Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora An open discussion about the troubled parent industry
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 06/OPINIONState must seek justice in boot-camp deathBy Bill Proctor MY VIEW The U.S. Justice Department and the state of Florida apparently condone Martin Lee Anderson's "lynching," suffered at the direct hands of government officials in Bay County. Neither has proven otherwise. Race is a factor.As an elected constitutional officer of Florida, I strongly encourage and request state officials who are sworn by oath to oversee wrongful death matters to pursue criminal actions against the parties who murdered Anderson.ADVERTISEMENT MORTGAGE RATES NEAR RECORD LOWSGet today's lowest mortgage rate with us and save $1000s. As featured in USA Today and Newsweek. http://www.lowermybills.com From the start, Bay County and state officials have attempted to cover up this unjustified killing. The commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Guy Tunnell, according to Tallahassee Democrat reports, actually sent an e-mail to the Bay County sheriff outlining FDLE's intention to withhold the video showing Bay County deputies gang brutalizing a defenseless and lifeless child. Further, the Democrat reports that Tom Berlinger, FDLE spokesman, sent an e-mail to Bay County's Sheriff McKeithen telling him that FDLE would fight those seeking the release of the show-all video. Had The Miami Herald and CNN not pursued legal action, this videotape would have likely been suppressed. The credibility of FDLE to further investigate this matter with the confidence of the public has been irreparably compromised.In response to the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee's request to see the video, Tunnell wrote an e-mail to his staff, ?Ain't gonna happen,? according to the Democrat. If true, the head of FDLE communicated a cover- up approach both within his agency and externally to the Bay County Sheriff's Office, where he was once sheriff.Tunnell's actions are unacceptable. He resists the fair and even-handed enforcement of law for all people. As sheriff, he started the boot camp in Bay County. This was his brainchild. The pattern of government-related deaths of black males in Bay County has become notorious.The fact that Tunnell continues to head FDLE is asinine. His actions in this case represent a brutal antagonism against the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment that Anderson and his parents are entitled to under the law. Tunnell is supposed to be an unbiased chief law enforcement officer able to investigate all other law enforcement and state agencies. He has shown he is not up to recognizing the due process of law for Anderson; instead he appears more interested in protecting his former employees.The public deserves an impartial commissioner of FDLE whose professional judgment is not compromised by mixed loyalties.A second and legitimate autopsy has been performed now indicating Anderson did not die from complications stemming from a sickle cell trait. He died from the unjustified beating he received from deputies.It is past time for the state to act in the interest of justice. Murder charges are the appropriate actions the state must bring to avenge the terrible injustice inflicted upon Anderson.Anderson's deadly beat-down can be seen on videotape at http://www.tallahassee.com. This videotape shows clear evidence of wrongdoing. The state's foot-dragging is inexcusable and undeniably slow. There are legitimate questions for children and their parents, churches, communities and others to engage:Where can a black child be safe?Who can a black child trust in government?How can a black child obey government?Why should a black child believe in government?What can a black child do to survive government?When can a black child stop hating government?This video reveals a plain, old-school lynching. It makes clear that this child was treated like raw meat thrown into a den of wild beasts. He never had a chance. State officers, feigning as protectors of this child's safety, health and welfare, sanctioned by government, paid with tax dollars, were unleashed on him. Moreover, that video was a snapshot of the mind-set that dominates the juvenile and the adult penal system in Florida.Boot camps across Florida should be closed immediately. They are nothing more than child torture chambers that have the complete backing of the FDLE's leader.There has to be somebody with better professional judgment who can represent the interests of the public. When will the state charge and prosecute those responsible for Anderson's unjustified death? Bill Proctor is chairman of the Leon County Commission. Contact him at (850) 606-5371.Originally published April 1, 2006
Dear Ed, Please consider for publication.After reading this, I think Mr. Proctor gets least most of it. But he's missing one very important thing. It's not just Blacks who these people despise and abuse. It's also their own kids who may think Marshal Mathers is deep and those who think Brian Werner understands them and those who experiment with drugs or don't do well in school; either behaviorally or academically, plus a whole long list of other 'warning signs of dysfunction'. Rich white middle aged businessmen and politicians ship their "defective" kids off to be reprogrammed by the same means employed by Guy Tunnell and Frank McKeithen at Bay County Boot camp.The differences are that the parents make the placements, the parents pay big bucks (to the tune of thousands per month, if they can't scam their insurance or their public school district) and they don't call them boot camps. Instead, they give them euphemistic names like "Therapeutic Boarding School" or "Emotional Growth School" or "Wilderness therapy". I know of one place that actually had the audacity to call it "Equestrian Therapy". Kids die similar deaths in these places all the time. Here's a website that tries to keep a running list http://www.caica.org/ But it's just so hard to come by information from these insular groups. And rarely is anyone prosecuted in any meaningful way. The only one I know of ever to do jail time is Charles Long III for the death of a 14-year-old learning disabled boy named Anthony Haynes.What's worse? The walking wounded, of which I am one of I don't know how many, but likely hundreds of thousands after 30 years of operation. You just go and look into the decades long ties between FDLE and Drug Free America Foundation (Tunnell is on the board of advisors) and Straight, Incorporated; one of the most abusive juvenile programs ever to operate in this country, never mind the endorsements by Papa Büsh, Nancy Reagan and even, unwittingly, Princess Di. These are Brother Jeb's closest friends. So close, in fact, the founder of the program, Mel Sembler (yeah, Bay Walk Mel Sembler) has bragged about having Büsh men over as guests while they were in town campaigning and Brother Jeb! August 8, 2000 Betty S. Sembler Day (her birthday). Mel and Betty put their own son though The Seed before they founded Straight, Inc. So did a good many high ranking members of FDLE. Do you understand that? These people will do this to their own children if they find them disappointing or troublesome. They are unbalanced fanatics who think they're saving the world, and that justifies damned near anything. These people are not just a danger to black kids, though I'm sure as anything they see black kids as fair game regardless of what they wear or how they act. But the problem is much, much bigger. These are some of the most influential people in this country when it comes to public policy having anything to do with drugs, and that lets them in w/ near carte blance access to the kids in school. DARE is one of Betty Sembler's other li'll projects. Multijurisdictional Counterdrug Taskforce Training is another. These people should be removed from ANY positions of authority or responsibility, especially where kids are concerned! Don't let them get by with the way threw Virgil Miller Newton under the bus and pretended everything was better. Betty Sembler actually swore under oath recently that Virgil is a dear friend to this day and a, what did she say? wonderful humanitarian? I could't make this stuff up. It's all easily verifiable. Harsh? Hell yeah. But it's a harsh reality. Ginger WarbisDrug War POW ~ Straight, Inc., `80 - `82Native Floridian, refugee to Monessen, PA
Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name. Thy kingdom nada, thy will be nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.--Ernest Hemingway, American author
