Thursday, February 28, 2019
Gerald and Charlene Gallego
Gerald Armond Gallego and Charlene Adell (Williams) Gallego are two American serial killers who terrorized Sacramento, California between 1978 and 1980. They murdered ten victims, mostly teenagers, most of whom they kept as sex slaves before killing them.
Perpetrators-
Gerald Armond Gallego: Gerald Armond Gallego (a.k.a. "Stephen Feil" or "Stephen Styles") was born on 17 July 1946 in Sacramento, California. His mother was a prostitute, while his estranged father was a criminal who in 1955 became the first man executed in the Mississippi gas chamber, for the killing of a police officer during a prison escape. Gallego began his criminal career at age thirteen, when he sexually abused a six-year-old girl. He had 23 arrests and served time after being convicted of robbery prior to his murder spree. Gallego worked as a bartender and truck driver. He was married a total of seven times, including two marriages to the same woman. He was still married to a previous wife when he married Charlene Williams.
Charlene Adell (Williams) Gallego: Charlene Adell Williams was born on 10 October 1956 in Stockton, California. She was a smart, shy child from a supportive home. The trajectory of her life began to change when, as a young adult, she started using drugs and alcohol. She was married twice before meeting Gallego.
Victims-
Rhonda Scheffler and Kippi Vaught: On 11 September 1978, two teenagers – Rhonda Scheffler and Kippi Vaught – disappeared from a mall in Sacramento. Charlene lured them to a nearby van, leading to their abduction by the couple. Gerald used a handgun to threaten the girls and tied them up. They drove to Baxter, where Gerald raped and then executed the girls, each with a single shot to the back of their heads.
Brenda Judd and Sandra Colley: On 24 June 1979, Brenda Judd and Sandra Colley were abducted from the Washoe County Fair in Reno, Nevada. Charlene later testified that Gerald beat the girls to death with a shovel or hammer.[ Their remains were not found and identified until twenty years later.
Stacy Ann Redican and Karen Chipman-Twiggs: Similarly, on 24 April 1980, Stacy Ann Redican and Karen Chipman-Twiggs went missing from a Sacramento mall. They were found in July, sexually abused and bludgeoned to death.
Linda Teresa Aguilar: While hitchhiking on 6 June 1980, Linda Teresa Aguilar – who was pregnant – was abducted, murdered with a blunt object, and buried in a shallow grave.
Virginia Mochel: On July 17, 1980, 34-year-old Virginia Mochel was abducted from the parking lot of a West Sacramento tavern, where she worked as a bartender. Her skeletal remains, still bound with nylon fishing line, were found three months later outside of Clarksburg. Loops of cord from the victim's neck were admitted as proof of death by strangulation.
Craig Miller and Mary Elizabeth Sowers: While leaving a fraternity party on 1 November 1980, Craig Miller and Mary Elizabeth Sowers were forced into the Gallego's car at gunpoint. Miller was ordered out of the car and shot; his body was found near Bass Lake, California. The couple returned to their apartment with Sowers, where Gerald sexually abused her before taking her to a field in Placer County, California, where he then executed her.
Capture and trial: A friend of Miller and Sowers witnessed their abduction and reported the car's license plate number. Police used this information to track down and arrest the Gallegos at a Western Union office. Charlene's parents were in the process of wiring her money. Gerald and Charlene pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and murder. However, Charlene's attorneys were eventually able to convince prosecutors in several states/counties to allow Charlene to testify against Gerald for a plea deal that reduced her prison sentence to 16 years and eight months. In June 1983 Gerald was found guilty of murdering Miller and Sowers and sentenced to death by gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison. In June 1984 in less than four hours Gerald was found guilty of murder and aggravated kidnapping in the case of Karen Twiggs and Stacey Redican in Nevada. He was subsequently sentenced to death. In July 1997, Charlene completed her sentence and was released. While in prison, she extensively studied psychology, business and Icelandic literature. During an interview, Charlene claimed that she was also a victim when she said, "There were victims who died, and there were victims who lived. It's taken me a hell of a long time to realize that I'm one of the ones who lived." She also claimed that she "tried to save some of their lives." In 2002, Gallego died of cancer in a Nevada prison medical center while awaiting execution.
Preference
My mom has preferences in terms of the ward I go to as does my dad. I don't and would be ok with anything
Excited
I'm super excited for break so I can relax a little. My mom might not want me to but I'll take a small break
Missionary work
Apparently I was involved in missionary work by nearly fellowshipping my brother. Also reaching out to people in need is also missionary work.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
almond milk mocha
my favorite flavor of almond milk is chocolate so I'd add that to my coffee and make a "mocha".
almond milk latte
I've made an almond milk latte. i love those. my family mocks my love of vegan milks but some people have dairy allergies and can use them for that reason.
funny
when i was showing off SOME of my French knowledge i forgot i'd had my phone case on my wrist and showed it off to everyone
french knowlege
I can remember certain things from French culture from when I'd taken French in school. like a Baguette is like a stick of break
vegan protiens
I mentioned this before as I'm relying on SOME vegan proteins to "bulk up". it's also to help me lose weight
go big or go home
in Kuai they were so "go big or go home" as i was a visitor. it was nice. i wonder if that's why they were super nice
headbands
i love headbands. my mom gives me them periodically (although less frequently as earrings).
why me?
what i'd frequently asked myself if I asked when I was roped into helping my brother TWICE try converting him
new clothes
if I do my service mission I might want some newer clothes for my mission. my standards are more lax but i'm happy for it
Death of Latasha Harlins
Latasha Harlins was a 15-year-old African-American girl who was shot in the head by Soon Ja Du, a 51-year-old Korean-born female convenience store owner who was tried and convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Harlins' death. Harlins was a student at Westchester High School in Los Angeles. Harlins' death came 13 days after the videotaped beating of Rodney King. Du was fined $500 and sentenced to five years of probation and 400 hours of community service but no prison time for her crime. Some have cited the shooting of Latasha Harlins as one of the causes of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Background-
Death of Latasha Harlins: Du's store, Empire Liquor, located in the intersection of 91st St. and Figueroa Ave. Vermont Vista, Los Angeles, was normally staffed by Du's husband and son. However, on the morning of the shooting, Du was working behind the counter, and her husband was outside resting in the family van. Du observed Harlins putting a bottle of orange juice in her backpack. Du concluded Harlins was attempting to steal, and did not see the money Harlins held in her hand. Du claimed to have asked Harlins if she intended to pay for the orange juice, to which Du claimed Harlins responded, "What orange juice?" Two eyewitnesses disputed that claim, saying that Du called Harlins a "bitch" and accused her of trying to steal, to which they claimed Harlins replied that she intended to pay for the orange juice. After speaking with the two eyewitnesses present and viewing the videotape of the incident, recorded by a store security camera, the police concluded that Harlins intended to pay for the beverage. The videotape showed that Du grabbed Harlins by her sweater and snatched her backpack. Harlins then struck Du with her fist three times, knocking Du to the ground. After Harlins backed away, Du threw a stool at her. Harlins then picked up the orange juice bottle that dropped during the scuffle, Du snatched the bottle from her, and Harlins turned to leave. Du reached under the counter, retrieved a handgun, and fired at Harlins from behind at a distance of about three feet (one meter). The gunshot struck Harlins in the back of the head, killing her instantly. Du's husband, Billy Heung Ki Du, heard the gunshot and rushed into the store. After speaking to his wife, who asked for the whereabouts of Harlins before fainting, he dialed 9-1-1 to report an attempted holdup.
Trial: Du testified on her own behalf, claiming that the shooting was in self-defense and that she believed her life was in danger. But her testimony was contradicted by the statements of the two witnesses present at the time, as well as the store's security camera video, which showed Du shooting Harlins in the back of the head as the teenager turned away from Du and attempted to leave the store. The Los Angeles Police Department ballistics report also found that the handgun Du used was altered in such a way that it required much less pressure on the trigger to fire than an ordinary handgun.
Decision and sentence: On November 15, 1991 a jury found that Du's decision to fire the gun was fully within her control and that she fired the gun voluntarily. The jury found Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter, an offense that carries a maximum prison sentence of 16 years. The jury recommended the maximum sentence for Du. However, the trial judge, Joyce Karlin, did not accept the jury's sentencing recommendation and instead sentenced Du to five years of probation, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine. Judge Karlin suggested that there were mitigating circumstances in Harlins's death. She stated, "Did Mrs. Du react inappropriately? Absolutely. But was that reaction understandable? I think that it was." Karlin added, "this is not a time for revenge...and no matter what sentence this court imposes Mrs. Du will be punished every day for the rest of her life." The court also stated that Du shot Harlins under extreme provocation and duress and deemed it unlikely that Du would ever commit a serious crime again. Furthermore, Karlin deemed that Du's capacity to act rationally in the situation was undermined by her experience with past robberies.
Court of Appeals of California: A state appeals court later unanimously upheld Judge Karlin's sentencing decision in April 1992, a week before the riots.
Impact: The incident and reduced sentencing by the court exacerbated the existing tensions between African-American residents and Asian-American merchants in South Central Los Angeles. Those tensions were later interpreted by some members of the public and activists as being one of the catalysts for the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The Los Angeles mayor's office estimated that 65 percent of all businesses vandalized during the riots were Korean-owned. On August 17, 1991, while Du was awaiting trial, a small fire occurred at her store. During the 1992 riots, Du's store was looted and burned down, and it never reopened. The property later became a market under different ownership.
