FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: dave from knoxville on July 28, 2008, 10:38:42 PM
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We had a church shooting here in Knoxville yesterday. I have a number of friends who are members of the church, but were lucky enough not to be there.
Send good thoughts and wishes to the people who were involved.
Here's a link, if you wish to see details. The shooter was upset about the church's outreach to the GLBT community, and to liberals in general. I am sure Michael Savage is already on the air talking about the positive influence he has had in Knoxville.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/28/church-shooting-police-find-manifesto-suspects-car/
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That's terrible, Dave. My thoughts go out to the victims of this completely senseless shooting, and to the poor children who had to witness it.
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That's awful. Good thoughts to my fellow Unitarian Universalists.
The UUA set up a website (http://knoxvillesupport.blogspot.com/) for everyone to send good thoughts and prayers.
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This is so horrible. Condolences to anyone you know who might have been affected in any way, yourself included.
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I've got a friend on another board who lives in the area and knew a couple of the parishioners, and it's been pretty difficult for him and his family, but it could have been a lot worse and you've got to appreciate the guts of anyone who would go so far as to take the shooter down unarmed.
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Yeah, that story broke my heart, Dave.
At least they jumped on the guy before any children were shot. I hope a couple of gay parishoners beat the fuck out of him until the the cops arrived.
Horrible horrible news. My heart goes out to Knoxville.
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I saw a blog post earlier this morning that basically said, it's a shame he finds "gay" so distasteful, because where he's going to wind up, he's going to get to experience it up close and repeatedly.
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I saw a blog post earlier this morning that basically said, it's a shame he finds "gay" so distasteful, because where he's going to wind up, he's going to get to experience it up close and repeatedly.
My thoughts were more along the lines that he felt so strongly about politics that... he threw away his right to vote. That'll teach those filthy liberals.
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I have tried to post here several times now, and can't seem to find the right words. I don't want to post while emotional and feeling hatred for this monster, but I can't get my mind into any other place. The whole thing is just disgusting, and Dave and the rest of the good people of Knoxville never deserved to have such vermin as this senseless psychopath amongst them.
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I'm really sorry about this, Dave. It sucks. I hope that, when he approaches the Aryan Nation for membership, they reject him and thereby really hurt his feelings.
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I have tried to post here several times now, and can't seem to find the right words. I don't want to post while emotional and feeling hatred for this monster, but I can't get my mind into any other place. The whole thing is just disgusting, and Dave and the rest of the good people of Knoxville never deserved to have such vermin as this senseless psychopath amongst them.
I am right there with you, Forrest, emotionally and in my inability to express the confusing jumble of emotions. My first inclination is always to head towards the bad punchline; events that occur this close to home make you rethink that habit.
Thanks for everybody's nice thoughts; I will share them with my pals who are members over there.
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This is just sickening. I heard about the event, but did not hear all the details yesterday. I share everybody's sorrow.
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The people who took that guy down, unarmed, are true heroes.
Adkisson said he also was frustrated about not being able to obtain a job, Owen said.
Now there's a surprise.
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Very sorry to hear about this, Dave, and sorry for the community of Knoxville.
That he believed what he believed, read what he read, and did what he did still isn't surprising. There is a large undercurrent in this country full of people on the verge of doing exactly as he did with only the slightest human impulses holding them back. If this shitbag wanted to look deeper into what's actually "destroying the country", he should have examined the recipe of guns + religion + fear & ignorance. It's responsible for a thousand times the bloodshed of "churches admitting gays".
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i read about this incident yesterday and didnt get all the way through; it was pretty gross. i suppose im mostly confused than upset- his motive is such a foreign concept to me that i am more baffled at what happened, preventing me from absorbing emotionally what really happened.
im sorry this happened in your community, dave. however, Tennessee has tenacity; you shall overcome, brother.
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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.
I'm not a Christian, but that sounds like a pretty fucking awesome church. Good on them for doing what needs to be done out there in a tough world. And any bunch of people with as much heart as it sounds like these folks must have, I've got no doubts they'll be able to pull together and make it through anything, even this.
I'm thinking about when I was in traffic court last week, and I realized that the baby faced teenager sitting next to me with shaved head and elaborate Nazi Iron Cross rings and tattoos was an Aryan Nation type. I was almost in disbelief that he even existed. Who are these people? In 2008, where are these people still coming from? What are they thinking? It baffles me. I guess it's easy to get naive about that kind of stuff.
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Plus this guy was mad at the liberals who took away his food stamps.
