tetekrefil.blogspot.com Brickyard looted; many stores at 6 Corners close early; city may not move into Phase 3 due to unrest - Nadig Newspapers - Northwest Side Local Newspapers
Many Northwest Side businesses closed early on Sunday afternoon following reports of looting at the Brickyard shopping center, 2600 N. Narragansett Ave.
One city official described the scene at the Brickyard as “not good,” with reports of thieves filling up cars with merchandise from several businesses. At one point looters were running out of Marshalls as police pulled up to the store.
“Neighbors, all stores in the Brickyard have closed. Please stay home tonight,” Alderman Gilbert Villegas (36th) posted on Facebook at about 4 p.m. Sunday.
At Six Corners, Jewel-Osco, Walgreen’s, Binny’s Beverage Depot and Family Dollar reportedly closed early, with police being stationed in front of Binny’s.
There also have been reports of police confronting mobs at suburban malls, possibly due to the fact that access to Downtown Chicago has been made difficult due to exit ramps on the Kennedy Expressway being closed and the CTA shutting down service to the Loop.
In addition, on Sunday evening Pace announced that it was halting all service until further notice.
A curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. (except for essential workers) remains in effect in Chicago, possibly for several more days, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said that due to the unrest the city may not move into its Phase 3 reopening, currently scheduled for Wednesday, June 3. In that phase, hair salons and cafes would be allowed to open.
City officials have expressed concern that the large protest gatherings over the police killing of George Floyd could lead to coronavirus outbreaks.
Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th) said that the 16th (Jefferson Park) Police District received about 100 extra officers on Sunday.
Alderman Anthony Napolitano (41st) said that he has been driving around checking on many social media reports of looting and other problems on the Far Northwest Side but that he is finding nearly all of them to be unfounded as of 5 p.m.
Napolitano said that the looting and violence in Downtown Chicago last night and at shopping centers on Sunday afternoon have nothing to do with honoring the memory of Floyd, describing the looters as opportunists. “These are fragile times right now,” he said.
On Saturday night, the Northwest Side Coalition Against Racism and Hate held a “Justice for George Floyd Caravan” in which participants drove along Nagle Avenue and Northwest Highway in the Norwood Park.
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June 01, 2020 at 07:27AM
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Brickyard looted; many stores at 6 Corners close early; city may not move into Phase 3 due to unrest - Nadig Newspapers
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Aaliyah Myles, center, of Lewiston makes a statement during the protest for George Floyd at Festival Plaza in Auburn on Sunday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Kris Burgess of Lewiston confronts a man who resents the “Black Lives Matter” statement during the protest for George Floyd at Festival Plaza in Auburn on Sunday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
The protest for George Floyd in Auburn was peaceful until two pickup trucks waving Confederate and support for Donald Trump flags repeatedly drove past the protestors and revved their engines. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Protests over George Floyd’s death have spread across the country, including one in Auburn on Sunday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Once Auburn police officers blocked car traffic from passing protestors at Festival Plaza in Auburn, the protest moved over to Lewiston. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Lewiston High School senior Nardoche Kikobo makes a statement during the protest for George Floyd in Auburn on Sunday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Jillian Jacobs of Gardiner participates in Sunday’s protest for George Floyd in Auburn. Jacobs mask is a political statement against the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Tiahna Labrecque of Lisbon participates in the protest for George Floyd at Festival Plaza in Auburn on Sunday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
The death of George Floyd was the basis of Sunday’s protest that moved between Lewiston and Auburn. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
AUBURN — “Silence is complicity.”
“Justice for George Floyd.”
“We will not be silent.”
These were a few of the messages on signs held by some of the few-dozen people Sunday afternoon who took to the streets of Lewiston and Auburn to protest police brutality and the death a week ago of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The crowd marched from Festival Plaza in Auburn and across the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge. It included a brief stop at the Lewiston Police Station before concluding at the Auburn Police Station on Court Street.
The protest added the Twin Cities to the long list of cities of all sizes around the country where people are standing up against police brutality.
The local protest was largely peaceful, with demonstrators chanting, “I can’t breathe” and “No justice, no peace.”
The only incident occurred when a group of protesters blocked a truck flying a “Trump 2020” flag and ripped it from the truck. The two trucks, which were adorned with Confederate flags, followed the procession as it marched, with the trucks’ drivers honking their horns and revving their engines.
One participant said Sunday’s protest was a way to give a voice to an important movement.
“We’re tired of keeping our mouths closed. We’re tired of the injustice. We want voices to be heard,” the protester said. “It needs to be known. We’re not taking it anymore. We’re not going anywhere. So you’re going to deal with us, period. We all bleed the same.”
