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15 Feb ’12
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Unbelievable
The Missouri church where Michael Brown's father was baptized over the weekend was torched Monday night — but the pastor does not think the arson was part of the fiery violence that erupted elsewhere in the community.
The Rev. Carlton Lee told NBC News that he believes Flood Christian Church was targeted because he has repeatedly called for the arrest of Officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot the unarmed teen but was not indicted by a grand jury.
"I'm very vocal in regards to the Michael Brown case," said Lee, who has participated in rallies and press conferences with Michael Brown Sr.
The church went up in flames around the same time about a dozen other buildings were set ablaze in Ferguson by protesters angered by the grand jury's decision, but it's on a remote section of West Florissant Avenue where other structures were unscathed.
"The police called me and told me the church was on fire," Lee said. "I was in complete disbelief. I didn't think anyone would set a church on fire.
"I feel like one of my children has died. I put my blood, my sweat, my tears into this church, getting this church built from the ground up. To see that it was taken down in a few minutes is really heartbreaking."
He said he told Michael Brown Sr. about the extensive damage on Tuesday afternoon. "He was just devastated again," he said.
The pastor said he doubted the same people who were raging on the other end of West Florissant had burned his church. Instead, he said, he suspected white supremacists who wanted to punish him for his support of the Brown family, who had just been baptized there.
"Sunday, we do the baptism, Monday, the church is one fire. It just doesn't add up," he said.
He said Brown had pledged his help in repairing the damage.
"We rebuild," Lee said. "We do not stop."
15 Feb ’12
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What the media isn't showing
15 Feb ’12
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or this
FERGUSON, Mo. — Since looting first erupted following the August police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown, nearly all the businesses in a two-square-mile area of this St. Louis suburb have had to board up. All except one — a Conoco gas station and convenience store.
At least a dozen stores have been set ablaze and others looted in Ferguson in racially charged riots since a grand jury on Monday cleared white policeman Darren Wilson in the shooting, which has torn apart this predominantly black Missouri city.
The unrest surrounding Brown’s death has underscored the often-tense nature of U.S. race relations. But the gas station has stood out as a beacon, literally and figuratively, as nightfall has descended and chaos has reigned around it.
On Tuesday night, as police and soldiers took up positions in the parking lots of virtually every strip mall and big box store around it, the forecourt of the brightly lit gas station was busy with customers.
One, a 6-foot-8-inches man named Derrick Jordan — “Stretch,” as friends call him — whisked an AR-15 assault rifle out from a pickup truck parked near the entrance.
Jordan, 37, was one of four black Ferguson residents who spent Tuesday night planted in front of the store, pistols tucked into their waistbands, waiting to ward off looters or catch shoplifters.
Jordan and the others guarding the gas station are all black. The station’s owner is white.
Ferguson has seen a stark demographic shift in recent decades, going from all white to mostly black. About two-thirds of the town’s 21,000-strong population are black. By some accounts, the Brown shooting has heightened racial tensions in the city. But not at the gas station.
“We would have been burned to the ground many times over if it weren’t for them,” said gas station owner Doug Merello, whose father first bought it in 1984.
Merello said he feels deep ties to Ferguson, and if the loyalty of some of his regular customers is any indication, the feeling is mutual.
REPAYING A DEBT
At times, Jordan and his friends were joined on Tuesday night by other men from the neighborhood, also armed. None of the men was getting paid to be there. They said they felt they owed it to Merello, who has employed many of them over the years and treats them with respect.
“He’s a nice dude, he’s helped us a lot,” said a 29-year-old who identified himself as R.J. He said he, like the other volunteers, had lived a short distance away from the store for most of his life.
He carried a Taurus 9mm pistol in his sweatpants and drew it out to show another customer, an older man at a pump who was brandishing a MAC-10 machine pistol.
Missouri allows the open carrying of firearms. State lawmakers recently passed a law overriding any local ordinance that banned the open carry of firearms by people who have concealed-weapons permits.
R.J. said on Monday they chased away several groups of teenagers rampaging through the area.
