Tulsans know a smokescreen when they see one.
It would seem Clayton Bellamy
from the Associated Press has never seen
a real war.
Tulsa made national news this week, not because
there’s any “real” news to report, but instead because
of a manufactured story about a “war on the homeless”.
Clayton Bellamy, the author of the article, later
admitted “There were some things in the story
that were mischaracterized…” and that “People are killed in
what authorities call "self defense" all the
time in our country. It's not as newsworthy…”
In fact, when www.TulsaToday.com
reporters spoke with Sandra Holden at the Day Center for the Homeless,
her immediate response was: “That story was highly
exaggerated. Highly exaggerated. There is no “war” against the homeless.”
She continued, “Josh Martin told the Tulsa World
that the [“F The Homeless”] t-shirts were printed before the incident
[of Shawn Howard’s killing] and we haven’t seen
anyone wearing them. There was one poster that was bad.
It’s quiet right now. There is no backlash against
the homeless.”
As for the reported incidences of violence against
the homeless, Ms. Holden stated, “There were two times people
were chased from the area and I honestly can’t
say it had anything to do with the bar or with the (Shawn Howard) incident.
We’re communicating with business owners downtown
and everyone is trying to be a good neighbor.” Other sources tell
report that one of those people were actually
chased from outside the bar because they were "attempting to steal a case
of beer that was staged to be loaded into a cooler."
So how did this story start? D.A. Tim Harris
immediately trotted out the idea of “vigilante justice” when the community
expressed outrage over his decision not to prosecute
Terry Badgewell. But to date, no direct reprisals have been reported.
Shouldn’t readers assume that if homeless people
were being beaten or harassed that Harris would be parading down
Main Street with his “I Told You So” sign?
The facts are twisted further by Badgewell’s attorney’s attempts to characterize his client as “cordial” and “soft-spoken”.
www.Bartcop.com recently reported: “Terry Badgewell
has convictions for burglary, auto theft, running a roadblock and
eluding police. He has been arrested for receiving
stolen property, disturbing the peace and domestic violence (seriously
biting his sister) and he apparently skipped
Cherokee Country on those charges. The man he killed, with blows from behind,
had no record, yet the DA decided not to pursue
the investigation.”
If you thought things couldn’t get stranger, think again.
A producer recently contacted the Day Center and
Badgewell’s attorney in an attempt to locate Badgewell and fly him
to New York to star in an off-Broadway play,
titled “Prison Boyz”.
Since Tulsa's District Attorney has apparently
taken the position of acting as Badgewell’s defense attorney, instead of
upholding his oath to prosecute violent crime,
perhaps he should go to New York with Badgewell and act as his agent.
Then Tulsa will be rid of two offenders and those
who remain can focus on the task of solving Tulsa’s skyrocketing crime
problem.
Bellamy, Harris and Hjelm seem to prefer a media
circus over a safe city where verifiable facts are reported.
Is this how we really want the nation to view
our city?