Conservative Culture

New York Times: Pic and Content

Just the publicity the Dem Mayor wants and he says people are starting to carry weapons to defend themselves. What a brilliant statement to make on the national stage. Does he mean:

1. People are arming themselves to defend against the police?

2. People are arming themselves in case another raid happens?

3. Law abiding citizens are getting their CCW license in case a riot starts?

Yes the answer was a bit unclear. Yes it’s tense but it has been peaceful so far. People are just waiting for the report to come out on the shooting by the FBI. If any problems surface it will be after the report.

LIMA, Ohio — The air of Southside is foul-smelling and thick, filled with fumes from an oil refinery and diesel smoke from a train yard, with talk of riot and recrimination, and with angry questions: Why is Tarika Wilson dead? Why did the police shoot her baby?

“This thing just stinks to high heaven, and the police know it,” said Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. “We’re not asking for answers anymore. We’re demanding them.”

Some facts are known. A SWAT team arrived at Ms. Wilson’s rented house in the Southside neighborhood early in the evening of Jan. 4 to arrest her companion, Anthony Terry, on suspicion of drug dealing, said Greg Garlock, Lima’s police chief. Officers bashed in the front door and entered with guns drawn, said neighbors who saw the raid.

Moments later, the police opened fire, killing Ms. Wilson, 26, and wounding her 14-month-old son, Sincere, Chief Garlock said. One officer involved in the raid, Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, a 31-year veteran, has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Beyond these scant certainties, there is mostly rumor and rage. The police refuse to give any account of the raid, pending an investigation by the Ohio attorney general.

Black people in Lima, from the poorest citizens to religious and business leaders, complain that rogue police officers regularly stop them without cause, point guns in their faces, curse them and physically abuse them. They say the shooting of Ms. Wilson is only the latest example of a long-running pattern of a few white police officers treating African-Americans as people to be feared.

“There is an evil in this town,” said C. M. Manley, 68, pastor of New Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church. “The police harass me. They harass my family. But they know that if something happens to me, people will burn down this town.”

Internal investigations have uncovered no evidence of police misconduct, Chief Garlock said. Still, local officials recognize that the perception of systemic racism has opened a wide chasm.

“The situation is very tense,” Mayor David J. Berger said. “Serious threats have been made. People are starting to carry weapons to protect themselves.”

This week’s Carnival is dedicated to the 102nd Session of Congress, which served from January 3, 1991 through January 3, 1993. The biggest piece of legislation passed during this time was the 1991 Civil Rights Act. Tom Foley, who would lose his race 1994, was the Speaker. George Mitchell was the Senate Majority Leader; Bob Dole the Minority Leader. Ohio’s representation sure had a different look: John Glenn and Howard Metzenbaum were our senators. Not many of the House members remain. Only Dave Hobson, John Boehner, Marcy Kaptur, and Ralph Regula remain - and Hobson and Regula are not running for reelection. Ohio also had 21 House seats then - today we have 18 and looking to lose at least one more soon.Three entries from Conservative Culture. CC wants to see Mike Huckabee come to Ohio and hit on issues he thinks some of the other candidates are missing. Is this election going to be one where we have to “hold our nose” in order to vote Republican? Finally, the third post is about a specific line from the SOTU that gave this blog a laugh.