Another Gun at Church

Brothers stop gun-wielding cousin from entering church

Posted: Feb. 24, 2010

Two brothers are being hailed as heroes in Louisburg after they stopped a man with a gun from entering a church last weekend.

James White had been asked to leave St. Delight United Church of Christ, on U.S. Highway 401 south of Louisburg, on Saturday morning after acting inappropriately, according to his cousin, Michael White.

A short time later, when as many as 30 people were inside the church feeding needy residents, James White returned with a rifle.

"He made a statement, 'Stop me from coming in my church now. Stop me from coming in now,'" said Michael White, who was outside the church at the time.

"Upon doing so, he started to raise the rifle," he said. "I didn't think. (There was) not much time to think. I knew that, once he got the gun into a full crest, he would be in total control."

Michael White's brother, Steven White, saw him grab the barrel of the rifle and begin struggling with their cousin. He then joined the fray.

"I didn't think about fear or anything else. All I thought about is what might have had happened if we didn't get that gun up out of his hand," Steven White said.

The brothers wrestled James White to the ground and pulled the rifle from his hands. One shot was fired in the struggle, but no one was hit.

Franklin County Sheriff Pat Green said James White had enough ammunition to shoot a dozen people.

Church members said the brothers' quick action was nothing short of heroic.

James White, 52, of 190 George Leonard Road in Louisburg, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He was being held Wednesday at Central Prison under a $75,000 bond.

Green said James White has a mental illness and was combative when he was taken to jail.

"I don't know what his intentions were – how far he would have gone. I just don't know. I can't get into his head," said Michael White, who added that he hopes his cousin will get the help he needs.

Copyright 2010 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Church Official Charged with Sexual Misconduct

Pamplico church official faces criminal sexual conduct charges
By Jamie Rogers | Morning News Reporter
Published: February 17, 2010

PAMPLICO—A Pamplico man was arrested in Clarendon County after deputies believe he sexually assaulted two children at the Turbeville church where he was employed, Clarendon County Sheriff’s Detective Rick Elms said.

Arley Atchley,53, of 4181 Sheminally Road is charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, Elms said.

Clarendon deputies were investigating another unrelated sexual assault case at the Free Will Baptist Home for Children in Turbeville when two boys who lived at the complex told a minister that the suspect had sexually assaulted them.

The alleged assaults happened sometime during the suspect’s tenure at the home which was from 2004 to 2009 when he was laid off, Elms said.

Deputies said after leaving the children’s home he was employed at a Pamplico church but it is unclear if he is still working there.

Atchley was arrested Thursday and was released from the Clarendon County Detention Center. Bond and date of release information wasn’t available from the center.

Elms said the unrelated sexual assault case at Free Will Baptist Home for Children is an ongoing investigation. He declined to comment further on the case.

Two Teens Charged With attempting to burn Anderson SC Church

ANDERSON, S.C. (AP) -- Two South Carolina teens have been accused of trying to burn a church and school.

Multiple media outlets reported that the boys, ages 13 and 14, were arrested early Tuesday in Anderson County. Their names were not released because of their ages.

Anderson County sheriff's Sgt. Andy Tribble says each boy is charged with second-degree arson and three counts of second-degree burglary.

A deputy's report says firefighters and deputies found a piece of paper burning in the middle of about two gallons of diesel fuel in an unlocked storage room at Homeland Park Elementary School.

Tribble says the boys were found about a mile away at Homeland Park Baptist Church, where they had broken in and tried to start another fire.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Three men Shoot Up Church Service

RICHMOND, CA (KGO) -- In a brazen attack in the East Bay Sunday, three men stormed a church in Richmond, opening fire during a service at the New Gethsemane Church. Two teenagers were hit by the bullets and the gunmen got away.

New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ is a very spiritual church. About 175 church members were engaged in open prayer and gospel music was blaring when the shooting happened.

Several people in the church were keenly aware of three young male suspects, possibly teenagers, who walked into the sanctuary around noon. Witnesses say they were wearing black hoodies over their heads which raised a red flag.

Still, nobody thought they would pull out guns and start shooting.

Richmond police say they wounded two male victims. A 14-year-old and a 19-year-old suffered non-live threatening injuries to the ankle and shoulder.

"I even got my praise off. I instantly got paranoid," said church member Dianne Brown. "I turned around the whole time. Then, the other guys came off the choir stands, you know, the men that felt it too."

"In spite of the shooting that took place, Pastor Leviaz said he wasn't going to let anything stop God's program," said Rev. Andre Shumake, president of the Richmond Improvement Association. "So in spite of the shooting, I want the world to know that here at New Gethsemane, Gods' program continues. He held service, they sung they prayed and they worshiped God as though nothing had happened."

The church and surrounding neighborhood was locked down for at least one hour until police could secure the area. Richmond crime scene investigators believe the suspects fired about five shots inside the church.

The three shooting suspects are still at large.

Church Youth Leader Admits Sexual Battery of 14 Year old

Lakeport church youth leader admits sexual battery

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Monday, February 1, 2010 at 10:21 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, February 1, 2010 at 11:59 a.m.

A Lake County church youth counselor has pleaded guilty to sexual battery on a 14-year-old girl.

Christopher Andrew Puryear, 23, of Kelseyville, faces a sentence that ranges from probation to five years in prison, said Lake County Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg.

