Wilmjax News

CONCORD, N.C. — Police in Concord, North Carolina, arrested two people in connection with fires investigators say were intentionally set at three different churches Saturday morning.

Lamottrice Fennell faces three counts of burning a church building. Shirmonte Miller is charged with one count of aiding in the burning of a church building.

“We thought somebody just threw a bomb in there,” is how Jannie Brown described the damage at Grace Land church on Old Charlotte Road.

First Christian Church on Rone Avenue and First Church of God on Corban Avenue were also set on fire. In all, damges are set at $12,600. No one was injured.

Article here.

Do you know anything about the Jena Six?

Do not feel bad if the answer is “no.” Mainstream news media has carried scant coverage of an event that has captivated and mobilized a large segment of the black community.

In cities across the country, organizers have arranged bus trips to Jena, La., population 3,000. They had intended to protest at a sentencing hearing for one of six black teenagers charged in Jena for beating up a white schoolmate.

The hearing is off. On Friday, a state appeals court overturned the conviction of Mychal Bell, who had been tried as an adult and had faced up to 15 years in prison for aggravated battery.

At press time, the status of the bus rides was unclear. But the other boys in the case are still awaiting trials on battery.

Students at North Carolina Central University have organized a bus trip scheduled to leave Wednesday from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Durham. News of the ride hit my e-mail inbox Friday.

Most of my news about Jena has come through e-mail from friends with links to press releases and news stories. Black radio talk show hosts have kept the story in heavy rotation. T-shirts are being sold with the slogan, “Free the Jena Six!”

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GASTONIA –Jamond Rashad Burney told his mom he wanted to be a Crip. He’d been wearing the gang’s navy blue color, hanging out with older guys and getting himself into trouble.

Now 18-year-old Burney and two 15-year-olds are charged with murder in the June 26 stabbing death of a homeless man. Gastonia police say they’ve determined why Royce Dean Mathis was targeted but wouldn’t reveal the motive.

The latest arrest came Saturday, when police charged a second 15-year-old.

Twice now in the past two months, teenagers have been charged in the slaying of a homeless person in the Charlotte region. Advocates for the homeless say assaults on the group have risen at an alarming rate in recent years and young people are responsible for a large portion of the attacks.

Sgt. Dean Conner, who is overseeing the Gastonia investigation, won’t say what led police to the teenagers, but late last week said they were trying to figure out whether the slaying was gang-related.

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