STAR/TRIBUNE
A motorist whose car rear-ended another vehicle as she reached for her cell phone, setting off a chain-reaction crash that killed a 14-month-old boy, was given a maximum four-year sentence Tuesday by an Anoka County judge.
Jessica Howe sobbed uncontrollably when Judge Alan Pendleton handed down the sentence. Pendleton said that he found the sentencing very difficult but that when he weighed the options of either a shorter or a probationary sentence, he couldn't find a reason to validate something other than the maximum.
Before the sentencing, the parents of Grayson Jett gave emotional statements to the judge. Both parents said that at various times since the March 2010 accident in Columbia Heights they didn't feel they could go on with their lives.
Howe apologized several times to the family and said she thinks about Grayson's death every day.
The accident occurred at 11 a.m. on March 18, 2010, on southbound Central Avenue at 50th Avenue NE., inflicting head injuries to Grayson Jett The child was properly strapped into a car seat.
Howe's parents and other friends and relatives were also in the courtroom Tuesday and they expressed shock over the sentence.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Want to drive? Stay in school
STAR/TRIBUNE
A bipartisan bill moving through the Legislature would deliver what backers say is tough love to keep kids in school by barring young high school dropouts from getting driver's licenses.
"Driving is not a right, it's a privilege, and it's perfectly within bounds for the state government to expect a quid pro quo when it comes to extending privileges," said bill sponsor Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul. Although the state only requires students to stay in school until they are 16, it can look for leverage to keep them in school longer, he said.
If the measure were to become law, Minnesota would join at least 20 other states, including Wisconsin and Illinois, that tie driving privileges to school attendance.
It could mean thousands fewer teens getting licensed. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, more than 4,000 Minnesota high school students dropped out in 2009, a dropout rate of 5.6 percent, based on the state's four-year graduation rates.
Recent high school graduate Alex Greenhalgh said the proposed law could be effective. Getting licensed is "a big deal," said the Minneapolis teen preparing to get his license. He said he didn't like the proposal.
"If students drop out, they should still have the opportunity to drive," Greenhalgh said.
Vanessa Fedde said she needed her driver's license.
Fedde, now 25, dropped out of high school at 17 to care for her ailing mother. She said her mother had severe post-traumatic stress disorder and needed her daughter to work, shop and drive her around.
Fedde said the law could work for some but that it should have a "fail-safe" for kids who have family responsibilities.
"There's just so many gray areas," Fedde said.
Had the law been in effect when she was a young dropout, she said she would have probably just driven anyway.
"I needed it. I had to have it," she said of her license.
Bill cosponsor Gen Olson, R-Minnetrista, the chair of the Senate Education Committee, said she typically opposes compulsory attendance laws.
"If they don't want to be [in school], they're going to be more disruptive," Olson said. But the driver's license linkage could provide would-be dropouts another reason to stay in school.
Despite its bipartisan support, it's unclear what chance the proposal has of becoming law this year, with legislators more focused on the state's $5 billion budget deficit than school attendance issues.
Former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty supported similar initiatives in 2003 and 2004. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton has not reviewed the proposal, his office said, and had no advance opinion on it.
Support for the measure may end up splitting along geographic lines.
"In greater Minnesota, if you're not driving, you're not getting around," Mariani said. "For the sake of their local economies, they might argue that this is a little bit too coercive."
No hearing has yet been scheduled for the bill.
A bipartisan bill moving through the Legislature would deliver what backers say is tough love to keep kids in school by barring young high school dropouts from getting driver's licenses.
"Driving is not a right, it's a privilege, and it's perfectly within bounds for the state government to expect a quid pro quo when it comes to extending privileges," said bill sponsor Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul. Although the state only requires students to stay in school until they are 16, it can look for leverage to keep them in school longer, he said.
If the measure were to become law, Minnesota would join at least 20 other states, including Wisconsin and Illinois, that tie driving privileges to school attendance.
It could mean thousands fewer teens getting licensed. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, more than 4,000 Minnesota high school students dropped out in 2009, a dropout rate of 5.6 percent, based on the state's four-year graduation rates.
Recent high school graduate Alex Greenhalgh said the proposed law could be effective. Getting licensed is "a big deal," said the Minneapolis teen preparing to get his license. He said he didn't like the proposal.