Tupac Shakur: Hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur took particular note of Harlins's death and in 1993 released a song entitled "Keep Ya Head Up" which was dedicated to Latasha Harlins. Thereafter, Shakur made frequent mention of Harlins in his songs, including in tracks like "Something 2 Die 4 (Interlude)" ("Latasha Harlins, remember that name... 'Cause a bottle of juice is not something to die for"), "Thugz Mansion" ("Little Latasha, sho' grown/Tell the lady in the liquor store that she’s forgiven/So come home"), "I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" ("Tell me what's a black life worth/A bottle of juice is no excuse, the truth hurts/And even when you take the shit/Move counties get a lawyer, you can shake the shit/Ask Rodney, Latasha, and many more"), "White Mans World" ("Rest in Peace to Latasha, Little Yummy, and Cato") and "Hellrazor" ("Dear Lord if ya hear me, tell me why/Little girl like Latasha, had to die")
Ice Cube: Rapper Ice Cube composed a song about the incident for his album Death Certificate entitled "Black Korea".
Gabriel Kahane: Gabriel Kahane composed a song about the incident entitled "Empire Liquor Mart (9127 S. Figueroa St.)".
Joyce Karlin: Karlin's rulings in the case prompted District Attorney Ira Reiner to instruct his deputies to effectively bar Judge Karlin from trying cases by invoking a statute to remove a judge for any reason. In justifying his directive, he said "this was such a stunning miscarriage of justice that Judge Karlin cannot continue to hear criminal cases with any public credibility". Karlin became the target of protests and an unsuccessful recall campaign. Denise Harlins, Latasha Harlins's aunt, lead protests outside Karlin's home and the Compton courthouse. Protesters noted that a week after Latasha Harlins's death, a Glendale man received a more severe sentence than Du for kicking a dog. After the Los Angeles Times endorsed one of her opponents in her re-election campaign, she wrote a letter to the newspaper, saying "If judges have to look over their shoulders as they decide a case; if they have to test the political winds in order to arrive at a politically correct verdict--then the judicial system and the freedoms it guarantees will be destroyed". The Harlins family held vigils outside the Du residence every year on the anniversary of her sentencing. Denise Harlins interrupted an awards ceremony at the Biltmore Hotel for Du defense attorney Charles Lloyd. Karlin and Du's son also attended that ceremony. "All you people sitting, applauding over a child killer," Harlins yelled. "Latasha was defenseless. She didn't do nothing!" Karlin was re-elected to the Superior Court bench. She then moved to Juvenile Dependency Court, a transfer she had requested before the Du case. "I have been honored to spend the last 20 years serving the public but now I want to devote time to my family," Karlin wrote. Karlin resigned from the bench in 1997. Upon hearing of retirement, Harlins's aunt Denise stated, "I'm glad to hear that she's removed herself from the bench and that she's retired. But she didn't belong on the bench anyway."
Disappearance of Adam, Trevor, and Mitchell O'Brien
Adam, Trevor, and Mitchell O'Brien are missing brothers from Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada who were allegedly abducted by their father Gary O'Brien on November 9, 1996. Their kidnapping made both national and international headlines. Gary O'Brien is wanted by Interpol for their abduction. Although various tips have come in from both Canada and the United States and a $50,000 reward has been offered, police have never been able to locate the O'Brien brothers or their father.
Disappearance: On November 9, 1996, Adam, Trevor, and Mitchell O'Brien went to visit their father and non-custodial parent, Gary O'Brien, at his home in Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. At 8:30pm that night, Gary called Diana Boland, his ex-wife and the boys' mother and custodial parent, and told her that he was not going to return the boys to her and had rigged his house so that it would explode if anyone entered it. When Diana asked to speak to the boys, Gary told her "later" and hung up. Diana's sister, who was with Diana at the time, immediately called the police.
Investigation: When police first arrived at Gary's house, they discovered that Gary had set up a makeshift bomb using two 400-pound propane tanks that would have exploded and destroyed both his home and the surrounding houses if anyone had tried to get inside. Diana believes that this was done in order to create a diversion. Gary has a history of violence, suicidal tendencies, and psychiatric problems, and is described by Diana as "introverted" and "resourceful". In October 1997, almost a year after the disappearance, the engine assembly of Gary's car, a 1989 Ford Tempo, was discovered in the ocean near Flatrock, approximately ten kilometres from where the boys disappeared. No bodies were recovered from that location. Diana suspects that Gary dumped the engine of his car over the cliffs and into the ocean in order to deliberately mislead police. The following year, police in Thunder Bay, Ontario received an anonymous tip from a woman who stated that she'd recognized pictures of the brothers. The woman said that she'd babysat for them, and knew the nicknames of one of the boys. Police attempted to locate the woman until 1999, but were unsuccessful. Although Gary's sister suspects that her brother and her nephews are dead, Diana firmly believes that her sons are still alive, stating that Gary may have taken them to a religious commune and raised them in an environment with no access to technology or the outside world. She believes that being cut off from the outside world may have allowed Gary to brainwash Adam, Trevor, and Mitchell, which could be why they have never tried to contact her. In order to aid the search for the O'Brien brothers, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children has created multiple age-progressed photos of the boys over the past two decades, with the most recent ones having been released in early 2017. The case remains open, with tips coming in as recently as December 2016, twenty years on from the disappearance.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Confused
I was confused as to how my brother knew about an ordinance my church offered when I hadn't told him. After the shock of my grandfather's passing wore off I'm like wait how did he know about that. A month later the 2 who taught him reached out to me
Ugh
I'm not feeling too hot. Likely its a combination of poorly prepared pre-made dinner and massage therapy which makes me sick
vegan dinner
i'm eating rice and beans for dinner. it's awesome as i'm able to be vegan and healthy. I don't want to push my vegetarianism and health onto my family but if I sometimes eating that my brothers have to do it
Murder of Randi Boothe-Wilson
Randi Stacey Boothe-Wilson, formerly known as Jacksonville Jane Doe and Jane Doe 95-7000 was a formerly unidentified murder victim discovered in Jacksonville, Onslow County, North Carolina on December 6, 1995.
Disappearance: Boothe-Wilson, a mother of three, was last seen in Greenburgh, New York on October 26, 1994. Her empty vehicle was found a few days after she disappeared while planning to drive to Queens to visit her sister. Her estranged husband, who was in the area the day she vanished had previously received a call from Boothe-Wilson asking for a ride. Letters to her children were discovered that indicated she planned on leaving them. Her credit cards were later mailed to her husband.
Discovery: The body was found in a field in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The remains were believed to have been disposed around two years before. She stood at approximately between 5'5" and 5'8" tall and her weight could not be estimated due to the condition of her body. The victim's age range was estimated to have been between the early and late 30s, although The Doe Network reports that the age range was as large as 25 to 40. She was thought to be a white woman, despite that she was black. Near the skeleton was a strand of reddish hair that may have belonged to her. She had various evidence of dental work on her teeth, although some had protruded from her mouth. Examination of her body also indicated she had a divided rib. Items such as a Nike shoe, gold jewelry, hoop earrings, red, black and yellow clothing, a hotel key, and subway tokens were also present at the scene. No evidence of foul play was found on her bones, although it is believed that she was murdered.
Investigation: The case remaiains unsolved, although in 2012 police had a suspect in Matt Adler, who had a possible connection with her death. He was imprisoned in 1995 for the rape and murder of Lisa Gipson. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to the murder of Wanda Musk. He currently is serving a life sentence for his crimes. The Jane Doe's case was featured on the website for America's Most Wanted but did not lead to her identification. Her face was reconstructed, in 2D as well as 3D, as an attempt to show what she may have looked like when she was alive. It was announced in February 2019 that the remains were identified as Boothe-Wilson after DNA was matched between the unidentified remains and her DNA profile in January.
Monday, February 25, 2019
wait till april
what i should've told a teacher when he asked if it's summer to me when i'm wearing a sleeveless tank top
belated birthday thing
my visiting teachers are taking me out to a belated birthday thing. i can't wait.
stared at
1 elder liked staring at me once i mentioned getting my eyes checked. he said he'd likely have to as well
fried rice
I made vegan fried rice for tomorrow and made a video of it. I also showed my flexitarianism lunch and lifestyle. I'd accidentally made a little too much for tomorrow so I ate the leftovers. it's awesome and something i'll make again
Biggby Coffee
Biggby Coffee (pronounced Big-Bee) is a privately owned coffee franchise business based in East Lansing, Michigan. Founded March 1995 as Beaner's by Bob Fish and Mary Roszel, the company changed its name to Biggby Coffee in late 2007. Biggby began franchising in 1999. The company headquarters is located at 2501 Coolidge Road, East Lansing, Michigan.
History-
Beaner's: The first Beaner's Coffee opened in March 1995 in a converted Arby's restaurant on Grand River Avenue in East Lansing, Michigan. Fish, Roszel and Michael McFall (who was originally hired by Roszel as a barista in the first store) decided to franchise the company and founded Global Orange Development, LLC in June 1998. In August 1999 the first franchise location was opened in Okemos, Michigan and in October of the same year, another location was opened in East Lansing. In the following four years, nine more locations were opened throughout Michigan and Ohio.
Biggby: Originally unaware that "beaner" is an ethnic slur for Mexicans, in late 2007, the chain decided to change its name from Beaner's to Biggby Coffee. Biggby was chosen as it was a vocalization of the logo, a "big B", which was a "fun" name. The first store opened under the name Biggby Coffee on October 29, 2007, in Westland, Michigan. The change in name was completed in all stores by January 31, 2008. In December 2007, BIGGBY was awarded MBC Global’s 3rd Quarter Multicultural Achievement Award for completing the name change on a completely voluntary basis. In that same year, the company was named to Entrepreneur Magazine's Annual Franchise 500(R) list, ranked 289 out of the 500 companies profiled. In 2008, Biggby moved up 34 spots to number 255, the second among coffee retailers on the list.
