The Herald-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan • 4

4A THURSDAY, June 19, 2003 BENTON HARBOR RIOT The Herald-Palladium Benton Harbor-St Joseph, Mich. Violence brings back bad memories for some Fears of police, economic despair cited as roots of jage ing was about to end, some 50-60 angry people stormed into the room under the impression that Gov. Jennifer Granholm was there. "So many of them; were yelling we didn't want to hear anything they had. to say," Peeples-Burks said, "It strikes me that so many of these people are caught im inst in what thev are feelinfr I don't think they are aware of the many avenues for dialogue present in the community." Source of anger? Nora Jefferson, a Benton trustee, said there certainly is "Police officers from more than 10 Berrien County departments were called in to break up a disturbance involving between 300 and 400 people, some of them throwing bottles and blocking traffic at the The intersection of Empire and Broadway was in the heart of this week's violence.

Good news, bad news Many people would say Benton Harbor has made considerable progress since 1990. While grave problems remain, the rate serious crime is down. City finances, if not flush, have at least stabilized, and the fiscal chaos and "payjess paydays" of the 1980s are no more. The downtown has seen new life as some restaurants have started up, and an arts district is going well. Even the long-dormant State Theater has reopened as an art house.

Why the current unrest then? Some people out on the streets said they're upset by years of police harassment. The disturbances began Monday night, after a city resident was killed in a motorcycle crash at 2 a.m. Monday following a high-speed police chase. Mayor Charles Yarbrough said distrust and resentment are certainly factors. "This thing has been building up over the years," Yarbrough said Wednesday night.

''There's always been a rift between Benton Township police and the citizens of Benton Harbor: There is lack of respect for the citizens here; and I think the police need to do a better job of community policing and get to know the residents. The people claim there has been abuse from the police, and in some they're right, but this is not the way to resolve that" Yarbrough said his "heart goes out to the victim and his family and also to the police department, because they've got to feel bad about this. There's a lot of blame to go around on both sides." Yarbrough said the crash victim, Terrance Shurn, 28, should not have tried to flee police, and police should have not attempted a high--speed chase. A Berrien County Sheriff's deputy Monday made the first attempt to stop two motorcycles going at speeds estimated at over 100 mph on Michigan 139 in Roy-alton Township. Yarbrough said the deputy backed off, but then a Benton Township patrolman "picked it up." "This is the second time this has happened in the city," Yarbrough said.

"The last time an 1 1 -year-old (Trenton Patterson in 2000) got killed from one of these highspeed chases. Nothing good can poorly of myself that someone else's opinion would prevent me from being a good citizen," Burks said. "I can't do that. You're responsible for your own behavior. You're going to get out of life what you put into it." Benton Harbor school officials are working hard to build a sense of self-worth in students, "but so many come into the school with low self-esteem," Peeples-Burks said.

As to why some city residents are willing to cause such trouble, she said, "In my years of living in this community, decisions are made on rumor. There is a rumor mill in this community you would not believe. People are acting so irresponsibly. It's my assessment they simply don't have the truth about the situation." Police on Tuesday said there, were rumors that Shurn was bumped by a patrol car before crashing and that he did not get prompt medical treatment at the scene. Both are untrue, police said.

"People get a lot of their impressions from television, and that can be a distortion," Peeples-Burks said. "What is on television is not always what it appears to be." Peeples-Burks Monday night was at a meeting on schools at the Benton Harbor Public Library with state Sen. Ron Jelinek, R- Three Oaks. She said as the meet come out of these kind of situations, nothing good Either you tear up property, or people lose their lives." Benton Harbor police do not normally engage in chases, but the Benton Township Police Department has a different policy. Yarbrough said he will work toward seeing that area police departments have a consistent pol-icy on chases.

