St. Louis Police Investigate Alleged Death Threat by School Board Member Against Ex-Comptroller

St. Louis Police Investigate Alleged Threat by School Board Member Against Ex-Comptroller The Associated Press Published: Aug 8, 2003

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Police said they are investigating allegations that a school board member threatened to kill a former city official who had questioned the board member's behavior. Former comptroller Virvus Jones was quoted in this week's St. Louis American saying that school board member Rochell Moore "is taking the region's residents on an odyssey most of us would rather avoid."

Jones also suggested that Moore is mentally ill and should get treatment, citing a string of erratic behavior.

Jones said that after the article was published Thursday, a school district official told him Moore had said she "would get a gun and blow my brains out" if he continuing writing articles about her.

Moore said Jones was lying. "All I can tell you is Virvus must be afraid. He must be paranoid," Moore said.

Moore, elected in 2001, was involuntarily committed in October after lying on the street in front of district headquarters. Moore said she was dosed with cocaine in a political conspiracy orchestrated by Mayor Francis Slay, the hospital and her opponents on the school board.

Earlier this week, Moore wrote a letter filled with biblical references that said the Lord would smite Slay and anyone who helps him because of the position he has taken concerning the financially troubled school district.

A Slay spokesman called the letter "a very sad situation" and said it was evident Moore needed professional help. Moore said the letter was intended as a prayer.

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Speaking of crazy, you'd have to be nuts to keep your children in the St. Louis public schools! The Post-Dispatch adds a little more flavor to the whole story:

St. Louis School Board member Rochell Moore fired off a cryptic letter Tuesday to Mayor Francis Slay, saying he is "cursed with a curse" of biblical proportions for interfering with the city school district. Moore - who distributed her letter to area news media - also accuses the mayor of participating in a conspiracy that she said landed her in a psychiatric unit last year.

The letter consists almost entirely of a passage in Deuteronomy in which Moses spells out the calamities that would attend the Israelites if they strayed from God. "The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto Francis Slay and anyone who helps him, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it," she writes, modifying a passage found in Deuteronomy 28:21. "The Lord shall smite Francis Slay and anyone who helps him with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword and with blasting and with mildew; and the angel of the Lord shall pursue Francis Slay until he perishes."

Slay did not comment on the letter Tuesday. Instead, his office issued a statement expressing concern for Moore's mental health. "It is a very sad situation for Ms. Moore and the children she is supposed to represent," the statement said. "It is evident that she needs professional help. The sooner she seeks it the better it will be for the kids, the district, and especially for Ms. Moore herself."

In recent months, Moore's behavior has been the focus of speculation and concern. In several instances, she has described herself as a victim of a conspiracy, saying that coffee she drank at school headquarters on Oct. 21 may have been dosed with cocaine. Moore was taken to Barnes-Jewish Hospital on Oct. 22 and later was committed to a psychiatric unit.

Tuesday's letter attempts to connect Slay to those incidents and cites his involvement in sweeping changes - opposed by Moore - in the school district. "Because of the position you have taken against St. Louis Public Schools and your actions last October 2002, you are cursed with a curse," the letter states.

In an interview Tuesday, Moore said it was important for her to express her feelings in scriptural terms, while making the mayor aware of the consequences of his actions. "I want to call him into remembrance of what happened to Pharaoh," she said in a phone interview.

Moore described the passage in Deuteronomy as a kind of prayer. "As long as he's threatening St. Louis Public Schools, I'm going to pray that prayer," she said. "I'm calling on all my fellow believers and my Jewish friends to pray with me."

The passage Moore referenced from Deuteronomy is brimming with detailed descriptions of curses.

Despite the letter's fiery darts, Moore said in an interview that she's not the one wishing ill upon the mayor: "I didn't say it, God said it."

Moore was elected to the St. Louis School Board in 2001. Over Moore's objections, the board has hired a private management firm, which has called for the closing of 16 schools and the elimination of more than 1,400 jobs to ease a cash-flow problem. Though Moore's letter contains no specific accusations, she said in an interview that the mayor had secretly orchestrated the sweeping changes. Moore's letter does not explain how the mayor may have played a role in the events of Oct. 22. But in an interview, Moore said she was compelled to speak publicly on the matter.

"What he did to me he did in the dark, she said. "What I'm saying to him I'm saying in the light." link

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