Klu Klux Klan trying to set up shop in Bridgton
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The sign contains a racially-offensive term, and accuses Obama of engaging in sexually-deviant behavior.
Pratt gave the man’s first name as “Chet,” and said Chet sold a fair amount of items when he was visiting last weekend. He said Chet plans on his next visit to bring Klu Klux Klan brochures to pass out to anyone who’s interested, in the hopes of rallying support for the Klan’s cause in the Bridgton area.
Because Pratt is claiming free speech, when the police had shown up and that includes the Chief, there is nothing they could do. However that all changed when Pratt assaulted a news crew and it was caught on camera. Because of all the media attention and pressure from the locals, he had taken down all the signs.
Wow !!! and harassed by the local hero's.......they must be white. If this had been the new black panther party all the white folk woulda been tripping over each other to kiss their ass or nominate them for president. You can't be white and have an opinion.
The KKK has more than an opinion. They are evil. Are you their advocate? If so, AMG has hit a new low.
While the media scrambles around looking for the "proof" that wide-spread racism exists, because, gosh, darn it, one of these days they'll find evidence of it, I think, instead, there might be mental illness involved in this situation, rather than "racism."
If a nut was wandering around the backroads of Bridgton claiming the earth was flat, and attacking you if you questioned his belief, I don't think we'd be hearing the "Flat earthers invade Bridgton."
I saw that guy on television last night and said to myself, is that somebody I know...nope not this time. I know several people in town that look just like him though, I wonder how many people will be mistaken for this guy.
Didn't the Klan have a cross-burning (and that's just how I'd celebrate religion--by burning a religious symbol I claim to believe in) on some farm in Maine about 30 years ago?
I can't find anything about that, did you mean this:
one summer afternoon in 1977, as he sat on the hill with a friend watching a thunderstorm roll over, an amazing thing happened. A lightning bolt struck one of the pines, creating the shape of a cross.
Donnie piled up the debris, burned it, but the cross remained — and he has tended it lovingly ever since.
I saw the footage of the incident: "Racially inflammatory sign leads to confrontation" was a bit of a stretch - I'd say a jackass of a reporter picking an argument with a man clearly suffering from mental illness is what led to the confrontation. I couldn't tell who the bigger fool was. The reporter never even found the supposed sign that someone sent him a picture of.
Do you remember the reporters getting into this guy's face and asking him pointed questions about what he was advocating?
I don't either.
I do remember going to a rally for Bush in 2004, and the 'rats were standing outside with a sign that said "Behead Bush." I read the the Portland Press herald the next day about the bitter clingers attending the rally. I called the reporter and asked him if we were at the same event - did he remember the "Behead Bush" sign?
"Yes," he said, "I do remember seeing that. But the editor took it out."
Wish you all the best in getting rid of the Kockroach infestation.
Didn't the Klan have a cross-burning ...
It was about 1957 and yours truly was 9 and lived in Gardiner. I stayed part of the summer with a friend at his family's camp on Tacoma Lake. One evening we all piled in the car and drove to a nearby field. We joined a lot of others for a cookout and good, clean fun. The festivities concluded with a bonfire containing a humongous cross. It was really impressive.
It was more than twenty years before I understood what I had seen, less than ten miles from the capitol building in Augusta.
Couldn't find any in Bridgton, but here some in Maine:
1996: MAINE MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO BURNING A CROSS IN AUGUSTA - Augusta
2011: Man Arrested in Knox County for Cross Burning on Deputy's Lawn - Tenants Harbor
1987: Anti-KKK Rally Precedes Klan Cross-Burning - Rumford
1997: Augusta Cross Burning Earns Pair Lengthy Jail Terms -Augusta
Hmmm.... Doesn't seem to be a widespread problem.
However, I'm guessing we'll be hearing plenty in the next few months about racial problems and the uptick in racist acts.
------------------------
Here's a thought. This guy looks like he's been living under a bridge for the last three years, is driving a rusty bucket of a truck, and based on his actions, is clearly suffering from mental illness.
Might he have a claim for discrimination against those who harrass him - including the reporter?
Think it through. Who should be allowed to stalk, harrass and agitate clearly mentally-ill people, like this reporter did? Who is the sicker one - the supposedly sane reporter, or the man who is barely at a mental functioning level where he is able to take care of himself?
I wonder if this fellow might have the basis for a civil rights claim under the disability rights laws.
If not, the reporter might be a poster child for why we need laws to protect people from being bullied and harrassed because of their disabilities.
I heard that there have been problems up there for the past couple of months and that not even the police go up there without backup. The press did not even let the local P.D. know they were in town, if they had, they would have at least been standing by or in the area is what I was told this morning about an hour ago. They are familiar with this character and he should not be trifled with is what I was told. Hopefully WGME reporters will remember that when approaching somebody like this.
The reporter was just looking for some footage for the news, and he got it.
when he grabbed News 13 Reporter Steve Roldan by the neck and started choking him.
Did you see that? It looked to me like he was pushing the reporter's face away.
Oh, well, facts, who needs 'em. Some stories are just too good to need facts.
