Someone makes a comment that is mistaken by a reader as racial and gets so upset that he/she threatens the editor with a visit by a well known group.
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.

I am saddened by the responses posted to this story. Anyone who is familiar with clinical depression knows that it is a dibilitating disease. You all obviously have no idea what you are talking about, otherwise you would have more compassion. I sincerely hope none of you ever have to deal with the suicide of a loved one. This is a tragic story for all involved, including the officers. "Good riddance?" Sick indeed!

Well, my friend, it's true I never got the opportunity to know the deceased guy, I sure he was quite a peach if you got to know him well. My problem with him, though, was the fact that he pulled a gun on two police officers. Now, I'm arguably the most liberal guy on this board, I'm against the death penalty 95% of the time, but I DO have a problem with a guy pulling a gun on two police officers.

You might say, in fact, that this guy forfeited the general feeling of goodwill that I am predisposed to give my fellow man by my Christian faith and liberal mindset when he opted to put the lives of those two officers in jeopardy.

I did get the opportunity to get to know the deceased and he was a very good man! I was not there for the incident but I highly doubt that he (with the character, and morals he had) would pull a gun on the officers. There have been several instances where officers in error pulled a gun on someone and killed them; and afterwards we heard that they did nothing to deserve it!
Being a man of Christian faith - as you pointed out - you would realize that you are in absolutely no position to judge him in any form what so ever! It is God's job to judge in the afterlife...not yours for any reason!
Having said that, in our continued prayers for the Drage family, I will pray for you to have some compassion in your heart for hurting people and their families.

http://www.fayetteclerkofcourt.com/webFormFrame.aspx?page=main

Go to the website above and pick the criminal search....Type in Drage and you will see the charachter of this man!!!!!

I just spent the past hour on that website....what a treasure trove of criminal gossip about Fayette residents!

Sooooo, Drage got himself arrested 12 times since 1999? Whew! Now granted, "Fishing without a license" is probably not harmful to the public, but the two DUIs and three weapons charges (one occured at a school) were a bit more serious. I notice Scott Ballard was his attorney of choice back in the day. I don't know what Drage was depressed about, he'd just beaten a public drunk/assaulting a police officer charge! A "not guilty" trial in a sea of "guiltys".

Plugged in virtually everyone I know in Fayette, got some interesting results. I was surprised that some of my neighbors showed up, a few bloggers here and certain McIntosh teachers seem to have no respect for posted speed limits in Fayette county!

(psst...try typing in some Citizen bylines for extra chuckles!)

I kept trying to get on the site and couldn't? Could you possibly put it in as a link?? Thanks

If you go to www.fayetteclerk.com and then go to court docket. Click on criminal search and then type in last name - Drage. You will see this guy was an utter dissapointment and scum. Long rap sheet. No angel. I wonder what he was doing parked in a subdivision in sharpsburg ? Maybe stalking someone. Probably. I still am in shock that some people are getting on here defending him and saying he was a good guy.Give us all a break. He was scum. A drain on the taxpayers and his family. I also noticed that he was already a convicted felon back in 2001 when he was arrested for carrying a weapon. So apparently he had a rap sheet from another county and/or state. His rap sheet goes back to 1999 in fayette county alone. This was a good guy? I don't think so.

I'm telling you they target me because of the make and color of the car. Some of it is my fault .....but.....

I have to say I get more warnings from GA state patrol than our sheriffs dept.

I followed the same link. I can't believe this guy was out on probation. Why bother letting him go? You know he was going to be back in a matter of days.

I also knew John. Not real well mind you. But I know this family and John well enough to know he was a troubled man. He had no license, couldn't hold a job, couldn't stay clean and sober and for years has had run-ins with law enforcement. I feel terrible for Don and Irene and his brother Tod. And while this may sound cold, I am sorry, but when I heard about this I was unfortunately not surprised. Yes, usually when most people saw John he had a smile on his face but it was usually drug or achohol induced. No one will ever know whether this was suicide or not. Poor decisions in life were his downfall and ultimaetly his demise. And by the way kt1477, he actually ran into the police cruiser according to the report in the Newnan Times paper. The toxology report, I am 100% positive, would show John had more than one substance in him. Morals and character were not high on his priority list. If you really knew him you would know this. Maybe you were his drinking/drug buddy, I don't know. Please don't make it sound like John was a saint and this was the police officers fault. It wasn't. Guaranteed!!!!

Nobody is perfect Blazing, but we should let friends and family remember him at his best. Have some respect, please.

I knew John also. The reason he was without a job is because he couldn't stay out of jail.

They will probably not sleep well for a while because of that nutcase.

Both of you are disgusting! Do you have any idea what it's like to lose someone? How heartless can you be? If you lost a loved one how would you like to read something like this about him/her? Why don't you practice some self control and think before you speak (type)! Just FYI...He was a very nice man, not a sorry bastard!

I did almost lose my brother a paramedic/firefighter because of a drunk/druggie just like this. I was actually being nice in my original comment, ...but since you provoked me...here we go....

My brother was in the hospital for over a year. He had over 30 surgeries to repair the damage that was done by a worthless drunk. Both of his wrists, hands, legs, pelvis, forearms, and facial bones were shattered. He still has some permanent disability. I really do not feel sorry for your friend or people like him.

I'm sorry your friend did not get the help he needed.

I'm grateful those two brave cops are still alive. I think it is sad that they (the 2 cops) will have to live with the nightmares of this for a long time. I am thankful that no innocent person was hurt or killed in this crazy act.

So I guess if you have a substance abuse problem/addiction, then you are a worthless human being? I'm sorry, but I happen to think every human life is precious. I'm betting that this man had family that loved him, despite his problems. I guess everyone in your family must be perfect, Skyspy. Lucky you - or rather lucky them - because it sounds like your love is conditional.

My family was very lucky.!! My brother survived an attack by someone with severe problems. Someone who had no regard for his life or any other person's life.

When you threaten innocent lives because of your out of control behavior, you are a liability to society. It is a shame any of this happened.

that John was loved by his family. I also believe that people with substance abuse problems are NOT worthless. Skyspy doesn't believe that either. John had many other issues on top of that. I probably wouldn't have even commented to begin with on this thread if people had not commented about what a great guy he was or tried to make it sound like he was a guy of high character or morals. HE WASN"T... PERIOD. Did he have good traits? Yea, probably. But they were always overshadowed and drowned out by the bad decisions and bad character traits. You're right, no one is perfect, but John was far far far from it and very seldom even tried. Now let it go.

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

You have to judge. You do it every day. Society would collapse if we judged no one. How about "Do not condemn!" Many lives are saved when people judge. If I may talk in general as I know nothing of this man, let's take your average run of the mill alcoholic. He eventually will ruin his health, family, job and die prematurely if no one intervenes. Tell him what he is doing to all the previously mentioned over and over. Tell him he is harming his family. Tell him he is going to die. Tell him he is a drunk and should be in AA daily. That is judging. Do nothing so as not to judge and you're no friend. I would rather occassionally be called a nosy judgemental jerk than have another friend or family member die and ask myself "why didn't I say something.