McMullen: Sorting out mystery man's warning

If you haven’t read about the man named Michael John Frederick who strolled into the Smith-Cotton High School gym building and started insisting that a dangerous group of convicts could be on the way — it’s kind of funny, in a sad and tragic sort of way.

Now I’m not saying that the concept of a bus full of convicts from the Lake of the Ozarks coming to raid our schools is funny, but a nervous man in full uniform who barges in just to spout a made-up story and get himself some attention is a little humorous. OK, maybe I’m the only one who thought it was funny but my definition of funny is a bit skewed these days. 

It’s hard to understand why one of our servicemen would do something like this. They are one of the groups of people that gets the most respect in any town and yet there are some people of strange mind who seem to be making an attempt to ruin the reputation of our soldiers. I’d hate to think that Frederick has mental problems that have been caused by his career as a soldier, but it is possible.

The medical care that veterans get in this country can be a little lax sometimes and there are veterans all over the country who have been driven mad by the death and destruction that they saw. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder seems to be diagnosed more often than ever these days, and there are some cases in which all the drugs in the world can’t even make a dent in the horrible mental block that now dictates how they act and how they react.

The National Alliance to end homelessness reported that there were 1,900 homeless veterans in Missouri as of 2008. We’re one of the worst in the Midwest in this regard and I’d hate to know that this person acted out in this way in a desperate attempt to receive treatment or to finally have somewhere to sleep.

Maybe the story isn’t quite that tragic — maybe he’s just a man who got drunk and/or was suddenly afflicted with a poor sense of judgment. Maybe he thought that his act would be a laugh riot and everybody would be so busy cheering and laughing that nobody would dare think of punishing him. Maybe he heard something about escaped convicts and the war mindset overtook him. Military men and women train hard and fast and tend to take care of business when faced with a potential threat to civilians. If he really had parted ways with rational thought, then I guess we’re lucky he didn’t camp in some bushes and shoot anyone who met the description of his phantom escapees. He could have done a lot more with the news that he thought he knew. Deep down, I’d like to think he thought that he was protecting the children and doing everything he could to make sure we were forewarned about a group of convicts who apparently travel quite efficiently.

It is rather strange that a person who is from Kansas City originally and based out of Fort Leonard Wood would try to make people think that his imaginary criminals came from the Lake of the Ozarks area. Fort Leonard Wood would have made more sense — you would expect a military man to warn people about prisoners who escaped from an army base. I guess he thought that setting the fake story from somewhere he’s affiliated with would have gotten him caught even faster than he was. 

Some people on the fringes of society might conclude that this person is some sort of psychic and that now it is practically inevitable that the events Frederick foretold are actually going to take place. Some people will take everything as a bad omen — they’ll notice that their cat has killed a mouse and start making their final arrangements. Some people insist that every situation like this is actually caused by a person who knows what they’re talking about even if it hasn’t happened. People will believe some strange things if they’re coming from a man in uniform.

I don’t know if he has a room full of crystal balls, but I do know one thing: He’s been caught and he’s facing some serious punishment. We’re bringing him back to Pettis County and his conviction seems practically inevitable at this point because of the outrage that currently permeates Sedalia. 

We shouldn’t come down so hard on him — he’s one of our men in uniform and that very fact might have caused the problems that led him to such an action. It is important that we get him treatment and support. I can’t imagine what it is like to kill a man or watch a man die but I imagine that the mere thought of it could drive some to do all manner of illogical things. Let’s try to understand why he did it before we paint him as some sort of villain whose sole intention was to throw the school into an uproar for no reason. If he really did think that our children were under threat by escaped convicts, then we can’t really blame him for attempting to be proactive.