In both local papers this morning there was the news of the tragic death of James W. Yost, Sr. at the hand of his son, James W, Jr., in the early morning hours yesterday. Although details are sketchy preliminary reports are that Mr. Yost died of injuries from blunt force trauma.
Although I didn't personally know Mr. Yost my heart goes out to him and the rest of the family. Mr. Yost was a Viet Nam veteran and for awhile now has been very active in the Veteran's Memorial Council in the village. His picture was in the paper not too long ago. He personally hung the flags that were put out for Memorial Day in the ville. He lost his wife a few years ago to an illness and another son died in a fatal car accident. Tragedy never seem to leave him alone. He seemed to be a good neighbor. He was always working on his house and the pictures in today's papers show ladders propped up on the side of his house for more work. He owned a historic house on Riverside. That house was a nursing home when I was a kid.
From all reports Junior seems to be the antithesis of his father. From what I read in the papers Junior has been arrested for robbery, aggravated felonious assault, a couple of DUIs, aggravated trespassing and rumored talk of other nefarious deeds. He spent very little time in prison for all his convictions and was apparently on probation at the current time. At 30 years of age it is very obvious that Junior has some serious issues that never were dealt with. Now he went and killed his dad and it wasn't an accident. You can't beat a man to death and call it accidental. At 30 years of age Junior should be matured enough not to even consider beating anyone, much less his dad. If you can't control your temper at that age you need long term counselling. I'd say Junior needs a life time of it. He is a menace to society. Lock him up and throw away the key.
My condolences go out to the Yost family. Sincerely, may you rest in peace Bill.
An interesting footnote to this sad event is the handling of the case by Chief Scarabino. From both reports I have read he has called out all the dogs to investigate this matter and is taking no chances of botching this one.
9 comments:
What a tragedy.
I'm sure, as with all parents, when your baby is born he/she is the most beautiful, precious cild you've ever seen and then you continue to love and nurture this child to adulthood and then at some point your beautiful child turns into an ugly monster.
Only a cold, heartless monster could look into the eyes of another human being and then bash him to death.
I couldn't do this to a stranger much less than to the man who sired me.
According to the court pages this beast has a long history of crimes with little consequences to his actions. What is wrong with our justice (court) system? His dad was a victim to him once before now hopefully he'll be off the streets forever; however, a little too late.
My sympathy goes out to his family.
Billy[Junior] was a time bomb waiting to explode. Our whole family had feared for years that this would someday unfold....and unfortunately it did. We just didn't realize it would turn out as "ugly" and "brutal" as it did.
It is very hard for the family to come to grips with what this unleashed beast did to our relative. NOBODY deserved to die the horrible death that Bill did.
Billy had every opportunity to get his life straightened around,but to no avail.
His father feared for his life for years,but hung in there and tried his best to reach out to his son.
Bill spent two tours in Nam, was a Navy Sea Bee and was exposed to agent orange.He served his country well.
In 1998 he lost his youngest child in a tragic car accident. Following that,he lost his mother to cancer,then he lost his brother in law at a young age from a bee sting reaction,then his sister to cancer,then his wife to heart failure,then his nephew to a fatal gunshot wound,then this past Feb.,he lost his father in law.
This man seemed to have had tragedy follow him most of his life. But,he hung in there....how,we still don't know?
It's like his family and life had been cursed. Tragedy constantly followed him.But he kept on pushing and hanging in there.
Then to leave this world in such a cruel and heartless way at the hands of your own son....we don't know what to say or think?
I just hope Billy pays the full penalty,if there is such a thing, for what he did.
Hopefully he will have a very long time to think about what he did. That is,if he even has a damn conscience!!!
I just hope GOD will be there for Bill's remaining family and watch over them. They need help now more than ever!
God Speed Cousin Bill!!!
I knew Bill for many years, while many have passed him off as a goofy guy, he was the furthest thing from it, he was a active PATRIOT and a proud neighbor. He staged basically a one-man campaign to have the playgrounds around town fixed up, years ago, I remember seeing him standing outside of City Hall with a picket sign. He did two tours during the Vietnam War. I am a member of the Memorial Council and I can tell you that he never said no to any task, and he never wanted help, and he never wanted thanks. He felt it was his duty to do things for his fellow veterans.
He did fear Billy Jr., but he loved him so much that he never closed the door on him, some will say that he was stupid for that, but I think he just wanted to try to help his son, and for that I think he should be commended. Who can truly imagine something like this?
And while it may be easy to judge people, just remember that Beth and Aaron are victims in this too. I can't imagine what they are going through.
Let justice prevail on Billy, I know I never want him on the streets again, ever. He's been a fearful figure for a long time.
In closing, it's almost surreal riding down Main Street and looking at all the flags.
The court system shouldn't waste any of our money on this maniac. Anyone who would kill his own father for no reason should be hung by the neck until dead on the town square.
I know this will sound awful to some, but what about being presumed innocent until proven guilty?
Every single thing points to this young man being the murderer, but he (like all Americans) is entitled to a fair trial or at least the chance to plead guilty.
I knew his father many years ago and am not defending the son; if he committed the murder, he should get the ultimate penalty but the process has to be handled legally.
Vigilantism is, unfortunately, illegal. Until the people take the law back into their own hands (not a bad thing in my opinion), we have to abide by the constitutional right everyone has to a fair trial.
My heart also goes out to the Yost family, which has obviously had more than its share of tragedy.
Doggone, I have to agree with some of what you say. If we hang people in the town square then we are no better than those countries we look down on for beheading and stoneing people to death. We would in fact be no better than the perpetrator of the crime.
I say we should give him a fair trial and hang him.
Matt - your vehemence & blatant disregard of due process surprises me. As 9:19 said we would be no better than some of those undeveloped country's legal systems we hear about and shake our heads over. You, my friend, would set civilization back a couple of centuries. I wrote my post before the news of Ed Wilson's suspension. You responded afterwards. From reading ORL that obviously upset you.
This appears to be an open & shut case. Hell, Billy Yost could very well get the death sentence but we have to go through the process.
Dearest Nibby and Doggone:
Your blatant disregard of the 1st Amendment, which is the freedom of religion and expression. Freedom of expression covers the right of free speech is a little perturbing.
There wouldn't be too many blogs without this minor amendment. Most people would be locked up for their banter against the government.
Everyone has a due process, but then everyone has the right to speak freely. Blogs are peoples opinions. But, if you look at the facts, as written in the newspaper he's guilty. Everything points to his guilt. Think for a second (or two)...If you came across a dying or seriously injured relative who was lying on the floor what would you do? Call the ambulance right? Well, it seems Billy made the 1 block hike to the police station, no ambulance was called until the police showed up. Let him go through due process, we are all entitled to it, but the press has already nuked him in their articles. Which leads me to another problem, the power of the press and their ability to have a "public" trial before the judiciary can do their stuff.
Power oftentimes leads to corruption and some of these skanks hide under the Constitution. Their the ones that should "be hung by the neck until dead on the town square".
Stew on that......
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