Awards and recognition: In September 2011, the company was named the fastest growing coffee chain in America by CNBC, which ranked the chain number one, based on their growth percentage from the previous year. Biggby was ranked above other popular brands such as Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and Caribou Coffee. Biggby was also named a top 30 food franchise in the United States by Franchise Business Review in both 2011 and 2012. The report compiled results based on surveys from franchisees in the food sector, representing more than 75 brands and 20,500 franchised businesses. For the year of 2012, Biggby was ranked as number 268 on Entrepreneur Magazine's Annual Franchise 500(R) list, and as a top 500 franchise by Franchise Times Magazine. In 2013, Biggby moved up 67 spots on Entrepreneur Magazine's Annual Franchise list to number 201. In August 2012, Mary Roszel announced her retirement from the company after 17 years. “Words cannot express the gratitude that I, along with the rest of the company, hold for Mary,” Bob Fish said. “She has spent countless hours getting us where we are today, and is one of the most driven and talented people I have ever had the pleasure to work with." In November 2012, Mary was inducted by her Alma mater into Michigan State University's School of Hospitality Business Hall of Fame for her success with Biggby and the inspiration she brings to students at the university today.
Expansion: Biggby Coffee had planned to have more than 250 stores by 2010.[14] “We’re aggressively expanding in the Midwest and the Southeast, and we do have a growth plan to continue to double our units every two years,” Biggby President Michael McFall said in July 2008. In March 2011, Biggby listed 122 franchise locations on its website, which had grown to 172 by November 2013. It had stores in at least 8 states: Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. In July 2011, the company officially released a "new store footprint" that reduced the cost of opening a franchise location by approximately 40 percent. McFall said that despite the economic slow down that limited growth in Michigan and beyond, the new store footprint allows potential franchisees the opportunity to experience both a faster and higher return on capital and can expand current franchisees’ ability to open additional stores. “By streamlining our utilization of resources, including simplifying the contractor process, material sourcing and delivery, we were able to reduce overall costs by $70,000-$80,000 per location. The overall look and feel of the new stores remains the same as stores open prior to the redesign,” McFall said in July 2011.
Advertising: Biggby Coffee uses the statement: "B Happy, Have Fun, Make Friends, Love People and Drink Great Coffee" and the slogan: "Biggby Coffee is my happy place" in their advertising. Michigan artist, Wally Pleasant is the voice behind the jingle in the company's radio and television commercials, which he won an Emmy for in 2011.
good day
today is a good day. it's what my communication teacher would say on a day of class. it's also good if I can get done 6 chapters in 1 day
awesome
i'm happy to be able to be done with writing down 6 chapters full of side notes and can finally goof off.
loose ponytail
I pulled my hair back into a semi-loose ponytail in order to clearly see my notes. now i'ts up in order to keep it out of the way
done
i'm finally done writing down 6 chapters of side notes. i'm not 100% sure what will be on my quiz tomorrow but i'm writing down all the side notes in order to be safe.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Disappearance of Jeremy Bright
Jeremy Doland Bright is an American teenager who disappeared under mysterious circumstances while attending the Coos County Fair in Myrtle Point, Oregon. At the time of his disappearance, Bright resided in Grants Pass, and had been visiting family in Myrtle Point. On August 14, 1986, he attended the Coos County Fair with his younger sister. During the day, the two separated, but he failed to meet her that afternoon at the carnival's ferris wheel. Several witnesses reported seeing Bright forcibly removed from the area by an unknown man, though these sightings were not confirmed. Initially, local law enforcement suspected foul play in Bright's case; however, within the week following his disappearance, several reported sightings of him in the area led detectives to reverse this decision, and he was temporarily classified as a runaway. Numerous theories and rumors circulated in Myrtle Point following Bright's disappearance, which were detailed in a 1989 segment on Unsolved Mysteries. Among them were that he overdosed on a drug at a party and his body had been disposed of by those present; another that he had been shot by local men while swimming in the Coquille River, who attempted to nurse him back to health, but buried his body in a shallow grave after he succumbed to the wound. Law enforcement conducted searches of property in correspondence with these rumors, but found no evidence leading to Bright's discovery. A local man who had babysat Bright during his childhood, Terry Lee Steinhoff, was considered a suspect in his disappearance after Steinhoff was convicted of murdering a 32-year-old woman; there had been reports that Bright was seen in Steinhoff's truck the day he disappeared. However, Steinhoff died in prison in 2007. In August 2011, Bright's family stated they presumed him dead and held a formal memorial service in his memory. As of 2019, his whereabouts remain unknown.
Timeline-
Background: In August 1986, fourteen-year-old Jeremy Bright, a resident of Grants Pass, Oregon, was staying in Myrtle Point with his stepfather and younger sister. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Bright had been raised in Myrtle Point. On Wednesday, August 13, Bright attended the Coos County Fair with his friend, Johnny Fish. That day, he called his mother, Diane, from a payphone, and made plans for her to pick him and his 10-year-old sister, S'te (es-tEE), up in Myrtle Point on August 15. Later the same day day, Bright met with his stepfather at a tavern owned by his grandmother, and was given money to attend the fair the next day. This was the last time he was seen by his stepfather or grandmother.
Disappearance: On Thursday, August 14, Bright attended the fair a second time, now with S'te. The two parted ways at approximately 2 p.m., with Bright planning to meet up with his sister again at 5 p.m. near the ferris wheel on the fairgrounds. He never reappeared. He was last seen wearing a black windbreaker jacket, a red tank top, nylon blue shorts, and a pair of black, size 13 Nike shoes with red shoe laces. The following day, August 15, Bright's mother arrived at his stepfather's house in Myrtle Point to pick up Jeremy and S'te; inside, she found Bright's wallet, watch, and the keys to their Grants Pass apartment. After Bright failed to surface that day among any of his family members, she contacted the authorities and reported him missing.
Investigation: Law enforcement initially suspected foul play in Bright's disappearance, but on August 23, 1986, less than one week after his disappearance, it was announced that they were no longer suspecting foul play due to alleged sightings of Bright in the days after he disappeared, some of which were reported as late as August 16 or 17. Law enforcement believed that Bright may have run away with the traveling carnival. Alternately, several individuals (including S'te) had reported prior that they witnessed Bright be "forcibly removed" by a man near the fairgrounds' ferris wheel between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. Several rumors circulated at the time of Bright's disappearance: One claimed that Bright, who had a heart murmur, had attended a party and ingested a beer laced with an illegal drug which caused him to fatally overdose. Another, submitted by an anonymous tip through a prison inmate, claimed that Bright had accidentally been shot to death by a group of quarrelsome men while with his friends at a local swimming hole along the Coquille River. Another alternately claimed that Bright had been shot during a target practice. Allegedly, those responsible attempted to nurse Bright back to health at a remote cabin, but he succumbed to his wound. The tipster claimed his body had been buried in the woods in a shallow grave. Police, however, searched the aforementioned cabin and surrounding area, and found nothing. Cecelia Fish, the sister of Bright's friend Johnny, told police that the night of Jeremy's disappearance, she witnessed an unnamed male resident of her apartment building stumble inside the entryway, covered in blood. Numerous wells in the Myrtle Point area were searched following Bright's disappearance after an anonymous tip was submitted in mid-August 1986, which stated Bright's body was in an area well. Another unfruitful tip was given to law enforcement which suggested they "follow a road to a concrete bridge in western Nebraska." Another tip was received leading investigators to young man named Jeremy Bright who was working for a circus company in Florida, where many traveling carnivals and circuses relocate during winter months, but the man was determined to be someone else from Colorado who shared the same name. In August 1988, filming began for a segment on Bright’s disappearance for the series Unsolved Mysteries. The episode aired in January 1989.
Terry Lee Steinhoff: According to some accounts, Bright was last seen in the passenger's seat of a truck owned by a young man named Terry Lee Steinhoff, who at one time babysat Bright. In January 1989, a week after the case was featured on Unsolved Mysteries, Steinhoff was charged in the stabbing death of 32-year-old Patricia Morris and police considered Steinhoff a potential suspect in Bright's disappearance. Steinhoff died in prison in 2007 of a heroin overdose.
Continuing investigation: Per a 2007 report, Bright's mother has resided in Florida since 1998, but returns to Myrtle Point each summer to assist in search efforts. As of 2017, Bright remains missing, and is presumed dead by his family. In an obituary for Bright's maternal uncle, who died in Pendleton, Oregon in 2010, it was written that he was preceded in death "most probably his oldest nephew, Jeremy Bright who has been a missing child since August, 1986." In August 2011, his family held a formal memorial service in his memory. In October 2016, a pond on private property approximately 25 miles from Myrtle Point was searched after a tip was received that Bright may have been disposed of there; the search, however, proved fruitless.
Disappearance of Derrick Engebretson
Derrick James Engebretson is an American child who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the Winema National Forest near Rocky Point, Oregon. On the evening of December 5, 1998, Engebretson vanished while searching for a Christmas tree with his father and grandfather, who realized they had lost sight of him in the late afternoon. Footprints and a snow angel near the road were found, but by the time law enforcement arrived that evening, a blizzard prevented immediate searches. Over the ensuing weeks, law enforcement and volunteer searchers continued to traverse the area, but no sign of Engebretson was found. Subsequent reports of a mysterious vehicle in the area that day were made. In October 1999, graffiti was discovered in a rural rest area bathroom south of Portland, which purportedly referred to Engebretson; the content of the graffiti was never made public. In 2008, it was revealed that Frank James Milligan, a convicted child rapist, was considered a potential suspect in Engebretson's disappearance. As of 2018, his whereabouts remain unknown.
Timeline-
Disappearance: On December 5, 1998, eight-year-old Derrick Engebretson traveled to Pelican Butte with his father and grandfather near Rocky Point, Oregon, roughly 30 miles from Klamath Falls and immediately south of Crater Lake National Park. The three had planned to look for a Christmas tree. At some point during the excursion, Engebretson wandered away from his father and grandfather. He was reported missing that evening by his father and grandfather, who notified a passing motorist around 4:13 p.m.; the motorist traveled to a nearby resort approximately 2 miles away, where he placed a phone call to 9-1-1.
