Disrespect is the root of the problem

Maybe the doomsayers are right; the end is near. I hate to admit it because I think it’s important to maintain a positive attitude. But some of the stuff going on lately really has me shaking my head.

Most of you have heard by now about the fatal shooting in Kentville Thursday. Police haven’t classified the situation one way or another yet: we don’t know if it’s murder, manslaughter or what.

It’s really a moot point, isn’t it? Two guys got into a racket, one of them pulled a gun and the other ended up dead. Any way you slice it, it ain’t pretty.

If it’s determined to be murder, it will be the first such charge to be laid in Kentville since 1991, when Donald Roy Neaves was charged with killing his wife, Barbara Ann Parrish. He was convicted of second-degree murder.

I’m not comparing in any way the two situations. It’ll be up to police officers and prosecutors to figure out what happened last Thursday and how or when it’ll be addressed in the courts.

But it’s scary when stuff like this occurs in broad daylight. Anyone in the vicinity of Webster Court late last week could’ve become part of this scenario and only the prompt action of Kentville police officers and members of Kentville’s volunteer fire department ensured that no one else got hurt.

These two agencies descended on the situation, sealed off the area and prevented anyone from gaining access. I was onsite Thursday evening and pushing for a decent photo to represent the tableau, but couldn’t get close enough to get what I wanted.

Firefighters had a double perimeter from the road in and I respected their wishes not to breach the crime scene. I’ve been in this game long enough to know that anything I do within that restricted space could compromise the investigation and, ultimately, the chances of a possible conviction.

The best deal is to get what you can and then get out of the way. Emergency and police personnel have their jobs and I have mine. We understand that about each other and the relationship seems to work well.

However, incidents such as that in Kentville Thursday used to be the exception around here, but things are different now.

I don’t know if urban creep is the culprit or individuals just get ticked off and don’t have the skills to manage their anger.

Whatever, this shooting incident is only one in a series of disturbing events in the last while. A hunter found Leslie Ann Conrad’s body at Robinson Corner last month, stuffed in a shallow grave. No one has been charged as yet.

Nineteen-year-old Chris Parks was reported missing Nov. 6. His body was found eight days later. He had died of exposure, but questions persist about an alleged fight involving him and the condition in which he left a Nov. 3 party.

Preliminary autopsy results indicated that any injuries sustained from the fight he might’ve been in were not contributing factors in his death. Parks died of hypothermia.

But Cst. Les Kakonyi made a good point in the aftermath, and it speaks to a human capacity I believe is eroding rapidly: respect for others.

In an article published in the Kings County Register, Kakonyi says: “What bothers me, I guess, is none of his friends were there, or the guys who did it, and saw him leave - they let him.�

Just walk away. Possibly injured, clearly alone. I don’t get it. If we don’t give a damn about one another, what else is there?

Maybe stuff happens in clusters and we’ve been through a bad patch lately. I hope so. But my gut whispers that the ones heralding those bitter end of days have no trouble building a strong argument when you look around and all you see is disrespect.

We have a problem, and it boils down to how we relate to one another and an utter lack of respect for things that ultimately should be sacred.