By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The (Aberdeen) Daily World reports a 61-year-old Oakville father is charged with allegedly threatening a rape suspect with a gun and a baseball bat.
News reporter Brionna Friedrich writes William F. Henry was charged with second-degree assault after the 43-year-old man accused of raping his daughter talked to deputies about two encounters on Harris Avenue in Oakville in early September, one of which prompted him to hide in a shed.
Henry told deputies when he was interviewed if they would have just stayed in Montesano eating doughnuts, he would have taken care of the matter, according to Friedrich.
Read about it here
Clear Understanding, thank you for your intelligent statements that show an excellent “clear understanding” of the difference between critical thinking that supports the concept of “rule of law” and arrogant reactiveness. We have a decent, mostly law abiding civilization, because we have the rule of law instead of vigilante justice based purely on emotional reaction. That is one of the primary factors that sets a “Democracy” apart from lawless nations as well as some other governing methods.
I’m a “bleeding heart” because I’m advocating law and order? Is the law something we should be able to pick and choose which parts to follow? How is that different from elected leaders who pick and choose which parts of the Constitution they’ll follow while ignoring the parts they don’t like?
I consider myself a libertarian but I understand and accept the need to maintain a separation between liberty and anarchy. Guess that makes me a “bleeding heart.”
As a rape victim, I can honestly say dad was in the wrong. His place is with his daughter, not out acting like a thug himself. His daughter needs his support, not revictimized by her father. She needs her dad, not have her dad taken away from her sitting in jail so she can feel guilt & responsibility over his reaction on top of what she already carries.
A lot of rape victims (I work with a lot of them) do not step out & suffer in silence for fear of their ‘men’ going off half cocked doing such things when they need them most.
Granted, society should be rid of such offenders! But it is NOT the job of the father/husband to react selfishly. Such actions only HURT the victims more. I have yet to work with a victim that feels empowered and proud their father/husband sits in jail on their behalf. They do not feel vindicated. It leaves them feeling more helpless and alone…and responsible.
The best thing he could have done is put is daughter’s needs ahead of his own ego. Being there beside his daughter rather than leaving her alone to face all she has ahead of her.
Mitigating circumstances does not mean he was justified to react. Now had he been there while the rape was happening…he would have had groundsto protect his daughter. Outside of that, men cause more harm to their ‘loved one’ by taking things into their own hands. Reaction of the men in their life & public judgement are the two biggest fears that sexual assault victims face that keep them suffering in silence and from speaking out. Men need to learn that taking things into their own hands in such situations does not help, it violated trust and security they had with the victim, causing her more harm. Not only has she lost her identity, security, dignity, and been reduced to a discarted object by her rapist…her father just hit the home run to nail all that home.
I can only hope she has people around her to help her through this since her dad has chosen to be absent in the process that lies ahead for her.
Feeling strong desire to torture very slowly those who harm our loved ones is VERY natural & normal. Acting on that is NOT.
Frontier Justice? The pissed off Dad should have gotten a rope and lead the SOB to the tallest tree and sent a message to the local perverts and bleeding hearts in our area that this stops here!
We need more Dads like this guy!
NO MEANS NO!!! the right thing to do according to the law does not enter you thought process when you are in this situation. I have been assulted, an attempted rape (guy is free and became a cop smh), and raped (law called it date rape). I will do what ever is deemed right at the time if this happened to my daughter, granddaughters, and my new great granddaughter. it is called parenting and little faith in the system. I give God the thanks for keeping me strong and alive. Just sayin.
I hope they glue the soap to the prison shower floor for Mr Palmer!
Butt then people like him just may enjoy it.
Throw the book at both of them and lets see who wins!
The Daughter already suffered a lost, so my heart goes out to her.
Her Dad stopped way short of doing a Good Job… shame on him for not saving us taxpayers the trial and prison expense!
Sounds Like LockEmBothUp, Police45, CopMan are all one and the same!
“Running around town with a gun and a bat” just sounds like Cop to me with a gun and a night stick.
I think the Dad was well within his rights to protect his family in any means he had.
We just wonder if you would just bend over and take the rape like a big girl and do nothing since you don’t pack a cop around on your hip for when you need one.
