Trouble in Paradise: The Final Chapter?

“You’re going to have to kill me,” Joni Park allegedly yelled as the first officers arrived at the hotel, according to court documents. “Call the police,” she reportedly told officers who ordered her to put the gun down. She allegedly pointed the gun toward officers at least five times.

Photo/Leonardo Media Services B.V

It’s now official, the pair of married real estate agents from Mission Viejo, who two years ago checked into the Montage Resort & Spa, one of the most spectacularly situated resorts on the Southern California coast, only to be dead in an early morning standoff the next day with local police were ‘paranoid’ and ‘delusional’. At the time, it appeared the question of an inheritance might have played a large role in the reported craziness leading to the tragedy of two lives ending in Laguna Beach.

The Orange County Register, based on police reports, stated in a story last week that the couple was convinced that they were victims of a conspiracy set to steal their part of a multimillion-dollar estate.

Roughly two weeks after the children of a Mission Viejo couple dropped a lawsuit against the city, documents now released by police shed a light into the details of what happened, and what led up to the police shooting that killed Joni and Kevin Park at the Montage Hotel almost two years ago.

The couple was killed on April 2007 after the couple allegedly aimed a handgun at police officers who were responding to a call of a domestic dispute at the luxurious hotel. Court documents also state that Joni Park pointed a handgun at police officers at least five times. Officers fired in self-defense, but Park continued to point the gun after being shot by officers.

Hmmm…the kids dropped the case against Laguna Beach…decided “it was time to move on.”

In paradise, trouble can find a private cove.

Read The O.C. Montage shootings as a Didion novel.

Breeze: Friday Top Five

Second week of Shooting the Breeze’s Friday Top Five includes some great posts. We read, we post, we link!

Here’s my pick for the week of February 1-6:

1. Persecution Blog co-author Hal has North Korea on his heart. The country is one of the greatest offenders of human rights in the world today. Many rank this country as the number one persecutor of Christians. Pray today for North Korea

2. It ain’t breaking news unless it’s on Twitter? I have not joined the bunch that messages on Twitter. But, Sarah Pulliam at the ChristianityToday Politics Blog managed to break news with her Twittering the National Prayer Breakfast post.

3. Baptist Press posted a good article, Out of devastation, God has worked good, by David S. Dockery on the one-year anniversary of a tornado outbreak in the South. He writes… a year ago today — people across Tennessee and the entire Southeast were going about their normal, everyday business — until 87 tornadoes broke out in the region…Devastation was all around, but there was no despair. The words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 became our own.

4. It’s always good to keep up to date on what Living Water’s Ray Comfort is doing! I caught up with him at Pull the Plug on Atheism and loved his a challenge to an atheist professor post.

5. Another blog to check in with often is Pyromaniacs. This week’s Requires of Him will challenge you!
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Alexander Writes: What are your priorities?

Breeze: Friday Top Five

In my defense, I may be a day late, but I’m not a dollar short on this Friday feature…well, maybe sort of…in today’s bail-me-out psyche.

Through Peter P’s “Rediscovering the Church” blog I found Kevin Martineau’s “Friday Top Five – What where your favorite posts from last week?” This “Shooting the Breeze” feature is a must read…and if so inclined, a very fruitful promising participation.

Here’s my quick recount of last week, in no particular order:

1. No better time than now to know where that Light can be found. Thanks, Yvette, for Light that Candle in a Dark Place found in your Fresh Wind Ministries blog.

2. A greater and deeper look at baptism. Should we always look at it from a “water” perspective? Two thumbs up for Brother Mark’s Baptised Into The Body of Christ!

3. Uplifting and thought provoking poetry can always be found at Versical’s Blog. Mike’s post Happiness is one I chose for this week…how true, how true!

4. There aren’t fitting words to describe my reaction to this video of an abortion survivor’s talk and message. “Wow!” is one of the responses I had and from many others who sent me a response back from my forward. The Life of Thomas is truly an excellent blog…and this particular post, Inspirational Video has already touched many hearts.

5. Oh, what the heck…here’s one of mine…after all, it IS Super Bowl weekend! Super Bowl Faithful Unashamed.

Have a blessed day…and please consider joining us on this Friday Top Five journey!

What am I thankful for?

WordPress asks: What are you thankful for?

The peace that surpasses all understanding!

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Phil. 4:6,7

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

PS Thanks WordPress for a great blog home!!!

JFK Inaugural Speech: ‘From the Hand of God’

A great resource for not only specific prayer for our president and president-elect, but for finding the wise words of past U.S. presidents and government officials is The Presidential Prayer Team site. Whether you choose to pray by the recommendations of this online ministry or not, you’ll find a tremendous wealth of quotables here. You’ll also get a heads-up on daily and weekly itinerary for government officials.

I thought this quote found at The Presidential Prayer Team site was especially timely and encouraging.

We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom – symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning – signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe – the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

—John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Speech, January 20, 1961

DIGG!