You are amazing!
:)
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.african.american/browse_thread/thread/89f83c9b12e4bb3/49f46906c045b568?lnk=st&q=%22Michael+Seagroves%22&rnum=4&hl=en#49f46906c045b568
SOURCES: AA TEENS FLEEING WHEN SHOT
Community residents protest Seagroves' arrest
Taken without consent from The Durham Hearld-Sun
Saturday, March 20, 1993
Story by Tracie Fellers
From goverment offices to radio airwaves, Triangle
citizens howled in frustration Friday about the arrest of
Durham homeowner Michael Seagroves for shootin two teen-agers
who broke into his garage Thursday.
Seagroves, of 9 Dorset Place in the Windermere
subdivision of Durham's Woodcroft community, was charged
Thursday with manslaughter and aggraveted assault after he
opened fire with a .22-caliber rifle on the two teens and two
companions.
Seagroves, 36 was charged with killing 15-year-old
Jamal Evans Elliot and with wounding Clifton Taft, 16, who
also is know as Clifton Hester. Both were students at Jordan
High School.
Starting Friday morning, the Durham District Attorney`s
Office received scores of calls from citizens who took issue
with the charges against Seagroves, an office employee said.
"There is a public outcry," the employee said.
They're outraged. They think it`s terrible. They feel like
they can`t protect their own homes, she said.
A few callers took their concerns all the way to the
Governor`s Office of Citizens' Affairs.
"I think they just wanted to express their frustration
and outrage that [Seagroves] would be charged with
manslaughter. They just wanted the govoernor to be aware of
their concerns," said Anthony Petty, an ombudsman in the
Raleigh office.
A "load" of unsolicited calls at Durham's WDNC pro
radio Friday also seemed to indicate a groundswell of support
for Seagroves, said WDNC program director Barry Brown.
"I would say it`s safe to say a good majority sided
with the homeowner..." he said.
After receiving more than 20 calls Friday morning, the
station decided to devote "Pat Patterson`s Place," a local
weekday afternoon talk show, to listner calls about the
incident, Brown said.
"It really says a lot how passionately people feel
about this issue," Brown said.
"This didn`t seem to be any of them a Durham issue" -
or an issue of race or socioeconomic status, he said. They`re
just tured of rising crime in general."
Mayor Harry Rodenhizer said he spoke with several
people about the shooting Friday, "all of them supportive of
the homeowener.
I simply explained that the reason the homeowner was
charged was that's the way the system works," he said.
Durham police and District Attorney Ron Stephens obviously
found evidence and reason enough to charge Seagroves,
Rodenhizer said.
"I`m sure everything will be sorted out in time," the
mayor said.
Perhaps the strongest confirmation of citizen support
for Seagroves is the creation of a defense fund in his name at
Wachovia Bank.
In the office of Seagroves' attorney, William Thomas,
employees reported phones "ringing off the hook" Friday with
callers who wanted to make contributions.
Woodcroft resident Hank Young, who helped to set up
the Seagroves' defense fund said he thinks public sentiment
has shifted from concern for the homeowner to sorrow over the
death of one of the intruders.
That upsets Young.
"I certainly don`t want to leave the idea that we`re
gloating over the loss of this young man, because we`re not,"
Young said Friday. "By the same token, our interests are first
with the members of our own community."
"To me, the primary victim is the homeowner," Young
said. "I really wonder if we'd be looking at this in a
different light if his wife had stayed home with his sick baby
son instead."
Durham City Council AA member Howard Clement said that he
empathizes with the sense of outrage some are feeling. But he
urged citizens who believe Seagroves was charged unfairly to
look carefully at the facts of the case.
"I am concerned about the spirit of sympathy that`s
building for Mr. Seagroves without examining all the
ramifications surround this unfortunate episode," Clement
said. "I feel for both families."
The staff of North Carolinians Against Racist and
Religious Violence (NCARRV), based in Durham, discussed the
Seagroves shooting and its repercussions Friday.
Linda Williams, NCARRV's community educator and field
coordinator, said she sees the situation as "more of a class
incident as opposed to race." {{the kid that was killed was
from a middle-class home so i wonder about this statement}}
"I think it`s unfortunate that [Seagroves] was
victimized by these four young men," Williams said.
But "the fact that [Seagroves] shot one of the kids in
the back raises a lot of questions in our minds," she said.
"I hope the district attorney sticks to his guns and
charges the person with manslaughter, because the amount of force
that was used was clearly unjustified," she said.
"Again, this speaks to the value of young life in this
society and where our young people are headed," Williams said.
"They feel like there's nothing out there but a life of crime
for them and they`re not getting support from their families,
tecahers, peers..."
Gloria Vaca, executive director of Durham Companions,
a group that has had tremendous success with keeping troubled
kids out of trouble, said: "I think that society must take
responsibility for [Jamal Elliott's] death because this was an
at-risk child, tagged all the way. I had lots of moments for
silence for him today and the real pity, the real shame in
that is ... that the only time any of us took a moment to
think about Jamal was when he was dead.
"I think America as a country and Durham lately has
had a kind of vigilante mentality. Having a gun is not the
answer. Having that mentality -- that we have to take the law
into our own hands -- is not the answer.
"This community is so quick to judge, but not quick to
help," she said. "Instead of picking up a gun, why no pick up
a few hours a week to help there kids."
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