I hope he gets a jury that every single one of them on it have a daughter and lets see if he was wrong in their eyes.
There must be a lot more to the story as I don’t understand why he didn’t shoot the hell out of the rapeist when he had the chance.
Just touch my daughter and see what happens!
Now go hug your Love Bug Palmer and tell him what a poor little victim he is when he dosent have a girl to pray on.
THE ONES SAYING MR.HENRY SHOULD BE LOCKED UP FOR HIS ACTIONS MUST NOT BE A PARENT BECAUSE THEN THEY WOULD BE AGREEING WITH US! IF MY 11 YR OLD TOLD ME SOMEONE RAPED OR MOLESTED HER,I WOULD TAKE THE LAW INTO MY OWN HANDS NOT KILL THE MONSTER,BUT LETS SAY WHEN I WAS DONE,THE PERSON WOULD WISH THEY WERE DEAD! I COULD GET LOCKED UP,SURE,BUT MY DAUGHTER AND OTHER VICTIMS WOULD BE SAFE
Sounds more like she is just saying this to make the fathers actions look less then they are, personally I hope the man goes to jail he deserves it. Also to all of those calling him a “hero” that is interesting, I didn’t know running around town with a gun and bat made you a hero!
Palmer should thank God that Henry took such careful reserve in not shooting the dirt bag druggie. 25 years in prison should give him plenty of time to get close to his maker.
Henry is a hero and should get an award!
Bill Henry should be locked up for what he did there is no proof his daughter was sexual assaulted. Even if these accusations are found to be indeed true, that does not give him the right to chase someone with a gun. This reckless behavior could result in injury to others in the community. I am guarantee he will be charged for what he did, there is laws for a reason don’t commit the crime if you can’t do the time.
There is no reason what so ever Henry should be running after someone threatening them with a gun and bat. He SHOULD be charged with 2nd degree assault. People are trying to say its “okay” because of the situation; it’s not. You don’t just go running after people with weapons, you let the police handle it. It is not ok what Palmer did either, and hopefully he gets the book thrown at him. But, Henry should not get to walk away from this careless mistake he’s made.
End of story
If anyone ever rapes one of my daughters, they better hope the cops find them before I do! I believe in innocent untill proven guilty but if my daughter can i.d the person that raped her, well thats enough proof for me!
Sam – of course we don’t know the “rest of the story”. This is a news brief, not a documentary.
Obviously, none of you know Mr. Henry, or the rest of the story.
Wow the defense lawyer didn’t realize he had to be in court to represent his client at an arraignment? Wow dude time to change lawyers very fast. As far as the father goes if he had a gun and had the guy in his sights knowing he raped his daughter, great restraint in not actually killing him. I understand what he did was wrong since the law is supposed to be handled by police but a jury should be very sympathetic.
I completely understand Mr. Henry’s motivation behind doing what he did. Had it been any of us, we would have been tempted to do something similar.
However, this isn’t 1884 and frontier justice does not rule the day. I don’t have any more faith in the judicial system than anyone else, but it’s what we have and what we are expected to live by (unless we’re okay with someone chasing after us with guns and bats because they’re mad).
I don’t believe Mr. Henry should be locked up on a second-degree assault charge, although it’s pretty clear he threatened Palmer and should face trial (his own attorney did him no favors by skipping the arraignment hearing, BTW). I do believe that Palmer should face trial and, if convicted, pay the penalty that rape brings.
The reason we have the system we have, however flawed it and the people who administer it may be, is because it’s still better than a form of anarchy in which you take the law into your own hands, no matter the rightness of your cause.
Again, I sympathize with WHY Mr. Henry wanted to do what he did…I just don’t think he should have done it.
HA! Well, that is so cool… Good job.
If I’m on the jury, Mr. Henry walks. They should arrest the Judge and cops for interfering with true justice!
Great Job! We need more public “Awareness” like in this instance, that we, as a community, will not stand for this. I bet if the victim or victims family had free reign over the outcome of a convicted sexual aggressor. Their wouldn’t be that many sex crimes happening any more.
MR.HENRY,I APPLAUD YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID…YOU TRULY ARE A HERO!