Low self-esteem Some think there are other causes to the civil unrest "I think it's out of frustration," said Gladys Peeples-Burks, a longtime Benton Harbor educator who has lived in the Twin Cities area since the early 1930s. "The frustration comes from being in poverty circumstances, not having jobs, not being well educated, and not feeling they're valued. It's the question of low self-esteem." Peeples-Burks, who retired in 1 988 but still serves on the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board, said she was raised with a sense of" responsibility and that rewards and accomplishments come from hard work. Some of today's children and young people may be lacking that she said. "I was out walking this morning and I tried to imagine thinking so a great deal of anger and frustration among many residents.

But she said she's puzzled as to the source. "I'm not sure if I have a real answer as to why this is," Jefferson said. "It seems there is a lot of anger in jhe community. I don't know where it's coming from." By WILLIAM F. AST III tt-P Staff Writer BENTON HARBOR For long-time residents of the Twin Cities Monday's and Tuesday's urban violence in Benton Harbor was like an unwelcome replay of the bad old days.

The city also experienced riots in 1 960, 1966, 1967 and 1 990. Many hews clips from those days are eerily similar to news accounts this week. "No injuries were reported last night and there was no major property destruction as waves of policemen' combed the area," stated one story from August 1966. Romney dispatched additional troopers to the scene. Some 350 National Guardsmen were encamped at South Haven, ready if needed." A story in March 1990 said: "Police in riot gear moved in to take control of the troubled Empire Avenue-Broadway intersection in Benton Harbor Monday night after a crowd of several hundred youths gathered for the second straight night.

jenerson ana otner ooara members got an earful from an angry crowd at Tuesday night's Township Board meeting. "I don't know if it was just this situation or other things going on that have people so angry," Jefferson said. Jefferson is assistant superintendent of human, resources and labor relations for Benton Harbor Area Schools. She has lived in the area since 1970. A NIGHT OF CALM What they're saying A look at what out-of-town media and public officials are saying about the Ben ton Harbor riots: "As the sun slipped west across Lake Michigan, a group of teens, some sport-, ing fresh scars, gathered a few blocks away, promising the officers a fight.

'There's gonna be some trouble said one young man who concealed his face with his T-shirt and declined to give his name. As night fell so and soaked, crowds hurled nothing more than insults at police, who employed armored personnel carriers to cordoned off the neighborhood where the violence has taken place." Los Angeles Times "What you have in Benton Harbor is a forgotten community with a lot of anger, The two towns are so symbolic of how we live in America, so close arid yet so far from each other, so disconnected." Alex Kotlowitz, author of "The Other Side of the River," on WNDU-TV, South Bend, Ind. "Benton Harbor, sometimes called i-, .1, fX "I )( 2 a Don CampbeH H-P staff Trrrrrrui ft mniMUMn nrniMii I John Madill H-P staff AT LEFT: Benton Harbor firefighters extinguish the smoldering remains of a house that was torched Tuesday night. TOP: Dozens of Michigan State Police patrol cars cruise Columbus Avenue in Benton Harbor Wednesday ABOVE: TV trucks and reporters gather outside the police station in Benton Harbor on Wednesday afternoon. Neal Vaughan H-P staff Couple's wrong turn leads to riot injuries 'Benton Harlem' by locals, is predominantly black and struggles with poverty and unemployment while its sister city, St.

Joseph, is a thriving community of resort cottages and summer homes for vacationing Chicagoans. St. Joseph boasts one of the 10 finest beaches in the nation, while the Benton Harbor's welcome sign calls it the only "enterprise" zone in Michigan a designation that means it is economically Chicago Tribune "Nobody has paid much attention to the city's high unemployment, failing schools or endless financial troubles. But all of that figures into the noting which only brings the wrong kind of attention. Local and state officials need to con-sider what was happening in the city before this happened, and what can be done to keep if from happening again." Detroit Free Press editorial "And the five buildings that were rum 4 lsJi (If, 1 WM 2 MA burned, the vehicles that were vandalized, and the victims that were shot and stabbed, were all in Benton Harbor, a town that is 92.4 percent black.

