VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Detroit bankruptcy protesters listen to Abayomi Azikiwe during lunch break outside federal court July 15, 2014.

Rhodes: “City getting a bad reputation around the world” for shut-offs

Ballots did not disclose that retiree annuity “clawbacks” include additional 6.75% compounded interest rate; is re-vote needed?

Others cite huge health care costs, 75% reduction in retirement income

By Diane Bukowski

July 16, 2014

Kris Hamel

DETROIT – This city’s barbaric, now world-renowned mass water shut-offs, and a major mistake on ballots sent to retirees that could force a re-vote, lit a flame of hope for individual objectors at a bankruptcy hearing July 15 in front of Judge Steven Rhodes.Rhodes has ordered attorneys for Jones Day, Denton’s and city officials to return to court Monday July 21 to resolve these issues.For the first time in the bankruptcy process, Detroit resident Kris Hamel, who works with the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, raised the issue of the water shut-offs in morning session. Many others followed her lead all day, referencing the notorious practice, which has been condemned by the United Nations, in their remarks.

DWSD bondholders get $537 million on swaps, $5 billion on bonds, while Detroiters’ water is shut off for owing $150

“While the poorest Detroiters have their water cut off for owing $150, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Loop Financial and Morgan Stanley were paid $537 million in termination fees on interest rate swaps out of $1 billion in bonds . . . that were earmarked to fund repairs of the water infrastructure system, not line the pockets of these four banks,” Hamel told Judge Rhodes.

Detroit mother without water.

The Plan of Adjustment lists a total of $5 billion in uncontested claims for DWSD bondholders, who are considered secured creditors not required to take cutbacks.

“It is up to you to stop the national and international disgrace and humanitarian disaster of mass water shut-offs . . . You must immediately enjoin these shut-offs by placing a moratorium on them TODAY and ordering [EM Kevyn] Orr to implement a real water affordability plan for the poorest Detroiters.”

Hamel noted that Orr’s office has called the shutoffs “a necessary part of Detroit’s re-structuring.”

Jean Vortkamp

In her objection, Jean Vortkamp talked about two of her neighbor’s small children, Simea and James.

“In concentration camps, there was water,” Vortkamp said. “Many of the children in my neighborhood had their water cut off. Families are taking money from things like rent to pay the bill that they could not afford with our high water rates. My neighborhood is a 10 minute drive to a pumping station on a river connected to the Great Lakes but my water bill is higher than the average U.S. water bill. Privatization usually causes water rates to double or triple. How would that make Detroit a more attractive place to live post-bankruptcy?”

Rhodes ordered Jones Day attorney Heather Lennox to produce a Detroit Water and Sewerage Department representative at the afternoon session to explain the situation.

Jones Day, DWSD excuse shut-offs, are warned by Rhodes

Darryl Latimer, Dep. Director of DWSD

Testimony from DWSD Deputy Director Darryl Latimer began the afternoon session. He claimed the shutoffs began in the fall of 2013 but were suspended until March due to winter temperatures.“Our bill is to the resident, we bill the property,” Latimer said. “We don’t know what or how many individuals live there or whether they can afford their bills.”

He claimed the average outstanding balance on delinquent water bills is $540, and that monthly bills average $75. He said shut-offs happen after 60 days if the outstanding balance is $150 or more.Latimer said DWSD has various resource programs to help “people that come forward.”He claimed an initial payment of 30 percent of the outstanding balance could be waived.

He was later contradicted by objector Cecily McClellan, who headed the Water Affordability Program at Detroit Human Services before the department closed in 2012. McClellan said the 30 percent payment is mandatory. She also noted that delinquent water bills are attached to property tax rolls, so customers can lose their homes as well.

Cecily McClellan

According to DWSD documents, Detroit residents are already penalized with higher sewerage rates than suburban customers to make up for delinquent bills, causing even more delinquencies.Latimer said DWSD has insufficient staff to send to customers’ homes to warn them of pending shut-offs due to recent lay-offs and cutbacks.The original Water Affordability Plan, proposed after massive water shut-offs in 2002, called for rates to be geared towards customers’ incomes, but that provision was shot down in the final version.In contrast, cities like Cleveland have an income provision for up to 40 percent reduction in rates in their water affordability programs.  Click on Cleveland water affordability program for description.

Delinquent commercial accounts not being shut off?

Latimer appeared to discount media reports that DWSD plans to shut off commercial customers with higher delinquencies.

Trucks shutting Detroiters’ water off have this insignia. Watch for them! Do not let them in your neighorhood!

“Those are different because regular crews can’t shut off commercial accounts because they have larger valves,” Latimer contended. He admitted later that a contractor [Homrich Wrecking] is doing the shut-offs, exposed by a militant sit-in and arrests
outside Homrich’s facility at 2660 E. Grand Boulevard July 11. Homrich, which is demolishing the Brewster high rises, and earlier did in the Jeffries projects and J.L. Hudson’s downtown store, has very heavy equipment.

Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes

“The residential shut-off program has created not only a lot of anger and hardship, but bad publicity that Detroit doesn’t need right now,” Rhodes said. “Cost reductions come at a price. The citizens are very angry and the city is getting a bad reputation around the world . . . this problem is affecting the bankruptcy proceedings.”He asked that Latimer and Lennox return Monday, July 21 for a status conference on their progress in establishing more aggressive assistance programs for Detroiters. He stopped short of ordering a moratorium on water shut-offs as Hamel had asked.

Retiree ballots leave out whopping interest rates on annuity ‘clawbacks’

Objector Steven Wojtowicz, a 30-year retiree from the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department, dropped another bombshell. He said Orr and attorneys from Jones Day did not disclose on ballots mailed to 32,000 retirees that Orr’s Plan of Adjustment (POA) charges a 6.75 percent compounded interest rate on the top of the allegedly illegal annuity savings fund (ASF) interest the EM wants to “recoup” from retirees.

Orr ready to clawback another 6.75 percent of retirees’ annuity savings plans.

“I looked at my ballot package,” Wojtowicz said. “It said the city will recoup a total of 89,000 from my annuity payments in 12 years. But that should be $189,000 because there is no mention of the 6.75 percent interest [from the POA]. The City says it will save $230 million by the ASF recoupment, but that is actually $400 million with the interest.”

Retiree Belinda Myers-Florence noted in an email that a Freedom of Information Act request has been submitted for an actual accounting of the proposed clawbacks.

“The Judge questioned the Retiree Committee representative and the Jones Day lawyer,” she said. They both began to stutter, fumble, dodge and avoid direct questions posed by the Judge.”

Rhodes asked whether that information was omitted from all 32,000 ballots mailed to retirees.

“6.75 %! RE-VOTE!”