But they have also had a close brush with soldiers from the Missouri National Guard, who mistook them for looters, he said. The guardsmen, rifles raised, had handcuffed one man before Merello came outside the store to explain that the residents were trying to help, not hurt.
While the volunteer guards talked, a white SUV pulled up and a thin young man sauntered into the store. A few moments later, there was a commotion. Merello frogmarched the man out the store.
One of the armed residents, Sean Turner, showed the .40 caliber pistol in his jacket and told the man, “This is what happens if you try to steal from this place.”
15 Feb ’12
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some more good news out of Ferguson
A small business owner raised more than $158,000 to restore her bakery after it was damaged during the recent riots in Ferguson, Mo.
Natalie Dubose, who opened Natalie's Cakes and More this summer, was horrified when it was targeted Monday night, after a grand jury decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
“I’m beside myself, but with the holidays, can't stop working,” she wrote on her GoFundMe page. “I'm very busy cleaning and trying to repair my business. I'm also trying to catch up on baking cakes for Thanksgiving!”
Dubose says she started baking and selling cakes at local flea markets and saved up until she had enough money to make her dream of starting her own business come true.
A friend recommended that she start a fundraising page on Tuesday.
“The outpouring of support on Twitter, Facebook, and in the media has been amazing. I was in tears,” she said.
Her story caught the attention of “Everybody Loves Raymond” actress Patricia Heaton and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Brandi Glanville, who voiced their support on Twitter to their hundreds of thousands of followers.
http://news.yahoo.co.....03014.html
She's over 200,000 now
15 Feb ’12
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As thousands gathered to make their voices heard during a rally earlier this week, one officer and a young man paused to hear each other out.
This image, shot by freelance photographer Johnny Nguyen, shows Portland Police Sgt. Bret Barnum hugging 12-year-old Devonte Hart during the Ferguson demonstration in Portland on Nov. 25, 2014.
According to Sgt. Barnum, the interaction took place at the beginning of the rally. With emotions running high as speakers were addressing the crowd, he noticed a young man with tears in his eyes holding a "Free Hugs" sign among a group of people.
Sgt. Barnum motioned him over and the two started talking about the demonstration, school, art and life. As the conversation ended, Sgt. Barnum pointed to his sign and asked, "Do I get one of those?" The moment following his question was captured in the photo above, which shows Devonte's eyes welling up with tears once again as he embraces the officer.
Devonte, it turns out, has a life story that's almost as big as his heart.
After the exchange, Devonte rejoined his family and friends participating in the rally and Sgt. Barnum, a 21-year-veteran, went back about his duties.
15 Feb ’12
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this seems to be creating a lot of controversy
"St. Louis, Missouri (November 30, 2014) – The St. Louis Police Officers Association is profoundly disappointed with the members of the St. Louis Rams football team who chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury this week and engage in a display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.
"Five members of the Rams entered the field today exhibiting the "hands-up-don't-shoot" pose that has been adopted by protestors who accused Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson of murdering Michael Brown. The gesture has become synonymous with assertions that Michael Brown was innocent of any wrongdoing and attempting to surrender peacefully when Wilson, according to some now-discredited witnesses, gunned him down in cold blood.
"SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda said, "now that the evidence is in and Officer Wilson's account has been verified by physical and ballistic evidence as well as eye-witness testimony, which led the grand jury to conclude that no probable cause existed that Wilson engaged in any wrongdoing, it is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again."
"Roorda was incensed that the Rams and the NFL would tolerate such behavior and called it remarkably hypocritical. "All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson. Our officers have been working 12 hour shifts for over a week, they had days off including Thanksgiving cancelled so that they could defend this community from those on the streets that perpetuate this myth that Michael Brown was executed by a brother police officer and then, as the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis's finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance," Roorda said.
"The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology. Roorda said he planned to speak to the NFL and the Rams to voice his organization's displeasure tomorrow. He also plans to reach out to other police organizations in St. Louis and around the country to enlist their input on what the appropriate response from law enforcement should be. Roorda warned, "I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Well I've got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I'd remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser's products. It's cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it's not the NFL and the Rams, then it'll be cops and their supporters."
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