Need help in putting pressure on Onslow County Sheriff who "investigated" the missing marine...

[cynatnite]

This man's behavior is dispicable. When a pregnant marine went missing he went public with the notion that she ran off, lied about being raped and that she shouldn't run from things in life. He gave the impression that she ran because she lied about being raped.

There was no indication that they were searching for the man that is accused of raping her and killing her.

He was even on one of the news networks declaring this and it seems that everyone's forgotten it. I'm still furious about it.

It's my personal belief that sexism played a role in how badly this was handled and Sheriff Ed Brown should be brought to task for his atrocious negligence.

Here is the thread I started on it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2675004&mesg_id=2675004


Here is an article where he was spouting off his sexist crap about this poor woman...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/10/missing.marine/index.html?eref=ib_topstories

Tell me, DU. How can I get the word out about this? What's the best way for folks to take a second look at how lousy of a job he did?

on edit: pasted correct link

[cynatnite]

1. kicking n/t

[lildreamer316]

2. KICK.

[unc70]

3. Your anger might be at wrong group

I am very familiar with that county. You need to realize that her step-mother was supporting such a story, saying that Lauterbach was a liar. But the real issue is that the Marines had shared nothing about any of this with the Sheriff. Nothing.

Since I know this area really well, I have been watching the news conferences closely. My reading is that the rape, the protective order, and all the rest was not shared with Brown until the last couple of days. Several times he has commented that all he knows is what has been reported in the papers.

Camp Lejeune and related bases completely dominate that county. There is no civilian authority on base. Co-operation can be strained.

On base, you have thousands deploying/returning every month -- constant barely-managed chaos.

And everyone stretched past their limits, anxiously watching to see who was killed today.


With all this going on, the military doesn't like to air its dirty laundry. Have you seen a press briefing by them yet?

[cynatnite]

4. No, I haven't seen the press briefing from the military...

I was offended by how Ed Brown was characterizing her in the media. I listened to him say these things about her on the air duing an interview on MSNBC, I believe it was.

Her stepmother called her a compulsive liar and his office released that information. It was his office that released information saying that she ran away. He was on the air perpetuating these falsehoods. He said she needed help and he called for her to come home in case she was listening.

It's in the news article I posted and a quick google will get other articles of him saying the same thing. From everything I've read on it, the sheriff's office still hadn't spoken with the accused rapist before he became a suspect in her death. It's in the article from CNN as well.

I'm furious because it appears to me that she was painted as a woman who lied about being raped and ran away because she got caught. It seems like the sherrif's office took that position rather than treating this case as a missing a Marine.

It's personal to me since I'm a vet and seeing how badly women get treated in the military really gets to me. This whole case smells of sexism to the max.

[unc70]

5. I understand your anger, just not the target.

After seeing several news conferences, I suspect that Brown is really mad at how the Marine command failed to share any(?) information with him until the last few days and not until the national spotlight was on this case. The civilian authorities have no jurisdiction on base and the base command tries to keep a lid on things as much as they can.

Unless I missed it today, I don't think the military has released any information or had any press conferences on this. I could be wrong and will confirm this in a few minutes.

The stepmother was giving interviews to the area TV stations and made a lot of this public. The press then hounded the local authorities.

I agree with you about the treatment of women in the military, can confirm wrt USMC.

Were you Navy or Marines? Familiar with the situation at Lejeune?

PM if you like.

[cynatnite]

6. I didn't see the news conferences...

What I watched was a telephone interview he gave. He also left similar implications when he was interviewed by Matt Laure. They were more about her supposed lying 'running away' than it was about something had happened to her.

I was Army. Spent over a year as the only woman in a unit at my first posting in Germany. That and basic training were the toughest times. It was a few years later that the military finally began taking things like sexual harrassment seriously. I remember how some of the men acted over that. One NCO made snide comments and thinly veiled threats toward one woman in front of a company out on the parade field. It was a little rough and I can only imagine how hard it was in the years prior to this.

[unc70]

7. Army Times article on later afternoon military press conference

It is posted in a new thread. I haven't read the linked article and probably won't until morning. I'm overdue for some sleep.