<div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;color:black;"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;color:black;"><br><br><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: tuchyner5@aol.com<br>To: group2@bluegrasspals.com <group2@bluegrasspals.com><br>Sent: Sat, Oct 10, 2020 10:43 am<br>Subject: Leonard's comments on Cleora's work in Sept<br><br></div><div id="yiv9329501464"><div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;color:black;"><p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Cleora sub for Sept 20</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">White Is Not a Color</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">by C. S. Boyd</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">In old Salem, when something didn't
go the way people wanted, they cried witch. In modern America, they cry racist
or the ever popular bigot. The matter of police using excessive force, and
other potentially deadly methods when arresting a suspect is not new. It has
been around at least for the last 50 years. Perhaps this goes back to the wild
west days when such force was necessary and approved in order to protect the
life and property of law abiding citizens. In those days, people couldn't file
insurance to get the money to rebuild and recover their losses. However, what
good is the insurance if it is not safe to rebuild. Many of the business owners
are unable to resume their lives because they no longer have a safe environment
to restart. Many have already left and others are considering leaving the
communities they formerly had established their business in.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">This is<span style=""> </span>mixing apples and oranges. You start out<span style=""> </span>by saying something about police brutality
and black lives matter, </span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">and end up with real estate.</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">H</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">ow did we get from appreciating the
work our law enforcement officers do to demanding that the rule of law is
unconstitutional and criminals should be allowed to rage through our
communities unchecked? </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Now only black people are afraid.</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">In some countries, even in a secure
community </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">That is not a secure community.</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">residents are afraid to go outside
day or night for fear of being robbed and/or murdered. Millions risk their
lives to travel thousands of miles to cross our borders illegally in hopes of
finding a better and more secure home. Others who respect the laws of other
countries emigrate legally.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">So if a resident of a country leaves
without approval of the one’s in power, </span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">they don’t respect its Laws? </span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Why?</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">It is clear that we have issues
today that we didn't have 100 years ago. A policemen no longer walks a beat and
becomes personally acquainted with the people in his neighborhood. Frequently,
the suspect is drunk or high on drugs, and may have mental or physical issues
that impair their ability to respond to police appropriately. Then there is the
fact there are more people. In 1950 the world population was 2.5 billion. As of
the 2018 records there are 7.6 billion people on our planet. During that period
of time, the population of the United States increased by 2.1 times
dramatically increasing the strain on law enforcement and other resources. The
environment has changed drastically and there need to be adjustments in police
procedure to address them. This is the responsibility of city and state elected
officials, but the administration in the cities where rioting and destructive
criminal behavior has been allowed to continue unchecked have failed to address
both past and present problems in a satisfactory manner</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">So it is the fult of these leaders that
this problem exists. </span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">What about Federal leaders?</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">. Soon we will be casting our votes
to elect officials to carry forward. Instead of listening to the claims and
promises of the candidates, it would serve us better to look at what current
elected officials from the different parties have done and are currently doing
to prevent and deal with these situations. </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Let's take Minneapolis as an example</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">George Floyd was not the first. A
decade before Floyd’s death, David Smith died in Minneapolis police custody
after an officer kneeled on his back four and one-half minutes. But his case
did not cause public outcry, and officers involved did not face discipline.
However, procedures were revised to include turning a suspect over after he has
been subdued to make sure he was breathing properly. Note that this procedure
was not followed in the case of George Floyd, and, it would seem, no effort has
been made on the part of this Democratic administration to make sure that
officers comply to the procedure. </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Why do you ascribe this to
Democrats?</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">In cases that have been on the news,
it is clear that police are fond of this method of subduing a suspect. There
are likely many cases in which the method was used successfully and did not
result in serious injury or the death of the suspect. In the 2013 case of David
Smith, the officers testified that they were exhausted from struggling with the
person and were afraid that if they released their hold, he would get away.
Perhaps in the case of Floyd and other suspects, they think the complaint of
not being able to breathe is a trick to get them to relax their grip so he can
try again to get away. After all, if he can’t breathe, how is he able to keep
talking? Or even if the person relaxes, they don't immediately loosen their
grip thinking the person may be faking. Consider the thinking of the suspect.