"If students drop out, they should still have the opportunity to drive," Greenhalgh said.
Vanessa Fedde said she needed her driver's license.
Fedde, now 25, dropped out of high school at 17 to care for her ailing mother. She said her mother had severe post-traumatic stress disorder and needed her daughter to work, shop and drive her around.
Fedde said the law could work for some but that it should have a "fail-safe" for kids who have family responsibilities.
"There's just so many gray areas," Fedde said.
Had the law been in effect when she was a young dropout, she said she would have probably just driven anyway.
"I needed it. I had to have it," she said of her license.
Bill cosponsor Gen Olson, R-Minnetrista, the chair of the Senate Education Committee, said she typically opposes compulsory attendance laws.
"If they don't want to be [in school], they're going to be more disruptive," Olson said. But the driver's license linkage could provide would-be dropouts another reason to stay in school.
Despite its bipartisan support, it's unclear what chance the proposal has of becoming law this year, with legislators more focused on the state's $5 billion budget deficit than school attendance issues.
Former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty supported similar initiatives in 2003 and 2004. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton has not reviewed the proposal, his office said, and had no advance opinion on it.
Support for the measure may end up splitting along geographic lines.
"In greater Minnesota, if you're not driving, you're not getting around," Mariani said. "For the sake of their local economies, they might argue that this is a little bit too coercive."
No hearing has yet been scheduled for the bill.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Soaring gas prices cause changes in habits
STAR/TRIBUNE
Ann Freeman was filling up her Pontiac Vibe, watching the numbers on the pump spin so fast they blurred, when she noticed something she'd never seen before.
"I had never broken 40 bucks on gas before," she said, muttering to herself: "This is ridiculous."
She went home, got out her bicycle and took it in for a tuneup.
"My knees aren't what they used to be," Freeman, 54, said Monday afternoon. "But thanks to higher gas prices, I am motivated to drive less, ride more, save money and consume less."
As the average price of regular gasoline hit $3.88 a gallon Monday in the Twin Cities -- and threatened to enter the $4 orbit last reached in June 2008 -- Freeman wasn't the only one changing habits.
Buses are packed. Bike lanes are jammed. People are juggling child visitation dropoffs and making errand loops instead of separate trips to the vet, the cafe and the grocery store.
"The empirical evidence shows that escalating gas prices prompt people to cut back on driving and travel, work more from home and combine trips," said Prof. Akshay Rao, a marketing expert at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "We are seeing a lot more sensitivity to energy consumption."
For five straight weeks, Americans have bought less gas than in comparable periods last year, according to MasterCard Spending Pulse, which monitors gas sold at 140,000 stations nationwide. The first week of April saw drivers pumping 2.4 million fewer gallons than they did last April -- a 3.6 percent drop despite an economic warmup that has created roughly 1 million jobs in the past year.
"More people are going to work and they should be buying more gas," said John Gamel, MasterCard's gas research director. But more than two-thirds of major gas station chains reported lower sales in a March survey. In the Twin Cities, where the price of gas soared 30 cents this month, that drop is showing up in places large and small.
"The buses are really packed," said Laura Kittelson, who commutes from Chanhassen to her downtown Minneapolis accounting job. "I used to be able to park on the second floor of my park-and-ride ramp. Now they need overflow lots."
Steve Basile and his wife, Naomi Sack, used to make a few errand runs a week from their south Minneapolis home. Both own economy cars, but now Basile says they do "giant errand loops together on the weekend." Recently, that meant combining the dropoff of their dog at the vet for an annual checkup, a grocery run, visits to a book and thrift store, and lunch at a cafe -- all on the same outing. "We sit there and plan it," Basile said. "It cuts our errand driving in half."
For Freeman, that recent $42 fill-up proved to be the boiling point. She used to commute by bike from the Seward neighborhood to her job at the University of Minnesota. She'd use her bike to visit friends, buy groceries and pick up prescriptions. But then she raised two kids, dropping them off at different day-care centers.
Now a grandmother of two with somewhat creaky knees, Freeman says gas prices have motivated her to saddle up again. "That $40 tank," she said, "renewed my commitment to return to those good habits."
Ann Freeman was filling up her Pontiac Vibe, watching the numbers on the pump spin so fast they blurred, when she noticed something she'd never seen before.