Let's review.
The media are sure that the dislike for Obama in this country is based on overt racism.
That's the narrative, and gosh, darn it, one of these days they're going to find an example of it.
Someone calls the TV station and tells them - it's here! In Bridgton, Maine! A KKK member who hates Obama! - and even sends the TV station a picture with very offensive things on it.
The reporter rushes out to Bridgton Maine! Even though he's deep in Republican territory, he bravely ventures out without a helmet and flack jacket!
Ernie Pyle, eat your heart out!
Alas! He doesn't find the offensive sign! Doesn't find anything, in fact. He was told that "there were displays where children could see them" but he can't find any, and doesn't have much to bring back.
He gets a local woman to stick her head out the screen door to to make a comment he can use, but she didn't actually say that she saw a display, either.
Well, with editing, I'm sure we can come up with something she said, if the news director wants to run this loser of a story. .
He hopes they'll at least pay him for the milage, it's a schlep out to middle of nowhere here. Can't even get a latte in this podunk town.
But wait! Here's someone clearly suffering from mental illness! Let's stalk him, stick a microphone in his face and irritate him!
Always worked for Mike Wallace!
jackpot!
The tramp gets irritated, and pushed the reporters face away! Did you get the video - did you get the video! Huzzah! back in the studio - let's punch it up a bit - he didn't just push the reporter away, he "choked him"!
Never mind what the video shows!
Film at 11!
PROOF that racists are holding Obama back!
Tom C, it's the 1987 event I had in mind. I remember it being on the news, and I started talking with an acquaintance about how these were childish fools. My friend looked at me (he's not from around here) and said, "One of my best friends was killed by the Klan. They aren't a joke to me." It turns out that several years before (1987) in the South (I want to say Virgina but I'm not sure) there was a march against the Klan, and a Klan member shot this guy's friend with a shotgun. As he was telling the story, I remembered it, including a still photo of the guy's wife holding his head in her lap as he died.
The Klan are not nice people.
What do mean you can't buy a latte in our town...you are not looking hard enough. Try Beth's Cafe' on Main Street.
:)
Get your facts straight will ya.
There seem to be a correlation between strange people and old vans.
The Klan are not nice people.
Of course not. But I'd be amazed if this guy was a member of the Klan. I mean he ran the "Maine Indian Musuem" and "sold Indian scalps". He was a lunatic, and I wouldn't believe anything he said.
It's ridiculous to start a Chinese fire drill over something this nut job does.
Saying that there are mentally ill people around saying and doing weird things, does not translate into "the Klan is coming to Bridgton, Maine."
What do mean you can't buy a latte in our town...you are not looking hard enough. Try Beth's Cafe' on Main Street.
Shhh! Don't let the secret out - or you'll have moonbats everywhere!
We already do...they chose to stay home and not vote this past Tuesday, maybe we will get lucky in November and this will happen again.
Next time you go to Beth's, have the Iced Almond Chai Tea Latte.
It's to die for!
Must not forget about her homemade whoopie pies...nobody can eat just one, I ought to know.
I watched the incident caught by the news crew and I was shocked, shocked I'm telling you, that Houston was not dragging his knuckles when he exited the van....maybe it was just for the camera.
I don't think the Catholics, African-Americans and other demograhics groups have much more to fear from that nutjob, any more than any other citizen would if he just ran into him. I suspect that not only mental illness, but inbreeding could be part of the issue, but we don't really want to go there.
I don't think there are any organized KKK groups in Maine. The last time I recall the KKK coming to Maine was about 10 years ago in Lewiston, and the group was from Wisconsin. Although this incident caused a media hysteria.
My friend looked at me (he's not from around here) and said, "One of my best friends was killed by the Klan.
Sorry to hear that. When I was about 18 years old a friend of my roomate's, who was African American, was killed by Boston Police in the doorway of his Roxbury apartment building. But you don't hear me complaining about the police killing people, do you?
Oh, forget that. I guess you do. Never mind.
Hey here's a quiz - how many innocent African-Americans have the Klan killed in the last year? Last 5 years? 10 years?
Now, how many innocent African-Americans have been killed by police during those periods?
Hmmm... Who should the AA community worry about when they leave the house in the morning?
Hey here's a quiz - how many innocent African-Americans have the Klan killed in the last year? Last 5 years? 10 years?
Found some interesting statistics on the FBI Hate Crime web page. In the past ten years there has been well over 70,000 hate offenses. Suffice it to say there is no way to discern exactly who was involved, IMO hate groups or people cut from the same cloth as the KKK likely had a hand in plenty of the crimes, including homicides, against non-whites.
Now, how many innocent African-Americans have been killed by police during those periods?
Plenty of biased scribblings penned by the likes of the Sharptons and Jacksons of the world out there would have you believe plenty of innocent African-Americans were killed. Perhaps the better question is, how many unjustified killings of African-Americans by the police, not from the street court of opinion, but from a legal standpoint?
how many unjustified killings of African-Americans by the police, not from the street court of opinion, but from a legal standpoint?
Hmmmm... I think there might be a running thread around here someplace that could include some examples of that.