He feels he is in trouble. He begins frantically to struggle harder which
causes the officers to hold him more tightly. Remember that police procedure is
to turn the person over and be sure they are breathing properly. In some police
departments this method has been banned. Why hasn't it been banned in the areas
recently sighted, or if it has, why hasn't the ban been enforced?</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">The Democrats did it.</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">In the case of David Prude,March 23,
Rochester New York, they put a spit mask over Prude’s head. It is not
clear if this is because he was trying to bite them, or because he told them he
had COVID. They arrived on the scene at the request of Prude’s brother. They
found Prude naked and disoriented. The brother confirmed to police that he was
on PCP. This situation went down very quickly. After they had subdued him on
the ground, in the video Prude sounds like he is having trouble breathing or is
trying to spit something out of his mouth. Within a minute, they have him on a
gurney. Three minutes after that, Prude no longer has a pulse. He is loaded
into an ambulance on his way to the hospital 11 minutes after his first
encounter with police. He is taken off life support A week later. The medical
examiner ruled prude died of complications of exfixia in the setting of a
physical restraint and acute PCP intoxication . </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">The Seven officers involved in the
case of David Prude have been suspended with pay pending investigation. The
officers were following procedure step by step. In this case, the man was high
on PCP, out of control, and his family called police needing help with a family
member. There is nothing here to suggest that Prude being black had anything to
do with the way the officers handled the situation.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Are you forgetting that he was
naked. </span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Wouldn’t that have told you there
was something wrong in the way the man was cunctioning. </span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">The cases that have been on the news
in recent years have a number of things in common. The police have been called
to deal with a person that is being disruptive or a threat. The person is under
the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. The person resists arrest, struggles
with police, and frequently refuses to drop a weapon. Police are trying to
apprehend the individual and protect the lives and property of citizens in the
area. The elected officials of Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, New York and
other places that are now experiencing the violence have two things in common.
They have had decades to examine their police procedures and make adjustments
to prevent this kind of thing, and they have chosen to allow the current
lawlessness and destruction of private property to go unchecked. </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">There you go again.<span style=""> </span>Mixing this time the original episode and the
reaction to it.</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Consider that police are called to
handle a difficult situation. They frequently have seconds to make a decision
based on their training, experience, and department procedures.
Minneapolis did respond by instructing police officers to turn the suspect over
on his back and check to make sure the suspect is not in distress, but as we
witnessed in the case of George Floyd, the officers involved did not follow
this procedure. Possibly they didn’t believe he was really in trouble. I also
point out that there were others witnessing the event and they did nothing to
try to help Floyd either. If officers had followed procedure, if the procedure
had been banned, or if an officer that already had 18 complaints of excessive
force against him had been terminated, George Floyd might be alive today.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><i><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">I am having trouble distinguishing
whether you are for police handling these cases<span style="">
</span>or someone trained for them.</span></u></i></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><i><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"><span style="text-decoration:none;"> </span></span></u></i></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Recently, a 9 year old boy led a
protest march in front of the home of Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price demanding
justice for his Aunt who was killed when an officer shot and killed her through
the window. They were responding to a welfare call by a neighbor who was
concerned that her front door was open at 2:30 in the morning. His Aunt, 28
year old Atatiana Jefferson, who upon hearing noises coming from the back yard,
took her gun out of her purse and went to look out the window to see what was
going on. The noise she heard were the officers coming to investigate the call
by the neighbor. They did not come to the door and identify themselves,
possibly because they thought a burglary was in progress. If she had called
police herself, the dispatch would have seen that police were on the way to the
address and let her know, and would have also contacted the officers, and this
tragedy might have been avoided. What if the neighbor had instead called her,
or gone over to her house to see if everything was ok? The officer that fired
resigned two days later and was arrested and charged with homicide six days
later. </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Police are trained to think every
thing needs to be handled in seconds. </span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">That is not what is recommended in
these situations.</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">When about 2 years ago, an officer
amber Geiger who was coming home from a long duty went into the wrong
apartment. Shot and killed Bolten John who was sitting in a chair in his
apartment living room. She called an ambulance and stayed with the victim. He died
before help arrived. She was later charged with murder and was sentenced to 10
years in prison in 2019. It takes time to do these things. Justice is not
served by lynching someone without benefit of a proper investigation and trial.