Kelsey Turner of Auburn said she planned the protest out of outrage. She said she made a Facebook event, shared it and the attendance list snowballed.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” Turner said. “I didn’t think anyone would come.”
Another protester, who only wanted to be identified as Mercy, said protesting helped bring awareness to an issue that has long been a problem in the United States.
“This has been an issue for so long — black people being murdered,” Mercy said. “It’s definitely important to show that people are out there.”
The protest for George Floyd in Auburn was peaceful until two pickup trucks waving Confederate and support for Donald Trump flags repeatedly drove past the protestors and revved their engines. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
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June 01, 2020 at 06:39AM
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VIDEO: Many turn out in Lewiston-Auburn to support Black Lives Matter - Lewiston Sun Journal
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Amid the rush to assign blame for the widespread violence and vandalism breaking out in American cities, accusations that extremists or other outside agitators were behind the destruction continued to ricochet online and on the airwaves on Sunday.
Numerous political leaders, starting with President Trump, have leveled accusations at various groups, asserting that some radical agenda is at play in transforming once peaceful protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
“We have reason to believe that bad actors continue to infiltrate the rightful protests of George Floyd’s murder, which is why we are extending the curfew by one day,” Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota tweeted on Sunday, after previously suggesting that white supremacists or people from outside the state fomented the unrest.
None of those pointing the finger presented much evidence to support the accusations, however, and some officials conceded the lack of solid information behind such claims.
“The truth is, nobody really knows,” Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s attorney general and a former Democratic congressman from Minneapolis, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“There’s been a lot of videotape taken by demonstrators of people who are very suspicious, who really did start breaking windows,” Mr. Ellison said. “There have been other photographs of cars with no license plates. Very suspicious behavior.”
It would all have to be investigated, he said.
People associated with both the extreme right and left are being accused of igniting the conflagration. The Trump administration blamed what it called the radical left, naming antifa, a contraction of the word “anti-fascist” that has come to be associated with a diffuse movement of left-wing protesters who engage in more aggressive techniques like vandalism.
Others said white supremacists and far-right groups were responsible, pointing to online statements by adherents that the upheaval would hasten the collapse of a multiethnic, multicultural United States.
“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday, although it was unclear on what legal authority he could make that call.
The president has periodically criticized antifa, but it was not clear that Mr. Trump’s declaration would have any real meaning beyond his characteristic attempts to stir up culture war controversy, attract attention and please his base.
Antifa is not an organization, and it does not have a leader, membership roles or any defined, centralized structure. It is a vaguely defined movement of people who share common protest tactics and targets.
More important, even if antifa were a real organization, the laws that permit the federal government to deem entities terrorists and impose sanctions on them are limited to foreign groups. There is no domestic terrorism law despite periodic proposals to create one.
“There is no authority under law to do that — and if such a statute were passed, it would face serious First Amendment challenges,” said Mary B. McCord, a former head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
Nevertheless, in a statement after Mr. Trump’s tweet, Attorney General William P. Barr said the F.B.I. would ally with state and local police to identify violent protesters, whom he also called domestic terrorists.
“Groups of outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate, violent and extremist agenda,” Mr. Barr said. “The violence instigated and carried out by antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly.”
Antifa-style protesters are hostile to law enforcement and are oriented toward street action, said Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, so these demonstrations provide an opportunity even if their goals are not the same as those of the original protesters. Still, he cautioned that in such a complex stew, not all the vandalism can be attributed to any one faction.
“While we have seen tactics they embrace at times during these protests, it is also unclear how many of the individuals committing violence or destroying property are antifa or just upset with the ongoing issue of police brutality,” he said.
Analysts noted a range of participants.
“We’re going to see a diversity of fringe malefactors,” said Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. “We know for a fact there have been far-right agitators both online and at these rallies, as well as far-left.”
Far-right adherents generated an avalanche of posts on social media in recent days suggesting the unrest was a sign that the collapse of the American system they have long awaited was at hand. These groups, known as “accelerationists,” attempt to promote any circumstances that might speed that goal.
Last month they were pushing the idea that the coronavirus pandemic and the demonstrations against shutting down public life might be their moment to incite discord.
The groups are not monolithic. There are factions that express solidarity with some in the African-American community in their animosity toward the police, a position dating to violent showdowns in the 1990s between white supremacists and law enforcement in places like Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas.
Others, however, believe that sparking a race war would ultimately bring about the establishment of a pure white ethnic state in at least part of the current United States.
Signs of any organized effort or even participation in the violence were relatively rare. “I have not seen any clear evidence that white supremacists or militiamen are masking up and going out to burn and loot,” said Howard Graves, a research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center who tracks white supremacist and other anti-government extremist groups.
Some participants included heavily armed members of the militia movement, ardent supporters of the Second Amendment right to bear arms who believe it is their constitutional duty to protect citizens and businesses.
