Newspaper Page Text
OPINION
THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 - 27, 2019 • PAGE 4
Everyone should be a
little more cautious
November has been a concerning
month for the safety of women in the
Atlanta area. Two incidents happened
within miles of my home that have
me paying extra attention to my
surroundings and the people who
surround me.
Alexis Crawford, a Clark Atlanta
University student, was found dead
in Decatur’s Exchange Park after her
family reported her missing. According
to reports, Crawford’s roommate and
the roommate’s boyfriend allegedly
strangled Crawford after a physical
altercation occurred in their off-campus
apartment. A few days prior to the
incident, Crawford filed a police report
saying the roommate’s boyfriend had
sexually assaulted her, according to
reports. Crawford and the roommate
were considered to be best friends.
While attending college, I had a
roommate who had a boyfriend and was
a roommate with a boyfriend. I can’t
imagine what type of situation could
occur that would end up in murder.
Crawford’s story is truly heartbreaking.
A few days before Crawford was
reported as missing; I saw an Instagram
video of a young woman telling her
story of being sex trafficked. The
woman, who didn’t reveal her name,
said she was leaving Red Lobster on
Candler Road when a group of men
jumped out of a van and kidnapped
her. After being drugged in the van,
she woke up in a hotel room with the
men who raped and abused her and
forced her to have sex with other men
for money. The woman was allegedly
forced to do this for two weeks
until undercover police saved her.
Unfortunately, according to the woman,
the men have not been captured.
Although Atlanta is stained with sex
trafficking, stories like these may seem
like an urban legend to some, but not for
me.
I love to workout in the morning.
One morning, in the spring of 2018,1
began a two-mile run along Flat Shoals
Road in Decatur. It’s a busy street with
plenty of people to serve as witnesses,
so I usually feel safe. But this particular
morning, I kept seeing the same car
that didn’t have hubcaps pass me
while running. At first I thought the
driver of the car was lost, causing it to
continue driving back and forth along
Flat Shoals. I later noticed the car being
driven past me while I was running and
then park in parking lots waiting for
me to pass by again. I was concerned
that the driver would possibly follow
me home. Once I noticed this pattern,
I immediately stopped running, went
inside a convenience store and took out
my phone to call the police. The car
vanished.
The next day, I thought maybe
I had overreacted and decided to go
running again. But, being careful, I took
a different running route and started an
hour earlier. When I had almost finished
running the route, I spotted the same car
without the hubcaps. I was around the
comer from my house. I immediately
became upset that I had gone running
again. I was the girl some scream at in
scary movies. I was immediately more
upset with myself that I let this man
repeat his process and follow me so
close to home without noticing. Luckily
a man who lives in my neighborhood
was outside gardening and noticed the
car had been driving back and forth
along the street. My neighbor was with
a few of his friends. So I remained
in my neighbor’s front yard until the
car passed by again. I was able to get
pictures of the car, and called police.
The car didn’t pass by again that day
and I eventually went home. I don’t
want to think about what that man in
that car may have wanted.
It took a very long time for me to
go running again without fearing that
something bad would happen to me.
But, I worked up the courage; I started
running again and never saw the car
again. And I always wave hello to my
neighbor who probably scared off the
driver of the car.
Something similar happened to a
friend who lives in Brookhaven. While
she was driving to pick up food, a car
full of men followed her to a restaurant.
When she got inside the restaurant, she
noticed one of the men had come inside
behind her. After rushing back to her car
with her food, she made random turns
to lose the men who she thought were
trying to follow her home.
This message is not just for women;
incidents such as this can and do happen
to men as well. Everyone should be
careful. It’s sad that we live in a world
where we not only have to watch
strangers, but the people around us as
well—the people we call friends or the
people we may think care about us. It’s
sad that we can’t attend college, leave
work, get food or go for a run without
being concerned that something bad
may happen.
If concerned about a situation, call
the police. Make sure that you are safe
and are able to see your loved ones at
the end of the day.
Rest in peace, Alexis Crawford.
