The family rescued by George Zimmerman after a rollover crash in Florida are terrified they will become targets for hate mobs who have made death threats to the neighborhood vigilante.
Mark and Dana Michelle Gerstle told friends they do not want to talk publicly about Zimmerman for fear they will be accused of portraying him as a hero - and face a backlash from those who consider he got away with murder.
'They are very grateful to Zimmerman for what he did, but they do not want to get involved,' said a friend, who asked not to be named. Mr. Gerstle is having his moment of fame, but he's not handling it too well. Pics at site.
George Zimmerman, who was acquitted earlier this month of murder and manslaughter in the death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, helped rescue a family from an overturned vehicle in Florida last week, authorities said on Monday.
Zimmerman, 29, helped get them out of the overturned sport utility vehicle last Wednesday, barely four days after the not-guilty verdict, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office in central Florida said.
"He did not witness the crash. He rolled up on it after the fact and assisted in getting the family out of the vehicle," sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Cannaday said.
When a deputy arrived at the scene, two men, one of whom was identified as Zimmerman, had already helped get the parents and two children out of the vehicle, Cannaday said. The two men then left.
Cannaday said no one was injured. The family's identity and race were not immediately known. Race? WTF difference does that make ?
Asked if Zimmerman was being called a hero, Cannaday said, "We're not going that far."
#1
The evil man!!! He must be destroyed before he hurts another family!! He set something in the road to cause the vehicle to crash!! A family of color no less!! Destroy him!!! /stupid idiot liberal race baiter
#2
Asked if Zimmerman was being called a hero, Cannaday said, "We're not going that far."
Voluntarily stopping to ensure the safety of children and his fellow man, with no thought for the safety of himself, then quietly departing when the authorities arrive. A hero? Possibly not, but certainly close. Would we had more like him ?
#4
Hey, B - if they knew the race of the crashes, they could twist it into 'proving' Zimmerman was a racist. Black/white/pink/purple - I'm sure it'd help prove he was a racist. Somehow.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/23/2013 6:04 Comments ||
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#5
I know the story was on the news last night, and I believe the family was of African ancestry. But I did not take particular note of it, one way or the other - "OMG, he saved a black person! He must be trying to make up for killing that poor child!"
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/23/2013 6:07 Comments ||
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#6
He went and saw his lawyer later that day and didn't mention it to him. He found out about it from the media or something.
#11
Smith also told the Sentinel that Zimmerman was not a witness to the crash but that he drove up on the scene and, along with another person,
Thank god there WAS A WITNESS, no more legal lynchings.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/23/2013 16:43 Comments ||
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#12
LOL, I saw a comment stating that NBC had a video and it showed Zimmerman stuffing the four people back into the SUV and then lighting it on fire with a red cylinder of kerosene.
Meanwhile, Holder is pursuing charges of illegal stopping and crossing against traffic. And Corey is charging him with child abuse because he pulled the driver out first.
A man from Catamarca took bargain shopping to a new extreme when he purchased what he thought to be a pair of Toy Poodles from the La Salada market in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The man learned the hard way that his reasonably priced dogs were not what they seemed to be.
A metaphor for Kerry and the Palestinian peace initiative.
According to a Buenos Aires news report, the man took his new Poodles to the veterinarian for vaccinations and received the shocking news. The veterinarian revealed that the pair were actually ferrets on steroids. The veterinarian believes that the two were given steroids at birth to increase their size and alter their physical features to resemble the in-demand dog breed. The disguised ferrets were also groomed to look fluffy like a Toy Poodle.
[AnNahar] Fresh fighting raged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... 's restive east for several hours Monday as army helicopters attacked positions of the M23 rebels, who fired mortars in return, both sides said.
The latest festivities in the central African country's mineral-rich but conflict-torn east broke four days of relative calm, further damaging a tattered truce that had lasted from late May, when U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... visited the region, until July 14.
"There have been festivities between our troops and the M23," a Congolese officer told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.
"The M23 are firing mortars... and we've engaged helicopters to attack the enemy positions."
The M23, a group launched by Tutsi ex-soldiers who mutinied from the army in April 2012, confirmed the festivities and said army helicopters were attacking its positions around the towns of Kibati, just north of the flashpoint city of Goma, and Uvira, some 300 kilometers (200 miles) to the south.
"Since this morning the government has regularly been using helicopters... to bomb our positions in the Kibati and Uvira areas, but without success," M23 front man Vianney Kazarama told AFP.
He said the festivities stopped in the late afternoon, while a government officer told AFP on condition of anonymity there was a "lull" in the fighting.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
But the Congolese government accused the M23 of killings, rapes and looting over the past week in the eastern town of Kiwandja.
"According to multiple sources, elements of the M23 rebel group committed serious abuses over the course of the past week in Kiwandja, in North Kivu province," said government front man Lambert Mende in a statement.
"The toll from the violence is 10 homes and 15 businesses looted, 13 youths killed, seven women raped and 13 people maimed," he added, saying the acts constituted "war crimes and crimes against humanity".
The U.N. and various human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... groups have accused the M23 of atrocities including rape and murder in the past. The Congolese army has also been hit by accusations of rapes and killings.