Heather Lennox

Jones Day attorney Heather Lennox tried to claim the added interest rate was only omitted from 3,200 ballots earlier identified as erroneous because they included interest from 2002, when the amounts were supposed to cover the years from 2003 to 2013.Denton’s attorney Carol Neville, allegedly representing the Official Committee of Retirees, ran to the podium to assist Lennox, but only clouded the matter further.“We are attorneys, not actuaries,” she complained.

On their way out of the courthouse, the attorneys heard chants of “6.75 percent! RE-VOTE!” While the daily media has been trumpeting that most retirees are voting “Yes” on the POA, in fact such a major error may invalidate the ballots and require a massive re-vote.

Denton’s, which recommended a yes vote in its mailing, is supposed to represent the Official Committee of Retirees (OCR). But at least three members of that committee, Gail Wilson, Gail Wilson-Turner, and Michael Karwoski, a retired Law Department attorney, have filed official objections to the Plan of Adjustment. (Click on DB Gail Wilson objection re UMTA, DB Karwoski ASF, and DB obj Gail Wilson Turner to read their objections.)

Denton’s has been paid over $7.4 million so far by the City of Detroit, allegedly to represent the OCR. But its letter to retirees says it is represents itself and the city only.

Retiree Irma Industrious questioned whether the clawback itself is legal, noting that 11 USC 547 of the Bankruptcy Code sets a limit on recoupment of 90 days prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition.

“Why not recoupment of debts from state, banks, feds?”

Cecily McClellan is a leader of the Detroit Concerned Citizens, Active Employees, and Retirees, which has been conducting “NO” vote drives throughout city neighborhoods in U-Haul Trucks festooned with banners.

She said, “The Governor places no value on the people of the City of Detroit. The retirees are being scapegoated. The Great Recession of 2008 was not caused by the retirees, but by Wall Street greed. The state needs to pay Detroit the $730 million it owes the city in revenue-sharing. There should be a moratorium on all corporate tax abatements. The banks need to be sued. Even Public Act 436, under which Orr operates, says that he must comply with the state constitution by not impairing or diminishing pension benefits.”

McClellan and others also noted that the bankruptcy takes federal funds from workers whose wages, benefits and pensions are or were fully funded by federal grants, including those from the departments of Health, Human Services and Workforce Development.

In her written objection, Committee of Retirees member Gail Wilson, who is the widow of Leamon Wilson, long-time president of the bus mechanics’ AFSCME Local 312, says the POA fails to comply with the Federal Urban Mass Transit Act (UMTA) Sec. 13(c).

Her objection reads in part that the UMTA requires that “recipients of grant funds for the purpose of implementing projects, maintenance and/or operations involving mass transportation, must first voluntarily agree to enter into a Protective Agreement with the affected labor organization(s) to ensure that members of the labor organization are not harmed as a result of the project. . . .such protective assistance shall include, without being limited to, such provisions as may be necessary for (1) the preservation of rights, provisions and benefits (including pension rights and benefits) under existing collective bargaining agreements . . .”

Objections to elimination of retiree health care: “Most of us will be dead”

Health care, like water is a human right.

Numerous objectors told shocking stories of the added burden the elimination of health care has laid on their backs and those of their spouses.

Retired city bus driver Jesse Florence, said during the morning session that since the city cut health care benefits for retirees under 65, his premiums have jumped from $152 a month to $1026.

Meah said hole at top of sewer looks like the size of a quarter.

“I never thought I would be struggling to get health care,” he said. “This is devastating.”Marshall Meah said he worked 30 years in DWSD, sustained numerous injuries and diseases due to toxic exposure, and lost his wife and family because he was on 24-hour call, even having to take his child with him to work one time.“It was a very dangerous job working in the sewers,” he said. “There were no gas detectors in the beginning, the manhole looked like the size of a quarter from down below, and once our cable broke and I had to save a co-worker’s life.”He said he now needs constant medical care for physical injuries he sustained.

His brother Amru Meah, formerly Director of the Buildings and Safety Engineering Department, said he pays $858 a month for health care which he desperately needs because he is a cancer patient.

Roger Rice, a Department of Public Works retiree and long-time union officer, said his wife had a heart attack due to stress after the announcement of the bankruptcy, and now has had her entire city health insurance eliminated because she is under 65. He noted that retirees can’t wait 20 years for restoration of their benefits. He said he will be 86. Another retiree said, “Most of us will be dead by then.”

Cuts reduce one retiree’s annual income from $21,000 to $4,942

Constance Phillips, a supervisor for 17 years at the Human Services Department, helping Detroiters with their utility bills and other needs, she said she now estimates cuts in her health care, pension, and annuities will reduce her annual compensation from $21,000 to $4,942, putting her in her former clients’ positions and worse.

Retirees are the backbone of the Black community.

“Remove the retirees from these bankruptcy proceedings!” H. Jean Powell demanded.Rhonda Sims, a UAW member, said the cuts are targeted specifically at Black workers by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and the Koch Brothers.“Any further cuts will have a devastating psychological effect on our already devastated African-American community,” she said.

“Retirees are the backbone of our communities. Many retirees are supporting grandchildren and parents, four generations in one household. How will the younger generation be motivated to get an honest job after they watch their parents and grandparents, who worked all their lives, homeless and on the streets? There are no summer jobs, no recreation centers, no Belle Isle, and now no water. Why should they not turn to crime? The banks can afford to take cuts, pensioners cannot.”

Retirees object to sell-out by retirement systems, balloting process

“The Detroit General Retirement System’s use of coercion and blackmail [in its mailing calling for a ‘yes’ vote] was totally offensive,” said Beverly Holman. “Not all elements are disclosed, including the total dollar amount of [alleged] excess interest paid to retirees. We are told that we can pay it back in one lump sum—that is like eating an elephant in one bite. This will create a new class of the elderly poor in Detroit and across the U.S., eligible for public assistance.” (Read full letter from DGRS at DGRS Yes letter.)

Tom Sheehan is president of the DGRS and also sits on the DRCEA board.

Many referred to the 3200 ballots that had to be remailed due to deficiencies, as well as the inclusion of letters from the Detroit Retired City Employees Association (DRCEA), the Detroit General Retirement System, Denton’s, and others recommending a “Yes” vote. The DGRS even told its members that they could request another ballot if they wanted to change their vote.Several said the ballots could easily be falsified since the “Yes” and “No” pages are separate from the signature pages. One retiree said his groups had filed an FOIA to get a copy of the mailing list of retirees so they could mail out fliers advocating “NO” votes and giving the complete picture.

Carl Williams outlined numerous violations of Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Procedures in the Plan of Adjustment. He and retiree Hassan Aleem sponsored a series of objections signed earlier at a meeting of the Detroit Concerned Citizens, Active Employees, and Retirees. Two of those objections are listed below.

