Thomas Autry Is A "Hero"; Amy Martin Is Dead
Thomas Meets Amy
Many of you probably know the news story of Thomas Autry and his ordeal last week in Atlanta. Aged 36 and an ex-marine, Autry was walking home after nightshift at Jocks & Jills, where he worked for $82 per week, plus tips. A Cadillac pulled up beside him, and five teenagers proceeded to give chase. One had a shotgun, another a pistol, and a third wielded brass knuckles. Autry ran for his life and shouted for help. Finally he was cornered, with no place to run, and the thugs attacked. His self-defense training kicked in. The victim pulled a pocketknife from his backpack, stabbed one assailaint in the chest and severely cut another. The pistol was aimed at Autry from point-blank range, but misfired. The attackers fled, climbed into their car, and drove to a nearby hospital. The 17-year-old stabbing victim died. A young man was critically wounded. Now all attackers have been arrested and charged with assault. Autry refuses to receive the label of “hero” and remains shaken from the ordeal.
Amy Martin is the one who died as she participated in this robbery attempt. She was known as a good student with a loving family, who enjoyed sports and shopping. Her family tells the sordid and all-too-familiar story of a promising young person who started hanging out with the wrong crowd and ended up doing foolish things.
Soul-Searching
Here is a link to an article about her funeral:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/a tlanta/stories/0602gradyf uneral.html?imw=Y" title="http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/a tlanta/stories/0602gradyf uneral.html?imw=Y" target="_blank"http://www.ajc.com/metro/cont...
The funeral home was packed. In addition to family, a crowd of teenagers gathered. The pastor, Craig Oliver Sr., spoke from his heart and apparently with great courage.
Some quotations from the eulogy
:
As he patted the pale pink casket, he said, “Once you get here, you don't come back to get it right.”
“Her death, like the deaths of so many youths, is senseless. And the madness has got to stop. There's a high cost to low living, a high price for living a reckless life.”
As some of the kids chuckled, Oliver said, “There is nothing to snicker or smile at. Life is not a game. You weren't created to wander through life. You were created to make a difference. We don't need to have any more funerals or senseless deaths.”
“I bet some of you have a gun. I bet some of you are even toting now. If not in the church, then out there in your automobile. I dare you to come down to me, right now, to get rid of it. Unloaded.” At the end of the service, about 30 young people gathered with the pastor. Police report that several turned-in guns the next day.
This is quite a story. Here we have:
A reluctant hero
A wasted life
A grieved and broken mother
A daring pastor
I will comment much about this in the coming days.
06.12.06 (11:02 pm) [
edit]
posted by:
surrogate (
reply)
post date:
06.12.06 (6:08 pm)
I've only heard snippets about this. Pretty cool, what the preacher did.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
06.13.06 (2:34 am)
Reply to: surrogate
A big question, for me, is why wuld these young people choose this lifestyle? From what I understand, they were from pretty decent life situations.
posted by:
surrogate (
reply)
post date:
06.13.06 (3:02 am)
Peer pressure. Can't imagine anything else.
posted by:
scubadiva (
reply)
post date:
06.13.06 (6:28 am)
Sorry, but they were referring to her being an "Honor Student". She was an "honor student' when she was in 6th grade. She dropped out on her 16th birthday when she was in the 10th grade. She was up to no good and faced the consequences of her actions. She's been out of control for a long time and the burden is on her parents for failing to do their job.
And did you hear that Vernon Jones, CEO of Dekalb County, offered Autry a job, but he turned it down.
posted by:
FinalyFree (
reply)
post date:
06.13.06 (7:35 am)
I'm not sure I agree with the Pastor when he said this young girl's death was senseless, to me, what was senseless was the fact she ever got to the point she did. When people, young or old, put themselves in that kind of situation and end result like this is not too surprising...atleast not to me. Also, honor students make bad decisions just as well as High School drop-outs do, sometimes it seems like this is used as an excuse. As horrific as this whole incident is, I feel the young woman put herself in the position of danger. I wonder how hard it would have been for her to just stay in the car and not participate? I fear things like this all the time for my teenagers, the fact that they will be in the wrong place at the wrong time making all the wrong decisions.
posted by:
guerillafunk (
reply)
post date:
06.13.06 (9:51 am)
I don't understand the mindsets of some of these kids. They ruin their lives over nothing. I have a friend, the friend who is returning from Kansas City, and he's seen this kind of thing, been a victim of this kind of thing, and even participated in this kind of thing. He, however, realized how stupid it all was and how much it was ruining his life, and decided to move away from it all and start over. He's filled with regrets, and wishes he'd never done anything like that. I don't see why people would subject themselves to such risk and guilt.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
06.13.06 (6:08 pm)
Reply to: scubadiva
I imagine that Autry does not want the continued publicity, as he would probably become a "mark" to every ghetto thug in Atlanta wanting to make a name for himself/herself. Smart man.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
06.13.06 (6:09 pm)
Reply to: FinalyFree
Certainly this young lad's death is primarily of her own fault. But, how very sad.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
06.13.06 (6:10 pm)
Reply to: guerillafunk
Your friend is wise to change his environment. I hope he is now doing well.
posted by:
scubadiva (
reply)
post date:
06.14.06 (1:06 am)
Reply to: PastorDave
Had Vernon Jones not been a media whore and publicizing it, it wouldn't have been an issue. The dude (reports say) was making $86/week (I find that figure hard to believe) and the job with Dekalb County would be $440/week.
posted by:
DonkeyOrchid (
reply)
post date:
06.14.06 (3:44 am)
Hi, living in Australian haven't heard about this, but have come to the conclusion a lot of it can be caused by diet, preservatives etc. Prepacked foods, what are in them really? flavored additives are deadly, but then there can be so many other reasons as to why this happened. It is so sad when young lives are wasted, PTL! that their Pastor was able to get through to some of the youth at the funeral.
