An unnamed bar...

Several times, in recent weeks, my daughter had mentioned going to an unnamed gay bar with friends from work. I think her boyfriend may have gone with her once or twice but didn't care for the, uh, ambiance. So, after that, it was just a place where she occasionally went with friends.

And we might never have known its name except that one night last week the boyfriend's eighteen year old cousin was murdered there. There were few details, initially, but around 2:30 AM the cousin's girlfriend had called him to say that she was being harassed by someone at the bar and could he come and get her.

When he arrived at the bar, he was met outside by the killer and at least one accomplice. It was later said that one was a former bartender there and the other a former door man. In the ensuing scuffle, the bartender, one Carl Otts, pulled out a knife and fatally stabbed Wes Valentine in the neck and chest. He was bleeding profusely when the ambulance arrived and was pronounced dead at Upstate Medical Center less than thirty minutes later.

The next day, when my daughter was at her boyfriend's house, his mother pulled her aside and asked her to please not go there again because she couldn't bear the thought of losing her own son that way.

Today was Wes's funeral and my daughter gave his mother a ring inscribed with a quote from II Corinthians that my wife had given her as a source of comfort in hard times. My daughter said it had helped her and hoped it might do the same for Wes's mother.

She also told her boyfriend's mom that she wouldn't be going back to the bar...