens. Now the Pennsylvania man is admitting it was all a lie:
“I am writing today to apologize publicly for harm caused to anyone because of my inserting myself into the descriptions of life in Auschwitz,” he wrote in a letter sent to his local paper, LNP, in June 2016. “I was not a prisoner there. I did not intend to lessen or overshadow the events which truly happened there by falsely claiming to have been personally involved. I was wrong. I ask forgiveness. I determined at that moment to do everything in my power to prevent the loss of the truth about wartime life (and death) at Auschwitz.”
For years, Hirt, who was 91 when he admitted the truth, spoke publicly at schools around the US about his experiences during World War II, which included his Jewish family’s flight from Poland to Belgrade. He claimed he was arrested by the Nazis, sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, and met Josef Mengele, the SS physician who allegedly tortured prisoners. He told people he escaped by crawling under a wire fence. He also added an extraordinary prologue and epilogue to his story, alleging he saw Adolf Hitler turn his back on Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and met Eleanor Roosevelt and Owens following his arrival in the United States.
Earlier this year, Andrew Reid, a New York history teacher, became suspicious of Hirt’s story and wrote a refutation of many of Hirt’s points. The names of concentration camp victims and survivors are publicly available and there is no record of Hirt at Auschwitz or elsewhere.
Hirt (showing his fake tattoo in the photo above) admitted in his letter that he tattooed the camp number of Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi, the acclaimed author and chemist, on his left forearm: “In no way an attempt to take on his identity, but in an effort to incorporate his symbol as a way of remembering him.”
Reid also found that Hirt’s escape story did not fit with camp records, that Mengele did not arrive at the camp until after the alleged escape and there were other errors and far-fetched claims in Hirt’s account. For example, at the time he claimed to have seen Hitler turn his back on Owens, Hirt was a 6-year-old Polish boy and it was unlikely he would have been anywhere near Hitler at the Olympics. Additionally, according to Jesse Owens’ biographer, the “snub” was likely fabricated and possibly conflated with the story of another black sprinter.
Hirt is not the first to fabricate or exaggerate a Holocaust story. Herman Rosenblat, a Polish survivor, embellished his 1993 memoir and made up some parts entirely. At the time, historian Ken Waltzer wrote in the New Republic that he was alarmed by how quickly people accepted Rosenblat’s claims.Source: Humans Are Free, February 14, 2019.See also “Author of Fake Holocaust Memoir Ordered to Return $22.5m to Publisher.”
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Post by Joanna on Feb 14, 2019 2:59:55 GMT -5
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Post by Joanna on Feb 14, 2019 2:50:10 GMT -5
Valentine's Day Around the WorldLike most annual holidays, Valentine’s Day in the United States tends to follow a predictable script. Lovers buy flowers, candy and/or a card and splurge on fancy dinners. From Paris to Dhaka, the script is followed in cities around the world. But there are other locales where people celebrate Valentine’s Day in weird and wonderful ways:
Bulgaria. Valentine’s Day traditionally shares its spot on the calendar with the day of the patron saint of winemakers, St. Trifon Zarezan. Early February is the time of year when grapevines are pruned in preparation for the coming summer. Traditionally, men prune the grapevines and pour wine onto the ground to improve the soil’s fertility. Each vineyard then selects the “wine king,” the person deemed to have had the best harvest, who hosts a feast, with much food and wine, at his home. It isn’t difficult to understand how the two holidays have come to be celebrated in unison.
El Salvador. In El Salvador, as in much of Latin America, February is the Day of Love and Friendship. The centerpiece of the celebration is a game called “Secret Friend.” Salvadoran friends, families, classmates and coworkers write everyone’s name on a piece of paper and then each picks one and each person purchases a gift for another. When the time comes to hand out the gifts, everyone stands in a circle and, in turn, reveals one good quality about their secret friend and others guess the individual’s identity. It is very similar to the “Secret Santa” Christmas game Secret Santa, with a touch more affection.
Peru. Valentine’s Day coincides with Peru’s summer carnival season. Peruvians are often in a partying mood and sometimes they even have a national holiday. As in the U.S., couples exchange flowers, and the choice of flower is orchids. The flowers are abundant in the Andean nation and come in some 3,000 varieties.
