Monthly Archives: October 2007

This is from today’s newspaper in Grand Rapids.

“Slain student’s hometown waits and remembers”
Posted by Tom Rademacher | The Grand Rapids Press October 23, 2007 09:01AM

REX LARSEN/GRAND RAPIDS PRESS

HASTINGS – This is a town that understands the third chapter of Ecclesiastes. “A time to be born and a time to die … a time to weep and a time to laugh … a time for everything …”

Verses one through nine, in fact, can be read in the coffeehouse where Laura Dickinson worked, on a frame displaying photos snapped by the young woman whose death now draws this community close, and whose suspected killer walked into a courtroom today to await a jury’s third day of deliberations.

Guilty?

Not guilty?

In the end, what counts for some isn’t so much whether Orange Taylor III is convicted in Laura Dickinson’s death, but how this Barry County community reacts.

No matter the decision, “This Hastings community will come together,” said Marion Christensen, 19, as she sipped a drink outside the State Grounds coffeehouse owned by Laura’s father, Robert Dickinson.

“Faith reaches out to faith,” added Jan Boulter, inside the coffeehouse with friend Barb Daugherty.

“We’ve all changed,” Boulter said of the effect Laura’s death has had on this town.

“There’s the shock, the disappointment. But there’s also the pride you take in your community in how it responds.

“Tragedy does that.”

This was a blond-haired girl whose dad had nicknamed her “the Queen of Hastings” for her free spirit and endearing Pollyanna attitude.
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I’ve been watching CourtTV this morning, as they are on a “verdict watch” for the Taylor trial.  The jury is in deliberations and could issue their verdict at any time today.  The speculation on CourtTV is very interesting, as there has been alot of discussion towards a possible indictment as a result of a lot of so-called “missing” evidence on the method of the victim’s death.  The pundits are saying that a natural cause death (heart attack, etc) has not been ruled out through the trial, and there is little to no evidence of any violent act occurring (i.e. no bruises, marks on the face as a result of strangulation/suffocation).

My question is that, if the verdict were to come out making Taylor not guilty for murder, would that open up a new discussion on the severity of the whole “cover-up” situation?  Would we still believe that a murder occurred?

On another note, I’m still bothered by this whole ‘guilty until proven innocent’ situation that Greg Jones has posted about several days ago.  Reporters and people engaged in general discussion keep talking about “the killer” and “when Taylor killed her” when they are discussing the trial and turn of events.  As far as the trial has gone so far, it’s hard to tell if there even is a killer, especially when the ‘medical experts’ on stand did not even rule a natural death out as a cause.