GOVERNMENT / POLITICS
MURDER SHE WROTE - BUT WHAT NUMBER? -- Joel Whitley was gunned down on East 6th Street after a fight at a party early Sunday morning, according to the Courier ("Police report slaying in city") and the Ledger ("Man, 26, shot dead at party in Plainfield") in Labor Day editions. The Courier ran a follow-up today ("Suspect sought in city slaying").
Both days, the Courier identified the murder as the 7th of 2006. PT however, has been keeping count ("2006 murders charted") and thinks this is Plainfield's 8th murder in 2006 ("Murder Number 8 - PT counts EIGHT"). Could the blog possibly be right in the face of the mighty fact-checking powers of the mainstream media? Remains to be seen...
Meanwhile, it's all about GUNS. GUNS are everywhere. Here are two Plainfield-related GUN stories from the past week -- "Police nab teen with loaded gun on Drake House property" and "Two Plainfield men arrested in Berkeley Heights traffic stop". And PT had several people relate stories recently -- gunshots in the neighborhoods at night, bullet holes in the windows of public buildings. Operation Cease-Fire is supposed to bring GUNS under control in the community. Let's hope, but when...
ESCORTING HER HONOR -- As if CRIME weren't enough, NON-CRIME got its 15 minutes of fame this past week also. The Courier, after weeks of travail, on Monday delivered its big piece ("After gossip on blog, Plainfield mayor gets police escort") on Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' police 'escorts.' This was followed up on Tuesday with an editorial ("Mayoral bodyguards unnecessary in Plainfield") concluding the 'escorts' are unnecessary.
On Saturday, PT was thrashed in the Courier editorial ("Responsibility has a place in blogs, too"), which led to PT's response ("Courier soundly canes PT").
But something funny happened on the way to the forum. In the course of the conversation, a NEW FOCUS has emerged. PT started by needling the Administration because it has not spoken out after the daytime shooting on the Library's steps to reassure the community and the Library's staff and patrons. The Courier has changed the focus into the question of WHY and WHEN the Mayor's police escort was assigned. WHY indeed! And WHEN indeed!
PT has been deluged with comments from people from around the community who are puzzled that the Courier let the Administration off the hook with the assertion the duty assignment was made in July, ONLY AFTER THE BLOG POST. The recollection of all these people is that the officers in question have been escorting Robinson-Briggs since the Democratic Primary a year ago last June. Long before there even WAS a Plainfield Today. This should be simple enough to get to the bottom of. After all, an order would have had to be issued...officers don't just assign themselves. And there IS a protocol for how it's done.
So, we can thank the Courier for leaving us with more questions rather than fewer...
Last Friday's H.I.T.S.: "HITS: Any way to treat a lady?..." -- Pray for our grants... Your tax $$$ at work?... La Raza rising?... The unkindest cut of all..."
Last Monday's TW3: "TW3 - Aug 21 - 27: Digest of past week's Plainfield news" -- Blanco leaves surprise legacy as Council begins to move on...
[Will finish up tomorrow, have to go to a funeral this morning.]
-- Dan Damon
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