Kathleen Edward, RIP

Remember back in October of 2010, when The Scum of the Year, Jennifer Petkov who was 33, and Scott Petkov age 30 at the time, were harassing and taunting Kathleen Edward, a 7 year old with a terminal disease?

Sadly, Kathleen Edward has just died of that terminal illness.

The Detroit Free Press: Bullied Downriver girl, 9, dies after battle with Huntington's disease

RIP Kathleen, and in your short life you did more good and were a far better person than either Jennifer Petkov or Scott Petkov will ever be. May your name be for a blessing and their names forever be accursed.

Scum of the day: Jennifer Petkov and Scott Petkov of Trenton, Michigan for harrasing a 7-year old dying girl.

Jennifer Petkov age 33, and Scott Petkov age 30, win the scum of the day (if not the year) award for their acts in taunting and harrasing a 7-year old girl dying of from Huntington's disease.

Yes, really these two "adults" got their jollies off of taunting a dying 7-year girl. Let that sink in for a moment.

They were taunting a dying seven year old girl.

The taunting included:

the Petkovs had posted an image on Facebook of Kathleen's face above crossbones, allegedly hurled verbal jabs at the girl, and drove their truck — which had a coffin attached and bore the inscription "Death Machine" — up and down the block.

And scum like this thought this was a good idea? What the heck were these supposed adults thinking while they were doing this to a little girl?

Apparently for the Petkovs it was all about me, me, me:

Jennifer Petkov

Petkov said posting images on her Facebook page was the result of her jealousy over the outpouring of sympathy and aid to Kathleen's mother, and continued with discovery that the girl was also dying from the disorder.

Sorry, but that is absolutely no excuse or any rationale possible for this kind of evil abominable, less than child-like behavior.  Hell, the 7 year old has shown more dignity and class than both of these pond scum put together.

Forget about the old adage of picking on someone your own size. It is never, never, appropriate or acceptable to harass, taunt and embarras a dying 7-year old girl - period frickin' dot.

The community has reacted quite appropriately to those pond scum that give pond scum a bad name (pond scum after all serves at least some purpose) and who have tarnished the reputation of Trenton, Michigan:

The Petkovs' lawyer, Scott Weinberg, said his clients this week have received mail and e-mailed threats of violence; their house has been egged, and they fear for their lives.

"They have been told to not come out of their house, to not walk down the street. If those people sending these threats had signed their names, they could be charged a crime," Weinberg said.
. . .
"My clients have apologized for making a juvenile mistake. He's lost his job," Weinberg said. "It's hard to imagine that what's happened over the past week can be undone."

Aww, so sad that he's lost his job and they're facing some backlash over this - I would doubt anyone would want to hire or be associated with such scum.

This was not one little juvenile act or mistake on their part, it was a series of extremely outrageous, evil and wrongful acts that put the Petkovs far outside the bounds of civilized society:

I don’t understand how people could spew such hatred,” Yerigan said. “They would pull up in the truck (with the coffin attached), rev up the engine, and say to Kathleen, ‘I can’t wait until you die.’ When I saw what she posted on Facebook, I almost threw up. I’m totally dumbfounded.”

You do something like this then you better accept the consequences that come your way.

Too bad that there isn't an ostracism statute for when you go this far over the line - while you have the right to be a complete jerk and scum, you don't have a right to such stalking-like behaviour and when you stoop to acts like this you should forfeit your right to protection by society.

Contrast their behavior with the grace and goodness shown by their victims:

Edward [the girl's father], 26, said the ordeal has been tough.

“You have to understand how angry we are,” he said. “The police told us they were shocked that we haven’t gone over there and beat the hell out of her. But there’s more important things to deal with, like our daughter. She’s hanging in there. We have hospice at our home every week, and that’s a lot to deal with on its own.”

Edward said after his ex-wife died last year, the Petkovs drove their truck, which bears the message “Death Machine” and has a coffin attached to it, down the street and honked the horn.

The Petkovs are quite simply and by any definition the lowest of the lowest scum that are defiling the soil of this fine state by their mere residence here.

To counter this evil, the community and people around the world have been quite amazing:

Kathleen's family has reported an outpouring of sympathy and generosity from around the globe since stories about the incident went viral on the Internet.

More than $20,000 has been raised by people worldwide who saw media reports about the dispute — $17,000 by the toy store and $5,000 by the Huntington's Disease Society of America Michigan chapter.

Kathleen bought about $2,000 worth of toys during the shopping spree; the family is donating the remainder of the funds to C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.

"Within a week, a nation has come together for a little girl," said Jessica Shinkonis, whose 11-year-old daughter, Cailey — who also suffers from Huntington's disease — was invited by Kathleen's parents to join in the shopping spree.

In the face of such stupidity and evil, much goodness can be shown by normal and decent people, not to mention that a 7 year old knows better how to behave as a human being than the Petkovs ever will.

According to the Detroit Free Press, here's some locations where donations can be made:

If you'd like to donate money to help 7-year-old Kathleen Edward of Lincoln Park and others with Huntington's disease, you can make contributions online through the "Kathleen's Crusaders" fund-raising page with the Huntington's Disease Society of America Michigan Chapter at www.firstgiving.com/kathleenscrusaders.

If you'd like to help Kathleen purchase toys for other ill children at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan, donations can be made through the Tree Town Toys in Ann Arbor Web site at https://treetowntoys.com.