HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday

Today you would have been 66 years old had you lived. Although it's been sixteen and a half years, we still remember you. We remember you and what tragically happened to you.

Personally, I never met you, but that doesn't matter. On May 12th 1994, I was wrapped up in my own life over a hundred miles away and my whole world would have very little chance of intersecting yours.I only know of you the tragedy of what happened, and very little of that. Indeed, that really doesn't matter, either, because we are all brothers and sisters in the greater sense, and we all have an obligation to each other. It's an obligation protect the weak, guard the young, and remember those who perish.

We have an obligation to ourselves to set limits as to what we will tolerate as a society, and to do our best to see that those who cross the line are dealt with in a manner that is acceptable to our society.
It's not our place to judge others for their actions, but it is our responsibility to make sure that people are held accountable for their actions. Without this basic principle, society itself begins to erode and ultimately disintegrate.

It was quite by accident that I came to know about you. I'd heard numerous people decry the awful place known as Salisbury, I'd heard people go on and on about how unsafe it was and how the police were ineffective, and so on and so forth.

I didn't find Salisbury to be so offensive, in fact, i thought it was quite nice, so I decided to do a little statistical research. And, that's how I came to know about you.

Let me say, I was flabbergasted and quite saddened that there is so little information about who you were readily available. In the age of the Information Superhighway, there should be more. People need to know that someones mom or sister or wife or best friend was taken, and that it doesn't fly here. People need to know that even seventeen years later that justice has to be meted out.

I'm not talking about gory details here. For me, getting killed at work is gory enough. I don't need the images of that to know that it was wrong.

There was a case in the 90's in Michigan involving an unsolved murder of a street walker if I remember correctly. Anyway, a person who was a child in the worst part of Detroit's ghetto at the time of the murder grew up hearing the details of what happened from the perpetrators. That child grew up to overcome the ghetto and wound up in college, U of M if my memory serves me, where he read the account of that murder, but this time, the victim had a name and a face and a bio from her family. The guilt this person felt caused him to seek out the authorities, and his recollections of what he grew up hearing ultimately led to the arrest of the person responsible.

They say that they found your murderer, but during court, the only witness was threatened harm to their family, so they withdrew testimony. Can you imagine the guilt that person must carry? They also say that the security video of what happened was stolen, and copies were sold. How brutal, but, if true, someone has that tape today.

You know, maybe I'm losing my mind. After all, I don't know you or your family or really have any connection to Salisbury, but I can't get the thought of you and what happened out of my head. I think that your community, no, strike that, the community of mankind has an obligation to itself to not forget you, and to not let your name be forgotten until justice is brought to the persons who did this. And, even though I'm not a member of the Salisbury community, I am aware of what happened in 1994, so that makes me accountable too.

I find it disheartening to hear people say 'It's the plouice' or 'It's the librals' or 'I'ts the conservatives' or whatever when they have done nothing to curb the flow of violence themselves. Not even something simple, like paying tribute to someone who was gunned down by ruthless killers while she was doing her job. Putting the message out that 'No matter if it IS the fault of someone else, we won't stand for it here'

Terrible things happen to people all the time. Ultimately, we can't choose how we die, we can only choose how we live. They say your death was meaningless, but I would rather think the meaning of your death is now just being realized. Hopefully, your death and the hole it tore in your community can serve to start mending the community. Maybe your tragic death in May of 1994 can be a catalyst to bring abut a change in attitudes in Salisbury, and stave off the negativism that feeds this monster of urban blight.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Jane Smith, and maybe my remembering you here will cause others to put together a fitting remembrance that might help to catch whomever did this.



from the Salisbury Police Department's Cold Case page on the 'net:
Irma Jane Smith

On May 12, 1994 at approximately 1:54 A.M. the Salisbury Police responded to the Shore Stop convenience store located on Rt. 13 and Cherry St. in reference to a homicide. The investigation revealed that the store clerk a white female,(Irma Jane Smith) had been stabbed numerous times. It appears that Smith had been robbed prior to the homicide. A witness told police they saw a man inside the store at approximately 1:30 A.M. When the witness attempted to entered the business a black male told the witness that the store was closed. A second witness advised police that he observed a black male putting items into a bag. This witness was also told by the subject that the store was closed. The man inside the store was described as a black male, approximately 30 years old, 6 feet tall, weighing approximately 230 pounds with a light mustache, wearing a baseball type hat, brown work pants and a work jacket. The police are also looking for a man that was seen outside the store on the pay phone who may either be a witness or possible lookout for the suspect. This man is described as a black male, approximately 28 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing about 165 pounds, very clean appearance with a mustache.

Anyone with any information about this crime is asked to contact the Salisbury Police Department at (410) 548-3165 or Crime Solvers at (410) 548-1776.