Members of hate groups or far-right organizations filmed themselves, sometimes heavily armed or waving extremist symbols, at demonstrations in at least 20 cities in recent days, from Boston to Buffalo to Richmond, Va., to Dallas to Salem, Ore.
A common nickname for their anticipated second Civil War is the “boogaloo,” which sometimes gets mutated into the “Big Igloo” or the “Big Luau,” prompting its adherents to wear Hawaiian shirts. Many of them use Facebook to organize despite the company’s May 1 announcement that it would remove such content.
Their flag is often a variation of the American flag, with an igloo instead of stars, one stripe replaced by a Hawaiian print and the rest showing the names of both African-Americans and white people killed in confrontations with the police.
In a Facebook post from Richmond, two young white men are shown holding that flag up behind an African-American woman with a hand-lettered sign reading “A knee is the new noose!!” That referred to the police action used in the death of Mr. Floyd.
Mike Griffin, a longtime activist in Minneapolis, said the demonstrations in his city attracted people he had never seen before. They included well-dressed young white men in expensive boots carrying hammers and talking about torching buildings. “I know protests, I’ve been doing it for 20 years,” he said. “People not affiliated with the protests are creating havoc on the streets.”
If it is happening, analysts said, it is probably arbitrary acts by individuals rather than an organized effort. Federal agents this year dismantled the Base and Atomwaffen, two of the most violent far-right groups.
It is one thing to share racist jokes and memes online and something else to organize an armed group to travel across state lines, said Megan Squire, a professor at Elon University in North Carolina who tracks extremists online. “They do not have strong real-world networks where they really trust each other,” she said.
Reporting was contributed by Charlie Savage, Katie Benner, Adam Goldman and Maggie Haberman.
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June 01, 2020 at 07:34AM
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Many Claim Extremists Are Sparking Protest Violence. But Which Extremists? - The New York Times
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Hundreds of protesters gathered at Government Center Sunday.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Hundreds of protesters in Dudley Square demanded justice for George Floyd.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Protesters in Dudley Square on Sunday.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Hundreds of protesters in Dudley Square.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
The crowd in Dudley Square.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Hundreds of protesters in front of Boston Police Station District 2 demanded justice for George Floyd.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
High above the city of Boston @boston25 chopper video shows a crowd that has grown to a massive size.
There have been 3 demonstrations throughout the city today...so far all have remained peaceful. pic.twitter.com/ZkmT5yWXcf
This was an important moment: As the crowd walked through downtown Boston, this sign with George Floyd’s name was illuminated above the Chinatown MBTA stop.
Earlier Sunday, the leaders of a large group of protesters are pictured as they marched from Nubian Square to Boston Police Headquarters. They were led by local religious leaders including members of the Boston Baptist Ministers Conference, Black Ministerial Alliance, Ministers in Action and the Massachusetts Council of Churches. According to a post on Facebook by the organizers, the demonstration was to pray for all the hurt and brokenhearted, to protest the continued killing of Black people, and to call forth justice.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
The group marched from Nubian Square to Boston Police Headquarters.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
A large group of protesters marched from Nubian Square on Malcolm X Boulevard towards Boston Police Headquarters.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
People dropped to their knees during the demonstration.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
One of the hundreds of protesters standing in the middle of the street at Government Center during a rally Sunday sponsored by the Youth of Greater Boston to demand justice for George Floyd.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Protesters in Government Center.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Boston police patrolled the streets on bicycles as protesters demonstrated Sunday.Steven Senne/Associated Press
Protester Christina Aiello, of Boston, displayed a placard as she stood in an intersection Sunday.Steven Senne/Associated Press
An officer stood at the ready Sunday as a throng gathered in front of the Boston Police District 2 Neighborhood Station in protest over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Many businesses in Boston, including the Chanel store on Newbury Street, were boarding up their storefronts in anticipation of possible damage being done by protesters.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
The Apple store on Boylston Street boarded up its storefront.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
A throng gathered in front of the Boston Police District 2 Neighborhood Station in protest over the killing of George Floyd.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Meg Groff, 16, of Newburyport, had "Don't Shoot, I Can't Breathe" written on her legs.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Protesters in front of the Boston Police District 2 Neighborhood Station.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
A'naja Wilson, 16, of Newton, screamed the chant "No Justice!" The crowd responded "No Peace!"Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Hundreds of protesters in Dudley Square demanded justice for George Floyd.Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
Windows in the Macy's Downtown Crossing store were boarded up before a planned protest in Boston on Sunday.Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Protesters walked past an empty bus as they demonstrated Sunday in Boston.Steven Senne/Associated Press
Protesters marched past Boston police officers Sunday.Steven Senne/Associated Press
Steven Senne/Associated Press
Protesters held up fists on Sunday.Steven Senne/Associated Press
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June 01, 2020 at 07:21AM
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These photos show just how many people took to Boston streets Sunday to protest the death of George Floyd - The Boston Globe
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WASHINGTON - Gerald Davis, a 67-year-old small business owner in Washington, D.C., was driving to buy insect repellent at a local 7-11 convenience store Friday night when a van began tailgating him with its high beams on.
