I got some terrible news today and am still in a little bit of shock. One of my ex-students in Heber Springs, who's 19 now, was arrested Friday on capital murder charges for killing his mother. He confessed to hitting her with a chair leg, a BB gun, and then slitting her throat. And there was a girl with him who I also taught. She allegedly took the mother's credit card and charged on it.

Now let me tell you about these kids. Cameron is black and was one of maybe two or three black kids in the school. But fortunately all the kids liked him, he played football, and was one of the most polite students I ever taught. He was also charged with possession of meth and was probably high at the time. I am so saddened by the whole thing and wish I could talk to him. I mean, I really liked this kid!

Katie was a very big girl and was also very smart. She was in Algebra in 8th grade, which meant she was advanced for her age. She was also very artistic and even had a gallery showing of her work, which I went to. But she didn't have many friends that I could see, so I can almost understand her part in this more easily than Cameron's.

Now I understand why the friends and families of murderers stand behind them. Weirdly, I feel the same way. I just can't imagine what went wrong with both of these kids that they would turn to meth. It sickens me, but I will pray for them and maybe even write them letters at some point.