Reader Comments: Another "hard to believe" story.

Tom Garrett 11 months, 2 weeks ago

There's not much to tell.

Witnesses say that on June 28, Sterling Lytle, a Nogales firefighter, was a passenger in a car driving down a Tucson road when an SUV pulled up behind the car and began flashing its lights and honking its horn.

The driver of the car Lytle was in pulled into a parking lot. When Lytle got out of the car to speak with the SUV's driver, the driver ran him over and fled.

Lytle had been taken to a Tucson hospital with life-threatening injuries. He has since died.

At the moment, that's all we know.

Bernice Winandy 11 months, 2 weeks ago

senseless-- could it be a gang initiation? it would still be senseless

Dan Haapala 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Way too sad. Where did we lose the meaning of life and it's value? Even sadder, for many of today's youth, there is no 'value' of life, no meaning for life, no reason to live.....except to fulfill self gratification. Please someone tell me I'm wrong.

Pat Randall 11 months, 1 week ago

We lost a lot of it from TV and movies.

Dan Haapala 11 months, 1 week ago

Why has the entertainment industry gained so much controlling influence over our youth?

Have they appealed to their basest of desires? All kids want to believe they are smarter than given credit for, able to take charge of their own lives and want controlling parents out, and they believe they have the ability to make good decisions about their present life.

That's a falacy that is promoted over and over. In Movies you have seen, how many times is the child the one that comes up with the idea that solves the problem. We call them comedy's, they are culture shifters. Are kids smart? Darn right they are! Are they mature enough to make good decisions? Some are but not all. Why has violence taken control of what we watch and see in movies, on television, in the news? Because that encourages it to continue. That divides the country and gives birth to more laws and government control of our lives.

Teachers who are not a product of that environment could change it all around, if they wanted to. And who is teaching our children to look and plan for the future, 5, 10, 15, 20 years out? They mostly don't want to look that far but if they did.......who is offerring examples of those that did and those who didn't. Fail to plan, plan to fail.

Bernice Winandy 11 months, 1 week ago

have you seen some of those video games kids play. quite a few of them have human beings shooting at and killing other human beings. some video games are quite life like and very violent.

John Lemon 11 months, 1 week ago

"Teachers who are not a product of that environmnet could change it all around, if they wanted to." Dan, I partly disagree. Let me explain. State and Federal rules about curriculum and testing. No wages competitive with private sector jobs that are similar. Community pressure to teach basics and not intrude on parental sectors such as morality except in well defined areas such as public behaviors, etc. I think that we could all add to the list. For the most part I think that teachers do a good job of enforcing community morality in the school setting. Recognize that even if teachers are teaching/modeling proper values, there is little time available to deal with specific morality in a classroom setting.

Pat Randall 11 months, 1 week ago

Many years ago the junk that is watched in day time and prime time now would be on the porno stations of TV late at night if at all. We had good clean comedy, detective shows, like Dragnet, westerns, no swearing, sex or terrible violence. A family could all watch TV together. By the early 70's there were shows I would not watch and I think you all know I am not a prude. About the only thing to watch now is 25 year old reruns. If lawmakers want to do some good, clean up the so called entertainment that is available now. Yes I know parents should censor what the kids watch. Only way to do it is get rid of the TV.

Tom Garrett 11 months, 1 week ago

"Why has the entertainment industry gained so much controlling influence over our youth?"

Because, like fools, we let them have it. Because like idiots we let the movie industry lobby Congress to create a phony ratings system instead of doing what we should have done. The airwaves belong to the people. We can regulate what we want but we let ourselves be sold a bill of good that says if you mark some as X no one will watch it. Ho! Ho! Ho!

"Have they appealed to their basest of desires?"

Yes.

"Teachers who are not a product of that environment could change it all around, if they wanted to."

Dan, as a long time teacher I can tell you with confidence that the only way a teacher can teach morality is by being a role model. Try anything else and you'll soon be turned off by kids who do not want to hear it. But live your beliefs, and treat the kids honestly and fairly, and they respond to it.

What's happening here is the exact reverse of what was going on when I was a kid, and about up to--say--1970 to 1980. Virtually every film made, every book written, every radio program, and every play put on was--in a sense--a morality play. The virtues were taught by seeing them on the screen and reading about them.

