Jamie Rouse
Re your April 22 special section, “When the Shooting Stops”: The Times and staff writer Richard E. Meyer are to be commended for the Saturday Journal regarding Jamie Rouse and his family, following a 1995 school shooting in Tennessee. This eight-page article certainly showed a tragic situation of mental illness and guns in our nation. It also illustrated the great value of support to the agonized family from segments of the community. Thanks to the Rouses and others for their participation in this piece of insightful journalism.
MARY ANN E. MILLER
Idyllwild
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Hidden in the analysis of what led to Jamie Rouse’s killing spree and its aftermath are a few haunting, horrific lines about the father’s systematic abuse of not just Jamie but his two younger brothers. He violently shook Jamie when he was an infant, he whipped him and his youngest brother when they were toddlers, he almost drowned the middle boy, he beat Jamie so badly when he was in elementary school that he left welts and bruises on him.
Here is the story of three children who were failed not only by their parents but by all the adults who had contact with them in their daily lives. Jamie may or may not have been born with mental illness, but like so many other convicted killers, the years of psychological and physical abuse most certainly contributed to the rage that fueled his rampage.
NINA STERN McCULLAUGH
Sherman Oaks
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Meyer has produced a riveting, thought-provoking, haunting, timely and, most important, educational article. As a psychiatrist treating mental illness, as an associate professor teaching the treatment of mental illness, I commend Meyer. The clues for early detection and prevention of the catastrophic devastation of unrecognized and untreated mental illness jump out at us. Stigma toward mental illness must and can be erased, must and can be replaced by vigilant, aggressive awareness of the earliest of signs and symptoms of mental illness. Have Pap smears saved lives? Have mammograms? Have PSAs? Suffice said.
COLLEEN COPELAN MD
Ventura
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My son just turned 21. I celebrated his birthday with great joy and relief. He could have been Jamie Rouse. The difference was that we have no guns in our house. My son was an angry and out-of-control child for most of his life. I can’t tell you why.
When I read the story of Jamie Rouse I was incensed by it. Meyer certainly spent an inordinate amount of time on Jamie’s psychological state, with just a passing glance at the availability of guns in his house.
There are many children who grow up angry and out of control. Most of them either grow out of it or learn to control their impulses. It’s our duty as parents and the adults in the society to make sure that they and those around them are safe until they reach adulthood. Jamie’s parents could be forgiven for missing the psychological clues but should certainly be held responsible for having guns and bullets in the house.
My son has grown up to be a fine young man, concerned and caring about others. He has a very successful job in the computer field and will be a fine citizen and contributing member of society.
RITA WEILER
San Diego