The officer in the case of Jefferson has been arrested and in due course of
time justice will be served. There is no reason for her 9 year old nephew to be
marching in front of the mayor’s home, and the city of Fort Worth doesn’t owe
him a rec center for him and his friends to play video games .</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">What does is<span style=""> </span>demonstrating in front of the mayor’s house
got to do with him deserving a rec center? </span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">I thought you wanted to do something
about the leaders of these troubled areas to do something aganst<span style=""> </span>that.</span></u></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">there is no excuse for allowing
rioting and lawlessness to continue as a result. Officials need to sit down
with responsible clear headed citizens to work out new procedures to protect
the rights and property of law abiding citizens and to safely apprehend law
breakers to face charges against them in a court of law, then make sure those
procedures are followed, and weed out those officers that don’t comply. On the
other hand, Sometimes things go wrong even when everything is done right. </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Before deciding who to vote for, I
invite the reader to investigate how well their local officials have dealt with
this problem in past decades. why should we expect officials that haven't taken
steps to prevent tragedies like George Floyd in the past, and who don't take
steps to insure the safety of lives and property of their citizens now be
reelected. The idea of responding to the problem by eliminating law
enforcement is irresponsible. A better plan might be to defund the
administration that hasn't taken the proper steps and use those funds to pay
for professional counselors to work with police in the cases where that would
be of benefit. It is the poor communities that suffer most from what is going
on, and these officials should not be permitted to use tax dollars to provide
themselves with private security. If the rest of the citizens don't need police
to keep them safe and secure, then neither do the officials. In at least
one case, they went so far as to prosecute private citizens who tried to protect
themselves and their property against threats from the rioters who are allowed
to continue to loot, vandalize, and destroy the property of innocent people. I
suggest that administrations that haven’t addressed these problems in the
past are unlikely to do it if reelected.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">in each of these cases, we see that
the suspect struggled, resisted arrest, in one case got a taser away from and
officer, fired at the officer and fled. They were under the influence of drugs
or alcohol. The police were called. They were not cruising around looking for
black people to kill as The media would have us believe. If that were the case,
we would have piles of dead bodies in the streets. </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Is the list of promises made year
after year but not fulfilled anything more than a platform to secure votes
while having no intention of addressing the problems? I would also point out
that the issue of law enforcement is first the responsibility of local and
state officials, not the responsibility of the federal government. Federal police
are and the national guard are available to restore law and order if necessary,
but the local officials need to ask. Repeated offers of help have been refused
by the same elected officials that refuse to deal with the problem.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">I encourage the reader to do
something former generations have not been able to do. Go out on the internet
and research these and other questions for themselves. Be wary. There is much
false information on the internet. Be discerning and sift out the chaff. Get
the real story, not the one that you first find or the one that sounds like
your own personal bias. There is a tendency to cry racism every time there is
something a certain group doesn’t like. They will yell for freedom of speech
for what they have to say, but label someone with a different opinion as racist
or bigoted. They scream for equal justice for all when a black man is killed,
but are unconcerned when a nonblack is treated the same way. They want justice
except in the case where they are the one running a red light, looting,
vandalizing, and burning a business. What happens to a person that has a
different opinion? Who is really behind a group of people who support free
speech only as long as it agrees with their opinion, or justice only when it
condones what they do and punish others who do not agree with them? We need
public officials who will come together and address these problems with real
solutions instead of political name calling and rhetoric.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">I also encourage the reader to read
articles that present views other than that of the reader. Give the writer an
opportunity to present his/her case. Listening in no way obligates the listener
to agree, it just asks the listener to open his/her mind and try to understand
the other viewpoint. Then decide if they agree or not. I feel that the majority
of law enforcement professionals are there to do a difficult job the best way
they can and to serve and protect the community they serve. They, like all
humans, make mistakes and no set of procedures is going to change that. Some,
I’m sure, should not be in the job. It is up to officials to weed those out.
Some will think they know how to be a police officer and ignore the procedures.
This cannot be allowed to persist without consequences. The procedures are
there for a reason. When a programmer refuses to follow a procedure, some
things that need to be done don't get done and the consequence is lost time and
productivity. When a police officer ignores procedures, too often, lives are
lost or at the very least put at risk. Still, we need to realize that even when
everyone does everything they are supposed to do in the way it is supposed to
be done, sometimes things go wrong anyway. Defunding the police is not a good
idea. We need our police to take care of the really bad guys. We could add a
community squad or trained counselors to partner with people capable of
handling those who are a physical challenge due to drugs and/or medical issues
that may cause them to become violent. A community squad that is familiar with
the people in the neighborhood and those that have special needs and issues
they are dealing with could prevent what happened in the case of Jefferson and
Prude. Maybe it is time to let the lack of action in the past speak louder than
the campaign rhetoric. The people who will suffer the most in this environment
are the poor communities that are already struggling to climb out of poverty.
Don't be deceived, if this continues, crime will not be content to stay in
these disadvantaged communities. Without a police force to combat them and no
justice system to charge them, they will move into all neighborhoods and only
those with the funds to hire private security will have a hope of being safe.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">Don't misunderstand, I know that
racism exists, not only in the U. S. but worldwide. I don't believe that racism
is as prevalent as media and the anarchist driving this unrest would have us
believe. I know from personal experience that abusive people are most likely to
be abusive to everyone, not just to a specific race. There was no need to push
Prude or Floyd's face down into the ground. This was excessive force and
abusive. In these cases, it at least contributed to the death of the
individual. It is the responsibility of the administrators of law enforcement
as well as other public services to not only provide clear and appropriate
procedures, but to weed out those individuals that are abusive. The first
choice would be that these individuals never get the position in the first
place. But, let’s not forget that people make honest and regrettable mistakes.
Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, to quote an old cliche, and
let's take a close look at the past performance of candidates wanting to be
elected to these administrative positions.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">The majority of the demonstrators
are young white millennials in their 20s and 30s. Some are being paid by
anarchist groups to disrupt our society for their own purposes. I encourage
readers to do their own due diligence. Listen to original information rather
than relying on the news media. Examine the information carefully and make
their own conclusions rather than swallow the interpretation of the biased news
media. If there is truly systemic racism in the police ranks it must stem from
the elected officials because they are the ones that decide the procedures used
by the department in carrying out law enforcement.</span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="yiv9329501464MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;">_______________________________________________</span></p>
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