Think of the things we saw and read in those days. The Grapes Of Wrath, Shangri La, Sahara, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The Robe, The Egyptian, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Prince of Foxes, Mutiny on the Bounty, Julius Caesar, The Last of the Mohicans, Twelve O'Clock High, The Big Country, Apache, Ben Hur, Beau Geste, Doctor Zhivago, How Green Was My Valley, One Foot in Heaven, Random Harvest, The Long Gray Line, Henry V, The Red Shoes, The Lion in Winter, Drums Along the Mohawk, Spellbound, The Razor's Edge....I could go on forever, but having remembered the Razor's Edge, perhaps the finest film every made and the finest book ever written, I'll quit.

Notice that even though I made no effort to do it, l have included works that go as far back as the beginning of the 19th century, and even a couple that go back another 300 years.

Now, I ask you where are the great films now? Where are the great stories? Where are the classics that teach us while they entertain us?

Just for laughs, I looked up the Academy Award winners from 2001 to present. I saw not a single name I recognized.

We are influenced when we are kids by what we see in books and films. They teach us what is right and wrong, and they do it through our pores, not by preaching at us.

What you are seeing today is the result of a culture created by Hollywood, a culture where anything goes is what is RIGHT. Don't believe that's what they are teaching? Turn on any reality show?

Pat, there's no use censoring what kids watch when there's nothing worth watching, is there?

Pat Randall 11 months, 1 week ago

Tom, The kids do watch it, so I was putting most of the blame on the parents where it starts. If you had young kids today would they be allowed to watch anything they wanted on TV?

Tom Garrett 11 months, 1 week ago

Gotcha, Pat!

"If you had young kids today would they be allowed to watch anything they wanted on TV?"

I never at any time restricted what my kids could watch or read. Would I do that now? I am not absolutely sure, but my tentative answer is no. Why? I think that kids look at what their parents do, not what they say, and follow that. I found it to be the same in school when I was teaching. I let the kids know that they were not going to be suspected all the time of cheating or trying to break the rules. In other words, I told them that the few rules we had were the same ones they would make if they were doing my job and so I believed they would follow them.

They did, but there's more to that than I have explained.

I forgot to say how much I agreed with John. I remember something we discussed back when I was taking my masters in educational administration. One thing I read in the textbook for principalship course was that there are always some people in a community who err in thinking that schools can correct the problems that they, themselves have created, or have allowed to grow. The comment in the book, one I have never forgotten, and which guided me all the time I taught was, "The schools can neither correct nor control the ills of the community around them."

Demanding sex education classes is a classic example. There is little you can teach in school that the community will allow you discuss, and which you would be comfortable talking to kids about. Nor is there any form of behavior which you can change by discussing it unless parents are already teaching the same thing by their behavior and attitude. The kids have only to see which movies and programs their parents are watching to find out how they really feel about things.

Here's a better example, one taken from real life. At Carson JH in Mesa incidents of fighting between Mexicanos and Latinos were beginning to take place on an almost daily basis as the number of illegals increased in the area. The district got all pushed out of shape and said, "something has to be done about this!"--meaning they thought the school district could do something (or perhaps that they felt they had to make a show of doing something for the sake of public relations). They hired a "consultant" and began a big "program."

It was a total waste of time. Nothing changed. The problem did not go away until Mesa PD stepped in with a community based program and turned things around. Then the school went back to normal. Crime in schools is a reflection of what is happening in the surrounding community.

Pat Randall 11 months, 1 week ago

Tom, To your question about my kids watching TV. No way would they be allowed to watch anything they wanted. There are even childrens programs and cartoons they would not be allowed to watch. I go to my daughters house and sometimes her grandson is watching TV that I certainly don't approve of but there isn't any thing I can do about that. There are things on the internet no child should be watching.
Have them go outside and play in the dirt, fly a kite, anything but sitting in front of a TV or computer. Have a little imagination. It is the parents fault, they don't want to be bothered with raising kids only making them. It isn't up to the schools to raise kids in the proper way. They should be paid to teach them the three Rs. Not morals, sex, manners, or anything else. Of course they should set a good example for the kids to see. That includes not being pregnant and unmarried ! As for having police there, the kids are arrested and they all sit out in front of the probation office and laugh about it while smoking. Maybe arresting the parents and having them go to the probation office with the kids each trip if thier kids don't behave would work better. No cell phones for anyone under 16! Kids old enough to spell are texting and are on face book. No wonder there are so many obese kids. It isn't just the food they eat, they never get off thier butts. What ever happened to the kind of toys kids played with 40 years ago?

Tom Garrett 11 months, 1 week ago

Pat,

"To your question about my kids watching TV."

:-) I wasn't asking. I was answering your question.

