Riggins with little brother Charlie and little sister Sadie.

Followers

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Saturday Notes.

I must say that I was just a little surprised to have become the target of criticism over a post I made from my friend Rick up in BC.

Number one I must apologize if I am not as articulate in the printed word as I should be but I will try to explain my post and what I assume was offensive to Rick.

"I know if you are like me I am really growing weary the rioting and bad press the St. Louis area as a whole is getting. The shooting of a young man ,not child as the press is trying to trumpet, Sorry 6 foot tall, over 200lbs and starting college, doesn’t fit my description of a child, a young man yes."

"I cannot believe the restraint our police have used in not returning fire after being shot at and the target of gasoline bombs." in This paragraph I tried to show that media uses the word child like they are describing a six year old in his first holy communion suit.Just doesn’t fit the facts here, this was a large and muscular young man capable of harming someone. Also the part about the restraint used in face of gunfire and gasoline was just that. How many out there have been the target of hostile fire.I have and it’s not pleasant.I did not condone opening fire on unarmed civilians just because they are protesting. But the Swat team had snipers, that could have taken out the gunman and gas bomb throwers,since they were using deadly force, but they didn’t.xI think that in itself speaks highly of our law enforcement people.

Gypsy, for the 30 years I was a Dellwood Police officer, I retired as ass't chief, We had the reputation of a top notch City Police Agency, we set our standards high and you didn't get hired without a degree.

Today if you are black you have the press in your hands, and the police are sacrificial lambs.No matter what the truth is Officer Wilson,will be hung out to dry, to appease the black population. This is oh so wrong. again glad to be a retired LEO.

This was my way of saying that this I felt there is no way this young officer ,right or wrong, is going to get a fair shake in the criminal justice system we have now, with the pressure the black press, politicians, and public are putting on the politicians.

As some of the facts are becoming known, The victim was not shot in the back while running away, he was facing and charging the officer.

The officer received an orbital fracture to his eye socket and facials injuries.

I am waiting for the facts to become known before I judge this and make my mind up as to what I think really happened

Am I a racist heavens no, I include many people of color in my list of friends and former co workers.

Again I will repeat, I and many of my neighbors here in MO are tired of the actions of a few, making our area look bad. This is till a good place to live. If I have offended anyone please take heart these are souly my opinions and not meant to be offensive.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Donna’s birthday, Everyone have a good day out there. Sam & Donna.

16 comments:

  1. Sam, I couldn't agree more. The rush to judgement in the press is unjustified and the use of this incident to loot and pillage is wrong on every level. I applaud the police for the restraint they've exhibited.
    On a happier note, happy birthday to your bride.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The facts are the facts. Let's all wait for correct information. There is NO excuse to loot the stores of innocent stop owners.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sam, I was glad to see you say you are waiting for the "facts to become known before you judge this" but then you followed up with 2 statements that are not facts but only rumours and hearsay. For instance:

    Reports that Ofc Darren Wilson had a bruised or fractured eye socket are false. Wilson was taken to the hospital after the shooting. He had xrays which came back negative. No public official has ever confirmed this story that was first reported unsourced, not surprisingly, on Fox News

    There has not been one shred of evidence gathered and made public by police and FBI investigators that says Michael Brown was charging at Officer Wilson. There have been lots of rumours and witness statements reported by both sides but as yet nothing from any official investigation.

    The only facts I'm aware of in this whole sorry episode is that Michael Brown was shot 6 times as that has been confirmed by the St. Louis Medical Examiner, the Department of Justice autopsy, the privite autopsy and by the Chief of the Ferguson PD. Also, everyone has agreed that Michael Brown was unarmed. Other than these facts - everything else is in dispute and will probably remain that way until the official investigation reports are made public.

    If you have proof or an official source for your statements, then you've got a worldwide scoop on your hands and we'd all, I'm sure like to see your proof!!

    Police forces are trained and expected to handle event violent citizen protests by using a minimum of force. To now suggest that you only meant "snipers" still disregards whether that would have actually made the situation better or worse? I believe it would have made it much worse and am very glad that it never happened.






    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. this is Donna so dont blame Sam, but after hearing from friends about how you have gone off on them, the bullying and nasty comments and name calling. Since you think we are racists dont read our blog.

      Delete
    2. What anonymous individuals, rv'ers or not, may say or think about me doesn't bother me a bit. I could care less. Without names they don't exist. I do care about real, live people like you and Sam because you at least have the courage not to hide behind whispers. So I thank you for that.

