Re: sad news
Julie Nelson wrote:
> >I'm dreadfully sorry to tell you that your on-line friend and colleague,
> >Gary Matson, was killed this week. Police aren't releasing much
> >information, but this morning's local newspaper indicates death was due to a
> >gunshot wound.
>
> Nan Sterman wrote:
>
> I'm sure I speak for the group when I tell you, Julie, that we will surely
> miss Gary and his contributions. I must admit that I am shocked, though I
> don't know Gary personally.
For the benefit of those not in northern California and who would not have heard,
the news has since come out that Gary Matson, who was gay, and his partner
Winfield Mowder
were murdered, evidently just because they were gay. The official speculation is
that this was probably
a "hate" crime. The police have charged two brothers with the murders. To
those of you in other
parts of the world, this may be particularly shocking. I believe that at least
in northern europe and australia
such attacks would be rare. Pitifully, such attacks against gay men are not
uncommon in the US,
where we have strong protestant religious movements that foster hatred of
homosexuals. A strange
country, this US - a mix of contradictions.
It is ironic that, with there being many gay men in the field of horticulture,
the two charged
with the murders are also reported to be involved in horticulture, which is how
they are believed
to have met their victims. They were in the landscape business.
A search warrant of their home produced an abundance of hate literature. I would
not have thought
that people who dealt with plants and gardening could harbor evil of that
magnitude. I
guess I am naive.
This may be off the topic, but I did not think that real story should be omitted,
or that the rest of you
should be left with the impression that this very giving man who contributed so
much to his community, and whom you
probably only knew by his helpful messages, entered eternity by perhaps drunkenly
stumbling over his shotgun.