“I gave them the courtesy of going by me by pulling over, they stayed behind my truck and it really frightened me...it was clear that this was a harassment situation,” Davis said.
“And what just happened in Minnesota - that’s running across my head.”
Davis saw a police car outside the 7-11 and pulled over - both to buy his bug spray and to speak with the officers about what he had experienced.
“They were so dismissing. They were not even interested in what I was saying,” Davis recounts.
What happened in that moment mirrors what a multitude of black Americans and supporters are are feeling throughout the country today.
“I remembered at 4 years old when I couldn't sit at a soda fountain in my hometown.
That came up. Going to the all-white high school, being one of 12 black kids - the harassment and threats out there. That exploded. The many times I've been stopped by the cops harassing me,” Davis said.
“All that erupted in my gut ... I turned to the cops. I had no fear. And I just said, ‘a black man's feelings are never regarded because white people have been trained, particularly police, to dehumanize them.”
For many who are defying a COVID-19 pandemic to protest around the United States today, the violent death of George Floyd -- who died with a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee on his neck -- is not a solitary incident, but a tipping point.
Jessica Knutson, and her daughter Abigail, 3, place flowers at a memorial to George Floyd, May 31, 2020, in Minneapolis.
In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, renowned basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes, “African Americans have been living in a burning building for many years, choking on the smoke as the flames burn closer and closer.”
“Right now it’s George, Breonna, and Ahmaud. Before that it was Eric, Sandra, and Michael. It just goes on, and on, and on,” former first lady Michelle Obama wrote on Twitter.
Like so many of you, I’m pained by these recent tragedies. And I’m exhausted by a heartbreak that never seems to stop. Right now it’s George, Breonna, and Ahmaud. Before that it was Eric, Sandra, and Michael. It just goes on, and on, and on. pic.twitter.com/lFWEtTzVT8
“George Floyd was killed like an animal. And we're tired. This is the norm. This is not something that's new,” demonstrator Diedre O'Brien told VOA at a protest outside the White House this weekend.
Many protesters are worried about the virus - and some note the preliminary data showing black Americans are dying of COVID-19 at a higher rate than their white counterparts.
“I wear my mask, trying to keep a safe distance from a bunch of different people. And I'm also a black woman who has asthma, so I am definitely in the reach of COVID which has been killing black people at a disproportionate rate as well,” O’Brien said.
Data from the COVID tracking project shows that while African Americans account for 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 25% of COVID deaths in the country.
APM Research Lab reports that, according to the latest data, the mortality rate for African Americans is 2.4 times higher than that of white Americans.
But protesters still feel the risk is worth it. Many say it was unambiguous circumstances of George Floyd’s death – as shown on widely distributed videos -- that mobilized nationwide rage.
Watch: Cell Phone Videos in Floyd, Arbery Deaths Expose US Racial Tensions by VOA’s Jesusemen Oni
Davis is not on the streets himself, but he is checking in with his nieces and nephews who are.
“I just talked to them this morning,” he said, noting that he is “scared to death” for them, but that he won’t tell them to stay inside.
“I don't have the energy and the consciousness to tell them not to live their life with creativity, and expect humanity to be treated like human beings.”
Feeling human, feeling listened to, is what Davis says is most important to him right now.
And though he is shaken by his experience last Friday, he notes that while facing the police officers in the convenience store, he did find someone to listen.
“There was a hand that was placed on top of my hand at the counter... I turn my head and this white man looked at me and said, ‘Can I listen to you?’” Davis recounted.
Officials across the U.S. South are still scrambling to adjust their hurricane plans to the coronavirus. The big unknown: Where will people fleeing storms go?
The Associated Press surveyed more than 70 counties and states from Texas to Virginia, with more than 60% of coastal counties saying as of late May that they’re still solidifying plans for public hurricane shelters. They’re also altering preparations for dealing with the sick and elderly, protective equipment and cleanup costs.
In Georgia’s McIntosh County, south of Savannah, Emergency Management Agency Director Ty Poppell said evacuations during the pandemic would be a “nightmare.” He worried about social distancing at shelters and on buses used to get people out.
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“I’d love to be able to tell you we’ve got that answered right now,” Poppell said. “It’s a work in progress.”
