Arlington, homeowners clash over removal of racist graffiti from their garage

[tammywammy]

Arlington, homeowners clash over removal of racist graffiti from their garage

Arlington: Resident denies shoving worker sent to clean off slurs

12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, March 20, 2008

By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News
[e-mail]

ARLINGTON – City workers on Wednesday removed racist graffiti sprayed on an Arlington family's home in December, but the offensive language didn't go without a fight.

Property owner Broderick Gamble was cited for simple assault for allegedly shoving a city worker as she wiped away graffiti from the garage doors of his northwest Arlington home. The Class C misdemeanor is punishable by up to a $500 fine, police said.

-snip-

Wednesday's confrontation was the latest episode in the long-running controversy involving Mr. Gamble's and Ms. Littlejohn's Arlington home, which has been under construction for three years. The couple had used a tarp to cover the words "KILL" and "DIE " that were spray-painted on their garage doors after a December attack by a neighbor.

-snip-

But city officials said that simply covering the remarks was inadequate and did not comply with the city's abatement laws. On March 5, city officials informed Mr. Gamble and Ms. Littlejohn that they had until March 14 to either remove the offensive words or appeal the city's ruling.

-snip-

"They've had replacement doors for weeks," said City Attorney Jay Doegey. "Nuisance abatement is what we were trying to do all along. The problem is they were ignoring it."

-snip-

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/arlington/stories/DN-graffiti_20met.ART0.West.Edition1.463d0b5.html

There's more at the link.

[sonias]

1. Oh my - this is so sad

Yes racism is alive and well in Texas.


Sonia

[tammywammy]

3. I live in Arlington, and I was shocked by this story

I couldn't believe someone would spray paint those words on someone's house. I live in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, white/black/Hispanic.


This happened back in December, I remember there were some fund raisers for them to replace their garage doors on a few local talk shows.

[sonias]

2. Here is another example right here in Travis

AAS 3/21/08
Official urged to resign over 'open bigotry'
Mustang Ridge agenda item openly posted.

Local leaders called Thursday for the resignation of a local water supply company's general manager after he characterized a proposed detention facility south of Austin as "a holding pen for wetbacks."

In a news conference at Austin City Hall, Council Member Mike Martinez called for Charles Laws, general manager of Creedmoor-Maha Water Supply Co., to be held accountable for "espousing racism." State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez said he will do "whatever I can to get this man to resign," and state Sen. Kirk Watson issued a statement saying, "Texans will not stand for open bigotry by a government agency." Both are Austin Democrats.

Laws, who is also a member of the Mustang Ridge City Council and lives near the Travis-Hays county line, could not be reached for comment.

:grr:

Sonia

[tammywammy]

4. Holy crap!

:wow: I can't believe someone said that!

[sonias]

5. Well he finally apologized but says he won't resign

AAS 3/21/08
Mustang Ridge official apologizes for slur, but says he will not resign
Mayor pro tem also runs water supply company with Austin contracts

AUSTIN — A proposed detention facility for suspected illegal immigrants was labeled a "holding pen for wetbacks" on a public meeting agenda written by a rural city council member.

Charles Laws, 75, apologized Thursday for using the derogatory term but defied calls from state lawmakers and officials in nearby Austin for him to resign as Mustang Ridge's mayor pro tem and as general manager of a local water supply company.

"If I hadn't been in such a hurry I would have said 'illegals' or something like that, but that's a term that I grew up with out here and everybody said it," Laws told Austin television station KVUE.

In an another interview Thursday with News 8 Austin, Laws said he shouldn't have used the word before adding, "Illegals, I want them to send back as soon as possible."

Everybody says it - so it's OK. It's not like I'm racist or anything! :mad: :nuke: :grr:

Sonia

[GOPisEvil]

6. Let me translate Laws-speak into ordinary English.

I'm an old man, and I have never learned to respect brown people."

[sonias]

7. Yep it's the "good old boy" Southern speak

And in my opinion it's time to retire that shit permanently.

I'm sure this guy would have been clueless to anything Obama was trying to explain about our problems of race in this country. This good old boy only sees one problem - "those illegals".

Problem with Mr. good old boy is that he's about to be the minority in this state, pretty damn fast. So he better get with the program. His kids or grandkids may have to work for "brown people". Heck they may even marry a brown person. Watch the dude's head explode thinking about that one.

Sonia