Box Turtle Bulletin

CBN News A Year Late

The Christian Broadcasting Networ is reporting a story today about how firefighters were forced to man a vehicle in the San Diego Gay Pride Parade. The only problem, the story is about 2007 Gay Pride.

But there is a 2008 fireman story, and it was reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Tonai, a 17-year fire department veteran, signed up to ride in the 2008 gay pride parade under the city’s all-volunteer parade policy, which San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Tracy Jarman instituted in response to the 2007 controversy.

“A whole bunch of people wanted to do this,” Tonai told me.

But on parade day many of them were off battling wildfires up north, and the job went to Tonai and three female colleagues.
…
I asked him what he thought of his parade duty.

“The crowd response was just awesome,” Tonai said. “To me, it justifies what I do. There’s definitely nothing negative about this event.”

And as for the lawsuit filed last year by firemen who were offended by “celebration of lewdness and obscenity in support of the homosexual agenda”, well its certainly no without its own entertainment.

Aguirre, having learned that one of the firefighters subscribes to Playboy and brought copies to the station house, wants to question them about the magazine’s racy photos and cartoons.

He contends the firefighters can’t plausibly claim they were subjected to workplace harassment from sexually explicit behavior at the parade when they voluntarily view sexually explicit materials on the job.
…
The firefighters’ lawsuit contained 26 pages of photographs purportedly portraying “explicit and offensive sexual remarks and gestures” from the 2007 parade.

The city trumped that in a brief that contains 36 pages of “sexually explicit” images from six recent issues of Playboy.

Knoxville Shooting Witness’s First-Hand Account

Via Out and About Newspapers:

The Annie character was just finishing “Maybe”. I was thinking, “this is really good.” The Miss Hannigan character walked in stage left and slapped a basket Annie was holding out of her hand. From the sanctuary right entrance, I thought I hear yelling and a loud BOOM of an explosion.

My mind tried to register the sound. I was thinking, “Did a speaker explode? Did I hear a prop gun? Did something go wrong?” and as soon as that thought left my mind I smelled the sulfur from the gunpowder and heard another BOOM and then BOOM. I left go of Jaime’s hand and stepped around the corner just as John Bohstedt tackled the shooter. Immediately two others were on top of him.

Read the rest here.

See also:
Knoxville Gays On Edge; Local MCC Church Wants To See Letter
Relief Fund Set Up for Knoxville Churches
Thoughts and Prayers for Knoxville Shooting Victims
Knoxville Shooting Witness’s First-Hand Account
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Blacks, Gays, Anyone Different”
AFA Approved Comments: Knoxville Church Doing “Satan’s Work”
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Liberals,” Gays
Just Concluded: Knoxville Press Conference
Knoxville Shooter’s Manifesto Found
Gunman Opens Fire On Gay-Friendly Church, Two Killed

Knoxville Shooter Hated “Blacks, Gays, Anyone Different”

More details continue to emerge about Jim David Adkisson, the Knoxville shooter responsible for killing two and injuring seven at the gay-affirming Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church yesterday. The Knoxville News Sentinal, which is doing quite a bang-up job in covering this story, has more from people who know him:

“He always had the attitude the government was trying to get him,” [Carold] Smallwood said. “He disliked blacks, gays, anyone who was a different color or just different from him.”

Smallwood also described Adkisson as an accomplished guitarist with “a heart of gold when he’s good.” Adkisson carried the 12-guage shotgun into the church hidden in a guitar case.

It has also been revealed that Adkisson’s ex-wife had taken out a restraining order against him in 2000 after he put a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. She filed for divorce a few days after the incident.

