Posted on 10/09/2005 8:56:49 AM PDT by MizSterious
Father apologizes for son's actions
By Nolan Clay and Ty McMahan
The Oklahoman
The father of a University of Oklahoma student who died in a bombing has apologized for the actions of his son.
"I truly hang my head," the father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., said from Colorado Springs, Colo.
Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student, died Oct. 1 when a bomb went off outside the football stadium during the second quarter of OU's night game against Kansas State.
The FBI and OU are treating the bombing as a suicide by a troubled loner, rather than a failed terrorist attack.
"I feel obligated to apologize to everyone whose inconvenience has increased, or had worse things happen to them, due to Joe III," the father told The Oklahoman.
He said he wanted to specifically apologize to the Muslim students who were shackled and questioned during the investigation, apartment residents who had to be evacuated, and "the hundreds of thousands of future OU sporting event attendees who will now endure even more rigorous, restrictive search and carry restrictions."
The dead student, 21, was remembered last week as depressed and so mesmerized with bombs that he bought artillery shells on eBay.
Hinrichs started at OU in the fall of 2002 after being a National Merit Scholar at Wasson High School in Colorado Springs.
He was so depressed his second semester at OU that he had trouble going to class and underwent counseling, his father said.
He dropped out in 2003-2004 and worked doing inventories at night, the father said. He returned but lost a scholarship because of his grades.
"Internally, he suffered from both depression and an utter lack of hope in his own future," said the father.
"He could tell that other people were relating around him and even trying to relate to him. He could not relate back. ... My guess is that ... was very close to the root of his problem."
Early warning signs?
The father said his son had been depressed at times in high school, too.
The younger Hinrichs built a bomb out of match heads in an empty tube at age 13 or 14, his father said.
"He was hiding around the corner. It made a loud noise and he brought the broken, open CO2 cartridge to me and had this look of awe in his eyes," he said.
The younger Hinrichs also regularly bought inert artillery shells over eBay, his father said.
"Like all little boys, he has an interest in things that go bang. ... He just took it a little farther than most. ... He showed them to me, 'Look at this, dad,'" he said.
He got in trouble at the end of the eighth grade in Illinois for bringing a 3-foot metal handle to school, The Oklahoman confirmed.
The younger Hinrichs spent six weeks on house arrest, wearing an ankle bracelet, and then spent ninth grade in an alternative school.
Still, there were few outward signs he was suicidal. His last e-mail to his father, Sept. 14, was about his father's offer of a Subaru to drive.
"Does the Subaru get good mileage? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," the younger Hinrichs wrote.
OU President David Boren described the student as a loner with emotional difficulties and personal problems. Classmates said he was different and had been struggling again with his grades.
"He was really quiet, didn't really interact with any of the other students," said Garrett Jones, a Tulsa junior who had engineering classes with Hinrichs.
Jones, 21, said Hinrichs was different in his manner and clothing.
"He wore this little green vest all the time. It was really weird. ... You could look around in a classroom and be able to pick this guy out that he was a little unusual," Jones said.
Another classmate, junior Andrew House, told the OU student newspaper: "He seemed like he was a nice kid. He didn't seem troubled at all. Some people might have thought he was weird, because he knew a lot about ammunition and stuff like that."
Members of an OU organization of engineers, architects and scientists said Hinrichs was quiet, reserved and not very involved in the group.
"The guy liked guns and ammo and he said something about trying to buy some ammo. That's just what he liked," said Paul Lawson, executive director of the Triangle Fraternity, who visited the OU chapter last week.
At meetings, Hinrichs talked about his struggles and successes in class, a new job, trouble sleeping and a road trip to Las Vegas, according to minutes.
He also talked about "missing ammo," building a catapult and carving a club with a pocket knife, according to minutes.
He had his own Web site. It read: "This is Joe Hinrichs' website. He currently doesn't have anything to put on it, but it does exist and it is here."
Officials have said investigators do not believe the student was trying to get inside the stadium or had any help. His father said the FBI told him his son made the bomb out of hydrogen peroxide, a common disinfectant.
ROTFLMAO!
With you, not at you.
All I know is what my Cuban Spanish instructor told me. Alta Vista/Babel Fish translates it as "poop".
Didn't the Columbine killers' parents make some of these same discoveries and permit them?
Meant to add that my brother had a '79 Cougar (he bought it new, and he's 6 1/2 years my junior :) ), that had a landau top. We called it "The Pimpmobile". :) A term that would fit a Lincoln Town Car with such a roof even better.
You two are doing a heckuva job on this topic. I come to your posts first every day to find out what's new with the Norman bombing.
Keep up the good work!
The two are not mutually exclusive.
Good thing you did that summary or we would all be up a creek without a paddle! :)
Don't be sorry -- I think your reasoning makes sense.
That is because that is a false statement pushed by those on the left and those in the administration for separate reasons.
The anthrax attack came after the 9-11 attacks.
So did the DC sniper duo, the shoe bomber (caught in the act), and a number of other incidents.
The FBI expects us to believe that they are all "lone nuts" and we should stop harping on the religion of peace. Meanwhile the entire antiabortion movement is condemened (and restricted in protest) any time there is a shooting or bombing (and there have only been a handful of those).
Well, thank you El Gato. You hit me with a word that describes something I am guilty of on a daily basis and I didn't even know there WAS a word that fit me so perfectly! You have no idea how impressed my family will be to know that there IS a word that describes my ability to "use an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea". I'd say more but I am now on a mission to not be one of those "circum..blah blah blah" people. ROFL!!! ;)
Main Entry: cir·cum·lo·cu·tion
Pronunciation: "s&r-k&m-lO-'kyü-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin circumlocution-, circumlocutio, from circum- + locutio speech, from loqui to speak
1 : the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea
2 : evasion in speech
- cir·cum·loc·u·to·ry /-'lä-ky&-"tOr-E, -"tor-/ adjective
A well-connected, popular guy is NOT going to go blow up a stadium of families for his Pakistani roomie.
Smart thinking (picking up your son's friend).
OK thanks for clearing that up.
3) A roundabout expression.
I'd describe as trying to say what you mean without really saying it.
I guess my exposure to the word comes from people violating security regulations by "talking around" the classified information, while still (trying to) convey meaning to someone who knows what you are talking about in the first place. It's a big no no, but "senior people", managers and such, often do it.
I'm so glad Howlin' asked for a "cliff notes" version the other day. I was going to give up on trying to compile everything I had so far. I'm really glad now that didn't happen. (o:
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