Investigation: Law enforcement discovered a "crude shelter" made of fir boughs beneath several fallen logs near the area Engebretson went missing, but search dogs were unable to detect his scent there. Due to the extreme conditions of the area, law enforcement speculated he would have quickly succumbed to the elements. Engebretson's parents stated that their son had "grown up in the mountains" and was used to walking distances of 20 miles in steep terrain. In the hours immediately after Engebretson's disappearance, his family and law enforcement discovered small footprints in the snow, which made a loop from the location where his father had last seen him to a clearing near the road, where a snow angel presumably left by Engebretson was found. A snowplow had obliterated the tracks that led away from the snow angel, and no additional footprints were found. Several pieces of chopped wood were also discovered nearby; when he disappeared, Engebretson had a small hatchet with him and was dressed in a snowsuit. In the late evening, a blizzard hit the area, hampering search efforts. Initial searches were completed by foot with search canines, as well as aerial searches using a Civil Air Patrol plane and an Air Force Reserve helicopter. Several relatives also undertook independent searches. On December 13, 1998, eight days into the investigation, Klamath County Police suspended their search. Engebretson's family continued independent search efforts and camped at the site in a donated camper van over the following two weeks, while hundreds of volunteers continued to organize search efforts. On December 18, further search efforts were terminated due to subzero temperatures, which made it unsafe for anyone to travel through the area. In the ensuing months, a total of 10,000 hours were spent performing ground searches. Early in the investigation, a witness claimed to have seen an unidentified man struggling with a young boy in the area later during the day Engebretson disappeared. The witness ignored the event as they had assumed the man was the boy's father. Additional reports were made of an unidentified man driving a two-door Honda asking passersby for directions in the forest that day.
Subsequent events: On September 24, 1999, graffiti was discovered in a bathroom at the Sagehen Rest Area, approximately 300 miles south of Portland, that law enforcement identified as being referential to Engebretson's disappearance. Engebretson's parents drove to view the graffiti upon being notified, and his mother, Lori, stated to the press: "I think it's just a big, sick joke. I thought, if somebody would have had Derrick, if they put this on the wall, they were wanting to be caught. If they were wanting to be caught, why didn't they leave something of Derrick's there?" The contents of the graffiti were not made public. In 2008, it was confirmed that Frank James Milligan, a man serving a sentence for raping a 10-year-old boy in Dallas, Oregon, was considered a potential suspect in Engebretson's disappearance.
Disappearance of Marvin Clark
Marvin Alvin Clark was an American man who disappeared under mysterious circumstances while en route to visit his daughter in Portland, Oregon during the Halloween weekend, 1926. His case has the distinction of being the oldest active missing person case in the United States. On October 30, 1926, Clark departed his home in Tigard to meet his daughter in downtown Portland. He never arrived to meet his daughter, and none of his family made contact with him that day. Some witnesses claimed to have seen Clark at a bus terminal in Portland that day, dressed in a dark suit and slacks. Over a week later, on November 9, his wife Mary received a postcard from Bellingham, Washington apparently sent from Clark. Several witnesses in the area claimed to have seen him there between November 2 and November 3. In 1986, a John Doe was discovered in a wooded area between Portland and Tigard; these remains were estimated to have been between 35 and 55 years old at the time of death, and several mementos from the late-19th and early-20th centuries were discovered along with the body, leading detectives to suspect the remains were Clark's. Reports of this potential connection made national headlines in 2011. However, in 2018, in was determined through DNA testing that these remains were not those of Clark. As of 2018, Clark's whereabouts remain unknown.
Timeline-
Background: According to U.S. census records, Clark was born circa 1852 in Iowa. Both of Clark's parents were from New York. Clark moved to Oregon with his wife, Mary Clark, as early as 1910; according to the 1910 U.S. Census, Clark resided in Holbrook, Oregon. Clark was at one time the town marshal of Linton, a district that would later become part of Portland.
Disappearance: On October 30, 1926, Clark left his home in Tigard, Oregon around 1 p.m. to visit his daughter, Sidney McDougall, formerly of Seattle, who was a resident and manager of the Hereford Hotel at 735 Hoyt Street in Northwest Portland. The initial report of Clark's disappearance on November 6, 1926 by The Morning Oregonian stated that he had embarked to Portland by stagecoach, though a report published the following week said he had traveled by bus. According to sightings, Clark had been seen at the terminal on Yamhill Street in downtown Portland, dressed in a dark suit and slacks. This was the last reported sighting of him. According to the newspaper reports, Clark suffered from paralysis and could not properly use his right arm; he also walked with a limp, a distinction that police hoped would help elicit sightings of him. His daughter offered a $100 reward for information leading to his discovery. On November 9, The Bellingham Herald, a newspaper in Bellingham, Washington, reported that Clark's wife, Mary, had received a "disconnected" postcard purportedly written by Clark that was postmarked in Bellingham, and that there had been witnesses who saw Clark at two hotels in the area on November 2 and 3. The news article read: "The letter indicated that the aged man's mind is wandering as it was badly jumbled despite the fact that Clark is highly educated, being a graduate of two universities."
1986 discovery of John Doe: In 1986, nearly sixty years after Clark's disappearance, loggers discovered a nearly complete human skeleton in the woods between Tigard and Portland. Although no identification could be found with the body, an 1888 V nickel, a 1919 penny, a pocket watch, leather shoes, and a Fraternal Order of Eagles pocket knife and four tokens with the inscription "D&P" were found near the body. A .38 revolver and a spent shell were also found near the remains. A pair of wire-rimmed glasses were also discovered. Upon an autopsy of the John Doe, the state medical examiner Dr. Karen Gunson observed a bullet hole in the man's skull, and effectively ruled the death a suicide. The estimated age of the John Doe was 35 to 55 years old. Several days after the discovery, Clark's granddaughter, Dorothy Willoughby, came forward, suspecting the John Doe may have been her missing grandfather, but a positive identification could not be made at the time. Willoughby died in 1991.
Subsequent developments: In 2011, Dr. Niki Vance of the Oregon state medical examiner's office revisited Clark's missing person file, and forensic pathologists were able to retrieve sufficient DNA from the skeletal remains of the John Doe, which had remained in storage since its 1986 discovery. In a 2014 article published by The Oregonian, it was stated that the medical examiners were unable to locate maternal descendants of Clark in order to make a positive identification. "They're looking for a maternal link," said Vance. "Someone on his mother's side, and following that lineage to shore it up. There's an association there but it's not strong at this point." In 2018, KOIN news reported that Pam Knowles, a great-great-granddaughter of Clark, provided DNA samples along with her son to determine whether or not the remains of the John Doe were in fact Clark's. These DNA samples were sent to the University of North Texas for comparison, whereupon it was determined that the remains were not those of Clark. As of 2018, the identity of the John Doe's remains is unknown. The DNA samples provided by Knowles and her son remain on file with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database for potential future comparison. Rian Hakla, a Multnomah County police officer, stated: "If at any point in the future bones are sent in and it's Marvin, we will get a positive identification. And who's to say he won't get found by a hunter or a landscaper or developer or something like that happens. So, there's a chance he could be found."
weird
it's weird everyone was like don't pressure your brother when fellowshipping him. I'm like ok.
you shrink?
I asked someone if they'd shrunk. I'm like I can't be getting taller as I stopped at age 16.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Bergholz Community
The Bergholz Community, also called Bergholz Clan or Bergholz Amish, is a religious group of former Amish under the leadership of Sam Mullet, formed in 1995 and located at Bergholz, Ohio, that became known for a series of "beard cutting" attacks on members of an Amish community in 2011.
History: In 1995 a new Amish settlement was founded in Bergholz, Ohio, on the initiative of Sam Mullet, who wanted to create a settlement more conservative than the very conservative Amish settlement he was residing at the time. In 1997, Mullet was ordained minister for the new settlement and in 2001, he was ordained bishop in an unusual form. Amish tradition requires that at least three bishops take part in the ordination ceremony of a new bishop, but in Mullet's case, there was only one other bishop present. In early 2006, Mullet excommunicated the deacon of the community and soon after, nine families (more than a third of the Bergolz Amish population) left the settlement. These families were subsequently excommunicated by Mullet. This excommunication meant that the families were no longer allowed to join other conservative settlements as many conservative affiliations of the Amish practice "strict shunning" (German: strenge Meidung), which requires that the person who is excommunicated must return to their former bishop and confess their sins to be able to join another strict shunning community. As such, many of the families that were driven out by Mullet felt that the ban was not just. At a June 2006 meeting in Pennsylvania, many Amish bishops also expressed that they felt that the ban of so many families from Bergholz should not be applied according to tradition. A committee of five bishops was formed to examine the case and look for a solution, but no agreement could be found with Mullet. A second impartial committee of seven bishops was also unsuccessful. In the end, three hundred Amish ministers at a September 2006 meeting in Ulysses, Pennsylvania, decided that, in the case of Sam Mullet, the traditional rule could not be applied and the excommunicated members were free to join other "strict shunning" Amish groups.
Beard cutting attacks: There were all together five beard cutting attacks committed by members of the Bergholz Community. The first took place on September 6, 2011, the last on November 9, 2011. The victims were mostly Amish relatives of the people from Bergholz, who had either left the Bergholz community or openly opposed it. Raymond Hershberger, a bishop, not related to the Bergholz Community, who opposed them, was also victim of a beard cutting attack.
The trial: In September 2012, a group of 16 Amish men and women from Bergholz, Ohio, were convicted on federal hate-crime and conspiracy charges, including Samuel Mullet Sr., who did not participate in the five hair- and beard-cutting attacks but was tried as the leader of the campaign. Initially Samuel Mullet Sr. was sentenced to 15 years in prison on February 8, 2013, with fifteen others receiving lighter sentences ranging from one year and one day to seven years; after these convictions were overturned in August 2014 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, these sentences were reduced in March 2015. Due to the cloistered nature of Amish lifestyle, they are often reluctant to bring complaints to local police who describe the attacks as "very rare".