See also:
Knoxville Gays On Edge; Local MCC Church Wants To See Letter
Relief Fund Set Up for Knoxville Churches
Thoughts and Prayers for Knoxville Shooting Victims
Knoxville Shooting Witness’s First-Hand Account
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Blacks, Gays, Anyone Different”
AFA Approved Comments: Knoxville Church Doing “Satan’s Work”
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Liberals,” Gays
Just Concluded: Knoxville Press Conference
Knoxville Shooter’s Manifesto Found
Gunman Opens Fire On Gay-Friendly Church, Two Killed

AFA Approved Comments: Knoxville Church Doing “Satan’s Work”

Not anyone can log in and leave a comment on the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow site. Once you submit a comment, it has to be approved by a moderator before it goes public. And what kind of comments earn the AFA’s stamp of approval on their re-post of the AP’s story on the Knoxville church shooting? How about this one:

While this is a tragedy, the article may mislead those who are not familiar with the Unitatian [sic] “non-religion”. Unitarians are not Christians, and like all non-Christians they are doing Satan’s work.” Only a non-Christian would say something like that at a time like this. Thanks for muddying the waters.”

And again, another one, probably by the same author (note the repeated misspelling):

While this is a tragedy, the article may mislead those who are not familiar with the Unitatian [sic] “non-religion”. Unitarians are not Christians, and like all non-Christians they are doing Satan’s work.”

They liked the comment so much they approved it twice.

We’ve lamented the resounding silence on the part of anti-gay religious activists concerning Larry King’s murder. It looks like some quarters have decided not to be so quite this time, now that a gay-friendly church was the target.

Disgusting. Is it any wonder Christians have such a bad name?

Update: As readers point out, it does appear that the first comment reposted above may be a rebuke to the second comment. It takes a very close reading to catch it; OneNewsNow’s formatting makes it all very unclear. OneNewsNow has removed the second comment that we reproduced above, but there’s still another one remaining:

The truth is never hateful or an insult and those who mock the truth are Satan’s stooges. Unitarians are not Christians and anyone who is not of Christ is of Satan. That is truth, not hate or insult.”

Another comment, (the most recent one?) states the obvious:

At a tragic time like this we should be praying for these people, not attacking them. I don’t agree with their beliefs, but to insult them during this time does nothing to further the gospel of Christ. It only serves to give those who hate Christianity a reason to call us hateful.

Well, if it talks like a duck…

See also:
Knoxville Gays On Edge; Local MCC Church Wants To See Letter
Relief Fund Set Up for Knoxville Churches
Thoughts and Prayers for Knoxville Shooting Victims
Knoxville Shooting Witness’s First-Hand Account
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Blacks, Gays, Anyone Different”
AFA Approved Comments: Knoxville Church Doing “Satan’s Work”
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Liberals,” Gays
Just Concluded: Knoxville Press Conference
Knoxville Shooter’s Manifesto Found
Gunman Opens Fire On Gay-Friendly Church, Two Killed

Knoxville Shooter Hated “Liberals,” Gays

We have more information on the letter that was found in Jim David Adkisson’s car. According to Police chief Sterling Owen, Adkisson wrote a four-page letter in which he stated his “hatred of the liberal movement. Liberals in general, as well as gays.” It’s that last point that’s receiving particular attention from the Knoxville News Sentinel:

It appears that church had received some publicity regarding its liberal stance,” the chief said. The church has a “gays welcome” sign and regularly runs announcements in the News Sentinel about meetings of the Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays meetings at the church.

The church’s Web site states that it has worked for “desegregation, racial harmony, fair wages, women’s rights and gay rights” since the 1950s. Current ministries involve emergency aid for the needy, school tutoring and support for the homeless, as well as a cafe that provides a gathering place for gay and lesbian high-schoolers.

Greg McKendry, 60, and Linda Kraeger, 61, were killed in the attacked. Injured were Joe Barnhart, 76; Jack Barnhart, 69; Betty Barnhart, 71; Linda Chavez, 41; John Worth Jr., 68; Tammy Sommers, 38; and Allison Lee, 42. Jack and Joe Barnhart are brothers, and Jack and Betty Barnhart are married.