It's as if the rioters learned nothing from the turbulent riots of the '60s that leveled whole blocks in black neighborhoods in L.A. Detroit and Chicago. Some of the neigh- borhoods have never been redeveloped." Mary Mitchell, (Chicago) Sun-Times columnist Av I 'c 1 By LYNN STEVENS Staff Writer; ST. JOSEPH Paul Davis worried Wednesday that he would lose his mili-taryjob if he loses his hearing because of a brick hurled at his head Tuesday near Empire Avenue and Broadway during noting in Benton Harbor. He won't know for two more weeks if his hearing will be affected.

"He went to Kuwait and didn't get a He comes here on vacation and wc get attacked," said Paul's wife, Becky an Air Force veteran, as she stayed with her husband at Lakeland Hospital, St. Joseph. Davis, 4 1 is a 1 3-year Air Force veteran who works as the air reserve technician for services at Selfridge' Air National Guard Base in Mt. Clemens. The Couple took their two children, David, 14, and Joshua, 3, on Vacation with them this" week to be with Davis' stepfather, Donald West, who was scheduled for surgery at Lakeland.

They joked from Davis' hospital room Wednesday that Paul went into surgery before his stepfather. The couple had left their chijdreh playing in the pool at their motel with an uncle while they slipped away for a moonlight look at Silver Beach about 10:30 p.m. Davis, who graduated from Benton Harbor High School in 1979, thought he remembered the city streets. He found the landscape had changed. "We took a wrong turn," he said.

They found themselves in a congested street with dozens of people in the street and cars on all sides of them. A woman on the sidewalk wOTned them not to drive any farther down the street. But there was nowhere to turn or back up. saw a lot of people and a house burning." said Becky Davis, who was driving. "We thought they were.

curious neighbors. Then all heck broke loose." The crowd was in an ugly mood. Suddenly people started throwing things at 'He went to Kuwait and didn't get a scratch. He comes here on vacation and we get BECKY DAVIS Wife of injured man the couple's van. Their boxer dog, Lady Sabrina, was terrified.

A brick shattered the front passenger window and hit Paul Davis' head. "It happened so fast," Becky Davis said. "I thought, 'Just what in the world is going I stomped it." Becky Davis's military specialty was transportation. She said proudly she can drive anything from a sedan to an 1 8-wheeler. She said military instincts Icicked in: Take a deep breath, don't panic, floor it and get out of here.

When they were safely away from the crowd, Paul had Becky pull over. His head was bleeding badly and he knew he needed'to staunch the blood. He pulled off his shirt and pressed it against his right ear. He held it tightly all the way to Lakeland Hospital. Paul Davis said Wednesday his ear hurt like an earache multiplied five times.

"I think when I got hit by the bnck it went numb and I didn't start feeling it until we went into the emergency room." ER staff removed glass shards from Becky's legs and arms. Dr. Samuel Logan sewed the artenal bleeder in Paul's head and his split ear. The couple contacted Paul's sister, Darnell, who works at Lakeland. She took the two boys into her home for the duration of the visit.

"Benton Harbor has some good people in it, if really docs, but last Paul said. 'The worst of them came out last night," Becky said. Brian Melchor photo PAUL DAVIS, resting in his room at Lakeland Hospital, was injured as he and his wife, Rebecca, made a wrong turn and drove down Empire Avenue during the riot Tuesday night. Their damaged vehicle is pictured below. i K- 1 P.

-V -w -srir 1 im "We are encouraging the people of Benton Harbor to come together to resolve this crisis. The civil unrest of recent days must come to an end, and the healing process must begin for the future of the community. We will provide assistance both in end ing the violence and enabling the healing in Benton Harbor." Gov, Jennifer Granholm "It is my hope that the violence has ended and that we can come together as a community and take our first steps towards healing through peaceful dialogue." U.S. Rep. Fred Upton "You have a combination of factors in Benton Harbor that have national implications excessive force, a history of police brutality complaints, a history of dispro-portional arrests of blacks.

The combination of excessive force and high unemployment is a fuel and it must be addressed in some way." -The Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist $3ZL ML..