Wha?
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I'm thinking about when I was in traffic court last week, and I realized that the baby faced teenager sitting next to me with shaved head and elaborate Nazi Iron Cross rings and tattoos was an Aryan Nation type. I was almost in disbelief that he even existed. Who are these people? In 2008, where are these people still coming from? What are they thinking? It baffles me. I guess it's easy to get naive about that kind of stuff.
It's pretty big in prison.
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And it has happened again
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5htMhvae9SQ5gVBlEQaGwu-8h4_Eg
A 16-year-old boy was shot dead by a second student Thursday in a school cafeteria in Knoxville, Tennessee, police said.
The student suspected of killing the boy was arrested without incident on a nearby street six minutes after police received the report of the shooting at 8:11 am (1211 GMT).
"This was not a shooting that was a random act," William Roehl, deputy chief of the Knoxville, Tennessee police told reporters.
"Both the suspect and the victim knew each other," Roehl said at a press conference.
"We don't know the particulars as to why it escalated to the situation that occurred today."
Witnesses told the Knoxville News Sentinel that the argument began with shouting and shoving.
The 15-year-old shooter pulled a gun out of his backpack, shot the other boy and then "casually walked away as if nothing had happened," one student told pastor Kevin Perry.
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I got to come north, ya'll.
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move west to nashville, dave.
or memphis?
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I got to come north, ya'll.
I was so sad to hear this today.
That said, don't give up on your town, Dave. As a person who lives in an extremely violent, sometimes bleak city (at least as far as schools, drug abuse, and the future of the city's youth goes) I can say that there's always some sort of silver lining.
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I'll be thinking of your friends, Dave, and everyone involved.
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move west to nashville, dave.
or memphis?
Not much safer over that direction. Wasn't the head of the DFL in Arkansas murdered by some right wing kook just a week or so ago?
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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.
I'm not a Christian, but that sounds like a pretty fucking awesome church. Good on them for doing what needs to be done out there in a tough world. And any bunch of people with as much heart as it sounds like these folks must have, I've got no doubts they'll be able to pull together and make it through anything, even this.
I'm thinking about when I was in traffic court last week, and I realized that the baby faced teenager sitting next to me with shaved head and elaborate Nazi Iron Cross rings and tattoos was an Aryan Nation type. I was almost in disbelief that he even existed. Who are these people? In 2008, where are these people still coming from? What are they thinking? It baffles me. I guess it's easy to get naive about that kind of stuff.
they're everywhere.
I worked for years as an anti racist activist in new jersey. it's frightening to see how pervasive extreme white supremest beliefs are all over the country. people have this fantasy that it's some kind of southern thing but it's all over the country. new jersey it's self has several clusters of white power groups ranging from violent nazi boneheads to white collar upper middle class "white separatists" like National Alliance.
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move west to nashville, dave.
I grew up in Nashville. I have not been to Memphis since I was detained at Memphis University (then Memphis State) by campus police in 1975.
or memphis?
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I'm betting the Memphis U cops have forgotten you by now. Prolly safe to sneak back now. :D
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I don't know; those trees might still be on fire.
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So many things I want to say, yet like others, I just can't find the words.
I'm so sorry is all that seems to come to mind.
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Awful.
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The student who was shot had alopecia and was apparently teased mercilessly his entire life, only to die from a gunshot by one of his bullies. Heartbreaking story all the way around.
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Yeah, that heartbreak's going in every direction; in the wake of the victim's passing, his Mom was released from jail so that she could grieve with the family. The shooter's older sister is on the lam, believed to be hiding in Nashville housing projects, a suspect in another Knoxville gun murder from a couple of months ago.
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I don't know; those trees might still be on fire.
what! dave, where the hell is this book you're supposed to be writing? (and youre right, angstrom, especially after the lester street murder.)
as for this particular incident in knoxville, the most disturbing part is when he "casually walked away as if nothing had happened." i watch 48 hours on A&E and it breaks my heart just to see a blurry version of a dead body, let alone the very idea of empty gestures like "casually walking away", which are incomprehensible to me.
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Knoxville's making headlines again -
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/17/1878901-stuck-agent-tells-cops-of-secret-bomb-mission
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He looks like such a nice young man...
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Hey, I think that's afk's tennis coach!
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"Fortunately he was able to reach his cell phone," DeBusk said, "or he may not have been found for quite some time."
gross.
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"Fortunately he was able to reach his cell phone," DeBusk said, "or he may not have been found smelledfor quite some time."
gross.
Fixed