Thursday, December 30, 2010

This Boss Brings a Rifle to Work

Workers will hand petition in on January 11.
Sign the petition today!

We've written to you before about the unbearable situation workers face at WA's Ruby Ridge dairy. The dairy is being sued for violation of Washington wage and hour laws, unlawful discharge by firing 1/3 of the workforce and even assault. The workers who haven't yet been fired are afraid they're next.

Owner Dick Bengen often carries a rifle with him on his large dairy farm. To Dick Bengen, that rifle is his anti-union rifle that he uses to scare the workers into line. Mr. Bengen made a point of explaining the special purpose of this rifle to Miguel Cuevas, when he told him, "This rifle is for those people with the union."

Workers, members of the faith community and most recently, thousands of UFW supporters, contacted Northwest Farm Credit Services, the bank that loaned $13 million to Ruby Ridge. They demand the bank use its influence to resolve the issues at the dairy. The bank's mortgage language specifically prohibits illegal behavior such as the workers say is happening at Ruby Ridge.

The bank continues to ignore our calls. According to Margarito Martinez, who was fired from Ruby Ridge for supporting the union and fighting for his rights, "When workers and supporters tried to reach out to the bank to intervene in this matter, they turned us down, saying they did not want to be involved."

On January 11, right after the Christmas holidays, Ruby Ridge workers and their supporters will gather in front of the bank's headquarters. They will demand that the bank enforce their lending language.

We know that not everyone can join the workers in Spokane, WA, but you and your friends and family can join virtually by signing the petition that we'll present to the bank that day.

Petition:

Northwest Farm Credit Services should use its influence to resolve the dispute at Ruby Ridge Dairy. This bank has lent Ruby Ridge $13 million and has failed to hold the dairy accountable for its actions.

**One more thing you can do: After you sign the above petition please consider making a donation to help the workers continue their fight.

| © UNITED FARM WORKERS | P.O. BOX 62, KEENE, CA 93531 | CONTACT US | PRIVACY POLICY

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

LAPD officer wounds youth wielding pellet gun

On a dark Glassell Park street, he thought he was being threatened with a real pistol. The victim and two other teens were playing with realistic-looking toy guns.

By Scott Glover, Los Angeles Times

December 19, 2010

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An apparent game in which teenagers armed with pellet guns shot at one another on a dark Glassell Park street took a tragic turn when a Los Angeles police officer fired on one of the youths because he thought he was being threatened with a real handgun, police said.

Officer Victor Abarca and his partner were on patrol in theLAPD's Northeast Division at 7:50 p.m. Thursday when they saw three people standing in the 3000 block of North Verdugo Road and stopped to investigate.

All three ran as the police stopped their patrol car. Abarca, a three-year veteran, encountered one of the participants standing behind a parked van on the side of the street, police said.

Judging from the person's size — 5 feet 7 and 200 pounds, according to police — Abarca believed he was a young adult.

The officer shined his flashlight on him and gave commands for him to surrender, according to an LAPD news release.

At that point, "the subject refused to comply with the officers' commands and instead produced what was later determined to be a replica Beretta 92F handgun," the release states.

Abarca, unable to see the orange tip of the gun's barrel that distinguishes it as a replica, shot and wounded what turned out to be a 13-year-old boy, police said.

The news release did not say whether the teen pointed the pellet gun at the officer. But Lt. John Romero, a police spokesman, said the youth pulled the gun from his clothing in a motion consistent with drawing a weapon.

Police said the unidentified boy was hit once in the upper torso. He underwent surgery at a local hospital, where he was listed in stable but critical condition as of Friday night. Police had no update on his condition Saturday.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Abarca and his partner were shocked to learn that two of the three people they encountered were 13 years old and the other was 14, police officials said.

"This is a tragedy for all involved, but in particular for the young man injured in this police shooting and for the officer who believed he was protecting himself and his partner from a real threat," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement.

Beck noted that the replica gun was the same dimensions as a Beretta 92 F and was "indistinguishable from a real handgun on a dark night."

