The Brattleboro Reformer from Brattleboro, Vermont • 4

Opinion www.rcformcr.com, Tucsdsy, December 2003 Brattleboro Reformer Ay interesting possibilities cartoon stmd eASkts brattleboro Reformer Publisher David Emmons Managing Editor Kathryn Casa Controller Michael Thibodeau AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER DEDICATED TO CONSERVATION AND PROGRESS IN PUBLIC AND HUMANE AFFAIRS SINCE 1913 How time changes perception the officer or a move toward anybody or something like that," Manning describes hi motions, actually away from the podium and the officers, and says, He was not attacking. He was not attacking. He might have been threatening people not to leave THev wue. jiT TTMPTiNh FATB. kfJ npnxn or Letter box MARLBORO With the passing of the second anniversary of the killing of Robert Woodward by Brattleboro police, those who knew him and those who saw him shot are still trying to come to terms with their loss and their trauma Important issues remain for all of us to resolve, however, especially all of us who were not affected directly and personally by this official shooting, through changes in attitudes and expectations and changes in procedures and training.

People who were directly affected on both "sides" are clearly frustrated. Some in the Justice for Woody group, who have been immersed in the details of the case for two years, resorted at their press conference last week to charges of a conspiracy to obstruct justice." Even many who remain outraged that no competent official investigation has been conducted and that the officers remain in service (though one has left Brattleboro) want no part of such conspiracy theories. I have read all of those witness statements too, with great care but with no personal attachment to Woodward. 1 see no evidence of a conspiracy. What I do see is bad enough: The investigation was, from the beginning, careless in some respects, unimaginative, and hasty to assume justification.

The attorney generals subsequent report failed to address obvious questions and reached conclusions unsupportable by the evidence he claimed to be using. I also see a troubling complacency and a kind of wishful thinking that has led people to repress the difficult issues the town needs to face. Sharry Manning's recent editorial plea to "Cease and Desist (Reformer, Dec. 2) is an example of the problem. Her characterization of that day shows the effects of how difficult it is to live with having witnessed those events.

In her testimony, taken the day of the shooting, Manning says that Woodwards threats were to hurt himself, which was not pleasant to be around. When the shots were fired and Woodward went down, she continued, that's when I was totally traumatized." Asked what might have caused the officers to shoot, she answers, after a long pause, You got me. I think it was the fear factor. I dont know how they were trained. I dont know.

Im not an officer. I don't know how theyre trained to react. Asked whether Woodward made a move toward T. Hijntek Wilson because he needed the sanctuary. He was mentally sick.

I mean, I believe he is. We live in an area with an important mental hospital. Our society has chosen appropriately to keep most people with mental difficulties as functioning members. Our society also encourages a great many of us, including children, to use a variety of mood-altering drugs or drugs with mood-altering side effects. Whatever led to Woodwards bizarre and alarming behavior on that day, he was never a threat to anyone but himself, and any one of us could find ourselves in some similar circumstance.

Our police must be adequately trained not to panic, not to use unnecessary lethal force, not to make a tense situation in which theyve been asked to help even worse. It is hard, after all this time, to keep the issues clear. Even the Reformer's Dec. 2 editorial, "Woodward's Shadow" tells us in reference to the police contention that Woodward made a threatening motion toward them with the knife: Some witness statements corroborate that contention and others dispute it. That may be true now, when peoples recollections have altered for whatever reasons.

But in the statements taken at the time of the shooting, no witness corroborates the police accounts, either of a supposed threat toward them with the knife, or of a supposed run toward them before the first shot. Eight of the non-police witnesses present were looking directly at Woodward at the moment he was shot. They saw him rocking wildly back and forth with his knife at his eye, both terrified and frightening, but not a threat. They saw him shot. As a community, we must not forget what happened.

We must not pretend it didnt happen. We must work together to be sure it cannot happen again. T. Hunter Wilson, a resident of Marlboro, is the author of an analysis of the eyewittness testimony on the Woodward shooting and the attorney general's conclusions. A man with a knife This happened about 20 years ago in Philadelphia.

A man and woman were arguing on the sidewalk, right in the middle of the lunch-hour crowd. He was brandishing a six-inch knife and yelling. She was crying and cursing at him and dodging the knife. will sideline its Colonel Rebel mascot this football season, taking another step to distance itself from the Souths Confederate past. Ole Miss officials have said they want a more intimidating mascot than the Southern gentleman with his cocked wide-brimmed hat, snow-white goatee and cane.

In the last decade, Mississippi has been steering its image from the Old South by phasing out symbols that some say are racially divisive. Confederate battle flags, once pervasive at football games, have been banished and Dixie has been dropped as the school's unofficial fight song. There is more to this in Vermont than the offensiveness of the symbol. Nearly every town has some sort of monument to the brave Vermonters who gave their lives in the War to Preserve the Union. Honoring the memory of the very people who took those lives does these martyrs a grave disservice.