“Orr is a representative of the state, not the city,” he said. “Only a municipality can file for bankruptcy. That state owes the city millions, but then it turns around and files bankruptcy, not in good faith, and not for the benefit of the city.”

Williams added that Rhodes’ court never had jurisdiction over the filing, alleging that Rhodes is a magistrate, not a judge, without the authority to make any judgments in the case. Rhodes did not deny Williams’ allegation.

Retirees at meeting of Concerned Detroiters, Active Employees and Retirees July 7, 2014. Meetings are held every Monday at N’namdi’s, 12150 Woodward at 11 a.m.

Many objectors, including Cindy Darrah, raised the issue of the billions in public taxes that are being paid to wealthy developers like Mike Illitch, Dan Gilbert, Roger Penske and others, while Detroit is allegedly bankrupt.

“The state has the obligation not to look the other way,” Darrah said. “They gave the ‘Grand Bargain’ $195 million while giving Illitch $240,000,000, illegally out of the school aid fund for his new hockey rink.”

John Lauve, who protested outside the courtroom, handed out a flier detailing the public costs of the Red Wing area, the M-1 trolley, and $1 no bid sales to developers.

“Penske’s trolley system diverts money that should be used to fix the failed bus system to benefit the entire City,” Lauve noted “This added transit system will compete and disrupt the two current bus services.”

Endorsements of July 18 march and rally in Detroit

HOME GOING SERVICES FOR ACTIVIST CHARITY HICKS

SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2014   9:30 A.M.

CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH

231 E. GRAND BLVD. AT E. LAFAYETTE

Related documents and stories:

Full testimony of Kris Hamel on the water shut-offs. KH testimony.

Steven Wojtowicz official objection at DB Wojtowicz objection.

Group objection Carl Williams, Hassan Aleem DB objection Hassan Aleem et al 7 8 14.

Group objection Williams, Aleem DB objection Williams Aleem et al

Jean Vortkamp’s full testimony at Vortkamp testimony.

Cindy Darrah’s full testimony at Darrah testimony.

John Lauve’s written objection at Lauve testimony.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/07/10/pastors-community-leaders-arrested-blocking-homrich-gates-to-stop-detroit-water-shut-offs/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/19/vote-no-detroit-retirees-hold-majority-of-bankruptcy-claims-can-stall-plan-which-violates-ch9-rules/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/07/13/britain-strikes-for-a-day-against-low-pay-job-cuts/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/07/04/vowing-to-paralyze-this-island-puerto-rico-unions-call-general-strike-against-austerity/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/11/puerto-rico-unions-threaten-strike-against-austerity-budget-jones-day-law-firm-involved/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/07/why-im-voting-no-on-the-grand-bargain/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/20/racist-detroit-bankruptcy-plan-11-5-billion-for-banks-0-for-retirees-vote-no-or-lose-appeal-rights/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/16/detroit-retirees-blast-bankruptcy-deal-in-lansing-drceas-lightsey-sells-out/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/14/state-bills-target-detroit-assets-in-bankruptcy/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/12/dccr-update-on-pensions-in-detroit-bankruptcy-plan-vote-no/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/05/aarp-joins-other-groups-in-legal-support-for-detroit-retirees/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/03/no-detroit-bankruptcy-deal-may-day-marchers-block-detroit-streets-banks-natl-retiree-systems-blast-rhodes/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/04/29/days-of-rage-hearing-on-pa-436-april-30-shut-down-detroit-may-1/

http://www.workers.org/articles/2014/01/22/teachers-strike-shuts-puerto-ricos-schools/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/15/us-usa-puertorico-teachers-idUSBREA0E13P20140115

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/11/puertorico-pensions-idUSL2N0N325N20140411

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/06/05/work-stoppages-at-public-firms-in-puerto-rico-against-cuts/?intcmp=obinsite

REV. EDWARD PINKNEY SPEAKS AT JUNE 23 RALLY IN DETROIT (above)

By Leona McElvene

As promised below are  links to the 16 video clips that I recorded Mon. June 23, 2014 during the “Drop the Charges Against Rev. Edward Pinkney and Celebrate His Release from House Arrest!”  event hosted by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition and Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI),  with featured speaker Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization) at 5920 Second Avenue, in Detroit, MI.

(VOD has embedded some of these videos to watch on this site, including Rev. Edward Pinkney’s talk at top of story. There is a list at the conclusion of all links as provided by Ms. McElvene.)

Be sure to sign the petition to free Rev. Pinkney at http://www.change.org/petitions/berrien-county-michael-sepic-stop-the-corruption-we-demand-justice-in-benton-harbor-michigan-and-the-resignation-of-berrien-county-michigan-prosecutor-michael-sepic-free-rev-pinkney-stop-the-corruption.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”– Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

REV. PINKNEY’S WIFE DOROTHY PINKNEY SPEAKS

MARCINA COLE, A CHIEF ORGANIZER OF THE EVENT

TANGELA HARRIS OF 7 MILE RADIO

CECILY MCCLELLAN OF DETROIT CONCERNED CITIZENS, EMPLOYEES AND RETIREES

TOM BARROW

MONICA LEWIS-PATRICK AND REV. PINKNEY

LINKS TO ALL VIDEOS below:

STATEMENT BY REV. PINKNEY ON FALSE CHARGES:

Thursday, July 10, 2014

A file picture shows British Public sector workers march through the city center of Manchester, England as workers around the country stage the biggest general strike for decades in a row over pensions.

BRITAIN STRIKES FOR A DAY

July 11, 2014 / Sheila Cohen

It’s finally happened. The rusty machinery of the British trade union movement has turned—sluggishly—to allow us a magnificent day of rank-and-file protest. Only one day of striking, when there should be so many.

Yesterday hundreds of thousands of public sector workers “took a day off” the length and breadth of Britain to protest not only their poverty pay (already low-paid, they have now been denied anything more than a 1 percent increase since 2010), the loss of 400,000 public sector jobs in the same period, and pension losses.

Support from the National Union of Teachers meant the closure of schools across the country. Civil Service strikes closed government offices and even national art galleries.

Public sector workers struck all over Britain to protest low pay and job cuts. Here, UNISON members rally in Birmingham. Photo: Timm Sonnenschein/UNISON.

In London, the crowd takes off from the BBC headquarters—making a point about media bias. As we head towards the warlike monuments of Trafalgar Square, the mood is boisterous and festive, with chanting, singing, and lots of laughs.

At the Trafalgar Square rally, the first group I speak to are workers at the imposing National Gallery just behind us, who seize on me as reporter to tell of a brand-new grievance: the new head of the gallery has just privatized sections of its staff and launched a sweeping attack on their Public and Commercial Services union. I promise to do my best to publicize their cause.