Hurricane season officially starts Monday, though Tropical Storms Arthur and Bertha arrived early. Forecasters are expecting a busier-than-normal season.
“Everything that we do will be affected in one way or another, big and/or small, by COVID-19,” Florida Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz said.
Many counties are taking federal advice and hope to use hotels as smaller-scale shelters, while others plan to use more parts of schools besides large gymnasiums. Still others, especially in Louisiana, plan for big shelters with more social distancing.
Officials emphasize that shelters are last resorts, urging people to stay with friends or in hotels. But massive unemployment is making the expense of hotels less feasible.
“Our biggest change to our hurricane plan is sheltering. How are we going to shelter those that have to evacuate? How are going to shelter those that are positive COVID patients? There are multiple ideas that we are considering right now,” Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Greg Michel said.
During tornadoes in April, the state used hotels as shelters, which was good practice for hurricane season, he said.
Most counties surveyed said they’re still figuring out shelters.
While that may sound worrisome, it could be beneficial because emergency managers need to update plans as the pandemic changes, University of South Carolina disaster expert Susan Cutter said.
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“Disasters are not going to stop for COVID-19,” Brad Kieserman, an American Red Cross executive, told reporters in May. “Hope is not a plan. And we’ve got to plan for tens of thousands of people to evacuate in the face of hurricanes and wildfires and other disasters.”
Some officials acknowledged they aren’t as ready for storm season as they were a year ago because of the virus. Others were more confident.
“We feel the current rating of preparedness for Craven County (North Carolina) is 50% or lower as we still have not finalized shelter options,” said Stanley Kite, emergency services director of the county hit by 2018′s Hurricane Florence. “Before COVID-19, would have estimated 90%.”
Shelters were the most mentioned worry, but comfort levels with other aspects of hurricane preparations varied, reflecting the difference in how states plan for disasters. Having enough staff for shelters is a persistent problem locally and nationally, said Walton County, Florida, emergency management chief Jeff Goldberg.
Protective equipment is the biggest shortfall in several North Carolina counties. Money is always an issue, with counties often waiting for federal reimbursement. Handling nursing homes, hospitals and COVID-19 patients “is one of the most difficult challenges and would require a larger state response,” said Jeffrey Johnson, fire chief in Newport News, Virginia.
Other places downplayed concerns. Orleans Parish, where 2005′s Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, has added social distancing and protective equipment to a 10-year-old plan that’s otherwise “essentially unchanged. It’s a good plan,” said Collin Arnold, head of the city’s emergency preparedness office.
A year ago, officials in North Carolina’s Beaufort County would have rated their readiness going into hurricane season at a 95 on a 0-to-100 scale. With the virus, that’s down to 75. Brad Baker, emergency management director of Florida’s Santa Rosa County, gave the same numbers “because there’s a lot of unknowns with COVID.”
In Nueces County, Texas, which was swamped by 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, officials said they were at a 95 going into hurricane season last year. Now, it’s below 80, emergency management coordinator Melissa Munguia said. If another Harvey brings 50 inches (127 centimeters) of rain, she said the same reinforcements won’t arrive because “everybody’s been working their personnel for many hours for over 100 days.”
Florida officials were far more upbeat.
“While COVID-19 complicates things and you have to plan around COVID-19, I think Florida is as prepared as ever before in response to a hurricane,” said Moskowitz, the state emergency management chief.
In Louisiana, disaster officials said they’re used to “overlapping emergencies, and you just have to plow through.”
They anticipate making adjustments, “but it’s hard to pin down what those changes will be,” said Mike Steele, spokesman for the state’s emergency preparedness office. By August and September, typically the height of Louisiana’s hurricane season, the number of infections and social distancing requirements may have changed, he said.
Coping with a hurricane is hard, and the coronavirus “is going to make it a little bit more difficult,” Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Pete Gaynor told reporters in May. But he said FEMA has hired 500 people since March and has a record of nearly $80 billion in its disaster fund.
Vice President Mike Pence told President Donald Trump on Thursday that the federal government would ensure state and local authorities can handle hurricanes. “Bottom line, Mr. President, we’re ready.”
Academics who study disasters aren’t so sure.
“I don’t think they (federal officials) are doing the job they should be doing. I worry about their ability to handle a very large hurricane in addition to COVID-19,” University of South Carolina’s Cutter said.
She and others said mixed messages on the coronavirus means some people aren’t believing what they’re hearing from Washington in an emergency.
“I think our lives are in danger now because we don’t trust the federal government,” Cutter said.
Between the pandemic, a crashing economy and patchy federal responses to three 2017 hurricanes, people should prepare for little help from the government, Virginia Commonwealth University emergency preparedness professor Hans-Louis Charles said.
