How a thief/cop killer can turn into an international hero

Maybe you can blame society’s eroding moral fabric.

Maybe you can blame the media.

Maybe you can blame the government.

Like most criminals, his rap sheet started innocently enough with just a few trespassing and poaching violations.

Nothing super serious, but still against the law.

What was more troubling though than the severity of the infraction, was the young man’s justification for it: he disregarded property rights and didn’t believe we had the right to “own” land and the animals on it.

He believed those animals were created by God, and as such, everyone had a right to shoot them.

So he did.

Soon enough though, his fundamentally socialist beliefs led him to more extreme crimes: simple theft, followed by armed robbery.

He robbed at will, and became quite good at it, sometimes seemingly knowing no bounds. He even robbed churches and their priests.

Needless to say, the more laws he broke, the more attention he got from law enforcement. Soon, deputies came to his home to arrest him. They failed, and now, murder charges topped the previously innocent little rap sheet.

But yet, despite the heinousness of the crimes, this criminal became anything but common. He was revered in the public eye. Stories upon stories were written about him, even a few songs.

As a result, this man was viewed as a hero.

Of course, some would say you could blame that on the time.

In all fairness, it was 800 or so years ago.

But really, nothing much has changed. In fact, we still proclaim this man, a socialistic common thug who murdered countless members of law enforcement, as a hero.

And if you want to learn a little more about this man, you can catch a movie about him that was just released.

It’s called Robin Hood.

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I hope you enjoy the Southwest Iowa Summer Recreation Guide included in today’s Express.

It contains all kinds of good information for anyone wanting to go camping, hiking, fishing, golfing, swimming, or whatever other kind of summer-time activity you might enjoy.

There are lists of festivals and fairs to go to from all over Southwest Iowa, giving you several choices of stuff to do close to home.

I learned by researching the news stories, and found myself making a reservation for a cabin at a local state park.

Now all I have to do is learn how to pronounce Waubonsie, so I don’t sound like too big of a tourist when we go there in July.

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I also want to draw your attention to the back page of the Express where we published the list of 22 names who had flags dedicated in their honor at the recent Memorial Day service.

I intended to include the names on my initial story from the event, but neglected to follow through and obtain a copy of them.

I apologize for that, and appreciate the many requests we received to publish them this week.

It’s my honor to do so.

Gregory Orear is the general manager/editor of the Red Oak Express. He can be emailed at publisher@redoakexpress.com.