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Neill McNeill's Blog

by Neill_McNeill from WGHP-TV FOX 8

Last Post 42 days, 22 hours Ago


BAD THINGS, GOOD PEOPLE
Apr 25, 2008 | 11:08 PM
Category: News
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Why do bad things happen to good people?

I can name countless stories I've covered over the years that prompted me to ask that question. I asked it again today. Maybe one day I'll know the answer. Maybe I won't. It just proves we don't have control over everything. We're not in charge.

Some say everything has a purpose. I struggle with that on days like this. Can someone please tell me why someone would murder Bob Denning and Anne Magness of Winston-Salem and seriously hurt Anne's husband, Bill?

You probably know the story by now. When Winston-Salem Police arrived at Denning's home on Jonestown Road yesterday (Thursday April 24th) around noon, Denning was in his home. Mrs. Magness was on the front porch. Mr. Magness was in the driveway. Someone had shot the couple. (Only Mr. Magness survived. At this writing, he's in "good" condition.) We learned this afternoon Denning died of some type of blunt force trauma. In other words, it appears someone had beaten him to death.

Even more tragic is the fact Denning was disabled. Neighbors told our crews he'd had trouble getting around since a stroke more than five years ago. However, they also say Denning loved to cook--especially cakes. And he often shared those cakes with others. But preparing meals day-in and day-out was obviously a challenge. Which is perhaps why he depended on the wonderful program, Meals on Wheels.

That's what brought him in contact with Bill and Anne Magness. Until yesterday, Mr. and Mrs. Magness had--according to the Winston-Salem Journal-- delivered hot and nutritious meals one day a month to seniors and the disabled for the last eight years! Friends and neighbors told our crews the two also volunteered helping hospice and Alzheimer's patients. A neighbor said the two had brought food to her home when her husband died. Mr. Magness loved golf. Both loved working in their yard which appeared in our video to be immaculate. I mean, just look at the picture of this couple we've aired on TV and posted on the website and you can tell what a kind, loving and charming couple they were. They had been married 59 years!

Something happened yesterday when Mr. and Mrs. Magness delivered a hot meal to Bob Denning. It may be a while before we know what happened exactly in the moments before the attack. As of tonight, two people are in custody charged with the murders and the assault.

Our thoughts, prayers, and best wishes are going out to Mr. Magness and all the friends, family members and loved ones of Mrs. Magness and Bob Denning.

Bad things. Good people. Covering these stories doesn't get any easier the more we do it. Maybe one day we'll understand.

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Member Comments Total Comments: 17
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flatch read my blog view my photos
Apr 26, 2008 | 7:30 AM

The question is easy to answer even though it is not easy to live with:

Look up 1 John 5:19.
DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 26, 2008 | 9:02 AM

How, and why, could this have possibly happened??

Meals On Wheels folks, Home Nurses and Hospice are well known for NOT carrying cash (where I am) just to discourage stuff like this -

Any pizza delivery person would have had far more money than these folks....
DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 26, 2008 | 9:09 AM

What happened to the Pizza Delivery Guy last Fall who got robbed at gunpoint in Greenesboro, then went back that night and robbed the guy who robbed HIM?.....I think one of them got shot, and was arrested....?

Does anyone remember this?
Axekick read my blog view my photos
Apr 26, 2008 | 12:14 PM

I don't condone what the couple did senseless murder, but a one month old baby, evicted from their home you know we have a society that has no compassion for those who need help we lump them all in the category of being lazy good for nothings that want to live off our hard labor. I have said numerous times that if the rich and powerful do not share the wealth there will be anarchy, we have many blogs on this site talking about family protection and what we would do to protect our family I am fortunate to have the means to protect my family without having to resort to murder to feed clothe and shelter my family, but everyone is not as fortunate. If I had a one month old child and no job and no way to feed the child I don't know what I would be capable of. This is a tragic situation in which all parties are at a lost, a child that will not know its parents and love ones lost due to violence! If we don’t wake up we will go the way of the Romans study the ways of those who came before you that you may not make the same mistakes! Bad things happen to Good people because the whole equals the summation of its parts if any segment of the whole suffers we all suffer!
DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 26, 2008 | 12:37 PM

I know...there is a BALANCE, and you're right about that...

But what was really going to happen by killing (attempted) 3 people who were broke to begin with...Maybe sell their car?

They are going to have a serious challenge convincing me that they were doing it to feed their child.....Breaking into someplace to steal food, I can see, but they didn't have to BEAT A DISABLED MAN TO DEATH IN HIS WHEELCHAIR just to raid his fridge...