"I had never broken 40 bucks on gas before," she said, muttering to herself: "This is ridiculous."
She went home, got out her bicycle and took it in for a tuneup.
"My knees aren't what they used to be," Freeman, 54, said Monday afternoon. "But thanks to higher gas prices, I am motivated to drive less, ride more, save money and consume less."
As the average price of regular gasoline hit $3.88 a gallon Monday in the Twin Cities -- and threatened to enter the $4 orbit last reached in June 2008 -- Freeman wasn't the only one changing habits.
Buses are packed. Bike lanes are jammed. People are juggling child visitation dropoffs and making errand loops instead of separate trips to the vet, the cafe and the grocery store.
"The empirical evidence shows that escalating gas prices prompt people to cut back on driving and travel, work more from home and combine trips," said Prof. Akshay Rao, a marketing expert at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "We are seeing a lot more sensitivity to energy consumption."
For five straight weeks, Americans have bought less gas than in comparable periods last year, according to MasterCard Spending Pulse, which monitors gas sold at 140,000 stations nationwide. The first week of April saw drivers pumping 2.4 million fewer gallons than they did last April -- a 3.6 percent drop despite an economic warmup that has created roughly 1 million jobs in the past year.
"More people are going to work and they should be buying more gas," said John Gamel, MasterCard's gas research director. But more than two-thirds of major gas station chains reported lower sales in a March survey. In the Twin Cities, where the price of gas soared 30 cents this month, that drop is showing up in places large and small.
"The buses are really packed," said Laura Kittelson, who commutes from Chanhassen to her downtown Minneapolis accounting job. "I used to be able to park on the second floor of my park-and-ride ramp. Now they need overflow lots."
Steve Basile and his wife, Naomi Sack, used to make a few errand runs a week from their south Minneapolis home. Both own economy cars, but now Basile says they do "giant errand loops together on the weekend." Recently, that meant combining the dropoff of their dog at the vet for an annual checkup, a grocery run, visits to a book and thrift store, and lunch at a cafe -- all on the same outing. "We sit there and plan it," Basile said. "It cuts our errand driving in half."
For Freeman, that recent $42 fill-up proved to be the boiling point. She used to commute by bike from the Seward neighborhood to her job at the University of Minnesota. She'd use her bike to visit friends, buy groceries and pick up prescriptions. But then she raised two kids, dropping them off at different day-care centers.
Now a grandmother of two with somewhat creaky knees, Freeman says gas prices have motivated her to saddle up again. "That $40 tank," she said, "renewed my commitment to return to those good habits."
Monday, April 11, 2011
Build a new stadium for the Vikings: Time is running out
Adam Platt STAR/TRIBUNE
It seems preposterous to advocate for hundreds of millions of dollars in state, county and municipal spending to build a football palace while the Republican majority in the Minnesota Legislature looks to balance the state's budget via $5 billion dollars in cuts to state programs and services.
Yet this is where we are today, we stadium advocates, insisting the time is now, with just a few months left on the Vikings lease and the Metrodome in a state of collapse.
Trust me, I am are aware of the pitiful context. Yet remember where we came from. We were told by opponents that spending on stadia would impair the state's ability to fund more important public services.
The Legislature punted year after year on a Vikings stadium, yet even so our roads are ever worse, our municipalities have even less money and our public schools have not been fixed. There has been no connection.
But to finally fund this effort while trying to impose draconian budget cuts? That's chutzpah, no? Well, yes, it is. But two wrongs don't make a right and the state should move forward with a Vikings stadium funding bill.
The state has played politics with this issue for too long. Even now the Legislature pretends to not be dealing with it until it "resolves" the budget via a set of bills sure to be vetoed. The ruse is to not inflame voter sentiment by appearing to prioritize the stadium ahead of the budget. Perhaps they can't walk and chew gum at the same time, either. Or maybe we're that gullible.
Don't be played for a sucker by accepting the idea that the choice is between a repaired Metrodome or a billion-dollar football palace. The choice is whether we want the Vikings long term, because the NFL has shown it will abandon communities over far less. Cleveland and Baltimore lost NFL teams and had to build new arenas and pay millions in franchise fees to finagle new teams (see: Minnesota Wild).
Why should we care? The Vikings are our most popular sports franchise, and their fate grips a majority of us every autumn. Why else are the malls empty at Sunday noon during the Christmas rush?
