Murder of 6 children among the worst crimes to ever happen here

3 comments May 13th, 2008

People who’ve lived in Rockford for many years will often say the most horrific crime that’s ever happened here was the brutal murder of the six Nelson children — Jenny, 12; Simon Peter III, 10; Andrew, 8; Matthew, 7; Roseann, 6; and David, 3. Their father, Simon Peter Nelson, killed them with a knife and rubber mallet the morning of Jan. 7, 1978.

RRSTAR.COM FILE PHOTO
Simon Peter Nelson is pictured with his children and wife Ann in a family portrait taken shortly before the murders. Nelson killed his six children — Jenny, 12; Simon Peter III, 10; Andrew, 8; Matthew, 7; Roseann, 6; and David, 3 — with a knife and rubber mallet in January 1978 before driving from his family‘s home in Rockford to Milwaukee to beat his wife, who was seeking a divorce.

Nelson long has claimed that he “snapped” on the day of the murders, when his wife announced her intention to divorce him, and alleges that he can’t recall the killings because of amnesia. Nelson is up for parole in June. No member of the Prisoner Review Board has ever voted to release Nelson. You can sign a petition against or in support of Nelson’s parole here. You’ll also find a photo gallery and past stories

We first posted the petition online at 1:44 p.m. Since then, 226 of you have filed petitions to keep Nelson in prison. Our special report on the upcoming parole has garnered more than 6,300 page views so far.

We’re also collecting petitions on behalf of Michael Mayborne. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s deputy was killed by Theodore Bacino in 1974.

Already this year, Robert Henry Lower and Curtis Brownell were both denied parole for killing in the 1970s 15-year-old newspaper carrier Joey Didier and 17-year-old Louise Betts, respectively.

journalists are not all robots

4 comments May 13th, 2008

last night when i was driving home from work, i heard a story by melissa block from npr, who happened to be in china for a series she’s working on for next week.

thanks to a historic, devastating earthquake, she’s covering that instead.

at the site, you can hear the earthquake hitting “live” and people’s panic thereafter.

more moving is her tale of a shattered school, where many children lost their lives. block worked hard to keep her composure, as the scene was so somber. it’s a reminder of the struggle we have as journalists to report the news while showing compassion. and that journalists can be affected by stories. just like the niu student newspaper staffers during this year’s shootings. the dart center for journalism and trauma visited them recently. i know that some of our staffers were shook up from covering the story, too.

the green challenge: try not to buy plastic

3 comments May 13th, 2008

this week for rockford woman, i’m trying to live without plastic. i was going to assign it to a reporter, but since i’ve been trying to be “greener,” i figured i’d just try it myself.

since that would be impossible (have you noticed how much stuff is made of plastic? your movies. your shoes. your toothbrush. the list goes on and on….), i’ll try not to buy any plastic. good thing i bought my mother’s day gift cards last week.
i’m blogging my diary but named the blog “go green” because it could end up becoming a permanent thing, especially if some environmentally smart folks volunteer to do so. wanna, huh? anyone?