See also:
Knoxville Gays On Edge; Local MCC Church Wants To See Letter
Relief Fund Set Up for Knoxville Churches
Thoughts and Prayers for Knoxville Shooting Victims
Knoxville Shooting Witness’s First-Hand Account
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Blacks, Gays, Anyone Different”
AFA Approved Comments: Knoxville Church Doing “Satan’s Work”
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Liberals,” Gays
Just Concluded: Knoxville Press Conference
Knoxville Shooter’s Manifesto Found
Gunman Opens Fire On Gay-Friendly Church, Two Killed

Just Concluded: Knoxville Press Conference

Knoxville police chief  Sterling Owen has just concluded a press conference, in which he provided a few additional details about yesterday’s mass shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

According to Chief Owen, Jim David Adkisson had spent at least a week planning the attack, based on the four-page letter that was recovered from Adkisson’s vehicle. The shotgun was purchased about a month ago. The police spokesman said that Adkisson was frustrated over not being able to find an job, and that he “hated the liberal movement.” Owen targeted TVUUC because of some “recent publicity” the church had received regarding its “liberal stance on things,” but he would not provide any further details. They are investigating the crime as a possible hate crime.

Chief Owen credited the actions of church members who tacked the shooter, saying that they saved many lives. It appeared the shooter wanted to kill as many people as possible and did not expect to leave the church alive. Two congregants were killed in the attack. Five remain hospitalized; four are in critical condition and one serious.

See also:
Knoxville Gays On Edge; Local MCC Church Wants To See Letter
Relief Fund Set Up for Knoxville Churches
Thoughts and Prayers for Knoxville Shooting Victims
Knoxville Shooting Witness’s First-Hand Account
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Blacks, Gays, Anyone Different”
AFA Approved Comments: Knoxville Church Doing “Satan’s Work”
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Liberals,” Gays
Just Concluded: Knoxville Press Conference
Knoxville Shooter’s Manifesto Found
Gunman Opens Fire On Gay-Friendly Church, Two Killed

Knoxville Shooter’s Manifesto Found

Knoxville police say that they found a multi-page, handwritten letter in the car of Jim David Adkisson, the mass shooter at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Sunday morning. Police aren’t releasing the contents of the letter, which they say provides evidence of the shooter’s motives. A police department investigator has briefed Knox County Criminal Court Judge Kenneth Irvine Jr. on the letter.

The investigator also told Irvine that in a subsequent interview, Adkisson said he entered the church Sunday morning with the intent of killing everyone inside. He denied having specifically targeted any children. Witnesses report that he was saying “hateful words” as he fired. Witnesses and police so far are not commenting on a possible motive, but they say that Adkisson had no apparent connection with the church.

Some 200 people were in the sanctuary when the gunman opened fire. A children’s musical play had just begun at the start of Sunday services. Two people were killed and seven wounded. Greg McKendry, 60, was killed when he confronted Adkisson. Also killed was Linda Kraeger, 61, who was visiting to see the musical.

See also:
Knoxville Gays On Edge; Local MCC Church Wants To See Letter
Relief Fund Set Up for Knoxville Churches
Thoughts and Prayers for Knoxville Shooting Victims
Knoxville Shooting Witness’s First-Hand Account
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Blacks, Gays, Anyone Different”
AFA Approved Comments: Knoxville Church Doing “Satan’s Work”
Knoxville Shooter Hated “Liberals,” Gays
Just Concluded: Knoxville Press Conference
Knoxville Shooter’s Manifesto Found
Gunman Opens Fire On Gay-Friendly Church, Two Killed

The Scapegoating of Brandon McInerney

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Douglas Daily ruled yesterday that Brandon McInerney, the 14-year-old who shot and killed Lawrence King at school in February and was charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime, can be tried as an adult.

McInerney’s lawyer, William Quest, along with a large coalition of gay groups, had urged the court to try McInerney as a juvenile. That coalition includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Equality California, Gay Straight Alliance Network, Lambda Legal, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Transgender Law Center.