These workers see the march as “magnificent,” but one comments: “Parliament live in a different world where the public comes last. The press will give it five minutes… There are 650 [Members of Parliament] who have no concern other than the vote.”

I share their cynicism, which turns out to be only too justified. Later we learn that “Labour” Party leader Ed Miliband has felt it necessary to declare his opposition—yes, you read it right—to this great movement of public sector workers.

Food Banks in Peacetime

But other strikers are boosted by public reaction to the protest. Clare, a school support worker from the public sector union UNISON, says she saw a lot of support, with cars and bus drivers honking. “You get the sense that [the march] is the start of a backlash against cuts to services,” she says.

Was there pro-strike feeling? She thinks so. But “people in general don’t understand that [public sector workers] are low-waged.”

Her colleague Valerie adds, “Everything’s gone up. Once food banks were only heard of in wartime.

“The MPs [Members of Parliament] should take notice,” Valerie continues. “A lot of us are in unions. If they’re bringing in more [anti-union] laws they’re going to have a lot of trouble on their plate. The rich are richer, the poor are nothing—it’s not even.”

“We would be ready to take longer strike action,” Clare says, “so people can see we mean business.”

At the rally, Fire Brigades Union activist Phil tells me that every London fire station is on strike today: “We don’t need picket lines,” because no-one went to work. The firefighters were already taking action in their own dispute on pensions.

Phil describes their mood as “pretty gritty, pretty determined.” He insists that “large gatherings like this where unions come together have an impact—they get media attention,” but when asked if he thinks it’ll be on the news tonight, he grins. “For 20 seconds.”

Two workers in the General and Municipal union (GMB) are confident that “the march should show, with all the different unions, that we’re serious.” Teaching assistants like them have already suffered a staggering six-year pay freeze.

Living under the poverty line, they too have had to use food banks. “We can’t afford to take a day off,” Tracy points out, “but we have to make a stand.” Her colleague chimes in, “If the government doesn’t take notice, it’ll get bigger and bigger.”

‘He Won’t Sleep’

James, a refuse collector in Britain’s largest union UNITE, also reports low wages. “We were promised £1 an hour more—we haven’t had it yet. No pay rise for three years.”

These “bin-men” are paid below the poverty line for a job so vital that society would collapse if they went on strike for more than a few days.

Another refuse collector, Colin, says this is the first time they’ve been on a march. They say the people of Thurrock, the town they come from, are on their side. Referring to Parliament, Colin says, “Westminster doesn’t realise how important we are.”

Yet, like so many other strikers, the two demonstrate a surprising faith in British democracy. Will Prime Minister David Cameron sleep easy in his bed tonight? “No,” they agree.

Finally, special needs caregiver Mary from UNITE tells me she’s here because “they cut our pay. We used to be on 30 hours a week, now 20.” Proudly, she reports that there were “pickets outside all the public places” in her outer London borough.

Mary too says, “The demo will worry Cameron…he will be fretting…He won’t sleep tonight!”

I can only hope that Mary’s right, and I’m wrong. But whoever wins the argument, there’s no denying the power and glory of workers in action. Venceremos!

Sheila Cohen is a member of the National Union of Journalists (UK).

See more at: http://labornotes.org/2014/07/britain-strikes-day#sthash.gUNrNfFn.dpuf

Coalition takes direct action against city contractor

12,000 Detroiters shut off so far; assault connected to city bankruptcy

Charity Hicks, first to be arrested protesting water shut-offs in her neighborhood in May, passes after weeks in coma in NYC

By Diane Bukowski

July 10, 2014

Complete videos of protest and arrest by Demeeko Williams at end of story.

Police cart off protester outside Homrich gates. Photo by Mark Tucker.

DETROIT – Members of the Detroit Water Warriors, the Detroit Water Brigade, Call ’em Out and others today put their bodies on the line to stop Homrich Wrecking trucks from shutting water off to the people of Detroit, the poorest major city in the U.S.

At least 10 of many protesters blocking the gates to the facility at 2660 E. Grand Blvd, including religious and community leaders, were arrested and brutally treated by police, said Demeeko Williams of the Water Brigade.

“We are making a statement to Detroiters that the shut-offs are not their fault, but are their fight,” Williams said. “When the Water Board did not meet our demands to stop the shut-offs, we took the battle to the streets. A lot more Detroiters need to stand with us against this outrageous assault, and also to demand the departure of Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and an end to bankruptcy proceedings.”

Demeeko Williams during May Day protest against bankruptcy.

He said that during the arrests, police grabbed and twisted the arm of Michigan Citizen editor Teresa Kelly despite her statement that she would get up, and came down hard on Agnes Hitchcock, leader of the Call ‘em Out Coalition, as she lay on her stomach on the ground. (The two can be seen in the video above, Kelly with white hair and Hitchcock in scarf.)

Others arrested included Pastor Bill Wylie-Kellerman and his wife Denise Gruebler, Father Tom Lumpkin, Sister Mary Ellen Howard, Detroit School Board member Elena Herrada, and Pat Driscoll, an activist with Detroit Eviction Defense. Herrada said they were charged with “disturbing the peace” and face a court hearing July 21 at 8:30 a.m. in Detroit’s 36^th District Court.

“We will not stop until they stop,” Herrada told VOD.

Protesters block gates at Homrich facility. Photo by Abayomi Azikiwe

“This morning I participated in an act of civil disobedience,” Sister Howard said in part. “With several others, I peacefully held a long banner blocking the driveway to Homrich Co. headquarters on East Grand Blvd. so that their employees could not get in to work and their trucks could not leave to do the shutoffs. We arrived at 6:45 am, and the cops arrived at about 8 am. Although we were peacefully demonstrating, they attacked us; it was quite violent. I was arrested with nine others. We were handcuffed together and taken to Mound Correctional Facility to be processed.”

Sister Mary Ellen Howard

Howard said police threatened to jail them until their July 21 hearing if they didn’t stop singing, “Wade in the Water,” but that in the end they posted bond and were released.

“Several of my co-criminals want to request a jury trial which they say is the last vestige of a democratic society. We are meeting Sunday night to decide together what we want to do. Water is a human right, and as the UN has said about the Detroit situation, to deny water to persons who cannot afford to pay for it is a denial of a human right.”

Williams also announced that Charity Hicks, the first to take action protesting water shut-offs in her neighborhood in May, passed away July 9 after being in a coma since May 31 in a hospital in New York City. Hicks was policy director for the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC). She was the victim in NYC of a hit and run driver as she attended a national conference in the city.

