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Groton Daily Independent
Friday, Aug. 25, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 056 ~ 48 of 65
The council has called for an independent review of all decisions related not only to Aug. 12, but also a July KKK rally and a prior torch-lit rally of white nationalists at Emancipation Park, Signer said in his state- ment. He said he expects details to be announced shortly.
The rally was sparked by the city’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park, a decision that’s on hold while a lawsuit plays out. On Wednesday, workers draped the statue of Lee and another of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in black fabric meant to symbolize the city’s mourning.
City of cials had been expected to host a “community recovery town hall” Thursday evening in collabora- tion with the Community Relations Services of the Department of Justice. But they announced Thursday morning that it had been rescheduled for Sunday due to con icts with a local high school’s student activities.
Of cials will provide an update on “recovery efforts” at that meeting and offer opportunities for public comment, according to a news release.
In other developments Thursday, Christopher Cantwell, a white nationalist from Keene, New Hampshire, made an initial appearance in Albemarle County General District Court.
He faces two counts of the illegal use of tear gas or other gases and one count of malicious bodily injury with a “caustic substance,” explosive or re in connection with a torch-lit rally on the University of Virginia campus the night before the white nationalist rally.
Contacted by The Associated Press on Tuesday, Cantwell acknowledged he had pepper-sprayed a counter- demonstrator. But he insisted he was defending himself, saying he did it “because my only other option was knocking out his teeth.” He also said he was looking forward to his day in court.
UVA police said late Wednesday night that he had turned himself in.
Cantwell told a judge Thursday that he planned to hire his own attorney, The Daily Progress reported . The judge did not set bond, but told Cantwell his attorney could request a bond hearing later.
Also Thursday, a judge waived a hearing for James Alex Fields Jr., the man accused of killing Heather Heyer by driving into the crowd. Fields had a hearing scheduled for Friday, but the judge agreed to a request from prosecutors and Fields’ attorney to continue the case until Dec. 14.
California baseball fans, players have common enemy: gulls By LINDA WANG, Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Like any player, San Francisco Giants out elder Denard Span worries about hitting nasty curveballs and losing y balls in the sun. But he’s got another concern when he’s playing at his home stadium: birds pooping on him in the eld.
“I’m afraid of them dropping something, using the bathroom on top of me,” Span said. “Or maybe them dropping some food near me and then all of them just freaking swarming me.”
It’s a possibility, considering how regularly ocks of gulls come in off the San Francisco Bay to hover low over the Giants’ AT&T Park.
Sports venues across the country struggle to wave off pigeons, bats and gulls, but the two Bay Area ballparks’ proximity to the water and dumps attracts birds in large ocks. It has been such a problem at the Oakland Coliseum that stadium operations of cials added a pair of vinyl kites this season in an effort to fend them off.
Gulls typically feed at dumps, but marine biologists say recent efforts taken by some nearby sites to bury the waste faster have kept the feathered creatures away. Now, the gulls circle Bay Area ballparks in the hundreds to scour for leftovers such as those popular garlic fries, creating a nuisance for fans and players - not to mention the grounds crew that goes back to work on the in eld, basepaths and mound the moment a game ends.
That prompted the two teams to experiment with unconventional measures of dealing with their respec- tive bird business.
In Oakland, the bird brigade was becoming such a problem that the Athletics added two falcon-shaped kites this season to try to scare off the gulls. The kites even have catchy nicknames chosen by fans: “Fal-