Irregular practices: On the question if the Bergholz Community is Amish, Kraybill reports that some of the members consider themselves Amish, while others do not. Kraybill also states that there are 25 practices in the Bergholz Community, that are irregular compared to general Old Order Amish practice, among others:
-Rejecting Christian identity
-Terminating Sunday worship services
-Rejecting core Amish values: humility, nonviolence, forgiveness
-Using the Old Testament as a primary source of authority
-Rejecting fellowship with Amish affiliations
-Accepting sexual misconduct
-Permitting ordained officials to speak on television
memories
i have fond memories of my friend who'd passed. i'm sad to see her go but can always remember these memories.
you don't want to be stupid
i remembered a friend who had passed away. she told me her kids complained about homework as well. she told me you don't want to be stupid. the bishop said that's great advice from a smart woman.
ice cream
I can eat several servings of ice cream. I'm able to do so as I'm on a flexitarian diet and only try watching my meat intake as much as possible. I'm not picky but I'm allergic to beef. I can eat beef flavoring (like in ramen but I need to watch how much as I should also watch my salt intake as well).
ok
what i said when a guy leaned in when he said he'd need glasses on his mission. i'm like ok what am i supposed to do about it?
oh hi
what i said when bumping into a friend who'd lost his wife a couple months ago. i wasn't even paying attention and bumped into him
nervous around new people
I'm always nervous around new people. that's normal but for a girl who has social anxiety, like me I'm super nervous around new people. I don't know how things will come out. that's likely why i'm having a hard time with my friends at the GYSA.
life skills
I want to learn life skills such as CPR. I thought I'd need it for my full time mission but now I'd just need it because id likely need it.
meeting
last Sunday I'd gone to a meeting and my mom met the ward clerk and re-met bishop Crowder and Mr Hellawell
feather earrings
my mom got me metal feather earrings. I love them but have only worn them once. when I got them for my present I was shocked as I'd looked at them and put them back never thinking my mom caught me looking at them as a possibility for my birthday.
Clinton, Mississippi hostage standoff
On February 16, 2019, a domestic dispute in Clinton, Mississippi led to a 12 hour hostage standoff with police. A SWAT team entered the home and found four hostages dead and the suspect, Nam Quang Le, wounded from a gunshot wound. The suspect later died of his injuries. The victims were the suspect's wife, Lan Thi My Van, 30; his sister-in-law, Le Thi My Van, 28; family friend and babysitter Cho Thi Van, 65; and the young doctor who was engaged to marry Le Thi My Van, the suspect's sister.
Aurora, Illinois shooting
On February 15, 2019, a mass shooting took place at Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois. Six people including the perpetrator died and six others were injured.
Incident: The first reports of the shooting began to arrive at 1:24 p.m., with the first officers arriving four minutes from the first call. Witnesses said they saw the perpetrator carrying a handgun with a green laser sight attached. The shooting prompted a multi-agency response with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the United States Marshals Service assisting local police. The shooter returned fire when law enforcement arrived. Officers reported at 2:59 p.m. that the suspect had been shot and killed. The exchange of gunfire lasted about 90 minutes. In total, five people were killed by the gunman. Five police officers were injured along with another civilian. The perpetrator was killed by law enforcement officers.
Victims: The five victims fatally shot were male workers at the Henry Pratt plant:
-a human resources manager, 24;
-a plant manager, 37;
-a mold operator, 46;
-a stock room attendant and forklift operator, 55;
-a student at Northern Illinois University, 21, on his first day as a human resources intern.
-A sixth plant employee sustained gunshot wounds during the shooting, and was hospitalized with non life threatening injuries.
The six injured police officers ranged in age from 23 to 59. Four of them sustained gunshot wounds, one was injured by shrapnel, and one had a non-gunfire injury sustained while responding to the shooting. None of the injuries were life threatening.
Perpetrator: Gary Montez Martin, a 45-year-old former employee of the Henry Pratt plant, was identified as the perpetrator. Relatives of the shooter told reporters that he had been released from his position at the company about two weeks prior to the shooting. Other news outlets reported that he was being fired from his job on the day of the shooting, and that the shooting itself started during the termination meeting. Martin was convicted in 1995 for a felony aggravated assault in Mississippi, and served two-and-a-half years in prison in Mississippi for that conviction. Aurora police stated that he had six arrests with the Aurora Police Department, including arrests for domestic violence and violating an order of protection, and that he had a 2017 arrest in Oswego, Illinois for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property. Martin was not legally allowed to possess a gun in Illinois because of his prior felony conviction in Mississippi. However, in 2014 he applied for, and was issued an Illinois FOID card because the FOID background check in Illinois did not involve a fingerprint check. In March 2014, he was able to buy a gun (which he is believed to have used during the shooting) from a licensed gun dealer in Aurora using that FOID card. Later that month he applied for a concealed carry license from the Illinois State Police. The concealed carry background check involved a fingerprint check, and Martin's felony conviction was discovered at that point. The Illinois State Police rejected his concealed carry application, cancelled his FOID card and sent him a written notice demanding that he turn in the gun that he had purchased. He did not do so. According to a CNN report, the authorities are now trying "to determine why he didn't surrender the weapon and whether law enforcement followed up with him to confiscate the gun." On February 15, after the shooting, the police conducted a search of Martin's home but did not find anything to indicate that he had planned the shooting in advance.
Reactions: U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin thanked law enforcement for their response, as did Governor J. B. Pritzker and President Donald Trump. Trump also offered condolences to the victims and their families. Aurora mayor Richard Irvin said, "It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country and that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life. But we as a society cannot allow these horrific acts to become commonplace."
open
i'm pretty open about asking for help as needed and the stuff I have to deal with. now people who go overboard I have a problem with. it's because they go overboard
pills
i showed my friends my pill bottle and my muscle spasm pills i take. everyone is sorry i was bullied for them. i'm like ugh stop going overboard
weird
it might be a little weird if I talk about other people when i'm with certain friends but for other people that's not weird at all.
Awkward
One game night I tried talking with someone and it turned super awkward because of the silence
Friday, February 22, 2019
super long hair
my hair is super long. I need it cut eventually. my mom said she didn't cut her hair often in college.
pizza
I think we're having pizza for dinner tonight. I love pizza. it's awesome and is a comfort food. I don't mind take out pizza so long as I can eat it. I've eaten garlic bread pizzas on my own as my brothers hate them. that I don't mind either as it's my own pizza. that's awesome.
read in the hot tub
I usually read in the hot tub. i'm usually not doing anything else and like reading so why not?
cheated
my mom saw me looking at earrings and bought them for me on my birthday. in that way she cheated on my earrings. least I didn't have her buy her own gift like my brother Michael did
fine by me
if it's ok by my dad, who is a doctor by the way than it's fine by me. I might not like some of the instructions but he is a doctor
weight loss
i'm starting to feel awesome by eating vegetarian and vegan. my blood sugar and weight are finally in control.
Vegan food
I'm learning how to make vegan food. I love vegetarian food and eat THAT frequently. My family oftentimes mocks me because I'm a flexitarian and why would I need to eat vegan. I have health issues that make me need to eat that way. It is tasty if you make it correctly.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Walking
I got a ton of walking in today. I love walking and it was warmer than it had been in the few days
Too much
I looked like I was carrying a ton of things today but I wasn't really. My jacket is just gigantic
Nervous
I'm usually a little nervous around the kids from the GYSA. I'm not unfriendly I'm just nervous about showing them my true energy. I LOVE hanging out with friends but I'm also impulsive around friends. When I said, lets go with that to a friend it's out of nervousness.
Donate
Last week I'd donated a bottle of sparkling cider for a party as the people who went don't drink
Drop
When I say I "dropped" the GYSA I mean I'm "taking a break". My mom hates me saying dropped them. They're my friends and trying to include me in things.
Long time no see
What I'd told an acquaintance when I took a break in October. I didn't tell him why I'd not seen him as I didn't feel like I knew him well enough to say that
Understand
My teachers and friends are super understanding of certain things about me. Things like: back pain and my mom's crazy standards
Invited
During my break from the GYSA I was invited to something AT the GYSA. I declined as I was sleeping thru it. That was sweet that I was included.
Focus
In December I took a break from the GYSA to focus on the Mansfield family's needs (if they'd had any). I wanted to provide a shoulder to cry on if necessary. I understand more as my grandfather had passed away the previous December
Errand girl
I don't mind being the errand girl. I don't have a job so buying things, grabbing things, doing things, dropping things off or picking them up I'm fine with that
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Charleston church shooting
The Charleston church shooting (also known as the Charleston church massacre) was a mass shooting in which Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, murdered nine African Americans (including the senior pastor, state senator Clementa C. Pinckney) during a prayer service at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, on the evening of June 17, 2015. Three other victims survived. The morning after the attack, police arrested Roof in Shelby, North Carolina. Roof confessed to committing the shooting in the hope of igniting a race war. The shooting targeted one of the United States' oldest black churches, which has long been a site for community organization around civil rights. Roof was found competent to stand trial in federal court, and in December 2016 was convicted of 33 federal hate crime and murder charges stemming from the shooting. On January 10, 2017, he was sentenced to death. Roof was separately charged with nine counts of murder in the South Carolina state courts. In April 2017, Roof pleaded guilty to all nine state charges in order to avoid a second death sentence and was sentenced to life imprisonment for each, clearing the way for his eventual federal execution. Roof espoused racial hatred in both a website manifesto published before the shooting, and a journal written from jail afterwards. Photographs posted on the website showed Roof posing with emblems associated with white supremacy and with photos of the Confederate battle flag. The shooting triggered debate on its modern display, and following the shooting, the South Carolina General Assembly voted to remove the flag from State Capitol grounds. Until surpassed by the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting and the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, this was the deadliest mass shooting at an American place of worship, alongside a 1991 attack at a Buddhist temple in Waddell, Arizona.
