McClellan: Memo to the world — we're fine [St. Louis Columnist Offers Perspective]

Memo from St. Louis to the rest of the world: We’re fine. Really. So far, anyway.

We are not in great spirits. We are saddened by the death of Michael Brown. He was shot to death by a police officer Saturday. As of yet we know almost nothing of the circumstances of that shooting. For that matter, we know little about Michael Brown except that he graduated from high school and planned to go to Vatterott College. That is not the profile of a dead-end kid. He had ambition. He had plans.

First, we had riots. People smashed windows and stole things. Liquor and shoes were popular. We were told there was a certain nobility in this. It wasn’t looting as much as it was protesting. Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. explained that the looting was a scream from the people of Ferguson.

Of course, Pitts is from Miami and probably couldn’t find Ferguson. That is not meant as a criticism. Many people in St. Louis couldn’t find Ferguson. We have something like 100 municipalities in St. Louis County. Ferguson is not even one of the larger ones.

That’s something you should realize if you see pictures of the rioting on television. It is not widespread. In fact, I visited a friend in Ferguson the other day. He has a nice house in a middle-class neighborhood. He was out of town last weekend and when he saw news of the rioting on television, he called his wife. She didn’t even know about the storm raging four blocks away.

“She didn’t even know about the storm raging four blocks away.”............

“STORM”? Sounds like exaggeration for effect.

My guess the “storm” was created by the media, the “Street Rats” were just doing what they normally do, like rob, steal and loot. If you were going to “loot”, would you steal booze or some damn tennis shoes? Idiots, all of them.

I’m glad to know this guys thinks everything is hunkey-dory.

I imagine the people who had their stores looted and burned to the ground don’t feel that way.

And the way he dismisses his fellow journalists, that’s really a bit strange.

Not fan of the MSM, but something bothers me about journalists being arrested for covering news. Seems rather un-American. I suppose there could be some explanation for it, but I don’t remember anything like this happening during other events of this type.

I can’t say the same for Jon Belmar. He is the new St. Louis County police chief. Very first thing he did when the county got handed the investigation was say something to the effect that the Ferguson chief had asked him to take over and that indicated the Ferguson chief had nothing to hide.

Why voice your support for the Ferguson police department when you’re supposed to be an honest broker?

Besides, Belmar looks a lot like the Ferguson police chief, Tom Jackson. Perceptions matter. Two heavyset white guys with silver hair expressing their faith in each other does not inspire confidence with a skeptical young black audience.

Then a total shutdown on information made things worse. How many shell casings were found at the scene? “More than a few.” How many times was Michael Brown shot? “More than just a couple but I don’t think it was many more than that.”

Thanks for being so straightforward, Chief Belmar.

Four days into the investigation, Jackson announced that the still unnamed police officer who shot Brown suffered facial injuries and was taken to a hospital. Four days to learn that? What’s next?

He hit the nail on the head —

The public want to know how many shots were fired and how many times the kid was shot and the police chiefs only information after 4 days was the shooting officer’s swelling on the side of his face.

These two bonehead chiefs should be fired —

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