I'm not going to claim the Vikes matter more than roads, schools and caring for our seniors -- but they are part of the fabric of a healthy community. Repeated brinksmanship with sports franchises is a symptom of a government that can't work up the pride and fortitude to invest in things people care about. And typically the signs of that malaise are everywhere, not just in professional sports.
Target Field has given downtown Minneapolis a type of vibrancy that no Downtown Council initiative, hot restaurant or contrived festival could hope to produce. We are proud of the Twins, proud of their decidedly nonutilitarian ballpark, and we are proud to have people downtown any given evening.
It seems preposterous to advocate for hundreds of millions of dollars in state, county and municipal spending to build a football palace while the Republican majority in the Minnesota Legislature looks to balance the state's budget via $5 billion dollars in cuts to state programs and services.
Yet this is where we are today, we stadium advocates, insisting the time is now, with just a few months left on the Vikings lease and the Metrodome in a state of collapse.
Trust me, I am are aware of the pitiful context. Yet remember where we came from. We were told by opponents that spending on stadia would impair the state's ability to fund more important public services.
The Legislature punted year after year on a Vikings stadium, yet even so our roads are ever worse, our municipalities have even less money and our public schools have not been fixed. There has been no connection.
But to finally fund this effort while trying to impose draconian budget cuts? That's chutzpah, no? Well, yes, it is. But two wrongs don't make a right and the state should move forward with a Vikings stadium funding bill.
The state has played politics with this issue for too long. Even now the Legislature pretends to not be dealing with it until it "resolves" the budget via a set of bills sure to be vetoed. The ruse is to not inflame voter sentiment by appearing to prioritize the stadium ahead of the budget. Perhaps they can't walk and chew gum at the same time, either. Or maybe we're that gullible.
Don't be played for a sucker by accepting the idea that the choice is between a repaired Metrodome or a billion-dollar football palace. The choice is whether we want the Vikings long term, because the NFL has shown it will abandon communities over far less. Cleveland and Baltimore lost NFL teams and had to build new arenas and pay millions in franchise fees to finagle new teams (see: Minnesota Wild).
Why should we care? The Vikings are our most popular sports franchise, and their fate grips a majority of us every autumn. Why else are the malls empty at Sunday noon during the Christmas rush?
I'm not going to claim the Vikes matter more than roads, schools and caring for our seniors -- but they are part of the fabric of a healthy community. Repeated brinksmanship with sports franchises is a symptom of a government that can't work up the pride and fortitude to invest in things people care about. And typically the signs of that malaise are everywhere, not just in professional sports.
Target Field has given downtown Minneapolis a type of vibrancy that no Downtown Council initiative, hot restaurant or contrived festival could hope to produce. We are proud of the Twins, proud of their decidedly nonutilitarian ballpark, and we are proud to have people downtown any given evening.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Numbers of Children of Whites Falling Fast
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — America’s population of white children, a majority now, will be in the minority during this decade, sooner than previously expected, according to a new report.
The Census Bureau had originally forecast that 2023 would be the tipping point for the minority population under the age of 18. But rapid growth among Latinos, Asians and people of more than one race has pushed it earlier, to 2019, according to William Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution who wrote the report about the shift, which has far-reaching political and policy implications.
The single largest increase was among Hispanics, whose birthrates are far above those of non-Hispanic whites, largely because the white population is aging and proportionally has fewer women in their child-bearing years. The median age of whites is 41, compared with 27 for Hispanics, the report said.
As a result, America’s future will include a far more diverse young population, and a largely white older generation. The contrast raises important policy questions. Will the older generation pay for educating a younger generation that looks less like itself? And while the young population is a potential engine of growth for the economy, will it be a burden if it does not have access to adequate education?
The population of white children fell by 4.3 million, or about 10 percent, in the last decade, while the population of Hispanic and Asian children grew by 5.5 million, or about 38 percent, according to the report, which was based on 2010 Census numbers.
The number of African-American children also fell, down by 2 percent. Over all, minorities now make up 46.5 percent of the under-18 population.
Whites are now the minority of child populations in 10 states, double the number from the previous decade, according to the report, and in 35 cities, including Atlanta, Phoenix and Orlando, Fla. Vermont had the largest drop in its child population of any state.