The U.N. has begun deploying its first-ever offensive force to the eastern DR Congo to fight the M23 and other gangs. About two-thirds of the new 3,000-troop force is in place, and the U.N. said last week it was ready to send them into battle.
The M23 occupied Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, for 10 days in November before withdrawing from the city under international pressure.
[AnNahar] A Norwegian woman sentenced to prison in Dubai after reporting she was raped was set free with a full pardon on Monday after her case sparked an outcry.
Marte Dalelv, 24, expressed relief at the end of a four-month ordeal which had seen her prosecuted and convicted for extramarital sex, perjury and consuming alcohol without a licence, after she lodged the complaint against her boss.
The convictions could have seen her serving a 16-month jail term in the United Arab Emirates but Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum pardoned her on all counts.
The boss, against whom she lodged the complaint and who had been sentenced to 13 months for alcohol consumption and sex outside marriage, was also pardoned, her lawyer Mahmoud Azab told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"I was told that I've been pardoned," a smiling Dalelv told news hounds outside a Scandinavian social center, adding her passport had been returned and she would leave the Gulf state "as soon as possible".
"I'm very, very happy. This is the perfect ending (and) it feels really, really good," she said.
In Oslo, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide expressed relief the pardon had been granted but criticized the original court verdict.
"I'm... thankful to the emir, who has it within his power to give such a pardon," Eide told AFP.
"The verdict was contrary to several conventions of human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... that the Emirates have signed and promised to upkeep, especially the U.N. Convention of Women."
Eide had criticized Dalelv's prosecution from the outset saying it was "very strange that a person who reports rape is sentenced for acts which in our part of the world are not even a crime."
Dalelv reported the rape to police back in March and was immediately locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! , being released four days later with the assistance of Norwegian diplomats.
She has since been staying at the Norwegian Seamen's Center in Dubai.
Norwegian authorities had agreed to pay for legal fees after she spent 55,000 Norwegian kronor (7,000 euros) on legal assistance, she said.
Dalelv, who had come to Dubai on a business trip from Doha when the incident took place, told AFP that she has not yet decided if she will go back to Qatar.
Dalelv's boss, a Sudanese identified only as Hawari in his 30s, was also freed and handed back his passport, her lawyer Azab said.
Norwegian ambassador Ase Elin Bjerke, who was accompanying Dalelv, told AFP: "We are very grateful for the outcome of this case ... It has been very challenging."
She said there was no immediate word on the grounds for the pardon but "the very fruitful dialogue that we have had at a senior level has given result."
"She has not only been pardoned but she can stay until she decides herself to leave and she is allowed to return to the UAE anytime," said Bjerke.
Dalelv had said she was hopeful that she would succeed in her appeal against the conviction by a Dubai court last week.
Her hearing was to have taken place on September 5, before she was called to appear at the public prosecutor's office and informed of the pardon on Monday.
"Marte was a victim of her boss's moral corruption," her lawyer Azab told news hounds.
The Norwegian government had faced opposition criticism for not taking more robust action in support of Dalelv.
But the foreign minister's political adviser, Kathrine Raadim, had insisted it was out of the question for Norway to recall its ambassador while the case remained unresolved.
A petition on campaign group Avaaz for her release had obtained over 72,000 signatures while several Facebook groups were set up to demand her freedom.
[Ynet] With 90-95% of Strip's only aquifer contaminated by sewage, chemicals and seawater, public taps provide water for only about 20% of population, forcing many more residents to buy bottled water at a premium
A tiny wedge of land jammed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean sea, the Gazoo Strip is heading inexorably into a water crisis that the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... says could make the Paleostinian enclave unlivable in just a few years.
#4
Gaza has over pumped its aquifer so seawater has now displaced the freshwater aquifer. When you shoot rockets into Israel, the milk of human kindness dries up.
Gaza has literally and figuratively shat in its mess kit.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/23/2013 12:22 Comments ||
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#5
the salinization of the gaza was one of the reasons Israel left the gaza strip
ironically, Israeli advances in desalinization technology may ultimately save the gaza
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/23/2013 12:41 Comments ||
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#6
I can't think of a better way to contaminate shallow aquifers than keeping sewage in ponds.
The whining for israel to fix their mess will start soon. Unfortunately, the Israelis probably will.
#7
Israel should say "FU". You got it, you broke it, you drink it
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/23/2013 22:09 Comments ||
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#8
if they can't operate a greenhouse how the hell are they going to do something much more complicated like Desalination. Plus it requires energy which requires real $.
Irancell has apologized to Sunni Muslims for a mobile phone competition seen as insulting to Muslim caliph and the Prophet Mohammad's companion Umar bin al-Khattab.
The second largest mobile operator in Iran had sent its subscribers a quiz question deemed offensive to Sunni Muslims, Iran Daily Brief website reported Monday.
The telecom operator asked its subscribers: "Which judge was deceived by the Devil during the time of (the first Shiite Imam) Imam Ali?"
The two answer options given were: A) Sharih Qazi, the Sunni arbiter of Kufa city, in the first century of Islam. B) Umar bin al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph. Shia don't like Umar, aka Omar, aka Caliph Omar, for a number of reason, e.g., he killed some Shia heros like Ali. The reference to the devil and Umar is from a hadith that can be understood in several ways, one of which is that Omar was deceived by the devil.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/23/2013 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