How about a Rebel mascot that honors Vermonters like Col. Seth Warner, who fought for our freedom from a greedy European power, and earned us the right to be called Americans? Tom Finnell Wardsboro Collectors invited to help food bank Editor of the Reformer: I enjoyed my telephone conver-station with the lady who runs the JamaicaAVardsboro Food Shelf when I telephoned to tell her that our group of collectors plans to raise money at our show at the Jamaica Town Hall this Sunday, Dec. 14. She educated me on the large need that she continues to see in our area up here in the valley. Any collector who contributes to the effort may set up their coins, stamps or other collectibles at no charge at our little collectible show at the town hall.

The doors will open at 9 a.m. and at 2 p.m. we will auction off donated coins, stamps, postcards and other items with all the proceeds going to the local food collection effort. Happy holidays to all our fellow collectors. Joe Fuller Rawsonville Talk to them Editor of the Reformer: I am appalled at the judgmental-attitude expressed in a letter Dec! 5 by Len Casella of East Dummer-ston: If all the people I see on the common or at the post office spent that time helping others, what a wonderful world this would be.

Len unjustly assumes that because someone is an activist and chooses to participate in a public demonstration, therefore that person is not also doing positive things in the community. Has he talked to them, has he surveyed them, has he expressed any interest in them? Obviously not. Personally, I am grateful that there are so many different ways of expressing ones opinion in a democratic society; there are so many places in the world where to demonstrate is to place oneself in jeopardy of being thrown in jail or ostracized. Judith Myrick Brattleboro Sorry Editor of the Reformer: As the second anniversary of the tragedy that claimed Robert Woodward's life has passed, it seems little has changed. Anger has not abated; cries for revenge persist.

An apology has been demanded. There are several things I am truly sorry about, apologies aside. I am sorry the incident ever happened. I am sorry a young person in the prime of life died. I am sorry an entire church and its congregation were subjected to such a horrible incident, one that will undoubtedly scar their individual psyches for the rest of their lives.

I am sorry several members of our community, including the then newly hired editor of the Reformer, armed with nothing more than scant information, jumped on the accusatory bandwagon and threw out, and continue to throw around, charges of murder, assassination, and execution with reckless and irresponsible abandon. I am sorry Brattleboro police officers have been vilified and their families harassed. A blood level of ephedrine 20 times the therapeutic level indicates a serious problem. I am sorry Mr. Woodwards friends were unaware of their friend's drug problem and have never, to my knowledge, acknowledged it to this date.

I am sorry Mr. Woodward did not feel he could go to his friends in his wired, agitated state, and instead chose a strange church in a strange town in front of a group of strangers. But, what I am most sorry about is this: From all accounts, other than that day two years ago, Mr. Woodward was a wonderful, kind, gentle, and caring person who loved life and living. He loved children and was a dedicated environmentalist.

Yet, because of the events of that day and subsequent days, his name will always be associated with anger, bitterness, and rancor, and I am sorry for this. I am sorry that Mr. Woodwards friends have chosen to direct their energies in a negative direction. I am sorry no one seems to have opted to direct his or her energy in a positive manner. I am sorry his friends have not come forward to establish something like a scholarship fund to send deserving children to an environmental camp.

Finally, I am sorry no matter what all the past and future findings conclude, Mr. Woodwards friends and our local conclusion jumpers will never be satisfied, and what apparently was a beautiful human being will forever be remembered for how he died rather than how he lived. We should all be sorry for that. Bob Fagelson Brattleboro Editor's note: Bob Fagelson was chairman of the Brattleboro Selectboard at the time of the Woodward shooting. Learn the facts Editor of the Reformer: Mr.

Cook's finger-pointing letter to the editor (Letter Box, Dec. 8) calling members of the community based group Justice for Woody paranoid and delusional com pletely misses the mark. Mr. Cook should follow the case more closely, as he seems to be confused in virtually all of his "facts. His first misstatement is to accuse JFW of wanting ven-gance." If Mr.

Cook had been paying attention, he would realize that this couldnt be further from the truth. JFW has always asked for an independent investigation, improvements to police training and modem choices of methods available to police. Later, Mr. Cook agrees that he, too, would like to see these things happen. Mr.

Cook goes on to diagnose Woody as psychotic, which is nothing less than slanderous, given that Woody had no history of mental illness and was never diagnosed with any mental illness, except by Attorney General William Sorrell. However, the most blatant statements of ignorance have to do with Mr. Cooks assessment of the value of eyewitness statements. All of the forensic evidence was immediately destroyed by police except for the knife that Woody was holding to himself. Clearly, Mr.

Cook has no idea that eyewitness statements, those of the police officers involved and verbal statements given to them months after the shooting, and recalled from memory by the interviewers, were the only evidence on which Mr. Sorrell based his shoddy report. All of the written eyewitness statements taken the day after the shooting confirm that Woody threatened no one but himself. These were dismissed by Mr. Sorrell.

