From - Fri Aug 14 19:33:16 1998 Received: from broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca [198.169.128.1]) by skatter.USask.Ca (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA29649 for ; Wed, 1 Apr 1998 13:49:20 -0600 (CST) Received: from riverview.net (dns1.riverview.net [206.250.30.2]) by broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id NAA08240 for ; Wed, 1 Apr 1998 13:43:33 -0600 Message-Id: <199804011943.NAA08240@broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca> Received: from my-computer by riverview.net with SMTP (IPAD 1.14) id 2411500 ; Wed, 01 Apr 98 14:46:53 UTC From: "R.J.K." To: "Skeeter Abell-Smith" Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 14:51:03 +0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Because I Was Armed March 1998 Priority: normal X-Lines: 100 Status: RO Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Length: 5898 X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 In this column we report incidents in which victims of criminal attack have repelled one or more assailants with the help of firearms. Each true incedent has been verified by news accounts and, if possible, interviews with the victims involved. Names given may have been changed for privacy reasons or to protect the victims from retaliation. BECAUSE I WAS ARMED March 1998 You are now entering... "The Twilight Zone" It started out as just another ordinary November day for Dale and Connie Rideout. They were outside feeding the horses on their ranch, nestled in a quiet valley in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. An old, gray car turned into their driveway, stopping beside the corral. A man got out and asked Dale and Connie if they had show horses for sale. They owned only a quarter horse and an Appaloosa, and told the man they had no horses for sale. The medium-built young man, in his 20s, wore camouflage and carried a large knife on his hip. He would not meet Dale or Connie's gaze. He pretended to know a great deal about horses, but obviously was afraid of the Rideouts' horses. Connie later said, "Something about him bothered me." At last the man drove away. Around sundown, Connie went into the farmhouse living ~ room to tell Dale dinner was ready. Through the window, she thought she saw the stranger's gray car on the nearby highway and said, think that man has come back to steal our horses!" Dale strapped on his shoulder holster and SIG Sauer P226 9xl 9mm semi-auto pistol and stepped outside. He saw nothing out of the ordinary and came back inside to finish watching "The Twilight Zone. Ten minutes later, Cricket, their fox terrier puppy, started barking. Connie and Leah, the Rideouts' eight-year-old daughter, went outside to see why. "FREEZE!" The stranger pointed a revolver at Connie from about 15 feet away. Connie grabbed Leah and ran for the house. The man gave chase, following them into their home. He fired at Connie, but missed her. Dale heard the noise and the shot, and saw his wife and daughter running toward him. Connie was screaming, "MAN WITH A GUN!" The stranger followed Connie and Leah into the living room, shouting, "DO AS I SAY OR I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" He shot again, and again. One shot grazed Leah's forehead and left a burn mark. Another hit Dale's right shoulder as Dale drew his SIG, the bullet barely missing the bone. Upon seeing Dale draw his gun, the attacker retreated behind a wall in the old farmhouse, firing one more shot that harmlessly hit a wall. Not realizing he had been hit, Dale aimed and fired seven shots at the wall behind which the attacker was hiding. Dale, Connie, and Leah got into the master bedroom and out of the line of fire. Dale grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun from behind the door, loaded it, and tossed it to Connie. Not knowing how many attackers there might be, Dale set up to cover the windows with his SIG while Connie covered the bedroom door with the shotgun. As several long minutes dragged by, Dale realized he'd been shot. He also realized that his 80-year-old father would be returning to the house soon. Dale feared a hostage situation. Leaving the bedroom, Dale made his way to the only phone in the house to call the sheriff. Later, he said that was one of the scariest things he'd ever done in his life: "I was so scared, I almost shot out the TV because it was making so much noise!" Because the wall was solid brick and sheetrock, Dale's bullets had not found their mark. The attacker had fled the house, probably when Dale had moved his family into the bedroom. When the sheriff's officers arrived, they questioned the Rideouts about the stranger who had wreaked such havoc on their lives. Dale remembers saying, "The devil does exist in human form and we met him face to face. Unfortunately, the investigation went nowhere. Months went byThen, a break in the case. A woman in Ohio reported to police that she had managed to escape from her crazed boyfriend, Terry Stumbo, while they were in Las Vegas, Nevada. Stumbo had allegedly kept her high on drugs while he took her along on a multi-state crime spree. She told police that Stumbo had told her about a family in Colorado that he had terrorized. Ohio police checked with Colorado police, and the Rideouts were contacted. They identified Stumbo from a mug shot. At long last the Rideouts were able to put a name to their "devil. Stumbo, an Ohio parolee when he attacked the Rideouts, waslater arrested. He pled guilty in Colorado to the attempted murders of Dale, Connie, and Leah, receiving a sentence of 48 years in prison. After he completes his sentence in Colorado, Stumbo has 42 more years to serve in Ohio for violating his parole. Stumbo's attorney had asked Colorado Judge John Anderson for mercy on the grounds that Stumbo had grown up in difficult circumstances. Judge Anderson stated in his decree, "...The court believes that ...society will benefit most from Mr. Stumbo being isolated for the longest possible period of time." Dale Rideout, who was given an opportunity to make a statement during the sentencing hearing, said, "The effect upon my family has been profound.We can no longer afford the luxury of being open and overly friendly to strangers. Dale says this experience has taught his family several things: 1. a handgun in the household can, and did, save lives; 2. the "revolving door" policy of letting felons out on our streets on parole has to stop; 3. law enforcement cannot always prevent violent crimes; and 4. IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU! - - THE TRUTH BELONGS TO US ALL ____________________________________________________ GUN CONTROL LAWS may seem to be sensible, but it is unrealistic to think that people with no compunction against murder, rape, ect WILL OBEY GUN LAWS.