The Teacher's Last Shocking Lesson

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The Teacher's Last Shocking Lesson

   A remarkable woman reasons with her killer - and tapes it
   She used the miniature tape recorder for a graduate-school course she was taking. The device, though, would do much more than capture a lecture. It was a microcassette found in Kathleen Weinstein's shirt pocket that not only led police to her alleged killer but also revealed the New Jersey teacher to be a woman of extraordinary courage and compassion.
   Weinstein, 45, was on her way to an exam at Toms River high School South on March 14 when she got out of her gold 1995 Toyota Camry to buy a sandwich at the busy Toms river Shopping Center. That's where her path crossed that of Michael LaSane, who, police say, wanted just such a car to celebrate his 17th birthday. Grabbing Weinstein by the jaw, the attacker told her he had a gun and forced her into the Camry. The car was then driven to Manitou Park, about two miles from the shopping center. It was there, police believe, that Weinstein was able to activate the recorder she kept in her bag. According to Ocean County prosecutor Daniel Carluccio, the taped conversation between Weinstein and LaSane took place as they removed personal items - bags, notebooks, her six-year-old son's belongings, from the car. \"It wasn't hysterical,\" Carluccio says of the 24-minute tape. \"It wasn't the kind of thing you would expect of someone who is facing a life-threatening situation. Mrs. Weinstein bravely and persistently used every skill and power she had to convince her attacker to simply take her car and not her life.\"
   The excerpts of the talk released by the prosecutor show why Weinstein was a beloved figure at Thorne Middle School in Middletown, where she was a special-education teacher. \"You haven't done anything yet,\" she tells her attacker. \"All you have to do is let me go and take my car. For my life, don't you think I should be concerned and let you take my car? For my life! Do you really want to have that on your head?\" At another point, the teacher tries to get him to open up. \"Why don't you just tell me? Of course, it's important. It's determining you whole life and the direction you're taking.\" Weinstein also talks about her son Daniel and her plans to take in a foster child with her husband Paul. \"I want to give something to somebody, to give something back,\" she says.
   Her powers of persuasion were to no avail. Weinstein's body, with hands and feet bound, was discovered by a hiker on March 17. She had been smothered with her coat. But before she died she somehow slipped the microcassette into her pocket without her killer knowing it. Because Weinstein had asked LaSane about himself and his family, police quickly had their suspect, the son of a local official. \"Our impression was that she was very aware she was leaving something behind,\" says Carluccio. He will not comment on LaSanbe's side of the conversation except to say, \"When you hear the tape, it will raise profound questions about what is happening in our world with juveniles and our society. It goes beyond materialism.\"
   Weinstein also helped leave behind a new program at Thorne Middle School in which students were encouraged to do nice things for others. Every morning Weinstein would announce various good deeds over the p.a. system and she solicited prizes form local merchants and restaurants. Given her fate, the name of the program has a heartbreaking resonance to it: Random Acts of Kindness.


女教师撼人心魄的最后一课

   一位非凡的女人劝说杀害她的凶手--并作了录音
   她使用一个微型录音机来录她正在听的一门研究生院的课。然而这个装置起的作用要比录下一堂的讲座大得多。正是这个在凯瑟琳·温斯坦衬衣口袋里找到录音带使得警方断定杀人凶手，并且显示了这位新译西州教师作为一个女性的非凡勇气和不同寻常的同情心。
   45岁的温斯坦在3月14日去南汤姆斯河中学考试的路-+******上，她走出她那辆1995年丰田公司产的喀麦丽牌小汽车到繁华的汤姆斯河售货中心买三明治。在那里，她遇到了迈克尔·拉森，警察说，拉森正想要一部那样的车庆祝他的17岁生日。攻击者托住她的下巴，并且告诉她他有枪，强迫她进入车里。然后车子开到了曼尼托公园，距离那个售货中心大约两英里。警方认为，正是在那里，温斯坦才能够打开她包里的录音机。据海洋县的检查官丹尼尔·卡鲁齐奥说，所录的温斯坦和拉森的谈话开始于他们扔下车上的个人物品时--包、笔记本，以及她六岁儿子的东西。卡鲁齐奥谈到24分钟长的录音带时说：\"它并不歇斯底里，那完全不是你所料到的一个面对生命威胁的情景的样子，温斯坦太太运用各种她所具有的技巧、勇敢，顽强地劝说袭击者只取走她的车而不伤她的性命。\"
   检查官发表的那部分谈话的节录表明为什么温斯坦在米道镇桑恩中学是一位受人爱戴的人。她是个特殊教育老师。她告诉袭击者说：\"你什么都还没有做，你现在要做的就是开走我的车而让我走。难道你认为我会关心是否让你开走我的车吗？为了我的性命，你真的想背负上杀人犯的罪名吗？\"而同时，这位教师又试图让他的话多起来；\"你为什么不告诉我一些事？当然这很重要，它决定着你整个一生和你正在选择的人生方向。\"温斯坦还谈到了她的儿子丹尼尔以及她丈夫保罗计划收养一个孩子的事。她说：\"我想给予别人一些东西，为的就是会有好报。\"
   她的说服力没有起到作用。3月17日，一位施行者发现了她捆着手脚的尸体。她被人用她的外套窒息而死。但在临死前，不知用什么方法，她把微型卡式录音带偷偷放进口袋，而凶手并不知道。因为温斯坦曾问过有关拉森自己及其家庭的情况，警方很快就撒谎到了嫌疑人，他是个地方官员的儿子。\"我们的印象是她很清楚她正遗留下什么东西，\"卡鲁齐奥不愿评论录音中拉森的话，只是说，\"你听到录音时，你会发现它提出了正在发生的有关青少年和社会的深刻问题。这不仅是物质至上的问题。\"
   温斯坦还帮助桑恩中学开展一个新的活动，就是鼓励学生为他人做好事。每天早上，温斯坦都通过校内广播系统宣布一些好人好事。她还恳求当地的商人和饭店出资给予奖励。想想她的命运，这项活动的名称\"随时随地做好事\"听起来令人心碎。