Experts also worry that it could take longer to return to normal after a hurricane. Search and rescue teams, utility workers who restore power lines and volunteers who help clean up may be slowed or not respond at all because of concerns over virus exposure, experts said. That and other issues may mean a storm that in the past caused $12 billion in insured damage, like 2018’s Hurricane Michael, may cost 20% more, catastrophic risk modeler Karen Clark said.
While many officials are still trying to figure out shelters, they said if people are told to evacuate in a hurricane, residents must go. Storm surge is more dangerous than the virus, officials said.
“In hurricane season, we can’t have mixed messages. If you live in an evacuation zone, your plan is to evacuate if ordered to do so by local officials,” former FEMA director Craig Fugate said. “This message will not change, COVID or no COVID.”
___
Contributing are: Jonathan Drew, Ben Finley, Alan Suderman, Meg Kinnard, Sudhin Thanawala, Brendan Farrington, Tamara Lush, Curt Anderson, Michael Schneider, Terry Spencer, Kelli Kennedy, Freida Frisaro, Adriana Gomez Licon, David Fischer, Kimberly Chandler, Emily Wagster Pettus, Janet McConnaughey, Paul Weber and Kevin Freking.
May is Older Americans Month. This year’s theme, “Make Your Mark,” celebrates the countless contributions that older adults make to our communities; it highlights the difference everyone can make – in the lives of older adults, in support of caregivers, and to strengthen communities.
The Lower Shore is rich with stories about older Americans making their mark and helping others. Here are a few:
Samuel Chase DAR: One Mask at a Time
Members of the Samuel Chase Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, are working to protect their community, one mask at a time.
Dotty Semotchko.
Members have spent many hours hunched over sewing machines since March, making fabric face masks – more than 2,600 of them.
The chapter has donated masks to several area hospitals and nursing homes, small businesses and to MAC Inc. the Area Agency on Aging. Masks also have been sent as far as Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.
It has been a collective effort by the chapter to produce the masks and donate them to various areas of need in the community, and beyond, said Dotty Semotchko, 66, regent of the Samuel Chase Chapter.
About a dozen members have been involved with the actual sewing; those who don’t sew have donated materials. Chapter members range in age from 30s up to Baby Boomers.
Wearing the fabric masks provide some benefits in slowing the spread of Covid-19, according to medical officials.
“We are just trying to help the community,” Semotchko said. “I’m proud of what our chapter is doing.”
“We have a certain amount of comfort knowing that perhaps in some fashion we are helping a loved one, a friend or neighbor from contracting the virus,” she said. “In some way we are helping to protect our community and the people we love and care for. It’s a great feeling!”
Carol Steffy and the Spirit of Esther
Esther Moore loved visitors, especially during the last year of her life when she resided in a nursing home.
Carol Steffy.
When Moore died in 2010, her daughter, Carol Steffy of Salisbury had the perfect way to honor her memory.
The Spirit of Esther Fund was born.
“She was in a nursing home the last year of her life, getting more disabled. But her mind still worked and she loved visitors,” said Steffy, who is 76.
The Spirit of Esther provides funds to area nonprofit organizations “to go into nursing homes and interact with the residents, to bring them cheer and joy and normalcy, and a relationship with another human being,” Steffy said.
Activities have included luncheons and bingo games, and visitors from Pets on Wheels Delmarva and the Salisbury Zoological Park.
“Visitors bring so much pleasure to folks who live in nursing homes,” she said. “I know it brought great joy to my mother.”
“If you keep moving and keep talking and stay active, the more active you will stay. Mom could not walk anymore but she was actively involved,” she said.
Nursing homes are now closed to visitors, due to the Covid-19 crisis, and Spirit of Esther activities have been suspended for now. But Steffy is confident the program will return.
“I know there will be new rules. But we will find a new way to spread cheer to nursing home residents,” she said.
The Spirit of Esther will live on.
Rotary Club of Salisbury: Delivering More than a Meal
“Is there something else we can do?”
Ace Parker.
Ace Parker of Salisbury asked that question 20 years ago. At the time he was in charge of the Rotary Club of Salisbury’s Committee for the Aged, and the group made an annual donation to a local retirement home.
That “something else” turned out to be recruiting Rotary members to deliver Meals on Wheels for MAC Inc.
Two decades later, many thousand meals have been delivered to area seniors, along with a friendly visit and a safety check.
The club regularly supplies the manpower for an entire home-delivered meal route, taking nutritious food to area seniors four days per week.
Parker, age 90, continues to be the driving force behind this volunteer effort, recruiting and scheduling members for meal deliveries.
“Initially, I had a hard time getting people to (volunteer); they were apprehensive. But once they went, word got out about what a great feeling it was to deliver meals to the seniors.”
It didn’t take long for volunteers to realize the deliveries were about so much more than food, Parker said.