Hicks told VOD shortly before that accident that a Homrich employee assaulted her when she asked him to give her neighbors time to collect water for their needs. Detroit police arrested her instead after she reported the assault, and threw her into the Mound Road prison for two days to endure “conditions that are meant to shame you, demoralize you, criminalize you and break you down.”

Those included being kept in a holding tank with one toilet housing hundreds of women.

Hicks said earlier regarding the water shut-offs, “Your human dignity shouldn’t be truncated because you’re priced out of the commodification of an essential resource.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.

The Detroit Water Board approved a $5.6 million “Water Shut-Off/Turn-On Project” contract with Homrich Wrecking, headquartered in Carleton, Michigan, April 24. The contract is costing more than delinquent bills, according to some sources.

Despite the city’s announcement, after protesters’ repeated demands, that it will begin shutting off delinquent corporations, it has not stopped shut-offs in the poorest neighborhoods of the city. At least 12,000 Detroiters have been shut off, including elderly citizens, families with children, and disabled people.

Protester at bankruptcy court April 1, 2014 carries depiction of “Dictator” Kevyn Orr.

The shut-offs, ordered by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, are taking place during ongoing bankruptcy negotiations in New York City with Detroit Water and Sewerage Department lenders.

Bankruptcy documents list $5 billion in secured DWSD bond claims, most “unimpaired.” That means the city will pay the entire debt while it raises water rates, shuts water off, lays the groundwork for privatization and regionalization of DWSD, and attacks city workers and retirees, under the bankruptcy “Plan of Adjustment.”

The water shut-offs have engendered publicity across the world. In many countries like Great Britain, water shut-offs, even by private entities like Thames Water, are illegal since they are considered a threat to public health and safety.

When Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, under pressure from suburban interests, ordered mass water shut-offs in 2002, media came from as far as Britain and Australia to film the events. After a long delay, the Detroit City Council finally passed a “Water Affordability Plan” that was originally supposed to gear rates toward customers’ incomes.

Neighbor brings water to family with children shut off in 2002. Photo: Diane Bukowski

It was substantially altered, then administered by the city’s Human Services Department, which was wholly shut down last year by Mayor Dave Bing, despite being nearly 100 percent federally funded.

In the interim, DWSD has raised Detroiters’ sewage rates much higher than those of suburban communities, allegedly to compensate for delinquent water bills in the city.

The city also attaches unpaid water bills to residents’ property tax bills, subjecting them to possible tax foreclosure and actual loss of their homes along with their water. The State Department of Human Services, through its Child Protective Services workers, frequently removes children from homes affected by utility shut-offs instead of providing assistance.

Monica Patrick

Demeeko Williams said groups are spreading out through the city’s neighborhoods under the leadership of well-known activist Monica Patrick and others. He said residents can call 1-844-42WATER and volunteers will be dispatched to their homes and those of their neighbors. The Detroit Water Brigade’s website is at http://detroitwaterbrigade.org. Leaders of the brigade can be reached by calling 313-279-0608.

Arrestees after release outside Detroit Detention Center at Mound Road Prison. Photo: Demeeko Williams

SIGN PETITION TO WATER BOARD TO STOP THE SHUT-OFFS

I’m Joe Dinkin of Working Families, and I started a petition to James Fausone, chairman of the Detroit Board of Water Commissioners , which says:

3,600 residents in Detroit are already without water. Why? Because they have bills of $150 or more, or are 60 days past due on bills in a city that is bankrupt. Soon, half of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s 323,900 local residents will be out of water. It is unacceptable to withhold our citizens’ basic needs like clean running water.

We need to call attention to this unacceptable violation of human rights, and quickly — before more homes run dry.

Sign our petition to demand that the Detroit Water and Sewage Department restore running water to the residents of Detroit.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Joe Dinkin

This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Working Families didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.

COMPLETE VIDEOS OF PROTEST AND ARRESTS BY DEMEEKO WILLIAMS

Demeeko: Dude the police was very out of order. They put my friend Baxter Jones under panic attack when he was assaulted by being pulled out of his chair.. a few reports have claimed that they seen Baxter out of his chair. Anybody who messes with the disabled is heartless.

Related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/27/detroiters-say-peoples-war-on-water-shut-offs-needed/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/25/stop-water-shut-offs-detroiters-take-demand-to-united-nations/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/22/appeal-to-support-charity-hicks-powerhouse-fighter-for-the-people/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/01/call-em-out-goes-back-to-war-direct-action-to-stop-water-shut-offs/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/28/mass-water-shut-offs-mass-incarceration-at-mound-road-prison-for-protesters/

Baxter Jones (left) as crowd masses in front of Homrich gates July 10, 2014.

This is new Facebook photo for Dominika Jones’ page. She is the mother of Aiyana Jones, murdered by Detroit police in 2010. Her husband Charles Jones was framed as part of a cover-up and sentenced to 40-60 years in prison.

NATIONAL ACTION AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY!

This petition will be delivered to:

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL – ERIC HOLDER

Petition by Danette Chavis New York, NY

CLICK ON http://www.change.org/petitions/national-action-against-police-brutality to sign petition

INVESTIGATIONS “CASE BY CASE” HAVE NOT AND SHALL NOT REMEDY THE PROBLEM! AS ONE IS BEING INVESTIGATED “HUNDREDS MORE” ARE MOUNTING UP! AND INDEED, POLICE BRUTALITY HAS ESCALATED TO THE LEVEL OF “NATIONAL PROPORTIONS”. THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS ARE BEING “STOPPED AND FRISKED” FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. THE LOSS OF LIFE THAT HAS OCCURRED AT THE HANDS OF POLICE HAS ESCALATED TO WHERE “UNARMED INDIVIDUALS” ARE BEING “FIRED UPON” AND “KILLED” AND WEEKS AND MONTHS GO BY – WITH “NO EXPLANATION” FOR THESE SHOOTINGS BY THEIR DEPARTMENT!

Photo on petition.

THE STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL WITHIN THESE STATES HAVE “REFUSED TO ACT” – LEAVING ALL ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY THE COMMISSIONER’S OF THESE DEPARTMENTS. AND THE COMMISSIONER’S HAVE “JUSTIFIED” THE ACTIONS OF THESE OFFICERS – AND IN MANY CASES “PROMOTED THEM” AFTER THE KILLING OF THESE VICTIMS. THE MECHANISMS THAT HAVE BEEN PUT IN PLACE HAVE “ALL FAILED” AND THE ESCALATION OF POLICE BRUTALITY IS “EVIDENCE” OF THAT FAILURE.