Background: The 203-year-old church has played an important role in the history of South Carolina, including the slavery era, the civil rights movement, and Black Lives Matter The church was founded in 1816 and it is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the South, often referred to as "Mother Emanuel". It is the oldest historically black congregation south of Baltimore. When one of the church's co-founders, Denmark Vesey, was suspected of planning a slave rebellion in Charleston in 1822, 35 people, including Vesey, were hanged and the church was burned down. Charleston citizens accepted the claim that a slave rebellion was to begin at the stroke of midnight on June 16, 1822, and to erupt the following day; the shooting in 2015 occurred on the 193rd anniversary of the thwarted uprising. The rebuilt church was formally shuttered with other all-black congregations by the city in 1834, meeting in secret until 1865 when it was formally reorganized, acquired the name Emanuel ("God with us"), and rebuilt upon a design by Denmark Vesey's son. That structure was badly damaged in the 1886 Charleston earthquake. The current building dates from 1891.
The church's senior pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, had held rallies after the shooting of Walter Scott by a white police officer two months earlier, in nearby North Charleston, and as a state senator, Pinckney pushed for legislation requiring police to wear body cameras. Several observers noted a similarity between the massacre at Emanuel AME and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of a politically active African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, where the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) killed four black girls and injured fourteen others, an attack that galvanized the civil rights movement. A number of scholars, journalists, activists and politicians have emphasized the need to understand the attack in the broader context of racism in the United States, rather than seeing it as an isolated event of racially motivated violence. In 1996, Congress passed the Church Arson Prevention Act, making it a federal crime to damage religious property because of its "racial or ethnic character", in response to a spate of 154 suspicious church burnings since 1991. More recent arson attacks against black churches included a black church in Massachusetts that was burned down the day after the first inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009.
Shooting: At around 9:05 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 17, 2015, the Charleston Police Department began receiving calls of a shooting at Emanuel AME Church. A man described as white, with sandy-blond hair, around 21 years old and 5 feet 9 inches in height, wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans, opened fire with a Glock 41 .45-caliber handgun on a group of people inside the church at a Bible study attended by Pinckney. The shooter then fled the scene. He had been carrying eight magazines holding hollow-point bullets. During the hour preceding the attack, 13 people including the shooter participated in the Bible study. According to the accounts of people who talked to survivors, when the shooter walked into the historic African-American church, he immediately asked for Pinckney and sat down next to him, initially listening to others during the study. He started to disagree when they began discussing Scripture. Eventually, after waiting for the other participants to begin praying, he stood up and pulled a gun from a fanny pack, aiming it at 87-year-old Susie Jackson. Jackson's nephew, 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders, tried to talk him down and asked him why he was attacking churchgoers. The shooter responded, "I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go." When he expressed his intention to shoot everyone, Sanders dove in front of Jackson and was shot first. The shooter then fired at the other victims, all the while shouting racial epithets. He also reportedly said, "Y'all want something to pray about? I'll give you something to pray about." He reloaded his gun five times. Sanders' mother and his five-year-old niece, both attending the study, survived the shooting by pretending to be dead.
Dot Scott, president of the local branch of the NAACP, said she had heard from victims' relatives that the shooter spared one woman (Sanders' mother) so she could, according to him, tell other people what happened. He asked her, "Did I shoot you?" She replied, "No." Then, he said, "Good, 'cause we need someone to survive, because I'm gonna shoot myself, and you'll be the only survivor." According to the son of one of the victims, who spoke to that survivor, the shooter allegedly turned the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger, but only then discovered he was out of ammunition. Before leaving the church, he reportedly "uttered a racially inflammatory statement" over the victims' bodies. The entire shooting lasted for approximately six minutes. Several hours later, a bomb threat was called into the Courtyard by Marriott hotel on Calhoun Street, complicating the investigation and prompting an evacuation of the immediate area.
Jeffersontown Kroger shooting
On October 24, 2018, Maurice E. Stallard, aged 69, and Vickie Lee Jones, aged 67, both African Americans, were killed while shopping at a Kroger store in Jeffersontown, Kentucky. Gregory A. Bush, age 51, a white man, was initially charged in state court with two counts of murder and ten counts of wanton endangerment, and held on $5 million bail. On November 15, 2018, a federal grand jury in the Western District of Kentucky indicted Bush on six counts: three hate crime charges and three firearms offenses.
Incident: According to Jeffersontown police, Bush had earlier tried to enter the First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown, a predominantly black church, during a service but was unable to because the doors were locked. Police and church leaders said surveillance video recorded his attempt. Between 10 to 15 minutes later, police say Bush entered the Kroger, shot Stallard inside, then Jones in the parking lot. He then exchanged gunfire with a bystander, who saw him shoot Jones. Another man said Bush told him, "Don't shoot me. I won't shoot you. Whites don't shoot whites" and then tried to flee. He was caught by police, who arrived four minutes after they were called.
Perpetrator: Jeffersontown's chief of police said Bush had a history of mental illness and domestic violence, including an incident where he called his ex-wife (who is black) by a racial epithet. The Louisville police chief said the shooting was motivated by racism. The New York Times quoted a Facebook page appearing to belong to Bush: “My paranoid-schizophrenia finally stopped me from working and now am on mental disability. I’m lucky I made it this far with all the trouble I’ve caused myself when I get off my medicine.” Tommy Juanso, an attorney who was a former friend of Gregory A. Bush had said that his rheotric became increasingly vitriolic during the 2016 presidential campaign and the political polarization at that time. Juanso was also biracial (black/white) and thus Bush mocked him and called him "The Big O" (a reference to the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama), he also was obssessed with the idea of black-on-black crime on his social media accounts such as Twitter and made racial insults.
Legal: Shortly after his arrest, Bush was charged by Kentucky state prosecutors with two counts of murder and ten counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. On October 31, a Jefferson County grand jury indicted Bush on two counts of murder, one count of criminal attempted murder [the gunfight with the bystander who attempted to subdue him] and two counts of wanton endangerment.
U.S Attorney Russell Coleman, released a statement on October 31, that the US Attorney's Office and the FBI were "collecting the evidence necessary" to potentially charge Bush with possible violations of federal law "which includes potential civil rights violations such as hate crimes." On November 15, 2018, a grand jury in the Western District of Kentucky indicted Bush for three hate crime charges—two counts of shooting or killing a victim based on race or color, and one count of attempting to shoot or kill a victim based on race or color—and three firearms offenses.
Aftermath: Shortly after the incident, Kentucky State Representatives James Nemes and Jerry Miller, pre-filed a bill as criminal homicide and fetal homicide were not included in the state's hate-crime law. The bill calls for a person to be charged with a hate crime, in addition to the homicide charge, if the crime was found to be motivated by "race, color, religion, sexual orientation or national origin." A large number of politicians were hesitant to call the incident a hate crime before investigations into the incident were finished. However, some like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement through a spokeswoman that stated, "If these aren't definitions of hate crimes, I don't know what a hate crime is." and called for the death penalty if Bush is found guilty. Many activist groups such as Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Showing Up for Racial Justice met with local politicians to petition that Bush face a hate crime charge, and expressed concern that he could potentially escape justice by using mental illness as a defense. As one member told officials, "Mental illness does not prompt you to wake up wanting to kill black people. Mental illness does not discriminate as this man did." According to CNN, the event was one of three hate-motivated incidents that took place in the United States the same week, along with the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and a series of mail bombing attempts. An interfaith moment of silence was declared by Louisville, Kentucky Mayor Greg Fischer, for October 31 in remembrance of those killed at the Kroger and the Pittsburgh synagogue.
Human Shadow Etched in Stone
Human Shadow Etched in Stone is an exhibition at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It is thought to be the outline of a person who was sitting at the entrance of Hiroshima Branch of Sumitomo Bank when the atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima. It is also known as Human Shadow of Death.
Outline: According to the museum, it is thought that the person had been sitting on the stone step waiting for the bank to open when the heat from the bomb burned the surrounding stone white and left their shadow. A black deposit was also found on the shadow. A piece of stone containing the artifact was cut from the original location and moved to the museum. In January 1971, the museum acquired the stone, whose human shadow had become indistinct due to weathering. In April 1975, the museum began research into preserving the shadow. In 1991, the museum reported that earnest investigation of preservation methods had commenced. At present, the stone is surrounded by glass. It is thought that the person depicted in the stone died immediately with the flash of the atomic bomb, or after falling down after the explosion. Some people stated that they saw the person sitting at the entrance just before the bombing. A former soldier testified that he had recovered the person's body. However, the person's identity is still unknown. As of 2016, the museum exhibit states that "Several people have suggested that the person could be a member of their family". In the past, the museum exhibit contained a statement that the person was a 42-year-old woman named Mitsuno Koshitomo. As a result of these previous statements, some conclusions in the literature state that she was the person depicted in the stone. According to museum staff, many visitors to the museum believe that the shadow is the outline of a human vaporized immediately after the bombing. However, the possibility of human vaporization is not supported from a medical perspective. The ground surface temperature is thought to have ranged from 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Celsius just after the bombing. Exposing a body to this level of radiant heat would leave bones and carbonized organs behind. While radiation could severely inflame and ulcerate the skin, complete vaporization of the body is impossible.
History-
Hiroshima Branch of Sumitomo Bank: Human Shadow Etched in Stone was originally part of the stone steps at the entrance of the Hiroshima Branch of Sumitomo Bank, located 260 meters from ground zero. The current location of the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Hiroshima Branch is Kamiya-cho 1 Chome. The bank was built in 1928. It was designed by Kenzo Takekoshi (竹腰健造) at the department of engineering of Sumitomo Group (now Nikken Sekkei), and was constructed by the Obayashi Corporation. The building was constructed out of reinforced concrete, with four floors above ground and one below with an open ceiling up to the third floor. The rooms for business, reception and specie were on the first floor, the meeting rooms and cafeteria on the fourth floor, and the boiler room in the basement. It was built south of the head office of Geibi Bank (Now head office of Hiroshima Bank,) which had been built the year before and was almost the same size. It had Romanesque architecture style in general, and was characterized by a large arch with molding on its front. It was not totally destroyed in the bombing of August 6, 1945. While the interior was destroyed, the exterior remained. The specie room was not damaged, and the cash and passbooks remained. Papers inside the building were blown as far away as Numata-cho by the blast. On the morning of the bombing, the bank was to be open as usual. Most of the employees were on their way to the office when the bomb was dropped. There were 29 employees killed immediately (including those in the branch and those on their way to work), 40 injured and none missing. Some of the survivors died within a few days from radiation sickness, while others worked until retirement. Passersby took refuge in the building as it was close to ground zero, and a large number of bodies were recovered. The branch reopened after the war, and the entrance soon became a famous landmark of the damage caused by the atomic bombing. It was officially recognized by Hiroshima City as an A-bomb site. In those days, the shadow was called "Human Shadow of Death". According to a testimony, it was the second most famous sight next to the Atomic Bomb Dome. Sumitomo Bank went to great lengths to preserve the shadow. In 1959 they built a fence surrounding the stone, and in 1967 they covered the stone with tempered glass to prevent deterioration. In 1971, the Hiroshima Branch was planned to be rebuilt. The stone around the shadow was cut out and donated to the museum.