"We have seen far too much heartbreak involving these types of realistic guns that are labeled as toys," Beck said.

Magdalena Carrasco, 59, who owns a home in the block where the shooting occurred, said she has seen neighborhood kids playing with fake guns and agrees with police that there's no way to tell the difference in the heat of the moment.

"I don't blame the police," she said. "They need to protect their lives. It's a normal reaction."

Carrasco said the shooting was a tragedy, but also questioned what kids that age were doing playing with fake guns on the street after dark.

"They should be doing their homework," she said.

scott.glover@latimes.com

Friday, December 17, 2010

School Board Shooting Survivors

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Panama City School Board Shooting

Police: School board shooter had circled Dec. 14 on calendar found at his Panhandle home

By Associated Press

December 15, 2010, 8:59 a.m.

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PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — The ex-convict who calmly held a school board at gunpoint and then began randomly firing had circled the date on a calendar found in his mobile home, evidence he had been planning the attack for some time, police said.

The shooting at the Bay District board meeting was not "a spur of the moment thing," Panama City Police Chief John Van Etten told The Associated Press. Police also found anti-government paraphernalia at Clay A. Duke's home, but the chief didn't provide details.

"He was obviously was not happy with our government," Van Etten said.

Video of Tuesday's meeting show Duke, 56, complaining about taxes and his wife being fired by the district before shooting at close range as the superintendent begged, "Please don't."

Minutes earlier, the room had been filled with students accepting awards, but no one was hurt except Duke, who shot himself after exchanging fire with a security guard, police said.

"It could have been a monumental tragedy," Superintendent Bill Husfelt said. "God was standing in front of me and I will go to my grave believing that."

Video shows Duke rising from his seat, spray-painting a red V on the wall, then waving a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun and ordering everyone to leave the room except the men on the board. They dove under the long desk they had been sitting behind as he fired at them.

Duke's motivation was still murky Wednesday. He rambled to the board about tax increases and his wife, but also apparently created a Facebook page last week that refers to class warfare and is laced with images from the movie "V for Vendetta," in which a mysterious figure battles a totalitarian government.

The school board was in the midst of a routine discussion when Duke walked to the front of the room.

"We could tell by the look in his eyes that this wasn't going to end well," Husfelt told the AP.

Husfelt was calm as he tried to persuade Duke to drop the gun, but Duke just shook his head. The only woman on the board, Ginger Littleton, had been ordered out of the room too, but she sneaked back in behind him and whacked his gun arm with her large brown purse.

"In my mind, that was the last attempt or opportunity to divert him," Littleton said.

Duke, a large, heavyset man in a dark pullover coat got angry and turned around. She fell to the floor as board members pleaded with her to stop. Duke pointed the gun at her head and said, "You stupid b----" but he didn't shoot her. She's not sure why.

She joked during a Wednesday press conference that her three daughters asked "'Are you just stupid? What were you thinking?' I don't have an answer for that."

After several minutes, video showed Duke slowly raising the gun and leveling it at Husfelt, who pleaded "Please don't, please don't."

Duke shot twice at Husfelt from about 8 feet away and squeezed off several more rounds before district security chief Mike Jones, a former police officer, bolted in. Police said Wednesday the pair exchanged at least 14 shots, with Jones hitting Duke four times, felling him. Duke then shot himself fatally in the head. Police said he had at least 25 more rounds of ammunition.

Somehow, no one else in the small board room was injured in the clash that lasted several minutes. Husfelt said at least two rounds lodged in the wall behind him.

In Duke's brief exchange with the board, he said his wife had been fired from the northern Florida district, but never told Husfelt or the board who she was or what she did. Members promised to help her find a new job, but Duke just shook his head. Husfelt told Duke he didn't remember his wife but would have be responsible for her dismissal, so the board members should be allowed to leave.

"He said his wife was fired, but we really don't know what he was talking about," Husfelt told the AP on Tuesday at his Panama City home.