There's GOT to be more to this story.....
ShaneKSmith read my blog view my photos
Apr 26, 2008 | 9:53 PM

This is another one of those stories that makes blood shoot out of my eyeballs. Being the victim of meaningless random violence must be the worst heartache to take. When this happens it shoots a hole through my Pay it Forward Theory. I took that phrase from Harnden . I have to question what kind of a person I really am when I want evil to surround those that would violently assault and kill Good People.
A minister shown on Fox the other day did an interview the day after being shot and robbed without any vengeance in his voice. I just can’t be that good.
Although a news team has to bring us all forms of news, I am grateful that Fox 8 chooses to show us stories that show the best in human nature. Those most in the front like Roy’s Folks, Shannon Smith’s morning visits to good people in the Fox viewing area. I look forward to The Road trip series and stories that most news teams fail to bring us. Stories of people doing interesting things and being good to each other.
ShaneKSmith read my blog view my photos
Apr 26, 2008 | 9:58 PM

Forgive the double post but this crime ranks right up there with the guy that robbed the Girl Scouts at Wal Mart.
grammysuex3 read my blog view my photos
Apr 26, 2008 | 11:53 PM

Those that harm others are lost. They have no respect for themselves, so in return they will not have respect for the lives of others. What really breaks my heart in this case is the loss of 2 totally innocent lives, 1 of whom wassharing the love and abilities to help someone who could not help himself. And in all probability, the man in the wheelchair would have given them what he had.
ANd what was that mother of the baby thinking? Was she back on the same drugs she had been arrested for before. All of these families ruined in a moments bad choice. And those that killed and hurt innocent people made the choice to do wrong, as all criminals do. They do have a choice to do right or wrong. There is help out there if they were hungry, or the baby was hungry,or they needed a place to stay, but from what I have read, and seen on the news, their criminal record makes their story very unbelievable. They deserve the full punishment the courts hand out and that precious baby deserves to go to a good home who would lovingly raise a child.
But no punishment here on earth will ever replace the lives of those people. That will come when their own time ends.
I agree with Neill, we can never understand, and until it is our time and we meet God, we won't here on earth. My prayers are with all involved
DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 27, 2008 | 2:00 AM

Here, in Rowan County, we have lots of trees, and any reasonable country boy has a coil of good rope lying around.....

I say let them meet the Lord RFN.....and save us all a lot of money!
Axekick read my blog view my photos
Apr 27, 2008 | 6:18 PM

I say lets find a cure for a sick society and in my opinion that cure has nothing to do with anyone’s God it has to do with self worth and seeing value in human life, that of others and your own.
mrmajestic read my blog view my photos
Apr 27, 2008 | 7:44 PM

Bad behavior cannot be controlled. Bad things happen to all people. We justify it more when the recipient has not been good. Axe, you can call the criminals, victims of society, because they were evicted, but others with families go to the Salvation Army instead. They thought so much of their child that they offered to trade the child for a soft drink, before they tossed the weapon out the window and gave up. We need to make an example out of these two. Those nice folks should not die in vain.
DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 27, 2008 | 9:25 PM

That's not stupid, that's CRAZY.....

Again, the mean ones don'r bother me...the stupid ones scare me to DEATH!
homeschoolmom read my blog view my photos
Apr 28, 2008 | 7:49 AM

mrmajestic, I agree. There were other things they could have done to get help. There is no excuse for their killing innocent people.
triadgirl
Apr 28, 2008 | 10:38 AM

I don't think we will ever understand why.
I have struggled with the question of
WHY before.
I prayed to God, and he replied,
"he is just the devil in deguise"
I believe these two criminals are
no more than that.
Axekick read my blog view my photos
Apr 28, 2008 | 2:15 PM

A 19 year old killed his family yesterday 4 people dead, I never said the perpetrators should not be punished I said we should try and find a way to stop these killings before it lands on your door step. Texas is one of the most violent states in the country and it has put more people to death than any other state so it would seem to me that maybe the death penalty is not as much of a deterrent to murder as many think. This is one of the reasons I’m pro choice if you are not going to care for a child love and nurture that child don’t bring it in the world.
DW45 read my blog view my photos
Apr 28, 2008 | 7:25 PM

Excellent point, Axe...Contraceptives are "too much trouble", but how much "trouble" do they think raising, feeding, and caring for a child up to 18 years will be?.....

How about all the idiots out there just keep ya'lls britches up!
Harley_Rider_OK
May 1, 2008 | 11:05 AM

OK axe, after reading your comment, all I can say is OMG!!! You and people like you are the reason for people acting the way they do. People are not held accoutable for their actions. The death penalty is a deterrent for some, but not all. For those who are not deterred, attrition of their kind would be an equal substitute. What is it that you would have done for these two people that would have changed their pathes?? They are Meth-heads. The man has been a lifelong criminal, and has been in prison, has been offered assistance from his family, only to burn them. They were evicted because they spent all they had on drugs. Should the rich give them more money for more drugs?? They robbed and beath to death a man who was likely nearly as broke as they are, but unable to work as they were. Then shot the people who were giving back to the community as you think people should be doing. I say we get DW's rope and hang them on the courthouse lawn for the next meth-head fool to see. And for the baby, yes the baby for all respects makes the victim count 4. However in the long run, there is the good chance that it will be much better off in a life without these two losers. I mean seriously, they took their kid with them on a murder spree, then wanted to trade it for a soda??!! What if this had happened different? What if they had traded it for drugs or who knows what else.
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Neill_McNeill

Yes, that's my real name. It's actually a common and historic Scottish name. (Try "google-ing" it and see how many results you get.) In fact, it's my understanding the first McNeill to arrive in North Carolina from Scotland was a "Neill McNeill." I'm a native Tar Heel who's spent the last 20+ years "growing up" at the same television station. I'll try to use this blog to fill you in on some of the inner-workings of local tv news. Here we go----

Member Since: 7/14/2006


 

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