The changes also have political implications. Though whites are still 63 percent of the population as a whole, that is down from 75.6 percent in 1990, and minorities, particularly Hispanics, who now outnumber blacks, are becoming an increasingly important part of the electorate.
Mr. Frey estimates that whites will slip into the minority by about 2041. The number of whites grew by just 1.2 percent in the population as a whole in the last decade, a fraction of the 43 percent growth among Latinos.
WASHINGTON — America’s population of white children, a majority now, will be in the minority during this decade, sooner than previously expected, according to a new report.
The Census Bureau had originally forecast that 2023 would be the tipping point for the minority population under the age of 18. But rapid growth among Latinos, Asians and people of more than one race has pushed it earlier, to 2019, according to William Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution who wrote the report about the shift, which has far-reaching political and policy implications.
The single largest increase was among Hispanics, whose birthrates are far above those of non-Hispanic whites, largely because the white population is aging and proportionally has fewer women in their child-bearing years. The median age of whites is 41, compared with 27 for Hispanics, the report said.
As a result, America’s future will include a far more diverse young population, and a largely white older generation. The contrast raises important policy questions. Will the older generation pay for educating a younger generation that looks less like itself? And while the young population is a potential engine of growth for the economy, will it be a burden if it does not have access to adequate education?
The population of white children fell by 4.3 million, or about 10 percent, in the last decade, while the population of Hispanic and Asian children grew by 5.5 million, or about 38 percent, according to the report, which was based on 2010 Census numbers.
The number of African-American children also fell, down by 2 percent. Over all, minorities now make up 46.5 percent of the under-18 population.
Whites are now the minority of child populations in 10 states, double the number from the previous decade, according to the report, and in 35 cities, including Atlanta, Phoenix and Orlando, Fla. Vermont had the largest drop in its child population of any state.
The changes also have political implications. Though whites are still 63 percent of the population as a whole, that is down from 75.6 percent in 1990, and minorities, particularly Hispanics, who now outnumber blacks, are becoming an increasingly important part of the electorate.
Mr. Frey estimates that whites will slip into the minority by about 2041. The number of whites grew by just 1.2 percent in the population as a whole in the last decade, a fraction of the 43 percent growth among Latinos.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Koran-Burning Pastor Unrepentant in Face of Furor
NEW YORK TIMES
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — His church’s membership is down to just a few of the faithful. He is basically broke. Yet Terry Jones, the pastor who organized a mock trial that ended with the burning of a Koran and led to violence in Afghanistan, remained unrepentant on Saturday. He said that he was “saddened” and “moved” by the deaths, but that given the chance he would do it all over again.
“It was intended to stir the pot; if you don’t shake the boat, everyone will stay in their complacency,” Mr. Jones said. “Emotionally, it’s not all that easy. People have tried to make us responsible for the people who are killed. It’s unfair and somewhat damaging.”
Violent protests against the burning continued on Saturday in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where 9 people were killed and 81 injured. The previous day, 12 people were killed when a mob stormed a United Nations building in Mazar-i-Sharif, though on Saturday the top United Nations official in Afghanistan blamed Taliban infiltrators for the killings. He said the victims had been deliberately murdered rather than killed by an out-of-control mob.
“Did our action provoke them?” the pastor asked. “Of course. Is it a provocation that can be justified? Is it a provocation that should lead to death? When lawyers provoke me, when banks provoke me, when reporters provoke me, I can’t kill them. That would not fly.”
Mr. Jones, 59, with his white walrus moustache, craggy face and basso profundo voice, seems like a man from a different time. Sitting at his desk in his mostly unadorned office, he keeps a Bible in a worn brown leather cover by his side and a “Braveheart” poster within sight. Both, he said, provide spiritual sustenance for the mission at hand: Spreading the word that Islam and the Koran are instruments of “violence, death and terrorism.”
For protection, Jones and his followers — the 20 to 30 who are left — openly carry guns (they have licenses, he said) and have become more rigorous about checking their cars and visitors’ bags. Police protection is sometimes required when members travel, he said.
Mr. Jones said the decision to hold the mock trial of the Koran on March 20 was not made lightly. “We were worried,” he said. “We knew it was possible. We knew they might act with violence.”
There were similar predictions last year when Mr. Jones threatened to burn the Islamic holy book on Sept. 11. Throngs of reporters descended on the church, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates personally called and asked Mr. Jones not to do it. President Obama appealed to him over the airwaves.