Saying of human vaporization: According to Masaharu Hoshi, a radiology scientist, in his childhood he heard of the saying that the shadow had been generated after human vaporization. "Journal on the damage of atomic bombing in Hiroshima" (広島原爆戦災誌), published by Hiroshima City in 1971, also contains a description implying human vaporization, which is now proved to be impossible. Within a radius of 500 meters of the ground zero, (Omitted) people were killed almost immediately as if they had been vaporized (Omitted) bodies and bones were burned thoroughly almost not to be found, and everything was destroyed, which was buried in white ash. — Hiroshima City, Journal on the damage of atomic bombing in Hiroshima vol.2 In the 1994 Committee on Health and Welfare of the House of Councillors, Eimatsu Takakuwa mentioned the stone, saying "One was vaporized and vanished immediately. Only the shadow remained."
back up glasses
i need to use my back up glasses as they've been better than my regular glasses. i'm not sure why as it's thick glasses.
leg injury
I had a bad leg injury right before going to China.
I loved the trip and many people asked about it.
when they saw I hurt my leg they asked about that.
initially it was in the shape of a G
Paulette Gebara Farah
Paulette Gebara Farah was a four-year-old Mexican girl, with a physical disability and a language disorder, who was found dead in her room in her family home located in Huixquilucan, State of Mexico, on 31 March 2010. Paulette was reported to have disappeared from her home on 22 March 2010, and her family began a campaign through media, advertisements, and social networks to find Paulette. Paulette's body was “accidentally” found in her own room wrapped in sheets between the mattress of her bed and the foot, the same place where her mother had offered interviews, and where experts from various agencies and even dogs trained to find her had come. However, no one noticed the existence of the corpse, until it was discovered on 31 March due to the smell of putrefaction. Her death was ruled "accidental" by Alberto Bazbaz, attorney general for the state of Mexico, who said his investigation concluded that Paulette died during the night after she turned herself around in bed, ended up at the foot, and died by a suffocation described as "mechanical asphyxia by obstruction of the nasal cavities and thorax-abdominal compression". Paulette's body was buried at Panteón Francés in Mexico City in 2010, before her remains were exhumed and cremated on 3 May 2017, after authorities considered that the remains were no longer objects of evidence for the investigation of the case.
Case-
Paulette's disappearance: On the night of Sunday 21 March 2010, Paulette arrived from Valle de Bravo to her home, located in Huixquilucan, accompanied by her sister and her father, Mauricio Gebara. The mother of the girls, Lizette Farah, awaited their arrival to put them to bed, which she did. On the morning of 22 March one of Paulette's two nannies, Erika, entered the room to wake her, but finding her to be apparently missing she notified Mrs. Lizette and began a search in the building located on Hacienda del Cuervo street. Mauricio Gebara notified his sister of the disappearance of his daughter, and his sister informed the Huixquilucan authorities. Later, the mayor notified the Attorney General of State of Mexico. After the initial search of the apartment building, Paulette's family claimed they could not find her. There were no signs of theft or kidnapping; the locks were intact, as were the windows and all entries to the home. The housing complex had surveillance, but no evidence of Paulette leaving or being taken were found. Paulette could not go out alone, they said, due to a motor and language disability.
Search for Paulette and false statements of her disappearance: In the afternoon, the Attorney General of the State of Mexico disseminated a poster with a photo of Paulette and some information about her age, appearance and physical deficiencies. Paulette's aunt, Arlette Farah, sent mailings and uploaded the photo of the girl to social networks, where the news quickly spread, prompting a large response. In the evening, Lizette Farah called the alleged abductor,[clarification needed] asked that her daughter be returned to her that she be left in a shopping center or a crowded place and assured, on television, that there would be no reprisals. Lizette did not cry, but she looked nervous in the videos. After the announcement, she distributed flyers with Paulette's face, she had billboards put up, as well as advertisements on television and public transport. Mauricio also appeared in the media, asking that his daughter be returned to him. He recalled that he had gone out to work on the morning of Monday 22 March, when Paulette had apparently disappeared. On 29 March, The Attorney General of the State of Mexico announced that Mauricio Gebara and Lizette Farah, parents of Paulette, as well as the sisters Erika and Martha Casimiro, Paulette's nannies, would be placed under a restriction order due to falsehoods and inconsistencies in the statements. “"Each one of them at a certain moment have falsified their statements, which has made it difficult to know the truth of the facts and clarify a firm line of investigation," said then Attorney Alberto Bazbaz.” On 30 March, Paulette's parents spent a few hours at the Procuraduría Mexiquense, and then they were transferred to a hotel where they would fulfill their restriction order. That same day, experts from the unit placed blankets at the home to carry out the reconstruction of the events with the presence of the parents.
Discovery of the body and autopsy: On 31 March at around 2:00 am, Paulette's dead body was found in her bedroom, where previously experts had come with trained dogs and where her mother had given interviews. Paulette had died accidentally due to "mechanical asphyxia due to obstruction of the nasal cavities and thorax-abdominal compression", said Alberto Bazbaz. An autopsy revealed that Paulette slept with an "orthopedic cloth" over her mouth, which was placed every night to prevent her from sleeping with her mouth open; that her body was not manipulated after her death; and that she had eaten food at least five hours before her death. The corpse had two segments of rectangular adhesive cloth in vertical position on both cheeks, in addition to signs of a blow to the left elbow and knee. The findings revealed no signs of physical or sexual violence. The autopsy also established that her death occurred between five and nine days before the analysis was made. This was reported on 31 March, although they failed to reveal the exact date and hour of her death. The investigators also found no traces of drugs or toxic substances in the body that could have affected the girl's consciousness. The conclusion was that Paulette "by her own means" moved on the bed and accidentally fell headlong into a space at the foot of her bed, where she died of asphyxiation, and subsequently remained there unnoticed for nine days.
Aftermath and Paulette's remains: On 3 April, Paulette's mother, Lizette Farah, initiated an amparo proceeding against the restriction order, claiming that she had not been involved in the events that caused her daughter's death. Specialists indicated that the woman suffered from personality disorders. During the procedure, Mrs. Farah became subject to indictment. On 4 April a judge granted freedom to Paulette's parents and nannies. Mauricio Gebara left the hotel where he was staying at 10:20; Lizette Farah, main suspect, at 11:00; and the nannies, Erika and Martha Casimiro, at noon. None could leave the country because the inquiries continued. On 5 April, in separate interviews, Mauricio Gebara and Lizette Farah accused each other, Lizette claiming that her husband blamed her for Paulette's death, Mauricio that the death could not have been just an accident and that he could not put his hands in the fire for his wife. On 6 April, Paulette's body was buried at Panteón Francés in Mexico City. The funeral procession was headed by the girl's mother; the Gebara family did not go to the burial for an "agreement". On 7 April, The Gebara family denied Lizette Farah's request to see her other daughter, Lizette, seven years old, who had stayed with her father's family since Sunday, 4 April. On 10 May, The Attorney General of the Federal District, who also collaborated in the case at the request of her counterpart in the State of Mexico, granted the custody of Paulette's sister to her mother, Lizette Farah, who brought a complaint against her husband demanding custody of the girl. On 26 May, although Alberto Bazbaz defended the investigation and conclusions of the case, he resigned his position as head of the Attorney General of the State of Mexico, saying that a Procuraduría needs confidence to act effectively and that he had lost this confidence due to the questioning of his actions in the investigation of the death of Paulette Gebara Farah. More than seven years later on 3 May 2017, Paulette's body was exhumed from her grave and cremated, since authorities considered that her remains were no longer objects of evidence for the investigation of the case.
Controversies-
Statements by Paulette's nannies: Paulette's nannies, Ericka and Martha Casimiro, insisted that the girl's body was not under her mattress, with Casimiro stating: “"I looked in the bathroom, under the bed and in the closet. I saw that she was not there, and I also went into the bedroom of the lady to look for her, to the bedroom of the other girl [this refers to the room of Paulette's older sister, 7-year-old Lisset], and from there we started looking for her again. And I went back to look for her in the bedroom,"” and Ericka stating: “"In fact, if it had been like that, I think we would have noticed, since thousands of people came to look for her, the bed was made, I never saw the mattress pulled back, I did not see a bundle or anything, it does not make sense to me that the body could have been there since Monday."” Recording between Paulette's mother and her older sister: During the investigation of the case, a recording between Paulette's mother, Lizette, and her then 7-year-old sister, also named Lizette, was released, in which she tells her daughter not to say anything of Paulette's disappearance, so that they would not be blamed, with the following words: “"Little Lizette asks, 'why mom?' and she replies, 'because otherwise they will blame us for stealing her or that you to take her away to be stolen.'"” At first Lizette denied this, saying that the recording was edited so it sounded like she was telling her daughter to hide any information. Later, however, she accepted that these were the words she said, stating, "I had the conversation with my daughter, but not in the context they showed it."