WE HAVE WITNESSED THE CONFESSIONS OF POLICE THEMSELVES WHO HAVE TESTIFIED THAT THEY WERE “MADE TO ISSUE SUMMONSES” AND “MAKE ARRESTS” WITHOUT CAUSE – AND THE SUBSEQUENT “HARASSMENT” WHICH FOLLOWED “IMMEDIATELY AFTER” THEIR REFUSAL. WE HAVE HEARD TESTIMONY IN COURT HOW THEY INDEED “PLANTED NARCOTICS” ON “INNOCENT VICTIMS” – SIMPLY TO MEET THE “QUOTA REQUIRED” CONCERNING AN ARREST. YET, THOSE INDIVIDUALS REMAIN INCARCERATED FOR THE CRIME ACCUSED.

THE RECOURSE OF THE PEOPLE HAS BEEN THWARTED, SO THAT THERE REMAINS “NO COURSE OF ACTION” THAT CAN BE TAKEN. THEREFORE, THIS EPIDEMIC WHICH HAS REACHED “NATIONAL PROPORTIONS” HAS BEEN PRESENTED TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION, ACTION AND REMEDY.

Detroiters who testified against the killings of their loved ones by Detroit police at Police Commission hearing.

AS THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, THE OCCUPIER OF OFFICE IS THE “CHIEF LAW ENFORCER” HAVING JURISDICTION OVER BOTH “STATE” AND “GOVERNMENT” IN ISSUES CONCERNING “LAW”. AND WHEN VIOLATIONS OF LAW ARE “RAMPANT” “UN-CHECKED” AND “UNABATED” – HE HAS A “SWORN DUTY” TO RESPOND THOSE VIOLATIONS.

LAW ENFORCEMENT ACROSS THE UNITED STATES HAS “ABUSED THE AUTHORITY” VESTED IN THEM, AND HAVE VIOLATED ON A “CONTINUAL BASIS” THE LAW ITSELF. BUT NO ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN, EITHER BY THEIR DEPARTMENT OR ATTORNEY GENERALS WITHIN THEIR STATE.

THEREFORE, PETITION IS MADE BEFORE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES TO NOT ONLY “ACT” ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, BUT TO FULFILL THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE OFFICE – FOR WHICH HE HAS “SWORN AN OATH” TO FULFILL UPON HIS OCCUPANCY!

LET IT BE UNDERSTOOD: THAT A “FAILURE” OR REFUSAL TO “ACT” IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE OBLIGATIONS CONCERNING THOSE DUTIES, SIGNIFIES AN “INABILITY” TO HOLD THE OFFICE – WHICH IS “NOW” BEING HELD.

Detroit’s own champion hydroplane racer, Jerry Bell (center in light blue T-shirt) with his 2008 crew, made up of Golightly students.

Appeals for additional sponsors

By Diane Bukowski

July 8, 2014

Jerry Bell shows one of his championship patches after City Council hearing in 2010.

DETROIT — Detroit’s own Jerry Bell, a hydroplane racer since 1995, is announcing that he will return to the sport in this year’s APBA Gold Cup races. He and a dozen others are scheduled to compete in a supporting class, the five-liter Gold Cup.

“These are smaller boats, about 19 feet, running about 120 mph, but this is a very highly competitive and exciting class,” Bell said.  “The racers jockey with each other for lanes unlike the bigger boats, giving spectators true thrills.”

This is the first time in many years that the Eastpointe-based American Power Boat Association has scheduled the class, after Bell’s urging.

“I am appealing to the community and to businesses for additional sponsorship,” Bell said. He has recovered from serious injuries sustained in 2010, during a robbery while  working as a cab driver. He was unable to work for months afterwards. He said he needs $6,000.

Jerry Bell racing in 2004.

Bell dreamed of becoming a hydroplane racer as a child, when his mother took him to the river near their home to watch the races. He began racing in 1995 under the tutelage of the first Black hydroplane racer, Teddy Dudley.

He was the APBA High Point Champion for Region 6 in 2000, and won two fourth-place finishes in the Gold Cup in 2003 and 2004, among other awards. In 2008, students from the Detroit Public Schools Golightly Career and Technical Center made up his crew for the 100th running of the Gold Cup, but their  hopes were dashed when the automotive-powered boat class they were registered for was eliminated.

TO HELP SPONSOR JERRY BELL’S BOAT, AND FOR MORE INFO

CALL 313-549-4187

Puerto Rican workers rally in preparation for a general strike against Jones Day-style austerity measures.

Public water, electrical workers vote to approve strike

Call on public to stop paying utility bills

Vote follows series of one-day walk-outs

June 19, 2014

This article originally appeared in Caribbean Business

PUERTO RICO — The main unions representing Puerto Rico Aqueduct & Sewer Authority (Prasa) and Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa) workers approved strike votes on Tuesday over proposed fiscal emergency legislation that will cut benefits for employees across the island government.

UIA President Pedro Irene Maymi speaks to members.

The first move to approve an open-ended walkout came during a special assembly of rank-and-file Independent Authentic Union (UIA by its Spanish initials) members. The union, the biggest at Prasa, has staged a series of 24-hour stoppages in recent weeks.

UIA President Pedro Irene Maymi said the strike vote was intended to make the public feel the indignation that utility workers feel over austerity measures in the fiscal emergency legislation approved by both the House and Senate.

Members of UTIER, as the chief union as Prepa is known, also met in an assembly Tuesday where they unanimously approved a strike vote.

“We are going to paralyze this island until this law is stopped,” UTIER President Angel Figueroa Jaramillo said.

He also called on islanders to stop paying their electricity and water bills. Union members then took their protests to the middle of Plaza Las Américas, the largest shopping mall in the Caribbean.

The Puerto Rico National Guard has said it is prepared to step in to help insure that essential services including electric, water and ferries continue to operate in case of a general strike.

La Fortaleza announced last weekend that union leaders representing the majority of workers at Puerto Rico government agencies have agreed to pay and benefit amendments sought under García Padilla’s balanced budget proposal for fiscal 2015.

Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla

However, unions representing a range of public corporations are still battling hard against the belt-tightening plan. La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Ingrid Vila on Tuesday called on public corporation union leaders to return to the bargaining table to negotiate with management. “We urge them to take this step toward firming up accords to avoid bigger complications,” she said.Gov. Alejandro García Padilla was questioned during an activity about union leaders framing their protests as an issue of rich and poor.

“On what side of the rich and poor equation is a secretary at a public corporation who earns $10,000 per month?” García Padilla asked. “Or a person who makes $200,000 per year and has 3,000 hours of vacation accumulated that must be paid off?

For more in-depth coverage of the Puerto Rico general strike, Yana Kunichoff reported for In These Times:

Public union workers from a handful of unions across Puerto Rico have spent the last week blocking ports, shutting down thoroughfares and slowing public transit. But that may be just the beginning: In the coming week, workers are expected to vote on whether to hold a general strike across the country.

