Pensacola Independent News

THE BUZZ | Vol. 5, No. 8, February 24, 2005
(Willie Junior)
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SCLC TASER RALLY The Southern Christian Leadership Conference chose Pensacola Saturday, Feb. 19, to launch its national campaign against Taser Guns.

The national civil rights group, which is calling for a federal safety study of Tasers and a national moratorium on their use, plans to visit communities across the country to protest Taser use by police forces.

The next SCLC Taser hearing is scheduled in Georgia on April 4, the 37th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. The time and place in Georgia has yet to be announced.

An SCLC study released last month, "85 And Counting: America's Taser Gun Crisis," documents 85 deaths involving Taser guns. The report shows the number of deaths involving Tasers increased from one in 1999 to 44 in 2004. Florida leads the country with 16 deaths involving Tasers since 1999.

The fiery SCLC President and CEO Charles Steele Jr. led the part revival, part rally that included the more than 50 in attendance singing "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine for justice," and "at the county jail," and "over in Tallahassee," and "at the White House."

"We're ready to draw the line, starting today in the state of Florida," Steele said. "Too many police departments abuse Taser guns. It kills folks. If you allow that, that's slave mentality."

Dexter M. Wimbish, SCLC general counsel who oversaw the group's Taser report, questioned the safety claims made by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser International, a leading distributor of the stun guns. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating Taser's safety claims.

"What's more important, $191 million in profits or the death of 85 individuals, who were killed needlessly? If it's safe, why are people dying?" he asked, adding, "This is not a black and white issue. This issue is not about race. This issue is about righteousness. This is an issue that affects us all."

During the meeting, Lenusl Michael, 49, who's brother Demetrius Nelson, 44, died after Okaloosa County Sheriff's deputies shocked him in July in Destin, Fla, said: "I owe it to my brother to let America know what is going on. This is not just happening in Pensacola. I want to keep this from happening again to the next man, woman or child. But probably some dignitary in Washington (D.C.) has to get killed or hit with a Taser for them to stop this."

Besides Tasers, Steele railed against black youth not knowing their history, Michael Jackson being ashamed of his color, the Super Bowl for giving only $2 million in contracts to black businesses and black people not joining the fight against poverty, violence and racism.

Steele said blacks are their own worst enemies in the battle to make economic and social progress.

"I'm not afraid of the Klu Klux Klan," he said. "I'm afraid of someone who looks like me trying to take me out. That's the times we're living in."

BRIDGE WAR WAGES ON The staff of the Florida-Alabama Transportation Planning Organization is urging its board to adopt a resolution supporting a six-lane replacement bridge for Pensacola Bay.

In an effort to appease Gulf Breeze, whose city leaders have vehemently fought such a large span, TPO staff has added a clause favoring a regional bridge evaluation study.

The resolution is on the TPO agenda for its March 9 meeting and is expected to pass, if Escambia County and Pensacola members show up and vote as a bloc. There is little Gulf Breeze and Santa Rosa County can do to defeat the measure.

The resolution gives Florida Department of Transportation District Secretary Ed Prescott what he's always wanted—a new six-lane Pensacola Bay bridge.

Even though it makes no sense to vote on such a bridge without first looking at all the traffic needs of the entire region, Prescott has convinced Escambia politicos that he can get federal funds, only if the bridge is six lanes.

Gulf Breeze officials and engineers can find no such federal regulation to support Prescott's claim.

March 9 will be big day for little Gulf Breeze. Will Prescott win by dividing the usually harmonious TPO and snowballing Escambia County officals?

Bring us Prescott's head.

THEN THERE WAS ONE It seemed Rev. Ronnie Clark might pull a fast one and not resign after all, despite community uproar in District 3.

After saying he would resign Feb. 28, Clark said he would resign instead March 11, collecting another paycheck in the process.

The Governor's office and Escambia County School Board Chairman Gary Bergosh finally actually received Clark's resignation letter this week.

Clark moved to Winter Haven, 470 miles away, in November 2003 to pastor the Hurst AME Chapel there but remained on the school board, despite state residency requirements.

Clark wrote: "It was my sincere desire to give my best to help improve Escambia School District and District 3. I was fortunate to have served on a pro-active School Board, which I believe helped further the spirit of excellence in education in Escambia County."

Clark said his increasing workload in Polk County and the distance from Pensacola caused him to resign.

Duh. But only after he milked the system for more than a year. Good riddance.

FEMA DUMMIES Local officials who visited Washington Feb. 15 were stunned by two admissions made by Daniel Craig, director of Federal Emergency Management Agency's recovery division.

Craig told Florida's congressional delegation that FEMA would not spend the $8.5 billion that Congress allocated for hurricane aid to help Florida and other states cope with the aftermath of four hurricanes. Instead FEMA had chosen to place the monies in its general fund to meet other departmental needs.

Craig could not tell Congressional leaders how much of the two appropriations were actually spent in Florida or how much of the money remained.

For months, local governments have battled FEMA on how to deal with debris cleanup. What our representatives learned was that FEMA had the authority under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to provide reimbursement for debris removal on private property, but its own internal policies forbade it.

We recommend Escambia County Administrator George Touart and his fellow travelers bring tar and feathers on their next trip to the nation's capital.

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