This time would be different. This time, Mr. Jones said, there would be a trial, a fact that he said added heft to his decision. He teamed up with The Truth TV, a satellite channel out of California that is led by Ahmed Abaza, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity and who, Mr. Jones said, sympathizes with the church’s message.
The pastor said The Truth TV reached out to him last year after he canceled his plan to burn the Koran, and a partnership of sorts has since flourished. Mr. Abaza helped provide him with most of the witnesses and lawyers for the mock trial, Mr. Jones said. The Truth TV streamed the mock trial live in Arabic but chose not to broadcast the actual burning. Video of the trial can be found at the church Web site.
Mr. Jones’s mission is not a popular one in these parts. The Dove World Outreach Center’s membership evaporated after his preaching began to focus on what Mr. Jones said are the dangers of Islam. “We don’t have any members,” he said. “It’s not something your average person wants to do. “People want to hear the good news. But the church has a responsibility to speak about the word of God. But it also has to speak out about what is right — be it abortion or Islam. Churches and pastors are afraid.”
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — His church’s membership is down to just a few of the faithful. He is basically broke. Yet Terry Jones, the pastor who organized a mock trial that ended with the burning of a Koran and led to violence in Afghanistan, remained unrepentant on Saturday. He said that he was “saddened” and “moved” by the deaths, but that given the chance he would do it all over again.
“It was intended to stir the pot; if you don’t shake the boat, everyone will stay in their complacency,” Mr. Jones said. “Emotionally, it’s not all that easy. People have tried to make us responsible for the people who are killed. It’s unfair and somewhat damaging.”
Violent protests against the burning continued on Saturday in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where 9 people were killed and 81 injured. The previous day, 12 people were killed when a mob stormed a United Nations building in Mazar-i-Sharif, though on Saturday the top United Nations official in Afghanistan blamed Taliban infiltrators for the killings. He said the victims had been deliberately murdered rather than killed by an out-of-control mob.
“Did our action provoke them?” the pastor asked. “Of course. Is it a provocation that can be justified? Is it a provocation that should lead to death? When lawyers provoke me, when banks provoke me, when reporters provoke me, I can’t kill them. That would not fly.”
Mr. Jones, 59, with his white walrus moustache, craggy face and basso profundo voice, seems like a man from a different time. Sitting at his desk in his mostly unadorned office, he keeps a Bible in a worn brown leather cover by his side and a “Braveheart” poster within sight. Both, he said, provide spiritual sustenance for the mission at hand: Spreading the word that Islam and the Koran are instruments of “violence, death and terrorism.”
For protection, Jones and his followers — the 20 to 30 who are left — openly carry guns (they have licenses, he said) and have become more rigorous about checking their cars and visitors’ bags. Police protection is sometimes required when members travel, he said.
Mr. Jones said the decision to hold the mock trial of the Koran on March 20 was not made lightly. “We were worried,” he said. “We knew it was possible. We knew they might act with violence.”
There were similar predictions last year when Mr. Jones threatened to burn the Islamic holy book on Sept. 11. Throngs of reporters descended on the church, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates personally called and asked Mr. Jones not to do it. President Obama appealed to him over the airwaves.
This time would be different. This time, Mr. Jones said, there would be a trial, a fact that he said added heft to his decision. He teamed up with The Truth TV, a satellite channel out of California that is led by Ahmed Abaza, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity and who, Mr. Jones said, sympathizes with the church’s message.
The pastor said The Truth TV reached out to him last year after he canceled his plan to burn the Koran, and a partnership of sorts has since flourished. Mr. Abaza helped provide him with most of the witnesses and lawyers for the mock trial, Mr. Jones said. The Truth TV streamed the mock trial live in Arabic but chose not to broadcast the actual burning. Video of the trial can be found at the church Web site.
Mr. Jones’s mission is not a popular one in these parts. The Dove World Outreach Center’s membership evaporated after his preaching began to focus on what Mr. Jones said are the dangers of Islam. “We don’t have any members,” he said. “It’s not something your average person wants to do. “People want to hear the good news. But the church has a responsibility to speak about the word of God. But it also has to speak out about what is right — be it abortion or Islam. Churches and pastors are afraid.”
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