I agree with Mr. Cook that physical evidence would be helpful in this case, but unfortunately we are left with two types of evidence: written eyewitness statements given the day after the shooting, and police officers memories of verbal statements given four months later. Which does Mr. Cook think is more accurate? Ellen Berrios Brookline, Mass. Colonel does disservice to vets Editor of the Reformer: The University of Mississippi, in Oxford, (affectionately called Ole Miss) is noted for two things: football and violent opposition to integration.

In September 1962, a black man, James Meredith, was admitted to the school. U.S. marshals accompanied Mr. Meredith to the campus where violent segregationist riots arose, resulting in two deaths and dozens of injuries. President Kennedy was forced to send troops to quell these riots.

It is interesting to note that the football team is called the Rebels and their mascot is known as Colonel Reb." He doesnt just resemble the Brattleboro Colonel, he is the Brattleboro Colonel: white hair, white beard, cane and posture. The artist who created the Brattleboro Colonel didnt rely upon imagination at all. It was a simple case of plagiarism. Vermonters, and indeed, Missis-sippians of all hues are embarrassed by this symbol of the Old South. This AP article entitled Ole Miss mascot Colonel Rebel out of job, was posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2003: OXFORD, Miss.

Mississippi JACKSONVILLE When police opened fire on Robert Woodward in a West Brattleboro church two years ago, they didnt just kill a man. They also blew away our innocence about the men and women we trust to police our community. I dont think anyone in this community looks at police officers the same way today as they did three years ago. Its sad, but many good, law-abiding people now feel a twinge of uneasiness whenever they see a Brattleboro police officer. Yes, weve read the attorney generals report on the Woodward shooting.

Yes, weve heard the words needless tragedy a thousand times. But all the words in the world dont take away those feelings of distrust, because no matter how you spin this horrible business, the fact remains that a better-trained police force would not have killed Mr. Woodward. A better-trained police force would have had practical, effective alternatives for subduing him and taking him into custody. Why cant we admit this? Why is it considered an attack on the police force to say that they lacked the training and judgment to perform effectively on that terrible day? "You weren't there, some people say.

You dont know the pressure the police were under. TYue enough. But half the witnesses who were in the church that day also thought the police handled the situation badly. These eyewitnesses say they were far more shocked and traumatized by the killing of Woodward than by his shouts, tears and ravings. Then there's the undisputed fact that Woodward was killed just minutes after the police arrived.

Clearly, very little time was spent on alternatives to shooting. And just as clearly, no one there attempted to or knew how to safely disarm a man with a knife. Look, Im not saying the police should have baked a cake for Woodward and given him the key to the city. Nor could they have known that he was in fact a gentle, kind man who was in the grip of a bizarre psychotic episode. The police officers called to the church that day went there with courage and good intentions.

But courage and good intentions are not enough. A good police force also needs officers with good judgment and training. In other communities across the United States, the Woodward incident would have been handled differently. I have spoken to other cops over the past two years and, while they did not want to second-guess a fellow officer, they all felt that the Br- m-boro officers went overboard. If the guy hu Ll Oon, it would have been hard to disarm him without shooting, one cop told me.

But a guy with a knife is usually easier, especially if you have backup. We do it all the time," he told me. And that made me think of another incident. Courage intentions enough. Patience Merriman Their argument was reaching a pitch when I came upon them.

I froze to the pavement. Horrified, I realized that I was about to witness a murder. Unless someone did something. I glanced around at the small crowd forming around the scene. Everyone was like me: transfixed and scared, unable to move.

A man yelled for someone to call the cops, but it was clear that they might arrive too late. By now, the man had the woman by her long hair and was pulling her to him as she shrieked. I wanted to run away, but suddenly I heard a voice in my head. It told me to go and take away the knife. I couldnt believe it.

NO! I told the voice. I cant. I wont. But it was no use. The command was too strong.

And so I began to walk up to the man with the knife. I was never more unhappy in my life. Stop it, I said miserably. The man gave me a stunned look. I had interrupted his train of thought.

And in that moment, three men from the crowd rushed in, grabbed the mans arms and took away the knife. Over the years I have often thought about this incident, and about what a difference ordinary people can make if they can just get past their fears. But after Robert Woodward was killed, the incident in Philadelphia took on a more pragmatic cast. I realized that a small group of focused people can also be very effective in defusing a situation where violence seems imminent. And then I wondered why, if four ordinary people on their lunch hour could tackle a man with a knife and disarm him, why couldn't the Brattleboro police subdue Robert Woodward without killing him? The answer should be obvious.

The Brattleboro police killed Robert Woodward because they saw no alternative. Nothing in their training prepared them for the unique situation that day in All Souls Church. And so they went to the default response of nervous cops everywhere: Shoot to kill. It's been twoe years since the Woodward shooting. In my view, justice was not served by the states investigation of this tragedy.

Even so, I suspect there are a lot of good cops on the Brattleboro police force who privately wish things had been handled differently that day. Would that we had given them the skills and the tools to have done so. Patience Merriman is a resident of Jacksonville. and good are not.