Puryear was arrested in December after church leaders from Gateway Ministries church outside Lakeport reported he was having inappropriate contacts with at least one teen in a youth group. He was spending a great of time with girls in the group and sending them text messages, they reported.

During the investigation, deputies learned of the Nov. 25 sexual assault at a church function. Puryear asked the girl to go outside to talk, then assaulted her, stopping only after someone else came outside, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

In exchange for his guilty plea, charges of forced oral copulation and dissuading a witness were dropped in connection with Puryear's assault on the girl and a charge of domestic assault on his wife was dropped, Borg said.

The domestic assault on Puryear's wife occurred after the assault on the girl, Borg said. Puryear also had a prior conviction for domestic assault, he said.

As part of the agreement, reached Friday, Puryear also admitted to serving a prior prison sentence for carrying a concealed or concealable weapon, an admission that could add a year to his sentence, Borg said.

Had he not made the plea agreement, Puryear could have faced a sentence of more than nine years in prison, said his attorney, Stephen Carter.

Puryear is scheduled to be sentenced March 5.

Judge Of The Bomber

Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?

Did you know his trial is over?
Did you know he was sentenced?
Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio? Didn't think so. Very few people do know!!!

Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.

Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.

Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say. His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his 'allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah,' defiantly stating, 'I think I will not apologize for my actions,' and told the court 'I am at war with your country.'

Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:

January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.

Judge Young: 'Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That's 80 years.)

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that's an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.

The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment. The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further..

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier, you are not ----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: 'You're no big deal.'

You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led
you here to this courtroom today?

I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom, so that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.

We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to Preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.

Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America , the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to
mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag Stands for freedom. And it always will.

Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.

So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV sets? We need more judges like Judge Young. Pass this around.. Everyone should and needs to hear what this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike home.

By Pastor Perry Noble

How To Get Buy In From Your Staff – Part One of Two January 27, 2010

If the staff doesn’t trust the leader…then the leader will eventually have no one to lead!

Leaders CANNOT underestimate how necessary staff buy in is. AND…the funny thing about staff buy in is that it does not truly come about through intimidation, manipulation OR even the promise of more money. Here are five steps that I believe will really help a staff member buy into a leader.

#1 – Clarify The Win

Scripture says in I Corinthians 14:8 that if the trumpet does not sound a clear call then the people will not be ready for battle…and I know from personal experience that at times when certain staff members had a problem with me that it wasn’t because they didn’t believe in the direction we were going…but rather because they simply did not understand what in the heck I was saying…AND/OR what their particular part was.

One of the things I have finally came to realize is that staff members cannot be held accountable for unspoken/unrealistic expectations. All too often leaders will get angry at their staff because they were not able to read the leaders mind…which is insane. If a leader REALLY is a leader then he/she will take an extra five or ten minutes, answer questions and do whatever it takes to fully explain themselves so that everyone is on the same page.

#2 – Keep It Simple

One of the dumbest things I’ve done as a leader over the past 10 years is allow my drive and passion to overshadow the reality of the world that we live in. Let me explain…

I would be in a leadership meeting with a group of people and would be casting vision as to what I really felt the Lord had placed on my heart…and the excitement in the room would hit an all time high! People would be sharing ideas, embracing responsibility, establishing deadlines and getting pumped up about the role they would play in this particular project. The meeting would end and we would all go on our way…

THEN…the next week I would walk into the room and not even bring up the idea that we had been so excited about the previous week…instead I would share a new insight/project I felt like we should take on…and would get frustrated because the energy level of the previous week wasn’t there. In fact, no one would seem excited about it. Ideas as to how it could happen were not shared…to be honest…as soon as I would begin to do this it would not energize the room but rather suck the energy right out of the place.

For a while I thought MAYBE it was a spiritual immaturity issue on THEIR part; after all, if they loved Jesus as much as I did then they would be excited, right? WRONG!

It was an issue of spiritual maturity…but on my part and not theirs!

If a leader wants to obtain buy in from his/her staff they have to understand the following things from the above scenerio…

A. The initial idea the first week brought clarity…the secondary the next week brought confusion because everyone in the room was thinking, “What should we be focused on? The idea that came up last week…or the one he seems to be excited about this week?”

B. The initial idea was being worked on/developed…and so in my mind it was complete and I was ready to move on, not understanding that the people I lead with had just really gotten started working on the initial idea…and so a new idea didn’t bring excitement but rather a feeling of being overwhelmed because their initial thoughts were, “I want to do this AND also what we talked about last week…but how do I do both of them well without working 80 hour a week? What am I supposed to focus on, the thing we are talking about today or the thing we talked about last week?”

C. Staff members are real people who have real lives and they want their time to be valued by their leader. This does not mean that there aren’t times that “the extra mile” attitude doesn’t kick in…BUT…for a leader to think that the only thing a staff member is on this planet for is to serve his agenda/needs is arrogant and will eventually lead to everyone “abandoning ship” around him. It’s not that staff do not get fired up by great ideas/vision…they usually LOVE it; however, when “the vision” means they have to give up being a great spouse and become a stranger to their kids then it is time to do some serious evaluation as to whether “the vision” is actually vision or an ego trip!

D. When a project is assigned the people working on the project should have THE MOST input into when the deadline is going to be; after all, they are the ones who will be doing the work.