      I'm sure Sam has done a lot of wonderful things in his career as a police officer and in my blog I said I respected him for that and I do.

      I also said in my blog that I don't know what's in Sam's heart and never did I call him anything even close to a racist. Insensitive, disturbing, yes! But, I'm betting Sam has been called much, much worse than that in his career. I know I have.

      I've never met Sam and talked to him. It just bothers me that some of Sam's comments, especially "appeasing the black community" and "but not one pair of work shoes was touched" do come off to me as stereotyping an entire group of people.

      Continuing to talk about how difficult the job of a police officer is has never been an issue with me. In fact, I said in my blog that the "it takes “common sense, morality and training” all of which, thankfully, those police officers demonstrated" in referring to their decision not to return fire on the protesters.

      Again, my blog was entirely about Sam's comments. It's not about what happened in Ferguson. Who was right, who was wrong. Who is going to get blamed or what will happen to Officer Wilson. That will all be determined later in a court of law. It will start with a Grand Jury consisting of 9 whites and 3 blacks.

      In the end, given the conservative leanings of most RVers I've run across, I do believe that most folks will support Sam and I have no problem with that at all. I'm not in a contest here, never have been.

      There is a wide gulf in our views for sure and that is readily apparent. Sweeping them under the rug for another decade or so won't do any good. When Sam said in his blog today that "If I have offended anyone please take heart these are solely my opinions and not meant to be offensive", I believe him. I just wish he had used different words in his blog.

      Delete
    3. and if you would have noticed the comment about the boots were made to him by someone that worked the security for the store. and happened to be a true statement. sorry but your past remarks in my mind do not exonerate you. and yes the people that have told me will remain anonymous as they do not want you to harass them any more. At least Sam nor I have ever been kicked out of chat rooms for causing trouble. Please pretend we do not exist and I will do the same for you

      Delete
    4. P.S. Sam is a nice caring person...me not so much

      Delete
    5. Finally, some absolute hilarity after a day of serious discussion! I neither asked nor do I need to be exonerated of anything at all.

      You've been all over the map today, Donna, with excuses and smokescreens about police when that has nothing to do with Sam's direct quotes.

      As I said earlier, I'm just glad that Sam has said today that his comments "were not meant to be offensive".

      By the way, as for the people who you promised anonymity to? I know you couldn't help yourself, but by bringing up the chat room fun fiasco you have inadvertently unmasked one person. I know exactly who you are referring to and trust me, I have absolutely no interest whatsoever.

      Whether you are caring or not is of no real interest to me one way or the other.


      Delete
  4. Very well said Sam and a lot of us are not (English Majors) but I do agree with Phyllis let's let the facts come out. Happy Birthday Donna!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy Birthday Donna. I truly hope the facts will come out but I doubt that we will ever know for sure what really happened.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sam, in no way did I mean to say anything to denigrate the police force in this incident. For one thing, I'm too far away from the scene and I don't regularly follow the news, so I can't make any judgments on this incident. My criticism is of the media who feed off of and provide fodder to those who want to riot and destroy. And as soon as something new happens elsewhere, there won't be another word or picture from the St. Louis area.

    My oldest son is a police officer and I know what they face every day. I've also lived in a county that had a notoriously bigoted police force - not just against blacks, but anyone who they thought looked "foreign" as well as to women in general. I can't tell you the number of disgusting displays of bigotry I've seen from them. Even at that there were good and honest officers on the force, but the bad ones give them all a black eye.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gypsy this is Donna, thank you for your remarks. Sam is a good person and is no way racists as Rick is implying. Are there bad cops.....of course. there are bad accountants, politicians, ITpeople. all walks of life. I think Sam is tired of our nation as a whole giving in to groups because they are loud and destructive. Like a spoiled chilod that gets his way because he throws a tantrum. Let the facts come out, hear the officers side, dont try him in the streets, let him have due process. A person does not have to be armed to be extremely dangerous. How many 19 yrs olds would be offended if you called them a 'child' like the news did with Brown. We have 19 year olds giving their lives in war. Sorry momma bear has her claws out when someone vicsciously attacks her family. I know you are a good person and did not mean anything derogatory.

      Delete
  8. Happy Birthday, Donna. You don't need to explain yourselves. No matter what you write about the situation in Ferguson, you will always have some disagree with you. Isn't that human nature? We just don't know the facts and I doubt we ever will.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy Birthday, Donna. I do hope that your special day has not been ruined by all this. You and Sam are great people. Hang in there, just like Ferguson, this will be forgotten in a short time.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Birthday Hope it was a good one.

    ReplyDelete