I know this is a controversial, but I see no purpose this ruling serves. There has already been one tragedy — Larry’s life is over — and there will soon be another. What this court and district attorney is doing setting the stage for a 14-year-old with no prior record to spend the next 50 years in prison. If this path reaches its logical conclusion, two lives will be over.

Do we really think that solves anything?

California only recently passed a comprehensive anti-bullying measure to specifically protect LGBT students in the schools. The ink on that law was barely dry when King was shot, and it’s unclear how much, if any, the curriculum had been revised or programs put into place to comply with that law. And I have yet to have heard any specific steps that the schools in Ventura County may have taken to instruct their students about bullying sexual minority children specifically.

Just a few weeks ago, we saw an anti-bullying law killed in North Carolina because it listed sexual orientation as a reason schoolchildren might be targets of bullying. Notice the clause that started the controversy: sexual orientation. It wasn’t race, religion, or abilities that sparked the controversy. It was because sexual orientation was specified that the bill was killed, and opponents to that bill were vocally proud of having killed it for that very reason.

And that specificity is important. You can tell kids that it’s not okay to beat up Black kids, or kids who speak a different language, or kids who are disabled, or who kids who follow a different religion, and they can understand that. And they can certainly hear it loud and clear when measures to protect LGBT kids are shot down because we don’t want to “approve” of some people. We’ve even seen so-called “experts” extolled the value of teasing and tormenting LGBT kids.

So just saying “don’t bully” isn’t enough. As any parent will tell you, teens and pre-teens are preeminent experts at exploiting loopholes. A huge, gaping loophole of being a sissy — that is all the “permission” some kids need. Especially one whose home environment, like Brandon’s, may have taught him that violence is a way to solve problems. Brandon’s own father had been convicted of shooting his mother in the arm just before he was born.

There’s no information to suggest that Brandon and Larry’s teachers or school administrators did anything to calm this particular situation. And there’s certainly no indication that Brandon received any appropriate guidance from his parents. And all we have to do is look in the newspapers to see plenty of other examples where other “responsible” adults, by their silence as well as their rhetoric, give a signal that kids like Brandon can take as a green light.

We asked last February where the voice of the Church was concerning Lawrence King’s death, but we’ve heard nothing but silence. We’ve searched for Lawrence King’s name on Focus On the Family’s web site and CitizenLink. Guess what? There’s nothing but silence. Look at the Family Research Council’s web site. More silence. Same with American Family Association’s OneNewsNow, the Christian Post, Christianity Today, the Christian Newswire and the Baptist Press. Nobody has raised their voice. Instead, we’ve had months of silence.

We know how easy it is for kids to pick up the idea that if something isn’t prohibited, then it is implicitly permitted. How many other kids are being influenced by the roaring silence coming from the so-called “values” bunch in the wake of Larry’s murder?

In the times of the Temple in Jerusalem, a goat was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The goat was meant to carry the sins of the people out of the city. And being sent off alone into the desert full of wolves and other wild animals without the protection of the herd, the goat’s fate was sealed. That goat was later translated as the “(e)scape goat,” or scapegoat.

We are about to send 14-year-old Brandon McInerney into the wilderness of the California penal system. McInerney committed a horrific crime, one that cannot go unpunished. But that young teen also cannot be expected to carry the sins of those who, by their silence and their rhetoric, have given the tacit green light over and over. He cannot atone for their sins.

Gay kids aren’t the only victims when the adults around them fail to do the right thing. Larry King’s live was already snuffed out far too early. Destroying another one won’t solve the problem, nor will it absolve the guilt of those who allow the bullying to continue.

Anderson County Teen Charged With False Report

Last week we noted a report from South Carolina about an un-named teen who was alledgedly beaten by his father with a baseball bat because he was gay. That teen, 18-year-old Dwight Clark Ables, accused his father of yelling and swinging a bat at him on July 13 after attending a gay pride festival. Ables also said his father forced him out of the house.

