Charlie Sykes: Sykes Writes

ON YOUR DIME?

By Charlie Sykes

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You are about to pay for expensive reconstructive surgery on this man. Who is he?

Daryl Strenke called to his former girlfriend to come out of her Comstock mobile home so the two, who had recently broken up, could talk. Samantha "Sam" Verby told him to come inside. As Verby blurted out, "What are you doing?" Strenke aimed his 12-gauge shotgun at her head and fired, killing her.

Verby's two friends ducked for cover as Strenke then turned the gun on himself, blowing away the lower part of his face.

The crime left the Verbys without a daughter and a 7-year-old girl without her mother. But Strenke, of Turtle Lake, survived the shotgun blast, eventually pleading guilty to second-degree intentional homicide for the June 30, 2002, shooting. Strenke sustained significant injuries that make it impossible to eat or speak normally.

Later this month, the Columbia Correctional Institution inmate is expected to have the first of what likely will be a series of extensive - and expensive - surgeries to repair his shattered face, his mother, Darlene Strenke, confirmed.

The decision by the state Department of Corrections to OK the surgeries is raising questions about how far the state should go to provide medical treatment to prisoners who rely on the state for their care.

Strenke's mother is defending the decision, saying Strenke, 45, is "tortured" by his injuries. He is serving a 60-year sentence, including 30 years behind bars.

Verby's mother is unsympathetic. She said Strenke should have to live with the consequences of his crime.

"Taxpayers feel their money should go to better things than rebuilding his face," said Alice Verby, of Turtle Lake. "He did it to himself. Let him live that way."