The Philippines. In recent years, some Filipino couples have celebrated Valentine’s Day at state-supported mass wedding ceremonies. This year, hundreds of couples will marry on February 14 under the supervision of Mayor Dino Reyes Chua of Noveleta, a town south of Manila. The region’s local government will pay for the cost of the wedding reception, bouquets of flowers and even wedding cakes for the couples, who are all set to return the favor by accepting Mayor Chua and other officials as their new godparents.
At a nearby town, where another mayor is set to officiate at the marriage of some 500 couples at a high school building on Thursday, the best-dressed pair will win a prize of 10,000 Philippine pesos ($192) toward the cost of their honeymoon. The government contends the ceremony helps cash-strapped young couples make their unions official in the eyes of God and the law.
South Africa. Couples have traditionally celebrated Valentine’s by wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Young people pin a piece of paper with the name of their partner or someone they’re sweet on to their clothing hoping they will be noticed and their intended will do likewise. It is believed the custom is based on the ancient Roman Lupercalia, in which our modern Valentine’s Day is rooted.
Wales. The Welsh version of Valentine’s Day is celebrated January 25. Known as Saint Dwynwen’s Day, it commemorates the legend of the nation’s patron saint of love. According to the BBC, the story of Saint Dwynwein is somewhat gruesome, featuring an arranged marriage gone wrong, a convent and a frozen lover. In celebration, Welsh lovers traditionally exchange “love spoons” (above): ornate wooden utensils featuring symbols expressing various sentiments.Source: Billy Perrigo and Ciara Nugent, Time, February 13, 2019.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 10, 2019 1:22:09 GMT -5
Dr. Phil Show Generates New Tips in Crystal Rogers Case
The Nelson County sheriff has advised detectives are investigating several new tips that were called in after The Dr. Phil Show aired a special segment Wednesday on the disappearance of Crystal Rogers and death of Tommy Ballard.
Rogers, a Bardstown mother of five, went missing in July 2015. The only person to be named as a suspect was her then-boyfriend, Brooks Houck, but he has never been charged. Sixteen months after Rogers disappeared, Tommy Ballard, her father, was shot and killed while hunting on family land. His death is being investigated by the Kentucky State Police. The Nelson County Sheriff is in charge of the Rogers case.
Sheriff Ramon Pineiroa said people called in tips during and after the segment. He could not provide an exact number, but indicated the lead detective is investigating several new tips. “We’ve gotten tips from Texas all the way to California, from the east coast to the west coast,” he confirmed. “We know we’re on the right track. We’ve been on the right path. It’s just a matter of time and evidence – that one piece that we need to point the finger and say, ‘You’re under arrest.’” He said his officers are searching for physical evidence, but so as not to jeopardize the investigation, he could not provide additional details. “I think we’re very close. I can’t say a timeline, but we’re getting there.”
The lead detective on the Rogers case is planning to retire soon and Pineiroa is in the process of hiring someone who will be dedicated to the case. He said there are two experienced detectives who are interested in the position and he will soon be meeting with one of them to discuss the job.
If you have any information that could help detectives in their search for Crystal Rogers, or know anything about the shooting death of Tommy Ballard, call the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office at (502)-348-1840, or the Kentucky State Police at (270) 766-5078.
Source: Katrina Helmer, WDRB. February 8, 2019.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 5, 2019 22:24:48 GMT -5
Phelps Abandons Coricidin Defense, Pleads Guilty to 1st-Degree Murder
Matthew Phelps (above), the Bible college graduate who claimed a heavy dose of Coricidin Cough & Cold medication caused him to murder his wife, pled guilty to first-degree murder in October. The 29-year-old aspiring minister admitted to stabbing his wife, Lauren Ashley-Nicole Phelps, 123 times.
When Phelps called 911 in the wee hours of Friday, September 1, 2017, he told the dispatcher he had awakened from a dream and found himself covered in blood with his wife dead beside him and a bloody knife on the bed. He added he’d taken a heavy dose of Coricidin Cough & Cold syrup because “it can make you feel good and sometimes I can’t sleep at night.”