The former Seattle police officer who fatally shot woodcarver John T. Williams in what the department called an unjustified and "egregious" shooting will not face federal charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday.
Feds decline to charge after investigation
Also, if an innocent black person is killed LEGALLY, because the police officer made a mistake, how does that make the fellow killed feel? Better?
When Jamal Washington, the 17 year-old honors student, leaves to go to classes at Martin Luther King Jr. High School, who is more likely to shoot Jamal before he returns home that day?
A. A white supremist.
B. A police officer.
In the past ten years there has been well over 70,000 hate offenses.
Let me go back to the original question. How many African-American have been killed by the KKK in the last 10 years?
Tom C -
Point of clarification: Are you saying the sign in question is a myth? The Channel 13 online report I saw Friday had a still photo of the sign taken by someone other than the tv news reporter and crew.
Best,
skf
Are you saying the sign in question is a myth?
Where am I saying that?
See my post #12 as to how the story was reported.
An anonymous or unnamed source, providing a picture of a sign, is not much of a "story" whether it would be true or not. However, since this was a story that fit the MSM narrative, they covered it eagerly.
Unfortunately, after driving all the way out to Bridgton, Maine, they could not find the sign, or anything else of the type of thing they were looking for.
Whether or not the sign existed, it was a pretty weak story to run.
Fortunately for the reporter - he did come across a mentally-ill man driving a rusted-out van, and the reporter ran up and irritated him.
That saved the day!
The reporter was the story. Heck of a way to run the news business.
I suppose if they wanted to be "fair and balanced" they could stick microphones in the faces of bums in Portland, asking them about George Bush, until they provoked the pathetic creatures to anger.
Film at 11!
But I don't thing we'll be seeing too much of that. Only conservatives "hate". It's the cause of all our problems! And if only they'd stop hating, things would be much better for everyone!
Tom C -
Mine is a question, not an accusation. As I said, there was a sign. Channel 13 showed a redacted photo of the sign taken, if memory serves, with a smart phone. Possibly it was a photo emailed to Ch13 that prompted them to do the story in the first place.
Ch13 seems to be saying (suggesting?) the sign was visible from inside the white barn. But, alas, when the reporters arrived the barn door was closed and secured.
Best,
skf
We get it. Reporters are bad, and inclined to unethically manufacture "bad" news - unless it is about a police officer, in which case the bad stuff is all true.
If you say so.
From what I saw, it looked like the reporter came up to Houston as he was getting his mail (in his left hand) when he arrived home, or something of that nature. I saw a tie get grabbed (which is why I wear clip-ons only) but I didn't see any hands actually on the throat as the reporter implied in the first report when he says, “he grabs me by the throat.” Perhaps “he grabbed my tie” isn’t as dramatic as “he grabbed me by the throat”?
Now before anyone accuses me of defending the KKK, I have no more use for them than I do the Black Panthers. Racists of any color are not my idea of good people, but they still have rights despite what I think of their actions. It seems from the Bridgton News report that the police had already been called when one passerby came onto the property (one would assume without permission) to try to remove the sign, and things were already tense when the reporter came by. It looks to me like the reporter was chasing Houston into his van and sticking a mic in his face. If you turn your volume up on the second video you can actually hear Houston saying what sounds like "get that outta my face" and "you pushed me" to the reporter. What I'd really like to have seen was what the reporter did just before that, and how far he got into the open van door and if he actually made contact with Houston before Houston grabbed the mic. If so then the event looks a lot different, at least to me, "racially offensive" sign or not.
How far is a reporter allowed to go when pushing a mic into someone's face? How close does it need to be before the reporter crosses the line? How far did the reporter chase Houston and did he stand in the way to block him from closing his van door? Asking questions like this is not by any means intended to defend the KKK, but instead determine where the line is and if the reporter crossed it. He certainly wasn't backing off and trying to get away from Houston by any means once the scuffle started. It looked like he was about to hit Houston just as he saw his videographer coming up, then remembered he was being filmed and thought better of it.
So I’m left wondering, who was really the aggressor? When should the reporter have backed off? Who provoked who? Should the reporter have just let go of the mic and backed away since he was the one initiating contact in the unwanted contact first place? A cynical person might say the reporter knew what he was doing the whole time, and became the story on purpose. I've seen such things happen before (someone provoking another into doing something like this and then claiming the high ground afterward), so it's really not that far fetched.
As an aside, the woman who said “people have a right to their own opinion, but not if it offends other people” was off the wall in my opinion. Yes, I find the sign that was allegedly there offensive, but I find some of the other signs posted in this thread offensive too. Who gets to decide what is an “offensive” enough opinion to cross the line?
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Racially inflammatory sign leads to confrontation
A display of what many are calling racially inflammatory comments in Bridgton leads to a physical confrontation.
We attempted to ask the man, 59-year-old David Houston, about those signs and thats when he grabbed News 13 Reporter Steve Roldan by the neck and started choking him. Houston eventually backed off and left the scene, after we called the police. We're told Houston was arrested along Route 114 in Sebago.
WGME