Shepherd
10-28-2013, 07:33 PM
4 Articles on the Andy Lopez killing in the Oct. 28 Press Democrat
The following four important articles appear in the Oct. 28 PD, the first two on the front page:
1. A report on the over 1000 people who paid respect to Andy at a mortuary, many wearing white—Andy’s favorite color--as requested by the family.
2. The naming of Andy’s killer—Iraq War combat veteran and sheriff’s deputy Erik Gelhaus, who describes law enforcement as a “contact sport.”
3. District Attorney Jill Ravitch in a press release asking for patience.
4. Sheriff Steve Freitas and Board of Supervisors chair David Rabbitt expressing their “complete confidence in the investigation” by the police departments of Santa Rosa and Petaluma.
I have read those articles, and encourage you to do so, perhaps at the library. What follows is my immediate response. The sheriff’s office is taking “measures to protect Gelhaus.” My question is, “Who is taking measures to protect the public from further killings of innocents by Gelhaus and other would-be killers who may be among the 275 deputies?”
“Today is the day you may need to kill someone in order to go home,” Gelhaus wrote in a 2008 article in SWAT Magazine. October 22 was such a day, perhaps not the only one, that Gelhaus killed an innocent person. “If you cannot turn on the ‘Mean Gene’ for yourself, who will?” he asks. What is that “mean gene?” Did Andy Lopez have it? I don’t think so.
Is this the kind of man who should be roaming the streets of Santa Rosa with a badge and loaded weapon, as if he had a license to kill?
No, this is not the time for patience. That time was when Gelhaus faced a boy and killed him 10 seconds later with eight shots, practicing what he writes about and teaches to other deputies. This is the militarization of the police force, whose main job should be to serve and protect the public, not kill children. I extend my appreciation to the other sheriff in the car, who exercised patience and did not pull his trigger on an unarmed, innocent boy, and to the many law enforcement officers who serve and protect.
This is the time to come forward, with non-violent outrage, not back off. After the killing of the African-American children in the South, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was not patient and did not back off. He came forward, not with patience, but with determination and action. Now is the time to march. Andy’s “mean” death has been reported by all major TV networks, the New York Times, AP, Reuters, and is on front pages of newspapers around the world. Now is the time to act, not back off, and hence build a mass movement to protect ourselves.
Fortunately, there are direct actions planned for this Tuesday and Wednesday in Santa Rosa, the scene of the crime. On Tuesday people are gathering at 1 p.m. at Courthouse Square, marching to Santa Rosa Junior College by 2 p.m., and then to the sheriff’s office by 3 p.m.
On Wednesday people are gathering at 5 p.m. at the old Albertson’s parking lot, now Dollar Tree, on Sebastopol Avenue, West of Dutton, in Roseland. They will proceed to Courthouse Sq. for a 6:30 rally. Then return to Roseland for a vigil.
The following four important articles appear in the Oct. 28 PD, the first two on the front page:
1. A report on the over 1000 people who paid respect to Andy at a mortuary, many wearing white—Andy’s favorite color--as requested by the family.
2. The naming of Andy’s killer—Iraq War combat veteran and sheriff’s deputy Erik Gelhaus, who describes law enforcement as a “contact sport.”
3. District Attorney Jill Ravitch in a press release asking for patience.
4. Sheriff Steve Freitas and Board of Supervisors chair David Rabbitt expressing their “complete confidence in the investigation” by the police departments of Santa Rosa and Petaluma.
I have read those articles, and encourage you to do so, perhaps at the library. What follows is my immediate response. The sheriff’s office is taking “measures to protect Gelhaus.” My question is, “Who is taking measures to protect the public from further killings of innocents by Gelhaus and other would-be killers who may be among the 275 deputies?”
“Today is the day you may need to kill someone in order to go home,” Gelhaus wrote in a 2008 article in SWAT Magazine. October 22 was such a day, perhaps not the only one, that Gelhaus killed an innocent person. “If you cannot turn on the ‘Mean Gene’ for yourself, who will?” he asks. What is that “mean gene?” Did Andy Lopez have it? I don’t think so.
Is this the kind of man who should be roaming the streets of Santa Rosa with a badge and loaded weapon, as if he had a license to kill?
No, this is not the time for patience. That time was when Gelhaus faced a boy and killed him 10 seconds later with eight shots, practicing what he writes about and teaches to other deputies. This is the militarization of the police force, whose main job should be to serve and protect the public, not kill children. I extend my appreciation to the other sheriff in the car, who exercised patience and did not pull his trigger on an unarmed, innocent boy, and to the many law enforcement officers who serve and protect.
This is the time to come forward, with non-violent outrage, not back off. After the killing of the African-American children in the South, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was not patient and did not back off. He came forward, not with patience, but with determination and action. Now is the time to march. Andy’s “mean” death has been reported by all major TV networks, the New York Times, AP, Reuters, and is on front pages of newspapers around the world. Now is the time to act, not back off, and hence build a mass movement to protect ourselves.
Fortunately, there are direct actions planned for this Tuesday and Wednesday in Santa Rosa, the scene of the crime. On Tuesday people are gathering at 1 p.m. at Courthouse Square, marching to Santa Rosa Junior College by 2 p.m., and then to the sheriff’s office by 3 p.m.
On Wednesday people are gathering at 5 p.m. at the old Albertson’s parking lot, now Dollar Tree, on Sebastopol Avenue, West of Dutton, in Roseland. They will proceed to Courthouse Sq. for a 6:30 rally. Then return to Roseland for a vigil.