Sickening...

[SoulBlazerFan]

My brother showed me this article. I thought I'd post it up for everyone to read. Afterwards, I do have a note to make...

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

By MEREDITH MANDELL
HERALD NEWS



PASSAIC -- Police arrested three young men Sunday night who allegedly posted signs with swastikas and neo-Nazi rhetoric on utility poles and on the doors of a synagogue over the weekend.

Scott Nibbling, 20, and Michael Holly, 18, both of Clifton, and Christopher Bogart, 21, of Lincoln Park, were charged with three counts of harassment, two counts of biased intimidation, one count of posting signs of violence and one count of conspiracy. Police do not believe they are affiliated with a specific hate group.


"It's more like they were in the past picked on and now they have a grudge or something against society," said Passaic police Detective Andrew White, the department's spokesman.

Members of Passaic's Orthodox Jewish community said Monday they were surprised and saddened that someone attempted to promote a hateful message on the heels of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in the Jewish calendar.

"You live in America, so on one hand, you kind of expect a certain amount of respect and tolerance from people, and it's disappointing when you see hatred expressed in any form," said Rabbi Yaakov Glass, of Congregation Young Israel of Passaic-Clifton. "It was very disturbing and upsetting, and it makes people insecure."

Although none of the suspects is from Passaic, the incident unearthed long-simmering ethnic and religious resentments in the city. In recent months, several politically charged issues fueled the city's ethnic division. One followed the proposal of Council President Gary Schaer, an Orthodox Jew, to stop street-cleaning in the heavily Jewish Third Ward Park section, a move perceived as giving preferential treatment to Jewish residents.

In addition, some residents have expressed resentment about Jewish residents using Passaic homes as synagogues, thus removing them from the tax rolls. Also, the city council's approval of a resolution to make Passaic a "safe haven" for illegal immigrants provoked fury among some residents.

Many of those sentiments were expressed on the e-mail message group Passaic Today on Monday. The popular message board is run by Jose "Alex" Ybarra, a resident and translator for the Municipal Court.

Ybarra said someone sent a message that initially was posted on Passaic Jews -- another message board -- Monday morning by someone with the screen name "archtek711" about the city's recent decision to approve the safe haven ordinance.

"This is the most disgracing ordinance our leaders ever passed," the post said. "How can Schaer and (Councilman Chaim) Munk allow us to be surrounded by these vile people?"

A flurry of e-mail chatter ensued.

"We should not allow people like this scavenger to talk about taxes, when Jews community (sic) is not paying for nothing, because they have a synagogue in every basement," wrote one commentator, who did not give a name. "Remember they all have a million of kids, all they need is 10 men to read the Torah, and they consider man a kid after 13."

Ybarra said in a telephone interview that the postings and the fliers "are not related, but they are both important issues, whether it's the swastikas or the racists comments, neither of them have any place in Passaic."

Mayor Samuel Rivera quickly condemned the posting of anti-Semitic fliers. "These people aren't Passaic," he said. "We get along very well ... in fact, during my ordeal, I had rabbis come to my office and Jewish people show me support, ministers from the black community, from the Latino community."

Rivera was arrested Sept. 6 on corruption charges.

In the case of the fliers, Passaic police made their arrests after a tip from a woman who gave authorities the license plate number of the suspects' car.

Police believe that one of the men arrested is responsible for a string of similar incidents in Clifton during the past 10 days.

Clifton police Detective Capt. Robert Rowan said that on Sept. 14, near the Clifton Jewish Center, neighbors found a poster of a man sporting a swastika armband and throwing a Star of David into a trash can. The poster said "Keep America Clean," with the insignia of the National Socialist Movement and the group's Internet address. Police believe one of the suspects charged in Passaic downloaded the Nazi paraphernalia from the Internet.

Days later, a school crossing guard found another flier under Route 46, in a tunnel used by students at Christopher Columbus Middle School to walk to school. Another flier was found on Sept. 23, near the Jewish Memorial Chapel on Allwood Road.

Rowan said Clifton police will charge Nibbling and Bogart with several indictable offenses.

"You couldn't say it's a free speech issue," Rowan said. "People can say anything they want on a Web site, but to actually post a flier near a synagogue or a memorial home is certainly quite disturbing."

The three suspects were arraigned in Passaic Municipal Court Monday. Nibbling's bail was set at $75,000. Bail for Holly and Bogart was set at $85,000.

More than 700 hate crimes were reported in New Jersey in 2005, with 281 motivated by religion, according to the most recent FBI statistics. None was reported in Passaic in 2005.

In recent years, criminals targeted at least two other Jewish houses of worship in Passaic. About a year ago, someone spray-painted a swastika on Young Israel. Prior to that, pranksters threw a rock at another city synagogue.

In an unrelated incident last week, police were investigating whether foul play was behind a piece of paper that caught fire outside Tifereth Israel synagogue on Passaic Avenue.

Staff writer Heather Haddon contributed to this report.(END)


It's pretty sickening, the amount of hate that still exists in our country, hell, in our world. This article isn't just a damaging thing to my home state- but it's personal, too. Chris Sandel was a friend of mine. Not a really close one, we'd hung out a few times, and I haven't seen him in a long while, but I'd never seen this kind of thing coming. Ever.

[Freedan]

One more reason I avoid religion. People do things like this to each other in its name.

I honestly can't believe there are still people with this mindset. People are harassed, attacked or persecuted over things as trivial as race, religion and orientation. In the grand scheme of things, what the hell difference does any of that make?

Let's just go nuts for a minute and assume there actually is a God. He must be pretty damned ashamed of what his little creations are doing to each other. In his name, no less.

[tay120n64]

Well, that's the problem isn't it? There's nothing wrong with religion until it comes time to discern Absolutes. We're not perfect, so just because "God's Word" is written down, doesn't mean we can interpret it correctly. As a Christian, myself, I know all to well how people can take one passage, interpret it however they want, and make a whole denomination based on it.

[Axe Kazama]

Hate is such horrible thing, yet it's so intertwined in the human race

So many times that I've gone out with a couple mates and I've copped a racial slur from a drunk. It really alters your view of the world more and more as more people continue to throw out such racial slander. At times I've even felt ashame of being asian

I think everyone needs to sit down and watch American History X
"Hate is baggage, life's too short to be pissed off all the time" - Daniel Vinyard

[chicken]

oh boy, i DO NOT understand how people can go insane like that