We All Have Special Needs

It's been almost a week, and the Comical has finally gotten around to describing the murder victim it initially identified as a "man with special needs."

Here's the latest coverage:

The Whataburger manager arrested in the slaying of a mentally challenged employee previously worked with one of his alleged accomplices at another fast-food restaurant, Houston homicide investigators said Saturday.

Police believe that the manager, Gregory O'Neil Love, 38, provided the opportunity for the robbery while he was away from work and while employee Christopher Martin Dean -- described by relatives as borderline mentally retarded -- held the keys to the office.

So, he was borderline mentally retarded. I'm not sure why the original story couldn't have just said that. It's descriptive, unlike "special needs."

The Comical quotes another man who seems to have some special needs:

A former supervisor of Dean's who runs a job-training center for disabled adults said the slain man constantly asked that other mentally challenged adults be given the chance to work for Whataburger.

"We're no better than a Third World country if we can't protect people like this," said James Olson, chief executive officer of the Association for the Developmentally Disabled.

Yes, we ARE better than a third world country. What a stupid thing to say.

[Posted at 10:46 CST on 05/18/03] [Link]