S VOL. XXIII
The Tri County’s Only Multicultural Newspaper
In This Issue
TRI COUNTY
ENTRY NO. 34
FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015
Miracle Center hosts the musical event of the year Franklin Family & FRIENDS Gospel Jazz Musical June 27th See page 14A
Investigators Probe Fires Deadly Force, in Black and White At 6 Black Churches
In 5 Southern States
Ryan Gabrielson
Ryann Grochowski Jones
The following article is ProPublica’s analysis of killings by police. ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. ProPublica’s mission is to expose abuses of
power and corruption. The results show outsize risk for young black males. By Ryan Gabrielson, Ryann Grochowski Jones and Eric Sagara Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater i, according to a ProPublica analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shootings.
Eric Sagara
The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police.
One way of appreciating that stark disparity, ProPublica’s analysis shows, is to calculate how many more whites over those three years would have had to have been killed for them to have been at equal risk. The number is jarring – 185, more than one per week. ProPublica’s risk analysis on young males killed by police certainly seems to support what has been an FORCE, See page 12A
By Sam Sanders and Will Huntsberry Glover Grove Baptist Church is nestled in a woody, quiet part of Warrenville, S.C., surrounded by trailer homes and old cars. The congregation is small, about 35 people, according to local reports. You have to look hard online just to find a phone number or an address. Hours before President Obama spoke to a packed house in Charleston last Friday in another black church, delivering the eulogy for state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, Glover Grove Baptist Church burned to the ground. It is one of at least six black church burnings in the South, all of which have taken place in the week-and-a-half since nine people were killed in Emanuel AME Church. Fires in Charlotte, N.C., and Knoxville, Tenn., are both being investigated as arson. Authorities in Macon, Ga., are investigating another there as “suspicious.” A fire at a Tallahassee, Fla., church was likely caused by electrical problems, authorities have said. Another in Gibson County, Tenn., may have been caused by lightning. One burning in Charlotte is being investigated to determine if it could have been a hate crime. Adonica Simpkins lives in a trailer home right next to Glover Grove Baptist Church. “I actually think it might be a hate crime,” she said, looking across a field
woke Simpkins up that Friday morning, and she was one of the first to call 911, right before she walked down the road to the pastor’s house to make sure he saw it, too. “You could actually feel the heat from the church,” she said. “The actual power lines, just started, pop, pop, pop! Then the power went off. It was terrible. You could see straight through the church, how it
Pastor Bobby Jones points to the cross on top of Glover Grove Baptist Church, where he has preached for more than 30 years. The steeple was one of the only parts of the church left standing. (Photo Credit: Will Huntsberry)
to the church’s remains on a sticky, sunny South Carolina afternoon. “The way things are happening these days, you never can say. Look how they went up there and shot someone in the church, or other churches burning down. It’s just
Flowers left at the front door of Glover Grove Baptist Church in Warrenville, S.C. (Photo Credit: Will Huntsberry)
so much going on in the world. You never know.” The burning actually
Active U.S. Hate Groups
was burning.” Another nearby resident, George Mack, said of the flames, “It was like standing inside of a volcano, with the lava flowing. It was so hot.” The pastor of Glover Grove, Bobby Jones, walked around the charred building Sunday evening with NPR, pointing out everything that used to be. “The pulpit, the highest place, that’s the pulpit,” he said as he gazed past the caution tape. “My office used to CHURCHES, See page 12A
DA investigates Gov. Brown Announces Appointments VC medical examiner
- placed on leave
Dr. Jon J. Smith, VC Medical Examiner
VENTURA, CA - Dr. Jon J. Smith, Ventura County Medical Examiner, was placed on paid administrative leave Tuesday, due to an investigation regarding unauthorized post-mortem
procedures. Smith has served as chief medical examiner since 2012, In response to media inquiries, District Attorney Gregory D. Totten released the following statement regarding the investigation of the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office. "On June 22, 2015, investigators from the District Attorney’s Office and agents from the California Medical Board executed a search warrant at the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office. The District Attorney’s Office sought this warrant from the Ventura County Superior Court after information was received about the performance of unauthorized postmortem procedures by members of the DA, See page 12A
SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments. Kim McCoy Wade, 44, of Oakland, has been appointed chief of the CalFresh Branch at the Welfare to Work Division of the California Department of Social Services. McCoy Wade has been an independent consultant since 2009. She was a campaign manager at Together for California’s Future in 2008, executive director at the California Association of Food Banks from 2004 to 2008 and director of education and advocacy at Food Banks of Northern California from 2001 to 2003. McCoy Wade was a campaign manager at the Alliance for Justice in 2000, a senior domestic policy analyst at Bread for the World from 1998 to 1999, assistant general counsel at the Children’s Defense Fund from 1995 to 1998 and was an
Shanté Morgan-Durisseau
Bonnie Weigel
Armando Lopez
organizer at 9to5 National Association of Working Women from 1991 to 1992. She is a member of the East Bay Women's Political Caucus. McCoy Wade earned a Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $130,008. McCoy Wade is
a Democrat. M. Cecilia Cuevas, 51, of Fillmore, has been reappointed to the 31st District Agricultural Association, Ventura County Fair Board of Directors, where she has served since 2012. Cuevas has been a senior financial advisor at Merrill Lynch since 2004. She was director of development and communications
at the American Red Cross Ventura County Chapter from 2002 to 2004 and development director at the Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence from 1997 to 2002. She served as mayor pro-tem for the City of Fillmore from 2006 to 2008, where she served as a member of the city council from 2000 to 2006. BROWN, See page 15A