Finding Fear and Faith in Georgia

Hey, what can I say, my newspaper is full of it.... 

"Murder case reveals alleged terrorist plot; Prosecutor says soldiers killed 2 to protect plans" by Russ Bynum  |  Associated Press, August 28, 2012

LUDOWICI, Ga. — Four Army soldiers based in southeast Georgia killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of antigovernment attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday.

So which government agency were they working for?

A prosecutor in Long County, near the Army post Fort Stewart, said the militia group composed of active duty and former US military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components....

One of the Fort Stewart soldiers charged in the case, Private First Class Michael Burnett, also gave testimony that backed up many of the assertions made by prosecutors. The 26-year-old pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, illegal gang activity, and other charges. He made a deal to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against the three other soldiers.

Prosecutors said the group called itself FEAR, short for Forever Enduring Always Ready....

Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia’s goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.

Pfft. 

Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said the Army has dropped its charges against the four soldiers in the slayings of former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York. The military authorities filed their charges in March but never acted on them....

???????????

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"4 former soldiers indicted in militia case" by Russ Bynum  |  Associated Press, September 12, 2012

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Four former Army soldiers and a civilian have been charged in new indictments for connections to an antigovernment militia that authorities say was led by Fort Stewart troops who stockpiled weapons and talked of ultimately overthrowing the US government.

All by themselves?

A Liberty County grand jury indicted the five on charges of illegal gang activity and various counts involving theft, burglary, and auto break-ins. Those crimes were committed to help fund the militia group, which called itself FEAR, short for Forever Enduring Always Ready, District Attorney Tom Durden said Tuesday.

‘‘The burglaries and entering autos, they were committed in an effort to fund FEAR and what FEAR was at least advocating they wanted to accomplish,’’ said Durden, the top prosecutor for southeast Georgia’s Atlantic Judicial Circuit. Their plans included bombing a Savannah park fountain and poisoning apple crops in the state of Washington, prosecutors say.

The new indictments Monday bring to 10 the total number of people charged in connection with the militia group.

Four are soldiers serving at neighboring Fort Stewart and are charged with murder in the December slayings of former soldier Michael Roark and his teenage girlfriend, Tiffany York.

Excuse me but I was told they dropped the charges, so WTF?

Prosecutors said Roark had access to the militia leader’s credit cards and made purchases for the group, but they have not said what he bought.

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Also see: Ex-Army medic connected to militia group pleads guilty

Ga. prosecutor seeks death penalty for 3 soldiers

Related(?): Veterans’ gun ownership becomes defense bill issue

Timing of the Georgia thing now looks awfully suspicious, 'eh?

Men sentenced to 5 years each in Ga. militia plot

They were how old?

"Parents kept son confined, police say 

DALLAS, Ga. — A Georgia teen was so malnourished he still had his baby teeth at age 18 and was so isolated that his sisters who lived in the same house had no contact with him aside from hearing his screams, detectives testified Thursday.

Mitch Comer stood 5-foot-1 and weighed 87 pounds when he raised the suspicion of a guard at a bus station in Los Angeles. He said he was put on a bus by his stepfather, Paul Comer, on his 18th birthday with a few hundred dollars and a list of shelters.

Comer said he faced years of abuse after being taken out of school in eighth grade, confined to a bathroom and bedroom, and shielded from sunlight so long his skin had become translucent....

Of course, if the parents worked for the U.S. government the torture and mistreatment would be absolved. 

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Time to find some faith:

"Former Ga. megachurch worker sought in fatal shooting" by Norman Gomlak  |  Associated Press, October 25, 2012

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — A volunteer leading a prayer service at a Georgia megachurch was shot and killed Wednesday morning, and authorities were searching for a former church employee suspected in the shooting....

The church’s well-known founder and leader, the Rev. Creflo Dollar, was not at the church at the time of the shooting, Fulton County police Corporal Kay Lester said.

Related: Passing the Collection Plate For Dollar's Defense

Authorities identified the suspect as Floyd Palmer, 52, a former facilities maintenance employee at the church. Lester said Palmer, who should be considered armed and dangerous, had resigned from his job at the church in August for ‘‘personal reasons.’’

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"Ga. suspect also charged in ’01 attack" Associated Press, October 26, 2012

BALTIMORE — A former megachurch maintenance man accused of killing a volunteer leading a prayer service in a Georgia chapel was charged more than a decade ago with a shooting at a mosque in Maryland, according to police documents.

Floyd Palmer was part of a security detail at a Baltimore mosque in June 2001 when he shot another man working with him, wounding him in the back, according to a police report obtained by the AP Thursday. Palmer tried to fire again, but the gun jammed. When other people ran over to him, he turned the gun on them, but it wouldn’t fire, according to the documents.

During a pretrial psychological evaluation, Palmer said the shooting occurred in part because he believed NFL player Ray Lewis and members of his own family were out to get him.

Palmer was committed to a psychiatric hospital in 2004 after pleading not criminally responsible. Despite objections from prosecutors, a judge released him in 2006 on the condition he abide by a number of restrictions for five years.

It’s not clear when he made his way south....

But this government has to spy on your e-mails and track every little movement you make. 

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I've seen the light through the night thanks to my Boston Globe! 

"Moonshine makers set up in Georgia city hall; Distilleries grow amid demand for specialty liquors" by Jeff Martin  |  Associated Press, November 22, 2012

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Moonshine distillers are making their first batches of legal liquor in this tiny Georgia town’s city hall, not far from the mountains and the maroon, orange, and gold canopy of trees that once hid bootleggers from the law.

A handful of moonshine distilleries are scattered around the South, but observers say this is the first they have ever seen them right in a city hall. The distilleries come amid an increased interest in the United States for locally made specialty spirits and beer brewed in homes and micro-breweries. 

I'll bet going to work is fun. 

The Dawsonville moonshine makers and city officials say the operation helps them preserve a way of life. It also carries on traditions from an era when moonshine meant extra income for farmers, medicine for their children, and helped fuel the beginnings of NASCAR racing....

Where is the concern about climate change as the cars waste fuel going in a circle, 'eh?

Townspeople are proud of how young Dawsonville men raced their cars at places like Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta after moonshine deliveries, which helped stock-car racing gain a following in its early days....

Believe it or not, but the following is larger than that for football. 

Distiller Dwight BeardenBearden, 56, recalls how extra income from his family’s moonshining helped feed him as a child, and often meant a better Christmas if sales were good.

There are a handful of other moonshine distilleries in Southern states such as North Carolina, but officials from state and national groups say they aren’t aware of any operating in a city hall.

‘‘That’s a new one for me,’’ said Gregory Minchak, a spokesman for the National League of Cities....

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Time to gas up:

"A chance encounter at a Georgia gas station left a 65-year-old woman dead and a 73-year-old man facing a murder charge after authorities say the woman’s car and his motorized wheelchair bumped, and he opened fire, police said Wednesday."

Also see: Emory offers apology for past anti-Semitism

I'm not even going to comment (yawn).

Carbon monoxide sends 42 students, 7 adults to hospitals

Globe often leaves me feeling lightheaded and sick.