You would think that after the Diane Schuler tragedy people would have learned to a. not fill a vehicle up with children and drive while intoxicated and b. not stand by and let someone else fill up a car with children and drive while intoxicated. That’s what you would think, anyway.
Sadly, I have to report to you another case of a jackass doing just what I described in (a.) while several people, for reasons I will never understand, acted on (b.). One man in particular behaved in an especially outrageous manner in this regard, enough so that he almost earned himself a nomination to the PYSIH All-Star team. More on that later.
I don’t like hit and run drivers. They really aggravate me, especially the ones who injure or kill people and take off because they are cowards and just can’t face what they’ve done.
I had a very hard time starting this story. When I first read about what Diane Schuler had done, I knew I had to write about her. Soon, it became more than just a story to me. It became almost an obsession, as I was driven to find out all I could about this 36-year-old woman, her family, and that fateful morning in late July.
I like to think that being from Michigan and braving the harsh winters the state has to offer makes me somewhat of an expert on surviving the cold. I also like to think I am in a position to say freezing to death would be one of the most heinous ways to die.
Do you remember a younger, simpler time in your life? I do. Everything was good. Bedtime was reliable, friendships were solid, no one stressed about money or expected you to care about anything other than keeping your grades up and making it to soccer practice on time. Maybe you had a family dog. Remember blaming everything on the dog? You know how it goes. “The dog ate my homework, teacher!” Or maybe “I couldn’t find my algebra book, the dog took it!” Everything usually got blamed on the dog if it was within reason. Mud all over the couch? Dog. Spilled Kool-Aid all over mom’s recently steam cleaned white carpet? Wouldn’t you know it, the dog did it again! But alas, then you get older and you realize that you are now accountable for your own actions. You can’t blame everything on the dog anymore. So when Katherine Nadal told police that her 6 pound puppy was responsible for slicing off her infant son’s genitals, people were obviously a bit skeptical. 
You know what! I’ve got a novel idea! Let’s all go out, get so drunk we can’t even see straight and then drive pickup trucks until we can find a minivan full of loving family members to kill!
I’d like you to meet Donta Cradock and Ivan Rodriguez. Donta, 18, and Ivan, are stepbrothers. Both have extensive police records, both as juveniles and now as young adults. Both were also wanted by police for reasons involving not showing up to face pending charged against them. Donta and Ivan, hmmm, how should I put this? Well, Dante and Ivan suck.
If you’ve been following the news the last few months, you’ve probably noticed what amounts to an epidemic of men and women killing their families. There’s been a lot of speculation on why this has been happening, much of it based on the condition of the economy and the associated stress that comes with job loss, home mortgage foreclosure and a dwindling bank account.