And what people let kids watch is a personal choice. I'm not crazy about most TV programs anymore, but what would I do today? My approach always was to set an example and hope it worked. Who knows what I would do I today's media ruined age? Bring me back for a rerun and I'll let you know.

One thing I know I would do would be to get the kids out of this country. I did that even back in the 60's and 70's when I saw this stuff on the horizon. I took them to other countries, where businesses were not yet preying on children. In England I was able to avoid the whole problem by just staying with BBC--no advertising. On Okinawa the only English language programs were on the Armed Forces Station--also no advertising. I seriously considered retiring over in England, but I finally decided it wasn't fair to deny the kids the good parts of the United States that still existed. Most of those are gone now, so I really don't know if I made the right choice.

"It isn't up to the schools to raise kids in the proper way. They should be paid to teach them the three Rs.'

I could not agree more. In the first place, it's not what school are meant for. In the second place, the minute the government gets involved in directly teaching morality it's not likely to be the kind you want taught.

The police in Mesa didn't come to the schools. They knew better. They addressed the problems in the neighborhoods where they started. They were successful--or so I am told. I wasn't there to see. I had transferred elsewhere.

As to what kids do, from my observations I do not think kids have changed one whit since Tom Jefferson was in office. What has changed is the arrival of a media hell bent on using then as cash cows and training them while they're young to buy properly when they become adults.

The "kind of toys kids played with 40 years ago" didn't cost much, so they don't do much for profits these days, and so are not offered. Go watch what the kids watch, but ignore the programs. Focus on what they're being sold (sometimes even within the programs). They are a young, uneducated, inexperienced, and as yet unwary sales targets. They are taught to want things, AND to ask parents to buy them.

Tom Garrett 11 months, 1 week ago

It's the advertising that is changing our kids, that and the garbage programs that tell them over and over again that the only thing that counts is winning. Here's a typical article from the internet. I've only included the introduction sentences.

"A Warning for Parents and Kids - The Police Notebook"

"It talks about something that you really ought to think about before you do something, and maybe ask your parents about. Warning This is just like advertising on TV that's aimed at kids. What they really want you to do is pester your parents until they buy something for you."

Here are just a few sites talking to parents about giving kids money, and related subjects.

• Are You Your Kids' Wish Fairy? | ParentFurther • What DO Kids Really Want That Money Can't Buy? • Allowances for Kids | Money Instructor • Getting Blunt: 16 Things Kids Should Know About Social Networking... • CBBC Newsround | Chat | Your Comments | Should kids get pocket money? • Kids Stealing from Parents: What You Need to Know Now • Kids' Demands for Material Possessions • More Mistakes Parents Make With Kids And Money - Part 2 • Kids' Money for Parents - Allowance Articles • Creative Parents.Com

Notice that the "good patenting" sites are actually trying to convince you to give kids money. They pretend to do other things, but the bottom line is that in the long run they always end with something like, "...and we all know that in today's world our children have to have a few spare coins in their pockets or they'll become social isolates who are ignored by their peers, but it's up to us to resist giving them as much as we would like to give them. So be generous, but be wise."

See?

That list could go on for another 50 pages.

Tom Garrett 10 months ago

I am happy to bring you up to date on this case.

The first thing that happened was that Tucson Police identified the suspected driver in the fatal hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of Nogales firefighter Sterling Lytle through observations made by witnesses at the scene.

They immediately released a report. "Jesus Xavier Zepeda, 39, has been positively identified by police as the driver of the pickup truck that struck Lytle on June 28, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest. He is described as a 5'8" tall Hispanic man, weighing 200 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He has not yet been located."

They also gave a description of the truck involved, as a "2001 Chevrolet Silverado with a custom "burnt orange with a reddish tint" paint job. The truck has graphics on it, may possible have a camper shell, and bears the Arizona license plate reading: 'LMO7418.'"

The suspect was described as, "...39-year old Jesus Xavier Zepeda, also known as “Javie.” Jesus is described as a Hispanic male, 5 fee, .08 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes."

Delving into the suspect's record, which went back to 1992 and included charges ranging from possession of drug paraphernalia to assault, three citations in the past for driving on a suspended license, and one for reckless driving, they released a photo of him.

Just a day later, the suspect turned himself into authorities.

The suspect, who is married, made his court appearance on a Saturday morning, where bond was set at $100,000.

As of now, that is all that is known about the case. I'll keep up with it as more occurs.

If you'd like to see the suspect's face, just click on this link:

http://www.wistv.com/story/19135894/hit-and-run-suspect-turns-himself-in?clienttype=printable