News12.com Blog

Heartbroken

Danielle Campbell

 

It is heartbreaking.

7 teenagers, allegedly hunt down a Hispanic immigrant in the streets of Patchogue--- an attack that led to Marcelo Lucero's horrifying death.

Marcelo, who was 38, was beaten, and then stabbed.  He tried to fight back with his belt.

Moments before he was walking to a friends house, to watch a movie on a Saturday night. 

Marcelo, who had been in our country for 16 years, struggling to make his way in the world, liked to rent movies.

Most likely movies with a happy ending, that's because Marcelo truly believed in the American Dream.

Marcelo who grew up in the mountains of  Ecudor, was described as a gentle, joyful man, who lived his  life as a peacemaker.

Marcelo was happy with the election of Barak Obama. He saw it as a moment of healing, and was hopeful it would bring  an end to judgements based on the color of the skin.

Marcelo never missed a chance to call his mother, several times a week, letting her know he was ok and that he loved her.

Because I am a mother, I think of Marcello's mother, so far way, so helpless, unable to change what has happened to her beautiful son.  The thought of her heartbreak is unbearable.

Because I am a mother, I think of the 7 mother's of the teenagers arrested.

I can't imagine their pain, their grief, the feeling of helplessness they must have, how broken their hearts must be.

American Flagpins

By Ken Grimball

   

Seated comfortably in their Home and Careers Class, students at Gelinas Junior High School, in Setauket, were very busy with a special project.  They were using thousands of small red, white and blue beads that were in a large bowl on a table before them.  Next to the bowl, there was a tray of large golden safety pins.  With jestures of content and a few giggles now and then, the Eigth Grade girls were placing the beads carefully on the pins.  This was not being done randomly.  There was a purpose.  They were making creative Flagpins, that could be worn on clothing or placed on the wall or stuck into special place.

The Flagpins were for Veterans, living at the nearby Long Island Veterans Home in nearby Stony Brook. Students in this class reach out to people in their community, who are not often on the front page or often identified at the Shopping Malls. The youngsters appeared to be delighted with their project.  While speaking with them I detected a level of appreciation for the people who had fought so galantly for them in Viet Nam and other conflicts.  

As a Viet Nam era Veteran, I felt quite honored to think that children today had so much feeling and gratitude for these people who faced battles and  who still have scars mentally and physically for being in all sorts of conditions while defending the freedom that we have here in the Good Old U.S.A.

By the time the project is completed, the students would have made Two-hundred-fifty Flagpins that will be given to the Veterans on their well deserved day November 11th.