Wilkes-Barre man: 'Witches are trying to kill me'

Times Leader ^ | 9-16-2004 | JON FOX

[cwiz24]

This guy sounds schizophrenic. He probably shouldn't be walking around unmedicated. He's a danger to society.

[Petronski]

Seems obvious he's schizophrenic, but the author of the piece doesn't use the story to write about that terrible disease. Instead, his (unnamed) disease is used to bash home schooling.

[theDentist]

I agree. But they're trying to pass him off as a typical believer in "home schooling". 2 birds with 1 stone....

[AppyPappy]

I think he posts on a forum that I know

[Thrusher]

Because this guy is who John Kerry wants to appoint as Homeland Security Director if he is elected.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Don't assume all self-described witches are "crazy". Most just believe in nature worship, and don't hole themselves up in bunkers imagining wild tales about their neighbors.

[Hunble]

Caution!

For your information, I was the largest source of money their first year, when that website was being established.

Fritz and Wren are personal friends.

[stuartcr]

satan-worshipping, demon-spawn alert!!

[itsamelman]

[ASA Vet]

He probably shouldn't be walking around unmedicated.

From the article:
"spend much of their time hunkered down in their two-story home"

Apparently he doesn't do much "walking around" medicated or not.

[bmwcyle]

My ex-wife lives up there. It must be true.

[small voice in the wilderness]

I personally don't think we have a right to judge this man unless we have walked a mile in his unexplained cloven-hooved shoes.

[blackdog]

Wilkes Barre, Scranton has produced more insane news for a while now. The neck-bomb decapitating bank robber, the bodies in freezers, the crazy unknown gender county employee who steals everything not nailed down, witches, Rodham brothers humpin the neighbor's wife, the minor league baseball fiasco, the Adelphia scandal, and a bunch more........It's not a big population! Oh yeah, the abusive special education teacher who tortures toddlers is from the area too.

This region is something for Scully and Mulder to investigate.

I think a lot of the craziness is from meth use.

[LizardQueen]

What are the proper steps for a free society to address a group of siblings who are being held in a house with an absolute nutcase (and possibly violent/dangerous nutcase, if he's responsible for his brother's house burning down), getting brainwashed by all this paranoid nonsense, and most certainly not getting anything that any sane person would regard as an education?

I agree, and it's a dilemma. On the one hand I believe in the right of parents to raise and educate their children how they see fit. But on the other I don't want to end up paying for, monetarily or otherwise, the mistakes of screwball parents like the guy in the article.

We had a case up here where a woman that was functionally illiterate was "homeschooling" her children and even the high-school aged ones couldn't read. That's wrong.

I don't know what the answer is.

LQ

[Willie Green]

This has nothing to do with witches, Wicca, or the neighborhood. This guy is mentally ill, probably paranoid schizophrenic

Wilkes-Barre never fully recovered from Hurricane Agnes back in '72.
They didn't have FEMA back then, you know.

[Fierce Allegiance]

This should read "Dont's skip your meds & fly"

[babaloo999]

He's not a newt but I don't think he "got better".

[JATO]

Didn't intend to demean wicca, or is it Wicca? I have that link because I believe the pagans have the same credibility as other religions. It's interesting, too.

I see that Christmas was actually the pagan Yule season taken over by the established church.

[Hunble]

No comment, since I have never personally known anyone from the area.

Again, why was this article considered important enough to share with us Freepers?

[GovernmentShrinker]

I don't see anything in the story implying that this nut is in any way "typical" of homeschoolers. What it is implying is that children in such bizarre situations can slip through the cracks easily, when they're not enrolled in any school or other outside activities. The article states what the law is in Pennsylvania, without endorsing or opposing it. I happen to oppose it, as being intrusive on the vast majority of homeschoolers who are providing a much better education than public or private schools. However, I also recognize that in unusual cases like these, application of the law would probably save the children from being seriously and irreparably harmed. I just think that we ought be able to use other laws, not related to homeschooling, to achieve the same noble purpose.