The cough syrup defense gained national attention, however, in court on Friday, October 5, 2018, prosecutors explained that while a blood test revealed the presence of the cough concoction in Phelps’ body, it wasn’t a toxic amount that could cause dizziness or hallucinations as Phelps claimed.
In excess of 50 people – most from Hope Lutheran Church in Wake Forest – packed the courtroom to show their support for Lauren Phelps. Some wore buttons featuring her image and others T-shirts reading “#LaurensLight.” Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway said he had never seen so many supporters. For more than three hours, individuals stood and tearfully described how Lauren was drawn to the needy, especially children, and that she taught Sunday School and volunteered to help with the church youth. Her nieces and nephews called her “Aunt Mimi,” and as family members extolled her kindness, some shuddered and covered their faces with their hands.
“The thoughts of all her little body endured at Matthew’s hands are what my nightmares are made of,” her mother, Laurie Hugelmaier, said. “Heaven doesn’t have phones, computers or social media. Lauren will live on in my memory.”
Many friends and relatives suspected Phelps initially attracted Lauren by pretending to be vulnerable, triggering her Good Samaritan impulse. The family welcomed him at first, but many noticed a darkness envelope his character and encouraged him to seek therapy.
Defense attorney Joseph Cheshire V claimed his client had suffered severe depression and anxiety since childhood, adding that he [Cheshire] shared the condition. “I fight it every day,” he told those in the courtroom. “It’s a demon that comes into your body.”
Marital difficulties. Phelps grew up without a father and his mother, who was only 17 when he was born, handed him over to her parents to raise, Cheshire explained. The father of one girl Phelps wanted to date forbade his daughter to go out with a boy who was “illegitimate.” In high school, the lawyer continued, Phelps began abusing cold medicine, which led to his expulsion.
Matthew and Lauren Phelps met in middle school in Kentucky and many years later, he sent her an Instagram message. She did not recognize him at first, but they began dating and married in November 2016.
“Lauren and the defendant had a tumultuous relationship,” ADA Kristen Fetter advised. She described Lauren as thrifty, a woman who hoped to start a Hallmark store, an outgrowth of her work selling Scentsy candles and fragrances. Matthew Phelps, on the other hand, did not work or contribute to the household finances, spending thousands of dollars on iTunes cards and Xbox subscriptions, forcing his wife to work more than one job.
According to court documents, by April 2017, Phelps and his wife were having marital problems though the pair had been married less than six months. Friends told investigators the two often argued and a detective discovered that Lauren had taken “drastic steps” to curtail her husband’s spending and planned to end the marriage. Also in April, search warrants indicated Phelps was obsessed with the movie American Psycho, a black comedy in which a rich investment banker (Christian Bale) lives a normal life during the day and turns into a serial killer at night. One detective noted that Phelps posted photos of himself dressed as Patrick Bateman, the main character, on Instagram, and told a friend he wondered what it would be like to kill someone. Phelps kept a separate, secret Instagram account under the name “Marty Radical” and told a neighbor – who had a concealed carry permit – he often thought of taking the gun and shooting people and himself.
According to his defense attorney, Phelps’ fascination with video games grew out of a need for acceptance. “In that place, people wanted him on their team,” he told the courtroom audience.
Then ‘he snapped.’ Prosecutors countered by revealing Phelps had been married before and behaved violently toward his first wife, dragging her down a hallway by her hair on one occasion, the final straw that led to their divorce.
Cheshire, however, claimed accounts differed as to what ended his first marriage and, in fact, his wife left Phelps for another man she met on a mission trip. The idea of Lauren’s leaving him shook Phelps, who did not want to suffer another failure, the attorney added. “He snapped that day and what happened, happened,” Cheshire explained.
As part of the plea deal, Matthew Phelps will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole. “He’s pleading to spend life in prison to avoid the possibility of death,” one of his attorneys, Elliot Abrams, told The News & Observer.
Cheshire praised members of Lauren’s family for allowing the plea and life sentence, adding that he hoped his client would find redemption behind bars.
Family members admitted it was a struggle to overcome their hatred and live as Lauren would have wished. They appeared most anguished as they described the crime’s effect on young children in the family. The mother of one child tearfully proclaimed, “I will see Mimi again in heaven when the bad guy comes to kill me, right?”