“The most important is talking with the people. Sometimes we are the only people they see that day,” he said.
Rotary activities have been temporarily suspended due to the Covid-19 crisis, with MAC drivers handling deliveries along that route for now.
“We will be back,” Parker said.
Barbara Ross: Offering Peace of Mind
Many seniors live alone, but thanks to volunteers like Barbara Ross, they aren’t alone.
Barbara Ross.
Every week she calls 10 area older women, all are shut-ins and live alone. Ross is a friendly voice, calling to check on their well-being and letting them know that someone cares.
It is all part of the Telephone Reassurance Program at MAC.
In the event a phone call goes unanswered, the volunteer then calls the designated emergency contact, and even the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office if needed, to check on the senior’s well-being.
“I love doing this,” Ross said. “What touches me is if I don’t call them at a certain time, they will call me and ask if I’m OK. I’m supposed to be checking on them, and they’re checking on me.”
In this time of the Covid-19 crisis and social distancing, staying connected has never been more important. Older adults in particular are at a higher risk of isolation, loneliness and increased frail health. For those seniors living alone confusion, fear and depression can lead to even higher health and fall risks.
“Most of them are home alone most of the time; many don’t drive,” she said.
“I will call and ask if they are getting out of the house for food, how they are doing. I can pick up if they are lonely and just need to talk. I’m happy to spend a few extra minutes talking to them,” Ross said.
“There is a real need. They need someone. I look at myself at age 72. None of us know what we will have to go through later in life. I might need someone to check on me,” Ross said. “The phone calls make them feel less alone. I’m happy I can do that,”
Kelsie Mattox: A Family Tradition
Kelsie Mattox tirelessly logs many hours each week, devoting her time to many organizations and activities.
Kelsie Mattox.
It is all a labor of love for the 77-year-old Hebron resident; it is continuing her family’s longstanding tradition of community involvement.
Her work touches all ages, and takes many forms: from advocating for older Americans, and promoting education and political involvement, to teaching first aid and health classes at area churches.
Mattox is active with Foster Grandparents and her sorority; she’s a member of the walk committee for the Alzheimer’s Association of the Eastern Shore, and serves with the Democratic Club of Wicomico and the NAACP.
At the county level, she is a member of the Wicomico County Commission on Aging, the Complete Census Count Committee, and the Wicomico County Property Tax Assessment Appeals Board.
“There is a saying: ‘To whom much is given, much is expected,’ ” Mattox said. “I believe I owe things to my community. As John Kennedy said, I don’t just ask what my country can do for me, but ask what I can do for my country.”
“This community is dear to me,” she added.
The Covid-19 crisis has not slowed her down or curtailed her community work. She uses Zoom from home to connect to about four to five meetings each week.
Mattox hopes her legacy will be that of “a good role model, that I helped other people accomplish what they want in life,” she said.
Dan Savoy: Making his Community Better
Dan Savoy makes his community a better place to live.
Dan Savoy.
A retired educator and education administrator, is a champion for older Americans and those less fortunate, and an advocate for the environment, the 75-year-old Salisbury resident is making his mark on his community.
“One of my great loves is the environment,” said Savoy, who serves on the board of the Wicomico Environmental Trust.
As a Creekwatcher, he helps to monitor the health of the Wicomico River, taking water samples, checking the water temperature and noting the clarity of the water.
“I remember when we could swim in Leonards Mill Pond, Schumaker and other swimming holes” on the Shore, he said.
“We’ve lost a lot of lakes and ponds due to polluted runoff,” he said. “We want to monitor and improve the quality of the water. Then maybe one day we will be back to where locals can swim in some of these swimming holes.”
“Each person needs to realize that we have a stake in improving the environment. It is not always someone else,” he said. “That someone has to start with me.”
“Ultimately, the goal is to leave a better place for our children,” said Savoy, father of two and grandfather of three.
The desire to leave the world a better place drives his other volunteer activities as well.
A champion for older adults on the Shore, he is a member of the MAC Board of Directors and serves as its treasurer.
“I love the many things MAC does to make the community a better place for older adults,” said Savoy.
“We know that aging in place is the best thing that can happen for older Americans. There is no place like home,” he said, adding that so many MAC programs focus on just that – helping older Americans to age in place, to live out their lives in the home of their choice.
Savoy also served two terms on the Wicomico County Commission on Aging, including a term as chairman; and volunteers for Wicomico Habitat for Humanity.
“So many have contributed to the successes I have had in my life. Many folks have had a great deal of faith in me,” he said. “I want to carry that caring attitude to others.”
Every day, the contributions of older Americans make our communities a better place to live, for all ages.
Older Americans are volunteers, mentors and role models; they provide care for grandchildren, spouses and friends. Their time, experience, and talents benefit family, peers, and neighbors every day.
