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Law lags as taunts ruin lives
St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 11/19/2007 | David Hunn and Joel Currier

Posted on 11/19/2007 10:11:44 PM PST by Ptarmigan

DARDENNE PRAIRIE — One night last week, well after most of the families in this quiet community went to bed, a half-dozen police cars sped down Waterford Crystal Drive, lights flashing.

(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Missouri
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Looks likes they are being subjected to some nasty harassment.
1 posted on 11/19/2007 10:11:45 PM PST by Ptarmigan
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To: Ptarmigan

“Looks likes they are being subjected to some nasty harassment.”

I suppose if it caused the Drew family to all hang themselves it would be even nastier (but not criminal).


2 posted on 11/19/2007 10:21:19 PM PST by geopyg (Don't wish for peace, pray for Victory.)
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To: geopyg

I never heard anyone prank call 911 to someone else’s house.


3 posted on 11/19/2007 10:29:02 PM PST by Ptarmigan (Bunnies=Sodomites)
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To: Ptarmigan

There was a case up here where someone in another state randomly picked out a “caller ID return number” (or whatever it is called) and said they were being held hostage and then hung up. The number that showed up at the 911 center was some innocent person’s house, and luckily the SWAT team when they arrived didn’t just run in guns blazing.

I imagine that the cops in this neighborhood are on a hair-trigger response and probably assumed that one of the Drew family had been killed. Well - wouldn’t be the first time in this neighborhood that a “prank” went too far.


4 posted on 11/19/2007 10:43:40 PM PST by geopyg (Don't wish for peace, pray for Victory.)
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To: Ptarmigan

The Drews deserve it, though yes, its a crazy and malicious thing to do.


5 posted on 11/19/2007 10:45:01 PM PST by agere_contra (Do not confuse the wealth of nations with the wealth of government - FDT)
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To: geopyg

When was that fake 911 case? I know there are many fake 911 calls and usually it ends up being their own home. I guess that person had issues with that person so he did it.


6 posted on 11/19/2007 10:45:42 PM PST by Ptarmigan (Bunnies=Sodomites)
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To: Ptarmigan

Reap what you sow!


7 posted on 11/19/2007 10:45:59 PM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (THE SECOND AMENDMENT, A MATTER OF FACT, NOT A MATTER OF OPINION)
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To: Ptarmigan
Sow the wind...reap the whirlwind.

What goes around comes around.

8 posted on 11/19/2007 10:52:31 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
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To: Ptarmigan

I’m surprised the Drews haven’t moved to a different neighborhood. No sign of remorse from them.

The victims have shown remarkable restraint.


9 posted on 11/19/2007 10:52:56 PM PST by PAR35
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To: PAR35

well, the victims are in chaos now. a nasty divorce with all that entails. i hope the drews are happy.


10 posted on 11/19/2007 10:56:05 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Beat a better path, and the world will build a mousetrap at your door.)
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To: Ptarmigan

Here’s some snippets from the Orange County (Calif) Register from Oct., 2007:

LAKE FOREST – SWAT officers expected to find a victim shot to death, drugs and a belligerent armed suspect when they surrounded the home of an unsuspecting couple, but found they were only a part of a false emergency call caused by a teenager who hacked into the county’s emergency response system, authorities said.

On March 29 at 11:30 p.m., authorities allege, Randall Ellis, a 19-year-old from Mukilteo, Wash., hacked into the county’s 911 system from his home and placed a false emergency call, prompting a fully armed response to the home of an unsuspecting couple that could have ended tragically.

....Ellis selected the couple’s name and address at random and electronically transferred false information into the 911 system.

....False 911 calls are placed all the time, McHenry said, but he said this is the first time someone has hacked into Orange County’s system and created a false call in this way.
.....Other law enforcement agencies have seen similar breaches into their 911 systems as part of a trend picked up by computer hackers in the nation called “SWATting”, Barnes said.


11 posted on 11/19/2007 10:57:55 PM PST by geopyg (Don't wish for peace, pray for Victory.)
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To: geopyg

Wow, that is high tech right there. I think I heard about it on the news even.


12 posted on 11/19/2007 10:59:58 PM PST by Ptarmigan (Bunnies=Sodomites)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
a nasty divorce with all that entails.

Apparently, not uncommon when a child dies tragically, particularly if one parent thinks that the other could have done something more than they did.

13 posted on 11/19/2007 11:01:25 PM PST by PAR35
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To: Ptarmigan
The Meiers say the Drews came to their door several times, but the Meiers refused to talk. The Drews sent a letter, too, wanting to tell their story: "Things have now taken a turn that suggest that whatever information is being discussed surely goes beyond what we know."

I'd be curious to know. Were the Drews continuing something that Megan started? Why wouldn't the Meiers want to know? Their daughter is dead, and they don't want to know the rest of the story?

According to a police report, Lori Drew said she wanted to know what Megan was saying online about her daughter and had "instigated and monitored" the fake account.

Hmm... I wonder what she found out.

Megan, desperate to know who had told Josh she was mean, kept typing. As she guessed names, some of those teens fired back responses.

The effect, Tina Meier said, was an online pile-on.

Who were all these other teens who piled on? Was this a grand conspiracy, or were they just being honest? Why did she have to guess names of people who might say she was mean, and they all agreed she was? Were they all fakes, like Josh?

This is a tragic case all around, but both families seem pretty adept at bullying. The Meiers have gotten the media on their side, but it doesn't make their bullying any more acceptable.

14 posted on 11/19/2007 11:24:59 PM PST by BykrBayb (In memory of my Friend T'wit, who taught me much. ~ Þ)
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To: Ptarmigan

Huh. Interesting story. Frankly, I find every last character in the story totally unsympathetic - - I don’t like any of them.


15 posted on 11/19/2007 11:27:48 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: geopyg

If a dozen hackers are inserting false reports into 911 systems, then a hundred are probably quietly watching them and tipping subjects off.


16 posted on 11/19/2007 11:50:12 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Beat a better path, and the world will build a mousetrap at your door.)
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To: PAR35

Or both know they were neglectful and each tries to assuage his/her own conscience by blaming the other.


17 posted on 11/19/2007 11:51:26 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Beat a better path, and the world will build a mousetrap at your door.)
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To: BykrBayb
Were they all fakes, like Josh?

I'd lean towards this explanation. The alternative would to have established a grand conspiracy between the Drews and a lot of other kids, which would have posed much more risk of exposing their Josh hoax before it could do the mischief they had in mind.

18 posted on 11/19/2007 11:56:25 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Beat a better path, and the world will build a mousetrap at your door.)
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To: BykrBayb

alternative would BE to have...


19 posted on 11/19/2007 11:57:07 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Beat a better path, and the world will build a mousetrap at your door.)
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To: BykrBayb
The Meiers have gotten the media on their side

Surely the media did this because it saw being hounded to a suicide via a hoax to be a worse fate than being a living subject of gossip (assuming Megan was gossiping this way).

20 posted on 11/20/2007 12:06:47 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Beat a better path, and the world will build a mousetrap at your door.)
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