Gloria Carter-Hicks is Entrepreneur of the Year
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2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 Gold Cup Newspaper Missouri Press Association
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited OCTOBER 19 – 25, 2017
Vol. 89 No. 30 COMPLIMENTARY
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Protests continue
Edwards named director of Public Safety ‘Outsider’ choice who has worked for juvenile justice reforms By Jessica Karins For The St. Louis American
Photo by Vincent Lang
Melvin Moffitt took a knee as demonstrators blocked traffic near the Chaifetz Arena parking garage near Compton and Olive on October 11.
A month after Stockley verdict, demonstrators stay in the streets By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American “Governor Greitens, you said during your campaign that if you had been governor during Ferguson the protests would have been done in two days,” Wes Schnitker said through a bullhorn outside of the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis on Friday, October 12. He directed the 100 or so protestors to repeat after him. “Today marks day 28,” Schnictker said, and they repeated. He said it again with such intensity that his voice cracked and his face turned red. The protestors repeated with the same fervency.
n “Who the hell do these police think they are? Why do they think they get to be the law, the judge, the jury and the executioner?” – Antoinette Harmon
“Today marks day 28. You lied.” There have been a few scattered self-care days, but more than a month after people took to the streets in response to the not-guilty
verdict in the Jason Stockley murder trial, a diverse, multi-generation coalition of people continued to stage direct actions. “Y’all know I don’t say much because I want the young people to speak, but you all have to keep going,” said Reverend Darryl Gray as they stood in front of the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton waiting to march. Attendance was on the light side for this action, so Gray seemed compelled to encourage. “Some days there will be just a few of us,” he said. “Other days it will be
See PROTESTS, A7
‘Worst infrastructure devastation’ STL Teamsters disaster-relief veteran reports from Puerto Rico By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
Roy Gillespie, human rights commissioner for Teamsters Joint Council 13 in St. Louis, delivered water to people in what he identified as the Deacos area of Puerto Rico on Saturday, October 14. The Teamsters support the American Red Cross in disasterrelief efforts.
When Roy Gillespie says Puerto Rico currently faces “the worst infrastructure devastation” he has ever seen, he speaks as someone who has seen a wide variety of infrastructure devastation. Gillespie, who is human rights commissioner for Teamsters Joint Council 13 in St. Louis, is a disaster-relief first responder for the Teamsters in partnership with the American Red Cross. He has coordinated disaster-relief logistics in the aftermath of hurricanes (Katrina, Wilma), tornadoes (in Joplin; Romeoville, Illinois; Jeffersonville, Indiana), floods (in St. Louis
See GILLESPIE, A6
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson has chosen Circuit Court judge Jimmie Edwards as the city’s new director of Public Safety. The director directly oversees the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and chief of police. Edwards will be sworn in to the position on November 6, after resigning from his position as a judge. The Department of Public Safety has more than 3,500 employees and a budget of $340 million. Jimmie Charlene Deeken, the current Edwards interim director of Public Safety, will become deputy director. This announcement comes after state Representative Bruce Franks Jr. called on Krewson to appoint a director of Public Safety at the public Protest to Policy event on October 11. Following the not-guilty verdict in the murder trial of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley, many protesters have called for police reform and for the
See EDWARDS, A7
New U.S. attorney sets goal of driving down gun violence Pledges to personally reviewiall allegations of civil rights violations By Chris King Of The St. Louis American On Jeff Jensen’s first official day as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, there were six shootings in St. Louis, where his office is based. It confirmed his sense of priority. “I don’t think anyone wouldn’t want us to prosecute violent criminals or ultimately see the murder rate go down,” he told Jeff The St. Louis American. Jensen The state prosecutes most murders and other violent crime through the circuit attorney system, but Jensen, who has 10 years of experience as a federal prosecutor in the office, and 10 years as an FBI
See VIOLENCE, A6 Photo courtesy of Roy Gillespie