I know your south of The trouble but how are things in your part of town?
I know your south of The trouble but how are things in your part of town?
A little bit of the ch*t is hitting here although you won't hear it on the news.
Large groups of people are driving up to stores all over town, breaking windows, and looting in a planned activity. It happened at the gas mart 6 blocks from my house. It's happening elsewhere. Even though the nucleus of the riots is miles away in Ferguson, we are getting fall out from that mess.
IL, here's wishes that you and yours remain safe and are not directly affected by what's going on in SL. Horrible. The only time I've ever experienced such is when I lived in Portland, OR, during the Rodney King thing. There was some limited window smashing and looting in downtown Portland and I worked downtown at the time so I passed by some broken windows on my way to work. Does not strike me as pleasant to deal with and I have the feeling what happened out your way may not be dying down soon.....esp. depending on the race of the police officer involved and possible perceptions based on this. Stay safe! Rob
Ouch. Apparently the police in Fergusson arrested and assaulted two journalists who were sitting in a McDonald's, there in Ferguson to cover the story. NOT GOOD. From what I am reading online a SWAT team was sent in and what a bad PR move if all the above is true.....Will this town even have a police department in existence after the lawsuit settlement? Based on what has leaked online so far, I don't think there's ever been enough money printed to provide an equitable settlement. Very scary. Stay safe IL......Rob
Came back to provide a link - www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/reporters and the links not working.....google if interested.
Oh for god's sake, the cops arrested reporters from HuffPo and Washington Post. Stupid, and just what HuffPo et al will love, this will puff them up no end. Insanity. Earlier this evening the police asked news media to leave the area before dark because they want the crowds to disburse at night and the cameras are, of course, what everyone loves. When I heard that, I commented to DH "how can they enforce that? Especially with that crowd, the 'I know my rights' 4th estate."
I had just heard the press conference given by St. Louis County Police chief and thought he did a very good job and answered many questions squarely and fairly. He's technically not the chief of police in Fergusson, but County policemen and city policemen and state policemen are all there, helping out.
Last edited by iris lilies; 8-14-14 at 12:46am.
I suppose the exact circumstances are probably important.
Earlier in the year I was working a big fire. Hazmat and fuels were involved. We were managing a situation that if it started to turn on us was going to require a 1/2 mile evacuation distance. Anyone not directly operating was rehabbing or staging in a protected bunker-like area nearby.
I was sent out because a reporter, for the second time, had snuck past the barrier tape and was coming up on the scene to take photos.
I approached her, said "M'am, you need to move well back, a few hundred yards to that tape..."
"No, I'm with the press, you can't make me..."
"M'am, they sent me out here because if that tank blows over there, with my suit here and the extra armor, I *might* live. You will be a grease spot. The Sheriff won't come down here to grab you because he's smart enough to stay behind the line, but I *will* drag you up there if need be. Life and safety...."
Freedom of the press doesn't trump everything else.
Don't know what the circumstances are in the particular case of these events.
My problem is not so much with the arrest actually but with the use of excessive force and the witnesses to this.....Excessive force to me equals huge lawsuits and these reporters are probably well connected being from the Huffington and Washington Posts.....Were I the police chief I'd be with the city attorney right now trying to piece together an out of court settlement - but I also believe Bae has a point. The authorities do have the right to state their case and it would be great if more witnesses would step forward, perhaps on social media. We don't know all the facts just yet as Bae has said. It is even possible that I may end out changing my mind on this - though from what I'm seeing at the moment, not happening. The problem for Ferguson is how many people there would agree with me and how far will they go? And will the police use excessive force again - don't they get that any move they make at this point will go viral due to the Internet? I'm not seeing that level of basic common sense on their part here at all. Rob
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