Beth Agner, the child’s mother and Lauren’s sister, faced the bearded, long-haired man in the tan jail jumpsuit who looked nothing like the clean-cut young man she had known. (Cheshire said Phelps had grown his hair and beard to appear older in prison.) “Matt, prison is a scary place,” she reminded him. “But being separated from God is worse and his judgment is harsher than anything this court can give.”
The defendant stood and faced his dead wife’s family and apologized for the senseless act he said he hadn’t believed he was capable of committing. “I feel like a monster,” he conceded. “One of the wretched. Part of the darkness we don’t speak of.” He continued, saying he regretted taking Lauren from her family, friends and himself – “the least of these.” He paused and added, “I will have to live the rest of my life with these hands as a constant reminder.”
Sources: Josh Shaffer and Thomasi McDonald, The Raleigh News & Observer, October 5, 2018, and Jeff Truesdell, People Magazine, April 3, 2018.
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Post by Joanna on Feb 1, 2019 8:09:50 GMT -5
From Juno Februa to CandlemasWhile there are many longstanding pagan holidays observed at the beginning of February, the Christian celebration of Candlemas sprouted from a specific Roman observance.
February was an important festival month in the Roman calendar and began with a purification ceremony known as Juno Februa (Juno the Purifier). The most prominent of the Roman matriarchal deities, Juno was/is essentially the goddess of essence itself. She is considered a moon goddess because her worship originally revolved around the lunar cycle: She is the state of Being, illustrated by the waxing white moon appearing out of the black void.
The Romans believed not only plants, animals and inanimate objects such as rocks, mountains and bodies of water possessed a spirit (genius loci), but core truths or principles as well. Thus the month of vital ceremonies required more than simple purification practices, it was necessary to invoke the essence of purification herself: Juno Regina (the queen goddess). Some say Juno Februa occurred at the second full moon following the winter solstice prior to Rome’s adoption of a solar calendar, but by the beginning of the common era, the date of the festival was fixed at 40 days after the winter solstice festivities.
Under Christian rule, Juno Februa became a celebration of the purification of the Virgin Mary following the birth of Jesus. The mass was celebrated with a procession involving the lights of many candles, the same as the earlier Roman holiday. Mary took on the role of Juno and the day’s association with purification as well as Juno’s white lily, which became a symbol of Mary’s renewed purity. Juno, however, though a mother like the Blessed Virgin, required no such purification because the idea of pollution in childbirth was foreign to her followers. She came to bestow purification, not to partake of it, and would give birth a full month later to her son, the god Mars. The birth of Mars was also a virgin birth: Juno conceived through the fragrance of the white lily, which was a part of Juno herself. In other words, Juno impregnated herself and the white lily symbolizes self-generation.
Some attribute Candlemas to Gelasius I, the 5th century pope, however, it appears his problem was with the climactic February festival of Lupercalia, which was eventually replaced by St. Valentine’s Day. Gelasius may have been successful at quashing Lupercalia, but people continued to celebrate the rite of Juno. As a consequence, in 684, Pope Sergius I officially instituted the mass of the Purification of the Virgin Mary to be celebrated February 2 on the church calendar.
From the beginning, many theologians protested the event, arguing that Mary would have required no purification because she had been impregnated not through sexual congress but by the Holy Spirit. Within the logic of Christianity this was correct, but as time wore on, the church was plagued by conflicts at Candlemas, not only by remnants of the Roman pagan cult, but by propitiation to weather deities and fire goddesses elsewhere.
The tension between theological purists and synergistic forces was eventually satisfied by fixing the time of the presentation of Jesus at the temple, which is referenced in scripture, at 40 days following his birth, or the 2nd of February. Nevertheless, the focus on Mary remained popular with the masses, so the celebration of the purification of the Virgin, while declining in emphasis, never totally vanished.
Today among witches and many other pagans, February 2nd is a time for vows and initiations. Many practices are based on Celtic and Germanic beliefs, but the Roman observation of Juno Februa also fits nicely into this understanding of the holy day. During this time of commitment, one’s intentions should be unassailable, infused by the essence of Juno herself.Source: Hearth Moon Rising.
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