The unions are standing against the austerity budget proposed this spring by members of the U.S. commonwealth’s General Assembly to deal with the country’s recent bond downgrade and looming payment of its debts to bondholders. The Fiscal Sustainability Act of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as the budget is called, would allow the government to bring in “emergency powers” to deal with the crisis.

(October 15th, 2009) Thousands of protestors flooded the streets in the largest public gathering in Puerto Rican history. The massive strike was in response to the republican governor Luis Fortuño’s decision to lay off 16,720 public workers. ~ San Juan, Puerto Rico ~ Photo © 2009 Ricardo Figueroa

Under this authority, it could renegotiate all public employees’ contracts, liquidate unused sick days, and freeze salaries—thereby gutting workers’ collective bargaining powers. Privatizing the commonwealth’s electrical company, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, has also been placed on the table as an option for stanching the crisis; the emergency measures would also include closing 100 public schools.

The budget must be passed on June 30 to coincide with the beginning of the 2015 fiscal year on July 1. And as that deadline nears, unions across the island have been escalating their protests. On June 5, the union of transportation employees prevented ferries around the country from functioning. That same day, workers from the bus and port authorities, as well as the state insurance funds, blocked the entrance to the central government building in San Juan. Amid the disruptions, the labor secretary said at a council meeting he would not speculate as to whether the actions already constituted a general strike, or were just a series of protests. Continue reading →

Protest outside White House. The U.S. announced that it has sent 300 troops to Iraq.

IRAQ A State at War With Itself

[col. writ. 6/15/14] © ’14 Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Lightning strikes. Those are the words that came to me as I witnessed the speed with which the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was rolling through northern Iraq, forcing government forces to flee.The cities of Mosul, Samarah, Tikrit and others fell in a matter of days, with nothing but token resistance from the central government.

Photos appeared of long lines of men, unarmed and out of uniform, making haste in their flight from the seized cities.

Now, in shocked reactions to ISIS gains, U.S. politicians are clamoring for the return of thousands of U.S. soldiers, to buttress Iraq’s fast-fading forces. In essence, they are agitating for more war.

It’s a safe bet that this won’t happen, but the partisan call for war continues to sound.

One wonders: war for what? For a government that has made the lives of Iraq’s Sunnis a living hell? It is this very region that forms the springboard for ISIS power.

Since the fall of Saddam they have suffered the lion’s share of American and now, Iraqi state violence.

Did we think resistance would never have arisen?

The U.S. Army didn’t invade in pursuit of peace, but of petroleum. They split Iraq asunder and left it in tatters.

The Iraq invasion, a neoconservative dream that became a nightmare, was a disaster from Day One.

It remains so.

The war began with lies. It could not have ended otherwise.US pushing Iraq toward Yugoslavia-style disintegration: Rodney Martin

The neocons, who created this mess, are now trying to restart the war anew.

On this, they must fail.

-© ’14 maj

US special ops troops in Iraq.

 

U.S. PUSHING IRAQ TOWARD DISINTEGRATION

The United States is seeking a Yugoslavia-style disintegration of Iraq in order to take over some parts of the country after Washington failed to keep its hold on the entire country, an American political commentator says.

The US wants “disintegration or breakup of Iraq, much like the breakup of Yugoslavia,” said Rodney Martin, who is the director of the World View Foundations, a website, and a host at the American Nationalist Network, an internet radio station.

Rodney Martin

“If the United States can’t get their hands on all of it, then they will take some of it. This just speaks to the immorality of the United States’ policy in that region and in other parts of the world as well,” he told Press TV in a phone interview on Monday.

On Sunday, Republican Senator John Barrasso said that a stable Iraq, split into three separate parts, will best serve the interests of the United States.

“The United States basically has the Kurdish region, they established that after the first (Persian) Gulf war…and then they have pledged to keep Iraq together,” Martin stated.

“And then when the political situation, which the United States created, let’s understand this political structure in Iraq was dictated to Iraq by the United States when the elections which have been conducted under a political system imposed by the United States didn’t go the way the United States wanted, then the United States pulled support and let the country fall apart,” he added.

Over the past weeks, militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) — a radical al-Qaeda offshoot that enjoys support from loyalists of Iraq’s former Baathist regime — have been wreaking havoc in Iraq.

The ISIL has captured large swaths of territory across northern Iraq after seizing the city of Mosul on June 10.

The militants, who have posted pictures of their atrocious acts against Iraqi citizens online, have vowed to continue their offensive towards the capital Baghdad.

U.S. backed rebels in Syria massacred these children.

“So you have this terrorist group, ISIL, that has terrorized and engaged in horrific genocide in Syria, that was another effort by the United States to topple President Assad, and which has now returned to south and started charging on Baghdad,” said Martin, who also served for a time on the staff of a US congressman assigned to Military and Veteran Issues.

“So this is consistent with the US policy. They can’t get all of it, they’ll take some of it. They propose to cut Iraq into three regions, the Kurd region, and the Sunni region, and the Shia region, which is a kind of interesting because the majority of Iraq’s oil production actually takes place in the south, down around Basra, which would be controlled by the Shia region, which is no friend of the United States…It’s kind of archaic and schizophrenic on the part of the United States,” he stated.

GJH/AGB

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/07/01/369343/us-pushing-iraq-toward-disintegration/

Related Stories:

Renisha McBride’s photo superimposed on Theodore Wafer’s Dearborn Heights house, where he shotgunned her to death.

Daily media tainting jury pool? Describes barred evidence sight unseen 

Dr. Werner Spitz rambles about case events, not cause of death; to testify on human response to fear 

Hearing to continue Mon. June 30 at 9 a.m. 

By Diane Bukowski

June 28, 2014

Detroit — Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Dana Margaret Hathaway ruled June 27 that text messages Dearborn Heights police took from Renisha McBride’s cell phone are inadmissible as evidence in the trial of her killer, Theodore Wafer.

“None of these show that she would have been aggressive,” Hathaway said firmly. “They are unfairly prejudicial.” She said that they were not even proof of unrelated criminal activity. She also barred the use of police reports from two incidents that did not result in charges, and the use of a “crime map” of Wafer’s neighborhood composed by the police.

USSC barred police search of personal cell phones without warrant June 25, 2014.

Hathaway postponed a final determination on the use of photos on the cell phone until Monday, June 30, although she said she believed the photos were not conclusive proof of anything.

Holding up her personal cell phone, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Danielle Hagaman-Clark asked,”You might find a naked picture of me. Does that make me a hooker?”

The Detroit Free Press vividly described the alleged contents of the barred evidence, using only defense attorney Cheryl Carpenter’s verbal depictions. Carpenter contended McBride was the aggressor in the case and was generally involved in criminal activity. The texts and photos were not shown during the pre-trial hearing.

