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Title: Ala. Sheriff Asked for MPs, Questions Army Investigation into Civilian Troop Use
Source:
http://www.cnsnews.com
URL Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=45314
Published: Mar 20, 2009
Author: Pete Winn
Post Date: 2009-03-20 12:00:20 by freepatriot32
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Keywords: Sheriff, Questions Army, investigation, Civilian Troop Use
Views: 62
Comments: 1
“I got a message from my 911 dispatcher that said we had a call from a lieutenant colonel at Ft. Rucker just to let us know that Ft. Rucker was there if we needed generators, lights, equipment and stuff like that. I told the dispatcher that I would get back with them,” Ward told CNSNews.com in a telephone interview. “You’ve got to understand, there was so much going on at one time – we had so many crime scenes over a 20-some odd mile stretch. It was determined that we might be going way into the night on some of these crimes scenes – and when I say crime scenes, I mean people still laying on porches, or the side of the road or whatever, dead.” Former Samson, Ala., resident Michael McLendon shot and killed nine people in Samson and a 10th victim in a nearby community before killing himself on March 10. “I called my dispatcher if she could contact the lieutenant colonel and ask him, ‘Could we get assistance from them, with up to 25 military police to simply come in and be able to relieve our officers on barricades where traffic was being deterred, to allow our officers to get something to eat and take a break?’ As CNSNews.com reported Wednesday, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command has launched an inquiry into how and why the active duty troops from Fort Rucker were placed on the streets of tiny Samson – and whether any federal laws were violated in their activation. Ward said he didn’t ask the troops to do “police work.” “There was one group that did stand at one of the biggest crime scenes, with the biggest number of bodies, that was pretty much our eyes and ears, because traffic needed to keep flowing – and also we had a lot of trouble with the news media, unfortunately,” he said. “We were very appreciative for their help,” Ward said, “They were probably here for about three hours. They helped clean up afterwards – barricades, tape, stuff like that.” Ward thinks the Army investigation is unnecessary, but he’s prepared to cooperate with the Army. “I’m here to answer any of their questions,” Ward said. “I reckon that the military needs to do what it needs to do to get all its facts in order.” But Ward dismissed the idea that the presence of the troops may have violated federal law – and will tell the Army, if asked. “I’m assuming that the problem would be that their thinking is that the military came in and actually did police work – investigating, or whatever – and that’s bull,” Ward said. “I will tell them, this is what happened – ‘Sheriff Ward requested assistance to relieve his officers.’ We’re talking about a rural county – a sheriff’s department that has 13 officers, including myself. The city of Samson has four officers. We needed relief.” The federal Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbids the civilian use of the military as a police force within U.S. borders, except by request of the president or the governor of a state. 
Greg Ward, Geneva County Sheriff, speaks at a news conference on March 11, 2009, about shooting spree by a gunman who killed 10 people in the worst mass shooting in Alabama history in Samson, Ala. (AP photo) Geneva County (Ala.) Sheriff Greg Ward tells CNSNews.com that he was the one who called in U.S. Army troops from Fort Rucker, Ala., on the night of March 10 – during one of the bloodiest murder sprees in Alabama history.
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#1. To: All, *Jack-Booted Thugs* (#0)
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but the sheiks would shriek and the barons would bellow if hemp was made legal...and people became mellow
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