That teen has now been charged with filing a false report:

After conducting a thorough investigation and the lack of any forensic evidence to support the allegation of the assault, Dwight Clark Ables has been charged with 1 count of Filing a False Police report. He turned himself in today at the Anderson County Sheriff’s office,” read a press release from the Department’s Public Information Officer Suzanne Griffin.

Ables is currently being held at the Anderson County Detention Center where he awaits a bond hearing.

Flagstaff Hate Crime Assailant Charged With Felony

We reported last month about four Flagstaff, Arizona men who were arrested following an assault on gay pride participants. One man was left unconscious and bleeding following the attack. Today we learn that one of those arrested, Travis A. Reiner, 24, of Flagstaff, has been charged with one felony count of aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of assault and disorderly conduct.

Police called the assault a hate crime because of anti-gay slurs that were shouted by the suspects. David Rozema, chief deputy Coconino County attorney said in a statement that Arizona no longer has a separate hate crime law. Rozema said that evidence of the crime being committed due to sexual orientation can be presented during sentencing in order to seek a stiffer sentence.

SC Gay Teen Beaten By Father With Baseball Bat

An unnamed 18-year-old teen returned to his Anderson County home following a gay pride parade, where he was assaulted by his father with a baseball bat. The teen’s father yelled, cursed, swung a bat, prayed and tried to “cast the demon of homosexuality out of him,” according to the report made to a Sheriff’s deputy. When the teen returned to the house for clothes an hour later, the father punched him again.

The assaults reportedly took place on Sunday, and the teen filed a report with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday. Both assaults are under investigation.

Four Arrested in Flagstaff Pride Attack

Flagstaff, Arizona police arrested four suspects following an assault on two people leaving a Flagstaff, Arizona Pride event early Sunday morning. The victims were in a crowd waiting for taxis along with staff and volunteers from Equality Arizona, when a group of men shouting anti-gay slurs attacked about 2:45 a.m. The most severely injured man, Michael Brown, was left unconscious and bleeding after being punched by an assailant. He was hospitalized overnight for observation and released on Monday morning.

Sam Holdren, Equality Arizona’s Public Affairs Director, was there with Michael (who is a good friend of his) and helped police identify the four assailants. The suspects are Travis Reiner, 24, of Flagstaff; Christopher Rose, 26, of Englewood, Colorado; Michael Van Roteyn, 24, of Flagstaff; and Mark Greinke, 25, of Sun City, Arizona. They are being charged with assault, aggravated assault and disorderly conduct. They may also be charged with hate crimes.

Flagstaff’s “Pride In the Pines” is one of the few Pride events held in Arizona during the traditional Pride month of June. With Arizona’s unbearably brutal summertime temperatures, Phoenix opts to hold their Pride celebration in April and Tucson has their’s in October. Flagstaff’s higher altitude and much milder climate makes Pride In the Pines a very popular destination for LGBT people from across the state. And since Flagstaff has a reputation for being a very friendly, laid back, live-and-let-live sort of a town, this attack is all the more troubling.

Mistrial Declared In Sacramento Hate Crimes Case

A mistrial has been declared in the misdemeanor hate crimes trial of Aleksandr Shevchenko, who was charged with disturbing the peace and simple assault for throwing a bottle in a fight that led to Satendar Singh’s death in Sacramento. Satendar died after being punched by Shevchenko’s friend, Andrey Vusik, who has since left the country.

Shevchenko was convicted by a Sacramento jury of the two misdemeanor charges, but the jury was deadlocked on the hate crime allegation after four days of deliberation. It’s unclear whether the District Attorney’s Office will seek a new trial on the hate crime enhancement.

Shevchenko faces up to nine months for the two misdemeanor convictions. Satendar however will still be dead for a very long time.

See also:
What Is A Young Gay Man’s Life Worth?

