This September 11^th I was stunned when I arrived home and checked my email. A message from my sister tersely read, “somebody killed the sign guy.” The “sign guy” was a fixture in Owosso, Michigan. He often stood on street corners, hooked to his oxygen tank while  holding up graphic anti-abortion signs and shouting slogans at passers by.

At 7:30 a.m., across the street from the Owosso high school and in front of several students, James Pouillon, the 63 year old anti-abortion activist was gunned down by a man shooting from a passing truck. The shooter was Harlan James Drake.

After killing Mr. Pouillon, Drake then drove to a nearby gravel business where he shot and killed the owner, Mr. Mike Fouss. Shortly after this and before he could reach James Howe, his intended third victim, Drake was apprehended by the police. According to media reports Drake has confessed to the murders.

I did not know the victims personally. However, I grew up in Owosso and graduated from Owosso High School. I attended school with Mr. Pouillon’s younger brother Don and was acquainted with Mr. Fouss’s younger brother Jim.

Knowing Owosso as I do it is disturbing to witness this tragedy being exploited by the media and those groups greedy for anything they can turn to their profit and purpose.

Thus far no specific motive for the murders has been made public although the police say that Mr. Drake held grudges against Mr. Fouss and Mr. Howe. As for Mr. Pouillon, Drake claimed he was offended by the graphic images of aborted fetuses displayed on Pouillon’s signs. It has also been mentioned  that Drake’s mother had worked for both Fouss and Howe, and that this might have something to do with the motive.

The day after his arrest Drake was admitted to the hospital for a “serious gash” to his arm after cutting himself with broken glass from a television set in an apparent suicide attempt. He was treated and returned to jail.

Little else has been made publicly known about the killer, although in a statement in the Owosso Argus Press his family claims he was a “gentle giant.” It has also been said he had been taking anti-depressants because of his involvement in an accident in which two people were killed when they pulled in front of the semi-truck he was driving. It is speculated this may have contributed to his recent actions.

Drake had no criminal record, seemingly nothing that would indicate he might do what he did. Yet, after he was taken into custody his truck was searched and it contained 10,000 rounds of ammunition and 8 guns, including both 22 and 45 caliber pistols. Clearly this man was on a mission.

All of this would have been just another case of a disturbed man committing murder—a regrettable occurrence but not that unusual in our times. However, this particular tragedy has taken on a prominence that is disturbing.

Anti-abortion activists immediately latched onto Mr. Pouillon’s murder, making him into a martyr for their cause, yet comments submitted to the Owosso Argus Press website, allegedly written by his own son, Dr. James Pouillon, suggest that the senior Mr. Pouillon was no saint and that he had been an irresponsible father. Other comments by writers claiming to be relatives suggested he had a pathological anger toward women.

To be fair, comments posted on websites are difficult to verify and there are many sides to every story. However, this story has gained national attention based upon many unconfirmed and possibly specious facts.

On 15 September 2009, at 6:49 p.m. EDT Reuters reported on its website that president Obama had condemned Mr. Pouillon’s murder. No mention was made of whether or not the president mentioned, Mr. Fouss, the other victim. Every major news and media organization across the nation has reported Mr. Pouillon’s death and his connection to the anti-abortion cause. Mention of Mr. Fouss, the second victim, has been minimal.

Why Mr. Pouillon was killed has not been conclusively established. It may not have been because of his anti-abortion activism. He may simply have been a convenient target for a deranged killer. It has been reported that Harlan Drake will undergo psychiatric evaluation.

But facts do not stand in the way of those who will churn any set of events to make their own brand of butter. The anti-abortionists have seized upon this tragedy to advance their cause. They assume they know the killer’s mind and reasons. And they largely ignore the other victim Mr. Fouss, and the intended victim, Mr. Howe, because it appears these two men had no connection to anti-abortion activities. Their victimization is apparently less worthy of note because they are not politically useful. Glaringly apparent in all this is the nearly complete disregard for the lost life of Mr. Fouss and the suffering of the Fouss and Howe families. The death of Mr. Fouss and the threat to Mr. Howe have been treated as insignificant principally because they don’t fit the right-to-lifer’s political agenda. The media has focused on Pouillon’s murder because of his connection to the right-to-life movement. The attendant sensationalism drives ratings and ratings drive profit.

On the 16^th of September a memorial service for Mr. Pouillon was held at Willman Field, in Owosso. This is the stadium in which the Owosso High Trojans play their football games. It is the property of the Owosso Public Schools. The reasoning was that so many anti-abortionist activists would be arriving from out of town there was no other place large enough to accommodate them all. However, it was requested that this be conducted solely as a memorial service and not as a demonstration. By most accounts it was. Final attendance was estimated to be around 250 people. The Fouss family did not participate.

As of this writing, Harlan Drake remains in jail and the media has found other stories to churn. According to Friday’s (18 September 2009) Owosso Argus Press Jon and Jim, the brothers of Mike Fouss have returned to work at their gravel company. The bloodstained carpet has been removed from the office. Life, though altered, goes on.

(NOTE: Since this piece was written Mr. Harlan Drake, was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. Subsequently that decision was reversed. A recent article about the case, appearing in the Lansing State Journal, 7 November 2009, reports that Mr. Drake’s record, and confession, will be reviewed by mental health experts for a possible defense of insanity.)

© Michael Maurer Smith 2009