About The champion newspaper. (Decatur, GA) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2019)
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.
