Txbroadcaster
04-19-2007, 03:31 PM
Most of you only know Buffy from here and just met her..This is a little about her life..She posted this on my thread about the VT shooting
Let me tell you a little story.
I am taking an excerpt from a few articles I found online. Mind you this happened back in 1996 before internet had the big boom.
[Steven Renfro fatally shot 3 people in a drug-induced rampage. Renfro, 40, voluntarily headed to the death chamber on a conviction less than 10 months old. He asked that no appeals be pursued and his execution be carried out as soon as possible. Rick Berry, a high school classmate and the prosecutor in the case, said the decision not to fight was Renfro's way of trying to get into heaven. "By voluntarily going ahead and being punished, it's like an atonement," Berry said before Renfro was put to death. On 8/25/96, after taking what he said were 70 doses of the tranquilizer Valium, and drinking, Renfro put on camouflage clothing, blackened his face and armed himself with four guns, including a military assault rifle, & 500 rounds of ammunition. He shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, Rhena Fultner, 36, then killed an aunt who lived with them, Rose Rutledge, 63. He went to the nearby trailer of an acquaintance, George Counts, 40, against whom he had a grudge, and shot him, too, firing more than 150 rounds into the mobile home. When police responded, he opened fire again, wounding a police officer.]
George was my uncle, the ONLY uncle that I have ever been close to. This tragedy, which Terry can attest to, ripped apart my family. Subsequently, my grandmother went crazy after years of grief which caused my papaw to eventually divorce her. His daughter got pregnant at 16, and his son is a cracked out disease spreading hobo who beats his own grandmother and rapes his girlfriends. My other aunt and uncle no longer come around without my grandparents putting together family functions. It is literally, me, my mom and my dad. No one else. Which I am now thankful for. I have started a new family with Terry.
But I can't help but think what my life would be like if my uncle were still alive. Would my family still be as perfect as I once thought it was? Maybe not....but I will never know.
My point is to show....look what happens. This happens to seemingly normal families EVERYDAY! The media was not there to make a parade of what was happening, but does that make it any less significant?
Well of course, I don't think so! If my memory serves me correct, cleaning a bloodsoaked trailor that looked like it had been parked on Omaha Beach...is not such a good one.
Having said all of this...Steve made history. While my uncle is just a memory.
Shortest Time on Death Row prior to Execution
Name County TDCJ Number Time on Death Row Execution Date
1. Joe Gonzales Potter 999177 248 days 9/18/96
2. Steven Renfro Harrison 999229 257 days 2/9/98
--He served the 2nd shortest term on death row by waiving all appeals. It was a bittersweet moment to say the least.
I forgot to mention, this all happened early am on August 25, 1996. My Uncle's 40th birthday, was August 24th.
Let me tell you a little story.
I am taking an excerpt from a few articles I found online. Mind you this happened back in 1996 before internet had the big boom.
[Steven Renfro fatally shot 3 people in a drug-induced rampage. Renfro, 40, voluntarily headed to the death chamber on a conviction less than 10 months old. He asked that no appeals be pursued and his execution be carried out as soon as possible. Rick Berry, a high school classmate and the prosecutor in the case, said the decision not to fight was Renfro's way of trying to get into heaven. "By voluntarily going ahead and being punished, it's like an atonement," Berry said before Renfro was put to death. On 8/25/96, after taking what he said were 70 doses of the tranquilizer Valium, and drinking, Renfro put on camouflage clothing, blackened his face and armed himself with four guns, including a military assault rifle, & 500 rounds of ammunition. He shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, Rhena Fultner, 36, then killed an aunt who lived with them, Rose Rutledge, 63. He went to the nearby trailer of an acquaintance, George Counts, 40, against whom he had a grudge, and shot him, too, firing more than 150 rounds into the mobile home. When police responded, he opened fire again, wounding a police officer.]
George was my uncle, the ONLY uncle that I have ever been close to. This tragedy, which Terry can attest to, ripped apart my family. Subsequently, my grandmother went crazy after years of grief which caused my papaw to eventually divorce her. His daughter got pregnant at 16, and his son is a cracked out disease spreading hobo who beats his own grandmother and rapes his girlfriends. My other aunt and uncle no longer come around without my grandparents putting together family functions. It is literally, me, my mom and my dad. No one else. Which I am now thankful for. I have started a new family with Terry.
But I can't help but think what my life would be like if my uncle were still alive. Would my family still be as perfect as I once thought it was? Maybe not....but I will never know.
My point is to show....look what happens. This happens to seemingly normal families EVERYDAY! The media was not there to make a parade of what was happening, but does that make it any less significant?
Well of course, I don't think so! If my memory serves me correct, cleaning a bloodsoaked trailor that looked like it had been parked on Omaha Beach...is not such a good one.
Having said all of this...Steve made history. While my uncle is just a memory.
Shortest Time on Death Row prior to Execution
Name County TDCJ Number Time on Death Row Execution Date
1. Joe Gonzales Potter 999177 248 days 9/18/96
2. Steven Renfro Harrison 999229 257 days 2/9/98
--He served the 2nd shortest term on death row by waiving all appeals. It was a bittersweet moment to say the least.
I forgot to mention, this all happened early am on August 25, 1996. My Uncle's 40th birthday, was August 24th.