Paulette's pajamas: In 2010 via YouTube, a video entitled 'El extraño caso de la pijama de Paulette' (Spanish for: 'The strange case of Paulette's pajamas') with photographs of her body dressed in pajamas with reindeer figures, taken by experts and disseminated in some media, seconds later, they show a video of an interview with the mother of the little girl made by the program Hechos de Fuerza Informativa Azteca in which the same pajamas appear on the girl's bed.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
twilight bag
I haven't used my twilight bag in a while. it's a utility bag. by that I mean it's a bag that I use for sports or for when there's water nearby or if my blue bag is worn out
wow
i just finished off 3 chicken tacos (some of the meat leftovers from the party) along with the dessert leftovers
writer's block
I have a paper due in 2 weeks. funny how I can blog for hours but can't write a simple paper. I have a decent amount written. during the storm I'm planning on finishing a majority of what I don't have already
headbands
i love headband but they have to be thin because of my glasses. my favorite 1 is my studded cat ear headband.
awesome
i nearly was involved in missionary work. i'm going be eventually but i'm happy i nearly got that chance
terrified
i would've been totally scared to bear my testimony to by brother. i had 1 it's just to who i was saying it too
supportive
some missionaries are super supportive of me going on a service mission after I graduate college
taller
i look slightly taller because of my weight loss. my body frame is becoming more prominent. a lot of things that used to be skin tight are baggy on me.
Goulston Street graffito
The Goulston Street graffito was a sentence written on a wall beside a clue in the 1888 Whitechapel murders investigation. It has been transcribed as variations on the sentence "The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing". The meaning of the graffito, and its possible connection to the crimes attributed to Jack the Ripper, have been debated for over a century.
Discovery: The Whitechapel murders were a series of brutal attacks on women in the Whitechapel district in the East End of London that occurred between 1888 and 1891. Five of the murders are generally attributed to "Jack the Ripper", whose identity remains unknown, while the perpetrator(s) of the remaining six cannot be verified or are disputed. After the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes in the early morning hours of 30 September 1888, police searched the area near the crime scenes in an effort to locate a suspect, witnesses or evidence. At about 3:00 a.m., Constable Alfred Long of the Metropolitan Police Force discovered a dirty, bloodstained piece of an apron in the stairwell of a tenement, 108 to 119 Model dwellings, Goulston Street, Whitechapel. The cloth was later confirmed as being a part of the apron worn by Catherine Eddowes. Above it, there was writing in white chalk on either the wall or the black brick jamb of the entranceway.
Versions: Long told an inquest that it read, "The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing." Superintendent Arnold wrote a report which agrees with his account. Detective Constable Daniel Halse of the City of London Police, arrived a short time later, and took down a different version: "The Juwes are not the men who will be blamed for nothing." A third version, "The Juws are not the men To be blamed for nothing", was recorded by City surveyor, Frederick William Foster. A copy according with Long's version of the message was attached to a report from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren to the Home Office. A summary report on the writing by Chief Inspector Swanson rendered it as "The Jewes are not the men to be blamed for nothing." However, it is uncertain if Swanson ever saw the writing.
Removal: Since the murder of Mary Ann Nichols on 31 August 1888, rumours had been circulating that the killings were the work of a Jew dubbed "Leather Apron", which had resulted in antisemitic demonstrations. One Jew, John Pizer, who had a reputation for violence against prostitutes and was nicknamed "Leather Apron" from his trade as a bootmaker, was arrested but released after his alibis for the murders were corroborated. Police Superintendent Thomas Arnold visited the scene and saw the writing. Later, in his report of 6 November to the Home Office, he claimed, that with the strong feeling against the Jews that already existed, the message might have become the means of causing a riot: I beg to report that on the morning of the 30th Sept. last, my attention was called to some writing on the wall of the entrance to some dwellings at No. 108 Goulston Street, Whitechapel which consisted of the following words: "The Juews are not the word 'not' being deleted the men that will not be blamed for nothing", and knowing in consequence of suspicion having fallen upon a Jew named 'John Pizer' alias 'Leather Apron' having committed a murder in Hanbury Street a short time previously, a strong feeling existed against the Jews generally, and as the Building upon which the writing was found was situated in the midst of a locality inhabited principally by that Sect, I was apprehensive that if the writing were left it would be the means of causing a riot and therefore considered it desirable that it should be removed having in view the fact that it was in such a position that it would have been rubbed by persons passing in & out of the Building." Religious tensions were already high, and there had already been many near-riots. Arnold ordered a man to be standing by with a sponge to erase the writing, while he consulted Commissioner Warren. Covering it in order to allow time for a photographer to arrive or removing a portion of it were considered, but Arnold and Warren (who personally attended the scene) considered this to be too dangerous, and Warren later stated he "considered it desirable to obliterate the writing at once".
Investigation: While the Goulston Street graffito was found in Metropolitan Police territory, the apron piece was from a victim killed in the City of London, which has a separate police force. Some officers disagreed with Arnold and Warren's decision, especially those representing the City of London Police, who thought the writing constituted part of a crime scene and should at least be photographed before being erased, but it was wiped from the wall at 5:30 a.m. According to the police officer supervising the Whitechapel murders investigation, the writing on the wall did not match the handwriting of the notorious "Dear Boss" letter, which claimed responsibility for the killings and used the signature "Jack the Ripper" (though it is widely thought that the letter was not written by the killer). Contemporary police concluded that the text was a semi-literate attack on the area's Jewish population. The police interviewed all the residents of 108–119 Goulston Street, but were unable to trace either the writer of the graffito or the murderer. According to historian Philip Sugden there are at least three permissible interpretations of this particular clue: "All three are feasible, not one capable of proof." The first is that the writing was not the work of the murderer at all: the apron piece was dropped near the writing either incidentally or by design. The second would be to "take the murderer at his word"—a Jew incriminating himself and his people. The third interpretation was, according to Sugden, the one most favoured at the Scotland Yard and by "Old Jewry": The chalk message was a deliberate subterfuge, designed to incriminate the Jews and throw the police off the track of the real murderer. Walter Dew, a detective constable in Whitechapel, tended to think that the writing was irrelevant and unconnected to the murder, whereas Chief Inspector Henry Moore and Sir Robert Anderson, both from Scotland Yard, thought that the graffito was the work of the murderer.
Interpretation: Author Martin Fido notes that the writing included a double negative, a common feature of Cockney speech. He suggests that the writing might be translated into standard English as "Jews will not take responsibility for anything" and that the message was written by someone who believed he or she had been wronged by one of the many Jewish merchants or tradesmen in the area. Historian Philip Sugden has said that the spelling of "Jews" as "Juwes" could reflect a local dialect on the part of the author of the grafitto. In the controversial book Jack the Ripper: British Intelligence Agent, the author Tom Slemen claims that "Juwes" is a Manchurian word. The book A Manchu Grammar (in which Paul Georg von Möllendorff introduced the romanization under which "juwe" represents the pronunciation of Manchu "two") was not known to the layman until publication in 1892. Slemen discovered that Warren presided over a lecture with Claude Reignier Conder entitled "The Origins of the Chinese" at London's Caxton Hall, in which the similarities to the Manchu and European languages were pointed out, and the word Juwe was said to be the part of the common root to the English words dual, duet, duo. Slemen uses this theory to suggest Conder as the Ripper. Conder's brother Francois Reignier is a next-door neighbour to Frederick Abberline—a prominent police figure in the investigation into the Jack the Ripper serial killer murders—in the 1891 and 1901 censuses, and evidence is emerging which suggests Abberline knew Conder well. Slemen says that he does not believe that the European languages are derived entirely from the Altaic languages (which Manchu is part of) but he proves that Sir Charles Warren did believe that Manchu had influenced the European family of languages. A contemporaneous explanation was offered by Robert D'Onston Stephenson, a journalist and writer supposedly interested in the occult and black magic. In an article (signed "One Who Thinks He Knows") in the Pall Mall Gazette of 1 December 1888, Stephenson concluded from the overall sentence construction, the double negative, the double definite article "the Juwes are the men", and the unusual misspelling that the Ripper was most probably French. Stephenson claimed that an "uneducated Englishman" or "ignorant Jew" was unlikely to misspell "Jew", whereas it was similar to the French juives. He excluded French-speaking Swiss and Belgians from his suspicions because "the idiosyncrasy of both those nationalities is adverse to this class of crime. On the contrary, in France, the murdering of prostitutes has long been practised, and has been considered to be almost peculiarly a French crime." This claim was disputed by a native French speaker in a letter to the editor of that same publication that ran on 6 December. Author Stephen Knight suggested that "Juwes" referred not to "Jews," but to Jubela, Jubelo and Jubelum, the three killers of Hiram Abiff, a semi-legendary figure in Freemasonry, and furthermore, that the message was written by the killer (or killers) as part of a Masonic plot. There is no evidence that anyone prior to Knight had ever referred to those three figures by the term "Juwes". Knight's suggestion was used in fictional treatments of the murders, such as the film Murder by Decree, and the graphic novel From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. In addition to the confusion over the exact wording and meaning of the phrase, and whether it was written by the murderer or not, author and former homicide detective Trevor Marriott raised another possibility: the piece of apron may not necessarily have been dropped by the murderer on his way back to the East End from Mitre Square. The victim herself might have used it as a sanitary towel, and dropped it on her way from the East End to Mitre Square. In Marriott's own words, it is an explanation that "many experts will regard as unbelievable".
Inconclusive: To this day, there is no consensus on whether or not the graffito is relevant to the murders. Some modern researchers believe that the apron fragment's proximity to the graffito was coincidental and it was randomly discarded rather than being placed near it. They claim that antisemitic graffiti was commonplace in Whitechapel at the time and that such behaviours as specific placement of evidence and taking the time to write a message while evading the police are inconsistent with most existing profiles of the killer. If, as some writers contend, the apron fragment was cut away by the murderer to use to wipe his hands, he could have discarded it near the body immediately after it had served that purpose, or he could have wiped his hands on it without needing to remove it.
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