What Is A Young Gay Man’s Life Worth?

About a year and a half, with parole.

That’s the sentence that Stephen Moller received today for the death of Sean Kennedy. Sean, 20, was attacked outside a Greenville County, S.C. bar on May 16, 2007. Witnesses said that Moller shouted anti-gay epithets at Kennedy before attacking him. Sean died of his injuries.

Moller was originally charged with murder, but the grand jury reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter. Moller pleaded guilty to those reduced charges and was sentenced to five years, reduced to three, minus seven months for time served. Moller’s attorney said that when all is said and done, Moller will probably serve about a year and a half.

In a statement in court today, Moller shirked responsibility for his crime, saying:

“I wish that young people weren’t allowed to be out late at night and the bars were not allowed to serve them alcohol. I think if that hadn’t taken place, we wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t be here today.”

But contrast Moller’s statement to the court with his taunting phone call to a friend of Sean’s fifteen minutes after the assault:

Hey. (laughter) Whoa stop. (laughter) Hey, I was just wondering how your boyfriend’s feeling right about now. (laughter) (??) knocked the f— out. (laughter). The f—— faggot. He ought to never stick his mother-f—— nose (??) Where are you going? Just a minute. (laughter). Yea boy, your boy is knocked out, man. The mother——-. Tell him he owes me $500.00 for breaking my god—- hand on his teeth that f—— bitch”

Involuntary manslaughter. A year and a half.

Elke Kennedy, Sean’s mother, reacted this way:

“There was no justice today for Sean. The sentence that Stephen Moller received, in my opinion, is a joke and a slap on the wrist. Once again, it proves that in South Carolina there is no justice.”

South Carolina has no hate crime law covering sexual orientation. But hey, South Carolina Equality points out that torturing animals can get you five years in prison.

Killing a gay man? Half that.

Ms. Kennedy is right. There is no justice today.

Tennessee Gay Man’s House Vandalized Again

It’s like a bad recurring nightmare for Neal Anthony. Last Friday, his Warren County, Tennessee, home was badly damaged in an act of anti-gay vandalism yet again — for the ninth time:

“I’ve spent a whole lot of money on this house,” said Anthony, Warren County homeowner and vandalism victim.

He spent $80,000 to fix up the home and $10,000 more dollars on surveillance cameras to make him feel secure. The cameras are a modern-day amenity that stand out against his 150-year-old structure.

“I’m scared to leave my windows open. I’m scared to leave my door open. I’m afraid to go out in the yard by myself,” said Anthony.

…

The suspected vandals also spray painted “Dorothy’s in Hell” referring to Neal’s mother, who passed away in December.

While virtually every square inch of his property is within range of security cameras, this latest act of vandalism went undetected. Vandals cut the lines to the cameras, security lights, landscape lights and even severed power to the main house and his phone line. Anthony fears the attacks may escalate from vandalism to personal assault.

So far, Warren County sheriffs have only made one set of arrests in association with these nine crimes. Last year, three teens confessed to vandalizing his home with paint balls. They were given probation.

The ACLU of Tennessee has called upon the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI) and the FBI to investigate. The FBI declined, according to ACLU’s Christine Sun:

“The FBI has informed me that it would otherwise investigate the crimes but for the unfortunate fact that sexual orientation is not a protected characteristic under the federal hate crimes statute. The TBI has informed me that it will consider providing additional resources to investigate the hate crimes against Mr. Anthony but only if requested to do so by the Warren County District Attorney’s office.”

Sun also sent a letter to the Warren County sheriff’s office asking them to request additional help from the TBI and to report the crimes as a hate crime to the FBI. As we’ve noted earlier, many jurisdictions have refused to report far worse hate crimes to the FBI.

So far, the sheriff’s office appears unresponsive. They have not responded to the ACLU’s request, nor have they responded to an offer from Neal Anthony to post a reward for information leading to the arrests. The also refused to return phone calls to a local television station for comment.