President Donald Trump is of
course a man whose words and deeds
frequently command our headlines
and attention. We should of course pay
attention to both. On the subject of
veterans, he typically speaks with great
reverence. He attempted to turn the
Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. into
a celebration of our veterans and the
nation’s military might. He hired many
multi-star generals into his original
Cabinet, though he has since fired the
bulk of them.
The longer he is in the White House,
and with the way Democrats appear
intent on making these impeachment
proceedings almost as partisan as
possible, their words versus deeds
can also use some measurement and
scrutiny. And as we look forward to the
elections of 2020, we should also look
back, as with veterans and others, as this
president often takes a public posture
and position which are not supported
later by his actions or the facts.
On the eve of the Iowa Presidential
Caucus, in Des Moines on Jan. 28,
2016, then candidate Trump chose to
decline participation in a presidential
candidate debate and instead hosted
his own veterans rally and fundraiser
just down the street. According to the
Trump campaign, this rally, put together
in just a few days, would set Iowa event
attendance records and raise a projected
$6 million for veteran causes and
Words and deeds
‘One Man's
Opinion’
Bill Crane
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
charities.
Though plenty of veterans were in
attendance, they were not consulted, nor
meaningfully included in planning the
event. The Trump Foundation accepted
all donations, including several large
checks from friends and supporters of
the businessman candidate. The event
netted $2.8 million, a tidy sum, but
roughly half what the president had
boasted.
Days later, Sen. Ted Cruz won the
Iowa Caucus with Trump a very close
second-place finisher in a large field.
Months after the fundraiser, The
Washington Post began asking which
veterans organizations had received
how much from the event or the Trump
Foundation, as the president had earlier
discussed, and his campaign had
released a list of veteran charities which
Trump or his foundation had previously
supported.
Research by the Post and later
the New York Office of Attorney
General would find that Trump used the
foundation more as a piggy bank for
personal expenses, campaign expenses
and other disallowed uses. The Trump
Foundation was dissolved in December
of2018.
On the anniversary of his election
week, Trump signed a agreement with a
New York judge to pay a settlement of
$2 million. In the settlement agreement,
Trump acknowledged, with the legal
protection of non-profit status, that
he and his family frequently used the
foundation for personal expenses,
ranging from $10,000 for a portrait of
the president now hanging in one of his
hotels, to a variety of lesser campaign
expenses.
The funds which did eventually pass
through to veterans were predominantly
direct gifts by Trump friends and
supporters and only a tiny fraction of
the announced event gate of the veterans
salute in Iowa. And while admitting
guilt, violations of state and federal
tax law and misstating the benefits and
proceeds to veteran causes, the president
again views himself as the victim of
these proceedings:
“I am the only person I know,
perhaps the only person in history,
who can give money to a charity ($19
million), charge no expenses, and be
attacked by the political hacks in New
York State,” Tweeted by Trump the
evening the settlement was reached.
Perhaps coincidentally, the president
announced he would be changing his
legal residence to Florida the very
same week. And though the veterans’
event would have had expenses; the
foundation had no employees, no
offices and a board which only rarely
met which would tend to tamp down
expenses. The president has since
characterized the $2 million in damages
he is paying as a contribution which he
is now all too happy to donate to worthy
groups. I will also note here that the
president donates his presidential salary
to a wide array of charitable causes on a
quarterly basis.
Veterans and their families are
quite accustomed to broken promises,
from the VA to other areas of promised
government support. Yet as we
recognize and salute their commitment
and sacrifice, we should also hold
ourselves and others accountable for
honoring those promises. Perhaps
Trump’s opponents should try running
this one up the flagpole and see how the
public and veteran communities salute
or react to that.
Bill Crane also serves as a political
analyst and commentator for Channel 2 s
Action News, WSB-AM News/Talk 750
and now 95.5 FM, as well as a columnist
for The Champion, DeKalb Free Press
and Georgia Trend. Crane is a DeKalb
native and business owner, living in
Scottdale. You can reach him or comment
on a column at bill.csicrane@gmail.com.