May is recognized as Older Americans Month each year, but the invaluable contributions of seniors are worth celebrating every day.
MAC Inc., the Area Agency on Aging, is a private, nonprofit organization serving senior citizens in Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties. For more information on MAC and its many services, call 410-742-0505 or visit macinc.org.
The Iowa congressman with a long history of racist and outrageous remarks isfacing a serious challenge from state Sen. Randy Feenstra, one of four GOP candidates that King is facing off against in the GOP primary on Tuesday.
King is being massively outspent — Feenstra has poured over $230,000 into TV ads and outside groups have run up hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads on his behalf. Feenstra's campaign reported having over $120,000 in cash on hand in the latest reporting period, while King had $32,000.
Sept. 4, 201901:11
King's opponents haven't focused on his past rhetoric as much as they have on what's happened because of it — his loss of power.
The longtime congressman, who's been in office since 2003, was stripped of his assignments on the Agriculture, Judiciary and Small Business Committees committees last year and essentially ostracized from the Republican party after comments about white nationalism in The New York Times. "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?" he asked a reporter then.
President Donald Trump, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Gov. Kim Reynolds haven't made any endorsements in the race, and outside Republican groups have lined up against him for fear of losing the seat to the Democrats in November.
The Republican Main Street Partnership, which supports moderate Republicans, is backing Feenstra — the first time the organization has opposed a GOP incumbent.
"We don't like to do this," Sarah Chamberlain, president and CEO of the Partnership, told NBC News, but King "doesn't sit on any committees and he can't do anything for the people of Iowa."
King, 71, maintains that his "white nationalist" comments were taken out of context, although he'd reportedly made similar comments months earlier. But his divisive comments on nationalism, immigration and more have long been a headache for the GOP — and he's kept making them even since his rebuke.
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An outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, King was an early proponent of a wall along the southern border. A version he designed and displayed on the House floor on 2006 included barbed wire on the top "to provide a disincentive for people to climb over the top or put a ladder there."
"We could also electrify this wire with the kind of current that wouldn't kill somebody but it would be discouragement for them to fool around with it. We do that with livestock all the time,” King said then.
In the years since, he's compared illegal immigrants to "dirt" and "bird dogs."
King's also mocked so-called DREAMers, people who were brought to the country illegally as children who are seeking a path to American citizenship. He told Newsmax in a 2013 interview that for every valedictorian DREAMer who has been brought to the United States by his or her family, "there's another 100 out there who, they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
"You cannot rebuild your civilization with somebody else's babies. You've got to keep your birth rate up, and that you need to teach your children your values. And in doing so, you can grow your population, you can strengthen your culture, and you can strengthen your way of life," King said.
He's also made bizarre claims about his own heritage, tweeting in 2015 that he's "as Hispanic and Latino" as Julián Castro, the Mexican-American former secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
In 2016, King's campaign Facebook page mocked Emma Gonzalez — a Parkland, Florida high school shooting survivor — after she gave a speech at a "March for Our Lives" rally in Washington. Commenting next to a photo of the teenager, who wore a Cuban flag patch, the posting said, "This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don't speak Spanish and ignore the fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizens; hence their right to self defense."
He's also ridiculed Somali Muslims, saying he did not want them working in meatpacking plants in his Iowa district. "I don't want people doing my pork that won't eat it, let alone hope I go to hell for eating pork chops," he told Breitbart News in 2018.
After he was booted off of his committee assignments for the "white nationalist" comments in 2019, King compared his suffering to Jesus during a town hall in Cherokee. "And when I had to step down the floor of the House of Representatives and look up at those 400-and-some accusers, you know, we've just passed through Easter and Christ's Passion, and I have a better insight into what he went through for us," King said.
After Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said immigrants were complaining that they were being forced to drink from toilets at detention centers, King said at an another town hall that he'd visited the center and sampled the hybrid toilet/water fountain. "I took a drink out of there," King said, and it was "pretty good."
That same year he also drew fire — including a call to resign from Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming — after he said rape and incest have been essential to the survival of humanity.
"What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled those people out that were products of rape and incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" King said while arguing in favor of abortion bans that do not make exceptions for cases of rape and incest, according to video posted online by The Des Moines Register.
The comments fueled concern among Republicans that his conservative northwest district could turn blue in 2020. Democrat J.D. Scholten is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. King defeated the well-funded Scholten by just three percentage points in the last election, and that was before he lost his positions of power in the House.
"I'm hoping the people of Iowa understand that," Chamberlain said. If King wins the primary, "this could become a Democratic seat."
King's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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Iowa Rep. Steve King's many outrageous comments may finally catch up with him - NBCNews.com
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