Ironically, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 on June 25 that police must get a warrant to search a person’s cellphone, in Riley v. California and U.S. v. Brima Wurie. Dearborn Heights police had no such warrant. They conducted no similar search of Wafer’s phone.

Attendee at McBride’s funeral.

“They’re treating her like she’s the criminal,” McBride’s aunt Bernita Spinks said after the evidentiary hearing. “My niece is dead. They talk about her being under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, but her killer was never tested for alcohol, barbiturates or opiates. She was never a bad person. She went to Southfield High School, and many of her classmates are wearing T-shirts with her photo.”

Spinks said her niece was likely disoriented, and may have thought she was at her mother’s house, which resembles Wafer’s house. McBride had a car accident in Detroit several hours before her body was found on Wafer’s porch in Dearborn Heights, a half-mile away; cracks in the windshield show that she may have hit her head on it. At the accident scene, she kept telling witnesses that she just wanted to “go home.”

Theodore Wafer’s home at 16812 W. Outer Drive in Dearborn Heights, MI.

Wafer, 54,  blasted McBride, 19, in the face with a shotgun on that porch in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, 2013. He faces a capital charge of second-degree murder, which carries up to life in prison. He is also charged with manslaughter—death by weapon aimed with intent but without malice, which carries up to 15 years in prison, and felony firearm, which carries a mandatory consecutive penalty of two years.

Home of Renisha McBride’s mother.

To date, he has not served a day in prison, although capital charges generally result in remand, not bond. McBride’s case has been compared nationally to the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida last year.

Judge Hathaway partially granted a defense motion to have forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz testify directly after Wayne County Medical Examiner Kilak Kesha during the prosecution’s case, within limits. Kesha testified extensively at Wafer’s preliminary exam about McBride’s autopsy, including the cause and manner of her death.

Spitz said he has been certified as an expert only in the field of forensic pathology, not in the fields of physiology, psychiatry, or neurology. He said he has published no research of his own in these areas. But he is to testify primarily on the human physiological response to fear, with reference to Wafer.

Assistant Prosecutor Athena Siringas conducted a lengthy cross-exam of Spitz, contending he should only testify on cause and manner of death.

Dr. Werner Spitz at earlier trial.

“You’ve given opinions here that involve psychology, physiology, neurology, all things that human beings do while they’re alive, and you’ve actually only examined dead people,” she told him.

Spitz countered, “The issue is how did it all happen? The cause of death is the simplest thing: anybody in the street, hundreds of people could make that determination.”

Siringas questioned why Spitz’s testimony, if allowed, should not be taken after Wafer’s during the defense case, if Wafer takes the stand. Judge Hathaway said she will instruct the jury to disregard Spitz’ testimony if Wafer does not testify.

“Quite frankly, I don’t know how the defense can put on a case of self-defense without the defendant testifying,” Hathaway said.

Assistant Prosecutor Athina Siringas

Spitz, who is 88, gave a bizarre, rambling hour-long description of a crazed, aggressive McBride pounding on and breaking the doors of Wafer’s home. He said he based that depiction on police reports and discussions with defense attorneys.

Spitz said he talked to Wafer only briefly at his home, but not about the case. He said he had not seen the police videotape of Wafer’s statement directly after the killing, nor witness statements from neighbors where McBride earlier crashed her car in Detroit. During the preliminary exam, those neighbors described McBride as disoriented but not aggressive.

“He heard pounding from different areas of the house and was wondering was he being attacked,” Spitz said. “He ran to the main door. The way I understood, he had a feeling of impending doom.”

Spitz also commented generally about an individual’s psychological reaction when awakened from a deep sleep. He brought a cartload of medical textbooks to the hearing, to demonstrate his source of knowledge in fields other than which he is certified as an expert.

Siringas asked, “Is a normal reaction [to a fear of impending doom] to open your door and expose yourself?”

Wafer has a large picture window in his living room to the left of his solid front door.

“He couldn’t have looked through his front window because it had vertical blind slats, and that would have exposed him completely,” Spitz contended. “He couldn’t look through the peephole because it was broken.”

Photos from Renisha McBride funeral program differ strongly from defense depiction of her.

Wafer opened the locked front door and shot McBride with a 12-gauge shotgun through the screen door, according to testimony at his preliminary exam. Carpenter and Spitz, however, contend the unarmed McBride damaged the screen door herself and broke a peephole in the solid door prior to being shotgunned to death.

Dearborn Heights police did not take the screen door into evidence until Nov. 11, nine days after McBride’s death, from Wafer’s basement. The defense claimed during the preliminary exam that “smudges” on both front and side doors were evidence that McBride hit them, but prosecutors said no fingerprints, palm prints, or evidence of human contact were found.

Autopsy drawing showing wound to Renisha McBride’s face.

Spitz testified that he reviewed McBride’s autopsy report, photos of her body, and transcripts of Kesha’s testimony at the preliminary exam. He said a photo of McBride’s left hand showed that it was swollen and bloody, and implied that the apparent injury resulted from her pounding on the door. He said Kesha’s report “did not address whether there was an injury on the back of her hand,” and that the hand should have been X-rayed or cut open.

During the preliminary exam, Kesha said it was apparent there was no wound in McBride’s hand after her body was washed. He said McBride had a gaping wound in her face, resulting from 10-20 shotgun pellets which he said “pulpified” her brain and caused blood loss.

Spitz did affirm Kesha’s description of the cause of death as the shotgun wound to the face, and the manner of death as “homicide.”

Judge Hathaway also denied a defense motion to present a map of crimes in Wafer’s neighborhood, including petty larceny, provided by the Dearborn Heights police. The map as displayed on a screen had large black blotches all over a broad area alleged to portray instances of crime, without regard to the severity of the crimes.

“What matters to me,” Judge Hathaway said, “is what the defendant actually knew [about nearby crimes], testimony from him and his neighbors.”

Hathaway said she would defer a ruling on a change of venue until after jury selection.

The hearing is to resume Monday, June 30 at 9 a.m.

Related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/21/will-renisha-mcbrides-family-get-justice-in-case-against-her-killer-theodore-wafer/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/12/21/theodore-wafer-to-stand-trial-for-2nd-degree-murder-other-charges-in-death-of-renisha-mcbride/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/11/16/renisha-mcbrides-killer-theodore-wafer-charged-with-2nd-degree-murder-other-felonies-free-on-bond/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/11/13/worthy-has-renisha-mcbride-police-report-sign-petition-to-bring-full-charges-vs-killer/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/11/09/justice-for-renisha-mcbride-detroits-trayvon-martin-dearborn-hts-homeowner-is-theodore-paul-wafer/