Yesterday I wept for the memory of a man I never met. Robin Banta was a 60 year old man who lived in a tent on a slice of heavily wooded land owned by the City of Greenville, SC. His home was only a few yards from a pretty, paved recreational trail which snakes through the city and where families and exercisers would run and bicycle, completely unaware of the homeless man who was hidden from view behind the thick vegetation. The soil beneath Mr. Banta’s living space was modestly contaminated with heavy metals, semi-volatile organic compounds and, in a few small spots, PCBs. For this reason my job has required that I and my co-workers intrude on his domain every so often for the purpose of collecting small quantities of that soil and the shallow water beneath it, putting those materials into containers and shipping those containers to various laboratories for chemical analysis. Three years ago, shortly after the site work was assigned by our client, a member of our staff returned to the office from a reconnaissance of the flood plain where Robin lived. She told us of the homeless camp there and concerns about the security of the sampling crew were expressed. In response we were aware and cautious, only working on the flood plain in groups. There was probably little need, however, because to call Robin Banta aloof would be an understatement. We would see him only occasionally, from a distance, in or around his tent. On one occasion, in early 2013, a member of our team did speak to him. He informed him that we would be conducting drilling over the course of a few days and asked that if Robin would keep an eye on the equipment that would be left on-site overnight that he would bring him some breakfast in the morning. In response, Robin Banta informed my co-worker that he would not be there in the morning. He had to go to work. Over the last week I have been working with a sampling crew in Greenville. We worked all week and yesterday, Saturday, I was directed to collect some data on the Flood Plain. Yesterday was quite possibly the one year anniversary of the day that someone shot Robin Banta directly in the chest. His body was not found, however, until my co-workers and I showed up, on August 12, 2013, ready to collect soil. His body was badly decomposed and laying in the midst of his camp when we found it. After the police and coroner had removed his body, they were sure that he had died of natural causes. When the forensics report came back to them a few hours later, they discovered that they were wrong. His camp is still there, at least the remnants of it. The tent fabric is discernable but might be mistaken for part of a trash pile someone illegally dumped in the woods. When we came upon yesterday during our work, my co-worker asked me to say a few words so I opened the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer on my phone and read the following: I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For if we live, we live unto the Lord. and if we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lords. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; even so saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors. Let us pray. O God, whose mercies cannot be numbered: Accept our prayers on behalf of thy servant Robin, and grant him an entrance into the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of thy saints; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. When I reached the words, “and no man dieth to himself.” I could not control my tears, because of the tragedy of the end of Robin Banta’s life. I know very little about this person. Robin may or may not have believed in God. Perhaps he had committed some awful crime and for that reason became estranged from the rest of humanity or perhaps he had some mental illness and was another of those who we force to the margins for such a disease in this country. I do know that he was a human being, however, who died so alone that weeks went by before anyone knew he was gone. So if you have a spare moment, join me in praying for the soul of Robin on this anniversary of his death, that the Lord might grant him an entrance into the land of light and joy. More on Robin’s Murder: wspa/story/23111699/deputies-search-for-killer-after-body-found-near-swamp-rabbit-trail wtoc/story/23125238/coroner-body-found-near-swamp-rabbit-trail
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 20:51:35 +0000
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