The story of Michael Carneal has affected me in a manner that I have never experienced before.  There is nothing that makes Michael different from any one of us.  We have all had thoughts that betrayed our true selves.  Since December 1st I have done extensive research on Michael and even though I am probably off base, I feel I know a part of him.  This web page gives me a chance to express some of my thoughts and feelings.  I have purposely not speculated on why Michael allegedly committed this act, but instead I tried to sort out the many influences that I have been able to discover in his life.
 

MEDIA

      The majority of detailed facts and editorial view I am expressing on this web site you will not find in any articles written by the mainstream press.  They have seen a pariah in Paducah that enables them to profit greatly.  But unfortunately they are not able to tackle the larger issue of what went wrong in Paducah, only what happened on December 1st, because that is what sells.

MICHAELS FAMILY

      I feel very sad for Michaels parents, John and Elizabeth.  They were not asked to have their life turned upside down.  Bill Bartleman, of the Paducah Sun, wrote of the loss of a child in reference to the three young women Michael allegedly killed.  The Carneals also lost their son, Michael, on that day.  For all accounts, Michael is no longer with them.  His parents won’t be there the first time he shaves or see him graduate from college.  By the time Michael can get a drivers license his parents will likely be long gone.  Please grieve for  Michaels family as well as the families of Nicole, Kayce, and Jessica.

FRIENDS

      Michael, by all accounts, appears to have only had a few close friends.  The most intriguing is Toby Nace (Email: GLOCK@Rocketmail.com, GLOCK30@Rocketmail.com, and GLOCK67@Rocketmail.com).  Toby gave the key of his fathers gun locker to Michael, (According to police interviews Michael knew the location of the key, so he must have stolen it, but lets be realistic, Toby is just trying to cover himself).  Michael then broke into the garage, probably not alone, and stole the weapons.   I say, "probably not alone" because I remember my own childhood.  Each boy then took their share of the loot.  Toby could not take any, because they were his fathers weapons.  The police claim he gave weapons to another boy and they recovered them, I have suspicions as to who this was, but I don’t want to go into that at this time.

      Now if you were Toby Nace and your friend, neighbor, and shooting buddy came to you and told you he wanted some guns.  Wouldn’t that set off a flag in your mind, it  would mine.  But, Toby is enthralled by fire power and guns, just look at his e-mail addresses all start with GLOCK.  What is GLOCK?  GLOCK is a handgun manufacturer, but not the normal type of handgun, GLOCK produces a high-impact plastic, semi-automatic handgun.  A specialty weapon.  Toby likes the commando image of going in guns ablazing.  Some friend Toby turned out to be.  Maybe this was the only person Michael felt he could connect with?

INTERNET

      Michael is an introverted teenager who, in my opinion, didn’t make friends easily.  He often spent many hours surfing the internet, but as he struggled with his own awakening  and questions about life, religion, and sex, instead of turning to his parents and teachers for support and understanding Michael turned to the Internet.  The Internet is a wealth of information, but for Michael, the information that he found only supported a greater plunge into the darker recesses of humanity.  He traded e-mail with many people that have online alias that conjure up images of the shadows of night.  Many young adults go through this faze of life, but for Michael it was much worse.  He choose not to outwardly show this darker side, but it was brewing behind the spectacles he looked through, towards an ever mundane view of life in Paducah.

CHURCH

      Michael regularly attended church like any other child from a religious family, but did Michael want to go to church.  I contend that Michael wasn’t interested in church activities, very few teenagers are.  He was confirmed into the Lutheran faith last spring.  How much did this play a role in Michaels downward spiral?  It must have been very important to Michael, because of the placement of items found in Michaels bedroom.  Michael placed his confirmation card inside the ammo box he had stolen.  This clearly shows that his public religious activities had great bearing on his psyche,  just as much as his private religious thoughts.  I don’t feel Michael ever felt he could discuss openly his own attitudes toward religion.  Paducah is a strong Christian  community and if your not a church going member, then your not part of Paducah.  Michael feared ostracizing and scrutiny.

SCHOOL

      I can’t understand Heath High.  It seems to me that the McCracken County School Board does not understand the concept of separation of church and state.  The Supreme Court has ruled that student initiated prayer in schools is acceptable, but in the case of Heath High it goes beyond student initiation.  Certainly the prayer group was student led, but because it was an ongoing, daily activity in a public arena it became sanctioned by Heath High, and this stepped over the line.  It is certainly acceptable for a religious group to use public facilities, but they must meet the same standard as any other private group, i.e. applying to use space, outside school hours, etc....  Certainly if there had been a group of students meeting in the main lobby of Heath High on a daily basis, taking part in a religious activity other than Christianity, then that group would have been told to take that activity to a private area on campus or off campus completely.  Unfortunately, given the religious aspects of Paducah I highly doubt the McCracken County School Board will understand the error of their ways.  I am sure it will come down to a Constitutional challenge.

BEN STRONG

      Let’s face it, the entire account of the shooting, the events following, and of Michaels friendship to Ben Strong come entirely from Ben.  Looking over all the comments Ben made several days following the shooting, it is obvious Ben is greatly exaggerating his thoughts and the roll he played prior to and after the shooting.  He is a glory hound and he sucked up the media coverage as fast the networks dished it out.  Yes, he took the gun away from Michael, but at that moment anybody could have taken it away.  He only happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.  I don’t believe Ben is a friend of Michael.  Michael told Ben not to be at the daily prayer session, not as a personal warning, but as a group warning.  Ben is the leader.  When you address the leader of an organization you address the whole group.  This is what Michael was doing when he warned Ben not to be there.  I call Ben Strongs alleged friendship with Michael into question.  Neither boy hung out in the same circles, or attended the same church and I know of no high school seniors that hang out with freshman.  Ben knew Michael, but nothing more.

POLICE

      What are the police doing to get to the real facts surrounding the case?  I doubt much.  The reality is the Prosecutor has an open and shut case against Michael  and the Police would like to find accomplices, but if they were serious about that they would have seized the computer of Toby Nace and subpoenaed any data backups that their e-mail providers had prior to December 1st to see what type of e-mail was going on between these young men.