Page 5 - ARUBA TODAY

A5
U.S. NEWS Thursday 29 June 2017

Man destroys new Ten Commandments statue at Arkansas Capitol

By JILL BLEED tol’s dome is visible. Music
ANDREW DeMILLO is heard followed by a fe-
Associated Press male voice, likely on the ra-
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A dio, saying, “Where do you
man yelled “Freedom!” as go when you’re faced with
he crashed his vehicle into adversity and trials and
Arkansas’ new Ten Com- challenges?” The driver is
mandments monument then heard growling, “Oh
early Wednesday, nearly my goodness. Freedom!”
three years after he was ar- before accelerating into
rested in the destruction of the monument.
Oklahoma’s monument at The vehicle’s speedom-
its state Capitol, authorities eter is last shown at 21 mph
said. (33 kph) and then a colli-
The privately funded Ar- sion can be heard.
kansas monument had The monument fell and
been in place outside the broke into multiple pieces
state Capitol in Little Rock as it hit the ground.
for less than 24 hours be- Oklahoma County sher-
fore it was knocked from iff’s spokesman Mark Op-
its plinth and smashed to grande told The Associ-
pieces. ated Press on Wednesday Personnel from the Secretary of State’s office inspect the damage to the new Ten Commandments
Michael Tate Reed, 32, of that Reed was the same monument outside the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday morning, June 28, 2017, after
Van Buren, Arkansas, was man arrested in October someone crashed into it with a vehicle, less than 24 hours after the privately funded monument
booked in the Pulaski Coun- 2014 in the destruction was installed on the Capitol grounds.
ty jail shortly after 7:30 a.m. of Oklahoma’s Ten Com- (AP Photo/Jill Zeman Bleed)
on preliminary charges of mandments monument at monument and said he suf- wished I could take it all It was installed Tuesday
defacing objects of public the state Capitol. fered from delusions and back,” Reed said. morning on the southwest
interest, criminal trespass In a 2015 email to the Tulsa heard voices. Arkansas’ granite monu- lawn of the Capitol with
and first-degree criminal World , Reed apologized “I am so sorry that this ment weighed 6,000 little fanfare and no ad-
mischief. An arrest report for wrecking Oklahoma’s all happening (sic) and pounds (2,721 kilograms). vance notice. q
lists his occupation as “un-
employed/disabled.” Lawyer:
Authorities did not know
whether he had an attor- Suspected Holocaust memorial vandal is mentally ill
ney who could speak on
his behalf.
A video arraignment was BOSTON (AP) — A man 9-foot-tall (2.7-meter) glass ish violence in Germany in es. Not-guilty pleas were
set for Thursday morning, suspected of using a rock panel on one of the me- 1938. entered on his behalf. His
a Pulaski County sheriff’s to shatter a glass panel morial’s six 54-foot-high Israel Arbeiter, a 92-year- court-appointed attorney
spokesman said. A call to on the New England Holo- (16.5-meter) towers shat- old Holocaust survivor who said her client suffers from
the number listed for Reed caust Memorial is mentally tered. They quickly arrested played a key role in build- mental health issues and is
on a police report went ill, his lawyer said Wednes- James Isaac, 21, of Boston, ing the memorial, showed in a partial hospitalization
straight to voicemail. day, as elected officials and charged him with mali- the tattoo he received program.
Arkansas Secretary of and religious groups came cious destruction of person- from the Nazis on his arm. The Massachusetts chapter
State’s Office spokesman together to condemn the al property and destruction “The Jewish people are of the Council on Ameri-
Chris Powell said officials vandalism. of a place of memorial. strong. can-Islamic Relations also
believe a Facebook Live “As a city we stand with the “When we hear the sound The city of Boston is strong,” denounced the vandalism.
video posted on a Michael Jewish community,” Boston of broken glass, we shud- he said. “Desecration of a religious
Reed’s account that de- Mayor Marty Walsh said at der,” said Barry Shrage, Isaac was held on $750 bail memorial is always heart-
picted the destruction is the memorial. president and CEO of at his arraignment but had breaking and must be con-
authentic. Police responding to a call Combined Jewish Philan- his bail revoked for violat- demned,” chapter Execu-
In the video, the sky is dark from a witness at about thropies, referring to Kristall- ing the terms of his proba- tive Director John Robbins
and the Arkansas Capi- 2 a.m. found a roughly nacht, a wave of anti-Jew- tion in other pending cas- said in a statement.q